Marshall. Ruckman, forward or a bit of both?

[samuraisaint]

As long as I have followed the Saints (60 years) we have struggled in the ruck. Most of the time I am happy to break even. The only decent ruckmen in that period have been Carl Ditterich. Jeff Sarau and Peter Everitt. Yes we have had the odd good game from Sidebottom, Wow Jones, Vidovic, etc. but opposition clubs have never had to worry about St Kilda's ruck strength.
But now we have a bloke who can match it with the best if not beat them. In my mind he plays Ruck with relief from Ryder who can hopefully kick goals from the forward line. No 50/50 split. 80/20.

I still see Jeff Sarau around now. Great player in a poor era.

Gardner went alright. McEvoy was just beginning when we traded him.

But Marshall could be the missing part of the jigsaw puzzle.

We also need to pick up an elite midfielder.

[To the top]

Commentating on Rucks, there was King with Gardiner

Kenny Sheldon and Peter Hudson bought a couple of Rucks in - starting with B from Hawthorn and the other escapes me also

And as an aside in regards teams, there was a time when acknowledged for performances in Grand Finals, I would respond that the most ordinary player in the best team is once again absolutely ecstatic

A champion team will always beat a team of champions

Everyone plays their part

[minneapolis]

What about a big bodied midfielder and tagging Cripps when we play The Blues? Didn't Harvey tag Jimmy Stynes successfully?

What about Cripps tagging Marshall????

Marshall > Cripps

I think Cripps is the Blues player that is most likely to win the game for them. Therefore the argument to tag him. Perhaps I was being a bit "enthusiastic" nominating a ruckman to tag a mid-fielder.

Perhaps the oppo think that Marshall is that player for us. It's a bit harder to tag a ruckman though because he must be unhindered during stoppages.

An interesting question though Pop. Who would you rather have in your club. Marhsall or Cripps. I love em both but would have to choose Cripps. It is a hypothetical though.

LOL - Are you asking my opinion when referring to Pop?

If so - then I agree with you when you say you would rather both, however, if I really turn off my St Kilda bias (which is welded on) I would say I would rather Marshall.

Cripps is damaging - Marshall also

Patrick Cripps	Player	Rowan Marshall
Carlton Blues	Team	St Kilda Saints
Midfield	Position	Ruck
101	Career Games	33
East Fremantle	Origin	North Ballarat
24yr 11mth	Age	24yr 3mth
195cm	Height	201cm
92kg	Weight	104kg
2013 National Draft	Last Drafted In	2016 Rookie Draft
Round 1, Pick #13	Last Draft Position	Round 1, Pick #10
Career	Category	Career
101	Games	33
9.7	Kicks	8.7
16.5	Handballs	7.3
26.3	Disposals	16
3.5	Marks	4.7
0.5	Goals	0.4
0.5	Behinds	0.5
5.9	Tackles	3.1
0.7	Hitouts	20.8
3	Inside 50s	2.8
0.4	Goal Assists	0.2
2	Frees For	1.5
1.7	Frees Against	1.6
15.6	Contested Possessions	9.2
10.9	Uncontested Possessions	7.5
18.3	Effective Disposals	11.3
69.6%	Disposal Efficiency %	70.6%
3.7	Clangers	2.9
0.8	Contested Marks	1.1
0.4	Marks Inside 50	0.7
7.5	Clearances	3.6
1.2	Rebound 50s	0.9
1.1	One Percenters	2.8
0.4	Bounces	0
84.4%	Time On Ground %	84.5%
-	Centre Clearances	1.2
-	Stoppage Clearances	2.4
-	Score Involvements	4.5
-	Metres Gained	208
-	Turnovers	2.6
-	Intercepts	2.8
-	Tackles Inside 50	0.4

Effectively Marshall is almost as damaging as Cripps as a Midfielder - plus he is a pretty decent Ruck!

And whilst position in draft is highly irrelevant at this stage - we got Marshall for nothing effectively as a Rookie!!!!

If you just look at last year - Marshall is pretty damn close to Cripps in terms of being a Midfielder.

Patrick Cripps	Player	Rowan Marshall
Carlton Blues	Team	St Kilda Saints
Midfield	Position	Ruck
101	Career Games	33
East Fremantle	Origin	North Ballarat
34776	Date of Birth	35027
24yr 11mth	Age	24yr 3mth
195cm	Height	201cm
92kg	Weight	104kg
2013 National Draft	Last Drafted In	2016 Rookie Draft
Round 1, Pick #13	Last Draft Position	Round 1, Pick #10
Carlton Blues	Last Drafted By	St Kilda Saints
2019	Stats for Season	2019
20	Games	20
10.6	Kicks	9.9
17.5	Handballs	7.8
28.1	Disposals	17.8
3.1	Marks	4.2
0.7	Goals	0.4
0.3	Behinds	0.1
6.2	Tackles	3.5
0	Hitouts	28.4
3.1	Inside 50s	3.3
0.3	Goal Assists	0.3
2.4	Frees For	1.8
1.9	Frees Against	1.9
16.9	Contested Possessions	11.2
11.3	Uncontested Possessions	7.2
19.9	Effective Disposals	12.6
70.8%	Disposal Efficiency %	70.8%
4.3	Clangers	3.2
0.8	Contested Marks	1.1
0.2	Marks Inside 50	0.5
8.4	Clearances	5.5
1.1	Rebound 50s	1.2
1.4	One Percenters	2.5
0.5	Bounces	0
89.8	Time On Ground %	86.2
3.3	Centre Clearances	1.9
5.1	Stoppage Clearances	3.5
5.2	Score Involvements	4.8
268.6	Metres Gained	254.9
4	Turnovers	2.8
2.8	Intercepts	3.1
0.8	Tackles Inside 50	0.1
$753,000	AFL Fantasy Price	$736,000
101.5	AFL Fantasy Score	99.2
$635,900	Supercoach Price	$598,700
117.1	Supercoach Score	110.2

Well Pa those stats surprised me. That's for sure. I watched and appreciated Marshall last season but did not realise he was as effective as Cripps. The clanger count and efficiency rating was also surprising.

It certainly boosts your position on Marshall > Cripps. Well done.

[takeaway]

Marshall is valuable because good around the ground ruckmen are hard to find. He still has a bit to learn in giving us an advantage with tap outs in the middle, and I hope he spends the majority of his time in the ruck this year, not 50:50 withs Ryder. Comparing him to Cripps? No way - Cripps is the best player in the AFL. If Ryder was 3 years younger I would trade Marshall plus a reasonable player for Cripps. The Blues still wouldn't agree to that.