Matthew Clarke - 248 games

[Harry]

How about we trade Simmons to the crows for Meeson/Maric and their first round draft pick.

Adelaide are at 11 on the premiership clock and would be desperate to pinch a premiership before Hart, McLeod, Riccuito, Goodwin retire.  They have no senior ruckman and Simmo would be a massive carrot.

Well done for thinking outside the square, Harry.
It would be a bold move but I, at least, understand where you're coming from.

Simmo is an interesting one. He isn't that tall, isn't that effective with his tap outs and doesn't take contested marks. He gets alot of uncontested posession and plays like a wingman/flanker. I don't think he's crucial. Yes he was rated in the top 3 ruckmen this year but was he really effective as a "ruckman". He played really well as an outside on-baller, but was ranked as a potential AA ruckman because that's where he was listed on the team sheet.

Jeff White is a similar type ruckman but he was ineffective in the finals when playing against teams with big ruckman and good outside players that can run with him and negate his run.

It's a weird one because he would have massive currency for a trade with Adelaide, but we won't be losing too much in terms of pure ruck contribution. Someone else could cover his outside work and a fit Knobel could cover his tap and bustle duties. This would give us Maric/Meeson, Patto and Graham as the apprentices. Not forgeting pick 13/14 coming our way.

Worth thinking about.

 

[pahoffm]

I agree.

 

[Harry]

How about we trade Simmons to the crows for Meeson/Maric and their first round draft pick.

Adelaide are at 11 on the premiership clock and would be desperate to pinch a premiership before Hart, McLeod, Riccuito, Goodwin retire.  They have no senior ruckman and Simmo would be a massive carrot.

Well done for thinking outside the square, Harry.
It would be a bold move but I, at least, understand where you're coming from.

Simmo is an interesting one.  He isn't that tall, isn't that effective with his tap outs and doesn't take contested marks.  He gets alot of uncontested posession and plays like a wingman/flanker.  I don't think he's crucial.  Yes he was rated in the top 3 ruckmen this year but was he really effective as a "ruckman".  He played really well as an outside on-baller, but was ranked as a potential AA ruckman because that's where he was listed on the team sheet.

Jeff White is a similar type ruckman but he was ineffective in the finals when playing against teams with big ruckman and good outside players that can run with him and negate his run.

It's a weird one because he would have massive currency for a trade with Adelaide, but we won't be losing too much in terms of pure ruck contribution.  Someone else could cover his outside work and a fit Knobel could cover his tap and bustle duties.  This would give us Maric/Meeson, Patto and Graham as the apprentices.  Not forgeting pick 13/14 coming our way.

Worth thinking about.

Or - If we don't rate Meeson or Maric, we could get one of their better young midfielders or talls (Reilly, VanBerlo, Bock, or someone else) and their first pick. We could then use pick 8 to get Leurnberger (sp) (who is touted a great ruck prospect) and a KPP or on-baller (depending on what type of player the swap involved) at 13.

I think this is a good opportunity to keep the rebuilding process going as we'd get 2 good youngsters in addition to our 5-6 national draft picks. We'd only lose a 26/27/28 ? year old semi ruckman who is quite mobile.

 

[BrisTiger24]

Adelaide still have Hudson let's remember, who when fit is definitely in the top 10 ruckmen in the comp (if not top 5). I think they will avoid looking at picking up an experienced ruckman and will instead go into next year with Hudson as their first choice (don't forget he will have a full pre season) and then Maric and Meeson as back-ups. They may even look to rookie another ruckman as back up (either an over 23 who has never been listed or an under 23 who missed out on being drafted in the last few years but who has developed in the VFL, WAFL or SANFL).

 

[tigertim]

Clarkey was Richmonds ruckman in the under 19's in 1991. The other ruckman was Adam Slater who went on to have an illustrious career of 2 games (I think it was 2?). I don't know who's specifically responsible for selecting Slater over Clarke (whether it was Jeans or Bartlett or Schwab or ??). But I have to admit I thought Slats looked the better option. He was a big unit with good hands and a pretty good kick for a big bloke. Clarke was very agile but not overly tall and was an awful kick. Adam turned out to be pretty slack and lazy and went back to East Burwood.