Rowan Marshall

[B.M]

Nearly all of his best games have been as the sole ruckman

Does everything very well except centre bounce

Good for thought

[Banger9798]

I guess that is the plan with Hayes as Fwd / Ruck relief for the post-Paddy era.

Would you give Paddy another year?

I would.

[B.M]

Maybe while Hayes recovers and gets fitter

[Ghost Like]

Hayes getting fitter won't help with the centre bounce clearances, a vital clearance with 6-6-6. Both he & RoMa will be great around the ground, unfortunately neither are centre bounce capable, let alone reliable in there.

Unless we can reverse the ageing process we will need to identify another ruckman (from GWS perhaps) or (fingers crossed) develop & fast track Heath.

[happy feet]

I guess it shows how important the development of Max Heath is.

[meher baba]

How about simply working on better centre bounce strategies featuring Marshall?

I reckon our Best strategy long term is Marshall as #1 ruck and a utility player as second ruck. A pure tap ruckman is a waste of a spot in the 22.

[WellardSaint]

Nearly all of his best games have been as the sole ruckman

Does everything very well except centre bounce

Good for thought

Your Honour, I present Exhibit 'A'

RoMa to Windy who streams forward in the fashion of Martin, or Dangerfield, or Selwood.

Guaranteed to upset Cornes, Kingy et al, who don't want to see the Saints dominate any game anytime

[Vortex]

I guess that is the plan with Hayes as Fwd / Ruck relief for the post-Paddy era.

Would you give Paddy another year?

I would.

I recon if the club finds a viable and gettable option for a ruck forward at trade time then I think the club will cut Paddy.

You'd have to think a ruck forward is almost as high on the shopping list as a line breaking goal kicking A grade midfielder...shout out to De Goey.

[The_Dud]

Marshall is very good at everything except actual ruck work, where I would say he's average at best.

Around the ground he is great, and benefits from being the number 1 ruck.

But the team is better IMO with Paddy in it, as he is much better in the ruck.

So it is a weird conundrum.

[meher baba]

Marshall is very good at everything except actual ruck work, where I would say he's average at best.

Around the ground he is great, and benefits from being the number 1 ruck.

But the team is better IMO with Paddy in it, as he is much better in the ruck.

So it is a weird conundrum.

Yes, but as I said above, surely it is possible that Marshall's performance in the rucks can be improved. It's not just about him, it's about how he interacts with the other players. It could be worked on over the off-season.


We potentially have a very good setup going forward with Marshall and Hayes and that is surely worth experimenting with before we throw a great deal of money at a fair-to-average quality old-style ruckman. Of course, if we could snag an AA ruckman or close to that, that's a different matter entirely. But I can't see how we could hope to do that.

[CURLY]

Marshall needs to give the ball off by hand. Costs us so many times wanting to kick it every time he gets it.

[shanegrambeau]

Nearly all of his best games have been as the sole ruckman

Does everything very well except centre bounce

Good for thought

I do not know what you mean by "best games."

Rowan's best games are when he contributes a role that results in St Kilda lifting to heights - you know that saying about 'bigger than the sum of all parts' ..that stuff!

So Game A
No Paddy
Holla gets 50 hit outs
ten marks
kick three goals
Saints lose by 3 points

vs

Game B
Paddy and Holla

Holla
15 hitouts
3 marks
one goal
Saints win by 30

Hear what I am saying.

No doubt Marshall's stats and visibility will be through the roof when Paddy is not there.

[B.M]

Who were the opposition in those games


Id say Marshall played better in game A

I’ve played better in losses than wins on many occasions

1 player playing well does not equal a win

I am guessing Marshall has played well in Wins as No 1 ruckman too
And has played average as number 2 ruckman in losses also

Highlighting one game is not a great sample

[Yorkeys]

Where then in the spectrum of Rucks, from Jimmy Stynes to Jason Blake, does ROMA sit in relation to the GT theory that who rucks doesn't matter?

[Ghost Like]

Who were the opposition in those games


Id say Marshall played better in game A

I’ve played better in losses than wins on many occasions

1 player playing well does not equal a win

I am guessing Marshall has played well in Wins as No 1 ruckman too
And has played average as number 2 ruckman in losses also

Highlighting one game is not a great sample

I'm guessing that's a hypothetical B.M.

Sunday must be close to RoMa's most hit outs in a match but does that matter when we can't even name the ruck opponent?

[B.M]

GT never said rucks don’t matter

He said average ones are pretty useless

I believe he was referring to Capuano and duly sacked him mid-season

[SaintPav]

I have to check but I think he said this in 04 or 05. I have a feeling it was 05.

Capuano was sacked a few years before. 03 I think.

[Banger9798]

He said the ruck was overrated.

And unless you win it to advantage, I tend to agree.

Another year for Paddy. He still has that incredible leap

[saynta]

GT never said rucks don’t matter

He said average ones are pretty useless

I believe he was referring to Capuano and duly sacked him mid-season

I was at Crapuano's last game and he was disgraceful, shirking the contest. It was against the filth at the dome and he was pulled from the game and replaced in the ruck by Matty Maguire from memory.

On the way out of the ground I saw Barry Lawrence going off his head to anybody who would listen about Thomas.

Neither Steve Lawrence or Crapuano played for the saints again.

[Wayne42]

GT never said rucks don’t matter

He said average ones are pretty useless

I believe he was referring to Capuano and duly sacked him mid-season

I was at Crapuano's last game and he was disgraceful, shirking the contest. It was against the filth at the dome and he was pulled from the game and replaced in the ruck by Matty Maguire from memory.

On the way out of the ground I saw Barry Lawrence going off his head to anybody who would listen about Thomas.

Neither Steve Lawrence or Crapuano played for the saints again.

Was Barry drunk, his son liked a drink..

Steve Lawrence played 120 games for Brisbane and St Kilda over nine seasons, but was given the boot from the Saints in 2003 after he was caught drink driving.
In a cruel twist of fate however, it was St Kilda's fitness coach, and not head coach Grant Thomas, who first told Lawrence he was no longer required at the club.

“I had a big day on the squirt, I drove home because I was silly. You go back and reassess your life and you look at where you’re at and why you’re there,” Lawrence told SEN’s Afternoons on Thursday.

“The first I heard of getting sacked was walking into the gym and one of the fitness coaches told me I wasn’t welcome here, I went and reassessed my life, and thankfully I did because without that I wouldn’t have my three amazing kids.”

Lawrence, who was the son of St Kilda champion Barry, admitted he was disappointed in the way his career finished, but confirmed he has no bad blood for anyone at the Saints.

https://www.zerohanger.com/former-saint ... BjSiHzocwc

[saynta]

GT never said rucks don’t matter

He said average ones are pretty useless

I believe he was referring to Capuano and duly sacked him mid-season

I was at Crapuano's last game and he was disgraceful, shirking the contest. It was against the filth at the dome and he was pulled from the game and replaced in the ruck by Matty Maguire from memory.

On the way out of the ground I saw Barry Lawrence going off his head to anybody who would listen about Thomas.

Neither Steve Lawrence or Crapuano played for the saints again.

Was Barry drunk, his son liked a drink..

Steve Lawrence played 120 games for Brisbane and St Kilda over nine seasons, but was given the boot from the Saints in 2003 after he was caught drink driving.
In a cruel twist of fate however, it was St Kilda's fitness coach, and not head coach Grant Thomas, who first told Lawrence he was no longer required at the club.

“I had a big day on the squirt, I drove home because I was silly. You go back and reassess your life and you look at where you’re at and why you’re there,” Lawrence told SEN’s Afternoons on Thursday.

“The first I heard of getting sacked was walking into the gym and one of the fitness coaches told me I wasn’t welcome here, I went and reassessed my life, and thankfully I did because without that I wouldn’t have my three amazing kids.”

Lawrence, who was the son of St Kilda champion Barry, admitted he was disappointed in the way his career finished, but confirmed he has no bad blood for anyone at the Saints.

https://www.zerohanger.com/former-saint ... BjSiHzocwc

He was f****** angry, I remember that, Haven't a clue if he had been drinking or not.

[Banger9798]

I remember being in a little bar in StKilda for a friend's birthday, and Steve Lawrence and Michael Gardiner were absolutely pissed of their heads.
I hadn't had a drink, but Stevie was bumping into me and acting like he was shaping up for a fight....until I said, Aren't you Steve Lawrence? I'm a StKilda fan, how's your father?
That seemed to take the wind out of his sails ( and saved me a broken nose)

[B.M]

Was that when Gardiner was still a wce player?

Their paths never crossed at StK

Lawrence 2001-2003
Gardiner 2007-2011

[Sainternist]

Geez, if only we could get a player like young Jackson from Melbourne.

[Trev from the Bush]

Nearly all of his best games have been as the sole ruckman

Does everything very well except centre bounce

Good for thought

Your Honour, I present Exhibit 'A'

RoMa to Windy who streams forward in the fashion of Martin, or Dangerfield, or Selwood.

Guaranteed to upset Cornes, Kingy et al, who don't want to see the Saints dominate any game anytime

If I were asked the old chestnut "what three things would you take to a desert island" I would answer a sturdy oyster knife, a crate of Viagra and the chickn off the Carpet Call ad on TV. Watching the tap from Marshall to Windy (almost) gave me the same excitement .