The ruck challenge that Fremantle face against North Melbourne without Aaron Sandilands is evident, but senior coach Ross Lyon said it would be a good opportunity for Freo’s ruckmen to stake a claim on the position.
Both Jonathon Griffin and Jack Hannath have been sharing ruck responsibilities for Peel Thunder in the WAFL and are in consideration against North Melbourne due to the Kangaroos’ bevy of tall talent.
Talking points: Rd 4 v North Melbourne
“It’s a good opportunity for both of them,” Lyon said.
“The issue we have is that they have (Ben) Brown who can fill in, and their big power forwards, we don’t have many of them that can double up as ruckmen.”
Lyon said the decision to go with one ruckman in Fremantle’s past two games was to provide more running power, but reiterated that returning to a two-ruckmen line up wouldn’t be an issue for the team.
“We went for more run, and typically Aaron (Sandilands) can do a huge percentage (of the game),” he said.
“When Aaron went down it made it quite difficult.
“But we played two ruckmen all last year, and it’s only been the past two weeks that we’ve gone away from it.”
Young Freo tall Alex Pearce shouldered the majority of the ruck responsibilities last week and performed admirably in adverse circumstances, but Lyon said he could return to a defensive post against North Melbourne depending on matchups.
“Alex’s best position is probably down back,” he said.
“Ibbotson has been playing as a third tall, so it’s basically up to whether he can handle (Jarrad) Waite or not.”
