PORT Adelaide veteran Brendon Lade believes his species is endangered, but not yet extinct in the AFL competition.

Lade, 32, has spent the majority of his 212-game career in the ruck, playing alongside former captain Matthew Primus or fellow premiership tall Dean Brogan.

But some members of the football fraternity, including Lade, believe the days of two bonafide ruckmen cohabitating on field are close to an end.

Clubs are increasingly turning their attention to tall, running types with athletic prowess often taking precedence over pure footballing ability.

And recruiters are pumping more resources into Irish and, more recently, Fijian experiments in the hope of unearthing the next Tadhg Kennelly or Nick Naitanui.

The need for speed and non-stop rotations in the modern game has also seen ruckmen become, somewhat, of a liability on the interchange bench.

But trends in the AFL tend to mimic the pacesetters and Lade says last year’s grand finalists prove there’s still room for two genuine big men in the same team.

“In the future that [teams having just one ruckman] will definitely be the way, but I also think that’s probably a couple of years off,” Lade said.

“A lot of people are probably a bit scared of trying just one. Hawthorn and Geelong had two ruckmen that were both pure ruckmen.

“It’s probably a few years away, but hopefully it’s five or six, so I can keep playing.”

The AFL introduced a fourth boundary umpire for the latter rounds and finals series in 2008 with the change coming into full-time effect this year.

Last season, ruckmen struggled to make the contest as a result of faster boundary throw-ins, but Lade said clubs would have contingency plans in place for 2009.

“The game is quick now and they [the lawmakers] want to make it quicker. We’ve seen it in cricket with 20/20; they’re going to try and keep our game as quick and exciting as they can and if a ruckman can’t make it to a contest, so be it,” he said.

“We’re going to have to put up with it, deal with it and get to as many as we can, but we’ve probably got other people that can step into those roles if they’re near the ball.

“We’ve got big onballers like Chad Cornes and Justin Westhoff and Tredders [in the forward line], who can do some ruck work as well.”

Lade, who has also proved a handy pinch-hitter forward, will start the 2009 season as the fourth oldest player in the League, behind Richmond’s Matthew Richardson, Essendon defender Dustin Fletcher and ex-North Melbourne skipper Adam Simpson.

But he says he has no intentions of hanging up the boots just yet.

“Richo was able to have one of his best years ever last year and I’ve taken a lot out of ’06 and ’07, when I had really good years,” he said.

“Plus, we’ve had some great players who’ve played some good footy towards the end of their career, like Darryl Wakelin, Tredders and Gavin Wanganeen.

“I’ll wait and see. I’m still running around with a few of the young ruckmen and still giving them a good contest - and hopefully teaching them a thing or two.”