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The quality of ruckmen in the AFL right now is as good as it has been in the modern era.
There’s Fremantle’s jolly evergreen giant Aaron Sandilands who, after 238 games, remains one of the most influential players in the land. This is thanks to his dominant ruckwork, strong contested marking and underrated mobility.
There’s the truck-like Shane Mumford, who is the most important player on a Greater Western Sydney team laced with top 10 draft picks.
There’s late bloomer Stefan Martin, joint winner of Brisbane’s best and fairest award this year after exploiting his phenomenal athleticism to average 33 hit outs and 21 touches per game.
There’s Richmond’s heart-and-soul Ivan Maric, an unfashionable, bullocking, and determined big man bringing old school ruck qualities to the modern game.
In Adelaide, there’s the silky, smooth-moving, sky-high leaping Paddy Ryder. At Port, and the tough-as-teak Sam Jacobs, who for five years now has been among Adelaide’s three most valuable players.
That’s a very strong group of ruckmen. Yet none of them were able to make this year’s 40-man All-Australian squad.
The two big men who did earn this honour will face off this week in what, for me, will be the most engrossing one-on-one battle of the finals so far.
At 25 and 27 years old respectively, Nic Naitanui and Todd Goldstein are in their peak and among the top 20 most valuable players in the competition.
Both of them may well feature in the All-Australian team, such has been their massive impacts on the 2015 season.
Where Naitanui is mesmerising and mercurial, Goldstein is all substance. So herculean is Goldstein, North tend to play without a second recognised ruckman.
A seemingly indefatigable player, he runs out games extremely well despite the heavy burden placed upon him.
Partly because of this and partly because he’s just so darn good, Goldstein on the weekend became the first man in history to exceed 1000 hit outs in an AFL/VFL season, averaging 44 per game.
Along with Aaron Sandilands this season, Goldstein also became the first ruckman to average more than 40 hit outs per game.
His tap work is accurate and clever and he clearly possesses a wonderful understanding with his on-ball brigade. The best ruckmen, however, do a lot more than just control the taps.
They follow up by blocking, tackling, and then bolting forward to provide an option or back to fill space. Goldstein does all of these things well.
Among ruckmen, his 4.3 tackles per game is elite, as are his clearances (3.5 per game) and one per centers (2.6 per game).
With Goldstein, there is no flash. Instead there is grunt work, gut running and selflessness.
Naitanui for a long time was derided by many AFL followers as a player who was eye catching but lacked in depth of impact.
At times it was true, particularly when he was battling for injury and struggling to get to enough contests in 2014 and 2013.
Mostly, though, Naitanui was the subject of unfair criticism. Those who bagged him seemed not to have watched him live at the ground when he was fully fit.
The Naitanui you see in highlights packages is scintillating. The player you see live complements his spectacular acts with first, second and third efforts, with shepherds and committed chases, with the perceived pressure opponents feel when he is in their vicinity.
Crucially, Naitanui will be fairly fresh every time he battles Goldstein this weekend thanks to the rest offered to him by the greatly-improved Callum Sinclair.
The Eagles’ number two big man is a great mark, making him a danger inside 50m, moves very well and is solid in the ruck contests, averaging 20 hit outs per game this season.
Yet it was Goldstein who came out trumps the last time the teams met, in Round 10 in Tasmania, leading North to a 10-point victory. If the Roos are to be any chance of causing a he upset in Perth, he will have to be on fire.