St Kilda coach Brett Ratten says the physical development of Max King has him primed, Saints could play just one ruck in Round 2
St Kilda landed support ruckman Paddy Ryder in the off-season with the intention he and Rowan Marshall would share the load. But it may be a different story in shortened quarters, says coach Brett Ratten.
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St Kilda coach Brett Ratten says the physical development of young forward Max King has been a silver lining of the AFL’s hiatus and has hinted the Saints could play only one ruckman in some games this season.
The No. 4 draft pick in 2018, King made his AFL debut for the Saints in Round 1 in March and was flashy as he kicked two goals, but has used his time away from the club to build his light frame.
The 19-year-old was listed in pre-season at a towering 202cm and weighing 90kg.
“Sometimes during the isolation period everyone’s thinking it’s a bit of doom and gloom but one of the real positives was Max with his body shape,” Ratten said.
“He’s starting to put a few more kilos on and (on Friday) in our game simulation he clunked the ball three or four times deep forward and kicked goals and that was promising, that’s he’s got some real confidence in his body and he’s starting to put on some good size as well.”
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Ratten said former Hawthorn star turned St Kilda football department staffer Jarryd Roughead had been in King’s “back pocket” trying to fast-track the young forward’s development and the club hoped to get plenty of games into King this year.
“He missed two years of football and to get him back and get a year into him this year, he’ll understand what AFL is by the end of this year and that will be a real motivating force for him to kickstart his career moving forward,” Ratten said on Fox Footy Live.
The Saints played two ruckman in Round 1 in Rowan Marshall and recruit Paddy Ryder.
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However, Ratten said shorter quarters this season could mean a move to playing only one ruckman.
Marshall finished second in the Saints’ best-and-fairest last year, playing much of the year as a sole ruckman.
“I think we’ll need to be flexible with the combination because of Rowan’s ability to stay in the ruck and ruck all day,” Ratten said.
“Now with the game reduced, it might be that for some games we just take the one ruckman into the game and use somebody smaller to be a support act for him. That’s something that we’ve thought about.”
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