AFTER an awesome 46 hit-outs display against Port Adelaide at Etihad Stadium on Saturday, it's fair to say Essendon's Patrick Ryder has the absolute respect of opposition sides.
Ryder was moved permanently into the ruck during the first quarter of Saturday's game when David Hille was subbed out with a calf injury.
Port Adelaide forward Jay Schulz said the 196cm Bomber was 'unbelievable' because of his flexibility and agility both in the air and at ground level.
"I was talking to 'Reddo' (Jarrad Redden) this morning about him and it was just hard for Reddo to set up because (Ryder's) able to start off you and then jump over the top of you," Schulz said on Monday.
"He's got such long arms that he can still get to the ball, and Reddo found it hard to take his space."
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Schulz said he had been impressed with the recent development of the 24-year-old and that his incredible athletic ability made Ryder one of the league's toughest opponents.
"I think he's come along leaps and bounds especially over the last few years," he said.
"(Nic) Naitanui from West Coast is in that same sort of category, but generally your ruckmen are big lumps of blokes and they fight and compete as hard as any against each other.
"But every now and then you get those freak players that come along that are massive still, but have the jumping ability of a NBA basketballers and that sort of stuff that makes them tremendously hard to play on."
With the Power trailing by as many as three goals half way through the third quarter, the match threatened to break open.
But the visitors clawed their way back into the contest, only to watch the game slip away late in the last.
Schulz said after mounting a brave fight back, the side resorted to some bad habits from the first half.
"We started to fumble the ball a little bit more and our decision-making skills were just off by half a per cent and in today's game if you're off by half a per cent you're off by an amount of goals," he said.
"It wasn't through lack of effort or anything like that."
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A telling statistic was the sides' tackle count, with the Bombers registering 34 more than Port.
Schulz said the Bombers' pressure was intense throughout Saturday's encounter and his side struggled to contain their uncontested possessions.
It was something Schulz said the Power would have to address before they faced the Sydney Swans this weekend.
"If you can stop uncontested marks it means there's more contests and therefore you're given more of a chance to tackle," he said.
"We were just sort of chasing them all day as opposed to being able to set up in a stoppage or ball up and then get the chance to tackle."
