Can Longer save Richo's hide??

[Bluthy]

Nice to see how some think our clearances were due to Longer and not the absolute dominance of Steven, Stevens, Ross and Steele. I'm not a Longer hater and at 23 I reckon only Grundy is younger and better than him. But please, McEvoy took the points

Get beaten at clearances - the ruck is a joke! Win clearances - nothing to do with the ruck! Why must we oversimplify everything?

Tony explained there is some serious research that has gone into how the ruck is working currently - they are not doing it on a whim. Longer brings a big body, protection for the mids, ability to hold off and exhaust the other ruck, ability to hurt oppo mids, doesn't give you those clean taps that hicks does but maybe gives a more overall effective tap by not being cleanly beaten the way Hicks can sometimes.

let us enjoy this struggle of the big men to push each other to fill in their weakness and become more complete. Fight to the death big guys!

[Goose is king]

[quote="Bluthy"][quote="Goose is king"]Nice to see how some think our clearances were due to Longer and not the absolute dominance of Steven, Stevens, Ross and Steele. I'm not a Longer hater and at 23 I reckon only Grundy is younger and better than him. But please, McEvoy took the points[/quote]

Get beaten at clearances - the ruck is a joke! Win clearances - nothing to do with the ruck! Why must we oversimplify everything?

Tony explained there is some serious research that has gone into how the ruck is working currently - they are not doing it on a whim. Longer brings a big body, protection for the mids, ability to hold off and exhaust the other ruck, ability to hurt oppo mids, doesn't give you those clean taps that hicks does but maybe gives a more overall effective tap by not being cleanly beaten the way Hicks can sometimes.

let us enjoy this struggle of the big men to push each other to fill in their weakness and become more complete. Fight to the death big guys![/quote]


Once again. I'm glad Longer is on our list. McEvoy was better today

[Bluthy]

Once again. I'm glad Longer is on our list. McEvoy was better today

Longer is 22. To go up against a brute like McEvoy and hold his own is impressive. The best is most probably yet to come with Longer.

[desertsaint]

Longer was fine, gave us what we would expect. Likely a better choice against Mummy. I think we'll see both of our ruckmen a fair bit unless one really stands up and picks himself.

[takeaway]

Longer provides a stronger presence at ruck contests. He won more tap outs than McEvoy and I thought more than held his own.

McEvoy kicked 2 goals, one where Billy was pushed in the back & the second he was not in the ruck.

He is vital against Mummy next week - better option than Hickey.

There is no doubt our best ruckman is Longhick.

[WellardSaint]

Longer was fine, gave us what we would expect. Likely a better choice against Mummy. I think we'll see both of our ruckmen a fair bit unless one really stands up and picks himself.

tony74 said about Feb or March, that Hickey has legs like matchsticks.
Longer is bigger and stronger.
To me, he seemed to compete very well against McEvoy, held his ground, and didn't give him an easy tap. I know the numbers, but stats can lie.
His bodywork seemed much better than what I've seen of Hickey.
My $0.02 worth

[kosifantutti]

Once again. I'm glad Longer is on our list. McEvoy was better today

Longer is 22. To go up against a brute like McEvoy and hold his own is impressive. The best is most probably yet to come with Longer.

He's two weeks off 24. McEvoy was always a liability in ruck contests.

[Trev from the Bush]

Once again. I'm glad Longer is on our list. McEvoy was better today

Longer is 22. To go up against a brute like McEvoy and hold his own is impressive. The best is most probably yet to come with Longer.

He's two weeks off 24. McEvoy was always a liability in ruck contests.

Glad you've reminded everybody about Benny. Personally, I love the bloke and loved the way he played for us and busted his gut at every contest. Unfortunately, his one glaring deficiency was his tap work, particularly at centre bounces.

While everybody was astounded when he was traded, you have to remember our lamentable 2013 (under the lamentable S Watters). We were flogged at centre clearances week after week; no doubt the list managers at the time (under Pelchen's guidance) recognised that weakness and concocted the trades that led to Hickey and Longer (and Savage and Dunstan) landing at StKilda.

Now, I admit I am no fan of Billy Longer. He just doesn't get enough of the ball for AFL level.

However, if he has a silver lining, he reminds me very much of a mis-shaped man-mountain who was making up the numbers in the reserves at a country club of which I was secretary. Crikey, it was 30 years ago! Anyway, our senior coach saw something in this bloke that nobody else did. A certainty, it was not athletic ability. We lacked anybody of genuine size and needed somebody to compete in the ruck. We had some terrific on-ballers who just needed first chance to get the ball.

Anyway, with some one on one coaching he became a regular player. Come the Grand Final, he played the game of his life and we won the Premiership. It was worth the time and effort just to see the grin on the big bloke's face after the game. A year or so later I was having a beer with his opponent from that day, a bloke regarded as one of the best rucks in the league. He said to me "That bloody big ape, he is the one player I hate playing against in the entire league. He's got the longest and biggest bloody arms I've ever seen. Every time I win a tap out his bloody great arms get in the way and the ball ricochets off him to your blokes!"

I've never forgotten his explanation. Sometimes, people outside your own club see things you cannot. Billy Longer, in so many ways, reminds me of that big fella from 30 years ago. And I really hope he comes up trumps for us.

[loris]

Once again. I'm glad Longer is on our list. McEvoy was better today

Longer is 22. To go up against a brute like McEvoy and hold his own is impressive. The best is most probably yet to come with Longer.

He's two weeks off 24. McEvoy was always a liability in ruck contests.

Glad you've reminded everybody about Benny. Personally, I love the bloke and loved the way he played for us and busted his gut at every contest. Unfortunately, his one glaring deficiency was his tap work, particularly at centre bounces.

While everybody was astounded when he was traded, you have to remember our lamentable 2013 (under the lamentable S Watters). We were flogged at centre clearances week after week; no doubt the list managers at the time (under Pelchen's guidance) recognised that weakness and concocted the trades that led to Hickey and Longer (and Savage and Dunstan) landing at StKilda.

Now, I admit I am no fan of Billy Longer. He just doesn't get enough of the ball for AFL level.

However, if he has a silver lining, he reminds me very much of a mis-shaped man-mountain who was making up the numbers in the reserves at a country club of which I was secretary. Crikey, it was 30 years ago! Anyway, our senior coach saw something in this bloke that nobody else did. A certainty, it was not athletic ability. We lacked anybody of genuine size and needed somebody to compete in the ruck. We had some terrific on-ballers who just needed first chance to get the ball.

Anyway, with some one on one coaching he became a regular player. Come the Grand Final, he played the game of his life and we won the Premiership. It was worth the time and effort just to see the grin on the big bloke's face after the game. A year or so later I was having a beer with his opponent from that day, a bloke regarded as one of the best rucks in the league. He said to me "That bloody big ape, he is the one player I hate playing against in the entire league. He's got the longest and biggest bloody arms I've ever seen. Every time I win a tap out his bloody great arms get in the way and the ball ricochets off him to your blokes!"

I've never forgotten his explanation. Sometimes, people outside your own club see things you cannot. Billy Longer, in so many ways, reminds me of that big fella from 30 years ago. And I really hope he comes up trumps for us.

Luv that story Trev........ let's hope Billy can be there for us with all his limitations with a grin on his face when one day the Saints win the 2nd flag

[Trev from the Bush]

Just hope he's not as old as us when he does, Loris!