American ruckman Jason Holmes added another chapter to his football odyssey in 2016 by featuring in the senior team late in the closing stages of the season, after a year where Tom Hickey had a mortgage on the No. 1 ruck spot.

The 26-year-old was forced to bide his time in the VFL this season, with Hickey’s breakout season forcing Holmes, Billy Longer and Lewis Pierce to wait patiently in the queue.

After playing three ends at the tail end of last season, Holmes played 14 games for Sandringham before earning another opportunity in the final two rounds of the season against Richmond and Brisbane.

The Chicago product accumulated 25 hitouts against Tigers ruckman Shaun Hampson and 34 against Brisbane big man Stefan Martin, helping the Saints close out the season with a pair of wins.

The ruck situation at Sandringham may have impacted Holmes’ progress in the ruck at times throughout 2016, but it did allow him to enhance his craft inside 50, which added further development to his game this year.

Rohan Welsh’s Views:

“I think ‘Holmesy’ would have got frustrated at times with the way alignment was working and obviously not spending so much time in the centre bounce and working on his actual craft. It was really pleasing towards the end of the season to see him get his opportunity and do well. He did really well in the centre bounce stuff, we just need him to continue to work on the stuff after that, so around the ground he needs to have more of an impact and the stuff that happens after that, which are going to come and they’re going to come from playing VFL footy and AFL footy and NAB Cup footy as well. He’s still got a lot to learn and to develop, we know that, but his appetite to improve has been really good.

“It was obviously really important for him to get back in the team for those last two games. His centre bounce work was impressive, but he’s got to continue to work on the rest of his game; he’s got to continue to get to more contests; he’s got to look after the little blokes a bit more, get his body in the way – similar to the way Will Minson did a couple of years ago, and big Aaron Sandilands; just getting the body in the way. I think all of our ruckmen need to have more of an impact around the ground, whether it’s at ground level or with pressure. The game now requires every player on the ground to play a defensive role at some point.”

The Numbers:

AFL

2 games
29.5 hitouts
3.5 disposals
3.5 tackles

VFL

14 games
29.1 hitouts (when he played the main ruck role)

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