With Collingwood re-signing Brodie Grundy on a seven-year contract, Nick Dal Santo believes the club has made the right call, but is taking a risk.
The reigning Copeland Trophy winner is now tied to the club until the end of 2027.
“I think seven is risky for a ruckman. I really do. Just because of the toll the ruck role takes on the player,” Dal Santo told SEN Breakfast.
“The impact of simply jumping into another man who weighs 120kg and the amount of injuries that can come for that contact is risky.
“But if you are ever going to give someone seven years, it is Brodie Grundy.
“If you have to give seven years and it is a ruckman, it’s Grundy.
“You’ve already developed him, you know he is invested in the football club and he is Collingwood for life.
“Even if seven years is a touch too much, the Pies are ready to roll right now.
“They’re ready to win flags and this group can do it again. I’ve had a look through their list and there’s not many pieces missing.
“If they get their injuries right and get a few of the guys that missed football last year back, if you have to give a couple of extra years to someone like Grundy you do it because you’re going full speed for the flag right now.”
Dal Santo adds that Grundy’s re-signing allows the Pies to start focusing on other out of contract players, including Jordan de Goey, Darcy Moore and Scott Pendlebury.
“I sometimes joke about ruckmen and their impact on a game, but Brodie Grundy and Max Gawn have changed the ruck role again and I think Dean Cox in the mid-2000s was a big part of that in changing the responsibility and the impact they can have,” he said.
“If you get someone like Brodie Grundy, you lock him in and that’s a brilliant move. What it also does is it allows Collingwood to know exactly what they’re playing with for the next 12 months as they have got other big names out of contract.
“They know what is in the bank, they know what money they can spend going forward and they know that piece of the puzzle is cemented for the next seven years.”