WHEN Lloyd Meek started his 2024 campaign out at Casey Fields in a Box Hill jumper, the ruckman looked destined for another season stuck behind someone else. 

That is what happened last year, even after he moved from Fremantle in search of the No.1 ruck spot at Hawthorn. Meek played 16 AFL games – one more than he did across five seasons at the Dockers – but Ned Reeves established himself as the main man at Waverley Park. 

Things have changed over the past seven weeks. 

After a winless first fortnight of 2024, Sam Mitchell axed Reeves and recalled Meek for the Easter Monday blockbuster against Geelong in round three and has been rewarded ever since. 

The 26-year-old has gone head-to-head with some of the best ruckmen in the AFL in that time – Brodie Grundy, Tim English, Rowan Marshall, Jarrod Witts and Darcy Cameron – and at least split the points, if not beaten most of them. 

In that time, only Melbourne captain Max Gawn has averaged more AFL Player Ratings points than Meek, who has become one of the most damaging tap ruckmen in the game, averaging 10.1 hitouts to advantage per outing. 

Meek is a key reason why Hawthorn has recovered from a 0-5 start to the year to win three of its past four games. 

While Gawn is on course to become only the 10th player in VFL/AFL history to be named All-Australian seven times – and the only ruckman to achieve that feat – Meek isn't far off the next group of ruckmen fighting for a spot in the 44-man squad come September. 

Grundy has made a strong start to life in Sydney – he is averaging the third-most ranking points, according to Champion Data – while Cameron, Marshall and Carlton's Marc Pittonet, who is the second-highest-rated ruckman of 2024, have all been impressive. 

Meek played 53 games for Peel Thunder in the WAFL during his time at Fremantle, where he was initially stuck behind four-time All-Australian Aaron Sandilands and then Sean Darcy, before the Dockers recruited Melbourne premiership player Luke Jackson. 

But after experiencing life at Box Hill City Oval in his first season at Hawthorn, the ruckman from a farming region west of Ballarat isn't going back to the VFL anytime soon.