He was undoubtedly one of the club’s best stories this year.
After playing 32 matches in four injury interrupted seasons, Grimes played all but one in 2012 - missing round four against the Western Bulldogs due to suspension.
In tracking his season, Grimes’ form got better as the year progressed.
In fact, it could be argued his career went to another level, particularly from rounds 16 to 23, when Melbourne played Fremantle to Fremantle.
During this period, he was among the red and blue’s best players, a notion also supported with his strong ranking by Champion Data.
When asked about his last eight matches of the season, Grimes also felt that his game went to another level.
“I think so - there weren’t too many standout performances or anything like that, but I just felt like I was pretty consistent through that period, which is exactly what I’m after,” he said.
“It was at that time that I started to feel a fair bit of confidence in my body and in my game as well - and in my position as a leader. So I reckon that, at that patch, I was going to games a lot more mentally fresh. I was confident that I was going to play well, and play my role, and be a good leader.
“Whereas, going into the first part of the year, there’s a lot of things on your mind, like how’s my body going to go, like I haven’t played for almost twelve months - how’s my form going to be?
“So I was really happy that I was able to stay out there for this whole year, because it did feel like the longer the year went on, the more games I played, the more comfortable I became. It’s given me a lot of confidence in my body, too - that I can get through a whole season at AFL level.”
Grimes said his aim was to build on his 2012 season, when he finished runner up to Nathan Jones in the club best and fairest.
“It’s been a while since I’ve done a full pre-season - and I still feel like my fitness can go up a fair level, because last year I missed a fair bit of the pre-season, and felt like I took a while to get match fit, so that’s probably the main goal,” he said.
“[I] really [want to] build a fitness base, so that I can attack it from round one, hopefully as a midfield/half back player, and feel like I’ve got the fitness to go with the other best guys in the AFL.
“It was almost a building block to start to get to where we need to get to, to compete against the best teams. So, I imagine this pre-season will be a pretty big one. But we know that’s exactly what we need.”
As for what he expects next year, Grimes said Melbourne will have a very different feel about it heading into 2013.
“Last year, there was a lot of movement in the footy department - there was a lot of unknown. But this year, I think the group has a much better understanding of what’s required to be a top four AFL team, and the levels that we need to get to,” he said.
“This year taught us a lot, from both the fitness side of things and the football side of things - about why we’re sitting where we are, and the differences between us and the best teams.
“We’ll be a lot more confident in where it’s going to come from, and how we’re going to achieve it. So now it’s just a matter of doing it, whereas like I said, last year was a little bit of an unknown. I can’t wait for 2013 - I think the Melbourne footy club will make some inroads in 2013, and begin the journey upwards.”
