Official: McEVOY worst tap ruckman in competition

[samoht]

What some posters may be overlooking is that the Port clearances may have more to do with their midfield/clearance players - not their "fantastic/dominant " ruckmen/schmuckmen.
McEvoy was more than ok and maybe we should get off his case and redirect the blame where it's due.
Where were our clearance players ?- Port's were certainly switched on !!

[gringo]

What some posters may be overlooking is that the Port clearances may have more to do with their midfield/clearance players - not their "fantastic/dominant " ruckmen/schmuckmen.
McEvoy was more than ok and maybe we should get off his case and redirect the blame where it's due.
Where were our clearance players ?- Port's were certainly switched on !!

hey I'm not writing Big Mac off, I think he will be a very good player but as far as games go that was a shocker for him. He is much better than that game not only from his ruck work. Port don't have a recognised ruckman and I guess that is why it was painful to watch, that's one team he could dominate, that said their young ruckman was very good.

i agree our mids were poor also. Lenny is obviously a gun but they tend to let him do all the work and he looks a little off the pace still at the moment. I would have liked to see Armo and steven try to oust the old man as the number one grunt player.

[Spinner]

What ruckman is dominant in the ruck at age 21/22?



He is getting better. His performance is beyond his age and experience.

[Austinnn]

What ruckman is dominant in the ruck at age 21/22?



He is getting better. His performance is beyond his age and experience.

Spider did all right for us as a young dreadlocked greenhorn. Isn't this NicNat fella a ruck man? He can't be too old. But generally you're right, they hit their peak a bit later than the rest of the team.

[lefty]

Pretty average game for Mac, seemed to always jump way to early and couldn't hit the ball at all.

[Austinnn]

As far as clearances go, I noted during the game that while we got more centre clearances than them, the stoppages were well down on PA's efforts. (Those statistics were available during the game but I can't find them now. I think it was the Hsun's Live stats sheet or maybe the StKilda app.)

So what do those stats tell us? Who did the Centre work and who did the Stoppages?

The following from the AFL website, it's a shame they don't list where these took place or how many that number was out of, (for example while Dal Santo won 5 clearances, how many did he contest? 5? 10? 20? The same goes for the hit-outs. That's the real missing data in the stats.)

Hit-Outs
25 McEvoy
21 Redden
14 Stewart
11 Stanley
3 Westhoff
2 Kosi
1 McCarthy, Dal Santo, Carlile, Hayes

Team stats: Both teams had 40 Hit-Outs

Clearances
7 Rodan (wasn't he a sub?? Talk about effective! Nice tactics Port but whoever was on Rodan effectively cost us that win.)
5 Dal Santo
5 Cassisi
5 Thomas
4 Steven
4 Armitage
4 Redden (this newbie was a-ruckin' and a-rovin' all over us)
4 McCarthy
4 Boak
4 Broadbent
3 Hayes
3 Goddard
2 Montagna
2 Cornes K
2 Stewart
2 Wingard
1 Stanley, Ebert Br, Blake, Hartlett, Cripps, O'Shea, Fisher, Pearce, Jones, Schultz, Milera, Peake, Polo

Team stats: Port 44 clearances, St Kilda 29 clearances

[Megamaguire]

I wish i had seen the game now. I'll be keeping more of an eye on McAboy when purely rucking. I don't believe his career is over just yet as i have seen him mark and kick noticibly straight (for a big Saints player) and post some much needed scoreboard pressure at times last year. Staying with the positives i think Ben has good reserves of determination to draw on and could very well evolve into a much craftier and tuned in ruck man - if the team improves 'around him and with him' regarding the midfield and clearance work he may well survive. I hope so.

GO BEN!
GO SAINTS!