Mark, I agree that West is a better forward and that Cox is a better ruck... -- BULLET IN BOARD

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Date Posted: 11:47 28/04/25 Mon
Author: collingwoodj
Author Host/IP: NoHost / 1.145.220.220
Subject: Mark, I agree that West is a better forward and that Cox is a better ruck...
In reply to: Mark W 's message, "you are putting far too much emphasis on 1 VFL game against a modest inexperienced Essendon ruck" on 10:19 28/04/25 Mon

But I think the role we are trying to fill is a forward/ruck.

That is someone who will play the majority of their minutes as a forward and then play 3 to 7 minutes in the ruck each quarter almost entirely against the oppositions second ruck.

I don't think West can fill the ruck role.

I don't think Cox can fill the forward role.

The reason I don't think Cox can fulfil the forward role, even with his kicking boots on is that I don't think he can fulfil the defensive running requirements of the role.

I think against some oppostiions the advantages of big Cox potentialy outweigh the disadvantages, mostly where the opposition lack enough tall key back and dragging one to stand the big man frees up Checkers and Membery to run amok.

That simply doesn't apply to Geelong who are fielding 3 ruck size players as key backs.

Not only that but all three of them can run as well as jump and one of them can run bloody fast (Blicsavs).

It's frankly a bloody unusual situation that is almost perfectly designed to mitigate the one strength of Cox and to exploit the major weakness of Cox.

It also just so happens that one of them is in fact a skinny kid, a 19 year old in fact, with only 7 games experience, so Steenes main opponent in his main role minutes wise would be just about as ideal as you could come up with short of opposing him to a literal debutant.

Also I just don't share your assessment of Steenes overall performance this year, he has had a solid month of footy.

His first opponent was Will Green, a 204cm first round draft pick from 2023 contracted till 2027 who the Swans rate as an important part of their list strategy.

They rotated Smit and Steene against him so the raw numbers are a bit misleading, but Steene ended up with 12 touches, 12 hitouts, 3 tackles and 4 clearances, ended with 70 fantasy points to Greens 78, not by any means disgraced.

Next up he got Cooper Keogh, who is one of the form rucks of the VFL, and who is rumored to be picked up in the MSD by the Dons to cover their ruck injury catastrophe.

Again, we rotated Cox, Smit and Steene trhrough Cooper who basically rucked one out, so the raw numbers are misleading, but Steene once again 12 disposals, 11 hitouts, 5 clearances and 2 tackles. That's as many clearances as Cox and Smit combined and 2 more tackles that Cox and Smit combined.

Then came the dominant performance of Fort, another genuine opponent at this level, and again, while Steene was outmatched, he still managed 19 hitouts, 9 disposals, 4 clearances and 4 tackles. and also kicked 2 goals.

Finally he played this weekend passed agaisnt Vigo Vissenti, that people have had to look up because he is such an unkown ruckman, the implication being that his good game came against a weak opponent. well, look at the numbers

Steene: 18d 16ho 6t 6c 1g 1b 90af
Visentini: 21d 28ho 1t 5c 0g 0b 88af
Cox: 11d 19ho 1t 4c 2g 0b 57af

Steene had the highest fantasy score of the 3, had the most clearance, had 3 times the combined tackle count of the other 2, got plenty of footy, and hit the scoreboard with 1 goal 1 and btw, was the bloke who took the contested mark at the 50 and delivered a good kick to Mase for one of Mase's 2 goals meaning he had at least 1 direct assist.

So over the last month Steene has had:

1. plenty of exposure to playing against good ruck opponents.
2. plenty of consistent performance in clearance and tackles (he's actually our second best clearance average and tackle average ALF listed player this year behind Lachie Sullivan)

and over the last 2 weeks he has also:

Started to hit the scoreboard.

So in conclusion, I agree let him develop against a skinny kid, Connor O'Sullivan, the 19 year old Key back for Geelong with 7 games. who is also 198cm and springy btw which makes him a good chance to disrupt big Mase and also a problem for our smaller type talls in Mihocek and Membery.

Steene is almost 22. He is 201cm. He is a willing competitor who can run and tackles and fight for a ground ball.

I love big Cox, and I think that he can really trouble teams like Port and others who lack tall defenders.

I just think this is an opportunity to give a kid a go who might actually be better in the role and even contribute going forward.

as always time will tell.

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