Collingwood star Brodie Grundy has been challenged to evolve his game if he wants to remain one of the best ruckmen in the game.
After making back-to-back All Australian teams in 2018 and 2019, Grundy was awarded with a lucrative seven-year, $7 million extension from the Magpies, but since signing the deal has failed to reach the lofty levels of production he’d previously set.
Grundy averaged career-highs of 21.3 disposals, 4.4 marks and 42.6 hit-outs per game in 2019, but has managed just 17 touches, 1.8 marks and 29.8 hit-outs per game through the first five rounds this season.
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According to Essendon great Matthew Lloyd, the 28-year-old must redefine his game if he is to regain his status as one of the AFL’s best big men.
“I reckon Brodie’s got to look at himself and go, ‘where am I separating myself from the rest of the comp?’,” he told Nine’s AFL Sunday Footy Show.
“He used to rag doll Tim English and guys like that and get the ball forward, but at the moment I think everyone’s matching the physicality with him.
“He had not one effective kick on the weekend, didn’t lay a tackle, didn’t take a mark. I’d be asking Brodie, ‘what are you doing to try and evolve as a player, to try and still be top two in the comp?’.”
Port Adelaide great Kane Cornes agreed with Lloyd’s take.
“We used to debate, ‘is it (Max) Gawn or Grundy as the best ruckman in the game?’, and he’s probably down to six or seven I reckon, and that’s not a big statement,” he told the Sunday Footy Show.
Former Richmond and Bulldogs star Nathan Brown suggested a simple change that could help Grundy regain his dominance.
“I’m seeing Gawn play forward of the ball and play really well, Tim English play forward of the ball,” he told the Sunday Footy Show.
“A lot of ruckmen at the moment are holding onto the ball in traffic in stoppages and I just Brodie Grundy just getting rid of the ball a little bit too easily at times.
“I feel if he was able to hold onto the ball a bit more like these other ruckmen he’ll start to get back the domination he once had.”
Grundy and the Magpies will aim to get back to winning ways when they face Essendon on Anzac Day in round six.