Ruckmen. Every club has one, every club needs one, but who has stood tall so far this Goulburn Valley League season?
Thanks to GVL Data, statistics like never before are now at our fingertips, so The News decided to palm a couple in your direction and do a deep dive into the friendly giants of the league.
Looking at the average hit-out list after 10 rounds, Benalla’s Joshua Marchbank is leading the charge, averaging a whopping 40.7 hit-outs a game over nine games, while his closest nine-game rival, Euroa’s Andrew Smith, rests a few places down on 30.8.
Smith, who averages 3.6 tackles a game, also has one of the highest impacts on the scoreboard, averaging 0.6 goals, while the big man has an impressive number of average kicks (12.1) and marks (3.4).
The Euroa player is not the only ruck getting around the ground, with Rochester’s Daniel Russell averaging an impressive 16 disposals a game and Mooroopna’s Zac Norris not far behind on 15.6.
Mansfield’s Tom McDonagh manages to get amongst it, averaging 3.7 tackles a game, not far behind Russell on 4, while Echuca’s Kane Morris consistently performs well across the board.
Benalla’s Tom Downie and Shepparton Swans’ Mitchell Bell also stood out on the stats list, however with a low number of games played it would be unfair to compare them with nine and 10-game players.
This data is just a glimpse at what GVL Data is capable of and while this article draws no conclusions as to who the best GVL ruckman is, the ones who stand out are more clear than ever.
Hit-out season totals
Joshua Marchbank (Benalla) 366
Liam Betson (Mooroopna) 278
Andrew Smith (Euroa) 277
Zachary Norris (Kyabram) 260
Daniel Russell (Rochester) 224