WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Brodie Grundy\u2019s genius ruck play against Nick Madden<\/p>\n
Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Arrow<\/a><\/p>\n Gawn had already sounded the alarm last week<\/a> with the potential for more injuries before the first few official games of the pre-season threw up some interesting clashes.<\/p>\n Geelong big man Shannon Neale gave his club a massive scare when he clashed knees with Carlton ruckman Marc Pittonet in Wednesday night\u2019s pre-season match.<\/p>\n Fortunately, it was just a shin knock, but the athletic forward, who kicked 44 goals last year, was in serious pain with many onlookers and pundits immediately fearing he had injured his posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) due to the knee-on-knee contact.<\/p>\n The following day, during the Sydney-GWS clash, Brodie Grundy outfoxed his opponent Nick Madden by simply not jumping and waiting for his opponent to cross the line to win a free kick.<\/p>\n The decision was obviously correct to the letter of the law, but went against the idea of the rule, which was brought in for the hope of both ruckmen jumping for the ball.<\/p>\n AFL footy boss Greg Swann conceded that hadn\u2019t factored in Grundy\u2019s move and admitted that will look at it.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will have a chat about that one,\u201d he said on SEN.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m probably glad he did it in the practice games rather than the home and away.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s probably one we didn\u2019t contemplate, but we\u2019ll have a look at it and see where we go.\u201d<\/p>\n Gawn, arguably the greatest ruckman of the modern era, said there were some \u201cconcerning\u201d incidents regarding the rule last week before offering a tweak to improve things.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the moment when you read the rule … I\u2019m hoping because I actually haven\u2019t read the rule … the rule is you can\u2019t cross the line, pretty black and white rule,\u201d he said on Triple M\u2019s Mick in the Morning<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI like the idea of potentially putting it in the umpire\u2019s hands, which potentially is a bit more work (for them), which sometimes isn\u2019t good.<\/p>\n \u201c(My rule tweak is) You can\u2019t deliberately cross the line to impact the ruckman\u2019s go at the ball.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t need to throw the rule out of the book, just tweak it<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s hard to test because last year there was a bounce so every time they are watching them jump so it is different.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t mind the rule for my own personal gain, sometimes I\u2019ll come up against rucks that I\u2019ll go alright, I just didn\u2019t love watching the first two or three games with some of the free kicks that came.<\/p>\n \u201cI think maybe just less black and white.\u201d<\/p>\n St Kilda great and Channel 7 commentator Nick Riewoldt suggested the AFL might be more inclined to change things on the go with Swann there.<\/p>\n The new AFL season kicks off on Thursday night with Sydney and Carlton clashing, and while all eyes will be on Charlie Curnow against his old side, it will be interesting to see if Grundy tries any tricks in the ruck.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Blowtorch raging on AFL after veteran big man\u2019s sneaky act<\/p>\n 3 min read<\/p>\n![\"Sydney](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/f178ac745d1364b7cb949243058d66717f8eed95.jpg\")
Sydney star Brodie Grundy tricked GWS Giants big man Nick Madden into crossing the line during a ruck contest. Credit: @Kayo<\/p>\n