With the finals upon us, I began thinking about the players that will shape the business end of the 2010 season. Obviously the ball-magnets like Swan, Ablett and Goddard will feature heavily.
If any of these stars accumulate thirty or more possessions, it’s safe to assume their side is travelling in the right direction. Then there are the game-breakers like Didak, Riewoldt and Steve Johnson: guns who can destroy a contest with a few minutes of individual brilliance.
And then I stopped being a predictable, lazy hack and thought about where the real difference could be made in September. This took me amongst the tall trees.
No ruckman has taken home a Brownlow Medal since Scott Wynd in 1992 and the sight of one of the game’s giants shaping a cute kick from midfield or lining up the posts from a forward pocket still brings out the giggles in commentators.
However, as the game has got faster, player accountability more measurable and the need for 22 multifunctional athletes has intensified, the value of an elite ruckman is as high as ever.
Unconvinced? Ask Hawthorn.
Blighted by a series of devastating injuries to their ruck stocks, they have spent most of the season flattering to deceive. In hitouts to advantage, Hawthorn ranks a respectable ninth. However, opponent hitouts to advantage against Hawthorn are the highest in the league, generating an average deficit of 8 per game.
Need further proof?
Compare Essendon with and without David Hille. Hille has played fifteen times this season (excluding Round 11 when he played only a quarter at the SCG) winning six times. The Bombers have won only one of the other seven.
Collingwood raised eyebrows in the 2009 National Draft by trading picks fourteen and forty-six for a ruckman approaching his 28th birthday.
This wasn’t helped by Darren Jolly’s moderate early season form and coming into Round 4 off the back of a defeat to St Kilda and a lucky one point victory over Melbourne the knives were beginning to sharpen.
Jolly kicked his first two goals for his new club in that game against The Hawks to kick-start his season and now coming into the finals he is an ever-present for the Minor Premiers, ranked sixth in hitouts per game and accumulating a handy twenty-one goals in the process.
Jolly’s consistency, allied with Collingwood’s use of the interchange, has allowed Mick Malthouse to experiment with his second big man.
Pre-season, Nick Buckley indicated it was between Josh Fraser and Cameron Wood to play second tall but as the season has progressed, Leigh Brown has filled the role, as well as offer the size and versatility to plug holes elsewhere on the pitch. It won’t have gone unnoticed in either camp that Brown laid a career-high twelve tackles against Geelong in Round 19. Expect his influence in September to extend well beyond centre bounces.
The success of Jolly – and Shane Mumford at Sydney – has put ruck recruitment in the spotlight. Both trades were considered costly pre-season, both will now be considered bargains.
With some elite talent struggling in sides near the foot of the ladder, what price an experienced tall making a headline trade in the off-season? Dean Cox or Dean Brogan anyone?
Geelong would surely take either heading into the finals. Dual-premiership ruckman Brad Ottens has been restricted by injuries to just eleven games this term and six last. Last year’s understudy is now interstate leaving the much maligned Mark Blake, youngster Trent West and key forward Tom Hawkins shouldering the burden.
Form and fitness permitting the ideal pairing would be Ottens and Hawkins, offering a similar combination to Jolly and Brown in the mobility and goal-kicking stakes. However, remove Ottens from the scenario and Blake or West and Hawkins looks vulnerable and Blake and West together offers no auxiliary forward option.
And doesn’t Collingwood know this.
Asked after his side’s crushing Round 19 victory over the Cats, Magpies ruckman Jolly could barely contain his delight at facing Hawkins at the ball-up. With a broad smile, he said, “I suppose he’s not a genuine ruckman.
“He just goes in there to force contests, so I knew when he was in there he was going to be a bit timid and I made the most of that… When players like that come in to the middle, you really just want to drive your knee into them and make them earn it and make them think twice about doing it again.”
For a side expecting to play in their fourth consecutive Grand Final, much will rely on the fitness of two players with season averages of less than thirteen disposals a game.
Expect the Saints to lead with Gardiner and McEvoy, supported by Koschitzke when required. Without Steven King for most of the season The Saints have competed without much fanfare in the ruck division and will expect that facet of their game not to be a weakness nor used significantly to their advantage.
In the back of their mind, though, must be the memory of Round 14 2009 and Round 17 this year when last minute interventions from first Gardiner and then McEvoy revealed their ability to come good when it matters.
It’s hard to look beyond the three main contenders but if a ruckman from outside this triumvirate is going to single-handedly influence the next month it can surely only be Aaron Sandilands.
His season with Fremantle has been extraordinary. He leads average hitouts per game by seven, total hitouts by forty (and 180 from Cox in third) as well as averaging seventeen disposals a game.
If Freo makes it through to week two or three of the finals, a single standout performance from Sandilands could easily be enough to get them within touching distance of the big prize.
On the final Saturday in September, the chances are the Norm Smith medal will be hung around the neck of a midfielder and the plaudits will go to a goal-scoring forward.
But, as the sun sets on the MCG, the big men will cast some long shadows.
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The Eagle took the bait and was drawn into giving away a free kick as his teammate was lining up in the one-goal loss…
The strength of the number one draft pick was impressive to floor Zach Merrett and Ben Hobbs in the one play.
Jake Kelly was left red-faced after Campbell Chesser pounced and stole an unlikely goal.
The Bomber gave away a 50-metre penalty for interfering with the mark from Bailey Williams leading to a goal.
Dyson Heppell wanted to come after the top draft pick, but his Eagles' teammate stood in the way.
Apparently, the Eagles forward has embraced the nickname too after the commentators compared his style to big Fraser Gehrig!
