What frustrates me with Ryan is that he isn’t able to own the space where the ball is going to drop…
When he is in a ruck contest he more often than not is not directly under the ball at the critical moment, I don’t know if it’s a core strength issue or a lack of determination but he invariably finds himself having to rely on his height to reach over the opposition player who has taken the drop zone… he sometimes manages to do it successfully but he’s defying the odds. He’s actually quite deft with his tap work, when he can get his hand to it.
He has a similar issue in pack marking situations where he concedes the drop zones and tries to reach over. He is too easily blocked from marking contests… and ends up at the back of the pack whilst some 5 ft defender takes an uncontested mark 1 metr in front of his contest.
In marking contests I want to see him take that crucial space and at worse, bring the ball to ground.
I reckon this is what he’s been asked to work on in the VFL… but it was still happening last week… so fingers crossed he can turn this around
I also used to be concerned about the amount of time he spent on his arse on the ground after a contest, he would go to ground too often with his efforts… you don’t want 7ft blokes on their knees/arse…. I reckon he’s improved this aspect but once again I think it occurred as a result of not being able to win and keep pole position under the ball… so he was always trying jump over/around opposition rucks/backs and would lose his balance when he did so.
When he is in a ruck contest he more often than not is not directly under the ball at the critical moment, I don’t know if it’s a core strength issue or a lack of determination but he invariably finds himself having to rely on his height to reach over the opposition player who has taken the drop zone… he sometimes manages to do it successfully but he’s defying the odds. He’s actually quite deft with his tap work, when he can get his hand to it.
He has a similar issue in pack marking situations where he concedes the drop zones and tries to reach over. He is too easily blocked from marking contests… and ends up at the back of the pack whilst some 5 ft defender takes an uncontested mark 1 metr in front of his contest.
In marking contests I want to see him take that crucial space and at worse, bring the ball to ground.
I reckon this is what he’s been asked to work on in the VFL… but it was still happening last week… so fingers crossed he can turn this around
I also used to be concerned about the amount of time he spent on his arse on the ground after a contest, he would go to ground too often with his efforts… you don’t want 7ft blokes on their knees/arse…. I reckon he’s improved this aspect but once again I think it occurred as a result of not being able to win and keep pole position under the ball… so he was always trying jump over/around opposition rucks/backs and would lose his balance when he did so.
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