Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin hasn’t dominated out an AFL recall for large man Brodie Grundy as quickly as Sunday’s conflict towards Richmond as he confirmed star on-baller Clayton Oliver was again in full coaching with a spherical 21 or 22 return doubtless.
The Demons have gained back-to-back matches towards first Brisbane after which Adelaide after sending Grundy again to the VFL to develop the ahead craft essential to his ruck mixture with Max Gawn succeeding.
Last week towards Adelaide, Gawn kicked two targets, after a single towards Brisbane, and Goodwin preferred what he noticed from Grundy’s work on the decrease stage, kicking 1.3 from 12 disposals and 4 marks taking part in primarily in assault in a 42-point win over Coburg.
Amid ongoing hypothesis about Grundy’s future at Melbourne, with Coleman medallist Matthew Lloyd the most recent to declare he may very well be headed for a 3rd membership, Goodwin was adamant the Demons would make his mixture with Gawn work.
He mentioned Grundy was “in the mix” for a recall towards the Tigers, but when it didn’t come this week, it could be sooner fairly than later.
“We’re really open-minded. We love the ruck combination and what we are trying to do is get a bigger impact when either is in the ruck and forward of centre and Brodie is a big part of that,” Goodwin mentioned on Thursday.
“We’ll continue to monitor it and progress it. We’ll make that decision in the next couple of days.
“He’s working incredibly hard on his game, we have given him some forward exposure last week at VFL level which we are really encouraged about. He’s in the mix (to play Richmond).
“He’s progressing well and as I have said all along, we think this combination will work in time.This isn’t just a short-term thing. We’re going to work incredibly hard to make sure it works.”
Goodwin mentioned the decision on Grundy was a part of a concerted effort to “continue look at personnel to make us better” within the run to the finals.
The impending return of three-time All Australian Oliver will make Melbourne higher and Goodwin mentioned that may very well be as quickly because the spherical 21 conflict with North Melbourne.
Oliver hasn’t performed since spherical 10 after battling a hamstring harm however continues to hit the required markers in his comeback, together with becoming a member of full coaching.
“We earmarked round 21 or round 22, we’re not going to put an exact timeline on (his return), but he is definitely progressing well and doing a lot of our full training now and we’re confident he is not that far away,” Goodwin mentioned.
“We’ve got to get him to making sure he is really comfortable hitting those markers. Part of that process is putting him back into training.
“There’s no timeline but both Clayton and the high performance team will know when his body is right to go.”
The Demons are in fourth spot on the ladder, two video games away from the Western Bulldogs in fifth, and will lock up a top-four spot with a win over Richmond.
Originally revealed as Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin says Brodie Grundy may play towards Richmond
Source: www.dailytelegraph.com.au
