Blue Vain wrote:
Bondiblue wrote:
Just because Chol has a Title of forward on a website, doesn't mean he's not a ruck. In fact, Ive seen him ruck this year. Have a look at his stats for this year. Looks like a ruck, plays the ruck, hits the ball in a ruck contest like a ruck, smells like a ruck, therefore he must be a duck.

Come on BV.
I'm not trying to pick a fight but I think you're a being a bit rough on Farmer's research, and being selective yourself to 'manipulate' your point.
Levi Casboult was recruited as a forward to Gold Coast. He averages less hitouts this season than Harry McKay or Patrick Cripps. So is he there as a ruckman? If so, are Harry and Crippa ruckmen?
Lewis Young played as a ruckman for the Bulldogs last year and averaged more hitouts last year than Mabior Chol is averaging this year. Does that make him a ruckman?
Carlton is listed on our website as having 4 ruckmen. Domanic Akuei is our 4th. Does that make him a ruckman?
I wouldn't have thought so.
We have Pittonet, we have TDK, we have Mirkov, we have JSOS who is doing a lion hearted job, we have Lewis Young who played in an AFL finals series last year as a ruckman, we have Oscar McDonald who was capable of competing in the ruck.
So I'm glad you're not trying to pick a fight because neither was I. But for posters to suggest the list managers are "dumb" by not having another ruckman on the list is nonsense IMHO.
There's limited numbers on the list and if they didn't think there was another adequate ruckman to select, I back the decision completely. How anyone can be looking to bag our list manager at the moment baffles me.

(Sorry for the edits, I [REDACTED] up the quoting function)
Cheers BV
Levi is and was always recruited as a break glass option for GCS. Whether that was for a KPF role or a ruck role, he was always break glass option. If Witts went down, and King didnt do his ACL, would you be surprised if Levi took the No 1 ruck mantle over a 194cm 3rd tall (similar ilk to Silvagni?). Levi is a ruck, and he's a KPF, and we know he's also a KPD, because we know he is. In fact, some wish he was still on our list given our injury predicament. We don't need to focus on what he's called on their website, do we?
There's good reason why Young hasn't been taken out of the KPD role to ruck, and a bad reason why we have Jack rucking against the like of Preuss. That last match up wouldn't be allowed in boxing for good reason, but we do it because...the cupboard is bare. Mirkov is not a ruckman, he's a project ruckman, and Young is listed as a KPD but ...
With Jones retiring, if Weiters, McGovern, Oscar and Marchbank were available, I believe Young would have been selected to the ruck role to wax with TDK, so I get your point that we do have ruck support on our list with Pitto, TDK as No. 1 & 2 rucks with Young as back up, and without being meaning to sound rude, I don't care what Akuei is pigeon holed on a website, he is 2cm shorter than Jack Silvagni and 13 kgs lighter. Nowhere near the profile required to be a bonafide ruckman, if Jack isn't a ruckman, Akuei is definetely not one either. I know he was in Under 18's because of his leap...he was in a different league. The Big Boys would eat him alive and he'd be on our injury list. So, we don't have to believe everything written on a website if our gut feel doesn't agree, and a club's actions in selection don't support the Title given.
If Akuei is a ruckman, then we have 1 ruckman, 1 developing ruckman and 2 project ruckmen we can't even consider to use in the ruck, one of them, not even in the reserves.
I agree the List Mgr shouldn't be held responsible for the List profile today. The list is the list, not because the list manager is 'dumb' (I missed that comment, and didnt realise it was the central to the debate...oops). Its all about opportunity, and with that opportunity costs. Lists take years to build and so far Austin has selected a lot of gems with early and latter picks. If the right opportunity comes for a 4th ruck I'm sure Austin would take it. If not there for the taking, then the opportunity isnt there.
My point is that 4 rucks does not create an unbalanced list. If there is list inbalance, then for me it implies there is a lot of deadwood we are carrying with no improvement insight, or the player selected for a particular role doesn't have the attributes to play that role, or unforseen injury, in our case KPD and Ruck....because Mirkov isn't a ruckman yet despite his size.
TDK can't make a success of the No 1 ruck role at this stage of his career: he is 23yo this year, and has a couple more years to go before he is capable of being the No 1 kahuna imo. I don't like losing Jack from the linking role he plays, and hate watching him get thrashed in the ruck against a beast 15 kgs heavier.