ryan2000 wrote:
Indie wrote:
The question is whether the official stats are reliable, Ryan. It's a bit like the official injury list - sometimes the clubs lie to gain an advantage.
The base stats are reliable - measurements from the draft camp and the like. They're done by independent sources and the potential draftees usually want to maximise their measurements and results.
But when they get to a club, the club might want to mislead other clubs into thinking that their player is taller or shorter than he is so that match-ups go awry. Or they might want to bump up weight to give fans the illusion of development. In short, the figures become less reliable.
For all we know, JK might be 198 cm. He might not be. That's one of the areas of uncertainty.
Yeah all true, and fair enough to Indie. But i just thought it would be safer to go off what is on the website, just for the purpose of this debate.
Either way, it's a few Centimeters. But i still hold strong that the importance of the Ruckman is his leap.
S.Hampson has.
Aisakie has it.
Setanta has it.
JK just doesn't seem to have it, whereas Cloke, who is same or a similar height seemed to have a much greatter leap than that of Kennedy. Which is kinda the reason i don't like seeing him in the Ruck. I'd much rather see him develop at full forward.
I just wanted to hear other peoples opinions on it all............
I don't think that he's seen as a ruckman in coming years, Ryan. I certainly hope not. I think that he is regarded as a tall forward, but one who is not able to play with confidence in that position at AFL level at the moment. That's no great slight on him - CHF is the hardest position on the field, especially when he's in his 2nd year and Fev is in the same team.
I think the coaching staff are concerned about maintaining JK's confidence. There was a need to reward him for his good game in the VFL, especially as he would have been out of action this week if he hadn't been picked. And the same could be said of Harts.
One way to give him a leg up at AFL level is to give him time as a relief ruckman. I'm sure he was told not to worry too much about whether he won the taps - instead, I would hope they told him to try to gather some possessions around the ground. In that capacity, he would have been able to gather uncontested possessions rather than worrying about a defender snapping at his heels. Pity he didn't kick a goal with that long kick as that would have done wonders for his confidence.
That's not to say that the time in the ruck was wasted. As a tall forward, he'll be asked to ruck in the F50 in future - it's part of the necessary skills of a tall forward. But the centre bounce won't be an issue. And that is the area in which the leap is required. In F50, he can wrestle and use his considerable bulk to keep his opponent grounded.
This is the same tactic that was used successfully with Lance and Setanta. The beginning of Lance's improved form was in the Essendon* game. Setanta has enjoyed the ability to run after being wholly defensive, and that's been good for his development. If the only imperative was to win the game, I'd agree it was a bad choice. But the potential benefit to the development of the 3 players was worth it IMO.
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