I promise not to do so again Molsey

I agree that he hasn't got the safest hands in the AFL IIRC, he dropped a sitter at the start of the game against Sydney when he was behind a pack at CHB and flew uncontested for a mark only for the ball to bounce off his hands back into the pack, robbing us of the chance of a rebound. My impression is that such "unforgiveable" marking errors have plagued him this year more than last, but I admit that is only a vague impression. Last year the problem was rather that he wasn't a one-grab player, so he showed a bit of the ball to his opponent. If this is right, it tends to suggest that the deterioration in his skills is largely attributable to a mixture of loss of form, confidence and fitness.

If my impression is wrong, then I suppose it may be a weakness that would be hard to remedy. Quentin Lynch and Petrie have the same problem, so I suppose you could say that it isn't a fatal flaw.

Maybe there might be a root cause which could be addressed. IIRC I read that the Lions eventually discovered that Alistair Lynch had a problem with an astigmatism which resulted in him thinking the ball was a bit further away than it was. Apparently, the ball was bouncing off hard hands or hitting him in the face. They were able to give him exercises to do which corrected the problem. So who knows what they could do with ADL over the coming months

I guess from your comment that he has some serious work to do to overcome those deficiencies, you are not one of those advocating that ADL be delisted. So we aren't very far apart at all. I can't believe that anyone would want him delisted (unless medically he is cactus). If he were delisted, he would be snapped up quickly by another side. If an attractive trade were offered, that would have to be considered. But I would be very disappointed if we traded him away for a late pick, for instance.

Hell no on delisting - think he definitely has a role to fill. Someone that mobile at his height could be great if we get our midfield and forwards up & running at the same time.

I have to agree. Last year he juggled marks. This year he has juggled marks and dropped them cold.

Can we also please stop repeating this nonsense that Deluca is primarily a forward. That's crap. We didn't recruit a 202cm guy who can't mark as a forward, we recruited him to be a back-up for French in the ruck. He is PRIMARLY A RUCKMAN.

People peddle that forward nonsense because he has been, for the most part, a manifest failure in the role he was recuited for but people don't want to admit that because he's got so much potential because he's tall and agile (and should be so much better than he is)

Brad Fisher's left leg is more of a forward than DeLuca is but people cling to that game against Essendon* where Deluca kicked 3 goals and say "look, he's primarly a forward". That automatically qualifies him to use all the excuses our other forwards are entitled to use ("the delievery was crap"; "he was played out of position", "he's only 22 ... no, wait that's not a good one "), and all of a sudden people forget that he gets smashed in the ruck and doesn't give us anything useful around the ground when he acutally rucks.

I'm not a Deluca hater, but I agree with Molsey that the guy is really a long way off. I really hope he works hard and he makes it but I also really wish people would stop overexaggeratting what he give the team offensively (14 goals from 32 games), and glossing over the things he was recruited to do that he's not particuarily good at.

**Nightcrawler steps off his soap box and dissapears into the night ***

IIRC, ADL was drafted in the same draft as Ricky Mott wasn't he? Mott was supposed to be the back-up ruckman. ADL played primarily as a forward in the VFL, IIRC. He was drafted in that capacity, with a hope he might be able to ruck. That's my impression, but frankly we don't know what the recruiters specifically recruited him for, unless someone can find the comments made on draft day about him.

Ottens, Simmonds, and Gardiner until his injury have stretched defences as tall forwards. Bandy had a good year at CHF prior to injuries and loss of form. McKernan was a problem up forward in his hey-day. I don't think you can suggest that teams aren't interested in recruiting 202 cm forwards. It kind of makes sense to have tall, mobile forwards you might think.

It doesn't really matter if Mott was the backup for French, and Deluca was the backup for Mott (who came with a huge question mark on him ... did he ever play a game for us in the end?). They're ruckman first, and forwards second if their team has the luxary of depth in the ruck.

If we had depth in the ruck I might be content to let Deluca wander around in the forward line creating mis-matches and accidently catching the ball every now and again.

But at the moment we have no depth in the ruck and it concerns me that we talk about carrying as a forward a guy who IMO can't do the job in the ruck when need him too.

Anyway it's only an opinion, and no more valid than anyone elses ... except that I'm right of course

I'm pretty sure he played most of the year at centre half back when he was playing at Port Melbourne in the VFL. I assume he was drafted because of his height, agility and skill level. And because of those characteristics, he'd be a chance to make it either in the ruck or as a tall forward or as a tall defender.

Wasn't he the Ruckman in the all VFL team or whatever its called ??

i.e VFL Ruckman of the year ??

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*(grow - fun - gah)

Yeah but whatabout your whataboutism.