Oppo Camp Brodie Grundy (Traded to Melbourne 2022)

[eddiesmith]

I doubt any other club would have given him 7 years and we were stupid to cave. As for being no1 priority, no, JDG should have been no1, Moore no2, Grundy no3.

But for anyone saying he’s got credit in the bank, the most concerning thing for anyone is when a player has a shocking year as soon as he’s signed his lifelong contract. He’s got nothing left to play for, you see it often players ha e a big year, sign a contract then drop off.

Trouble here is he won’t have another good year to earn a good contract because he’ll be done at the end of this one.

7 year contracts make zero sense, people complained about 5 year contracts for Copeland trophy winners!

 

[gouki88]

I doubt any other club would have given him 7 years and we were stupid to cave. As for being no1 priority, no, JDG should have been no1, Moore no2, Grundy no3.

But for anyone saying he’s got credit in the bank, the most concerning thing for anyone is when a player has a shocking year as soon as he’s signed his lifelong contract. He’s got nothing left to play for, you see it often players ha e a big year, sign a contract then drop off.

Trouble here is he won’t have another good year to earn a good contract because he’ll be done at the end of this one.

7 year contracts make zero sense, people complained about 5 year contracts for Copeland trophy winners!

This take is pretty archaic. We've moved into an era of more player empowerment than ever before when it comes to contracts. Not offering young superstars super long-term deals is simply not viable anymore. We've even seen JDG sign a two year deal in order to maximise his earnings by likely looking at a long-term high salary deal when he's 26. This is quickly becoming the norm.

Brodie Grundy has had 3 good years in the bank, including the only back-to-back 1000 hitout seasons on record. To say he was only playing for a contract when the only evidence we've got is this shitshow of a year is stupidly dismissive. There are players all over the competition who have struggled like never before.

Maybe, just maybe, we should wait until we have a normal seasons worth of evidence before writing off one of our best servants over the last few years? Or is that a bit too level-headed for you?

 

[Anzacday]

Needs to watch a replay Round 1 against the Bulldogs.
He actually hit it to different zones as was way less predictabl.

 

[TheGreatGrundy]

From 'The Roar'

Opinion
Grundy is a seven-year albatross hanging around Collingwood’s neck

for at least the next decade.

This was when the Magpies announced they had signed ruckman Brodie Grundy to a ridiculous seven-year, $7 million contract, tying him to the club until 2027, when he will be 33.

Grundy was coming off another dominant year and quite rightly exercised his right to shop around and sniff out the best deal.

It was up to the Magpies to ensure they managed their cap space and made a prudent decision. Grundy wanted seven years and the Magpies wanted five years.

Having continually missed out on players in the free agency market, Ned Guy – the Magpies’ inexperienced list manager – didn’t want to be seen to let go of one of its stars.

Guy panicked… and blinked. Grundy was signed for life.

The decline of Grundy in 2020, the first year since re-signing, is staggering. Clearly the fatigue from years of carrying the Magpies’ on-ball department is wearing on him. He looks more like 36 than 26 and has been bettered by VFL-standard opposition on a weekly basis.

His data ratings have seen him go from the best ruckman in the competition to equal sixth and in a recent outing against Brisbane he managed just one clearance (an area he used to dominate), while Brisbane’s Oscar McInerney – a journeyman in every sense of the word – had nine.

The simple efforts of jumping and covering ground appear too much.

(Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
But even if this decline had not occurred, the contract was a laughable one even while Grundy had been dominating his position.

Ruckmen in the modern game do not win you premierships. Ruckmen are the most overrated position in the game with the least influence on the outcome.

There is a litany of examples over the past decade of premiership-winning ruckmen being a small cog in the team’s overall success. Names like Ivan Soldo, Toby Nankervis, Scott Lycett, Nathan Vardy, Jordan Roughead and Ben McEvoy are all solid citizens but absolutely nothing more. They would all be in their premiership team’s bottom six.

There is no better example than Grundy himself in the 2019 preliminary final against GWS, which the Magpies lost. It was a game where Grundy dominated his position.

Grundy’s numbers in that game were extraordinary. He won 73 hit-outs and ten clearances. He had 25 disposals and the Magpies dominated the clearances 54 to 35.

If ruckmen were so influential, Collingwood should have won by ten goals. Alas, all the tap outs in the world couldn’t be converted into genuine match dominance.

This brings me back to why the Magpies have blundered in handing out such a large contract.

The sporting phrase Moneyball was made famous by Billy Beane and the Oakland As baseball franchise for stretching your salary cap and player contract space. It should be front of mind for every AFL list manager.

AFL clubs only have a finite amount of money to spread across their playing list and need a very clear understanding of what areas of the park they should focus on.

A dominant big man is well down the shopping list. Strong key forwards, reliable key backs, line-breaking midfielders and X-factor small forwards should sit atop.

Collingwood now find themselves hamstrung, paying a player whose ability is diminishing by the week in a position that will not bring them any closer to success. Grundy has essentially taken the money the club needs desperately to find a key forward.

Is there a solution? Yes, but it requires the club to be bold – something the list management and coaching staff have shown little interest in being over the past few seasons.

Could Collingwood hoodwink another club to take the Grundy contract and essentially salary dump, to borrow an NBA phrase?

The Magpies are desperate for a key forward and have been for the better part of a decade. Jeremy Cameron remains an elite player angry with his current plight at GWS with their stagnant ball movement making his job of kicking goals near impossible.

As another player on a mega deal, could they swap positions and allow GWS to finally have a dominant ruckman while the Magpies get the final piece of the puzzle?


It would be a brave play and largely unheard of in the AFL landscape to dump a player so quickly after re-signing but it is a regular occurrence in American sport, to which the AFL is always playing catch-up.

Three-hundred-game player and pundit Kane Cornes summed it up best: “Seven years and seven million for a ruckman who has had a heavy workload and is already banged up, what will he be like at the age of 34?”

It’s a fair question.


https://www.theroar.com.au/author/nickbutler37/

 

[Chrispiesssss]

I got a notification of this. Grundy did the same except with Dixon on Monday

 

[JLC]

It would be a very bold decision.

unlikely we would have the courage.

 

[Seedsfan]

So many idiots lol

What is Grudy’s strength? His fitness he works over other ruckman and then dominates the latter part of the game as he can keep spreading to space and providing a target, now with reduced game time and longer breaks it gives the battlers more of a rest so they can curtail his influence.

That’s not going to be the case in 21 when we are playing 20 minute quarters at the G

Notice Nic Nat is having a great year, notice how the big weakness in his game is his lack of fitness and the long time he has to spend in the bench. But with 20% less game time and longer breaks this doesn’t impact his game anymore

 

[TheGreatGrundy]

So many idiots lol

What is Grudy’s strength? His fitness he works over other ruckman and then dominates the latter part of the game as he can keep spreading to space and providing a target, now with reduced game time and longer breaks it gives the battlers more of a rest so they can curtail his influence.

That’s not going to be the case in 21 when we are playing 20 minute quarters at the G

Notice Nic Nat is having a great year, notice how the big weakness in his game is his lack of fitness and the long time he has to spend in the bench. But with 20% less game time and longer breaks this doesn’t impact his game anymore

Don't shoot the messenger. Although your theory will need to be revisited next season to test its substance.

 

[JLC]

So many idiots lol

What is Grudy’s strength? His fitness he works over other ruckman and then dominates the latter part of the game as he can keep spreading to space and providing a target, now with reduced game time and longer breaks it gives the battlers more of a rest so they can curtail his influence.

That’s not going to be the case in 21 when we are playing 20 minute quarters at the G

Notice Nic Nat is having a great year, notice how the big weakness in his game is his lack of fitness and the long time he has to spend in the bench. But with 20% less game time and longer breaks this doesn’t impact his game anymore

the job of a ruckman is to help win Centre clearances.

Thats what Grundy needs to do.

 

[Leviathan Pie]

So many idiots lol

What is Grudy’s strength? His fitness he works over other ruckman and then dominates the latter part of the game as he can keep spreading to space and providing a target, now with reduced game time and longer breaks it gives the battlers more of a rest so they can curtail his influence.

That’s not going to be the case in 21 when we are playing 20 minute quarters at the G

Notice Nic Nat is having a great year, notice how the big weakness in his game is his lack of fitness and the long time he has to spend in the bench. But with 20% less game time and longer breaks this doesn’t impact his game anymore

Not sure how that explains his very, very average performances across most of 2020.

 

[Seedsfan]

the job of a ruckman is to help win Centre clearances.

Thats what Grundy needs to do.

So it’s Grundy’s fault that we over use the ball by hand inviting pressure and turning it over?

 

[Seedsfan]

Not sure how that explains his very, very average performances across most of 2020.

Shorter games take away one of his biggest strengths over all other ruckman

 

[ZEV]

Shorter games take away one of his biggest strengths over all other ruckman

In addition they highlight the weakness of our midfield (pace) and negate it's strength (endurance running capacity).

Wouldn't even be concerned at the moment.

 

[Seedsfan]

In addition they highlight the weakness of our midfield (pace) and negate it's strength (endurance running capacity).

Wouldn't even be concerned at the moment.

This is why I don’t get why we don’t try and use Treloar more outside

 

[TradeDraft]

This is why I don’t get why we don’t try and use Treloar more outside

I got no idea either.

We did not trade 2 1st Rounders for him to be a Inside Mid where he can't use his Speed

 

[ZEV]

This is why I don’t get why we don’t try and use Treloar more outside

Treloar has only played the 8 games this season

With Steele only playing nine as well our most effective outside mid/hb sweeper has been Crisp.

 

[Piestration]

So it’s Grundy’s fault that we over use the ball by hand inviting pressure and turning it over?

Maybe as we don't get 1st use from Grundy's random and average tap work and have to scramble to win a contested ball 99% of the time therefor having to handball our way out trying to release someone.

 

[TradeDraft]

So it seems on here in 1 year he gone from our Best Player to being a Scapegoat when we lose

 

[Anzacday]

Shorter games take away one of his biggest strengths over all other ruckman

Agreed.
Doesn't change the fact he seems to have resorted to poor ruck work.
As I said earlier, his ruck work in Round 1 gave me hope for a different approach.
I love the guy he's one of our heart and soul players.
Needs to be smarter with his ruck work.

 

[ZEV]

Considering the amount of games some of our mids only played ( Treloar 8, Sidey 9, Pendles 13) we had a lot of new faces in the center square. I'm sure there will be an improvement in Grundy's tapwork when we get more experience in the square.

 

[jathanas]

Rumours of Grundy's demise are greatly exaggerated.

Anyone suggesting that we gave up the chance to recruit a KPF in order to keep Grundy, or that we got duded by awarding him a long contract is drawing a long bow. WC has both a great ruck and a great KPF, they are not mutually exclusive.

I would invest in a proper ruck coach, Grundy is still very young and would benefit so much from the support of someone like Monkhorst.

 

[Kappa]

So many idiots lol

What is Grudy’s strength? His fitness he works over other ruckman and then dominates the latter part of the game as he can keep spreading to space and providing a target, now with reduced game time and longer breaks it gives the battlers more of a rest so they can curtail his influence.

That’s not going to be the case in 21 when we are playing 20 minute quarters at the G

Notice Nic Nat is having a great year, notice how the big weakness in his game is his lack of fitness and the long time he has to spend in the bench. But with 20% less game time and longer breaks this doesn’t impact his game anymore

When did Grundy's fitness become his strength? It was listed as one of his weaknesses when we drafted him and he's always done terribly in the 2km time trials...

Someone like a Todd Goldstein is genuinely an endurance beast, and he managed to have an AA quality year despite the shorter quarters so your argument falls completely flat.

 

[Kappa]

Rumours of Grundy's demise are greatly exaggerated.

Anyone suggesting that we gave up the chance to recruit a KPF in order to keep Grundy, or that we got duded by awarding him a long contract is drawing a long bow. WC has both a great ruck and a great KPF, they are not mutually exclusive.

I would invest in a proper ruck coach, Grundy is still very young and would benefit so much from the support of someone like Monkhorst.

I really don't understand how a young guy can find the motivation to push past the pain when they know they can just chill and still get 7 years 7 million... Motivation must be VERY hard to find when you've already got your reward.

Would you work as hard at work if you got promised an entire career on huge money without having to do any extras?

 

[jathanas]

I really don't understand how a young guy can find the motivation to push past the pain when they know they can just chill and still get 7 years 7 million... Motivation must be VERY hard to find when you've already got your reward.

You might be right Kap.

That might be discounting his personal expectations and competitive instincts.

Another possibility is that this year he has played hampered and actually been forced to push through more pain than ever before.

 

[ZEV]

When did Grundy's fitness become his strength? It was listed as one of his weaknesses when we drafted him and he's always done terribly in the 2km time trials...

Someone like a Todd Goldstein is genuinely an endurance beast, and he managed to have an AA quality year despite the shorter quarters so your argument falls completely flat.

Goldstein averaged 14.94 disposals, 27.76 hitouts, 5.1 clearances and 2.05 tackles in an aa quality year
Gawn averaged 15.85 disposals, 32.7 hitouts, 3.4 clearances and 2.5 tackles and made the AA squad
Grundy averaged 14.76 disposals, 32.7 hitouts, 3.4 clearances and 3.7 tackles and had a terrible year.

Can't wait til next year.