What difference does a dominant ruck make to a team?
And, for that matter, what constitutes a dominant game from the league’s big men?
A bit of history about this concept first – in looking at the 2023 season, I decided to focus on the players who were able to win their share of ruck taps, and also accumulate plenty of the footy around the ground. I wanted a good mix of ruck work, combined with the ability to stretch the opposition by providing a target around the ground. I figured that a good number to start at was 20.
For a big man, 20 disposals per game is a feat not accomplished all that often. It’s usually the number that makes you sit up, take notice, and realise that one of the big men was able to pick up plenty of possessions around the ground.
2023 saw Tim English as the best of the big men in that regard. He recorded 20 disposals in a game in 12 of his 23 outings to be the best of the big men. Of course, an All-Australian blazer was his reward for that season. The best thing about English, though, is that he also won ruck taps at a higher rate than he ever had. In those 12 games, he managed 20 or more every time, giving him 12 20/20 games in 2023.
Fast forward 12 months, and it was again the player with the most 20/20 games that wore the All-Australian Blazer, with Max Gawn picking up 11 20/20 games in 2024 to pick up yet another selection in the team of the year.
Again in 2025, it was Gawn with 13 20/20 games gaining his eighth All-Australian blazer, but this time, there was a twist. Brodie Grundy also picked up 13 games with these numbers. Sadly, the selectors opted not to choose two rucks for the team, and Grundy missed out. Still, he compiled one of the most dominant stretches in recent memory.
From Round 15 through to 21, Grundy rattled off six-straight 20/20 games, culminating with a monstrous 39 disposal/32 hit out game in Round 21 against the Bombers.
It’s funny – people look at Gawn and some talked down his efforts in 2025, pumping up the tires of other players, but he continues to be the standard by which all other rucks are assessed. Don’t take him for granted – he is wonderful. And in saying that, so is Grundy – we are blessed, at the moment.
However, I wasn’t satisfied with just the current crop of AFL players and how they fared when it comes to the 20/20 club. I needed to go back and take a gander at what some of the greats of the ruck game had managed over the years.
If we look back to players like Dean Cox, whose running style of play made him one of the greatest big men of the modern era, we can see why he is so highly regarded by all footy fans – not just West Coast supporters. He managed to hit 20/20 in 65 games over the course of his career. He was ranked first overall in this stat combination for a fair while.
And now, he is ranked second.
Part of me wonders just how far he’d be ahead in this had Nic Nat not happened by and started eating up minutes in the ruck?
If we go back a bit further in time, Simon Madden was a player I thought would be right at the pointy end of it all, but he managed to accrue just eight games in his career when he was able to register 20/20 contests. Meanwhile, Gary Dempsey, who I have such fond memories of watching live at Arden Street, has been bumped into third place, with 60 career total 20/20 games.
So, who’s doing the bumping?
Well, that’d be a man who received a third lease of ruck life in 2024 and took it back to his highest level in 2025. Joining the Sydney Swans, Grundy started the 2024 season like he’d been shot out of a cannon, collecting five 20/20 games by the end of Round 10.
Sustaining that type of form was always going to be tough, and though he tired late in the year, his continued efforts were enough to see him move past Dean Cox and into the overall lead in the 20/20 ruck club. He has now extended that lead out to 18 games over Cox, and with Gawn his closest rival, it may be a fair while before he is threatened at the number one position.
As always, The Mongrel keeps his eye on the obscure stats, and charted the leaders in the Ruck 20/20 Club throughout the 2025 season. Here are those who recorded 20/20 games over the course of the season.
13 – Brodie Grundy/Max Gawn
9 – Rowan Marshall
8 – Tim English
7 – Darcy Cameron
6 – Tristan Xerri
5 – Luke Jackson/Tom De Koning
3 – Toby Nankervis
2 – Mark Blicavs/Jarrod Witts
1 – Sam Draper/Rhys Stanley/Lloyd Meek/Jordon Sweet
Below are the career numbers for some of the bigger names in the league, both past and present. It is an incomplete list at the moment – I used the top 30 all-time hit out players as the basis to work from, and threw in some of the better-known names from the past, and a few more modern rucks, as well. I am sure I missed a few, but I will continue to add to this list as we progress through the year.
THE ALL-TIME 20/20 CLUB LEADERS
Brodie Grundy – 81 (4)
Dean Cox – 65 (3)
Gary Dempsey – 60 (2)
Max Gawn – 60 (2)
Stefan Martin – 48 (1)
Rowan Marshall – 40 (2)
Len Thompson – 33
Peter Moore – 33
Jeff White – 29
Tim English – 29
Todd Goldstein – 28
Aaron Sandilands – 27 (1)
Toby Nankervis – 22
Sam Jacobs – 21
Mark Lee – 21
Matt Rendell – 20
Jim Stynes – 18
Barry Round – 18
Sam Newman – 15
Polly Farmer – 14* (3)
Peter Everitt – 14
Shaun Rehn – 14 (1)
John Nicholls – 13**
Tristan Xerri – 13 (1)
Don Scott – 12
Scott Lycett – 12
Luke Jackson – 12
Steven King – 11 (1)
Nic Naitanui – 10
Justin Madden – 10
Barry Goodingham – 10
Darcy Cameron – 10
Paul Salmon – 9 (1)
Brad Ottens – 9
Jarrod Witts – 9
Mark Blicavs – 9
Simon Madden – 8
Brendon Lade – 8
Reilly O’Brien – 8
Tom De Koning – 8
Scott Wynd – 7
Tom Hickey – 7
Sean Darcy – 7
Carl Ditterich – 7
Matthew Kreuzer – 6
Kieren Briggs – 6
Rhys Stanley – 6
David Cloke – 5
Ben McEvoy – 4
Paddy Ryder – 4
Will Minson – 4
Percy Jones – 4
Peter Keenan – 4
Shane Mumford – 3
Darren Jolly – 3
Oscar McInerney – 3
Mark Jamar – 2
Mike Green – 2
Stephen McCann – 2
Sam Draper – 2
Brian Roberts – 1
Mick Nolan – 1
Marc Pittonet – 1
Jordon Sweet – 1
Lloyd Meek – 1
Righto, HB… what do those brackets mean?
Great question – glad I asked.
They’re games where the player has notched a 30/30 game. Not bad, huh? There are not that many of them – it’s like the Holy Grail for ruckmen. I didn’t expect Steven King to get his head in that mix with one of those games, but maybe I underrated him – where does he get the time after writing all those books and arguing with people on Twitter?
Interestingly, only two players were able to notch 30/30 games in 2025. Gawn had 35 disposals and 47 hit outs in Round Eight, whilst Grundy had his 39/32 game in Round 21.
Also, two players were able to notch 20/20 games in the finals this season. Jarrod Witts and Mark Blicavs both did it in week one of the finals.
Again, this list is not comprehensive, but the main players are all here. I’ll continue to add the numbers of current players as seasons tick by.
ADDITIONAL NOTES
*Only the final two seasons of Polly Farmer’s career had hit outs officially recorded. Ripped off… I wonder how many he would have achieved 20/20 games had he had full stats over the course of his career? He has three 30/30 games, with all of those games recorded in those last two seasons. Incredible…
**Similar to Polly, John Nicholls would have been much higher had hit out stats been recorded earlier. The first nine seasons of his career had no hit outs recorded, but in the first year they were, he had seven 20/20 games.
Interestingly, Jim Stynes never had over 26 hit outs in a game during his career.
Finally, there is an anomaly in the ruck stats for the 1974-75 period, where it appears that the hit out stats have not been recorded for long periods of both seasons. It probably impacts Dempsey’s overall numbers (he had seven 20+ disposal games in that stretch), as well as those of Len Thompson (4x), and Sam Newman (15x).
As always, massive thanks to those who support this work. You can see the amount of care that goes into it. I love footy, I love writing about it, and I hope you enjoy reading it. Without you, this whole thing falls over. Sincerely… thank you – HB
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