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Sport Nation
Find your Sport Nation frequencyKane Cornes’ Countdown: The top 10 rucks in the AFL
SEN • May 16th, 2025 12:17 pm
Kane Cornes has provided his list of his top 10 ruckmen in the AFL currently.
Cornes’ list was inspired by Fremantle ruck Luke Jackson, who has been the subject of trade rumours in recent days.
The list doesn’t take into account who is the most valuable from a trade perspective. It purely considers who is the best in the position as of right now.
Kane’s Countdown - “The game’s best ruckmen…”
10 – Toby Nankervis (Richmond)
“Toby Nankervis gets 16 touches a game, 5.5 clearances and about 9 hitouts to advantage,” Cornes said on SEN’s Sportsday.
“Unfortunately, he's given away 23 free kicks in his games this year.
“He’s kicked just the 4 goals.”
9 – Jarrod Witts (Gold Coast)
“He has won 21 free kicks in 9 games, and he's only given 9 away.
“He averages 13 touches, 4.8 clearances and 11 hit outs to advantage on average.
“I think he's a very good player, but he might be tailing off now in the stage of his career that he is at, but still very effective at Gold Coast.”
8 – Luke Jackson (Fremantle)
“I've got him as the 8th best ruckman in football.
“There are only 18 of them, and he's number eight at the moment, and I don't know if he can go it alone for a full game like most of the other rucks that I'm going to mention.
“He’s kicked just the three goals this year despite playing a lot of his time forward.
“I wouldn't be giving any more than a first-round draft pick for him.”
7 – Tim English (Western Bulldogs)
“He started the season slowly, but I think he's been really strong his last month and has probably not been spoken about enough.
“But he’s kicked just the four goals this year, and I think that's the area he can improve.
“His career high is 19 goals, which came way back in 2021, because he's good when he goes forward.”
6 – Rowan Marshall (St Kilda)
“He’s not having as strong a season this year as he did last year.
“Just two goals this year, but he kicked 15 last year, and he had 16 Brownlow votes.”
5 – Lloyd Meek (Hawthorn)
“He doesn't get as much of the ball as the others, but he’s very good with his craft.
“He has the second most hitouts to advantage and more than four clearances a game. I love big Lloyd.”
4 – Tristan Xerri (North Melbourne)
“You can debate where he sits, but I've got him four.
“He averages 18 touches and huge clearance numbers. He’s having a huge year and is definitely in the running for All-Australian consideration.”
3 – Tom De Koning (Carlton)
“He wins the second-most ball of any of the rucks and also has huge clearance numbers.
“He gets around the ground, and his impact is measured by his disruption of the opposition as well as his follow-up work, which I think is excellent."
2 – Darcy Cameron (Collingwood)
“I've got him as the second-best ruckman in the game.
“He averages 19 touches, 5 clearances and 8 hitouts to advantage, plus he takes the most intercept marks of any of the rucks.
“He's as good as any at getting back and filling space. He is having a huge year.”
1 – Max Gawn (Melbourne)
“Max Gawn’s the best ruckman in football, by a fair way.
“The one area that I'd love for him to fix up is that he has kicked 1.8 this year.”
