When a player is still bulking up like English they will always find it hard to win the hit outs, what I'm saying is, when you look at Grundy and Gawn's hit out averages in their third year they stack up with Englishes .
Gawn third year average hit outs = 14.8 ,4th year = 37.3 , 5th year and beyond = 42.2 and became the best ruck.
Grundy's third year average hit outs = 24.3 , 4th year = 26.1 , 5th year and beyond = 35.7 second best ruck.
English third year average hit outs so far = 16.6 , he had his best game last week , 28 hit outs against Kreuzer, 5 marks and 7 tackles , he was the bulldogs best player. His next year will be up in the thirties plus, in two years time he will be one of the best rucks in the league.
I know Darcy has been excellent from the start but that's because he came with the bulk to compete from the start , he had already grown muscle around his frame.
just to be fair,
Darcy third year average hit outs so far = 32 about the same as his first years 34 and second year 29.1 , I think with Darcy, what you see now is what you'll get in the future but English is on the same path as Grundy and Gawn.
Make the trade now and reap the benefits in the next two years.
