The HS has just made a typical prediction that Lloyd Meek will certainly be a Demon next season if Jackson goes to the Dockers. Does anybody know much about this ruckman? He has been on Freo's list for 3 years and has yet to debut.

He literally debuted against the Dees in R1, 2021

 Played in our most recent loss to Freo at the G too 

Played 14 games.

I'd only be mildly interested.

Hope he is meek by name and not by nature.

My gut feel is that he is your Preuss type dumb ruckman with no other strings to the bow.

So no, I don’t think he will replace Jackson. More likely long term replacement to Gawn but even then we like ruckmen to do more; Stynes, O’Dwyer, White, Jamar, Gawn - we have been spoilt.

I'd prefer Sean Darcy 

 

lloyd meek or Lloyd Braun?

12 minutes ago, rpfc said:

My gut feel is that he is your Preuss type dumb ruckman with no other strings to the bow.

So no, I don’t think he will replace Jackson. More likely long term replacement to Gawn but even then we like ruckmen to do more; Stynes, O’Dwyer, White, Jamar, Gawn - we have been spoilt.

If Preuss can stay on the field for more than a few weeks at a time he stands to be a premier ruckman. It wasn't so long ago that Gawn was smoking darts after training and could barely string more than 5 consecutive games together. Once the momentum picked up towards the end of 2015 it never stopped. Preuss can be the same. I don't get the ridicule aimed at the bloke around here and the footy community. 

I remember watching him at the MCG round 1 last year against Gawn and surprisingly kept Gawn well held.

I remember he was one big [censored]..

Also looking at his WAFL stats this year, he seems to do alright around the ground. Few 20 plus disposal games.

 

 

He'd be the steak knives in the deal, but isn't a bad option, from what I've seen he's serviceable more than dominate - but let's face it there's only a few ruckman that are. I still be happy to take Logue, Meek and ideally they'd swap their first this year for a lower one as part of dealing Lobb, so we'd get that and next years 1st from them, if Dogga goes. 

There's been a lot of 2nd/3rd string ruckman, who sort more opportunity elsewhere and became very good established ruckman at their new club. Our very own Darren Jolly and Steph Martin are just 2. I look at Darcy Cameron at the Pies and think that he's more impactful than Grundy.

As Dazzle pointed out, a ruckman's ability around the ground is equally important as their hit-out numbers. Meek's numbers at WAFL level stack up well. He could be excused for his low possessions in his last game against West Perth, because the ground was covered in water. I watched the game because a mate is involved in West Perth's coaching.

If Meek's is steak knives as part of a potential Jackson trade, I'd be rapt. 

the bloke is massive. Not sure how mobile he is though

 

https://www.fremantlefc.com.au/video/1014477/looking-back-on-2021-lloyd-meek

 

a better set of AFL highlights

Edited July 14, 20222 yr by Kick_It_To_Pickett

32 minutes ago, praha said:

If Preuss can stay on the field for more than a few weeks at a time he stands to be a premier ruckman. It wasn't so long ago that Gawn was smoking darts after training and could barely string more than 5 consecutive games together. Once the momentum picked up towards the end of 2015 it never stopped. Preuss can be the same. I don't get the ridicule aimed at the bloke around here and the footy community. 

I didn’t ridicule, I implied he was not as good as Gawn and didn’t do as much.

Gawn may have been smoking darts but what he does around the ground with his marking and instincts is superior to many ruckmen and most definitely Braydon Preuss.

Can he take a contested grab?  I think that's almost more valuable a skill than any other as it means they can be a reliable kick in target, a threat forward and can float back and take marks in defence if required.

If Peel Thunder have a sledgehammer on their badge are they nicknamed the Hammers or do they have a mascot running around inside a sledgehammer suit? They could merge with East Fremantle and become the hammerhead sharks. 

1 hour ago, praha said:

If Preuss can stay on the field for more than a few weeks at a time he stands to be a premier ruckman. It wasn't so long ago that Gawn was smoking darts after training and could barely string more than 5 consecutive games together. Once the momentum picked up towards the end of 2015 it never stopped. Preuss can be the same. I don't get the ridicule aimed at the bloke around here and the footy community. 

I agree that Preuss has significant potential as a ruckman in terms of ability and showed quite a bit for us at times when he was called on.

Biggest question for me is around his robustness and age.  He's now 27 and from what I can gather has never been able to string a near complete season together at AFL level.  Gawn certainly had injury and some attitude issues early, but was able to get all that together early enough in his career to establish himself and then produce at that high level for a number of years once he'd established his grove.

I fear Pruess will go down in the history books as a player who could have been, but never was due to injury.

If Jackson goes to Freo we have take him as part of any deal. We will need a ruck back up if we can’t snag Darcy from them. From what I have seen of him he is quite good given his lack of experience. 

Edited July 15, 20222 yr by John Crow Batty

Would gladly take him as steak knives if Jackson chooses to leave. We have no ruck depth. Gawn is 31 next year, Daw has retired, Bradke was delisted. If Jackson leaves we have no proper ruck backup on the list for Gawn and will be reliant on make shift rucks like Weid, Brown, Tomlinson etc.

Meek is a solid guy, still quite young for a ruckman. He's no world beater, but he's serviceable with scope to become a good AFL ruckman. He is solid in ruck contests, gets around the ground on the wings to contribute, can provide a marking outlet, and knows his limitations to handball to receiver after marking if play is quick too. He's a country Vic boy, so may agree to come home to too. Definitely worth pushing to get thrown into the Jackson deal along with first rounders.

People overstate the value of ruckmen.

Gawn is the exception because of his marking ability both forward and back, but he is a one in a generation type of player. We're not going to be able to replace him when he finishes up, but hopefully we can squeeze an extra year or two out of him by being sensible with how we use him.

All we need is someone in the Darcy Cameron mould who can crash in hard at centre bounces and have some sort of presence around the ground. 

If Meek can play that role, I would gladly bring him in (with or without Jackson).

Like many I have resolved myself to Jackson leaving.

If you are playing two ruckmen one at least has to have goal kicking capability (15-25) plus around the ground capability.

I suppose Meek frees Gawn to play forward but as most have said he's steak knives in any deal with Freo

Based on the name I'm quite surprised he wasn't tapped to become the new Tory Interim Prime Minister.

If we could swing a combo of Lloyd Meek and Hayden Mclean this trade period, that would go a long way to stabilising our ruck/forward stocks at relatively low salary cap demand.

The most impressive thing about that highlights package is the jumping castle over the fence 

Taken at pick 69 in the 2017 draft, didn't play his first game until last year. Is well behind Darcy, Lobb and Logue in the pecking order. If the media are suggesting he would be part of a Jackson trade, oh dear!

4 hours ago, poita said:

People overstate the value of ruckmen.

Gawn is the exception because of his marking ability both forward and back, but he is a one in a generation type of player. We're not going to be able to replace him when he finishes up, but hopefully we can squeeze an extra year or two out of him by being sensible with how we use him.

All we need is someone in the Darcy Cameron mould who can crash in hard at centre bounces and have some sort of presence around the ground. 

If Meek can play that role, I would gladly bring him in (with or without Jackson).