WHEN Brodie Grundy ended 2023 by playing a wildcard game for the Casey Demons in front of a few hundred people in Cranbourne, it didn't look like he'd ever come close to adding another blazer to his collection. 

But after the rigmarole that came with playing for three clubs in three years, the South Australian has rocketed back into All-Australian contention in 2025. 

Last year, Grundy started making up for lost time. He finished fourth in the Bob Skilton Medal behind the big three – Isaac Heeney, Errol Gulden and Chad Warner – in a season where Sydney reached the last Saturday in September. You know what happened from there.

But this year the 31-year-old has returned to the form he soared to in 2018 and 2019 when he not only became a two-time All-Australian, but also won back-to-back Copeland Trophies at Collingwood.

Grundy is now up to 12th in the AFL Coaches' Association Champion Player of the Year Award, two votes behind Melbourne captain Max Gawn and one vote behind North Melbourne star Tristan Xerri. He has picked up 44 votes from a possible 50 in his past five games and is ahead of Brownlow Medal contenders Matt Rowell, Max Holmes and Andrew Brayshaw.

But people are only just starting to pay attention to his renaissance. 

Since round 12, Grundy is the No.2 rated player in the game averaging 19.6 points, behind only Greater Western Sydney midfielder Finn Callaghan on 19.7. 

Sydney has won four of its past five games to breathe life into Dean Cox's first season as senior coach. Grundy has been a key reason why and has been rated best on ground three times in that span.

When it comes to Champion Data's 100x ratings system, which ranks every player per 100 minutes played against the competition average in that position, Grundy is also ranked No.2 behind only St Kilda's Max Hall across the past six weeks.

Across the first 18 rounds of the season, only Fremantle ruckman Luke Jackson (17.3) and Xerri (17.1) are averaging more player ratings points than Grundy (14.9), with Gawn (14.5) next best.

With six rounds to play in the home and away season, Gawn is going to take some beating to deprive him of a record-equalling eighth All-Australian selection, which would match the record of Lance Franklin, Gary Ablett jnr, Robert Harvey, Mark Ricciuto and Patrick Dangerfield. 

But with Xerri receiving a three-game suspension on Monday for striking Tom Sparrow, the fight for a ruck spot – or spots – in the All-Australian team is as fierce as it's ever been. 

Jackson has produced his best season yet, while Gold Coast ruck Jarrod Witts also has a case, along with Collingwood star Darcy Cameron. 

Grundy is averaging the second-most hitouts to advantage in 2025 behind Witts, the second-most clearances of any ruckman behind only Xerri and is third for hitout win percentage behind Witts and Reilly O'Brien.

There haven't been two ruckmen in the All-Australian team since Nic Naitanui and Gawn in 2021, but there should be room for two in this year given the sustained excellence of the names above.

Grundy landed the starting ruck spot over Gawn when he was last measured up for a blazer in 2019, 12 months after the roles were reversed. 

Right now, the ruckman who wasn't wanted by Collingwood despite five years to run on his contract, the one who was withering on the vine at Melbourne, is now blossoming again in Sydney.

Blazer or no blazer, the veteran has completed a brilliant resurgence from the footy wilderness.