James Manson Week: Ranking The AFL Ruck Combinations
Collingwood had the advantage of size and versatility for their ruck position when Manson and Damien Monkhorst were in black and white. It was a key ingredient in their premiership success.
In James Manson's ruck rankings below, it is the big tandem of Dean Cox and Mark Seaby who get the top spot ahead of Geelong's big ruckmen. Collingwood have recently added to their ruck depth, with C Wood joining the team that sounds right for him, and the Magpies should improve their hitouts statistics in 2008.
Here are James Manson's top ruck combinations for season 2007:
"I am loathe to compare Damien and myself to any of the modern teams because I feel we played a completely different style of football in a completely different era.
"I think each ruck team is unique and have their strengths and weaknesses."
1 Cox - Seaby
2 Ottens - Blake
3 Lade - Brogan
4 Hille - Laycock
5 Everitt - Jolly
6 Fraser - Richards
7 McIntosh - Hale
8 White - P Johnson
__________________________
Some more accomplishments of James Manson.
From the Collingwood site: Collingwood Life Members
From the North Hobart Football Club: Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame
In James Manson's ruck rankings below, it is the big tandem of Dean Cox and Mark Seaby who get the top spot ahead of Geelong's big ruckmen. Collingwood have recently added to their ruck depth, with C Wood joining the team that sounds right for him, and the Magpies should improve their hitouts statistics in 2008.
Here are James Manson's top ruck combinations for season 2007:
"I am loathe to compare Damien and myself to any of the modern teams because I feel we played a completely different style of football in a completely different era.
"I think each ruck team is unique and have their strengths and weaknesses."
1 Cox - Seaby
2 Ottens - Blake
3 Lade - Brogan
4 Hille - Laycock
5 Everitt - Jolly
6 Fraser - Richards
7 McIntosh - Hale
8 White - P Johnson
__________________________
Some more accomplishments of James Manson.
From the Collingwood site: Collingwood Life Members
From the North Hobart Football Club: Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame
James Manson – Player Inductee – Played underage football for the club. Manson started his senior career with North Hobart in 1984. Subsequently played for Collingwood where he was a member of the Magpies 1990 premiership team. James also represented Tasmania on 4 occasions. James was a winner of the Lefroy medal for best player in the Tasmania team in 1990.
In the AFL, there are the three big ruck combos, and then a bunch of others to rank from 4 to 10. The Eagles, Power and Cats win because of their big ruckmen. Essendon is also putting a couple of giants out there too, so if that is where they are ranked it is probably a good idea.
Hille and Laycock can both go forward, take a mark and kick a goal. Combined they total 402cm and 211kg, and Laycock can still get even bigger.
In the round 22 game against the Eagles, it was Lucas kicking the goals that got plenty of deserved attention but Hille also played a big part in the comeback that didn’t quite get there. If Hille can get the better of Cox it is a good indication of his worth. Laycock is young, for a ruckman, and has also missed time during his career to injury but he has put together some impressive games. He kicked 2 goals against the Eagles in round 11, and had another 2 goals along with 28 hitouts a couple of weeks later.
If McIntosh had a more consistent backup at the Kangaroos maybe they would be at 4, the Swans also have a good ruck combination and the new Fraser-Wood pairing at Collingwood will also be impressive next season. But there are a few reasons why the Bombers deserve the 4th spot for the ruck rankings, and if they get a better group of smalls around them in 2008 it could get the Bombers a few more wins and their ruckmen might get a bit more recognition too.
Please fix up this terrible oversight!
Molly
Taylor was a big improver in 2007, and Campbell was solid again and also was effective at ground level.
They are both several years away from being at their best, and the Hawks also have Max Bailey to find a spot for, so expect them to move steadily up ruck rankings. Especially as the Demons, Swans and Power rely on older ruckmen at the moment.