Carlton Supporters Club

I neglected to mention Lewis Young.  Although soundly beaten by Cameron earlier in the game, Lewis held his nerve at the end and went for the mark against Cameron, coming out on top.

I neglected to mention Lewis Young.  Although soundly beaten by Cameron earlier in the game, Lewis held his nerve at the end and went for the mark against Cameron, coming out on top.

When he kicked his 3 goals he kicked in the last qtr, he wasn't opposed to Young.

It seems to me that the Blues (perhaps more specifically Weitering) are keen to expose Young to the opposition’s best tall forward but if he starts wilting he switches to a more manageable opponent. That was particularly so against the Tigers. He started on Lynch but was as nervous as a junior player who had been given a game in the seniors. He played with no confidence and was completely reactive. Lynch was well on top. He quickly switched to Riewoldt and he soon acted like a veteran star defender against a junior forward. When he switched back to Lynch, he continued to play with confidence and did well.

If this is how Young’s being handled (and I might be imagining it) then bravo. The last thing we need is to see him destroyed by an AFL star. Weiters is good enough and confident enough to take all comers and is selfless enough to give his team mates a chop out when required.

Remember, centre bounces are still the go even if there are quite a few centre ball-ups. Only rarely would the ball go up directly over the centre line (and that also applies to a degree to ball-ups). Requiring a ruckman to stay on his own side of the line would make no sense if the ball drops in his opponent’s side of the larger centre circle.

The centre line really tells a ruckman that he has to stay on his half of the centre circle until the ball leaves the umpire’s hands.

The rules relating to ruck contests are a bit mysterious. But it appears that a guiding principle is that both ruckmen have to have a chance to contest the bounce or ball-up. For instance, you’d think it would be fair game to hold the opposing ruck at bay with a stiff arm to the chest but that’s a red flag. At the centre bounce, one ruckman can’t run past the ball drop to body out the opposing ruck, unlike a forward or defender in a marking contest. That would be regarded as blocking. And yet a ruckman can jump with a knee into his opponent’s chest and that’s kosher, even though that puts the opponent out of the contest. When a whistle goes in a rucking duel, I hold my breath as I usually have no idea which way it will go.

Jack’s role was tall forward, not ruck.  Compare him with Charlie and Harry, not Pitto and Tom.

I wouldn’t be dropping him.  Our forward line worked better when he was playing.

Silvagni also missed the last quarter...so his stats would have been better.
I just feel watching him that he's a bit out of sorts.
His touch seems a bit off and he's missing marks he normally takes.
I don't know whether he was injured, if he was subbed off without injury that's probably a bit of an indicator he's on the fringe.
Pittonet needs game time more than anything else at the moment.

And yet a ruckman can jump with a knee into his opponent’s chest and that’s kosher, even though that puts the opponent out of the contest. When a whistle goes in a rucking duel, I hold my breath as I usually have no idea which way it will go.

UNLESS  you are a Carlton Ruckmen. Perplexed that TDK was fined $3000 for putting his knee into Stanley at a ruck contest,  WTF? Someone remind me what penalty Freo's Darcy got for going at Pitto (no eyes on the ball) with his knee and effectively putting him out for the year??

I have TOG there and he actually spent more time on the ground than Pittonet.

The reason i stacked him up against TDK + Pittonet is because everybody is raving about how well our 2 rucks did, and (some) people are calling for Jack to be dropped off the back of that effort.

Sure, stats aren't everything but but its seems they offered very similar output (all 3) and i'm not sure you could isolate 1 over another.

FWIW, Jack had team high 2 marks on lead
Jack had team high 2 goal assists
Team high tackles inside 50.

To go with 0.2, so far from the worse on the ground.