Melbourne’s decision to recall Brodie Grundy from the VFL didn’t pay off in Saturday night’s 60-56 loss to Carlton at the MCG.
With Harrison Petty out injured, the Demons brought Grundy in primarily as a forward for his first AFL game since Round 17.
The 29-year-old finished his return game with no scoreboard impact, nine disposals, 11 hitouts and just one mark.
Kane Cornes simply believes that the two-time All-Australian is a ruckman only and was never going to be the forward option Melbourne hoped for.
“It didn’t work,” Cornes said on AFL.com.au's The Round So Far.
“He’s a ruckman, not a forward.
“He was never a forward and they were never going to be able to turn him into a forward three-quarters of the way through a season.
“Look, it was worth a shot but Petty out os a big, big out and they noticed that tonight.”
After his quiet showing, Cornes expects Grundy to return to the VFL and he feels swingman Joel Smith will be moved from defence to attack to offer an option inside 50.
With Max Gawn also having clearly his worst game in months, Cornes believes the flow-on effect of having two rucks in the side isn’t worth it for coach Simon Goodwin.
“But I suspect that unless Max Gawn gets injured, Brodie Grundy plays VFL and they play a dedicated forward,” Cornes said.
“Whether that’s (Joel) Smith and Adam Tomlinson goes back (into defence) until Bayley Fritsch is ready and they go a little smaller, that’s the way I think they’ll go.
“Once again, the flow-on effect was Gawn wasn’t effective as he’s been in the last four or five weeks either. He wants to be the guy.
“He (Grundy) tried his heart out, but he was ineffective.”
Melbourne will hope to bounce back and continue their pursuit of a top-two finish when they face Hawthorn at the MCG next Saturday.
The club’s VFL affiliate Casey plays Carlton at IKON Park today before facing Brisbane at home next weekend, also on Sunday afternoon.