In the mud and dirt of Port Melbourne’s North Port Oval on Sunday, Braydon Preuss showed just how far he’d come in 2016.

Forced to shoulder almost the entirety of the ruck duties after Majak Daw’s early ankle injury, Preuss responded with 65 hit-outs and finished the afternoon as one of the best players on the field.

The 206-centimetre, 107-kilogram man-mountain readily admitted he wouldn’t have been able to play to that level last year.

“I wouldn’t have had the game I had (in the same situation last year),” Preuss told NMFC.com.au.

“There were so many stoppages and I would have been weak at the contest.

“Now I’m better at wrestling at the contest under fatigue. Last year I would have been thrown off the ball.

“I’m more experienced than last year and I’m a bit fitter, my game sense I’m a bit smarter. I’ve still got improvement to go though.”

Just as important as Preuss’ gains in the strength department has been his ability to recover from week to week.

Now with a full pre-season behind him and experience on how to prepare for the grind of weekly VFL football, consistency has become an attainable goal.

“Compared to last year, mid-season I was just flat all the time and fatigued,” Preuss revealed.

“As you stay longer in the system, you get more professional and you know what to do and that’s what helped me.

“I’m a couple of kilos heavier than last year but I’m feeling a lot better.”

That couple of kilos comes into play when the ball hits the ground.

Preuss’ tackling is a feature of Werribee matches; he averages six a game in the last month.

But after an early season suspension for a dangerous tackle, the ruckman admits he has to find the balance between using his aggression and remaining disciplined.

“It’s each tackle and contest as it goes. I don’t even think about it.

“When I do think about the aggression, that’s probably when I do go a bit too far. I just do it naturally.”

In many ways, Sunday’s match was a perfect chance to get involved at the contest.

“It was a slow game and I’m not the fastest so it suited me well,” Preuss joked, tongue-in-cheek.

“Because there were so many stoppages, I just thought it was a good opportunity to get the defensive acts up, get the tackles up and the hit-out numbers."

North Melbourne’s injury list has impacted on the Werribee side in recent weeks; call-ups have deprived the Tigers of several key AFL-listed players.

Ryan Clarke and Corey Wagner have made their AFL debuts, Jed Anderson has been recalled to the side, and the likes of Aaron Black, Lachlan Hansen and co have missed recent outings.

It’s left a young core at VFL level, but one with a heap of promise.

“We have a lot of first and second year players playing, so they’re probably a bit smaller than the VFL players,” Preuss said.

“Our midfield group is still new, with myself and Declan (Mountford) and other guys like that, so once we keep working together we’ll get there with our cohesion.”

Although time is running out for Werribee this season, Preuss is optimistic about the Tigers’ chances.

“There were high expectations going into the season, but we understand that it’s three different teams (North Ballarat’s alignment, Werribee’s alignment and new Roos) coming together.

“You can have all the talent in the world but until you work together you won’t be able to win games.”