Curious to hear peoples thoughts on this. With Rough still underdone, I would expect Hale to become the Ruck for the first couple of rounds at least (Coll & Geel) which will make the FWD line quite different to what we've seen during the NAB. There are options such as McCauley and Patinson who have experience or Lowdon/Grimley with no experience but I don't think the Hawks can take the chance of not having a good Centre Bounce player in there to help with clearances. This is where Bailey was undervalued as a ruckman, not to those at Hawthorn, and he will be greatly missed. At least we have this week v Freo to see what the coaching staff are thinking.
It certainly makes Hale an interesting prospect as an initial ruck choice. Agreed that this weekend will be telling in terms of who fills in for Bailey. McCauley probably looks a better bet.
Bloody hell a wrist injury? The kid just can't catch a damn break. We now go from having 1 ruckman + 2 support to now needing one of those (Hale) in the guts for the main duration, when they both should be in front of the sticks. I expect McCauley to get promoted now if (or when) Bailey goes on the LTI list. Depending on Roughead he'll either start on the bench or be an emergency. Out of the project youngsters, I think Lowden has the edge over Grimley.
Does this elevate Hale as much I it seems? He did very well in that role the other night and I was tempted by him at R2 then...
Who is Hawthorn's List Manager? Or should I say who WAS Hawthorn's List Manager? Stupid decision getting rid of Renouf for no good reason. He was a premiership player at the club, and they should have shown him loyalty. Two rucks going down with injury (as could have happened had they had Renouf) is bad luck, but one going down without coverage is just bad management.
Aloof is not injured as far as I am aware. Was subbed off for an apparent poor performance last week and Redden now considered the front runner. This will likely change when Lobbe returns, but it is quite possible Aloof will be reserve ruckman at No. 3. Bit tricky to determine Hale's role. Seems they like him at FF, but could they rush Roughy back to FF and Hale revert to ruck? In the same vein, does Wojo's injury mean Smedts may have a chance?
Terry, word leaking out of Alberton is Aloof has hurt his knee and could be out for a few weeks. He's been named in the squad of 29 for Friday evening, but expecting him to be cut from the final squad of 24 to play.
FWIW I can't see hale's role, or scoring changing dramatically as a result of this. I can't see it affecting the Hawks game plan or forward structure at all either. One of Broc or Luke Lowden will step in and fill Baileys role as the main ruckman with the likes of Hale providing a chop out. Personally I'd hope Lowden gets the nod, I think he deserves a chance. Although based on the list named this afternoon maybe broc is ahead of him at the moment.
Max Bailey 2011: 13 games for 945 total points for an average of 72.69 points. This is hardly a gun ruckman that would cause huge ramifications for a Premiership favourite.
Raider it's all about the structures. Bailey wasn't great, but nor are his replacement options. Hopefully the ruck will be the Pies strength and the weakness of the Cats and Hawks in September...
We have worries of our own Lucas, does anyone in the league have a greater capacity to give away free kicks than Jolly?
We would never regret sending Renouf West - the entire team was glad to see the back of him as were all the fans. I'm very interested to see how this impacts Gunston and/or Shoenmakers up forward. Let's see how Roughy goes...
@Dirty_Whorks I don't disagree that Renouf wasn't the greatest ruckman, and I too wasn't disappointed to see him go to Port either, but I think you're being a bit harsh on him. He did a pretty servicable job rucking one out for us in the first half of 2010. Might be going a little off topic here, but I blame to recruiting staff for our current ruck situation. Back in 2009 they went all speculative and picked a basketballer in Grimley over the 2 under-18 All-Australian ruckman in Vardy and Craig. Hindsight is 20-20, but they're the type of players that make excellent back-up ruckman in today's game, Craig's subsequent delistment from Adelaide nonwithstanding. Hopefully Roughie gets some match fitness this weekend and returns to his 2011 form. Could be a great forward upgrade post bye.
<blockquote>Quote from PieRaider on March 14, 2012, 21:45 We have worries of our own Lucas, does anyone in the league have a greater capacity to give away free kicks than Jolly?</blockquote> Brogan might give Jolly a run for his money, but Jolly's preseason form was in a league of his own (8 FA in a partial game!)
Clearly Jolly wasn't getting the message though during NAB, you'd think that even being 2m from the ground eventually the neurons reach the grey matter and compute? Getting pinged once or twice for a new rule is one thing, but EIGHT times?