The Blues might not have won the match today, but Matthew Kreuzer strengthened his case further for All-Australian selection with
a BOG performance (18 disposals, 46 hitouts, 6 inside 50s, 5 score involvements, 5 clearances, 9 tackles, 5 1%ers, 24 pressure acts) against the Kangaroos.
Kruezer is a classical, physical, bullocking ruckman who dominates around the stoppages, evidenced by his numbers in comparison to the #1 ruckman (in terms of games and gametime played) at each other club so far this year:
Ruckman stoppage metrics 2017 (clearances+ inside 50s + tackles + 1%ers)
Matthew Kreuzer - 16.22 per game
Patrick Ryder - 14.38 per game
Toby Nankervis - 13.89 per game
Stefan Martin - 13.80 per game
Shane Mumford - 13.80 per game
Zac Smith - 13.71 per game
Cameron Pederson - 13.20 per game
Brodie Grundy - 12.00 per game
Aaron Sandilands - 11.44 per game
Ben McEvoy - 11.40 per game
Matthew Leuenberger - 11.33 per game
Jarrod Witts - 11.22 per game
Callum Sinclair - 11.13 per game
Sam Jacobs - 10.30 per game
Todd Goldstein - 9.78 per game
Billy Longer - 8.83 per game
Tom Boyd - 8.50 per game
Nathan Vardy - 7.50 per game
If there was a reliable, readily-available source available for hitout to advantage numbers (neither FootyWire, AFL.com or the Official AFL App show this, unfortunately), this could be added to create an 'Essential 5 Factors of Ruckwork' metric. As it stands though, Kreuzer is the leading ruckman when it comes to bullocking/stoppage work, playing the ruck role to perfection after the tap, either clearing the way for his mids and ensuring the ball gets forward, or stopping the progress of the other team.
What's interesting from a West Coast perspective is that they're working with arguably the worst #1 ruckman in the league for actual ruckwork at the moment, while arguably the best (has led these metrics in the past when fit and firing) in Nic Naitanui is waiting in the wings to return at some stage later this year.