MY FIVE UNSUNG HEROES
CATS FLYING UNDER RADAR
JAKE KOLODJASHNIJ
Fans who watch us every week would know Kolodjashnij is a high-quality defender, but there are a number of things he does that go unnoticed. He can play tall or small and when we put a challenge on him to play on some of the best forwards in the game, he just blankets them. It is hard to recall too many goals getting kicked on him. He is the one-percenter king and wins so many crucial one-on-ones that either stop opposition goals or help us on the path to one ourselves. For people who only look at the stats, he probably slips under the radar and probably doesn’t get the love that we think he deserves. But in-house, we absolutely love having him in the team for all the things he does each week. And it was obvious after he went off in the first quarter last week how important he is to our team.
CAM GUTHRIE
‘Guth’ has certainly found his rhythm after an injury-interrupted start to the season. He is such an important part of our midfield but probably doesn’t get enough external praise. For starters, he is an awesome two-way runner, working really hard both ways. His defensive running is elite. He sets the standards that you need to play in the modern game. He is also a very strong contested player, can burst out of stoppages and can win his own ball when he needs to. But probably the most important part of his game is the defensive role he plays. We challenge him most weeks to nullify the opposition’s best midfielders and he performs the tasks so well. He has that great ability of being able to shut down an opponent while winning the footy himself. Sometimes he gets so much of the footy you almost forget he is doing a defensive job. Those hard yards might go unnoticed by the footy public, but certainly not within our midfield group.
TOM HAWKINS
OK, so ‘Hawk’ definitely gets a lot of love, but I don’t think he gets enough. I am sure opposition defences would put a lot of time in during the week, working out ways to stop him. Often that results in him being swamped in a two-on-one. So he cops plenty of attention, but he just keeps competing. As midfielders, we know Hawk is such a good contested mark that, if he is one-out, we don’t necessarily have to kick the ball to him lace out. If we get it near him, he does the rest. He can make us look good! He is a contested marking beast and such a nightmare for his opponent. Hawk is very selfless, too. Remember when he gifted Jordan Clark his first goal at AFL level in Round 2? But that selflessness is also shown in the roles he plays. He can play deep or work hard up the ground, whatever is needed. I know the young players walk taller alongside him in the forward line. He sets the forward line up perfectly with his voice and leadership. From there, it all flows nicely.
SCOTT SELWOOD
I cannot speak highly enough of ‘Scooter’s’ attitude and the energy that he brings to the group. He is the ultimate team-first man. He is playing at such a high level in the VFL but it is tough for him to break into the AFL side. Some may get disheartened, but not him. He just carries himself so well at the club. It is not uncommon to see him working closely with a lot of the younger midfielders, helping them with their contested work, doing extra craft sessions with them, extra touch work, all those things. Although he is yet to play an AFL game this year, he brings elite leadership standards to the club. In order to be a successful club, you need to have guys like Scott around.
NIGEL LAPPIN
I could have picked any of our coaches, but I’ve chosen Nigel. He works really closely with all of the players and, as such, we all have enormous respect for him. He is so driven to make us better players. In fact, I think he gets more of a kick out of seeing our individual improvement than we do sometimes. That’s how invested he is. He loves being involved, whether that is helping us with extra touch, going through vision or talking about our game. And we love tapping into his footy IQ because if anyone knows anything about being successful, it’s him. Nigel is just so willing to teach and so willing to pass on that info he has learnt over his long playing and coaching career. Like I said, he gets so much enjoyment out of working with us on something, then seeing it unfold in the heat of the action on game day. As players, we are lucky to have an asset like him to help shape us.