Western Australian ruck prospect Benji Van Rooyen has given an insight into the role his AFL-listed brother has played in his development.
The 203cm Claremont product is six years younger than Jacob, who this year led Melbourne's goal-kicking, with the Demons forward helping diversify the ruck's game.
A key area Van Rooyen has sought to grow is being able to aerially impact around the ground and have impact as a forward, for which he has leant on his brother.
“(Jacob's) helped me a lot throughout the years with my forward stuff, marking, beat me up a lot as well so that toughened me up a lot which has brought out my competitiveness,” Van Rooyen told Zero Hanger.
“Throughout the summer I'll do a little bit of marking with him down at the local park and work with him on my goal kicking as well so him sharing his knowledge to me has helped me pursue my own future.”
“I feel like I've learned a lot from what he's done. He did it pretty well so I feel like I'd be able to do the same as well. Seeing him (move away) has given me confidence if I go interstate I have trust in myself to be able to impact there.”
Harry Van Hattum entered the National Championships as the most hyped big man in the country and remains a top five prospect, but he came into the carnival underdone with injury and did not produce his best footy.
South Australia's Ethan Herbert, too, had wraps on him, but spent plenty of time forward throughout the carnival to showcase his versatility.
Meanwhile, Van Rooyen was consistent for Western Australia, averaging 21 hitouts and 14 disposals and took out All-Australian honours, with his ability to was with a strong midfield group a compelling advertisement.
“I feel like I did pretty well on them,” Van Rooyen said.
“I felt like I held my own and did as much as I could to possibly play as best as possible. It gave me a lot of confidence for the back end of the year playing a few ressies games for league and I held my head high knowing what I can do well.”
The strong National Championships, which came after he got exposure at the level last year has put him firmly in the mix to be selected in the National Draft at a time where clubs are increasingly looking at other list mechanisms to add big men.
Van Rooyen had former Essendon and Fremantle listed ruck Zac Clarke, the Black Swans' ruck coach, to learn off, throughout the year, allowing him to further hone his ruck craft which has always been a natural strength.
“He's taught me a lot of different things, all the different positions, how to handle different situations. Last year I was scrawny and lanky and didn't know too much about what I was doing,” Van Rooyen said.
“He's helped me set myself and find out what's going to happen. You're figuring out how to navigate different situations and a lot with the centre bounce as well – different ways to jump, jumping across, coming from different angles and little things like that.”
