Adelaide confident in ruck stocks, despite losing veteran ace Sam Jacobs
The Crows have expressed confidence their existing rucks and say they won’t be taking a ruckman “for the sake of it’’ in next week’s AFL Draft.
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Adelaide will not target a ruckman “for the sake of it’’ in next week’s draft, with the club confident it has support for No. 1 big man Reilly O’Brien.
With veteran star Sam Jacobs having departed for GWS, pinch-hitter Josh Jenkins traded to Geelong and untried rookie Paul Hunter delisted, the Crows ruck stocks appear thin.
But national recruiting manager Hamish Ogilvie has backed new recruit Billy Frampton (from Port Adelaide) and second-year rookie Kieran Strachan, who have played only three AFL games between them, to provide the support O’Brien needs.
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“I don’t think we have to find a ruckman for the sake of it,’’ Ogilvie told The Lowdown AFL Draft Podcast.
“We think Billy can ruck. While he didn’t do much for Port last year because they had so many forward-rucks and genuine ruckmen, I think we can get Bill back up and doing some ruck work pretty quickly.
“Strahan’s form in the (SANFL) finals, when he got to do a lot of ruck when Hunter was out injured, he developed really well.
“So we are really confident with Reilly and those two boys, along with throwing Elliott (key forward Elliott Himmelberg) into the mix.
“I think the coach (Matthew Nicks) has got some big blokes that are really team-first and will do whatever it takes to help the team, so we are pretty comfortable with our ruck stocks at the moment.’’
The concern for the Crows is that the main trio have played just 23 AFL games between them.
Lead ruckman O’Brien, 24, played a career-high 18 last season after managing just two in the previous three years.
Frampton, 23, has played just three matches – all as a key forward for Port – and Strachan, 24, is untried.
Ogilvie said the club rates Frampton highly and hopes he can take the next step in his journey if he is given more game time.
AFL great Brendon Goddard has rated the Crows’ ruck brigade as the 10th-best in 2020, saying that in O’Brien it has “uncovered a ruckman for the next decade’’.
But the jury remains out on his support cast.
With only one standout teenage ruckman in this year's draft pool, WA’s Luke Jackson who has been linked to Melbourne at No. 3, Adelaide could look to add a developing or mature-age big man to its rookie list.