Melbourne ruckman Brodie Grundy’s defensive efforts against Essendon were “way off” and would see him “lose credibility” within the Demons camp, according to dual premiership Kangaroo David King.
The Bombers’ ruck duo of Sam Draper and Andrew Phillips combined for five goals in the club’s huge upset win over Melbourne on Saturday, taking full advantage of a Dees side still without injured skipper Max Gawn.
It proved to be a decisive part of the game, with Fox Footy commentators during the contest expressing concern for some of Grundy’s running efforts and accountability, with both Draper and Phillips pushing forward hard to give Essendon another target close to goal.
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And speaking on Fox Footy’s First Crack, King joined in the chorus of criticism surrounding the efforts of the dual All-Australian, who was traded from Collingwood this past off-season despite having five years remaining on a lucrative contract.
“(With Gawn out) You go to your back-up ruckman (Grundy), who’s a high-priced recruit. It’s not about money, it’s about what you have to deliver when you get those stripes on the shoulders,” King said on the program.
“To me, defensively, he was way off.
“The ruckmen (Draper and Phillips) kicked five goals between them, and it’s not all Brodie’s fault. (But) he was in those packs more often than not.”
King highlighted one example from the game where Draper got separation from Grundy streaming inside 50 despite the Dees big man calling for cover, ending in a Draper goal.
“He (Grundy) had 30 seconds to make up the ground on Draper, and didn’t. He tried to handover, so I’ll give him a small out there, but your job and your responsibility is to cover the opposition ruckman,” the Kangaroos legend said.
“And it’s a test of wills both ways – Draper charging forward and Grundy charging forward. But when you get it wrong, you’ve got to be able to recover.
“He’s not the greatest athlete in the world and greatest runner in the world, I understand all that, but if you can push forward, you’ve got to push back … do the job.”
For Western Bulldogs great Brad Johnson, Grundy needed to handover Draper “with urgency” to a teammate if he wasn’t able to stay with mulleted Bomber.
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“I think that’s the key. Do the job, but if you are going to (hand over), you’ve got to show some urgency in that,” Johnson said on First Crack.
“You can’t just float down and point, you’ve got to show some endeavour to make your teammate cover you off.
“If you don’t have that endeavour in your voice and energy to push that extra bit, they’re not going to listen and hear you. It’s not going to happen.
“A big challenge over Brodie Grundy over the next couple of weeks to get that part of his game exactly right.”
King believes such efforts would ultimately see Grundy lose trust from his teammates.
“You lose credibility in the group if defensively you’re like that, you won’t get support of the 22,” he added.
“I’ve got no doubt Max Gawn will say (to Grundy): ‘Hey mate, this group here are not used to the ruckman not pushing back at full pace and full tilt. They’ve seen me do it for years. You’ve got to step up, you’ve got to raise the bar’.”
