Brodie Grundy (born 15 April 1994) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was previously an All-Australian and best-and-fairest winner with Collingwood, having been selected with the 18th draft pick in the 2012 AFL draft, as well as a player for Melbourne.

Brodie Grundy
Grundy playing for Collingwood in March 2017
Personal information
Full name Brodie Grundy
Date of birth (1994-04-15) 15 April 1994 (age 30)
Place of birth Adelaide, South Australia
Original team(s) Sturt (SANFL)
Draft No. 18, 2012 AFL Draft, Collingwood
Height 203 cm (6 ft 8 in)
Weight 108 kg (238 lb)
Position(s) Ruck
Club information
Current club Sydney
Number 4
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
2013–2022 Collingwood 177 (60)
2023 Melbourne 017 (10)
2024– Sydney 022 0(2)
Total 216 (72)
Representative team honours
Years Team Games (Goals)
2020 All Stars 1 (0)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of round 23, 2024.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Early life and junior football

edit

Grundy was born in Adelaide, South Australia and attended Cabra Dominican College, a private Catholic high school in the southern suburbs of the city, graduating in 2011.[1] A former basketball player, Grundy switched to Australian rules football in 2010. A premiership player for the Unley Jets Football club in the Under 16.5's 2010 Grand Final win over Edwardstown.[2] Brodie has a younger brother, Riley, who was drafted to Port Adelaide with pick 73 in the 2018 draft.[3]

AFL career

edit

Collingwood

edit

Following a successful season playing as a ruckman with South Australian National Football League (SANFL) club Sturt's junior teams, Grundy was recruited by Collingwood with draft pick #18 in the 2012 AFL Draft.

Grundy was the Round 22 nomination for the 2013 AFL Rising Star award.[4]

In March 2014, Grundy signed a three-year contract extension lasting until the end of the 2017 AFL season.[5]

In 2018 he won the Herald Sun Player of the Year award with 27 votes, one clear of Melbourne ruck Max Gawn and Hawthorn midfielder Tom Mitchell. Grundy also won the Copeland medal for Collingwood's best and fairest in 2018, drawing with Steele Sidebottom.[6]

After another All-Australian season in 2019, Grundy signed a seven-year, $1 million per-year deal with Collingwood.[7] However, Grundy struggled to recapture his All-Australian form in subsequent years, with his salary criticised by some media figures.[8]

Melbourne

edit

At the end of the 2022 AFL season, Collingwood traded Grundy to Melbourne for salary cap relief.[9]

During the 2023 season, Grundy was often used by Melbourne as a forward in efforts to be able to play him and Max Gawn in the same lineup, a role Grundy, as a ruck, was unfamiliar and dissatisfied with. In the latter half of the year he was dropped to the VFL to play with the Casey Demons and was not selected in either of Melbourne's finals games.

Sydney Swans

edit

Grundy sought a trade to the Sydney Swans at the conclusion of the season, despite only being in the first year of a five-year contract at the Demons. He was traded on 11 October.[10]

Playing style

edit

Despite playing as ruckman, Grundy is able to follow up his ruckwork and win the ball himself and apply tackles. He has been labelled as a ‘fourth midfielder’ by his teammates.[citation needed] In the 2018 season, he averaged 20.2 disposals per match; 525 for the season (48th in the AFL), easily the highest amongst ruckmen.[citation needed]

Personal life

edit

In December 2020, Grundy graduated from La Trobe University with a Bachelor of Health Sciences.[11]

Statistics

edit

Updated to the end of 2023.[12]

Legend
  G  
Goals
  K  
Kicks
  D  
Disposals 
  T  
Tackles
  B  
Behinds 
  H  
Handballs 
  M  
Marks
H/O
Hit-outs
  †  
Led the league for 
the season
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game) Votes
G B K H D M T H/O G B K H D M T H/O
2013 Collingwood 35 7 1 3 35 53 88 18 22 151 0.1 0.4 5.0 7.6 12.6 2.6 3.1 21.6 0
2014 Collingwood 4 15 3 8 73 79 152 36 51 272 0.2 0.5 4.9 5.3 10.1 2.4 3.4 18.1 0
2015 Collingwood 4 19 8 3 156 137 293 66 85 462 0.4 0.2 8.2 7.2 15.4 3.5 4.5 24.3 0
2016 Collingwood 4 21 11 8 190 197 387 81 92 548 0.5 0.4 9.0 9.4 18.4 3.9 4.4 26.1 7
2017 Collingwood 4 20 4 5 166 202 368 73 78 714 0.2 0.3 8.3 10.1 18.4 3.7 3.9 35.7 2
2018 Collingwood 4 26 9 8 206 319 525 92 134 1038 0.4 0.3 7.9 12.3 20.2 3.5 5.2 39.9 17
2019 Collingwood 4 24 7 11 237 274 511 105 104 1022 0.3 0.5 9.9 11.4 21.3 4.4 4.3 42.6 23
2020[a] Collingwood 4 19 3 3 105 168 273 57 68 593 0.2 0.2 5.5 8.8 14.4 3.0 3.6 31.3 6
2021 Collingwood 4 20 12 6 185 197 382 72 84 647 0.6 0.3 9.3 9.9 19.1 3.6 4.2 32.4 9
2022 Collingwood 4 6 2 0 53 48 101 15 23 182 0.3 0.0 8.8 8.0 16.8 2.5 3.8 30.3 1
2023 Melbourne 6 17 10 4 100 143 243 46 49 349 0.6 0.2 5.8 8.4 14.3 2.7 2.9 20.5 0
Career 194 70 59 1506 1817 3323 661 790 5978 0.4 0.3 7.8 9.3 17.1 3.4 4.1 30.8 65

Notes

  1. ^ The 2020 season was played with 17 home-and-away matches per team (down from 22) and 16-minute quarters with time on (down from 20-minute quarters with time on) due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Honours and achievements

edit

Team

Individual

References

edit
  1. ^ "Numbers add up for Brodie Grundy", Adelaide Now, 10 November 2014, retrieved 28 March 2014
  2. ^ Walsh, Courtney (8 August 2013). "Experience counts for little as Brodie Grundy eyes September". The Australian. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
  3. ^ "Tag: riley grundy". AFL Draft Central.
  4. ^ Guthrie, Ben (27 August 2013). "Young Pie Grundy a rising star nominee". AFL.com.au. BigPond.
  5. ^ Chiarelli, Simon (19 March 2014). "Grundy recommits until 2017". collingwoodfc.com.au. BigPond.
  6. ^ Herald Sun Sport [@heraldsunsport] (27 August 2018). "Collingwood ruckman Brodie Grundy has stormed home to win this year's @theheraldsun player of the year award" (Tweet). Retrieved 27 August 2018 – via Twitter.
  7. ^ "Brodie Grundy re-signs for seven". Collingwood FC. 17 January 2020. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
  8. ^ Healey, Catherine (17 April 2022). "Star Magpie's big money deal an 'issue' amid salary cap crunch, 'accountability' questioned". Fox Sports. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
  9. ^ Ryan, Peter; Gleeson, Michael (11 October 2022). "Dream of being 'a Pie for life' ends for new Demon Brodie Grundy". The Age.
  10. ^ @AFLHouse (11 October 2023). "Trade paperwork approved. The Sydney Swans trade its Round Three pick (46) and its Future Round Two pick to Melbourne for Brodie Grundy" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  11. ^ "Grundy graduates from La Trobe". La Trobe University. 10 December 2020.
  12. ^ "Brodie Grundy statistics". AFL Tables. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
edit