Australian Football

Rod Grinter was a tough, resolute footballer who made quite a few visits to the Tribunal over the course of his 134 game V/AFL career which began in 1985 and ended in 1994. After his career was over he made no apologies for his 'antisocial' approach to the game. “That’s the way footy is. You can’t be nice. The nice people get pushed aside too easily.”[1]

A defender for most of his V/AFL career, Grinter was moved to the forward lines late on to telling effect, a move which probably extended that career by a couple of seasons. Most players tend to move in the opposite direction but Grinter was not like most players. Never one to attract too many Brownlow or club best and fairest votes he was nevertheless a key cog in the Demon machine for a decade as he boasted considerable pace and could always be relied upon to do the 'team things' - even if it meant flattening an opposition player as he notoriously did to Terry Wallace in 1988, earning himself a six week 'holiday' as a consequence.

That same 1988 season brought the biggest disappointment of Grinter's career as he was a member of the Melbourne team annihilated in the grand final by Hawthorn.

After leaving the Demons Rod Grinter joined New Norfolk in 1995 before captain-coaching the side for the next three seasons. His final port of call as a player was East Burwood in the Eastern Districts Football League whom he helped to the 1999 premiership.

Author - John Devaney