SuperCoach Expert Panel: Who are the best starting rucks?
One of the raging dilemmas for the 2023 SuperCoach season is the ruck division, with Brodie Grundy and Max Gawn now teaming up at Melbourne, creating major uncertainty.
There’s no shortage of alternate options, so we decided to ask our experts to get their two cents on their plans with a month until the opening game of the 2023 season.
Our expert panel is:
- Daniel Fleming, ranked 3rd overall in 2022 SuperCoach,
- The SC Bull, seasoned SuperCoach veteran,
- Eddie Dadds from SC Playbook, ranked 313th in 2022 SuperCoach,
- Dylan Bolch, Herald Sun and SC scribe and regular top 1000 finisher,
- Big J From The Centre Bounce, ranked 549th in 2022 SuperCoach
- Joe from The Centre Bounce, ranked 119th in 2022 SuperCoach
- Janath Fernando, three straight top 1.5k SC finishes, best finish 146th in 2020.
Daniel Fleming @dgbfleming
Ruck 1: Rowan Marshall – Highest owned % ruckman and for good reason. Was playing solo ruck at the end of 2022 and scored 173 against Hawthorn. The dream was always that he had a full season as the solo ruck. In the offseason the retirement of Ryder and injury to Hayes may make this dream come true. 27yo in the prime of career. VC loophole option?
Ruck 2: Sam Draper – Only 11% ownership and priced at 398k. I am calling him my breakout player of 2023. Now into his 5th season and aged 24 which is when ruckmen tend to breakout. (For example Max Gawn averaged 54, 67, 63 before spiking to 102 and then 118 in 2015 / 2016 when aged 24 / 25). Draper should play solo ruck all season and has had a great preseason from all reports. Keep eyes on him for preseason games.
The SuperCoach Bull @the_SC_bull
Ruck 1: Rowan Marshall – R1 has been an interesting position for all coaches this pre season, and rightfully so. The last few years we’ve had the luxury of ‘Gawndy’ being Uber consistent, but it feels like a changing of the guard is now upon us. Rowan Marshall presents significant value and upside, and now takes the mantle at Moorabbin as the number 1 ruckman. At $506k he’s hard to pass up on as my R1. Honorable mention to the man made of glass, Tim English.
Ruck 2: Darcy Cameron – More of a long term play with the Cameron selection, and for good reason. How many years can you recall both your R1, R2 and R3 being available in all games? You will need cover at some stage. Whilst Cameron won’t be the number 2 or 3 Ruck, he provides DPP flexibility. The plan is to shift Cameron up forward as an F6/7 which gives us the ability to bring in a top tier ruckman come pointy end of the season.
Ruck 3: Nicholas Madden – Owned my 51.8% of coaches, Madden comes in at a basement price of $102k and is arguable the best loophole option with DPP. With Cameron pencilled in to shift forward Madden can rotate and provide cover, whilst also offering up a Captain loophole for a VC. Another honourable mention to Esava Ratugolea who at $174k could be the Jarrod Witts of 2017.
Eddie Dadds from SC Playbook @EddieDadds
Ruck 1: Rowan Marshall – Starting with Jarrod Witts in 2022 proved to be a season-shaping decision, so I desperately wanted to get creative here and take a ROB or even a Naitanui type. Unfortunately I’m finding it impossible to look past a guy who might be in 60+% of teams come Round 1 – RowMar. We all know the outrageous scoring splits with/without a second ruckman so I won’t rehash those – suffice it to say that, assuming Marshall goes in to 2023 as St Kilda’s primary ruckman, the floor is low and the ceiling is likely higher than any other viable R1 option.
Ruck 2: Scott Lycett – To be honest, I can’t quite believe – after the halcyon days of the Gawndy era – that this is where we’re at with the R2 position. Lycett is more a hedge against the looming Cox / Cameron pairing than anything else – I don’t know if I can pick Cameron knowing he’s destined to spend apparently random chunks of games wandering aimlessly around the Collingwood forward line. If (big if) Lycett can beat out Sam Hayes and Dante Visentini for the Port job then he’ll be my guy – averages of 101, 97 and 94 from 2019-21 are nothing to sniff at and at worst he should hold his price until the 2023 version of 2022 Darcy Cameron emerges from the pack.
Ruck 3: Nicholas Madden – Assuming we don’t see Esava Ratugolea burning up the practice games, Madden should probably be R3 in 100% of teams taking SuperCoach seriously in 2023. Cheap, DPP-eligible, a stack of Sunday games and 0 chance of actually playing for at least the first half of the season – don’t overthink it.
Dylan Bolch @BolchDylan
Ruck 1: Tim English – I’m really not all that confident in this selection at all. English has had niggle after niggle this preseason, including adductor and hamstring issues, which is never a good sign. However, IF he can stay fit and take his place in the Bulldogs round one setup, I think he’s a solid R1 option. English scored 100+ in 50% of his matches last season, with just one score under 80. With Stef Martin now retired, I think he can improve on his average of 105.5 from last year. Also tossing up Darcy Cameron and Scott Lycett.
Ruck 2:Rowan Marshall – I think Marshall is the safest premium ruck selection this year. With Paddy Ryder retiring, I expect Marshall to reach the heights of his 2019/20 seasons, where he averaged 103.7 and 110.2 SuperCoach points per game. If we look at 2022 alone, Marshall averaged 76 points with Ryder in the side but that bumped up to 110 when Ryder was not in the team. I expect him to shoulder the burden of the number one ruck role down at Moorabbin throughout 2023.
Ruck 3: Nicholas Madden – Bargain basement price? Tick. Dual-position player? Tick. Unlikely to get games early? Tick. The perfect R3 loophole candidate. The only other option I see for R3 is Esava Ratugolea and despite training down back over the summer, I’m not sure he’s best 22.
Big J From The Centre Bounce @bounce_centre
The plan this year is to go cheap in the rucks with two players who are currently fit and offer some value. Both are either solo rucks or won’t share majority ruck time with someone else which is a big thing for me.
Ruck 1: Rowan Marshall – I’ve been tossing up between Witts and Marshall for the R1 position, but it’s hard to go past Marshall with a $100k cheaper price tag. If St kilda can manage their key forward stocks I believe this mobile ruckman may end up becoming the #1-2 top scorer in the position by the end of the year. There’s a lot riding on Marshall shoulders as the top ruck at St Kilda after Paddy Ryder’s departure but I think he’s the man to help carry them up the ladder, and my side up the leaderboard in 2023.
Ruck 2: Sam Draper – With the lack of definitive No.1-2 starting rucks this year, I’ve decided to go with the value option in Draper. The mobile ruckman is currently into his fifth season and training the house down at Tullamarine. Currently priced at $398k with a 72 average, he offers some real potential for growth and scoring compared to a lot of other players in the position. With a new coach and ‘solo’ ruck duties I’m expecting big things. Just watch some of his preseason highlights for confirmation.
Ruck 3: Nicholas Madden – Unless Esava has a blinder in the 2 preseason matches and somehow becomes a must have, I’ll be running with Nicholas Madden in the R3 position this year. The $102k ruck/forward provides some real value as GWS play a lot of Sunday and late Saturday games in the first half of the season. With captain scores being so important, I’m a big believer of running a dedicated loophole and there’s no better this year.
Joe from The Centre Bounce @chabby_joe
Ruck 1: Jarrod Witts – I’ve gone looking for value all over the ground and hunting for players who will outscore their price point; all so that I can pay overs in the ruck line with the good old ‘set and forget’ strategy that has held true for many a supercoacher since the dawn of time. Yes, he had a career best year in 2022, but he is fitter as he has not missed a beat this offseason and has a better midfield this year with progression in Rowell, Anderson and Flanders’ careers. He is a lock to be a top 3 ruckman this year, shouldering the load on his own and he won’t ever be subbed out (barring injury of course).
Ruck 2: Rowan Marshall – Everybody who is taking the game remotely seriously has Marshall in their ruck plans, either as R1 or R2. I’ve got him at R2 for now simply because of the ruck landscape this year. He has tremendous upside for his price, and finally has the keys to the city at Moorabbin with the retirement of Paddy Ryder. He is not one you want to fade given that he is the highest owned ruckman, and when he goes big, it’ll hurt you twice as bad.
Ruck 3: Nicholas Madden – I think everything that can be said about this guy has been done so already in this Brain Trust. A basement rookie with DPP and early games to be a perfect loop? Shut up and take my money! However, if Esava Ratugolea is named in Round 1, I will do what I can to bring him in Madden’s spot, as I’m not a big fan of deliberately starting loopholes.
Janath Fernando @JanathFernando4
Ruck 1: Rowan Marshall ($506k RUC) – In my opinion I think Marshall has the potential to be the ruck 1 this year – with Cooper Sharman and/or Anthony Caminiti set to fill the early season void left by Max King and Jack Hayes to start the season, I expect Marshall to be the sole ruck to at least begin the season. In 10 games without Paddy Ryder in 2022, Marshall averaged 109.8, as opposed to 75.8 in the 11 games which they played together. Max Heath may debut at some point, but Marshall will still likely be a terrific option.
Ruck 2: Scott Lycett ($429k RUC) – Bit left field for my liking as I am typically safe with my ruck line. However, with few rucks screaming “pick me”, I think Lycett presents great value at 429.9k. Priced at 78, Lycett averages 102.7 at Adelaide Oval, where Port Adelaide are poised to play five of their first eight games. At his best, Lycett has a proven scoring ceiling, once averaging 136 in a five game stretch between Round 11-16 in 2019. Picking Lycett also allows me to scout the other rucks throughout the season, with a potential upgrade to be made in the final bye (Round 15) if need be. A riskier option I am considering at Ruck 2 is Sam Draper (398.7k RUC), whilst Mark Blicavs (537.2k MID/RUC) poses as a more consistent, yet expensive alternative.
Ruck 3: Nicholas Madden – Typically reserved for a non-playing dual position (DPP) bench loophole, Madden poses as a perfect option. A foot injury will sideline Madden to start the season, but perhaps most importantly for fantasy coaches, the Giants play eight of their first thirteen games on Sunday, allowing the VC to be deployed without trouble in a game earlier in the round.