WITH the ruck spot in the Virgin Australia AFL All Australian team seemingly down to two candidates, Port Adelaide's Paddy Ryder strengthened his case against Adelaide's Sam Jacobs with a career-best game against the Western Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon.

In the first-ever home and away clash in Ballarat at Mars Stadium, Ryder scored 29.3 in the Schick AFL Player Ratings. 

His average of 16 points per match has him as the eighth-ranked player in the competition, based on this season alone.

Ryder stood up in the last quarter against the Dogs. With Port trailing by seven points at the last change and needing a win to keep its top-four hopes alive, Ryder took two contested marks and continued his dominance to help power his side to a 17-point victory. 

In that final term, his Player Ratings score of 14.7 was the 11th-best quarter by a ruckman since 2010. 

Ryder's stats for the whole match read: 12 disposals, 11 contested possessions, two goals and 55 hit-outs as he monstered Jordan Roughead in the aerial duel. 

Meanwhile, Jacobs has averaged 13 points per game, having him ranked No.61 in the AFL.

While names such as Carlton's Matthew Kreuzer, Collingwood's Brodie Grundy and Gold Coast's Jarrod Witts have been thrown into the mix as other possibilities to be considered the AFL's finest ruckman, the Player Ratings have thrown up another name who has flown somewhat under the radar. 

Hawthorn workhorse Ben McEvoy is the No.10 player in the AFL this year, averaging 15.5 points per game. 

Player Ratings are calculated by Champion Data and take into account an individual's performances in their last 40 matches over a rolling two-year period.

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