Will sides need two genuine ruckmen?

[one-eyed]

Brendon Lade thinks sides won't need two genuine ruckmen in 5 years time. Thoughts?

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http://www.afl.com.au/News/NEWSARTICLE/tabid/208/Default.aspx?newsId=71481

Clubs are increasingly turning their attention to tall, running types with athletic prowess often taking precedence over pure footballing ability.

The need for speed and non-stop rotations in the modern game has also seen ruckmen become, somewhat, of a liability on the interchange bench.

“In the future that [teams having just one ruckman] will definitely be the way, but I also think that’s probably a couple of years off,” Lade said.

[Go Richo 12]

He is probably correct! The game had almost seen the demise of the FF until Lance and Fev last season. However Geelong won a flag with 2 genuine rucks in Otto and King and Hawks the same with Renouf and Campbell. The resting ruck can be so damaging filling gaps in defence or pushing forward to create mismatches so for now the 2nd string ruck is safe i believe

[yellowandback]

Its kinda ironic, rucks who can go forward and score for their team are invaluable.
Talls who score are back in - look at Fev and Buddy.
Rucks that can go forward and score will continue to be invaluable. At his peak, Lade did this dual role very well.
They don't get any smaller.

[Infamy]

It's because everyone is looking for the next Cox, that's why
You need a ruck who can play 90+% of the game, either in the ruck, as a link man through the middle or up forward as a goal kicking target. With the high rotations needed from the bench you can't afford to have player who's only on the ground for 50% of the game

[Ramps]

i believe that teams could play 2 rucks even in the future, the issue will be whether or not they can rest up forward and kick afew goals whilst there counterpart takes his turn in the ruck.

[Stripes]

I think the future of three ruckmen is in danger because in the future they will be looking for 3 or more ruckmen! The difference will be the type of ruckmen that will be playing. In the future I would expect far more athletic, multi-dimensional rucks who rotate through a variety of positions and play a mutitude of roles. Vickery may be a prime example of this, touted as a quick, skillful forward/ruck.

I think you may find a ruckman in the middle, in the forwardline/backline and one on the bench.

Interesting to speculate regardless

Stripes

[mightytiges]

I agree with Infamy and Stripes. Tall athletic almost ruck rover type ruckmen such as a Cox will survive but the old dinosaur tap ruckman who can only ruck but can't do anything else that will die out. The likes of Knobel have already died out as they are a liability. Especially now with 4 boundary umpires there's more pressure on the ruckman to be able to get to the next boundary contest as there's less time and rest period waiting for the ump to throw in the footy. Plus as Infamy said modern ruckmen must be linkmen through the midfield and provide another goalkicking target. If you can find two of these types they'll be invaluable so two ruckman in one side could still exist in 5 years time. The difficult part is finding and getting two of that quality on your list under the current draft system.