Nic Naitanui is one of the greats of the modern AFL, and he rucks like no-one else

A game of football always starts the same way. Two players staring each other down, waiting for the siren and the ball to bounce. From there the rucks take over, and their craft is on show.

The rucks set the scene for a game of football, a microcosm of the battle ahead. A good ruck can take the ball literally out of the hands of the opposition, setting up a good day on the green.

For the past half decade, three rucks have dominated the league, with their own strengths and weaknesses — Max Gawn, Brodie Grundy and Nicholas Naitanui.

Melbourne's Max Gawn and Collingwood's Brodie Grundy are, despite their differing styles, the AFL's best ruckmen.

Gawn's sheer size dominates play, as does his innate ability to read the ball in flight. Grundy dominates the ball in open play, acting as an extra mobile number around the ground.

Naitanui brings something different. As a junior footballer at Midvale, alongside Michael Walters, Chris Yarran and Jeff Garlett, Naitanui always tried to emulate the smaller players, picking up tricks along the way.

A couple of decades on, Nic Naitanui is the perfect example of the stereotype-breaking ruck.

He might be the best leaper in the league, but he does his best work on the ground. He's as quick, fast, agile and strong as any other player in the league, regardless of size. No-one is better at making sure their team gets first use of the ball.

Rucks are expected to contest in the air, and dominate the physical space from the turf to the sky. Naitanui hunts the ball like a wedge-tail hunting its prey, the land-based leather-wrapped object of desire.

This is why Naitanui might be the most dangerous of the three, despite the struggles of his team in the last two years.

The one thing most fans and commentators