Did the AFL’s 2026 Ruck Changes Put Toby Nankervis’s Old-School Craft Under Pressure?

RTSSG’s full member feature “🐯 Pre-Season Reality Check: Is the Ruck Craft Being Rewritten?” is the source for this Public investigation.

Pre-season 2026 brought a different ruck environment: restrictions around crossing the centre line before engagement, more predictable restart timing and the move to throw-ups rather than centre bounces changed some of the old contest cues.

Toby Nankervis had built a career on strength, body work, anticipation and repeat contest. So which parts of his craft remained transferable and which parts did the new conditions put under a different kind of test?

Did Richmond need to change the type of second ruck it valued? What happens if jumping and timing become more important relative to wrestling? And are early pre-season observations enough to know whether the rule really changes list construction?

The member feature examines the ruck craft question and what the rule shift might ask Richmond to prove.

Read the full member feature here.

Read the full RTSSG investigation

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