RUSTY after a rare rest, Sydney workhorse Brodie Grundy is happy for coach Dean Cox to decide if he needs any more breaks in the second half of the season.
Star ruckman Grundy was instrumental in Jai Serong’s last gasp winning goal in the final 20 seconds against the Saints at the SCG on Sunday.
Issac Heeney pounced on Grundy’s tap from a forward 50 stoppage to set up Serong, as the Swans recovered from a 33- point deficit to win by two.
“Some of the key playmakers finished their job, we were pretty lucky honestly though to get away with the win,” Grundy said.
The 32-year-old has been a huge factor in Sydney’s 11-2 start to the season.
Despite being rested for last week’s rout of Richmond, Grundy has amassed a league-leading 424 hitouts, 36 more than his closest rival.
Against St Kilda, he racked up 30 hitouts, four more than the combined total of the Saints respected ruck duo of Rowan Marshall and Tom De Koning.
“I probably was a little bit rusty having a week and a bit off, so I’ll be better for the run,” Grundy said.
Last week’s game was only the second out of 61 the remarkably resilient ruckman has missed since joining the Swans at the end of 2023.
He played 47 straight before missing a game against Geelong last August, after suffering delayed concussion symptoms from the previous week’s match versus Brisbane.
Brodie Grundy celebrates a goal during Sydney’s clash against Melbourne in round eight, 2026. Picture: AFL Photos
Grundy will get another rest soon, with Sydney’s bye scheduled following next Saturday’s away clash with Port Adelaide.
While renowned for relishing a heavy workload and preferring to do the majority of the ruck work, Grundy will leave it to coach Cox to decide if he needs another break.
“I’ll just be guided by Coxy, and the high-performance team are first class here,” Grundy said.
“It’s just a week-by-week proposition and just listen to the boss.”
Asked about managing the 253-game Grundy’s workload Cox said “it’s a delicate balancing act with Brodes.
”Brodie is another conversation we’ll have at the back end of the year, because of the workload he has and the way he plays, so we need to make sure he’s right for the full season.”
After some blowout wins earlier in the campaign as teams struggled to deal with Sydney’s rapid handball chains through the corridor, Sunday’s nail-biter was the Swans third hard-earned single-digit victory in their past five fixtures.
“We’ve obviously had a certain game style for the first half the year and teams are looking at clogging up the corridor and slowing us down,” Grundy said.
“We want to be a multi-pronged offence and if that gets shut down, we have other ways to move the footy.
