AFL Finals: Carlton ruckman Marc Pittonet lifts the lid on ruck analytics ahead of Max Gawn battle

The Carlton big man wears a big grin as he dissects the heavyweight battle he thinks will go a long way in deciding the Blues’ chances against Melbourne.

On Saturday, before a packed MCG, Pittonet will collide with Max Gawn – a colossus of the game he concedes to having never truly beaten.

Pittonet feared that centre ball ups, forcing ruckmen to jump, would kill off experienced ruckmen like he and Gawn.

But, as Pittonet sees it, tactical chess and execution in the middle has never mattered more.

“Early in the year I had an idea of where I thought it would go and it didn’t quite go to where I thought,” Pittonet said.

“But what’s given me my point of difference is what I thought, you might have picked up, I jump off both legs pretty evenly and I hit both hands pretty evenly.

“The fact I can manipulate my starting position, it’s become so much about timing, particularly at centre bounce, because the ball is not up there for as long.

“If it’s a low (throw), there’s not much time to do anything. If it’s a high one there’s lots of time to do stuff.

“But you’ve got to know how high it’s being thrown, what angle is it coming from, is it going to be on one side of the circle or the other.

“If you can then vary that up so the other guy’s timing is not the same, it can give you an advantage even if the other guy is taller, jumping higher.

“Like Gawn for instance will grab it out of the ruck by doing a two-hand push; if you see how well he does the two-hand push … it’s that sort of granular detail that a lot of the rucks like Gawn have picked up on.

“At the start it was a matter of ‘Have we taken away the art of ruck work at centre bounce?’… (but) we’re starting to find ways.”

Pittonet’s ability to jump off both legs and hit with either hand is not off the cuff. There’s a laundry list of variables he assesses before each reset.

“The umpires are a cue. That’s why you’ll often see me standing there and going ‘Which way are you going?’” Pittonet said.