Over the (Dream team) years, the ruck position has been much maligned. Going back just 5 years, Josh Fraser topped the ruck game with an average of 84 Dream Team points. I know the game has changed since (especially the overall number of possessions) and today the number of rucks topping 90 Dream Team points stands at five.

The Fab Five are listed below;

• Dean Cox, WCE (Avg: 107)
• Aaron Sandilands, FRE (Avg: 96)
• Mitch Clark, BRL (Avg: 94)
• Hamish McIntosh, KAN (Avg: 90)
• Josh Fraser, COL (Avg: 88)

*Paddy Ryder is worth mentioning averaging 82, but averaged 88 over the last 18 weeks after he took over the ruck duties fulltime from Hille in round 4.

Having a closer look at the number of players in each position that scored 90+ and 100+, it shows that as a percentage of "jobs available" the ruckman comes ahead of other positions. That is, 31% of the starting ruckmen, out of a possible 16 (starting jobs), had averaged over 90 in 2009.

** Assumption:
• Total number of rucks 1*16(teams) = 16
• Total number of defenders 6*16(teams) = 96
• Total number of midfielders 5*16(teams) = 80
• Total number of forwards 6*16(teams) = 96

What we're seeing is the evolution of the ruckman. No longer are they awkward Justin Madden mold but the new improved Luke Darcy version. 6'2" and can jump, run, tackle just like a midfielder but with one marked advantage. The hitout. Another observation is players are better althetes than in the past so ruckman don't need to be as tall. They are developing a great vertical leap. The exception being big Aaron Sandilands, who is a freak. The new-age ruck prototype is tall, quick and agile, ala Brisbane Lion Mitch Clark. Aiding this new breed is the pace of the game and the two-centre circle system has helped the ruckmen who can jump high off a few steps enormously. Which reduced the need to extreme height. In one-on-ones, the traditional ruckman still uses his experience and bulk but when the ruck contests finishes, players like Clark and Ryder become another midfield running player that can get into the back-50 to block the space, or mark third up and can go into the forward-50 to become a dangerous marking target.

The name that should be at the top of list in 2010 is Mitch Clark.  Official stats have him sitting third among dream team ruckman but surged home to averaged 107 over the last 15 weeks.

Have a look at the top 10 ruck dream team stats over the last 5 years and it is evident that their role in the game and dream team is definitely on the rise. Even last year, COX averaged over 100 and the next highest average for a ruckman was 85.

Table: Statistics for Rucks in the last five years.