31 minutes ago, monoccular said:

Probably will be fobbed off as a ridiculous question, but has anyone ever tried no contest centre bounces with an extra mid size waiting to pounce on the ruckman if he grabs it, and with an extra ready to rove to the hit out??

Could place a mid who’s only job is to tickle the opposition ruck as he goes up for the tap. 

24 minutes ago, dimmy said:

Tmac , heart and soul will fill in

Tommy is playing so well in defence I'd be loath to move him anywhere else.

It has to be Fullarton in the ruck for mine.

This is the week when Goodwin will earn his pay. We are backs against the wall, crucial game. 
this is when clever tactics can win a game

 

40 minutes ago, poita said:

Just to clarify, we:

1. Continued to play our most important player in the second half of a game that we had already won, after he had sustained a significant ankle injury in the first half;

I'd imagine Poita that the FD were quite concerned about the Demonland Game Day Thread, if they took Max off and the Eagles got within 3/4 goals and felt compelled to keep him on due to the unrelenting standards the team is held to 🤷‍♀️

Need to bring in Fullerton and Petty, Fullerton to tag the Dons ruck and Petty to give us a marking option mid ground, for Maysies get out kick… 

Should be an interesting 2-3 weeks till Maximus is back. 

No worried… at all. 

😬

My first thought is that it will need to be Fullarton for Max. Petty is too fragile to ruck all day.

1 hour ago, Oxdee said:

and we aren’t a good marking team? May, lever, tmac, petty fritch, jvr and turner. That’s a third of the side are elite contested marks 

IMO May and Max are our two elite (whatever the [censored] that is measured by) contested marks. Tmac, Petty and Lever are good marks. JVR and Turner are still raw and learning the skill

Max's ability to cover the ground and take multiple pack marks will be missed

Tomlinson played 2nd ruck for Giants - incl 2019 Grand Final

1 hour ago, monoccular said:

Probably will be fobbed off as a ridiculous question, but has anyone ever tried no contest centre bounces with an extra mid size waiting to pounce on the ruckman if he grabs it, and with an extra ready to rove to the hit out??

Tried that at Casey a few weeks back (not sure if it was intentional).. Didn't work well

4 hours ago, Maldonboy38 said:

I like the way Verrall is tracking, showing intent and effort in his follow up efforts. However, he will get physically dominated by Draper & Goldstein. So I reckon it will be Fullarton. The main problem is Essendon appear to be a good marking team which will stretch us all over the ground. The actual ruck/stoppage work is not my major concern.

Their marking stats are high because they like to chip it around. They also have two good marking forwards, and three interceptors in the back half. But most of their marks seem to be uncontested.

Edited July 8, 20241 yr by DiscoStu17

3 hours ago, IRW said:

Except they arnt playing finals

 

Tenete, like our team, haven't you been watching the last 4 years? They might lose, but they haven't given up.

2 hours ago, monoccular said:

Probably will be fobbed off as a ridiculous question, but has anyone ever tried no contest centre bounces with an extra mid size waiting to pounce on the ruckman if he grabs it, and with an extra ready to rove to the hit out??

Eww! It’s not pretty.
Any experienced ruck should be able to tap it lace-out to anyone within a 30m radius. 
Some form of contest is vital to stop their forwards from getting clean delivery.

And while we are at it, how many people here have wrestled a 100+kg gorilla once - let alone 50 times in 2 hours?

I just don’t believe a part timer, or even 2–3, could compete for the whole game without injury or severe affect on their usual output. 
We’ve got 2 in the cupboard who are in reasonable knick. They should give one a go. 

3 hours ago, poita said:

Just to clarify, we:

1. Continued to play our most important player in the second half of a game that we had already won, after he had sustained a significant ankle injury in the first half;

2. Have no AFL standard backup ruck on the list, even though it was blatantly clear to every man and his dog that it was sheer madness to assume that a 32 year old ruckman would make it through an entire season unscathed;

1. The Grundy experiment was worth a try but didn't work out.

2. What AFL-standard ruckman would want to join a club where he would normally have no chance of playing AFL football?

3. Fullarton might just surprise everyone.

Id have Tomlinson in the defence to take ruck and run Maxs defensive lines.

Fullarton to do ruck duties and maxs forward lines. Verral as sub to replace him.

Fullarton and Verral to be physical, run into and over whoever is contesting ball ups as appropriate.

Id try and leave JVR and Kozzie in forward line with few rotations into the centre.

Our backs are pretty solid with May, McVee, Bowser, Lever. Did AMW play back? to match and hold the bombers forwards

We've found a few with Kolt, Windsor. Rivers in the centre. Melks back to support JVR, Fritter, Disco forward to worry the bombers backs. Match em up appropriately

ANB, Sparrow, Vines, Clarry do their thing rotating off bench and matching  the bombers mids

and of course Lingers on the wing just running forward and back and adding that normal outlet in defence or forward.

There's plenty of options in the squad, we are about to see it.

we can and should beat this mob.

7 hours ago, Sir Why You Little said:

This is the week when Goodwin will earn his pay. We are backs against the wall, crucial game. 
this is when clever tactics can win a game

 

Them it's worse than we thought

8 hours ago, Razor said:

Tomlinson played 2nd ruck for Giants - incl 2019 Grand Final

Well,  he has elite fitness so can definitely cover the ground

9 hours ago, Mel Bourne said:

Could place a mid who’s only job is to tickle the opposition ruck as he goes up for the tap. 

What if their ruck isn’t ticklish?

10 hours ago, Nasher said:

Max’s value isn’t in the ruck, it’s in his innate ability to always park his giant frame at the right place at the right time. We all laugh at Maysie going for him but why wouldn’t you? The opposition always kick it to him more than anyone on our side ever does.

Whoever covers him better be prepared to run his chops off, because that’s the requirement.

This ^^^

Sadly there is only one Max. 

We might pinch hit in the rucking but we'll be down considerably around the ground.

Those dependable mits will be sorely missed.

Optimistic view: this might be the way Max gets a rest so he's super fit and fresh for our finals domination.

That's twice in a row that Essendon have had the luxury of no Gawn.

Brisbane have also had no Kozzie 2 times in the last 4 meetings.

Goodys going to bring in Schache isn't he? 

2 hours ago, demosaw said:

What if their ruck isn’t ticklish?

I knew we should have picked up this bloke.

 

12 hours ago, monoccular said:

Probably will be fobbed off as a ridiculous question, but has anyone ever tried no contest centre bounces with an extra mid size waiting to pounce on the ruckman if he grabs it, and with an extra ready to rove to the hit out??

This is very interesting and have been watching what TDK is doing at Carlton. (oppo watch) At centre bounces maybe every third bounce, he stays down and doesn't jump in the ruck giving the Blues 4 mids on the ground to get the loose ball. He also does this at boundary throw-ins and clears it. Something to watch.

10 hours ago, Razor said:

Tomlinson played 2nd ruck for Giants - incl 2019 Grand Final

Just went back and checked the stats. He had zero hitouts in the GF.