The role of a ruckman is changing and fast, writes Mark Robinson
As the speed of footy increases by the week, the role of ruckmen is evolving — and fast. Mark Robinson ponders whether the top big men can keep up.
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The footy world will park their condemnation of Brodie Grundy.
At least for a week anyhow.
The climate of criticism changes by the week, as does the sport, as teams and player adapt to and thrive under the new rules.
Last week it was Collingwood and Grundy and where to play Jordan de Goey.
Today it’s Carlton and Lachie Plowman and what to do about Patrick Cripps.
Blues coach David Teague is also under the microscope.
His laid-back approach might be washing over the players.
To see some of them laughing with Pies players after the game surely rankled Blues fans.
The hard-edge Blues, they are not.
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The Bluebirds, the dancing troupe of the 1980s, might’ve laid more tackles than the Blues did on Thursday night. Just 41 tackles in 120 minutes of football.
Criticism comes and goes in footy.
Your problem is exacerbated when the criticism comes and stays.
The big-spending Blues are enveloped in pressure. They are zip-two, which is a familiar offering to start a season, and the fans are tired of the warm blanket approach.
There, there, it will be better next week.
The spotlight is off Grundy.
The Grundy criticism in the lead up to Thursday night’s clash wasn’t lost on Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley, either.
“It’s not like you guys to go off premature,’’ Buckley said of the media in his post-match wrap.
He said he was being a “smart arse’’.
But maybe he wasn’t. He didn’t smirk when he delivered both those retorts because he was looked absolutely serious. The pile-on on Grundy was brutal and Buckley made his point.
An uneasy first quarter on Thursday night blended into a vintage Grundy performance over the next three.
And in a statement win, he finished with 16 disposals, four clearances, seven score involvements and 51 hit outs.
Certainly, it was a welcome return for Grundy, for Buckley and, if we dig a little deeper, for the ruck fraternity.
Amid the changes to the game, both in rules and in attitude which has opened the game to joyous ball movement, the impact has been widely celebrated and examined.
Back flankers could win the Brownlow Medal, it is said.
Could a full-forward kick 100 goals, it is asked.
Rolling mauls are disappearing, stab passes are returning and one-on-ones are again emerging — comparisons were even made between Paul Vander Haar and Peter Knights in 1978 and Darcy Moore and Harry McKay on Thursday night.
But what impact has it had on the ruckmen?
Round 1 was only a snapshot of the changing environment for ruckmen, but they are on the watch list.
Only four ruckmen — Giant Matthew Flynn in his first game in the wet, Tom Hickey in the wet, Oscar McInerney in the wet and Todd Goldtsein — scored more than a 100 ranking points.
In the same round 12 months ago, there were eight ruckmen with more than 100 ranking points.
It’s folly to suggest the impact of the big men is in decline, but clearly they have to make adjustments.
In Round 1, stoppages decreased from an average of 63.6 in 2020 to 49.3.
Secondary centre-bounce stoppages dropped from 8.4 per cent to 6.7 per cent.
And the pressure factor went down from an average of 185 to 176.
All in all, there were less stoppages, more marks, greater ball movement and more run.
It meant ruckmen exhausted themselves as they ran all over the ground to ensure they were there to compete at the next stoppage, if there was one.
Often, they were not in position to be part of the play because the play moved so quickly.
Where once they could plant themselves down the line for the long kick, the new man-on-the-mark rule has opened up the 45-degree kick.
The long kick is a last resort when, in years gone by, it was at time the only resort.
The intercept mark in defence? That’s OK, if you could there get there in a clever way.
There were rare scenes in the Melbourne rooms at halftime last weekend.
Demons ruckman Max Gawn was actually breathing heavily as he was interviewed by Fox Footy.
Yep, breathing heavily.
For a decade or so, players wouldn’t have blown out a candle in their post-match on-ground interviews, such was the luxury of high rotations and stagnant football.
But here was Max furiously sucking it in.
He had two interchange rotations in the first half and just three for the game.
His ruck-forward split was 83 per cent forward and 17 per cent forward.
Last year, his split was 99 per cent ruck and one per cent forward.
It was all quite new for Gawn, not least because he wasn’t required to play the intercept marking role behind the ball because Steven May and Jake Lever were so dominant in the air.
“No need for me down there anymore, Maysie and Lever are marking it and I’m stuck in no man’s land, I’ve got find a new role here,” Gawn told Fox Footy.
As Buckley would say, it would be premature to declare the dynasty of the ruckman is in decline, as Grundy showed on Thursday night, but the role is certainly changing.
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