career Lifespans of ruckmen?

[Dan Warna]

is it just my imagination or are a lot of ruckman not really in teh groove till 24/25 and finished by 30/31?

guys like spider and salmon seem to be the exception, but darcy, king, in the past rehn, mckernan, monkey, clarke keating all seem to have stunted careers?

the spindly slimmer ruckmen who avoid the impact style, like spider, fraser, jeff white seem to be a bit more robust as opposed to the mass unit ruckmen that seem so attractive for recruitment.

Even those who play out till 32/33 seem to be really struggling.

Doc Clarke looked 3 years past it, and yet spider looks to have a couple of seasons in him, jeff white and josh fraser both in and around for a decade show less wear and tear than brogan, sandilands, gardiner and other power ruckman?

is carryinig 110 kgs of mass too hard for bodies? are we getting our fitness wrong (not just st kilda, across the board)? are we building the wrong bodies for long term endurance? is the pressure on teh joints too much?

[yipper]

I think the line across the centre has changed the type of ruckman that can prosper. The exceptionally tall, athletic type will get favoured by the current laws. Another reason why Van Rheenan could be a huge prospect for us!! He is still growing - but has a superb leap, is tall (very) and quite skilled. The crash and bash man mountain types are being made extinct.