Dees coach confident on shock Grundy move

Grundy, one of the AFL’s best ruckmen of the last decade, crossed to the Demons from Collingwood last off-season amid much fanfare as the footy world pondered how successfully he would combine with the competition’s No.1 ruck of the same period Max Gawn.

However, just 18 rounds into his stint at the Demons, which is being heavily subsidised by the Magpies and isn’t due to expire until 2027 after his seven-year deal began at Collingwood in 2021, Grundy was sensationally dropped by his new club.

The reason the club gave was because they wanted Grundy to improve his “forward craft”, as the Demons look to improve their scoring power.

Heading into the weekend, they averaged only 63 points in their previous five games.

But with Grundy out of the team on Friday night against Brisbane, not only did the Demons kick their biggest score since Round 7 (16.9.105), but Gawn played one of his best games of the season as the team’s sole ruckman.

It seemingly all added up to a hard road back to the senior team for Grundy, and he will begin to press his claims in a VFL practice match this weekend playing purely as a forward.

However, Goodwin was confident Grundy had “plenty of time” to prove himself and didn’t even consider the possibility of the ex-Magpie not featuring in the finals.

“We’ve got six games to go,” Goodwin said after his team’s heart-stopping one-point win against the Lions.

“He’s an important part of our footy club, for not only the short term but the long term. He’s a big part of us moving forward.

“We’re not going to sit here and say we’re the finished product, and part of getting towards that is continuing to find ways to improve and part of that is evolving Brodie’s forward craft and Max’s at times.

“We love their ruck combination, but one thing we’re not going to do as a footy club is leave any stone unturned in getting better.

“And we want more impact forward of the ball, and the only way we’re going to continue to do that is to expose them for longer.

“We think we can turn that combination into a threat moving forward, and we’re going to work to do it, and it doesn’t have to be at AFL level.

“So we’re still really confident that’ll work, and as we get closer towards the back-end of the year, we’re going to need both of them up and going.”

For Grundy to return to the senior team, Goodwin said he would need to see the two-time All-Australian kicking goals and leading well as a forward.

Rather than being disappointed with his axing, Goodwin said Grundy took the news “brilliantly”.

“He understands he’s in good form in the ruck but he also knows we’ve got a responsibility as a club to get better and part of getting better is that forward craft and he needs to do it,” Goodwin said.

“He’s embracing it, he wants to do it and he wants to be a part of it.”

The Demons had 10 goalkickers on Friday night, and with the likes of Christian Petracca, Kysaiah Pickett and Jake Melksham all playing key roles in improving their potency, Goodwin said his forward line looked “functionable”.

“It’s still a work in progress for us but to kick 105 points against the third-placed team, we’re doing something right,” Goodwin said.

Originally published as Simon Goodwin confident Brodie Grundy can return to the AFL side as a forward