Brodie Grundy

Brodie Grundy (born 15 April 1994) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was previously an All-Australian and best-and-fairest winner with , having been selected with the 18th draft pick in the 2012 AFL draft, as well as a player for .

Early life and junior football Grundy was born in Adelaide, South Australia and attended Cabra Dominican College, a private Catholic high school in the southern suburbs of the city, graduating in 2011. A former basketball player, Grundy switched to Australian rules football in 2010. A premiership player for the Unley Jets Football club in the Under 16.5's 2010 Grand Final win over Edwardstown. Brodie has a younger brother, Riley, who was drafted to Port Adelaide with pick 73 in the 2018 draft.

AFL career Collingwood Following a successful season playing as a ruckman with South Australian National Football League (SANFL) club Sturt's junior teams, Grundy was recruited by Collingwood with draft pick #18 in the 2012 AFL draft.

Grundy was the Round 22 nomination for the 2013 AFL Rising Star award.

In March 2014, Grundy signed a three-year contract extension lasting until the end of the 2017 AFL season.

In 2018 he won the Herald Sun Player of the Year award with 27 votes, one clear of Melbourne ruck Max Gawn and Hawthorn midfielder Tom Mitchell. Grundy also won the Copeland medal for Collingwood's best and fairest in 2018, drawing with Steele Sidebottom.

After another All-Australian season in 2019, Grundy signed a seven-year, $1 million per-year deal with Collingwood. However, Grundy struggled to recapture his All-Australian form in subsequent years, with his salary criticised by some media figures.

Melbourne At the end of the 2022 AFL season, Collingwood traded Grundy to Melbourne for salary cap relief.

During the 2023 season, Grundy was often used by Melbourne as a forward in efforts to be able to play him and Max Gawn in the same lineup, a role Grundy, as a ruck, was unfamiliar and dissatisfied with. In the latter half of the year he was dropped to the VFL to play with the Casey Demons and was not selected in either of Melbourne's finals games.

Sydney Swans Grundy sought a trade to the Sydney Swans at the conclusion of the season, despite only being in the first year of a five-year contract at the Demons. He was traded on 11 October.

Grundy had a successful 2025 season recapturing previous All-Australian form, recording more than 45 hitouts on 5 occasions including a 62 hitout performance in Round 19. Therefore talks in the media started about him, former teammate Max Gawn, and Tristan Xerri around the competition for the All-Australian ruck position. Grundy and Gawn made the All Australian squad however Grundy failed to reach the final All Australian team with Max Gawn taking out the ruck spot.

Playing style Despite playing as ruckman, Grundy is able to follow up his ruckwork and win the ball himself and apply tackles. He has been labelled as a ‘fourth midfielder’ by his teammates. In the 2018 season, he averaged 20.2 disposals per match; 525 for the season (48th in the AFL), easily the highest amongst ruckmen.

Personal life In December 2020, Grundy graduated from La Trobe University with a Bachelor of Health Sciences. He has since competed an MBA from Melbourne University.

Statistics Updated to the end of round 22, 2026.

261 !! 88 !! 74 !! 1979 !! 2619 !! 4598 !! 833 !! 1073 !! 8298 !! 0.3 !! 0.3 !! 7.6 !! 10.0 !! 17.6 !! 3.2 !! 4.1 !! 31.8 !! 72