How important are ruckmen?

I'm interested in other people's views on the importance of ruckmen in the SANFL today. Teams can often win the hit-out count but not win the clearances or the game. In fact teams can often win the clearances but not win the game.

I think it's fair to say that the current top three teams don't have any of the top three ruckmen in the competition. The top three would probably be Parry, Meiklejohn and Currie, all of whom play for teams in the bottom four.
Is it simply important just to have a competitive big man so that opposition ruckmen can't easily dominate ruck contests?

A lot of players now train to read the opposition ruckman's tap down, so I'm not sure if they're as crucial as they were when they could run up and thump the ball downfield 50m.

Malcolm Blight obviously didn't think so when he played Trent Ormond-Allen in ruck that one time.

the short answer is that they are important, i always thought it wouldn't matter if your ruck rover, rover & centreman (there's a blast from the past ) worked to the other ruckman & played directly on their opponents.....however over the years after seeing teams play when their 'star' ruckman is out you see that those teams struggle, it may possibly be because they haven't got that player taking marks around the ground

look at Fremantle & how they play with & without Sandilands

Providing they take marks around the ground then they are important but not many teams set up in the middle to take advantage of a ruckman winning the tap, they stand too close to the rucks imo

I don't think they're that crucial if you're competitive against them, but a dominant ruckman is a big asset.

At AFL level, ADelaide are clearly a better team for having Jacobs, whereas POrt have a real problem in that department right now.

At SANFL level, I think West are the No 1 clearance side, but their ruckmen rarely win the majority of hitouts.

Ruckmen are very very important. The Eagles won the GF with the Jack oatey Medal going
to the best big man in the comp Craig Parry. Parry has dominated the west Rucks for yrs except this yr when our ruckmen really stepped up.

Sam Jacobs has had a great yr and if he got injured now that would be game set and match for the crows. Iam sure next
yr they will recruit another ruckman maybe wood from Collingwood if he was delisted

redandblack wrote:I don't think they're that crucial if you're competitive against them, but a dominant ruckman is a big asset.

At AFL level, ADelaide are clearly a better team for having Jacobs, whereas POrt have a real problem in that department right now.

At SANFL level, I think West are the No 1 clearance side, but their ruckmen rarely win the majority of hitouts.

Its not how many hitouts wests ruckmen get but where they hit the ball that is important.

Totally agree, SS.

Willits and Webb do a terrific job in ruck for the Bloods.

Port Adelaide went through the most successful era in SANFL Football without a dominant ruckman.
Hawthorn dominated the 70s and 80s in the AFL/VFL without a dominant ruckman, and won the flag in 2008, again without a dominant ruckman.

Ruckmen are all very nice, but so long as you have a tall negating theother tall, that's really all you need.

Adelaide Hawk wrote:

Port Adelaide went through the most successful era in SANFL Football without a dominant ruckman.
Hawthorn dominated the 70s and 80s in the AFL/VFL without a dominant ruckman, and won the flag in 2008, again without a dominant ruckman.

Ruckmen are all very nice, but so long as you have a tall negating theother tall, that's really all you need.

Which era are you referring to?

50's and 60's I think, AH?

There are arguments for and against

Geelong is badly missng Brad Ottens this yr and that has been acknowleged.

I consider a a class ruckman as a very important part of a team structure

Structurely West look better when Lobbe plays in ruck and it allows Webb to play Key forward for most of the match.

redandblack wrote:50's and 60's I think, AH?

Ruckwork has actually gone backwards since that time. In that era, Norwood had the most dominant ruckman perhaps in history, and couldn't win a flag.

All we see now are ruckmen wrestling each other to the ground whilst the ball lands safely out of reach. If a ruckman does manage to get a hand to the ball, he yells out 3 or 4, or 5 or whatever number is allocated to an area, then it's up to the midfielders to make postition. It's really not that hard to do. When I rucked, you had to listen to the voices, and no matter where the ball was in the air, you had to work the ball in that direction.

There have been premiership teams of all eras who never had a good ruckman. Everyone carried on about Sandilands for years, but all he used to do is tap the ball forward because he was so tall. Opposition teams knew this and were able to minimise his effectiveness.

These thought aren't just mine, a number of good football minds feel the same way. Ruckmen were a lot more important years ago before they allowed sumo wrestling in ruck contests. What was the game? Norwood v Sturt? An insane number of hit outs in favour of Sturt, something like 60 or 70 to about 20, and Norwood won the game.

And further to my argument, on Friday night Meikeljohn apparently had 64 hit outs and yet Norwood had 28 scoring shots to 11. All those hit outs, and Port gained nothing from them. It's all about what happens after the ruckman brings the ball to ground.

Once again, Norwood absolutely thrashed in the hit out department, had 31 scoring shots to 10, and won by 121 points.

I rest my case your Honour.

AH I think that's why occasionally Collins rucks Nat Caruso. If your ruckmen aren't winning the taps and aren't doing much around the ground, you might as well go with a strong midfielder who can give some sort of ruck contest but then give you an extra running player.

Adelaide Hawk wrote:Port Adelaide went through the most successful era in SANFL Football without a dominant ruckman.
Hawthorn dominated the 70s and 80s in the AFL/VFL without a dominant ruckman, and won the flag in 2008, again without a dominant ruckman.

Ruckmen are all very nice, but so long as you have a tall negating theother tall, that's really all you need.

Port have never had a champion ruckman. If you look at their team of the century their ruckmen were very good footballers but not to be compared wtih Leahy, Marriott, Darley, Davies or Carey. On the other hand Port always had magnificent rovers and midfielders in general. I know their philosophy was that the ruckmen just had to be competitive. It worked almost always, 1976 being the obvious exception.

Adelaide Hawk wrote:Once again, Norwood absolutely thrashed in the hit out department, had 31 scoring shots to 10, and won by 121 points.

I rest my case your Honour.

I'll be waiting until Finals on a big ground before making a decision. If the Eagles didn't have Craig Parry last year, I doubt they would have won the premiership.

I reckon most premiership teams have had a good ruckman over the last few years Central: Scoullar, Griffin, Sutherland. Eagles: Lindsay, Dabrowski, Parry. Sturt: Feast, French.