Should we be tracking this guy?

Out of favour at the Bombers as Hird looks to develop Bellchambers as his long-term first choice ruckman.

More than handy player who could provide us with a couple of years worth of service. Would give us flexibility to use either he or Jamar up forward as well and allow Martin to be played in a variety of roles.

The Bombers have enquired about some of our players before, including Jones. Perhaps we can tempt them with someone on our fringe and/or a late pick to get Hille to the club for a couple of years. Dunn? Bate?

Surely, we can't afford to risk Jamar going down again next year with no decent cover.

Thoughts?

First of all I went to school with David Hille and can't stand the guy and would be shattered if he ended up at Melbourne.

Secondly I'd suggest we do have good cover for Jamar, if Campbell's given another year on the rookie list, plus another pre-season into the likes of Martin, Gawn, Fitzpatrick and Spencer I'm really starting to like the look of our ruck depth personally.

I'd be more on the look out for either a pacy midfielder or a key position forward if I was to be trading for anyone.

Should we be tracking this guy?

Out of favour at the Bombers as Hird looks to develop Bellchambers as his long-term first choice ruckman.

More than handy player who could provide us with a couple of years worth of service. Would give us flexibility to use either he or Jamar up forward as well and allow Martin to be played in a variety of roles.

The Bombers have enquired about some of our players before, including Jones. Perhaps we can tempt them with someone on our fringe and/or a late pick to get Hille to the club for a couple of years. Dunn? Bate?

Surely, we can't afford to risk Jamar going down again next year with no decent cover.

Thoughts?

Short answer NO. Last year maybe. This year we have shown to have fair depth in this department.

I always laugh when people suggest "tempting" clubs with our spuds. There will not be a lick of interest in Bate and Dunn because funnily enough, other clubs will most likely share our view of where they're at in their career. The only hope of salvaging any value from those two is if GWS are desperate for experienced, hard bodies and even then we'd be KOTD if we got anything in return. And I don't love Jones, but I'd be mortified if we traded a guy coming in to his prime for a 30 year old ruckman who may or may not actually be any use, especially when we're not yet in our window and our list looks OK ruck wise.

Would Hille be in our best 22 this year if we had Jamar in and Martin as second ruck? I'm not interested in playing Martin in a 'variety of roles' if that variety doesn't include actually being in the ruck for a good percentage of the time, so I don't think we've got room in the side for all three. I think the question of Hille boils down to - will he be a better 'second ruck' than Martin both now and in our window? At his age, I don't think so.

And I hate the idea of recruiting players purely as "cover". That's what we've got Spencer and Gawn developing for.

I guess in summary, not really interested.

Couldn't you make an argument that David Hille could play as a FF?

We track every player at every club.

I would have thought rucking is not an area we are short in (excuse the pun).

1. We have Jamar

2. Martin has emerged as a potentially good 2nd ruck to suit the requirements of the modern game.

3. We have Jake Spencer who has been playing well at VFL level and would have replaced Jamar if not injured at the same time.

4. We have rookie Robbie Campbell.

If Jamar is fit he can pinch hit forward on occassion like Hille does. And playing the 3 talls that Essendon has made them top heavy.

Why would we want Hille? And we should be trying to get the max what we can get for Bate and or Dunn. It wont be much as I cant see Clubs beating down our door to get them. But I would be happy for another McLean/ First round pick scenario.

I would have thought rucking is not an area we are short in (excuse the pun).

1. We have Jamar

2. Martin has emerged as a potentially good 2nd ruck to suit the requirements of the modern game.

3. We have Jake Spencer who has been playing well at VFL level and would have replaced Jamar if not injured at the same time.

4. We have rookie Robbie Campbell.

If Jamar is fit he can pinch hit forward on occassion like Hille does. And playing the 3 talls that Essendon has made them top heavy.

Why would we want Hille? And we should be trying to get the max what we can get for Bate and or Dunn. It wont be much as I cant see Clubs beating down our door to get them. But I would be happy for another McLean/ First round pick scenario.

I guess my argument is that I don't think Spencer is good enough and Gawn needs two more years at Casey to develop.

I think Hille is being underrated judging by some of the comments above. Pretty good player when up and about.

He can be a very powerful player Hille, when he plays well Essendon wins. I'd say that at his best he is a top 3 ruck in the league. A Jamar/Hille combo would probably rival WC for the best in the league. But his consistency is appalling, maybe injuries are an excuse for him, but either way if it's consistency we're after I wouldn't put a lot of effort into chasing Hille.

I'll stick with our 3-4 half chance rucks we're developing.

I guess my argument is that I don't think Spencer is good enough and Gawn needs two more years at Casey to develop.

I think Hille is being underrated judging by some of the comments above. Pretty good player when up and about.

Spencer is vying for the first ruck role. I dont Hille is in that mode.

And doh I left out Gawn!!

I would have thought rucking is not an area we are short in (excuse the pun).

1. We have Jamar

2. Martin has emerged as a potentially good 2nd ruck to suit the requirements of the modern game.

3. We have Jake Spencer who has been playing well at VFL level and would have replaced Jamar if not injured at the same time.

4. We have rookie Robbie Campbell.

If Jamar is fit he can pinch hit forward on occassion like Hille does. And playing the 3 talls that Essendon has made them top heavy.

Why would we want Hille? And we should be trying to get the max what we can get for Bate and or Dunn. It wont be much as I cant see Clubs beating down our door to get them. But I would be happy for another McLean/ First round pick scenario.

We'd be silly not to look at david hille which is what the post was asking. He's been a very good player over a number of years and i think we could do with another Ruckman. Max Gawn and Spencer are at least 2 years away from being ready to have any sort of impact and im not really sure what the situation is with Robbie Campbell. Surely if he was half decent he'd be on our main list and have played by now with the injury to russian....

If we have all ruckman fit then Jamar and Martin are the likely first two. Which means that Hille plays VFL and denies development time for Spencer/ Gawn and makes Campbell redundant. FWIW, I thought Campbell was OK against the Pies.

And if the scenario came up again where Jamar and Spencer went down then we should be able to cut it with a mix of Martin/Gawn and Campbell.

We should save our lilst spots for where we have more obvious deficiencies.

If we have all ruckman fit then Jamar and Martin are the likely first two. Which means that Hille plays VFL and denies development time for Spencer/ Gawn and makes Campbell redundant. FWIW, I thought Campbell was OK against the Pies.

And if the scenario came up again where Jamar and Spencer went down then we should be able to cut it with a mix of Martin/Gawn and Campbell.

We should save our lilst spots for where we have more obvious deficiencies.

Really good point. Seriously can someone tell me what the deal is with Robbie Campbell?? I mean surely if he hasnt played yet especially with russian having been out for the last few weeks he never will?? Max Gawn cant be ahead of him??

He can be a very powerful player Hille, when he plays well Essendon wins. I'd say that at his best he is a top 3 ruck in the league. A Jamar/Hille combo would probably rival WC for the best in the league. But his consistency is appalling, maybe injuries are an excuse for him, but either way if it's consistency we're after I wouldn't put a lot of effort into chasing Hille.

I'll stick with our 3-4 half chance rucks we're developing.

Top 3? Is he better than Cox, Sandliands or Jamar?

I always laugh when people suggest "tempting" clubs with our spuds. There will not be a lick of interest in Bate and Dunn because funnily enough, other clubs will most likely share our view of where they're at in their career. The only hope of salvaging any value from those two is if GWS are desperate for experienced, hard bodies and even then we'd be KOTD if we got anything in return. And I don't love Jones, but I'd be mortified if we traded a guy coming in to his prime for a 30 year old ruckman who may or may not actually be any use, especially when we're not yet in our window and our list looks OK ruck wise.

Would Hille be in our best 22 this year if we had Jamar in and Martin as second ruck? I'm not interested in playing Martin in a 'variety of roles' if that variety doesn't include actually being in the ruck for a good percentage of the time, so I don't think we've got room in the side for all three. I think the question of Hille boils down to - will he be a better 'second ruck' than Martin both now and in our window? At his age, I don't think so.

And I hate the idea of recruiting players purely as "cover". That's what we've got Spencer and Gawn developing for.

I guess in summary, not really interested.

Nailed it, comprehensively.

Really good point. Seriously can someone tell me what the deal is with Robbie Campbell?? I mean surely if he hasnt played yet especially with russian having been out for the last few weeks he never will?? Max Gawn cant be ahead of him??

Has been injured and has only just started playing for Casey. Played very well against Sandy the other week when i saw him live. Didn't see the game last week.

Not sure if people are serious when they say Spencer is a better option, maybe i miss read. Hille would be a terrific addition to the team. As one poster who went to school with him said I have heard that he is a bit of a strange bloke, stemming from an accident with a mate.

Jitzpatrick is still very unkown and a long way off, Cambell we are not sure how his body will hold up. Gawn is still a few years away. Not the worst idea.

Really good point. Seriously can someone tell me what the deal is with Robbie Campbell?? I mean surely if he hasnt played yet especially with russian having been out for the last few weeks he never will?? Max Gawn cant be ahead of him??

As mentioned Campbell had been injured and has now only had 2 games back with Casey. Gave Casey's midfield an armchair ride against Collingwood on Saturday.

As for your question as to why he hasn't played ahaead of Gawn? Even if he was fit we couldn't of played him. Newton was our designated rookie promotion at the start of the season and Evans and Nicholson were elevated for Grimes & Spencers injuries, as Campbell's still on the rookie list, and was still injured when Grimes & Spencer went down we can't play him unless there's another long term injury.

I agree Hille's a decent player, but personally I don't like him and don't think he fits any needs that we have.

Edit: Missed a word in last sentence.

As for your question as to why he hasn't played ahaead of Gawn? Even if he was fit we couldn't of played him. Newton was our designated rookie promotion at the start of the season and Evans and Nicholson were elevated for Grimes & Spencers injuries, as Campbell's still on the rookie list, and was still injured when Grimes & Spencer went down we can't play him unless there's another long term injury.

As has been mentioned elsewhere, I think you will find that Nicholson was elevated to replace Fitzpatrick. We still have room to elevate another rookie, and the time is coming, I am not sure which round it is, where we can play a rookie without a LTI.

Should we be tracking this guy?

Out of favour at the Bombers as Hird looks to develop Bellchambers as his long-term first choice ruckman.

More than handy player who could provide us with a couple of years worth of service. Would give us flexibility to use either he or Jamar up forward as well and allow Martin to be played in a variety of roles.

The Bombers have enquired about some of our players before, including Jones. Perhaps we can tempt them with someone on our fringe and/or a late pick to get Hille to the club for a couple of years. Dunn? Bate?

Surely, we can't afford to risk Jamar going down again next year with no decent cover.

Thoughts?

No, we are well covered with enough maturity for where we're at. Gawn is a year ahead of where I would have expected and Martin has shown he has it, when taking the game on. Spencer is developing and is a big man, and aggressive ruck type. Fitzpatrick needs more work, so No.

I do want us to grab a 'Young', Rookie Ruck, either this draft period, or next years.

Why is David Hille out of Favour at Essendon?? What are his deficiencies?

Essendon have 3 Senior Ruckmen...Why is Hille number 3 thus expendable?

I have not watched enough Essendon games this year to know the answer...But there is nothing more list clogging than an out of favour Big Man....they can only play one role so if that is not working....

Top 3? Is he better than Cox, Sandliands or Jamar?

Sandi and Cox are the top 2. At his best Hille is better than Jamar. Is Jamar's best better than Hille's best? In a ruck contest yes, as a forward, no. Who would I prefer overall? Jamar, his last 2- 3 years he has had very few bad games.

Sandi and Cox are the top 2. At his best Hille is better than Jamar. Is Jamar's best better than Hille's best? In a ruck contest yes, as a forward, no. Who would I prefer overall? Jamar, his last 2- 3 years he has had very few bad games.

You referred to Hille being a top 3 ruck. Now you have changed the criteria to include forward. At his best Hille was never AA and has never been able to dominate the centre circle. Jamar has. And FWIW, Jamar has been very good up forward when he had been down there and has one of the most accurate goal kicking ratios on record.

I always laugh when people suggest "tempting" clubs with our spuds. There will not be a lick of interest in Bate and Dunn because funnily enough, other clubs will most likely share our view of where they're at in their career. The only hope of salvaging any value from those two is if GWS are desperate for experienced, hard bodies and even then we'd be KOTD if we got anything in return. And I don't love Jones, but I'd be mortified if we traded a guy coming in to his prime for a 30 year old ruckman who may or may not actually be any use, especially when we're not yet in our window and our list looks OK ruck wise.

Would Hille be in our best 22 this year if we had Jamar in and Martin as second ruck? I'm not interested in playing Martin in a 'variety of roles' if that variety doesn't include actually being in the ruck for a good percentage of the time, so I don't think we've got room in the side for all three. I think the question of Hille boils down to - will he be a better 'second ruck' than Martin both now and in our window? At his age, I don't think so.

And I hate the idea of recruiting players purely as "cover". That's what we've got Spencer and Gawn developing for.

I guess in summary, not really interested.

That's gold. Hit the nail on the head.

If we could get him for Bate or Dunn, then yes. But i doubt they would bite at that one.

Otherwise not worth it.

Saying that he would be handy up forward at the moment, after seeing what big men down forward can do, Cloke.

Hey guys, how about we trade Newton for Judd? If only we still had Weetra - we could have got some pick upgrades.