TruBlueBrad wrote:
Kreuzer isnt a forward, he's a ruckman. He's so good around the ground why would you want to limit him to half of it?
One of the problems with him starting forward is a backman is assigned to him, so when we play Adelaide it will be Rutten or Bock. If he's playing as a ruckman and drifts forward, his opponant following him down field will be a ruckman or taller midfielder and Kreuz will out mark them deep most times.
The way to exploit his strengths is to have him drift forward and let the oppositon worry about how to counter that. Does their ruckman follow him, a taller midfielder or do they try to engineer a swap where Bock or Rutten have to pick him up when he drifts into the forward 50m. Carlton and Essendon* used this tatic to great effect with Hird and Kouta. Kreuz potentially presents and even greater challenge.
All very valid points but in some way it shows a lack of planning from the match committee.
We have invested heavily in 3 ruckman all of them costing us plenty. At this stage they all look like the ruck is there only go which means only one of them will spend plenty of time on the ball, the other one will get a third of the game and the other one will be in the Bullants with Jacobs until an injury comes along.
My view at the time was to not recruit Warnock and keep the picks and perhaps pick an older ruckman to give Hampson a bit more time and Kreuzer less of a workload. From what I have seen so far Kreuzer, Hampson and Jacobs with a rookie ruck on the list would be enough. If Warnock is going to spend time on the ball and he must to justify the investment, what a waste Kruezer is going to be standing in the forward line or sitting on the bench.
I know Rats won't do it because he is far too conservative but I would seriously start considering Kreuzer as part of the midfield rotation to make the most of his talent.