With French back and Bryan starting so well do what should we do?
I have this feeling both will work better being the No1 ruckman but wont do as well sharing the role...you know the old Porter/Allan thing.
Deluca is different ..he isnt a No1 ruckman and plays better forward so it isnt an issue when he played/plays with French.

French is no value down forward and if not rucking is better off the ground.
My view is I would start Bryan in the ruck and bring French on late in the quarter to spell Bryan..if Bryan was getting smashed sure then replace him with French earlier.

French has earned his NO 1ruck spot but to me Bryans upside is better and already has been compared to Everitt...I would punt with Bryan and see how consistent or how good he gets and test him..we know Frenchs best and he has been ok but maybe we should be looking to improve on him and get a ruckman who can also contribute in general play like Bryan showed in his first game....

How about Bryan as a CHB option? Rotating into the ruck as needed.

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A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty" -Winston Churchill

L.M 35-06

Barney's around the ground play has improved a lot this year I think. In my mind he's still ahead of Bryan by a long way.

Port manage to get away with 3 and all were on the ground at times yesterday. Admittedly they didn't have 3 in the premiership side last year.

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Bryan is a good option at either end....but what was Pagan thinking with Whitnall in the Ruck?

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A Life!.....Great....I wonder where I can download one of those.

I've only seen Bryan play the one game... Is he mobile enough to play CHB?

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When Dick became President, it was as if everyone at Carlton came out of the hailstorm and into the sunshine - Stephen Kernahan

YARRAN!!





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I'd rotate them as ruckmen of the bench. If the opposition has the scoring momentum I'd whip whichever one is on the bench at the time into the backline to fill some space.

let's wait for Bryan to string some good games together and cement a place first!

I don't think it would be fair to tell Barney that Chris Bryan's going to be the number one ruckman from now on. Barnaby's worked bloody hard to get to where he is and had been having a very good season not just by his standards but anyone's standards before getting injured. I think he deserves to continue as number one ruckman for the time being. We need to remember that Bryan has played only one game of AFL footy and whilst it was good he's not going to perform like that every week, no ruckman can.

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Formerly Blues-Back2003.

It means Prendergast may not be used in the future or kept on the list. But I think he re-signed recently and it will be an interesting if Bryan keeps playing well.

We used to have a reasonable ruck combo with Allen and Porter. Only this time we could use Bryan in defense instead of up forward. Gotta be better than what we have had for the last 36 months.

Sounds good to me.

I remember a few weeks ago that Bryan played a game in the 2s as the loose man across half back ala James Clement, Leigh Colbert etc etc and from all reports he did the job quite well.

Could be useful to stop Brown.

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Writer for SuperCoach Paige www.scpaige.com.au
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If you are wanting to compare Bryan to anyone currently playing i would suggest that vastly underated Brendan Lade from Port power.Like Lade,Bryan is more than handy in the ruck duels.Has also that wonderful anticipation to play loose man in defence and to drift forward and take a big grab.

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All my dangerous friends

The beauty of playing Bryan in defence is that with that kick of his, he can launch more than a few rebounds deep into the forward line.

I like the idea of him rucking and doing CHB.

Actually I was really wondering why Pagan didnt have him in the team a lot earlier.

Maybe it was to stop him being thrown into the deep end when we had a less settled backline.

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My Blue Heaven

If you look at the 5 seasons that both Allan and Porter were at Carlton (97 through to 01) they hardly ever played in the same team together (I would reckon about 10 to 15% of the possible games), they usually came in to replace each other when either one was injured. They hardly ever played together when both were fully fit. Hard to guage whether they would have worked together as a fit combination.

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Prenda was running with Goodes. Given Goodes' ability, this was a priority. I don't think Pagan's decision to use Red in the ruck showed that Pagan will not use Prenda to relieve in the ruck again.


Exactly! I hope he can back up his debut performance. I think we can all remember some fantastic debuts which created false hope. I remember a bloke named Brown who played at Full-forward against the Saints and kicked 6.8 on debut. I thought he was going to be a star, but he never kicked on. Walker's debut certainly created ecpectations that haven't been realised yet (although I am sure they will be shortly). To an extent, Porter's debut against Somerville may have been his career highlight.

Like all debutants, Bryan was probably given more latitude than he will experience after such a good performance. Future opponents will work to stop him playing loose in the centre. They will do this by either manning him up or forcing him to be accountable for his opponent.

We also have to remember that he was not opposed to elite ruckmen against the Swans.

Please don't misunderstand my caution. I pray that we have unearthed a star. And he doesn't have to maintain the level he attained against Sydney to be a valuable player for us.