Mick McGuane says Pies star Brodie Grundy leaves Tigers with ruck dilemma ahead of Round 2 showdown
Brodie Grundy’s ability to work over a sole ruckman with his sheer running power means Richmond will wonder if they need to play both of Ivan Soldo and Toby Nankervis in Round 2.
Collingwood
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Collingwood premiership star Mick McGuane says Brodie Grundy’s brilliance will force Richmond into an unenviable decision about playing a single ruckman on Thursday.
But despite Grundy’s stunning Round 1 performance against Tim English, the 1990 premiership hero says Collingwood is still yet to cash in on their ruckman’s centre-square dominance.
Grundy tore much-hyped Western Bulldog Tim English apart in Round 1 with a 37-hitout, 19 disposals game with 1.3 from four shots at goal.
Richmond has already tipped its hand by suggesting with shorter game time clubs will only be allowed to play one ruckman, starting in the blockbuster Round 2 clash at the MCG.
Richmond has only premiership hero Bachar Houli out of its best team, while the Pies won’t consider Mason Cox (knee) and Adam Treloar (calf) in the battle of two Round 1 victors.
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Grundy’s ability to work over a sole ruckman with his sheer running power means clubs like Richmond will wonder if they need to play both of Ivan Soldo and Toby Nankervis.
But as McGuane says, it is not obvious which ruckman they would play given both are now fully fit after Nankervis’s summer issues.
He says Collingwood won the hit-outs (44-14), clearances (34-21) and centre square clearances (15-5) against the Dogs and still didn’t get bang for buck.
“Richmond has a decision to make, whether to go with the emerging Soldo or keep the faith in Nankervis,” he said.
“With their model in front of the ball they will probably go with one because they can play Tom Lynch and Jack Riewoldt and give Lynch a crack or neutralise the stoppage and then get someone like (Josh) Caddy to be an extra around the ball against Grundy.
“Grundy is in the top two rucks in the comp and he provides that repeat effort, the secondary work, the ground ball hunt after his hit-outs. But the one thing they need to work on is centre bounce domination. They did it against English and they only scored two points from centre breaks and the Dogs scored eight, which is six more points from 10 less clearances.
“That’s the challenge for the Pies. They get the influence of Brodie who supplies the footy but they just didn’t connect from centre bounce despite that dominance.”
The Pies won that contest by nine goals as Jamie Elliott and Jordan De Goey got midfield time, but admitted over the summer it was a point of focus after a similar issue against GWS in the rain-soaked preliminary final.
Grundy could have cashed in with his four scoring shots in Round 1, with McGuane hopeful he will keep pushing forward after only seven goals last year.
“He has got great balance in his game, knowing when to slide forward and be an offensive threat. Historically watching the Pies and Richmond they go head-to-head and that gut-running ruckman can gain an advantage.
“I have always felt if Nankervis is fit, they know he is competitive and after this restart I would go with the tried and true, but if there is any element of doubt about him carrying an injury I would favour youth.”
Richmond showed their faith in Nankervis when they brought him in for Round 1 over Callum-Coleman Jones but Ivan Soldo was the club’s No.1 ruckman given Nankervis’s injury issues last year.