Thats not true, prior to this year 1 year rookies were all the rage. Its only now that Setanta, Smith and Batson are getting the second year.

But its a footy fact that the big guys just take longer to mature. Batson looked a bit at sea for the Bullants seconds but when he is near it he looks accomplished. He'll be given lots of opportunities to perform.

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Formerly: Ackland the Wonderkid / Army the Wonderkid / quivering mess / molsey / Tony Lynn Fan Club

Preacher, I don't think the argument is that we've got the ruck division covered. What we have, post McLaren, is 6 players on the list playing or in line for that position. I exclude Setanta here as I agree completely about his being a forward. The sort of forward we're all hoping Kennedy now will be.

But with that many notional ruckmen on the list, we just dont have the luxury of picking any more. Our club has so many holes on the list at the moment that we have to share those resources around and trust that we can develop some solid ruckmen with our late picks and rookie drafts. Train (with an old trainer) two of them to be solid ruckmen to replace French when he retires. I would much rather our rookies go to fast defender types with good skills to help out Carrazzo and Simpson on fast opposition players. We haven't yet addressed our pace needs.

Pagan's coaching career, ignoring Mckernan who was really a forward, is laced with big, trying ruckmen. Ischenko, Mark Roberts as occasional pinchhitter, Burton - I think Pagan just wants some solid development options who will be ready in 2-5 years.

The Fry is 30 and we need to develop a ruckman for the future.I know little about Batson ,but is a long way off if he cant get a game for the Bullants seniors.McLaren is a handy back up, but is not a number one ruckman.
It is near impossible to base the future of a player in one quarter, but I liked what I saw with Deluca in the last quarter against Melbourne this year.He is mobile and has good skills.He needs to become stronger and more aggressive. I think he is the best prospect ,but could bomb out as well.

It's funny that you should mention that Melbourne game. When French went down in the second quarter, DeLuca was asked to ruck the game out. We gave it our all but we just couldn't win the ball out of the middle. After the game the young blokes in the middle that day complained about how it was near impossible to win the ball out of the middle after half time as White just smashed DeLuca. DeLuca's timing was poor. The ball was continually moving the wrong way and our youngsters in the middle had no chance against a Melbourne midfield that was up and running. I think it's well established that DeLuca like Bryan is just not a ruckman. At best they are 3rd or 4th string pinch hitters.

I think we are all on the same wavelength. Big blokes who can stand on their own and give you first chance at winning the ball out of the middle, are like gold. French has developed into a very accomplished big man. The jury is still out on McClaren. As for the rest, they may be big and tall, but they have not been raised as ruckman and have little idea against quality opposition like a Jeff White. So, when we talk about our ruck stocks, we really only have one genuine ruckman on the list today and we will add another next Tuesday. That makes two. Not six.

I think he can be .In that game White had 21 hit outs. Deluca had 6 and French 4 so point taken that the dees ruckman dominated this stat.When French was in the guts we were still getting thrashed and had it not been for our accurate kicking and the dees inaccurate kicking it could of been a massacare. Whilst Deluca was ordinary until the last quarter when White was tired our midfield once again was shit for the first 3 quarters.Overall lthought Deluca did well in the second half.He was also carrying a foot problem which turned out to be a stress fracture.I couldnt find the centre clearances stats which would be interesting.Deluca's other stats match up almost identically with Whites' on the day.