mo64

A tall loitering in our forward line is actually detrimental to the side. And your choice of words is apt when describing Grundy and Gawn up forward. The Pies would waltz the ball out of their backline.

I'm not saying Briggs was available, but giving an example that there are 2nd and 3rd string ruckmen that could fullfil a role as the no.1 ruck if given the chance. But you wouldn't be giving them $650k a year for 5 years to be an emergency in case Max got injured.

Your summising that if we didn't get Grundy, we wouldn't have got someone else. Grundy was hardly spectacular in Max's absence, and borderline average when playing with Max. Keiren Briggs was the Giants 3rd choice ruckman when the season started, and is now their clear no.1. There are ruckmen on AFL lists who just need the chance to show that they are capable. And history has proven that. Grundy is a trade asset, but we won't get much more than what we paid. And we have to trade him this off-season. If his 2024 season is replicated at the Dees, by 2025 he will be a 31yo ruckman who has hardly played senior football for 3 years, with 3 years remaining on his contract. He will become a massive liability on our books.

Whilst we're still in contention this year, and Max could potentially get injured, Goodwin can't dishearten Grundy by openly talking about trading him. I tend to believe the former rather than the latter.

The Ins ratings are spot on. Goody has finally admitted that Grundy hasn't worked. To give him credit for Max' form is fanciful. If we didn't get Grundy, we would have got someone else. Toby Bedford B+. He missed the start of the season through injury, but is now an automatic selection in a team that's performing well. Shame to lose him. Weid D. He's been the underperforming player he was at Melbourne.

There is no such thing as a bidding war for a player. The player will nominate his club of choice, and he either goes there or remains at his existing club. And Grundy is a 99% chance of leaving. The club doesn't want to pay $650k for a back up ruckman until Max retires. And it's been mentioned previously that a player can't be paid by 3 clubs, so we can't pay a portion of Grundy's contract whilst the Pies are still paying a significant chunk.

You are correct, but historically neither had shown that they were capable forwards. The club and some supporters got giddy by Max' 2021 Prelim 5 goal haul, but that has proven to be an outlier. The 2nd reason why it didn't work is that both Max and Grundy need to spend a majority of the game as 1st ruck to be effective. The club should have learnt from the Preuss experiment.

Keays' kick curled in late. It clearly missed the post.

Grundy will turn 30 just after the 2024 season starts, and has spent of majority of the 2nd half of 2023 in the VFL. And he still has 4 years to run on his contract, which is another negative. His value definitely hasn't appreciated. I can only see 2 potential suitors being Port Adelaide and Geelong. We'll do well to get a pick in the late 20's. A future 2nd is more likely. .

We need to make a pitch to someone who still sees themselves as still developing as ruckman, so that counts out Preuss. Flynn would be the one I'd target from GWS. The Hawks also have 4 ruckmen on their list who are all under 25. They also have Koschitzke and Brandon Ryan who could be developed into forward/rucks.

Which is why we should have pursued Hayden McLean instead of Grundy.

Grundy delivered what I expected of him, which was nothing. Can the Demonland Grundy sychophants finally concede that he's a liability unless he plays as the number 1 ruck? But we're stuck with him for another 4 years if the sycophnats have their way. Blues deserved to win, end of story.

He was a great mark but Choco would have to be a miracle worker to improve his kicking.

What options do you suggest who haven't recently failed? BBB and T Mac are cooked. Grundy has never been a capable forward, and Smith is unproven. Petty and JVR are the only 2 key forwards who have looked like taking a contested mark, in addition to being mobile. Petty is not replaceable.

You left out the player who I'd like to see replace Petty, and that is Schache.

Grundy playing at VFL level for the rest of the year isn't going to dissuade clubs from pursuing him. Other clubs know that his value is as a no.1 ruckman, so if he returned to the team alongside Max, his value won't increase.

The club is doing what's best for us by keeping Grundy in the VFL. You don't flirt with form regardless of the opposition. And I'm sure Max wouldn't accept being rested when he's fully fit and in incredible form. His competitiveness is what makes him great.

And how has our forward line looked without Grundy in the past 3 weeks? And as if we're going to keep chopping and changing our structure leading up to the finals just to keep Grundy happy. Grundy is only a direct replacement for an injured Max, and god forbid if that happens.

You don't have a bloke on a 5 year contract to fulfill that role.

The scores we've conceded lately is not all due to Petty moving from the bakline. Goody has said that we've changed our game plan and personnel to improve our forward efficiency. I couldn't imagine us coming back from 20+ point deficits (Lions and Tigers), with the way we were playing 4 weeks ago. Even against the Crows, we were able to stop their charge in the last qtr by kicking 3 quick goals, only to let them back into the game again. So for me it's give and take. Personally, I gave us no hope of winning the flag 4 weeks ago, but I'm semi confident with the way our team is now structured. If Tomlinson needs to be replaced, it's with Smith or Hibbo.

You might be thinking of Peter Giles.

Our ball movement is made more fluent because we don't have a resting ruckman with no forward craft plonked deep in our forward line.

Our forward structure has been addressed over the past 3 weeks (105, 97, 130). Petty has replaced BBB, and certainly looked like a huge upgrade. Fritta for Woey, and our forwardline should be locked in. No Grundy or Spargo for the rest of the year.

If a player retires, their salary still falls under the cap. It prevents rorting by clubs. So people suggesting that BBB and Tmac should retire have no idea. That's the equivalent of approx. $1.3 mill of dead money in our cap. Grundy has currency. Trade him.

Max has been the premier ruckman in the comp for the past 6 years as the primary ruckman. All of a sudden Grundy lessening Max's load is the reason he has returned to being the premier ruckman. Give me a spell.