Hurstbridge recruit Jack Grimes reflects on 100-game AFL career after being delisted last year
IF THERE is a player that highlights the ruthless environment of AFL football, Jack Grimes is surely that man.
Just a few years ago the 27-year-old was a Melbourne co-captain but in 2017 will ply his trade with junior club Hurstbridge in Melbourne’s north after being delisted in September.
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The 100-game rebounding defender, who grew up a Demons supporter, endured more than any player should at the elite level after being taken with pick No. 14 in the 2007 AFL draft.
His first coach Dean Bailey, club icon Jim Stynes and fellow Gaelic convert Sean Wight all passed away from cancer in a devastating three-year period, while former Demons coach Neale Daniher continues his battle with motor neurone disease.
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Then there was the constant coaching and administration merry-go-round, regular injury setbacks, intense media scrutiny, the tanking scandal, regular beltings and first-round picks billed with so much potential not progressing as hoped.
Melbourne even lucked out in the 2001 ‘super draft’ that was glittered with premiership players, Brownlow medallists and All Australians. Their first-round selection, Luke Molan, failed to play a senior game.
Of the Demons’ first-round selections from 2006 to 2012, just injury-plagued Jack Trengove and long-time whipping boy Jack Watts remain.
“It wasn’t an overly successful time at all that I was there, playing nine years and not playing a final,” Grimes said.
“I would have loved to have played in a flag and I would’ve loved to have experienced success but I wouldn’t change the experience.
“As hard as it was at times, I never at any stage thought this was too hard or I’m not enjoying it, I took a lot out of the experience and loved every minute of it despite how hard it was at times.”
There was also the pressure of being one of the game’s youngest captains at just 22 and inheriting the No. 31 jumper made famous by none other than Ron Barrassi.
“At the time, I didn’t know that was going to happen and I didn’t have an inkling I’d become captain,” he said.
“Looking back, I now realise how young I was and I think I’d only played 30-odd or 40-odd games.
“I battled at the time with feeling like you were letting the team and the club down because you’re meant to be a leader of the place and performing so badly, it is hard not to take some of that responsibility.”
He watched from the stands as Geelong inflicted the second-biggest victory (186 points) in VFL/AFL in 2011 and played when Essendon showed no mercy in a 148-point blitz two years later.
“It was just a terrible time around the footy club because everyone is under scrutiny and there is media waiting outside the front doors when you walk in and when you walk out,” he said.
“The bit that can be tough about AFL is the scrutiny and sometimes it is hard to not feel like you’ve done something wrong.
“You are almost at times made to feel like you are a bad person for performing badly but that is clearly not the case.
“You can lose perspective pretty easily about AFL footy, it is a game but it feels like it is life or death at times and the scrutiny suggests that as well.”
It is why he is rapt for someone like Watts, who he shared the tumultuous journey alongside, to now hopefully reap some rewards alongside a fresh-faced bunch of recruits like Jesse Hogan, Christian Petracca, Angus Brayshaw, Clayton Oliver and Sam Weideman, who have been managed and developed far better than their predecessors.
Grimes finally enjoyed a rare injury-free season in 2016 only to be consigned to the VFL as Melbourne looked to blood younger players.
“They had a lot of young guys coming in, they were performing well and keen to keep playing,” he said.
“I never thought things were unfair, I just would’ve loved to have that opportunity.”
Now back at the Division 2 Northern Football League premier, which has been promoted to Division 1, Grimes wants to help cement the club in the top grade.
There’s even a chance he could be joined by his brothers Nathan, Aaron and Richmond defender Dylan down the track, while 2016 premiership player Tom could cut short a working holiday in Canada to return to Ben Frilay Oval this year.
“I know this club has done it a couple of times and then gone back down to Division 2 so I saw that as an opportunity,” he said.
“I wanted to have a real crack at helping as much as I could to cement this club in Division 1.”
Despite what he has been through, Grimes’ heart still beats true for the red and blue.
“I’m sure Melbourne is on the brink of having a really successful period,” he said. “I’ll still on the sidelines cheering for them and wishing my mates well.”