Stefchook wrote:
17th Premiership wrote:
2) Leave Kruezer as sole ruckman. His value around the ground FAR outweighs any value we could possibly get from Phillips or Gorringe in the centre bounce. a) Neither of them would have done any better in the taps against Sandi and nor will they against Goldstein. b) Neither of them will get 20+ possessions, 5 marks and 10 contested possessions. (In fact, whilst Sandi was amazing in the taps simply b/c he is so tall and good at that, he only had 11 possessions, zero marks and 4 contested possessions...). Bringing in another ruckman would diminish our ability around the ground and our speed as well.
I'm sure argument b) is correct. But it doesn't follow that argument a) is correct. Kreuzer's a far better all-round player than Phillips. But he's an inferior centre-bounce ruckman.
And let's leave Gorringe out of the discussion. Unfortunately he's absolutely useless as a ruckman. He fears body contact.
True - argument (a) is not necessarily correct b/c as you say Phillips is arguably a better tap ruckman. However, my conclusion is based on the likelihood that any difference would be marginal in effect against the
much better tapwork of both Sandi & Goldy. The overall point is that I think we are better off in total with Kruezer tha with either Phillips or Gorringe. Hopefully, Phillips can continue to improve overall in time like late-blooming many ruckmen have done before.
But right now, I'd say Kruezer is having his best season for the past 5 or 6 years and possibly ever. And I think he'd be in the top 3 or 4 ruckmen in the comp over the year so far (obviously in my opinion...).