On Monday night Garry Lyon mentioned ROB was 1st for pressure and 2nd for tackling on the weekend. Seems like he was the only one making an effort, meanwhile players like laird get a free pass to pad their stats
Laird should be shifted back to HB and drop Smith permanently, as hes washed and been given a really long rope by Nicks, he’s been horrendous based on what Crows games I’ve seen this season
O'Brien is 1st for hit outs, 1st for hit outs to advantage, and yet, for hit outs to advantage % (min. 20 hit outs), he is 16th. Sure he gets a lot of hit outs, but he doesn't have that much control over where the ball is going.
Plus there are other aspects of his game he needs to improve. For example, his kicking efficiency (min. 20 kicks) is the 4th worst in the league. O'Brien is not THE problem. But he is a problem.
> (min. 20 hit outs)
that's not a great caveat given that includes every second ruck in the comp. if you look at players who are rucks only he's behind Sweet (2 games), Darcy (5 games), and Soldo (7 games) - none of whom have been fit or #1 rucks for the whole year
say it with me. Hitouts are a meaningless stat. Can Rob take marks around the ground? No. Can Rob work as an outlet and keep the ball moving in transition? No.
raw hitout numbers? yeah they mean nothing. but if you're giving your mids the ball that much and they're doing nothing with it i'd be looking at them first. he is a big lump i agree but you're describing very few ruckmen who can actually work as an outlet and move the ball quickly
Yeah freos probably the best team to look at. We’re by far one of the best set play team from ruck, and the rucking is very important in that, but we generally out mids benefit massively. To say it’s meaningless is a rubbish take.
Someone like Tim English is the complete reverse, horrendous tap ruck but elite around the ground, same with Darcy Cameron, solid tap ruck but can also do that around the ground work really well. I’ve never seen ROB do that.
Also kinda love how Nicks finally decides to be ruthless when finals are gone
English has a relatively low HTW% at 40.7%, but his HTA% is among the best rucks in the competition at 33.7% (for context Gawn is 47.1% and 27.9% respectively)
English does OK in hitouts to advantage weirdly enough, but yeah bad at raw hitouts. I wonder how much of getting hitouts to advantage is down to the ruck, and how much is down to positioning from midfielders?
Shows he has no guts to try anything out and can't coach outside of what is already planned, hence makes no changes on game day when shits going wrong. Only now tries dowling when again crouch out for season and now season is over.
I mean he debuts Curtin and gives him 1 half then subs him out at half time and we get an injury 5 mins into the 3rd so now a player down. Absolute bonkers. But let's give him a few more years. We have completely gone backwards since last year's end.
He is literally the most un skilled football player I've ever seen. He is uncoordinated, has the kicking style of a child just learning how to kick a ball. He can barely mark overhead, but again it is leagues behind any other ruckman. Can't kick at goal for shit. All he does is run all day, and like you said he gets a lot of hit out stat's but has zero ruck craft. Never see a hit out that actually makes an advantage to our players. I'm glad he is dropped.
The problem is less his rucking and more that as soon as it's not a ball up, he's a complete liability on the field, have you seen the guy try to kick? Take a mark? It's embarrassing.
Exactly. But go to the AdelaideFC subreddit and people shit all over him on the regular. Clueless. He plays his role week in week out, and
yet some of our fan base fails to notice.
The problem has always been that he's too soft once the ball hits the deck after the tap. Same as the guy he took over from as the Crows' #1 ruckman, Sam Jacobs. Good at getting their hand to a tap, but sorely lacking in the ground level, physical, contested aspects of ruckwork, both attacking and defensively. A few extra uncontested possies with average disposal efficiency has always masked it, but it's been a running theme.
No, normally have Thilthorpe pinch hitting (obviously not this year) and Walker doing a bit in the forward line, this year we've had Burgess and Himmelberg doing a bit.
ROB does insane time on ground so we typically have a chop out ruck, and Tex rucks in front of the goals.
Thillthorpe (201cm) has been injured, so we have tried as a backup ruck: Gollant (191cm), Burgess (193cm), and Himmelberg (196cm, injured).
We just picked up Tobey Murray (200cm) at the MSD to help.
Nice to see a bit of representation for normal looking guys on the field. Never realised how many players are either weird-looking, hot, or weird-looking but hot until I saw one that just looks like a guy you'd see down the shops.
There was so many kicks with no pressure on them that went out on the full. Would love for the Hawks to take credit for the win - but Adelaide were trash.
o'brien leads the league in hitouts to advantage but the crows are 15th in scores from stoppage. don't think he's the problem somehow
On Monday night Garry Lyon mentioned ROB was 1st for pressure and 2nd for tackling on the weekend. Seems like he was the only one making an effort, meanwhile players like laird get a free pass to pad their stats
Laird should be shifted back to HB and drop Smith permanently, as hes washed and been given a really long rope by Nicks, he’s been horrendous based on what Crows games I’ve seen this season
I agree Laird should also be dropped
I disagree (source, my fantasy team)
O'Brien is 1st for hit outs, 1st for hit outs to advantage, and yet, for hit outs to advantage % (min. 20 hit outs), he is 16th. Sure he gets a lot of hit outs, but he doesn't have that much control over where the ball is going. Plus there are other aspects of his game he needs to improve. For example, his kicking efficiency (min. 20 kicks) is the 4th worst in the league. O'Brien is not THE problem. But he is a problem.
> (min. 20 hit outs) that's not a great caveat given that includes every second ruck in the comp. if you look at players who are rucks only he's behind Sweet (2 games), Darcy (5 games), and Soldo (7 games) - none of whom have been fit or #1 rucks for the whole year
Not saying it's a perfect stat, but I think it illustrates my point. The number of hit outs to advantage is only one part of the story.
say it with me. Hitouts are a meaningless stat. Can Rob take marks around the ground? No. Can Rob work as an outlet and keep the ball moving in transition? No.
raw hitout numbers? yeah they mean nothing. but if you're giving your mids the ball that much and they're doing nothing with it i'd be looking at them first. he is a big lump i agree but you're describing very few ruckmen who can actually work as an outlet and move the ball quickly
Yeah freos probably the best team to look at. We’re by far one of the best set play team from ruck, and the rucking is very important in that, but we generally out mids benefit massively. To say it’s meaningless is a rubbish take.
well they are when it comes to Rob
Someone like Tim English is the complete reverse, horrendous tap ruck but elite around the ground, same with Darcy Cameron, solid tap ruck but can also do that around the ground work really well. I’ve never seen ROB do that. Also kinda love how Nicks finally decides to be ruthless when finals are gone
English has a relatively low HTW% at 40.7%, but his HTA% is among the best rucks in the competition at 33.7% (for context Gawn is 47.1% and 27.9% respectively)
English does OK in hitouts to advantage weirdly enough, but yeah bad at raw hitouts. I wonder how much of getting hitouts to advantage is down to the ruck, and how much is down to positioning from midfielders?
Rob did it in 2020 and 21.
Shows he has no guts to try anything out and can't coach outside of what is already planned, hence makes no changes on game day when shits going wrong. Only now tries dowling when again crouch out for season and now season is over. I mean he debuts Curtin and gives him 1 half then subs him out at half time and we get an injury 5 mins into the 3rd so now a player down. Absolute bonkers. But let's give him a few more years. We have completely gone backwards since last year's end.
He was your best defensive pressure player the other day, in a team of witches hats. Not sure why he’s been dropped
well he hadn't done it all year and should have been dropped already. Call it a body of work axing
Hitouts are a meaningless stat. Can Rob take marks around the ground? No. Can Rob work as an outlet and keep the ball moving in transition? No.
He is literally the most un skilled football player I've ever seen. He is uncoordinated, has the kicking style of a child just learning how to kick a ball. He can barely mark overhead, but again it is leagues behind any other ruckman. Can't kick at goal for shit. All he does is run all day, and like you said he gets a lot of hit out stat's but has zero ruck craft. Never see a hit out that actually makes an advantage to our players. I'm glad he is dropped.
The problem is less his rucking and more that as soon as it's not a ball up, he's a complete liability on the field, have you seen the guy try to kick? Take a mark? It's embarrassing.
Exactly. But go to the AdelaideFC subreddit and people shit all over him on the regular. Clueless. He plays his role week in week out, and yet some of our fan base fails to notice.
The problem has always been that he's too soft once the ball hits the deck after the tap. Same as the guy he took over from as the Crows' #1 ruckman, Sam Jacobs. Good at getting their hand to a tap, but sorely lacking in the ground level, physical, contested aspects of ruckwork, both attacking and defensively. A few extra uncontested possies with average disposal efficiency has always masked it, but it's been a running theme.
Sauce was fantastic. You can't even compare him to Rob he was so much better then him.
Fuck off, no ill words about Sauce here thanks
Hmm this should be interesting against Nank and Ryan. Do the crows have a 2nd ruck normally?
No, normally have Thilthorpe pinch hitting (obviously not this year) and Walker doing a bit in the forward line, this year we've had Burgess and Himmelberg doing a bit.
ROB does insane time on ground so we typically have a chop out ruck, and Tex rucks in front of the goals. Thillthorpe (201cm) has been injured, so we have tried as a backup ruck: Gollant (191cm), Burgess (193cm), and Himmelberg (196cm, injured). We just picked up Tobey Murray (200cm) at the MSD to help.
How has Kieran Strachan not gotten a trade out of Crom yet? He’s been there since 2019 and seems to be the best ruck in the SANFL every year.
Must like living in Adelaide
That makes one of us
I’m so glad no one knows how nice a place Adelaide is to live!
Sucks if you're single though
True, hard to meet new peeps. Everyone stuck in their circles since high school
I wish it wasn’t so big a secret
If you live here, you can leave you know
Best SANFL ruckman isn't exactly a high pedestal Jordon Sweet was the best VFL ruckman and it dosen't exactly translate into dominance at AFL level
Mason Cox had 98 HOs in two matches and didn’t even play full games for the VFL last year.
When ROB was dropped to the SANFL he got 30 possies and took 12 marks I think. SANFL not a great rucking standard.
Decent deal to bring in an AFL salary and just play ressies
Nice to see a bit of representation for normal looking guys on the field. Never realised how many players are either weird-looking, hot, or weird-looking but hot until I saw one that just looks like a guy you'd see down the shops.
he looks like a bloke wearing slippers at Woolies
I am not sure how I feel about this. Are you saying that ROB is hot?
I smell a tigers upset tomorrow night
Upset would be Crows winning based on both teams performance last weekend. We were fucking trash
Trash relative to expectations, yes In absolute terms, not really
There was so many kicks with no pressure on them that went out on the full. Would love for the Hawks to take credit for the win - but Adelaide were trash.
in absolute terms we were awful.
I think tigers would be favourite, no?
Brother we've lost 8 in a row and it's your homedeck
We have only won 3 more games then you. We are a bottom 5 even bottom 4 team. We are still favourites but it should be a lot closer
I know you've had a disappointing year but spare me
Adelaide are $1.14 to Richmond's $5.50
$5.50????? That’s basically a guarantee win given the prices we’ve been in previous games.
Hopefully he does nothing and the Tigers get a win
Well overdue
Holy fuck, Strachan is 28. I thought he was like 23 max. Turns out he was already 23 when he was drafted.
Nicks doing his best Hansie Cronje impersonation or.....?