Terry Wallace has rated his top five ruckmen in the competition this season.
The big men have almost come back into vogue this year with a number putting in some game-winning performances.
Here’s Wallaces top five:
1. Brodie Grundy 2. Max Gawn 3. Stefan Martin 4. Sam Jacobs 5. Ben McEvoy
Wallace had some very high praise for his number one ruckman in Grundy.
“He could’ve got six Brownlow votes in the last two rounds, he’s been outstanding,” Wallace told the AFL Nation pregame show.
“He’s taken rucking to a new level.
“He gets after the ball at ground level better than anyone that I’ve seen playing that type of role maybe ever.”
A potentially controversial omission is West Coast ruckman Nic Naitanui, but Wallace said he’s giving the big man time to continue getting back to his best after missing last season with an ACL injury.
“I’m only talking about this season and if I was talking about impact to his team, I’d have him in there, but if you remember to the early parts of this season he was only playing 50 per cent of ground time,” Wallace said.
“He could get there with a bullet by the end of the year.”
Wallace said McEvoy got in ahead of others on his ability to cover the ground.
“The one thing with Ben McEvoy is he can seriously, seriously run,” Wallace said.
“He will finish in the top five in all the endurance work at Hawthorn.”