AAMI Community Series – Rucks

The rucks only take up two spots in our team (on field) however once again this preseason they are causing us headaches.

With most locking in Xerri from the start.., some people are now starting to have their doubts with him, and not wanting to spend that much money.

While most of us are happy to have him at R1… the R2 spot is still causing us problems. So Calvin has taken a look at what the rucks have done over the AAMI Community Series to see what unfolded.

Big Adelaide’s Rielly O’Brien (RUCK, $934K) took on the guy below as he scored 80 with 29 hitouts to Oscar’s 30. He did get a little chop out with Thilthorpe whi had 17 ruck contests compared to ROB’s 72. Not a lot to look at here… ROB isn’t an option.

Late in your draft you can pick up Oscar McInerney (RUCK, $879K) who looks set to average his 80 once again. He had 69 in this game and did get some help from Sam Day. Like the man above… not heaps to talk about here so let’s soldier on…

With Pittonet on the sidelines with a calf… Tom De Koning (RUCK, $900K) went off his chops against part-time ruckman Lachie Keefe (No Briggsy) scoring 41 in the first quarter. He ended the day with 79 but that’s enough. He played 58% of the game which makes his score of 79 even more impressive. The role was his and even though we need to look at this game and his score ‘with a grain of salt’ he has ticked all the boxes and with injuries to those around him… he’s a serious consideration.

Darcy Cameron (RUCK, $987K) rucked solo with Dan McStay his chop out (Cox currently injured). Cameron contested 76 of the 94 ruck contests. He only scored 1pt in the final term and spent plenty of time on the pine only playing 74% TOG. Therefore, he scored a huge 85 in the first three terms against Nank who is a ‘dark green – easy’ ruck on the scale. This was an easy game for all Collingwood players, but with that said… DC will average 100 without a shadow of doubt in my opinion.

Not any interest here… but for shits and giggles… Nick Byran (RUCK, $623K) supported Draper (82pts) in the AAMI and scored an impressive 97. The small flag is, Geelong are, and looks like being an ‘easy’ team for rucks to score against once again this year. They shared the ruck contests 30 (Byran 16 CBAs) and 53 (Draper 17 CBAs). Byran’s score of 97 is super impressive is elite, but both are not options is any format… Next!

With Sean Darcy (RUCK, $798K) out… Liam Reidy (RUCK, $402K) took the main role against Max Gawn and it wasn’t pretty. Reidy scored 23 with 16 CBAs (Jackson 14). He was simply outclassed and struggled to the point where Freo might not look at this as an option in round one. He does have an easy draw and he doesn’t play the likes of Max Gawn, so they might stick with this as a plan… but they also might just role with Luke Jackson (RUCK/FWD, $807K) until big Sean Darcy returns. Jackson scored 71.

Listed as a defender… Sam De Koning (DEF, $564K) rucked ‘solo’ in the AAMI against the Bombers (Stanley emergency, Conway injured) and even with a big 27pt second term, he finished on 54 which was concerning from a scoring perspective. He did tick the boxes and have 26 CBAs but across the ground he shared the ruck duties with 41 ruck contests out of Geelong’s 82. It does need to be said that Essendon are a ‘red’ team on the scale and have been for a number of years. So scoring was going to be tricky either way. However, role was good… scoring not so much.

Jarrod Witts (RUCK, $988K) scored 83 with chop outs from Ethan Read who did 25 ruck contests to Wittsy’s 64. Another flag in this game was Brodie Grundy missed the game and is a slight chance not to play in the OR. Sydney used a variety of rucks in this one and Wittsy bullied them around as expected with 39 hitouts. No one is looking at Witts, only in draft as potentially a very late pick… keep in mind he plays WCE in round one and Xerri just had 133 against them…. like everyone does against the No. 1 easiest team for rucks.

Not much to say here as Kieren Briggs (RUCK, $938K) didn’t play due to illness. Therefore, Lachie Keefe took the reins and made it easy for the Blues… next.

Lloyd Meek (RUCK, $907K) was solid with 77 against Tim English who is a ‘green’ ruck on the scale. If you have Meeky… then this performace wouldn’t be changing your mind. He does have an early bye though so in my books, Meek is not a play.

Big bad bearded Max Gawn (RUCK, $1.15M) scored 117 against a ‘ruckless’ Freo and had 46 hitouts along the way. He stayed on the field for 87% which is huge for Max who does claim to be the fittest he has been in 16yrs. He is seriously a huge play and a guy who has popped into my team, instead of Xerri. Yep… I said it. He plays GWS, NTH and SUNS in the opening thtee games, teams he only averaged 87 against last year. Not what we wanted to see but at the moment, he is flying much better than he was in 2024.

He did what you’d expect… 133 from Tristan Xerri (RUCK, $1.18M) was huge with 14 tackles. Against the Eagles last year he scored 129 and 168 so we knew what to expect. Xerri’s high ownership might mean we just follow the crowd here, even though the draw for Xerri early on is more than favourable. Last year he averaged 100 against ‘red’ teams and 130 against ‘greens’. He plays seven ‘red/orange’ teams in the first 11 rounds. Concerned? I am slightly but you all know how much I love the scale.

Even with Soldo sharing the role, Jordon Sweet (RUCK, $838K) still scored well with 88 in just 68% time on ground. Even though he was only against the rookie Harry Boyd… Sweet ticked the boxes if you were already on board the SweetTrain. Port did have 15 iof the top-17 scorers in this one but as I said… he ticked all the boxes needed if you were interested.

Can Toby Nankervis (RUCK, $1.03M) average 100 again? By the way he started in the AAMI against Collingwood the answer is a big fat YES. He had quarter splits scores of 43-29-27-15 (114). His chop ous came from Samson Ryan who helped with 27% of the ruck contests (RC). I highly doubt he will play many games though which means Nank will only have more CBAs and RCs than what he had against Cameron. He plays Carlton first up and in the AAMI… and should start with a bang. No early bye and owned by 1%.

With no Rowan Marshall (RUCK, $1.2M) my mate Harry Boyd (RUCK, $230,000) got the main gig and scored 50. Look… he was against Sweet/Soldo and the Saints got smashed. he was the 10th highest scorer for the Saints which shows how badly they got smashed on the Fantasy scoreboard. I’m still certain he will play round one… more certain now after Mitch Owens got injured duing the game. Lock him on the bench…. and listen… bench only.

Brodie Grundy (RUCK, $997K) is currently injured and in doubt for the opening round. Therefore in this game, old mate Pete Ladhams got the call up to play against Witts and he hated it losing the hit out count 9 to 39. He scored 26 from 40% time on ground. Will Green also had a go against Wittsy for his score of 36. Not much to see in this one.

Ok… this is a real play and a play I wasn’t entertaining. Tim English (RUCK, $1.07M) looked elite. Yep, I said it… really elite against Meek, especially in the first half where he finished with quater splits of 38-30 (68 at the half). Now… he did drop from there finishing the day on 99 but the Tim of old was back to his best and even chased those easy +6’s. Let’s not forget he averaged 117 not too long ago and is now priced at 105. He is $100K less than Xerri (who does have a tricky early run). English plays Nth, Coll, Carl and Freo in the opening four games… teams he scored 96… 116…111 and 141/124 to average 118 against them. Seriously consider as a POD to go against Xerri at R1.

He’s back! He’s in like… Matt Flynn (RUCK, $622,000). Flynn only scored 62 (against Xerri) but was the main man for the Eagles with 23 CBAs whereas Bailey Williams only attended 4… but still played 78% time on ground and he scored just 16. Interesting!

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