Midfield coach Lenny Hayes says St Kilda will need to “get creative” with its ruck options in order to counteract its missing tall stocks in the early part of the season.
The Saints will be without Jack Hayes (foot) and Max King (shoulder) for at least the first month of the year, and with backup ruckman Tom Campbell recovering from an Achilles tendon strain, leaves Rowan Marshall to shoulder the bulk of the load.
Blooding untried ruck Max Heath remains an option, especially given the Saints’ previous dual-ruck combination of Marshall and the retired Paddy Ryder, but could turn to less conventional avenues come the season proper.
“It’d be nice to have the two-headed beast that Melbourne have (in Max Gawn and Brodie Grundy), but there’s different ways of going about it,” Hayes told SEN.
“We saw Richmond win a couple of Premierships having a designated ruckman and Shaun Grigg would come in and chop-out. As a young man, Mitch Owens is quite a good size and he’s not quite that ruck size (192cm), but he’s a bit in-between and could get a bit of a go there.
“Some teams have gone that way with perhaps with a taller second midfielder (as a ruck) and then you’ve got four mids running around. I think we’ll have a combination of both with Tom Campbell (when available) and Max Heath and obviously Rowan Marshall who’s a very good ruckman.
“We’re probably still to decide that. We’ve got some match-play minutes coming up over the next couple of weeks so we’ll trial a few things, but without a designated second ruck we’ll have to get creative around that.”
Ross Lyon has given Hayes and fellow assistant coaches Robert Harvey and Corey Enright the freedom to formulate the Saints’ gameplan, taking on more of an overseer approach in contrast to his previous tenures in the job.
A faster style of play and a willingness to take risks – taking advantage of both the 6-6-6 and ‘stand’ rules – are on the agenda for St Kilda’s midfield group, which Hayes says has a solid balance between “inside hard-nuts” and “outside class”.
“There’s no doubt centre bounce has played a really big role over the last couple of years with the 6-6-6 rule, which I think has been a great rule,” Hayes said.
“It’s placed a huge importance on that and if you’ve got the ability to come out the front of stoppage and keep the ball in your front half that’s going to go a long way in winning that territory battle.
“We’ve put a lot of time into the way that we set up around stoppage, but also once we win the ball are we good enough to be able to absorb that pressure, drive our legs and get through, so that’s been a big focus this pre-season.
“If you look at some of the teams who played some good footy last year – everyone would look at Collingwood and the way Geelong moved the ball – they moved it a little bit quicker.
Hayes has several candidates to choose from to fill the Saints’ engine room this coming season both young and old, however the outside run of Bradley Hill is shaping as the most exciting prospect.
After spending the past two seasons coming off half-back, a flip back to the wing to best use his aerobic capacity is all but locked in.
“Ross has come in and he played him a lot on the wing at Fremantle and he’s trained pretty much every session and I couldn’t be happier with where he’s at,” Hayes said.
“As a midfield coach, I’m pretty happy Ross wants to play him through the arcs.”
