THE NEXT evolution in Brodie Grundy's development as a ruckman, according to ruck expert Luke Darcy, should be to adapt to the opposition's tactics to ensure Collingwood capitalises more on his hitout dominance than it did in the preliminary final loss to Greater Western Sydney.

In a rain-sodden twilight clash at the MCG on Saturday, Grundy amassed a career-high 73 hitouts – third on the all-time list – to give the Magpies a 78-16 advantage. The differential of 62 was the third biggest on record going back to 1965.

However, among the top 10 in this category the Pies were the only hitout monopolisers to lose the game; and the only one in the top nine to lose the clearances.





No other team has won the hitouts so comprehensively and yet been beaten so comprehensively in clearances.

The clearance loss – 35 to 54 – was the Woods' worst stoppage result of the season.



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Though an extraordinary anomaly, it was far from an isolated outcome.

On the back of the tireless, athletic Grundy, Collingwood won the hitouts in 22 of their 24 games this year, but won the clearances only 10 times, and centre clearances just nine times (with one draw).

On Saturday, just 19 per cent of Grundy's hitouts were to his teammates' advantage. Meanwhile, GWS had just five hitouts to advantage but comfortably held sway 29-8 in scores from stoppages. That's where the contest was won in a game decided by just four points.

Which makes it difficult to assess the ruck duel between Grundy and his veteran opponent Shane Mumford. Grundy also gathered 25 possessions (20 contested) and 10 clearances, helping him snare a vote from one of the coaches in the Gary Ayres Award for best player, but the merits of his tapwork on the night are in dispute.

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Former stars Darcy and Sam Mitchell were impressed with Mumford's efforts and the Giants' ability to execute their plans to counter Grundy, but believed the dual All Australian should have tried something different to generate more clearances, such as grabbing the ball out of the ruck or knocking it longer to break the congestion.

"The numbers sometimes don't tell the story, and I think that was the case with Grundy and 'Mummy'," Darcy, a former Western Bulldogs club champion and All Australian ruckman, told AFL.com.au.

"Sometimes you can be winning the hitouts but the opposition is setting up in a way that they are still controlling where the ball goes, and the Giants did that really well.



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"Mummy virtually conceded the hitout while making sure the ball went in a particular direction that was more predictable for his onballers.

"Mummy kept coming from the one side all the time, particularly at boundary throw-ins, and he was almost blocking it from going to the attacking side. He generally started 10 metres to the right of Grundy and came in late and smashed into his side. It became very hard for Grundy to get the ball over him.

"So Mumford was basically able to tell his mids, 'I mightn't win it but I can guarantee that I'll keep the ball in that area 99 per cent of the time.'"

"They also had Adam Tomlinson come onto Grundy for five or six minutes at a time to work him over and compete differently, and Tomlinson set up the same way in the ruck. And Lachie Keeffe gave a different look too. As good as Grundy is, it was a lot for him to deal with on one night.

"The Giants mids were in synch with it all too, so they got a set-up advantage that Grundy didn't necessarily respond to."

Darcy, who hails 132-gamer Grundy as "a great player", felt he should have adopted the same grab-and-dispose approach employed so successfully by Brisbane ruckman Stefan Martin against Mumford in the semi-final the previous week at the Gabba.

"When you start doing that you ask a big question of Mumford, who'd then have to change his tactics. (Jeremy) Finlayson did it twice to Grundy as a non-ruckman and probably should have had a free kick paid against him when he kicked that goal (in the third quarter), but I'm thinking, 'If Finlayson can do that to you, Grundy, you should be doing it yourself,'" he said.

Darcy expressed hope that Grundy, 25, would develop his ruck craft more along the lines of Port Adelaide's 2004 premiership ruckman Brendon Lade rather than recently retired Fremantle giant Aaron Sandilands.

"Hitouts has always been the most overrated stat in the game and we saw it for years with Sandilands – great player, more hitouts than anyone in the history of the game, but if you can't change your set-up at times and react to what the opposition are doing you'll get beaten in clearances," he said.

"I always had great respect for Brendon Lade, who was probably at the bottom of the gene pool for athleticism, but he was tactically outstanding. He showed great leadership around stoppages to change tactics on the run.

"That may be the next evolution in Grundy's development. You're bigger, stronger, more athletic and more capable than anyone out there – the next level is that you become the leader of that (onball) group and be able to tactically adapt in-game to counter the opposition. He didn't do that against the Giants."



Grundy earned a second All Australian blazer in 2019. Picture: AFL Photos



Hawthorn assistant coach and club great Mitchell, a long-time stoppage specialist, told Channel Seven Network on Sunday: "There's no actual point having a hitout unless you win the clearances. I think Mumford would be sore and battered and bruised but I think that his coaches, when it comes to their best and fairest night, it wouldn't surprise me if he was one of the highest rated players from the Giants' point of view."

Early in the season Pies coach Nathan Buckley acknowledged his team's poor conversion of hitouts to clearances was an issue when he spoke of his desire to get more " bang for buck" from Grundy's dominance.

Brodie Grundy does the rucking and the roving! #AFLDogsPies pic.twitter.com/JihCIlp4qw — AFL (@AFL) June 23, 2019

The possible return of veteran Dayne Beams from hip and shoulder injuries and mental illness would likely help, as would improved output from the likes of inside midfielder Brayden Sier after an indifferent season littered with niggles, form issues and the infamous 'Phill Inn' social basketball blunder.

The Magpies' stoppage mediocrity didn't often leave them exposed largely because of their defensive mechanisms. However, they could take a considerable hit in this areas if they lose apparent coach-in-waiting Justin Longmuir, who in his two years at the club has had a profound influence while in charge of the backline and team defence.

COLLINGWOOD IN 2019