The rise.... and RISE of Marc Pittonet

[Baggers]

When we drafted Tom he was 89kg.  He is now 102kg, 1kg more than he was last season.  Mirkov was 104kg when he was rookied and is the same now ... but I suspect there's more muscle.  For completeness, Pitto is 104kg, the same as he was at Hawthorn.

Free kicks in ruck contests are a bit like chooklotto  :  De Koning has been schooled well but the umpires clearly need to spend some time with Matty K.

Mirkov's ruckwork is often quite different.  He often seems to psyche his opponent out of the contest and at other times he doesn't contest but roves the other ruck's taps.  It will be interesting to see if he can do that against the better AFL rucks.

Probably due to his height, Mirk's tap work is often sublime. Noticed he's also marking a little more around the ground and, as you mentioned, is getting involved at ground level.