Carlton Supporters Club

Ruckman are overrated

Two games at Optus this year for a combined winning margin of 161 points.

Maybe we still think it is the old Optus Oval and we feel at home...haha.

It only looks that way because Darcy isn't the smartest ruckman going around (just one of the strongest). He is fairly predictable in how he plays and how he delivers the ball. If he changed things up occasionally, make himself more predictable to him teammates instead of his opponents, it would be different.
To be honest, not a lot of modern ruckmen are matchwinners; they do a lot of push and shove and forget some of the most important lessons in ruck play.
NicNat has been one of the most complete rucks of recent times; he guides taps do moving mids, he doesn't just do the same things any time, he is willing to give the ball a huge bash sometimes and he often is in the play after the initial contest. he is the sort of ruck that makes premierships.
Not many of that type around these days. There are a lot of crash and bash rucks, who can be effective, but most don't deliver the ball that well.
Pittonet is a crash and bash type, but he can aim his taps pretty well. Not as good this year as he was last, but other teams. have done a lot more work on him, and he has been injured or recovering from injury a lot. But he has the problem in that he is predictable; he almost never smashes the ball forward, for example. That can be a lethal trick, if his mids are ready for it.

Breeann Moody does the big smash more than most rucks. The problem was that few of our mids were prepared for it. That has changed a bit, while Moody is developing her directional tapping better than she used to.

To be a great ruck, you need to be a thinker, not just strong, which limits many modern rucks.

Late to the party and didn't see the game.

I was invited to a grass roots country football game. My recently deceased dad was a life member who'd filled every position from president to line marker, to water boy. He also played 400+ league games and coached juniors through to the league, winning multiple premierships.

To our surprise the club dedicated todays game to him. It will be an annual tribute match. All very moving for the family. He was such a humble man, we had no idea of the extent to which, he improved the on field performance and lives of so many people.

Arriving home to a big W v Dockers felt like a wonderful end to the weekend. The comments I've read so far are very encouraging, even heart-warming!
I can't wait to watch the replay.

Go Blues.

Just had a look at Longmuir's press conference.
A shell-shocked, shattered mess.
No idea what went wrong or what to do about it.
Not sure he will be there much longer.

Just had a look at Longmuir's press conference.
A shell-shocked, shattered mess.
No idea what went wrong or what to do about it.
Not sure he will be there much longer.