Senior Coach Brendan McCartney has followed Western Bulldogs captain Matthew Boyd’s lead in commending ruckman Will Minson on his form this season, after another pleasing result against St Kilda on Saturday.

Assuming primary ruck duties for the past 18 months, the 28-year-old has taken ownership of the role and his increased form and confidence is paying dividends.

“He’s thrived on opportunities for 18 months now and when Ben Hudson… retired then left the Club it opened the door for Will,” McCartney said.

“He’s just put in really consistent performances each week around the basics.

“He’s very competitive and he’s doing a lot right at the clearances – he’s still working hard at other parts of the game.”

Averaging 40 hitouts per game, Minson is almost four hitouts per game, in front of the second ranked ruckman in North Melbourne’s Todd Goldstein.

Minson has received the hitout honours in all bar one of his games this season – against impressive West Coast duo Dean Cox and Nic Naitanui.

Despite the ruckman’s impressive record around the stoppages, McCartney said he was working closely with Minson to develop other areas of his game and was confident there was still plenty of improvement left in the 145-gamer.

“Ruckman are more than just hit the ball to the mids and that’s it, they need to be able to defend around the ground and create opportunities with the ball around the ground,” he said.

“There’s still improvement in Will, there’s still a lot more to work on and he’s aware of that too.

“But he’s had a remarkably good year for us, it’s been fantastic.”