This is a major shift in what stoppages such as centre bounce and boundary throw ins can look like for Essendon in 2024.
I wish it happened years ago.
But it does come with some questions...
Now here's a player who is durable and reliable in playing week to week and with his consistency of performance.
A player who knows what it's like not just in training, but also in recovery during the week.
Since Goldstein's third year of being on a list, he has only missed 10 games of senior football, that's over the course of 11 years.
He's also averaged 31.2 hit outs a game, modern stars of Max Gawn and Brodie Grundy have gone at 32.9 and 30.8 respectively over their 12 and 11 year careers.
He's a classic tap ruckman who can hit to areas to advantage teammates outside the immediate drop zone.
We love what Sam Draper brings as a player and teammate on the field with contest, in a lot of ways, it's immeasurable. He works as an extra contested midfielder at stoppages a lot of times.
In comparison, Goldstein does his best work outside of that area.
Being able to hit to advantage outside the immediate zone is especially important against teams like Adelaide, Carlton and Gold Coast, who are strong at stoppages because of the size of their players who operate in that area.
Those teams, and teams alike, can be vulnerable once the ball is outside that zone.
If you know, or a confident your ruckman can have the advantage with hit outs, then you can set up more aggressively to exploit those types of teams with leg speed.
In 2023, of ruckmen who played 3 or more games, Draper was ranked 17th, Nick Bryan equal 18th, and Andrew Philips 19th for average hit outs to advantage. Ranging from 6.1 to 5.8.
The top ranked were Jarrod Witts 12.4, Riley Obrien 12.3 and Sean Darcy 11.1.
Goldstein 5th on that list at 9.8.
Now those teams generated more stoppages a game than Essendon did, in fact every team did, as Essendon games featured the least amount of stoppages on average.
If we look at the percentage of hit outs to advantage each ruckman has per contest they attend, Goldstein is at 33.4%, ranked 9th, Draper 30.1, ranked 17th, and the interesting one, Bryan 34.0 and 6th on that table.
Even though Essendon games have the least amount of stoppages, Essendon isn't a poor stoppage clearance team, sitting just below AFL average with a differential against its opponents of -1.3 a game, not great, not poor.
But the only way is up with an added option getting his hands to the ball first.
Bryan's ruck traits are on a similar path to Goldstein's in that he's more a classic tap ruckman than a brute force.
He prefers to hit to areas for teammates advantage than just belting it forward for territory.
Both Bryan and Draper are still learning their craft though, Draper a late comer to football whose only played 57 games and Bryan only 14, this is where Goldstein can influence as well.
Teaching.
The mix and versatility the three dedicated rucks can bring, allows Brad Scott options with team selection depending on the opponent that week.
Fremantle have Darcy and a more mobile Jackson, Gawn prefers to take the majority of contests at Melbourne, and Carlton have two different styles with De Koning and Pittonet.
Scott has had a preference to selecting 2 rucks a game in the past.
Early in 2023, that set up worked in exploiting the oppositions part time second ruck, it allowed the resting Essendon ruck to create a match up that changed the look in the forward half.
It worked to perfection against Melbourne where Draper and Phillips worked over Grundy (Gawn didn't play) and forced him to work back and be accountable to his opponent at that time.
Ultimately the injury to Peter Wright's shoulder made Scott's decision easier to select two, though he continued with that set up once Wright returned, I'll guess, in order to protect Wright from the risk of re-injury.
Now Draper looks as though he'll have a delayed start this season, so I would expect Goldstein and Bryan to be given their opportunity.
As for what the line up looks like with 2 dedicated ruckmen, that's going to be very interesting.
With no clear picture on which medium to tall targets will stand beside Peter Wright, the role the second ruck plays when not contesting stoppages is a big question.
Especially if Essendon continues to have such low stoppages a game.
Goldstein has looked his best when playing major minutes on ball, and hasn't shown to have forward craft to be a viable option down there.
Can Bryan play a higher percentage forward together with Wright and make it work?
What will it look like once Draper is fully fit?
Though the real question surely is, does Essendon need two dedicated ruckmen when Wright can pinch hit?
Here's a look at the successful teams of 2023 and how their ruck and front half set up looked like compared to Goldstein and Essendon.
Collingwood's Cameron took 65.1% of their ruck contests.
Next best was Cox with 37.2%, as he played mostly as a key forward.
McInerney took the majority of Brisbane's with 77.0%, next was Fort with 30.9, though Fort only played 9 games meaning key forward Daniher became the relief ruckman.
GWS' Briggs, was along the same lines as Mclnerney, contesting 74.4% while playing 17 of GWS' last 18 games. Keeffe giving him the rest by taking 19.8, while also spending time forward and back.
Carlton's De Koning attended 49.0% and Pittonet 63.0% of Carlton's ruck contests, with Silvagni and Young also helping when required.
In Goldstein's 20 games of 2023, he averaged 70% for North Melbourne, and for Essendon, it was Draper 60.7%, Phillips 48.5 and Bryan 40.7.
There's a mixture in all of that, Collingwood needed a tall anchor ahead of the ball for stability and Cox was that, especially through the finals series.
Brisbane had a tall forward line to begin with, so Daniher wouldn't be missed too much when Hipwood was a constant down there.
GWS had enough tall targets to relieve Briggs, so Riccardi and Hogan would always be marking options ahead of ball. For Carlton, Curnow and McKay were so instrumental to their scoring, that two dedicated rucks were required.
Doesn't Essendon have enough tall forward options that they can look at to give Goldstein a chop out for such small amounts of time?
Wright and Weideman are two examples who can pinch hit while still keeping size in the forward half with Langford, Jones, Stringer and new recruit Caddy.
So yes, there are questions on the ideal set up, but there certainly isn't on Goldstein's career achievements.
He's been named in the All Australian squad twice, been selected in the All Australian team and also won a club best and fairest.
That's experience on game day, preparation and recovery that Draper, Bryan and Visentini can tap into, pun intended.
Even though his presence on field may only be for a limited time, I'll predict Goldstein will forge a longer impact on his three protégés as they continue their careers, once his has come to an end.
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