Each week, we will do a deep dive into a player that had a strong performance in the previous round. The player may not have had the top score of the weekend but a solid outing nonetheless. I’ll look to cover the previous rounds performance, outlook for the season ahead, outlook for 2024 and beyond and my recommendation for this player. Let us know your thoughts on who we have down below on all of our social channels: twitter, facebook, instagram, discord.
Player of the Week
Player Name: Rowan Marshall
Age: 27
Club: St Kilda Saints
Position: Ruck
Round 7 Score: 182
2023 Ave Score: 129
Round 7 Performance
The St Kilda Saints fell to Port Adelaide in round 7 but finger cannot be pointed at Rowan Marshall! Marshall was absolutely everything for the Saints on Friday night, his eye-watering score of 182, the highest among all ruckman so far this year! 19 kicks, 7 handballs, 6 marks, 10 tackles and 28 hit-outs is what got him to 182 GDS fantasy points in a game where at times you could mistake him for a fourth rover. About as dominant a game you could expect from a ruckman, incredible.
2023 Outlook
Coming into the 2023 season, it was expected that the ruckman position for fantasy would prove to be a dry and desolate wasteland of a position and so far it has proven to be somewhat true. Up until this point in the season all the talk has been about Western bulldogs ruckman Tim English, how he should be a "set and forget", "no other ruckman comes close"... and maybe that has been true up until this point but with his 182 outing in round seven, Rowan Marshall needs to come back into consideration as a must-start option. The position is still in a horrendous way, it seems Tim English and now Rowan Marshall are the only must start options, but... At least we have more than one option now...
GDS Dynasty Ranking
Ruckman as dynasty options is a tricky field to navigate through. The life-cycle of a ruckman tends to be a little longer than a midfielder or a half-back flanker for example but we also need to consider that as we stand today, there are a ton of young, talented fantasy options at the ruck position. Marshall is still only 27, he's still got four or five more years at the top of his game, he's not an immediate worry! But towards the end of that span, maybe we look to get a Luke Jackson or a Sam Draper in at that point as potential apprentices for your ruck positions. But for the moment! Marshall is going to provide great fantasy production for the next few years at the very least!
Cal's Call
A ruckman who is at the top of his game, a top two players at his position for fantasy and is hitting incredible form in the early stages of the season. In my view, Tim English should still be viewed as the stand out ruck option, however, the gap has now closed significantly between Marshall and English and Marshall could be an option to go to if you feel the competition is leaning heavily on English.