Carlton Supporters Club

When we drafted Tom he was 89kg.  He is now 102kg, 1kg more than he was last season.  Mirkov was 104kg when he was rookied and is the same now ... but I suspect there's more muscle.  For completeness, Pitto is 104kg, the same as he was at Hawthorn.

Free kicks in ruck contests are a bit like chooklotto     De Koning has been schooled well but the umpires clearly need to spend some time with Matty K.

Mirkov's ruckwork is often quite different.  He often seems to psyche his opponent out of the contest and at other times he doesn't contest but roves the other ruck's taps.  It will be interesting to see if he can do that against the better AFL rucks.

Also possible that all of the media talk around the big $$$ and 7 year deals for TDK are effecting him mentally too....not the first time a young bloke has his form taper off after big speculation about deals being tossed around.

To be honest, I really worry about our ruck unit.
[1] Pittonet is well down on how he started last year. He isn't getting the taps, and our midfield need him getting taps.
Granted that one of his issues is coming back from long term injury. He'll be better next year, but he is the old bull ruckman we have.
[2] Tom de Koning isn't a smart ruckman. His has some athleticism, a very nice leap and a fine set of hands, but he doesn't direct his taps to our mids' advantage. The best that could be said is that the opposition isn't getting it either.
Tom is much stronger now than when we recruited him, he is 13+ kgs heavier, for starters. But he isn't a bull. Jumping at the ball is his thing, and he isn't doing it. He tries to wrestle now all of the time.
Not sure what he can do to fix his problems, but he needs to get the contest on his terms. If he is going to play to is weaknesses instead of his strengths, he's in trouble.
[3] I'm becoming a lot less confident about Mirkov. The guys has some real advantages, and 210 cm is just the start. he can actually move and run pretty well, for example. However, he doesn't get much of the ball and we don't kick it to him. That was really noticeable in the 2nds; he doesn't make great position, but we don't kick it to him when he does.
He is learning to wrestle, but it isn't a natural part of his game. His ruck taps are a thousand times better when he jumps at the ball.
Like Tom de Koning, he doesn't ruck to his strengths, but to his weaknesses.
When he gets taps, they can be really significant. In fact, he can really pound it sometimes. However, our mids don't seem to be aware of a lot of the time. The Richmond mids were reading his ruckwork almost as well as ours were. There is clearly a communications problem there somewhere, which we need to fix if Mirkov is ever going to be any good.

[4] Because our rucks are not getting good taps, our mids are struggling. We get no advantage from our taps. On the other hand, the opposition rucks deliver the ball to their mids' advantage and our mids don't have the speed to run them down. Even with 3 Hussain Bolts, we couldn't run them down because we're out of position. That we need to fix and soon.

To be honest, I really worry about our ruck unit.
[1] Pittonet is well down on how he started last year. He isn't getting the taps, and our midfield need him getting taps.
Granted that one of his issues is coming back from long term injury. He'll be better next year, but he is the old bull ruckman we have.
[2] Tom de Koning isn't a smart ruckman. His has some athleticism, a very nice leap and a fine set of hands, but he doesn't direct his taps to our mids' advantage. The best that could be said is that the opposition isn't getting it either.
Tom is much stronger now than when we recruited him, he is 13+ kgs heavier, for starters. But he isn't a bull. Jumping at the ball is his thing, and he isn't doing it. He tries to wrestle now all of the time.
Not sure what he can do to fix his problems, but he needs to get the contest on his terms. If he is going to play to is weaknesses instead of his strengths, he's in trouble.
[3] I'm becoming a lot less confident about Mirkov. The guys has some real advantages, and 210 cm is just the start. he can actually move and run pretty well, for example. However, he doesn't get much of the ball and we don't kick it to him. That was really noticeable in the 2nds; he doesn't make great position, but we don't kick it to him when he does.
He is learning to wrestle, but it isn't a natural part of his game. His ruck taps are a thousand times better when he jumps at the ball.
Like Tom de Koning, he doesn't ruck to his strengths, but to his weaknesses.
When he gets taps, they can be really significant. In fact, he can really pound it sometimes. However, our mids don't seem to be aware of a lot of the time. The Richmond mids were reading his ruckwork almost as well as ours were. There is clearly a communications problem there somewhere, which we need to fix if Mirkov is ever going to be any good.

[4] Because our rucks are not getting good taps, our mids are struggling. We get no advantage from our taps. On the other hand, the opposition rucks deliver the ball to their mids' advantage and our mids don't have the speed to run them down. Even with 3 Hussain Bolts, we couldn't run them down because we're out of position. That we need to fix and soon.

I didn't think Mirkov was too bad the other night.

He was pretty good, but he doesn't read the ball in the air that well at night. I liked that he got off the ground and really all over the top of his opponents, he didn't just wrestle. I just wish I could see more of it, as he really does have a great reach.

I didn't think Mirkov was too bad the other night.

Mirkov had a lazy 51 hitouts in the VFL on the weekend.

How many were to advantage? That's the only stat that matters.
He can have a 100, but if they are all to the opposition, or at best a 50-50 contest, it's all for nothing.

https://www.carltonfc.com.au/matches/5127#player-stats

Hitouts to advantage aren’t the be all and end all.  Neutralising the opposition ruckman, bringing the ball to ground and gaining territory before the next stoppage are also important ruck markers.  And then there’s clean possessions in the ruck; Mirkov managed that many times with a kick downfield or a handball to a teammate.

As for hitouts to advantage, there’s a simple reason why Dow racks up possessions in the magoos.