Nick's Collingwood Bulletin Board

jessfootball wrote:

burnsy17 wrote:It’s grundys fault he played shit. It’s not his fault the club paid him $1M a year to do so. That blame sits solely with the club. They should never have paid him $1M a year.

Reliable source told me blame Eddie Mac for Grundy’s contract.

That's the likely assumption. Eddie hitched his future to Bucks, and Bucks built his game plan around Grundy.

It's just unfortunate that things have turned out like this, because it obviously never needed to be the case. Certainly, though, this coaching and management group deserves the benefit of the doubt, as unsavoury as whatever happened seems now. Let's hope for a win for all involved somehow so everyone can move on.

Why would a true Collingwood supporter want a win for everyone? **** that, **** Grundy and **** the Dees.

Probably repeating what many others have said up to this point but how much of the decision to trade Grundy is an apparent lack of connection he has with teammates?

Right from the get-go Fly talked about Grundy needing to put a finger or two in the team glove of love or whatever it was and he only said this about Brodie and none of our other star players. Why?

I recall a story where in his draft year recruiters talked about how confident Grundy was that he answered the door to said recruiters wearing only a towel. I realise he would have been a young bloke at the time but I’m not sure that says confidence, but rather a need for attention.

I have no doubt Grundy is a great athlete and footballer and at his best can significantly influence a game due to his individual attributes, but when we are now looking to build a champion team, players like Grundy who demand a significant amount of coin and attention may not be suitable to the new regime.

I doubt Eddie and Buckley had the insight Wright and McRae have in seeing team players and team ethos. After all, Bucks said it was all about the stats when he took over as coach from Malthouse. He only changed his ways when his job was on the line and realised he needed to change to save it.

I’d rather not pay any wages for a player to play for another club as well as against us, but if it helps to establish the team first, winners only brand that this club will stand for going forward, then I’m on board.

There are a myriad of reasons why we might want to trade Grundy out, but to do so effectively in exchange for thus far mediocre players, be it McStay, Frampton or Hill, defies logic.

Perhaps the reason lies in the negotiations with JDG's manager. It's hard for the club to argue Jordy is only worth $800,000 pa when we are paying $1 million or more pa to Grundy. Off loading Grundy, following the exit 2 yrs ago of Treloar, sends a powerful message to player managers, that the days of massive contracts at Collingwood are over.

RudeBoy wrote:There are a myriad of reasons why we might want to trade Grundy out, but to do so effectively in exchange for thus far mediocre players, be it McStay, Frampton or Hill, defies logic.

Perhaps the reason lies in the negotiations with JDG's manager. It's hard for the club to argue Jordy is only worth $800,000 pa when we are paying $1 million or more pa to Grundy. Off loading Grundy, following the exit 2 yrs ago of Treloar, sends a powerful message to player managers, that the days of massive contracts at Collingwood are over.

Agree with the message this sends Rudeboy, spot on. Also think think we will gain some draft capital too. Any bit helps.

The 'destination of choice' benefits will eventually flow through. And our admin has kept a nice low profile, which is a huge plus. Not much we can do about things prior to this year except to keep our heads.

On a bright note we've become far better at developing players, so at least we know we can turn picks into something special. And we play an attractive brand footy and have a great team ethos, so that will already be turning prospects' heads.

Fingers crossed for more surprises to the up-side.

Seems certain that Grundy will be moved. Goodwin openly talking about Melbourne's interest now.

The reason is simple and was anticipated a long way out. We're playing a Richmond style game and rucks just aren't prioritised, so it doesn't make sense for a ruckman to be our highest paid player. Different football philosophy from the new regime.

At this point the saved money looks to be getting us McStay, plus whatever we get back from Melbourne.

A key forward that can compete in the air is definitely a need. Two KPFs of the "workhorse" variety in Mihocek and McStay isn't ideal but it's better than a sole KPF. You also get more reliability from these types, they will always compete hard. If we then have more skilled players around them like Elliott, AJ, Hill, Ginnivan, Henry, then that's actually a great mix.

There's simply no way for us to bring in a top line KPF this year. I think we might look for one next year, or via the draft, in which case McStay is a stop gap until we can develop one.

AN_Inkling wrote:Seems certain that Grundy will be moved. Goodwin openly talking about Melbourne's interest now.

The reason is simple and was anticipated a long way out. We're playing a Richmond style game and rucks just aren't prioritised, so it doesn't make sense for a ruckman to be our highest paid player. Different football philosophy from the new regime.

At this point the saved money looks to be getting us McStay, plus whatever we get back from Melbourne.

A key forward that can compete in the air is definitely a need. Two KPFs of the "workhorse" variety in Mihocek and McStay isn't ideal but it's better than a sole KPF. You also get more reliability from these types, they will always compete hard. If we then have more skilled players around them like Elliott, AJ, Hill, Ginnivan, Henry, then that's actually a great mix.

There's simply no way for us to bring in a top line KPF this year. I think we might look for one next year, or via the draft, in which case McStay is a stop gap until we can develop one.

All this speculation about Grundy possibly leaving or not would not be happening if he was performing to his 2017-2019 standard.

Yes in hindsight the club agreed to the ludicrous contract (length more than pa $$) but quite a lot this situation is also on Grundys shoulders.
Covid or not, his own personal performances have not been anywhere near the level to which the club agreed to in good faith. Contracts are signed with expectations from both parties and to suggest that this all lies with Collingwood is ridiculous. Brodie must himself acknowledge that for 2.5 years he was not fulfilling his end of the bargain. You get paid big $$ to perform to your maximum ability for the majority of the season and the fact that he hasn’t rests all on him.
There are many player all over the league who have played brilliantly during covid but I’m sure that they also didn’t love living in the bubble. I haven’t heard one player or administrator mention that they enjoyed the experience. But many still performed to their best. Josh Daicos improved significantly during that time and I’m sure that he wasn’t a fan of being in the bubble.

Some here have questioned why he would even consider a pay cut to stay when he has a contract. That’s a fair point but ultimately you can only take the p*ss for so long before you get moved on, contract or no contract.
It’s not like the club are desperate to get his contract off the books whilst he is AA and winning the Copeland. They are doing it because they realise that they are not getting anywhere near the value for money that was agreed upon 3 years ago.

Zero Hanger reporting that Brodie Grundy is essentially gone ski.

https://www.zerohanger.com/brodie-grund ... ws-127831/

It would appear that Sam Hayes will be his 'replacement' and that Frampton will come in as the big-bodied defender.

Such is (football) life...

Floreat Pica

After Grundy got hurt, we dropped to 18th in the comp for clearances.
IF he is moved on, and it is us moving him on, I dont think its unreasonable for supporters to want explained to us exactly HOW the club will be looking to turn that around. None of the players reported to be coming in will help in this area.

I get the "Richmond" style game plan and rucks not being important. Ironically though Grundy plays like a mid so should suit this style more than most others.

Im starting to think there is something else going on with Grundy. A few posters are suggesting behaviour issues along this line. I cant help but think any trade of him that includes payments by us is for a reason other than cap. It was with Treloar.

Im even starting to wonder exactly how injured his ankle was.......

AN_Inkling wrote:Seems certain that Grundy will be moved. Goodwin openly talking about Melbourne's interest now.

The reason is simple and was anticipated a long way out. We're playing a Richmond style game and rucks just aren't prioritised, so it doesn't make sense for a ruckman to be our highest paid player. Different football philosophy from the new regime.

At this point the saved money looks to be getting us McStay, plus whatever we get back from Melbourne.

A key forward that can compete in the air is definitely a need. Two KPFs of the "workhorse" variety in Mihocek and McStay isn't ideal but it's better than a sole KPF. You also get more reliability from these types, they will always compete hard. If we then have more skilled players around them like Elliott, AJ, Hill, Ginnivan, Henry, then that's actually a great mix.

There's simply no way for us to bring in a top line KPF this year. I think we might look for one next year, or via the draft, in which case McStay is a stop gap until we can develop one.

Seriously, Inkling, you should post more often. McRae is cloning the Richmond brand and part of that model is not relying on the need to win clearances all day long in order to still kick a winning score. Richmond’s ( centre ) clearance numbers compared to other clubs were consistently at the bottom of the table during their premiership years but their ability to win it back in the defensive half was elite and that’s where the rebound starts. McRae wouldnt object to winning more clearances of course but there’s no unhealthy reliance on it, so it appears the salary cap investment in that area needs to be tweaked accordingly.
Richmond worked with two big forwards, three high pressure crumbers and a resting mid fielder who kept the ball in the forward 50 until one reaped the benefit. Either one of Krueger / McStay + Miochek are there to play their role and gel with the smaller forwards until we find a way to add that strong marking 50 + goal a season player onto our list. Alternatively, we may also be prioritising a centre clearance beast who can actually rove to sub par ruckmen and that in itself becomes another avenue to moving the ball quickly into our forward line ( which then becomes more of a 6 on 6 contest rather than the chaotic rebound from half back )

I recall Fly talking just before the game against Freo I think.
He mentioned that Grundy was working hard with our Ruck, getting them ready for the game. If he wanted out, would he still be working with the boys at the club?
Not sure.

Sam Hayes just might be slower than Darcy Cameron! You have been warned.

I think it’s as the article quoted says. It’s all about relief of salary cap space. If Grundy was on 600-700k a year I don’t think anybody would be arguing about his worth in the team. He improves our clearance rate out of the centre. Why wouldn’t we want that? At the moment our priorities are:
A big bodied forward who if he doesn’t mark the ball, be brings it to ground.
A small forward with leg speed to compliment our forward line.
A big bodied second tall defender to help out Moore.
An in and under midfielder to improve our clearance rate out of the centre.
Our mid season recruitment of Carmichael followed by speculation of picking up McStay, Frampton, Bobby Hill and Fiorini addresses those weaknesses on our list. At the end of the day we lose an elite ruckman, but fix up structural weaknesses in the team that were evident out on the field against Geelong and the Swans in our two finals losses.
Could we have done better by picking an elite forward or defender? The answer is no. We couldn’t afford Steve May or Jeremy Cameron. We can’t even afford Taranto.
To get “elite” the only way we can do it is by Derek Hine weaving magic on national draft day.