Sydney Swans recruit Brodie Grundy insists he harbours no resentment towards the Melbourne Demons despite being offloaded after just one disappointing season at the club. The ruckman will suit up for his third AFL team in as many years after sealing a trade to the Swans in 2024, having been dropped to the VFL by the Demons earlier this year.
Grundy was brought to the Demons for the 2023 season in the hopes of striking up a tandem ruck partnership with Max Gawn. Unfortunately for the Demons and Grundy, the union never really clicked and the 30-year-old made just 17 appearances across the season.
Brought to the Swans to replace the retired Tom Hickey as Sydney’s No.1 ruck option for next season, Grundy insists greater playing time was key to his decision after a “sobering” demotion at the Demons. “Playing VFL, it’s pretty sobering when you get dropped,” he told Triple M. “A big part of what we do is our jobs, we got a lot of satisfaction out of that.
“When that isn’t where we want it to be, it’s hard to reconcile. Getting towards the end of my career, I want to be able to maximise my time playing AFL footy.”
Grundy has had to face the realisation that for the second season running he’s found himself out of favour in the senior side, with the same situation also arising at Collingwood. Looking back on his frustrating 2023 though, the 30-year-old says while it’s disappointing his stint at the Demons didn’t work out, he doesn’t blame the club.
“I’ve tried to be as professional as I can be. At the time I was employed by the Melbourne Football Club to come in, play, challenge Max (Gawn) at training and play on Steven May and Jake Lever in the forward line,” he said. “I wanted to give it a go and see if I could play finals, come in and kick some goals. But it wasn’t to be.
“We had a mutual conversation towards the end… I spoke to Goody (Simon Goodwin), and we were having conversations all the way through. Hand on heart, I don’t have a bad word to say about Melbourne. The people there are fantastic. For what it’s worth, I enjoyed my time there.
Brodie Grundy made ‘redundant’ at Demons
The Demons’ move for Grundy was met with initial scepticism about how he would fit in with Gawn – considering the Melbourne captain is regarded as one of the game’s premier rucks. Grundy says upon reflection his role at the Demons was made “redundant” by the fact Gawn was Melbourne’s No.1 ruck option and essentially providing the same set of skills for the team.
“Max is a great player,” Grundy added. “And I can get that, I sort of made myself redundant there.
“The pitch was great, and I really wanted to see that through. Things can change, you’ve got to be agile in these times, you can’t stay static. It was in the best interest of both parties again (to move), hopefully, it’s fruitful up in Sydney.”
Grundy’s deal with the Swans runs until the end of the 2027 season. His former club Collingwood are still paying a portion of the contract, as they also did while the 30-year-old was at the Demons.
