Melbourne have opened the door for Brodie Grundy's possible return in the important AFL clash with Richmond by dropping key forward Ben Brown.
Speculation has been rife around Grundy's playing future after his demotion to the reserves a fortnight ago, while Max Gawn has been dominant as a solo ruckman in his absence.
But Demons coach Simon Goodwin has been steadfast in declaring former Collingwood ruckman Grundy part of his plans going forward.
The 29-year-old has been named on an extended bench for Melbourne's encounter with Richmond at the MCG on Sunday, where he could reprise his shared ruck role with Gawn.
Fellow talls Harrison Petty and Joel Smith are also in the 26-man squad, which will be trimmed on Friday.
“There's a fair bit of talk about Brodie but the plan hasn't changed,” Goodwin said.
“He's working incredibly hard on his game, we got him some forward exposure last week at VFL level which we're really encouraged about.
“We don't have to pick our team for a couple of days. We'll get to our main training session, assess how things are going and then pick our team accordingly.
“He's in the mix, he's progressing well.”
There is talk Grundy will need to find a third club in as many years at the end of the season, but Goodwin insists he has seen enough to encourage him the split ruck strategy with Gawn could still work.
“We're really open minded ... we love the combination,” the coach said.
“What we're trying to do is get a bigger impact when either of the rucks are forward of centre, and Brodie's a big part of that.
“This isn't just a short-term thing, this is about getting better.”
Goodwin said the Demons still have no definitive timeline for the return of star midfielder Clayton Oliver from his hamstring injury.
Oliver's absence has allowed Melbourne to experiment with different combinations at centre bounces, with some positive early touches from livewire Kysaiah Pickett in their four-point win against Adelaide last Sunday.
“We've added a lot of variety to our midfield group and Kozzy (Pickett) is a part of that,” Goodwin said.
“We wanted to have some high rotation through the middle of the ground. It's not only Kozzy, it's Christian Petracca getting through there at times, we've got Tom Sparrow, James Jordan that have certainly stepped up without Clayton.
“We've got some really good depth through the middle of the ground, and we're going to continue to utilise that.”
