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 find plenty of the footy.
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.
It’s funny – people look at Gawn and some talked down his efforts in 2024, 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.
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, to be the number one man of all-time in this category heading into the 2024 season.
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. 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.
So, heading into the 2025 season, here at The Mongrel, we are going to be charting the league leaders in the 20/20 ruck game, and drilling down on how these blokes impacted the game when they achieved those numbers.
When Grundy hit 20/20 in 2024, the Swans were 9-1. Gawn wasn’t so impressive in terms of team results. When he did it, the Dees were 4-7.
Come on, Dees! Gawn was doing his bit!
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 big 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 – 68 (3)
Dean Cox – 65 (3)
Gary Dempsey – 60 (2)
Stefan Martin – 48 (1)
Max Gawn – 47 (1)
Len Thompson – 33
Peter Moore – 33
Rowan Marshall – 31 (2)
Jeff White – 29
Todd Goldstein – 28
Aaron Sandilands – 27 (1)
Sam Jacobs – 21
Mark Lee – 21
Tim English – 21
Matt Rendell – 20
Jim Stynes – 18
Barry Round – 18
Toby Nankervis – 19
Sam Newman – 15
Polly Farmer – 14* (3)
Peter Everitt – 14
John Nicholls – 13**
Don Scott – 12
Scott Lycett – 12
Steven King – 11 (1)
Nic Naitanui – 10
Justin Madden – 10
Barry Goodingham – 10
Paul Salmon – 9 (1)
Brad Ottens – 9
Simon Madden – 8
Brendon Lade – 8
Reilly O’Brien – 8
Scott Wynd – 7
Jarrod Witts – 7
Tom Hickey – 7
Mark Blicavs – 7
Luke Jackson – 7
Tristan Xerri – 7 (1)
Sean Darcy – 7
Carl Ditterich – 7
Matthew Kreuzer – 6
Kieren Briggs – 6
Rhys Stanley – 5
David Cloke – 5
Ben McEvoy – 4
Paddy Ryder – 4
Will Minson – 4
Percy Jones – 4
Peter Keenan – 4
Shane Mumford – 3
Darren Jolly – 3
Darcy Cameron – 3
Oscar McInerney – 3
Tom De Koning – 3
Mark Jamar – 2
Mike Green – 2
Stephen McCann – 2
Sam Draper – 1
Brian Roberts – 1
Mick Nolan – 1
Jarrod Witts – 1
Marc Pittonet – 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?
And what were the final standings in the 2024 AFL season for this stat?
Another good question – I am really knocking them out of the park today, aren’t I?
Here’s the top five for 2024
11 – Max Gawn
9 – Brodie Grundy, Rowan Marshall
5 – Luke Jackson, Tristan Xerri
4 – Kieren Briggs
Interestingly, only two players were able to notch 30/30 games in 2024. Rowan Marshall did it in Round Ten, whilst Tristan Xerri had a monster game in Round 21.
*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 the equal highest number of 30/30 games, with three 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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