The Tao of Dangerfield

The Tao of Dangerfield

GuyWhoLikesSport GuyWhoLikesSport

When Gary Ablett Jr returned to Geelong after the 2017 season, the theory was that he would play forward mostly and pinch hit in the middle.

I remember plenty being made of him being the second coming of Leigh Matthews – the ultimate midfield star who is so good that he will just go forward and kick a ho-hum 40 goals.

Ablett kicked 16 goals in 19 games in 2018, but did sniff 40 in 2019 kicking 34 in 24.

None of that is to denigrate Ablett, one of the best players ever.

It’s to make the point that what Patrick Dangerfield is doing is generally impossible even for the greatest players.

Dangerfield is playing mostly as a forward who goes into the middle if and when the game reaches nut crunch time.

In eight games this season, he’s kicked 16 goals – already his best tally since 2021.

If he keeps up his two-goal-per game average for 20 games, he’ll kick 40 goals this year.

It’s not just goals. He’s also been involved in about 26% of Geelong’s scores, which is second on the Cats behind only Jeremy Cameron and his best since 2020.

As a Richmond fan, I’m hesitant to say this.

But what has impressed me most is that Dangerfield has entered Dustin Martin territory when the ball is coming to him in a 1v1.

Geelong fans have worked out that Patty has worked out how to use his strength as a key forward.

They swell as the ball goes toward an isolated Dangerfield close to goal.

You can feel the crowd warming their vocal cords in anticipation, waiting for him to win and for them to roar.

It’s become a symbiotic relationship, similar to what Richmond fans had with Dusty.

Also like with Dusty, Cats fans have generally been right.

It is a triumph of coaching that no general forward has more offensive 1v1 situations than Patty Dangerfield this year with 2.9.

It is a triumph of Dangerfield that he wins 52% of them.

The way he’s used, and the way Geelong operates generally, is another triumph of coaching and shows that Chris Scott is on another level to everyone else.

That goes far beyond the Xs and Os on the field. The Cats’ infrastructure is the envy of the league.

Geelong is a White Lotus footy club, where the same spirits swan in and out of the club but they come in new forms.

Nowhere is that clearer than the forward line.

In their 2022 premiership, their three medium-tall forwards were Jeremy Cameron, Tom Hawkins and Gary Rohan in that order.

Today Jezza is still the alpha dog up there, Shannon Neale is a worse version of Tom Hawkins, but Dangerfield is what would have happened if Gary Rohan and a tank (rather than a physio) had a baby.

The shortfall of Neale not being Hawkins is made up for by Dangerfield being approximately 15 million times better than Rohan, and they’re kicking about the same number of goals as their premiership year.

No other club has the vision and the infrastructure to cycle players in and out of key roles like Geelong.

And yet, none of it truly captures the experience of watching Patty Dangerfield this year.

He has been transcendent.

He attacks the ball like George Costanza eating the sundae at the US Open.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7MgaRS0MIE&ab_channel=LordSiriuz

He’s as committed as he is ferocious.

He sees the ball and doesn’t appear to see anything else around it, because nothing can impede his path to the ball.

Two weeks in a row, in Geelong’s games against Carlton and Collingwood, a friend and I have exchanged texts that just said “Danger” as he ran through would-be tacklers like a freight train while gathering the ball.

In one-on-ones or when the ball is in dispute, his opponents have as much chance of stopping him as Seth Rogen did of impressing Rebecca Hall’s doctor friends in The Studio.

His ability to be bigger, stronger, and still faster than most of  his opponents is LeBron-ish.

Both guys, even at an advanced age, were such good athletes in their prime that they’re still better than pretty much everything else.

I want to close with this.

The AFL is a zero-sum league.

You either win the premiership or you don’t.

For that reason, and for reasons of massive bias, I will always hold Dustin Martin in higher esteem historically than I will Patrick Dangerfield.

Having Dusty on your team was guaranteeing yourself the best player in every big game.

But this season has given me a new appreciation for Dangerfield and his week after week excellence.

He’s played 345 games in his career and virtually none of them have been bad, especially in the last decade.

That’s been true even he’s morphed from a skinny sprinter at Adelaide, to a contested beast with a barrel chest at Geelong, to a key forward who can still be the best midfielder in the league for a quarter if his team needs it.

It’s a privilege to watch him.