Nathan Buckley is unsure how the Brodie Grundy-Max Gawn double act will work for Melbourne in 2023.
Grundy departed Collingwood to join the Demons in one of the more fascinating moves of last year’s trade period.
It brings two of the premier ruckmen of the modern era together in the same team which has rarely been seen before.
Much has been made of the lucrative seven-year contract Grundy signed while with the Magpies in early 2020 which prompted the club to get some of his money off their books, hence the trade
Buckley, who coached Grundy from his draft year of 2012 until 2021, pondered just how much cash out of the Dees’ salary cap is going towards the ruck duo.
“It’s against my philosophy in terms of investing,” Buckley told SEN’s Dwayne’s World.
“Take Brodie Grundy and Max Gawn out of it, but investing that large a percentage of your cap - I can only assume - into the ruck role. I think the jury is out on what that actually does in a bigger picture.
“If it’s eight or nine per cent of your cap, and it goes there (to two rucks), does it mean you are tight in other parts of the field? Or with other top-end talent in other roles?
“Personally, I can think you can over-invest in ruckmen. I don’t like the idea of using first-round picks, even though Brodie was, but he was one of three in a row (18, 19 and 20 in the 2012 draft) so that made some sense.”
There have been varying opinions on how the pair will work in tandem.
Buckley insists he is none the wiser as to what the Demons are up to strategy-wise and admits it will take some time before we can truly judge the decision of the 2021 premiers.
“I don’t know exactly what Melbourne’s strategy is,” he added.
“You take Luke Jackson out and you put Brodie Grundy in and the easy thing is to expect that they’ll do something similar. Max has worked forward, Brodie hasn’t done a lot of work forward yet.
“If one of them isn’t available for some reason, with injury, they’re in a really good spot, but that doesn’t change what you’ve committed out of your salary cap.
“It’s a fascinating question, it’s a fascinating situation and we’ll all be watching that one to see how it pans out.
“The first five or six weeks won’t give us enough. You’ve probably got to give this 12 to 24 months to know exactly how it’s going to play out.”
Conversely, fellow SEN expert David King is a big fan of what the Demons have done in the off-season, believing they will “be back” in 2023 due to the “weaponry” they now have with Grundy and Gawn.
The duo will be in action together at AFL level in Round 1 when the Demons host the Western Bulldogs at the MCG on March 18.