Toast Grundy: One of the all time greatest career comebacks in League history?

[SC_Power]

From elite at Pies ..to spudsville MFC reserves and now back to elite at Swans.

46 hit outs tonight with 7 tackles and absolutely annihilating English in every way.

Career best season and propelling Sydney to top spot with his ruck dominance.

Can’t think of many other players who have resurrected their careers any better than this.

Hats off to him.

Purely from the title of the thread...

 

[GoPies1]

He gets heaps of hit outs but the swans lose clearance count.
Did it at Collingwood all the time.
Actually cost the 2019 PF because he couldn’t work it out.
Not a great ruckman

 

[GoPies1]

Both would have helped Collingwood beat Brisbane by 10 goals

They had their chance in 2018

 

[Cyclops]

The punt on the salary cap going up in 2020 was AFAIK probably a decent one, Eddie probably has the inside running on Gils plans. The punt on Beams being the one player we needed to go the next step in 2019? Not so much.

Now a lot of people predicted a pandemic like COVID but AFAIK very few saw China fumbling the response so badly. The rumored salary cap increase was scrapped and yes, egg on face.

So what im saying is President-for-Life Xi should be paying part of Grundy's salary.

 

[juss]

From elite at Pies ..to spudsville MFC reserves and now back to elite at Swans.

46 hit outs tonight with 7 tackles and absolutely annihilating English in every way.

Career best season and propelling Sydney to top spot with his ruck dominance.

Can’t think of many other players who have resurrected their careers any better than this.

Hats off to him.

Not at all, he was always a gun no.1 ruck, the problem was Melbourne already had a gun no.1 ruck that plays all game and Grundy was never a KPF.

Melbourne chasing Grundy was one an odd target given their elite ruck stocks before him.

This is just a case of Melbourne making the wrong call, Grundy has always been a star ruck but never at any club would he be anything else.

 

[Iago]

I can't recall such a public a football trading/tactical error as Grundy going to the Demons.

 

[Iago]

Grundy was always going to be the Recruit of the Year.

The Swans don’t muck around. They have long had the best record of targeting opposition players to fill specific needs and they usually get the best of them.

It’s pretty amazing to think they were able to get the dual All Australian, 2x Best & Fairest premiership ruckman for their 2nd and 3rd round draft picks.

He was on the big bucks at Melbourne / Casey

Does anyone know if the Dees are still paying a portion of his 2024 salary, or is Sydney paying the lot?

Which Premiership was that?

 

[Toump Ass]

I can't recall such a public a football trading/tactical error as Grundy going to the Demons.

Dayne Beams was a shocker.
Pies lucky the afl bailed them out of that mess and let him be paid outside of the cap.

 

[Stax on the mill]

And Pies were dumb to mismanage their salary cap.

Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.

Pies perfectly happy with how things turned out. Darcy Cameron has been more than adequate, and we won a flag immediately after Grundy left.

Dee’s have been the big loser, as he was totally unsuited to try and work in tandem with Gawn. Shocker of a recruitment decision by them.

Anyway, good luck to the boy. Grundy has certainly rejuvenated his career after stagnating at the Pies and Dees.

But, “Non, Je Ne Regrette Nien” at the Pies.

 

[jakson68]

Greatest comeback in league history???

We really are struggling for thread content.
It isn't like he hung up the boots or anything. Even Liam Jones

19

Liam Jones

Age

33

Ht

199cm

Wt

98kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

9.4

2star

K

6.5

3star

HB

2.9

3star

M

4.3

4star

T

2.0

4star

MG

134.5

2star

D

7.6

2star

K

6.1

3star

HB

1.4

1star

M

4.1

4star

T

1.4

2star

MG

116.3

2star

D

9.4

3star

K

7.4

3star

HB

2.0

2star

M

4.0

4star

T

2.2

4star

is a better comeback story.

Worst thread since Dusty GOAT

 

[Belnakor]

It would be like Gilchrist and Healy in the same side, which apparently happened briefly, but having them both in the side would just create problems since they both couldn't be wicket keeper.

Amazing didn’t realise this happened. 5 times actually at odi level.

 

[Stax on the mill]

Collingwood and Melbourne with egg on their face.

But nice try.

 

[tenderwarrior]

Yep. He is not a forward, and he can only play his best football if he is allowed to ruck 90% of the time. Was never going to work with Gawn.

It would be like Gilchrist and Healy in the same side, which apparently happened briefly, but having them both in the side would just create problems since they both couldn't be wicket keeper.

I reckon it would have been easier to squeeze Gilchrist in as purely the number 6 bat.. Warne and MacGill perhaps a better example from Cricket

 

[Cyclops]

Dayne Beams was a shocker.
Pies lucky the afl bailed them out of that mess and let him be paid outside of the cap.

Was he paid outside the cap? I thought that was part of our problem.

Eddie looked at the 2018 GF and thought "we'd have won if we had Beams".

Totally outside his scope as president but had made footy decisions before eg the Malthouse succession deal that bore fruit in a flag the next season (when everyone had said "he shoulda sacked MM in 2009, terrible decision"), and he's a fairly smart bloke so he probably felt he could back his judgement.

Imagine if Melbourne had gone after McStay or some other reliable key forward instead, someone to feed Kosi and the bloke with the shit hair, and those stellar mid-forwards. One of the great lost opportunities...

 

[Iago]

Was he paid outside the cap? I thought that was part of our problem.

Eddie looked at the 2018 GF and thought "we'd have won if we had Beams".

Totally outside his scope as president but had made footy decisions before eg the Malthouse succession deal that bore fruit in a flag the next season (when everyone had said "he shoulda sacked MM in 2009, terrible decision"), and he's a fairly smart bloke so he probably felt he could back his judgement.

Imagine if Melbourne had gone after McStay or some other reliable key forward instead, someone to feed Kosi and the bloke with the s**t hair, and those stellar mid-forwards. One of the great lost opportunities...

Might need to narrow that down a bit more.

 

[Cyclops]

Might need to narrow that down a bit more.

The one who kicks all their goals.

 

[VinnieB]

Probably more a case of two teams completely mismanaging a very very good player.

Blessed to have him at Sydney, what a steal. His impact is a huge part of 10-1

How was he mismanaged at the Pies when he was 2x AA and won the Copeland?
If he wasn't being paid $1m pa, he would probably still be a Pie.

Unfortunately, still a poor mark and averages 0.7 contested marks a game.

The fact is, the guy could go to any AFL club as the 1st ruckman and would produce the same numbers. No magic Sydney 'dust'.

 

[VinnieB]

Collingwood and Melbourne with egg on their face.



Technically they could have been wicket keeper at both ends to different bowlers!

Wrong.

We weren't winning the premiership with either.

You just need to watch the prelim v GWS in 2019 where Grundy had something like 70+ hitouts. All to himself. Rucking against someone who was cooked and couldn't jump.

Or the 2018 GF where he struggled against 2 battling ruckmen from WestCoast after an AA year.

Actually, come to think of it, given we were paying both to play at other clubs, we won the premiership paying about 95% of the cap on our list.

Darcy Cameron has almost 3x the contested marks Grundy has a game and 4x intercept marks per game. Ranked 'elite' in both. Just what you want from a ruckman. And he is on about $500k pa.

 

[ibd77]

Nope, just realized his dumb move going to a club that already has an elite ruckman. Now he is the number 1 ruck again at the Swans.

 

[Eshay187]

How was he mismanaged at the Pies when he was 2x AA and won the Copeland?
If he wasn't being paid $1m pa, he would probably still be a Pie.

Unfortunately, still a poor mark and averages 0.7 contested marks a game.

The fact is, the guy could go to any AFL club as the 1st ruckman and would produce the same numbers. No magic Sydney 'dust'.

“How was he mismanaged when we had to get rid of him because we mismanaged our salary cap”…?

 

[VinnieB]

“How was he mismanaged when we had to get rid of him because we mismanaged our salary cap”…?

If you stayed in school you would have been taught how to use quotation marks.

 

[Shane Heard]

Pies perfectly happy with how things turned out. Darcy Cameron has been more than adequate, and we won a flag immediately after Grundy left.

Dee’s have been the big loser, as he was totally unsuited to try and work in tandem with Gawn. Shocker of a recruitment decision by them.

Anyway, good luck to the boy. Grundy has certainly rejuvenated his career after stagnating at the Pies and Dees.

But, “Non, Je Ne Regrette Nien” at the Pies.

Let’s face it …Grundy was mediocre that year (year 4?) and McGuire made the call to bone him because Pies were maxed out with salary cap issues.

 

[Shane Heard]

Was he paid outside the cap? I thought that was part of our problem.

Eddie looked at the 2018 GF and thought "we'd have won if we had Beams".

Totally outside his scope as president but had made footy decisions before eg the Malthouse succession deal that bore fruit in a flag the next season (when everyone had said "he shoulda sacked MM in 2009, terrible decision"), and he's a fairly smart bloke so he probably felt he could back his judgement.

Imagine if Melbourne had gone after McStay or some other reliable key forward instead, someone to feed Kosi and the bloke with the s**t hair, and those stellar mid-forwards. One of the great lost opportunities...

McGuire …10 years too many as President.

He couldn’t let go of the power and status of running his beloved Collingwood.

 

[And_ROOS]

No Grundy was dumb to go there.

Why would you go to a club with the best ruck in the AFL.

Was that confirmed at all? I thought Melbourne wanted Grundy and Grundy went there, not that Grundy wanted Melbourne specifically.

 

[VinnieB]

Let’s face it …Grundy was mediocre that year (year 4?) and McGuire made the call to bone him because Pies were maxed out with salary cap issues.

I think McGuire was the reason the club succumbed to the contract ($ and length) Grundy was demanding. Grundy was in interviews saying how it’s appealing to go back to Adelaide to spend more time with family, nephews and nieces. McGuire wasn’t prepared to let a 2x AA walk l, particularly when we were so close to a premiership.

But you are correct. After he signed in 2019, he was nowhere near his best. He used the lockdown as an excuse, but maybe the pressure to perform on $1m a year was the issue? He did cop a lot of negativity after the 2019 prelim.

I think he also made a comment which many took that he really didn’t care about winning a premiership. I’m sure he didn’t mean it, but still, it put a lot of people off.