Collingwood's Darcy Cameron and Hawthorn's Lloyd Meek would rightly be miffed by the AFL's ruck rule changes over the summer.
The scrapping of the centre bounce, in particular, in a bid to welcome back the return of jumping ruckman, has had a detrimental impact on the two talls. Thankfully for the Hawks, Ned Reeves has been a revelation in his support while the Pies are ruing the loss of Oscar Steene to an ACL injury.
But sticking to the pair of rucks, what do the numbers say as we hit the halfway mark of the year?
Cameron, who miraculously claimed Collingwood's best and fairest last year ahead of Nick Daicos, has fallen off the cliff from one season to the next.
According to WheeloRatings, based on player ratings, the former Swan was rated 6th in the competition among rucks last year who played five or more games. That number has jumped to 16th. His drop in form coincides with an overall competition slide from 41st to 174th, emblematic of the Pies' struggles.
Collingwood is the worst centre ball-up side in the competition with a negative differential of 3.3 per game in 2026, conceding, on average 13.5 points per match.
They are also the worst stoppage-scoring side in the league, averaging 23.8 points from the source.
In the recent clash against the Western Bulldogs, the Pies were overwhelmed inside the centre square, losing the count 19-10, ultimately giving up territory more often than not.
The tag-team from Tim English and Rory Lobb inundated Cameron, who received little support from key position players Billy Frampton and Daniel McStay.
As a result, Collingwood relied heavily on its transition from one end to the other.
Could they bring in their mid-season pick-up Harrison Coe as a support for Cameron? Or trust McStay or recruit Jack Buller as the back-up ruck?
Cameron is still doing the bulk load of ruck duties, and his performance has waned, especially with regards to the effectiveness of his hitouts.
The Pies big man has dropped from 7.9 hitouts to advantage to 4.8, contributing to Collingwood's stoppage woes.
A similar narrative surrounds Meek.
The Hawks ruck has dropped from 57th to 338 in the player rankings according to WheeloRatings. His slide coincides from sitting inside the top 10 rucks last year to 22nd in 2026.
Teammate Reeves has benefitted from the adaptation of the ruck rules, forcing Sam Mitchell to split the ruck roles between the Hawthorn duo.
Meek has reduced his ruck contests from 82.9 per cent last year to 48 in 2026, leading to a dramatic dip in overall hitouts (37.9 to 21.5) and hitouts to advantage (10.2 to 5.4).
Hawthorn ranks firmly under the AFL's average for stoppage scores differential (-4.3), slightly ahead of the Pies (-6.0).
Cameron and Meek have fallen victim to the AFL's new ruck rules from an individual perspective.
But Collingwood's finals chances have been hindered by its weak centre-clearance game, and with no clear solution moving forward, it may prove too tall a mountain to climb.
