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Tom Fullarton - back up ruck?

mrnolsy
mrnolsy
in Melbourne Demons

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9 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

I think this comes down to due diligence.

And Tim Lamb is quoted as saying "Tom we’ve been tracking for a fair while". So it's not like they just decided at the last minute. 

But could this - and Billings and Hunter and others - simply be a case of taking the only option available? In other words, nobody else was interested in coming to Melbourne. 

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    We took a speculative low-cost risk on Fullarton hoping he could become something he clearly hasn't yet. We traded pick 47 in a supposed 'shallow' draft for him, not a first rounder. Clearly hasn't come on as we hoped but was who we believed to be best available for our needs at the pick and within our wage budget. 

    Would I like a Lloyd Meek who can come in and fill a need? Of course. But even if we have one, come the end of the year we're rebalancing our cap and working out who we need to let go to pay our back up ruck an above average wage. Lists will always have holes due to the nature of the salary cap, backup ruck is one for us. Can only fill these holes by taking calculated risks that sometimes work and sometimes don't.

    I'm excited to see what we do this off-season but won't be at all surprised if we have the same issues next year as you just can't afford to pay a backup ruck anything other than minimum and Gawn needs to be first ruck. 

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    7 minutes ago, RedBlueandTrue said:

    We took a speculative low-cost risk on Fullarton hoping he could become something he clearly hasn't yet. We traded pick 47 in a supposed 'shallow' draft for him, not a first rounder. Clearly hasn't come on as we hoped but was who we believed to be best available for our needs at the pick and within our wage budget. 

    Would I like a Lloyd Meek who can come in and fill a need? Of course. But even if we have one, come the end of the year we're rebalancing our cap and working out who we need to let go to pay our back up ruck an above average wage. Lists will always have holes due to the nature of the salary cap, backup ruck is one for us. Can only fill these holes by taking calculated risks that sometimes work and sometimes don't.

    I'm excited to see what we do this off-season but won't be at all surprised if we have the same issues next year as you just can't afford to pay a backup ruck anything other than minimum and Gawn needs to be first ruck. 

    Disagree. Every other club has back up ruckman ready to go. No other team of recent has lost clearances so convincly

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    1 hour ago, kozzyisalegend said:

    I'm baffled as to the recruitment of a back up key fwd over a back up ruck. Verall is very raw and we gave Grundy up very easily

    I agree with this. Add to that the mid season draft pick that we used to sadly effectively replace a midfielder we again used a let’s call him a forward that can ruck. Absolutely nothing against Kentfield but seemed bizarre to me at the time when I would have thought bigger priorities were a genuine ruck or pure midfielders as the cupboard is bare at Casey. In my opinion our overall list is extremely unbalanced. 

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    40 minutes ago, kozzyisalegend said:

    Disagree. Every other club has back up ruckman ready to go. No other team of recent has lost clearances so convincly

    Don't think any of them make much of a difference to anything yesterday. Naismith maybe? Might've just got injured for us too. Goldy? Might've been a worse outcome having him trudging around. As if we weren't flat-footed enough. Certainly would've liked Moyle out there but how long is he going to be a backup for. I of course hope we can get someone like him for our next roll of the dice!

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    3 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

    Well this pretty much explains it. 

     

    Didn't Fullarton have 30 hit outs in a VFL match a few weeks ago? Classy by Goodwin to pump up Fullarton's tyres in public.

    And wonder if he noticed Pup's 24 tackles on the weekend? Didn't seem to notice/reward Pup's match saving one against Norf

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    It really makes you wonder why we have him and some others on our list. Are he and Schacke contracted for long?

    Did the club make a mistake in drafting these two?

    Seems like it. 

    On a more positive note Billings wasn't too bad v the Dockers coming in as the sub.

    He's probably the better of the three on him, Hunter and McAdam.

    But despite our clubs excellent recruiting I on general, I feel like we have picked up quite a few that are not up to speed.

     

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    36 minutes ago, dice said:

    Didn't Fullarton have 30 hit outs in a VFL match a few weeks ago? Classy by Goodwin to pump up Fullarton's tyres in public.

     

    Was he playing against two quality AFL ruckman?

    I highly doubt that what Goody is saying publicly, he hasn't told Fullarton privately.

    Do you think Tom is walking around wondering why he isn't getting a game? Or do you think he's been made fully aware of what he has to work on?

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    38 minutes ago, dice said:

    Didn't Fullarton have 30 hit outs in a VFL match a few weeks ago? Classy by Goodwin to pump up Fullarton's tyres in public.

    And wonder if he noticed Pup's 24 tackles on the weekend? Didn't seem to notice/reward Pup's match saving one against Norf

    Playing against the Northen Bullants.

    Which is pretty much playing against an undersized EDFL ruckman at suburban level. 

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    1 hour ago, Jaded No More said:

    Do you think Tom is walking around wondering why he isn't getting a game?

    Yep I do. And I reckon he's p*ssed off

    Edited by dice

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    2 hours ago, dice said:

    Yep I do. And I reckon he's p*ssed off

    Watch some Casey games - he has absolutely no reason to feel hard done by or p*sided off atm 

    I’m not always convinced by Goodwins comments but re him not getting a hit out in the AFL atm he is spot on

    Personally I don’t think he will ever be a ruck at AFL level - his only chance realistically is to focus on KPF - imo we should park him at CHF and Jefferson at FF for every game for the rest of Caseys season and see what they can do - They have been playing Schache back and maybe that’s his only chance (another Rory Lobb ?)

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    12 minutes ago, Sydee said:

    Watch some Casey games - he has absolutely no reason to feel hard done by or p*sided off atm 

    I’m not always convinced by Goodwins comments but re him not getting a hit out in the AFL atm he is spot on

    Personally I don’t think he will ever be a ruck at AFL level - his only chance realistically is to focus on KPF - imo we should park him at CHF and Jefferson at FF for every game for the rest of Caseys season and see what they can do - They have been playing Schache back and maybe that’s his only chance (another Rory Lobb ?)

    schache's best footy at afl level for footscray was as a tall defender

    he's been pretty good at the role at vfl level

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    4 minutes ago, whatwhat say what said:

    schache's best footy at afl level for footscray was as a tall defender

    he's been pretty good at the role at vfl level

    Probably true re Schache and the the dogs - and yet a team that has struggled for KPD happily let him go 🤔 

     

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    6 hours ago, Jaded No More said:

    I understand that this was what Twomey thought, and maybe that is what we thought to, but clearly we were sold a player who is not a ruckman or who needs a LOT of work in order to become one.

    He's played 19 games and he's 24 already. Not really sure that we thought he would be anything other than a complete break glass in case of emergency option this season.

    What I don't get is why we got him, and also kept Schache. 

     

    Our trading of Senior players has been atrocious since 2021 and it is now coming back to bite, very hard. 
     

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    8 hours ago, Jaded No More said:

    Losing the hitouts wasn’t the problem. It was not competing when the ball hit the ground that was the problem. 
    Gawn does two things better than any other ruck, he wins his own clearances (he averages 5 a game!), and he takes marks (averages over 5 a game). Those are his elite stats that we cannot replace even if we “win” the hitout stat. 

    Fullarton would therefore have not helped as he neither wins hitouts, clearances nor is a particularly strong contested mark. 
    I hazard a guess that we recruited him as a backup for a tall forward rather than as a ruck backup. 
    It has to be a real priority in 2025 to have at least one ready to go ruck on our list outside of a 33 year old Gawn. 

    This.

    We're stuffed when he's gone. 

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    On 18/07/2024 at 23:44, Tracca said:

    start building

    Ouch. Backed the wrong horse there.

    Edited by layzie

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    2 hours ago, Diamond_Jim said:

    Has anyone analysed his 2023 vfl season for Brisbane?

    Thanks

    Averaged around 15 disposals, 5 marks, 5 hitouts per game. And kicked 30 goals across 18 games. Similar stats in 2022.

    Just give the guy a chance in the seniors. Who knows - he may surprise everyone on this forum

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    1 hour ago, dice said:

    Averaged around 15 disposals, 5 marks, 5 hitouts per game. And kicked 30 goals across 18 games. Similar stats in 2022.

    Just give the guy a chance in the seniors. Who knows - he may surprise everyone on this forum

    5 hit outs per game in the VFL tells you everything you need to know about his rucking ability 

    His one and only chance at this level is a KP player because he isn’t big enough or strong enough to play ruck against the big boys 

    It is that simple 

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    11 hours ago, kozzyisalegend said:

    Disagree. Every other club has back up ruckman ready to go. No other team of recent has lost clearances so convincly

    Correct .they have hit the young talent well but gaping holes in getting ready experience talent to maximise the flag window which is now shut!

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    13 hours ago, kozzyisalegend said:

    I'm baffled as to the recruitment of a back up key fwd over a back up ruck. Verall is very raw and we gave Grundy up very easily

    kial - do you have a strategy whereby we could keep Brundy and play Max?   Our brains trust couldn’t. 

    4 hours ago, dice said:

    Averaged around 15 disposals, 5 marks, 5 hitouts per game. And kicked 30 goals across 18 games. Similar stats in 2022.

    Just give the guy a chance in the seniors. Who knows - he may surprise everyone on this forum

    dice - are you seriously suggesting that we just “give him a go”? Where and for whom?

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    Sorry but if the answer is Fullarton, Billings and Schache then the wrong question is being asked. 

    Hunter probably in similar category. 

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    12 hours ago, kozzyisalegend said:

    There's a bloke in the vfl called Brayden crossley. Absolute unit in the ruck. Makes fullarton look silly

    GOOBER

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    9 minutes ago, Demonsone said:

    Correct .they have hit the young talent well but gaping holes in getting ready experience talent to maximise the flag window which is now shut!

    Drafting has been great: trading has been pretty awful TBH (since May Lever)

    Edited by monoccular

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    12 hours ago, RedBlueandTrue said:

    We took a speculative low-cost risk on Fullarton hoping he could become something he clearly hasn't yet. We traded pick 47 in a supposed 'shallow' draft for him, not a first rounder. Clearly hasn't come on as we hoped but was who we believed to be best available for our needs at the pick and within our wage budget. 

    Would I like a Lloyd Meek who can come in and fill a need? Of course. But even if we have one, come the end of the year we're rebalancing our cap and working out who we need to let go to pay our back up ruck an above average wage. Lists will always have holes due to the nature of the salary cap, backup ruck is one for us. Can only fill these holes by taking calculated risks that sometimes work and sometimes don't.

    I'm excited to see what we do this off-season but won't be at all surprised if we have the same issues next year as you just can't afford to pay a backup ruck anything other than minimum and Gawn needs to be first ruck. 

    Sure but we could have rookied a VFL ruck and had a better outcome. 

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