Rodney 'Balls' Grinter (born 26 May 1965) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Melbourne in the VFL and AFL.
He played 134 games for Melbourne and kicked 57 goals.
Defender Rod Grinter is most remembered for an incident early in the 1988 VFL season when he struck Footscray's Terry Wallace in the face with his forearm , causing Wallace to leave the field in a stretcher. Grinter received a six week suspension for 'bringing the game into disrepute' and finished the year in Melbourne's losing Grand Final side against Hawthorn. He was also suspended in 1990 for nine matches for eye-gouging and striking an Essendon player at Windy Hill.
Grinter was involved in another famous incident in the previous season's Preliminary Final against the same opponents. He was the man on the mark when Jim Stynes ran between him and Gary Buckenara which resulted in a free kick and goal to win after the siren from Buckenara.
After playing most of his career in defence, Grinter was moved into the forward line in 1993 and retired from AFL the following season.
Grinter returned to Katandra in 1998, playing in the premiership team of that year.
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