Dylan Grimes
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Dylan Grimes (born 16 July 1991) is an Australian rules footballer who plays for the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is a three-time premiership player with the club, winning in 2017, 2019 and 2020. In 2019 he was selected in the
All-Australian The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-performed players during the season, led b ...
team and was the recipient of the AFL Players Association's Robert Rose Most Courageous Player Award. Grimes was announced as co-captain alongside
Toby Nankervis Toby Nankervis (born 12 August 1994) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously played 12 matches for the Sydney Swans from 2014 to 2016 after being ...
ahead of the 2022 Season.


Early life and junior football

Grimes grew up on a hobby farm in
Panton Hill Panton Hill is a town in Victoria, Australia, 32 km north-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Shire of Nillumbik local government area. Panton Hill recorded a population of 1,063 at the 2021 census. Histor ...
, 32 kilometres north-east of
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
. He played junior football at
Hurstbridge Hurstbridge is a town in Victoria, Australia, 28 km north-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Shire of Nillumbik local government area. Hurstbridge recorded a population of 3,554 at the 2021 census. Hurstbri ...
in the Northern Football League before playing
TAC Cup The NAB League Boys (also referred to as simply the NAB League and formerly known as the TAC Cup) is an under-19 Australian rules football representative competition held in Australia. It is based on geographic regions throughout country Vict ...
football with the
Northern Knights The Northern Knights is an Australian rules football club playing in the NAB League, the top statewide under-18 competition in Victoria, Australia. They are based in Preston, representing the northern suburban area of Melbourne. The Knights a ...
in 2009. He was educated at
Loyola College, Melbourne Loyola College is an independent Catholic secondary school for boys and girls, located in Watsonia, a suburb of Melbourne, in Victoria, Australia. The college was founded by the Society of Jesus in 1980 with an initial enrolment of 134 students ...
. Grimes went un-drafted in the 2009 AFL National draft despite assurances from and that they would select him with third and final round picks, respectively. He was offered the chance to train with Richmond in the following weeks with the expectation that the club would officially select him in the December pre-season draft.


AFL career


2010 season

Grimes was drafted by with the club's first pick and the second selection overall in the 2010 AFL Pre-Season Draft. He played the majority of his first season at reserves level with Richmond's VFL affiliate team,
Coburg Coburg () is a town located on the Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only in 1920. Until the revolution of 1918, it ...
. Included in that year were multiple games with Coburg's reserves team, a full two levels below AFL football. Overall his footballing was minimal that year, with an eye injury keeping him from playing most of the season. Grimes eventually made his AFL debut late in 2010, in round 22 against Port Adelaide at
Docklands Stadium Docklands Stadium, also currently known by naming rights sponsorship as Marvel Stadium, is a multi-purpose sports and entertainment stadium in the Docklands area of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Construction started in October 1997 and was ...
.


2011 season

In 2011 Grimes again started the season playing reserves grade football, this time for the first two matches of the season. However, when fellow defenders Alex Rance and Luke McGuane were ruled out due to suspension in round 3, Grimes was called to take a key defensive role in the Richmond AFL side. In his first match of the season and just his second career match, he recorded 15 spoils, equaling an AFL record at the time. After five rounds he held an average of 13 spoils per game, and the number one ranking in the league. He played in the next four consecutive matches before a severe hamstring injury sustained in round 9's
Dreamtime at the 'G The Dreamtime at the 'G is an annual Australian rules football match between Australian Football League clubs and . Since the 2007 AFL Season, 2007 season the match has been held annually on the Saturday night of the AFL's "Indigenous Round", ...
match saw Grimes sidelined for the remainer of the 2011 season. At year's end he had played a total of seven matches and held averages of 12.6 disposals and 3.8 marks per game.


2012 season

Grimes returned to football fully fit in 2012, playing in the club's round 1 match against at the
MCG The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as "The 'G", is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadium in the Southern Hem ...
. He earned an
AFL Rising Star The AFL Rising Star is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best young player in the Australian Football League (AFL) for the year. It was first presented in the 1993 season, and was won by Nathan Buc ...
award nomination in round 3, for an 18 disposal and nine mark performance against . In round 7 he recorded three career-highs with 13 marks, 24 disposals and six rebound 50s in a match against . Grimes again suffered a major hamstring injury in the club's round 8 Dreamtime match against . He missed five weeks of football to rehabilitate the injury, before returning in round 14 to face at AAMI Stadium. Despite recording a team-best 10 marks in the match, Grimes re-aggravated the injury and required further treatment as a result. He traveled to Germany soon after to be treated by renowned soft tissue expert
Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt (; born 12 August 1942 in Leerhafe, today part of Wittmund, East Frisia) is a German orthopedist. He gained recognition for his roles as Germany national football team doctor (1995–2018) and club doctor of Bayer ...
. Part of his treatment involved injections of calf blood extract actovegin directly into the affected muscle together with 200 injections into his lower back over the course of a single week. He did not return to senior football that season, finishing his season with just nine matches played.


2013 season

The 2013 pre-season started ominously for Grimes, with the defender failing to travel to the team's pre-season camp in Cairns on account of soreness in his left leg. Later revealed to be a small split in his hamstring tendon, he would again require surgery to repair the damage. Days later he was added to the club's leadership group, serving under newly appointed captain
Trent Cotchin Trent William Cotchin (born 7 April 1990) is an Australian rules footballer who plays for the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is a Brownlow Medallist, an All-Australian, a three-time Richmond best and fairest ...
. Grimes played his first match of the season in round 2 against at the MCG. He played in five consecutive matches before sustaining a foot fracture in round 6 against . After 15 weeks on the sidelines, Grimes returned to AFL football in round 21. He remained in the side for the final three matches of the home and away season before playing in his first career final, a losing elimination final against at the MCG.


2014 season

Entering 2014 Grimes has shed three kilograms of body mass, adjusting for a change in role from key defender to small defender. Grimes was also left out of the club's leadership group that season. His first match of the season came in the club's re-match with the previous year's finals opponent Carlton, in round 2, 2014 at the MCG. He remained in the club's senior team for the following four matches before being omitted from the side ahead of round 7. Grimes returned to senior football in round 10. He missed a single match in round 12 with a toe injury but otherwise played in every remaining match that season as well as in another elimination final. At season's end he had played a career-best 19 games and placed 11th in the club's best and fairest award.


2015 season

Grimes spent part of the 2014/15 pre-season looking for a mental edge, reading extensively about mindfulness in competitive sport and serving as the catalyst for the introduction of a meditation program which when fully implemented two years later would become a key component of the club's success. He completed that pre-season injury free and entered round 1 playing as Richmond's third tall defender. By round 3 he had re-injured his hamstring, sitting out three weeks of football at AFL level as a result. He returned in round 6 against , and this time stayed in the side for 13 consecutive matches. Grimes was subbed out at half time of Richmond's round 19 match with , after suffering a minor hamstring strain earlier in the match. He would miss two matches as a result, before returning in round 22 against at the
MCG The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as "The 'G", is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadium in the Southern Hem ...
. At season's end he had played in 18 matches including a losing elimination final. He placed equal ninth in the club's best and fairest award that year, polling votes in 17 of his 18 matches that season.


2016 season

By the beginning of 2016 Grimes had established himself as a key member of the club's defensive unit. For the second straight season he would play in rounds 1 and 2 before a hamstring injury would keep him out of round 3 action. What was forecast as a two-week injury turned into a five-week one however, as he did not return to senior football until round 8's match against . After playing in three consecutive matches Grimes was a late out in round 11, pulling up poorly in the pre-game warm up and causing a late change as a result. The effects were minor however and he would play without trouble the following week. In fact, he played in each of the club's final 11 matches of the season and recorded double digit disposals in all matches and an average of 4.5 marks over the period. Grimes also recorded a career high eight tackles in round 16 against the . He placed equal seventh in the club's best and fairest count in what was his best career season to that point.


2017 season

For the first time in his career, 2017 saw Grimes enter the season injury-free after also having a full and uninterrupted pre-season. He played a key role in the club's round 2 win over Collingwood, blanketing small forward opponent Alex Fasolo and keeping him goalless. Grimes was one of the club's best in round 5 too, recording an equal team-high seven tackles along with six intercepts and eight one percenters and earning himself two votes in the Coaches Association's Player of the Year award. Between rounds 10 and 15 he did not concede a single goal on his direct opponent, a figure that helped contribute to Champion Data ranking Richmond's defence as the fourth best in the competition after 14 rounds. In July Grimes' season was described by ''
The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory ...
s Michael Gleeson as "the best and most consistent" of his career. He finished the home and away season having played all 22 matches for the first time in his career while Richmond qualified for the finals double chance for the first time in 16 years. Grimes and the Richmond defence held Geelong to just five goals in the qualifying final before dispatching of the GWS Giants in a home preliminary final to earn a grand final berth. There they faced the minor premiers , who boasted the most effective forward line in the competition that season. It was Grimes' club who would win the day however, as he nullified the Crows'
Eddie Betts Edward Robert Betts III (born 26 November 1986) is a former Australian rules football player who played as a forward for Carlton and Adelaide in the Australian Football League. Betts was originally drafted by Carlton with pick No. 3 in the 2 ...
and became a premiership player in his 104th career match. He was later named in the back pocket in the ''AFL Media'' Team of the Finals. He finished the year having recorded the league's sixth best defensive rating among players classed as general defenders and winning the sixth best percentage of defensive one-on-one contests (43 per cent). In Richmond's end of season awards he received the Francis Bourke award as selected by his teammates for most embodying the qualities of awareness, unitedness, relentless and discipline. Grimes was also awarded the Kevin Bartlett medal for a fifth-placed finish in Richmond's best and fairest award and placed third and fourth at the club for one-percenters and intercept possessions respectively.


2018 season

On the back of his premiership year, Grimes earned a new three-year contract extension, seeing him secured to Richmond until at least the end of the 2021 season. He had another uninterrupted pre-season, spent mostly working on the offensive side of his game, hoping to contribute more in rebounding out of defensive 50. This did not necessarily carry into the season however, with Grimes' offensive output minimal in the season's early stages. His defensive work was strong though, earning particular praise for a goal-saving effort in round 4 that helped keep the to a club-record low score for any match against Richmond. Grimes suffered a bruised back in that match but was largely unaffected by the injury in coming weeks, including when he earned two votes in the Coaches Association's award for a round 7 performance against that included 15 disposals, six marks and eight intercepts. He remained in the side for a further two weeks through to round 9's loss to , where he suffered another knock to the back that eventually saw him a late injury omission in round 10. Grimes would miss just one match with the injury, returning in round 11's
Dreamtime at the 'G The Dreamtime at the 'G is an annual Australian rules football match between Australian Football League clubs and . Since the 2007 AFL Season, 2007 season the match has been held annually on the Saturday night of the AFL's "Indigenous Round", ...
win over . He recorded a career-best eight tackles in round 15's win over before being named by ''AFL Media'' as one of Richmond's best with 16 disposals in round 16 that also earned him a place in that organisation's Team of the Week. Grimes followed that up with a season-best eight marks in Richmond's two-point loss to the
GWS Giants The Greater Western Sydney Giants (officially the Greater Western Sydney Football Club and colloquially known as the GWS Giants or simply GWS) are a professional Australian rules football team based in Sydney Olympic Park, which represents the ...
that also saw him earn a vote in the Coaches Association award. Another three votes came Grimes' way in round 18's win over as did a mention in ''AFL Media's'' best after round 20's victory over . In round 22 he recorded a match-high 16 one percenters and earned particular praise from Richmond head coach Damien Hardwick who labelled Grimes "an incredible player". At the end of the home and away season he was named in the 40-man squad for that year's
All-Australian team The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-performed players during the season, led b ...
and was nominated for the AFL Players Association's Most Courageous award. In Richmond's victorious qualifying final over , Grimes received the maximum ten votes as both coach's pick for best-on-ground in the AFL Coaches Association award for player of the finals. His finals run would extend just one more match however, when Richmond was eliminated with a shock preliminary final loss to rivals . Following the conclusion of the 2018 finals series, Grimes was named by the '' Herald Sun's'' chief football writer Mark Robinson as the league's 9th best defender and the 45th best player overall during the 2018 season.
Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by Seven West Media Limited, and is one of five main free-to-air television networks in Australia ...
commentator and Richmond great Matthew Richardson also named Grimes "just about, if not the best one-on-one defender in the competition". He finished the season ranked 13th in the league for one percenters as well as 14th for intercepts. Grimes also earned a second straight Kevin Bartlett Medal for a fifth-placed finish in the club's best and fairest award.


2019 season

In the 2018/19 off-season, Grimes underwent minor finger surgery but did not miss any training as a result. In mid-January 2019 he suffered a broken nose during a training session collision with teammate
Nathan Broad Nathan Broad (born 15 April 1993) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is a three-time premiership player with the club, winning in 2017, 2019 and 2020. ...
. Grimes immediately returned to training after surgery to realign the nose, wearing a protective face mask for more than a month while the injury continued to heal. He played in each of the club's two pre-season matches before opening the season with a round 1 win over . Prior to the match, Grimes had been labelled by
Fox Footy Fox Footy (stylised as FOX FOOTY) is an Australian rules football subscription television channel dedicated to screening Australian rules football matches and related programming. It is owned by Fox Sports Pty Limited, operated out of their Me ...
commentator
Nick Riewoldt Nicholas Fredrick Riewoldt ( ; born 17 October 1982) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was the first draft selection in the 2000 AFL draft. He was the ...
as "one of the best lockdown defenders in the competition" and highlighted as one of the league's most irreplaceable players. It was Richmond backline leader and five time All-Australian
Alex Rance Alex James Rance (born 9 October 1989) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Rance was a premiership player, five time All-Australian, a one time ...
who would ultimately need to be replaced however, after suffering a torn ACL in that match which would rule him out for the entirety of the season and leave Grimes to lead the club's backline group. In round 2, Grimes received a one match suspension for striking forward Jamie Elliott. When he returned in round 4, ''AFL Media'' named Grimes a key candidate to captain the side in the absence of all three members of Richmond's leadership group, though he would eventually be passed over for the role in favour of veteran
Shane Edwards Shane Edwards (born 25 October 1988) is a former Australian rules football player who played for the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is a three-time premiership player, an All-Australian and has three tim ...
. He led in another way, taking six marks in the final quarter in a best-on-ground performance that earned him his first three Brownlow Medal votes and that senior coach
Damien Hardwick Damien Patrick Hardwick (born 18 August 1972) is an Australian rules football coach and former player. He is the senior coach of the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) since 2010, and has the longest continuous servi ...
said "won the match for (Richmond)". Following that match, ''AFL Media'' labelled Grimes the best one-on-one defender in the league and that he had taken the mantle of the league's best defender from the injured Rance. He picked up two votes in the coaches association player of the year award in round 6 before adding more votes in three consecutive matches between round 8 and 10. In that round 8 win over , Grimes gathered a career-best 26 disposals. Halfway through the year, Grimes was named in ESPN's mid-year All-Australian team and named by
Fox Footy Fox Footy (stylised as FOX FOOTY) is an Australian rules football subscription television channel dedicated to screening Australian rules football matches and related programming. It is owned by Fox Sports Pty Limited, operated out of their Me ...
as a contender for the end of year honour. In round 18, Grimes earned two coaches votes for a performance in a win over that also saw him named to ''AFL Media's'' Team of the Week. He was again named in that team the following week but did so along with best on ground honours with nine coaches votes in round 19's win over Collingwood. For that effort which included an equal career-high six intercept marks, Grimes was labelled by the '' Herald Sun'' as a likely All-Australian selection. In the five matches between the bye and that point, Grimes had lost just two of 21 one-on-one contests, while averaging a loss percentage of 16.4 across the length of the season. He was also picked by
3AW 3AW is a talkback radio station based in Melbourne. It broadcasts on 693  kHz AM. It began transmission on 22 February 1932 as Melbourne's fifth commercial radio station. The station is owned and operated by Nine Entertainment Co. Hist ...
commentator
Matthew Lloyd Matthew James Lloyd (born 16 April 1978) is a former professional Australian rules footballer, who played for the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A highly decorated full-forward, Lloyd's AFL's honours include ...
as the best key position defender in the league. During a match against in round 22, Grimes left the field with an ankle injury after landing awkwardly in a marking contest. He ultimately played out the match and despite some limited training during the week that followed, lined up in round 23's win over the where he restricted Charlie Cameron to just seven disposals and earned another selection to ''AFL Media's'' team of the week. Grimes concluded the regular season ranked 10th in the league for one percenters and 12th for intercepts, earning selection in ''The Age'' and the Herald Suns teams of the year. He earned an official honour with selection to the All-Australian team for the first time and was voted by the players association as the league's most courageous player. After nine straight wins to finish the home and away season, Grimes was set for another contest directly opposed to Charlie Cameron in a qualifying final against the at
The Gabba The Brisbane Cricket Ground, commonly known as the Gabba, is a major sports stadium in Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, Australia. The nickname Gabba derives from the suburb of Woolloongabba, in which it is located. Over the years, the Ga ...
. He produced a "dominant performance" to restrict Cameron to a single goal, helping Richmond win through to a home preliminary final against . Grimes received four coaches votes as the third best player on the ground during the qualifying final, but was also fined $1000 by the league for staging for a free kick when pushed by an opposition player in an off-the-ball incident in the first half of that win. In the preliminary final, Grimes was reliable in defence and helped his side through to a second grand final appearance in three seasons. In the
grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. S ...
, Grimes held
Coleman Medal The Coleman Medal is an Australian rules football award given annually to the Australian Football League (AFL) player who kicks the most goals A goal is an objective that a person or a system plans or intends to achieve. Goal may also refer ...
ist
Jeremy Cameron Jeremy Cameron (born 1 April 1993) is a professional footballer with the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously played for the Greater Western Sydney Giants from 2012 to 2020. Cameron has kicked the mo ...
to a single goal, and was part of the Richmond defence that kept the Giants to 25 points, their lowest score in the club's eight-year history and the lowest score by any team in a VFL/AFL grand final since 1960. Grimes finished what ''AFL Media'' called "a career-defining year" by winning a second AFL premiership and placing third in the club's best and fairest count, his best finish to date. He was also named as the league's best defender and 20th best player overall in the '' Herald Sun'' chief football reporter Mark Robinson's list of the league's best players in 2019.


2020 season

Grimes had minor wrist surgery in the 2019/20 off-season, missing just 10 days of training in late November for the recovery. In mid-December, teammate
Alex Rance Alex James Rance (born 9 October 1989) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Rance was a premiership player, five time All-Australian, a one time ...
announced a shock retirement, reconfirming Grimes' place as the club's premier defender following his outstanding 2019 season played in Rance's injury-absence. Grimes was labelled by ''
Fox Footy Fox Footy (stylised as FOX FOOTY) is an Australian rules football subscription television channel dedicated to screening Australian rules football matches and related programming. It is owned by Fox Sports Pty Limited, operated out of their Me ...
'' as a unlikely non-selection to the Victorian
State of Origin A State of Origin competition is a type of sporting event between players representing their state or territory. State of Origin began in Australian rules football on 8 October 1977 between Western Australia (WA) and Victoria, at Subiaco Ov ...
side in late February, with Grimes instead featuring in each of Richmond's two pre-season matches. Grimes then contributed five marks in round 1's win over in a match played under extraordinary conditions, the first of what had been announced would be a shortened 17-round season imposed on the league as a result of the rapid progression of the
coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identifie ...
into Australia. Due to public health prohibitions on large gatherings, matches that season were to be played without crowds in attendance and with quarter lengths reduced by one fifth in order to reduce the physical load on players who would be expected to play multiple matches with short breaks in the second half of the year owing to the likelihood of an extended break in play that season. Within three days of the round 1 win however, the AFL Commission suspended the season for an indefinite period after multiple states enforced quarantine conditions on their borders. After an 11-week hiatus, Grimes contributed 10 disposals in a round 2 draw with in early-June. In early July, Grimes traveled with the club when all Victorian sides were relocated to the Gold Coast in response to a virus outbreak in Melbourne. He was among Richmond's best players in a round 7 win over two weeks into that stay, attracting six coaches award votes for a performance that included game highs in marks (nine) and one-percenters (nine). Following round 9's win over the , Grimes was named in the backline of ''
The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory ...
s mid-year All-Australian team. In round 13's Dreamtime in Darwin match, Grimes was charged by the AFL's match review officer with allegedly
staging Staging may refer to: Computing * Staging (cloud computing), a process used to assemble, test, and review a new solution before it is moved into production and the existing solution is decommissioned * Staging (data), intermediately storing data b ...
for a free kick. Grimes appealed the charge to the AFL Tribunal later that week and was subsequently cleared, though he would be subjected to harassment on social media that ultimately led to criminal charges being laid against two members of the public. In the second quarter of round 14's win over , Grimes suffered a minor hamstring injury that resulted in him sitting out the remainder of the match. He resumed running exercises within two days of the injury but missed the club's round 15 match against , before returning in the club's next match after a round 16 bye. He was equal best afield in that win over , earning nine coaches votes for a performance that included 12 intercepts and six marks. At the conclusion of the regular season, Grimes was nominated to the All-Australian squad of forty players for a third successive season. Though he was named in ''
The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory ...
's'' mock team, Grimes was overlooked for final selection in the official All-Australian team. Grimes was below his best in the club's qualifying final loss to the , but was solid with a five mark performance in a semi-final victory over one week later. He contributed four intercepts in a nail-biting win over in the preliminary final, helping Richmond through to a Grand Final matchup with . He became a three-time premiership player in that 31-point grand final victory, playing a lockdown defensive role and keeping opposition small forward Gary Rohan goalless. Grimes concluded the premiership-winning season having played 20 matches, while placing seventh in the club's best and fairest award.


2021 season

Ahead of the 2021 season, Grimes was labelled by the '' Herald Sun'' as the third best defender in the league and the 21st best player overall. He played in Richmond's pre-season matches in late-February and early-March before featuring in the club's round 1 match against . After recording eight marks against in round 2, Grimes was labelled as one of the best 10 players in the league by
1116 SEN 1116 SEN (call sign 3AK) is an Australian radio station in Victoria. Owned and operated by Pacific Star Network, it broadcasts a sports radio format from Lower Plenty to Greater Melbourne. First broadcast on 29 November 1931 as 3AK, the sta ...
commentator
Garry Lyon Garry Peter Lyon (born 13 September 1967) is a former professional Australian rules football player and was captain of the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Since his retirement from football, he has been mainly ...
. He suffered a match-ending ankle injury in the last quarter of round 6's match against , but made a speedy recovery to play in round 7's win over the . Grimes suffered a delayed concussion in the week that followed, despite playing the entirety of that match and with no apparent causal incident. He was ruled out for one week as a result of the concussion, and made a return in the club's round 9 win over . Grimes proved instrumental in the victory, recording an equal game-high eight intercepts and performing a goal-line save to negate a potentially match-winning Giants shot at goal in the final minute of the match. For this performance, Grimes earned a Brownlow Medal vote, taking his career Brownlow vote total to 4 votes.


Player profile

Grimes plays as a lock-down defender, capable of directly matching up on tall and small forwards. He is notable for the foot-speed to contain small opponents and the spoiling prowess to effectively defend key position forwards. After previously being described by Richmond head coach
Damien Hardwick Damien Patrick Hardwick (born 18 August 1972) is an Australian rules football coach and former player. He is the senior coach of the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) since 2010, and has the longest continuous servi ...
as the Robin to teammate and five-time
All-Australian The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-performed players during the season, led b ...
Alex Rance Alex James Rance (born 9 October 1989) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Rance was a premiership player, five time All-Australian, a one time ...
's Batman, Grimes ascended to become one of the league's best defenders with Rance's knee injury and subsequent retirement in 2019. Ahead of the 2020 season, Grimes was named by the '' Herald Sun'' as Richmond's 11th best player of the AFL era. At the end of the year he was named the third best defender and 16th best player overall in the '' Herald Sun's list of the best players of the 2020 season.


Statistics

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2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...
, , , , 2 , 16 , , 0 , , 0 , , 97 , , 104 , , 201 , , 64 , , 41 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 6.1 , , 6.5 , , 12.6 , , 4.0 , , 2.6 , - , scope=row bgcolor=F0E68C ,
2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...
# , style="text-align:center;", , 2 , , 25 , , 1 , , 2 , , 126 , , 138 , , 264 , , 72 , , 76 , , 0.0 , , 0.1 , , 5.0 , , 5.5 , , 10.6 , , 2.9 , , 3.0 , - ,
2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...
, , , , 2 , 23 , , 0 , , 0 , , 146 , , 118 , , 264 , , 73 , , 82 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 6.3 , , 5.1 , , 11.5 , , 3.2 , , 3.6 , - , scope=row bgcolor=F0E68C ,
2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
# , style="text-align:center;", , 2 , , 24 , , 0 , , 0 , , 172 , , 138 , , 310 , , 129 , , 52 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 7.2 , , 5.8 , , 12.9 , , 5.4 , , 2.2 , - , scope=row bgcolor=F0E68C ,
2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...
# , style="text-align:center;", , 2 , , 20 , , 0 , , 1 , , 126 , , 71 , , 197 , , 79 , , 35 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 6.3 , , 3.6 , , 9.9 , , 4.0 , , 1.8 , - ,
2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...
, , , , 2 , 21 , , 0 , , 0 , , 159 , , 127 , , 286 , , 118 , , 47 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 7.6 , , 6.1 , , 13.6 , , 5.6 , , 2.2 , - ,
2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...
, , , , 2 , 15 , , 0 , , 0 , , 106 , , 59 , , 165 , , 52 , , 23 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 7.1 , , 3.9 , , 11.0 , , 3.5 , , 1.5 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 207 ! 3 ! 4 ! 1331 ! 1064 ! 2395 ! 829 ! 480 ! 0.0 ! 0.0 ! 6.4 ! 5.1 ! 11.6 ! 4.0 ! 2.3 Notes


Honours and achievements

Team * 3× AFL premiership player ():
2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...
,
2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
,
2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...
*
McClelland Trophy The McClelland Trophy is an Australian rules football trophy which has been awarded each year since 1951 by the Australian Football League (known prior to 1990 as the Victorian Football League) to the best-performing club in the home-and-away sea ...
():
2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...
Individual *
All-Australian The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-performed players during the season, led b ...
:
2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
* AFLPA Robert Rose Most Courageous Player Award: 2019 * Maurie Fleming Medal (3rd place, Richmond B&F):
2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
* 2× Kevin Bartlett Medal (5th place, Richmond B&F):
2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...
,
2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...
* All-Australian squad nominee: 2018, 2020 *
AFL Rising Star The AFL Rising Star is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best young player in the Australian Football League (AFL) for the year. It was first presented in the 1993 season, and was won by Nathan Buc ...
nominee:
2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...
* 2× Francis Bourke Award (RFC players award): 2017, 2018


Personal life

Outside of football, Grimes and his wife Elisha are owners of a winery north of Melbourne. The pair were married at a ceremony on the winery grounds in November 2019. He is the younger brother of former
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
captain Jack Grimes.


2020 harassment and stalking incident

In August 2020, Grimes was subjected to online abuse and harassment after he allegedly staged for a free kick in the round 13 Dreamtime in Darwin match. Though the staging charge initially laid by the AFL match review officer was later overturned on appeal to the AFL Tribunal, Grimes received a significant number of threatening messages from members of the public in relation to the incident. The day after the game, Grimes posted screenshots of abusive messages to his Instagram account demonstrating death threats received over the previous night. Victoria Police subsequently launched an investigation into the messages, resulting in charges being laid on two separate individuals within one week. The first, a 39-year-old man from Frankston, was charged with stalking, using a telecommunications device to menace and making a threat to commit sexual offences among other charges, while a 54-year-old man from
Mitcham Mitcham is an area within the London Borough of Merton in South London, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross. Originally a village in the county of Surrey, today it is mainly a residential suburb, and includes Mitcham Common. It h ...
was charged two days later with stalking and using a telecommunications device to menace. The former charge will be heard in August 2021 and the later man avoided conviction at the Ringwood Magistrates Court in December 2020, on the condition he write a letter of genuine apology to Grimes, donate $1000 to The Alannah and Madeline Foundation and accepted a six-month good behaviour bond.


References


External links

* *
Dylan Grimes's statistics
from Footy Wire {{DEFAULTSORT:Grimes, Dylan 1991 births Living people Richmond Football Club players Richmond Football Club Premiership players Coburg Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) Northern Knights players All-Australians (AFL) Three-time VFL/AFL Premiership players People from Nillumbik People educated at Loyola College