Smith’s ready for air attack
GEELONG ruckman Zac Smith has vowed to improve his contested marking over summer in a bid to add another string to his bow in 2018.
Smith averaged 1.5 marks per game in 2017, well below the numbers notched by some of the game’s best ruckmen in Ben McEvoy (four), Sam Jacobs (3.7), Brodie Grundy (3.6) and Max Gawn (3.5).
The 27-year-old former Gold Coast Sun showed glimpses of aerial prowess late in the season, particularly when he pushed inside-50 to provide assistance to key forward Tom Hawkins.
But with a big pre-season under his belt, Smith sees no reason why he shouldn’t be able to offer more to his team around the ground next year.
“To compete with the top three or four guys in the comp I probably need to go to another level,” Smith said.
“I’ll try to improve my strength in the gym and also a big focus for me will be marking. I think I need to take a few more contested marks each week and that will really help me and the team improve.
“It’s always good to go forward and be that target but just in general, even around the ground, I think it will really help link up players when we need to bail the ball long.
“I’ve been good at providing a contest but I just need to pluck a few more, so it’s just as simple as repetition in pre-season.” Smith’s ruck craft significantly improved in the back half of this year, which saw his average hitout numbers balloon from 17.8 in 2016 to 32.1 for 2017.
A big reason for that was his ability to lock down the No.1 mantle at Geelong, and he said with the aid of a bigger tank he was looking forward to even more game time next season.
“Sometimes if you’ve got two or three guys that can go through there you don’t really get the flow of the game because you’re only in there for five or six minutes, whereas you want to be in there for 10 minutes-plus at times to really have an impact,” Smith said.
“If I can improve my tank a little bit more this preseason then I can be out there for most of the game and just come off once a quarter.
“I was a really late starter to footy and I’m still developing and still improving every year, but I think I’ve done that particularly since I’ve come down to Geelong so I’ll just be looking to do that this year.”