The mongrel punt...Doc's autopsy

[saynta]

https://themongrelpunt.com/afl-season-2 ... s-autopsy/

Love this report but especially this bit on our sole ruckman for the game.

"Without throwing shade or manure (pick your favourite) on Ben McEvoy, Marshall completely dominated him across general play, but also soundly beat him in the ruck contest as well. McEvoy competed in one more ruck contest, but Marshall beat him in the hitouts 35-26, with 12-8 to advantage in Marshall’s favour.

But it’s his follow-up work and his pressure in this game that immediately stand out as the most influential on the ground in this one. Prior to this game, his previous career high in disposals was 25 set late last year against the Swans.

He surged past that with his first 30-disposal performance in his career. It’s a very rare feat that we see ruckmen hit 30 disposals and 30 hitouts in the same game; Brodie Grundy did it three times, Max Gawn achieved that feat, Todd Goldstein once got 30 disposals in a game for North Melbourne, but was two hitouts short of the 30-30 game and I’m still waiting on Tim English to get there – any time soon would appreciated, big fella.

Of course, we need to break down on his disposals as the raw numbers mean sweet f-all; 13 of his 30 came from contested possessions, and he also had seven clearances, which shows that he was not shy of digging in again after the initial ruck contest. But he was also linking well on the outside in general play with nine marks (two intercepts) and with 21 kicks, 71 percent efficiency is absurd numbers from a big man.

But also, seven tackles and 26 pressure acts are huge defensive numbers from a ruckman, which leads me to the second player."