Ruck coach Ivan Maric speaks to Richmond Media about the Round 17 win over Geelong in this week’s edition of Coaches Corner, presented by Hostplus.

Elite defensive effort

“It was good, we played a really good brand of team football. I thought it was going to be a tough game and it was, they fought back towards the end, but we stuck to our system and it held up.”

Ivan Solo update following his knee injury 

“He’s going to probably stay up here (on the Gold Coast), being a Canberra boy, it’s probably going to be hard for him to get back to Canberra if he goes to Melbourne.

“He’s going to stay here and have three weeks in a brace because he hurt his medial ligament as well, which has complicated things a little bit for him. He will probably have three weeks in a brace before he has the operation.” 

Toby Nankervis form

“It was a great game by him, especially in the second half, giving us the aerial power behind the ball and having a really good influence on the game, that was good to be able to do that by himself.”

Mabior Chol

“We are looking to see who is going to come in for Soldo. I know ‘Cholly’ had a really, really strong game in the scratch match against Geelong so we will find out later in the week.

“He is really hard to match up on, especially when he comes in fresh as a second ruck option, it’s hard for opposition rucks to play on him. The other part of his game which has been really consistent and great this year, is his forward play and he did that really well (on the weekend).

“He kicked five goals but competed really strongly in the air. Jack Riewoldt and Tom Lynch have been spending a lot of time with him coaching how to compete against three, and that was probably the most pleasing part of his game against Geelong in the scratch match. It would be hard for ‘Dimma’ not to pick him.”

Chol as a deep forward

“It could be a little look at the future of the Club, and I think ‘Marbs’ is so capable of playing as a permanent forward that can go into the ruck.

“I think also whether we play another key or go another small I am not sure which way 'Dimma' is going to go with that. I think we have got plenty of options which is great.”

Ben Miller playing in the ruck in the recent scratch match

“He did really well, he’s an undersized ruck; he’s more of a key position player that can go in the ruck, but once the ball hit the ground, he had a lot of great efforts where he was (applying) pressure on the ball or getting clearances.

“He has actually been training really well. I was talking to Tom Lynch about him during the week and he said that he’s been really hard to play on in 1v1 marking contests.

“He is another guy that has had a full pre-season for the first time in three years and the big guys take a bit longer to develop, so it’s good signs for him and the Club.”

Adelaide’s form

“They are playing some really good footy. They are getting a lot of numbers to the contest and on that thinner ground at Adelaide Oval, it really suits them.

“Firstly, we have got to be really humble and hungry and respect the opposition, it does not matter where they sit on the table. But (we need to) turn up ready to play our way and expect a really tough four-quarter effort and we will see what happens after that, the scoreboard will take care of itself I suppose.”