Richmond ruck coach Ivan Maric provides ‘Roar Vision’ with an insight into the development of his young cousin and emerging Tiger big man Ivan Soldo.
His different pathway to Tigerland
“He played a lot of basketball growing up . . . I sent a photo to one of the (Richmond) recruiters of him standing next to me and I said, “Take a look at my 16-year-old cousin”. He was a monster of a kid back then – 120-something kilos and 6ft 8in.”
Focus areas for him
“He’s really unique with his fitness and his strength . . . I haven’t come across anyone at his age (22) that’s got as much strength as he does. And he’s also really, really fit. So we don’t need to work on that. It’s more the football stuff – being really good in marking contests, his ruckwork, handballing, and being clean below his knees – having an impact on the game in those areas. He’s really improved a lot, but he believes, and so do I, that he’s capable of a lot more.”
His impressive 2018 form at VFL level
“He’s been really dominant in the ruck, which is a great starting point for him. But as you’ve seen with guys like (Collingwood’s) Brodie Grundy and (Melbourne’s) Max Gawn, you really need to complement your ruckwork with more than just hit-outs.”
Averaging 35 hit-outs per game this season
“The numbers for me aren’t that important. I just want to see the level of competitiveness and consistency with that . . . He’s the strongest in the gym in a lot of areas and super fit. So I expect him to get a lot of hit-outs.”
The key to stepping up from VFL to AFL level
“I think it’s making the most of every opportunity, whether it’s a ground ball or a marking contest. And that’s what Toby Nankervis has been really good at. He very rarely gets beaten and he takes every ground ball really cleanly, never coughs it up, and he gives it off to the midfielders . . .”
His AFL game against Gold Coast last Saturday
“I think he just did what he had to do for the team and didn’t try to over-complicate anything. That showed a lot of maturity. His ruckwork was really good against a guy that’s had a great season in (Jarrod) Witts. And his involvement at ground level was pretty good on the day. Also his positioning behind the play and getting involved in our team defence. I was really happy with that.”
Couple of valuable goal assists v the Suns
“It was a good little kick off the ground to Jack (Riewoldt) . . . and a little handball off to Josh Caddy to kick a goal. That was fantastic. I think Ivan wants to be that team player. He wants to give off the goals . . . He’s more focused on the team scoring goals than himself."
Next step for him
“I think there’s some really good opportunity for him to take marks in defensive-50 . . . really work back hard and have an impact in the air. I was going through his game with him today and there were some opportunities where he was just five metres short. But the great thing is he’s working hard back in deep 50 and trying to help the defence out. If you start doing that, taking marks and complementing it with the ruckwork, which he was pretty good at on the day, and some of those ground ball and second efforts, it’s a pretty good game."
