I like how every mark in his highlight reel is different.
- protects the space with his hips behind the drop, chest mark
- jumps and grabs at highest point, with hands to the side of his head (Not just directly above the head)
- The Dylan Grimes in defence mark into someone’s back then ending up on your own back
- Absorbed front on contact without flinching or dropping the ball until after the ball hit the ground
- the firm, contested body on body in the air type like Lynch, ball directly above head
- the pack mark
- the one-on-one using hip strength, hands above head to the side (ball not directly above head)
- A controlled two-grab
The limited ruck hitouts showed nice hand awareness as well.
Got tackled, lifted his hands about to handball - but stopped mid-action, repositioned the ball while being tackled, and handballed down to a midfielder in his peripheral vision.
Burst of aggression near the end (stationary, though).
Limited vision in a lower league, but these spatial awareness and body control qualities are very nice and hopefully translate to AFL level.
Naturally, his body strength would be a limiting factor in executing these strengths, but he’s not a beanpole ruck... and he grew up watching Greg Stafford as a kid, then Ivan Maric + Nank in his teen years.
Usually it doesn’t matter if draftees supported Richmond as a kid, but in this case, it might help him slightly given our philosophies have been so different to other clubs in recent years.
He would’ve read the premiership books etc, watched our games, and listened to Dimma’s messaging as much as anyone you’d think. He won’t be soft.