Tom Bellchambers has backed the depth of Essendon’s rucking brigade as the league’s talls look to enforce an even greater influence on the game in the 2019 season.

New rules for starting positions at centre bounces and more freedom for ruckmen to take the ball out of ruck contests have led many to believe the league’s big men can prove more vital than ever this year.

The experienced Don said while rucks have always been pivotal, he expects the rules to allow them to shine brightly in 2019.

“Dominant ruckmen are going to have a big influence on the game, so it’s super important,” Bellchambers said on Tuesday.

New mature recruit Zac Clarke and rapidly developing young tall Sam Draper complete a trio of specialist ruckmen at The Hangar, and Bellchambers said each had impressed this pre-season.

“(Clarke) has been really good, he’s fit into the group really well.

“He’s been helping myself look after Sam Draper who is really developing well also, so he’s fitting in well.

“(Draper) is certainly pushing me out on the track now, he’s been training really well.

“He’s still got a lot of development to go, obviously, being young and not having played much football, but he’s tracking really well.”

Bellchambers could not confirm whether or not Essendon would enter the season with a two-pronged ruck attack, but he said it would be discussed in the coming weeks as the side’s available tall stocks become clearer.

“I’m not too sure how it looks yet, we’ll probably tinker with that over the next month or so seeing how it looks.

“The makeup of the forward line will depend on whether we play two rucks or not, so we need Joey (Daniher) up and going, he’s training really well at the moment, so we’ll wait and see.”

After suffering a knee injury in mid-January ahead of the 2018 season, Bellchambers said a clear run at training this time around has him in good stead ahead of the upcoming JLT Community Series.

The 29-year-old’s 20-game season last year was the greatest haul of his 10-year career, and he said playing consistently and displaying his durability was a significant boost for his confidence.

“I think the belief was always there, it was just probably about my body being able to do it.

“It’s definitely a confidence builder knowing I can get through 20 games, having Drapes and Clarkey there is going to help as well now.

“The ruckman is pretty important out there so to know that I can do it for 20 games and hopefully a few more games this year, that’s definitely going to help.”

Bellchambers said the team is focused on the task at hand this year following a rollercoaster journey in 2018, which saw the Bombers win just two of their first 10 clashes before claiming victory in 10 of the final 13 games.

“We finished off the season quite well last year but, in saying that, it doesn’t mean too much – we haven’t played a game yet,” he said.

“We need to continue to build on what we served up in the last half of last year and we’re really confident, with the pre-season we’ve put in place, that we’re going to come out firing.”

Essendon’s 2019 campaign will begin on Thursday, February 28, when the team takes on Carlton at Ikon Park to kick off the JLT Community Series.

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