IF KEY forwards have stolen the spotlight so far this season, Greater Western Sydney tall Jonathon Patton has not been centre stage.
His Giants teammate Jeremy Cameron already has 12 goals to his name, while across town, big Swan Lance Franklin leads the Coleman Medal race with 14 after three rounds.
Gold Coast's Tom Lynch booted eight in round two, while Demon Jesse Hogan and North's Ben Brown have slotted 19 majors between them.
But as the competition's premier forward targets steal the show, Patton has been plying his trade backstage.
And there was no better example of that than his performance during Saturday night's 16.7 (103) to 12.15 (87) defeat to Sydney.
The 24-year-old was forced into the ruck after Giants tall Rory Lobb went down with a knee injury in the second term at the SCG.
Lobb returned to the field, but his mobility was limited and he played as a deep forward.
He is in doubt for the Giants round four clash against Fremantle in Canberra.
Patton was a force to be reckoned with, gathering 19 touches – including 14 in contests – 10 tackles, 14 hit-outs and seven clearances up against Sydney's Callum Sinclair.
"I like playing ruck – obviously it's a lot different to playing key forward, a lot of running around the ground," the big Giant said.
"When Lobby went down with a sore knee he had to stay deep forward so obviously it was a tough task to play pretty much the whole game in the ruck, but I enjoyed it and it's a good challenge."
Patton had to do it all against the Swans. Even though Sinclair won the hit-outs and slotted three majors, Patton had plenty of his own highlights in the entertaining tussle.
Such was his work-rate, at one stage in the third quarter the 2011 No.1 draft pick took a mark deep in defence as the Giants looked to switch play.
"You've just got to be versatile, especially being a key forward sometimes it is hard to get into the game, depending on how your midfield is going," Patton said.
"Most key forwards can play either second ruck or push and be the loose man in defence."
Patton lamented "fundamental errors" for the Sydney derby loss, in which the Swans slotted 10 goals from turnovers.
He finished the night with one major – a vital long-range effort 23 minutes into the final term that shaved the deficit to 10 points.
At that stage, the Giants had booted four consecutive goals and had all the momentum.
It took something special at the other end from Lance Franklin, who had been well held by Phil Davis up to that point, to snuff out the comeback.
"Again, that's a fundamental error – him just fending off three players and then kicking a goal from 70 out," Patton said.
"That just really cost us."
