The role of the ruckmen has continued to evolve over the past decade, with the need to be more than just a dominant hitout player now demanded.
The 2025 season saw a range of different ruck archetypes take centre stage in the middle of the field, with some household names, and others entering career-best form, both catching the eye.
In the final part of our positional rankings for 2025, we name and rank the top 10 ruckmen of the year.
SEE ALSO:
THE TOP 10 DEFENDERS OF 2025
THE TOP 10 MIDFIELDERS OF 2025
THE TOP 10 FORWARDS OF 2025
3Brodie Grundy
There's fair weight to the argument that Grundy's best form this year cleared any of his counterparts, and may have been the best across the competition for any player.
After a slower start to his year, he found a purple patch of form from Round 9 onwards, amassing at least 20 touches in 10 of his final 14 games, including seven successive games within that window.
Grundy finished the year top three for disposals, clearances and contested possessions among ruckmen, as well as top five for the all-important hitouts, hitouts to advantage and hitout win rate.
Amog rucks to have played at least five games this year, Grundy also ranked second for ground ball gets, with his follow-up work as an extra midfielder a key trait to his game.
