Re: Post Game Passion: AFL 2019 Rd 23: Carlton vs Geelong
Reply #66 –
Richmond 2017.
I'll tell Nankervis he's a spud!
I was responding to Laj who was arguing against Crashlander desire to find a replacement for Kreuzer.
Matthew Kreuzer is the best ruckman we've got, by some margin.
However, he isn't going to be the ruckman who wins us a flag next. His injuries mean that he doesn't have the spring. Nor does he have the height to combat a 211 cm ruckman. Nor does he have the strength to combat some of the shorter, stronger guys who don't jump.
I still love the guy, the way he gives 100% every time he goes out. But he is so rarely 100% in his own body ...
I have harped on it a lot, but we need a dominant ruckman. We don't have one.
To which Laj replied;
Many a flag won without dominant ruckmen.
There's a huge difference between claiming you can go through seasons and finals without a dominant ruck option and winning a game on the day when you lose the ruck contests despite having a good ruckmen! Even then losing the ruck is debatable in all the games offered as examples so far, because the ruck options listed had huge game impact away from the centre bounces and tap work, but that is still happening in and as part of the role of a ruck!
Having a Kreuzer type or not having a Kreuzer type determines whether you actually make it to the GF in the first place, arguing that you don't need to recruit a ruck because you can win a GF without them is ludicrous and not supported by history at all!
You can win a GF on the day when you have lost the ruck, but that is just choosing to have a very narrow perspective of what "ruck" means to the overall team performance and structure!
Take a Kreuzer type out of any team and it's devastating, Laj is arguing we don't need a replacement because you can win without them, maybe a game or two, but you won't have to worry about finals if you go through a season without them! It's a ludicrous argument he makes in the lead-up to every trade period!
If we took Laj's perspective literally we'd be cutting Casboult tomorrow, maybe today, but we don't because "ruck" means more than centre bounces and taps as Laj selectively knows and applies if I post that Casboult is playing like a spud in the ruck!