Ruck duel will highlight Queen's Birthday blockbuster
AFL 2019
June 9, 2019 — 12.03pm
Everyone is looking forward to Grundy v Gawn, including their teammates.
The All-Australian ruck duel between Collingwood's Brodie Grundy and Melbourne rival Max Gawn will be the individual highlight of Monday's blockbuster.
Brodie Grundy and Max Gawn are at the peak of their powers. Credit:AAP
Gawn was named the starting ruckman in last year's All-Australian line-up while Grundy made the team on the bench.
They have carried their strong form into this season and the Queen's Birthday clash will be the first chance since the All-Australian honours to show who is the best.
While Collingwood small forward Josh Thomas will have no time to spectate the duel, there is still the football fan in him.
"Certainly, even just watching Brodie, how he's gone about the first half of this year, you're conscious of the influence he's having on games," Thomas said.
"Max is right up there with him as the premier ruckman in the game.
"You certainly can enjoy it as much as you can while you're playing.
"I know Brodie really sets himself for games like this; he's a super competitor and obviously Max is as well."
Some big team changes mean there will also be plenty of interest in how Thomas and his fellow Magpies forwards perform.
Mason Cox will return from injury for Collingwood in favour of Ben Reid, rather than playing the two key forwards together.
Melbourne's defence will be significantly boosted by the returns of Steven May and Jake Lever.
May has only played one game this season and Lever is back from last year's knee reconstruction.
In the midst of this will be Thomas, whose tally of 11 goals is well down on last year's career-best scoring.
He finished with 38 for the season but so far this year is only averaging one a game.
But in the modern game, there is much more to Thomas' role than just kicking goals.
His job is as much about keeping the pressure on defenders and so long as someone is kicking the goals, that's what matters most.
"As hard as it is, as a forward, you try to take the goals out of it," he said.
Certainly coach Nathan Buckley appreciates what Thomas adds to their attack.
"He just won't leave [his] role to feather his nest," Buckley said.
"We love his discipline, we love his top-end capacity, we love his grunt and his clean hands.
"No, I'm not concerned about his form at all."
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