Tigers’ biggest Round 1 selection headaches reviewedJON RALPH,
Herald Sun
March 13, 2019 Richmond is likely to back in workhorse Toby Nankervis as their sole ruckman next Thursday despite new rules encouraging teams to play two genuine rucks.
The Tiger have trialled 204cm ruck Ivan Soldo during the pre-season but his lack of a second position could count against him against the Blues.
After playing almost exclusively as a forward in the JLT win over Melbourne, Nankervis was in 41 of the ruck contests against Hawthorn, with Noah Balta in 22 and Soldo in 19.
With backup premiership ruckman Shaun Grigg injured, 194cm swingman Noah Balta could yet squeeze into the team after strong ruck contributions in the JLT Series.
The Tigers are yet to come close to finalising their team but Balta is a much more adaptable player when not in the ruck than Soldo.
Richmond is still confident but not certain star recruit Tom Lynch will take part in the season opener, with the ex-Suns forward yet to officially thrust his name forward.
Richmond football boss Neil Balme said on Monday injured trio Grigg, Josh Caddy and Jason Castagna were not yet in a position to put their hand up for Round 1.
Lynch has been in full training for several weeks and trained again on Monday at Punt Road, with Balme saying he would be “surprised” if he didn’t take on Carlton.
But coach Damien Hardwick has said it is up to Lynch to declare his fitness and put his hand up for Round 1 after passing a series of medical test on his surgically repaired knee.
Soldo could still come into calculations against clubs with multiple quality ruckmen or teams with a dominant ruckman who needs to be neutralised.
Richmond’s medicos have made it clear they do not want Lynch playing in the ruck, so even if he does play the Tigers would still need someone to help out Nankervis for several minutes per quarter.
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