Tyrone Vickery is a very big prospect

Richmond’s Tyrone Vickery is one player contributing to the emergence of a modern day football trend. At 200cm, Vickery is a natural ruckman, but a lack of physical strength and the Tigers lacking a counterpart for Jack Riewoldt, he has been successfully thrown down forward this season.

The difference between a player like Tyrone Vickery and a traditional ruckman in Geelong’s Mark Blake is that Vickery can run, and is agile enough to play as a key forward.

This is essential in modern football; the game is becoming quicker each year and with the implementation of the substitution rule, AFL clubs are opting to go with a quicker, running side.

This is causing clubs to no longer play with two traditional ruckman, but rather with a big strong ruckman who is assisted by a mobile, versatile backup ruckman. Essendon’s three ruckmen setup is perhaps an exception to that rule.

Gone are the days where coaches throw the resting ruckman down into the forward pocket just so they can take up space.

These players are now becoming crucial pieces to their clubs forward puzzle and are thrown into the ruck every now and then to help out the main ruckman.

Players like Melbourne’s Stefan Martin, West Coast’s Nic Naitanui, Brisbane’s Mitch Clark and Richmond’s Ty Vickery are among those that are contributing to the creation of this trend, with Vickery and Clark being the main examples of taller key forwards and Naitanui being the midfield/tall rover example. All of them are tall, athletic and versatile – key qualities of the modern football’s “big man”.

At the end of the 2010 season, football analysts and Richmond fans were critical of Vickery’s performance. They questioned his attitude, work ethic and ability, ultimately questioning his place within the senior side. On the other hand, questions were also being raised of Richmond’s forward line for the upcoming season. Assistance to Jack Riewoldt was needed. Was Ty Vickery just another high draft pick that would never reach his potential? Was anyone else other than Jack Riewoldt able to kick goals?

The potential answer for these two questions was given by Damien Hardwick in an interview that he did with the Herald Sun during the pre-season. And it was this comment that was the potential answer: “Jack is a terrific player, but we know we can’t afford for him to be kicking 78 goals a year. If we keep that somewhere between 50 and 60 goals, and a Ty Vickery stands up, or another player kicks 20 or 30, we’ll be happy with that.”

The article quoted that Hardwick “hoped that Riewoldt and 200cm Ty Vickery could develop a two-pronged forward line relationship akin to Hawthorn’s Lance Franklin and Jarryd Roughead.”

Well, Hardwick must be happy. His answer is no longer a potential one but rather a proven solution. Vickery has kicked 22 goals this year and has been a valuable contributor every week.

On the weekend, he kicked a career-best four goals against the Brisbane Lions, had 14 disposals including nine marks and was the Tigers main target up forward.

He has kicked a goal in every match except one in 2011, which isn’t a bad effort for a player who was drafted at pick #8 in the 2008 draft as a ruckman.

He has become the nucleus for a much more diverse and efficient Richmond forward-line alongside the likes of Jake King (19 goals), Dustin Martin (21 goals) and Robin Nahas (12 goals). He is no longer just the borderline backup ruckman to Angus Graham or more recently Andrew Browne.

Instead, he is the key forward that is causing headaches for opposition coaches, due to his height, ability to move swiftly and take strong marks as well his accurate kicking. He is now mentioned in the same sentence as Riewoldt, Cotchin, Martin, Deledio and Newman when it comes to discussing Richmond’s better players.

At only 21 years of age, Vickery has a lot of upside in him. He is a smart footballer and also a smart man who is studying a law degree off the field. His challenge now is to continue to put weight on in order to compete with the bigger backmen of the competition and to also develop a motor that will allow him to perform at a high level for a full game.

This will advance him even further and will compliment his form this year, form that has seen him become one of the most improved players in the competition.