“I think we're working well together this year and I don't know if there's such a ruckmanin the AFL any more that works solely by themselves, perhaps Luke Darcy and JeffWhite, but I'd say it's fairly minimal,” Hille said.
“I think we both encompass different dimensions of the game. He's very strong andI'm more of a runner - so it covers a lot more areas and the coaching staff can fit us into a lotmore game plans.” The 37-gamer is part of a new age of talls who simply cannotafford to be one-dimensional as were ruckmen in years past. The brand of spring-heeled aerial skyscrapers are taking overthe AFL at a rate of knots, in particular atWindy Hill where the coaches demand versatility.
“Sheeds [coach Kevin Sheedy] is always harping on being able to have the ability to bediverse in your position on the ground,” Hille said. “You want to be able to go from the ruck andrather than go to the bench, go forward and hopefully get a few goals for the team. You've got to have a bit of everything. He's got a great emphasis not only on the ruckmen, but for everyone to do that, and even Jason Johnson, who is having a fantastic year, he doesn't want him to go to the bench, he wants him to go forward of the ball to assist the other players.”
The Ascot Vale housemate of fellow Bomber Mark McVeigh has spent plenty of time on the training track with specialist ruck coaches Simon Madden and John Barnes in a bid tocounteract the new AFL laws at the centre bounces. The big men have to fly and crash bodiesmid-air during a hit-out rather then lock horns and jostle for position - a trait Port Adelaideruckman Matthew Primus made his own.
“I'm learning a lot of new stuff off Simon [Madden] this year to combat that and becauseI was always a jumping ruckman from the start it hasn't changed for methat much,” Hille said. Many hours are devoted to deriving the right strategy which theBombers can use to give first use of the ball to their on-ballers.
In a normal week, Hille spends one hour reviewing his video from the past match and a further hour focusing his attention towards his next battle. Two or three times a week, a large group ofplayers gather in the centre of Windy Hill to fine-tune centre bounce strategies. “Sometimes it can be a very big group with the rotation system we have,” he said. He also heads to thegym two days a week.
There has been a lot of conjecture about the consistency of the centre bounce, but the 199centimetre giant hopes tradition remains a part of the game. “I'm a traditionalist, Ilike the bounce, but it is becoming inconsistent and everyone can seethat,” Hille said. “Perhaps around the ground if they threw it up, that's another difference, but in the centre I like the bounce.”
The future of the Bombers rucks look assured with young gun Jason Laycock comingthrough the ranks as a top 10 draft pick, catching the eye of Hille during the preseason.“There's no doubt that he can play, so whether it's sooner or later that he comes up- either way it will be good to have a future partner there,” he said. “Just a bit of development on his body is required to come up against the guys in the AFL that are a lotstronger.”
