Adelaide defensive ball magnet Rory Laird etches his name into the history books
ADELAIDE Crows defender Rory Laird is in rare air, having become just the 13th player — and first defender — in VFL-AFL history to have consecutive 40-plus disposal games.
Andrew Capel
Don't miss out on the headlines from Andrew Capel. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Frustrated Betts vows to play despite twin concerns
- The Phantom: Big week of SuperCoach moves
- Rising Star Doedee on standing Dusty
- Walker looks to build on fitness, momentum
- Crows fan’s lament: Oh, what might have been
RORY Laird says if he wasn’t an AFL footballer he’d like to be an NFL quarterback.
That might go some way to explaining his ability to stand and deliver in the Crows’ defence.
The player no club wanted at the 2011 national draft has turned into one of the AFL’s finest defensive playmakers.
After two rounds this season, only one man — Hawthorn midfield ball magnet Tom Mitchell, with 94 — has won more disposals than Laird (82).
No defender has come close to matching his offensive output.
With his 42-disposal performance in the grand final rematch against Richmond in the Thursday night blockbuster at Adelaide Oval, which followed his 40 possessions in round one against Essendon, Laird joined an elite club.
He became just the 13th player - and only defender - to have tallied 40 or more disposals in consecutive VFL-AFL games.
The group consists of a bunch of Australian Football Hall of Famers and Brownlow Medallists, including Gary Ablett, Greg Williams, Shane Crawford, Robert Harvey and Dane Swan.
Inaugural Adelaide captain Chris McDermott and new Port Adelaide recruit Tom Rockliff have also achieved the feat.
McDermott, who had 41 and 44 disposals in back-to-back games against Fitzroy and Richmond in rounds 19 and 20 in 1992, is the only Crow to have previously won so much of the ball in consecutive matches.
Laird, who last week signed a three-year contract extension tying him to Adelaide until the end of the 2021 season, has gone from being unwanted to — on statistics alone — the most prolific ballwinning backman in the league.
Overlooked at the 2011 national draft because he was considered too small (178cm) and slow before being thrown a lifeline by the Crows with pick five at the rookie draft, the West Adelaide product ranked fourth in the AFL for disposals last year with an average of 29.4.
His career-best season resulted in his first All-Australian nod.
Champion Data ranked him as one of just two general defenders, along with Melbourne’s Michael Hibberd, as being elite for disposals, contested possessions, uncontested possessions and intercepts.
It described 24-year-old Laird as “a complete player’’.
This season only Mitchell, who became the 14th player to record consecutive 40-plus disposal; games against Geelong on Monday, has him covered when it comes to winning the ball.
“He’s been fantastic,’’ Adelaide coach Don Pyke said of Laird.
“He’s jumped into the season really strongly and keeps generating a lot of ball but he’s also defending really well.’’
Laird, who has played 103 games since debuting against the Western Bulldogs in round four, 2013, has modelled his game on Geelong triple premiership defender and fellow backline ball magnet Corey Enright.
“I’ve tried to model my game on him in terms of reading the play off half-back, getting off my opponent and also being able to play a lockdown, defensive role as well,’’ he said.
“I think I can read the play pretty well and when I do find the footy I make pretty good decisions. That’s where I have to try to make sure I’m really on top of my game.”
Former Crows teammate and ex-defensive coach James Podsiadly described Laird as one of the best readers of the play he has seen, which allows him to quickly turn defence into attack.
“He sees space open up quicker than most other players,’’ Podsiadly said.
“Watching him pretty closely like I have, he does have this innate ability to pop up like a sprinkler in pockets of space.
“Lairdy’s always been good from a defensive perspective, starting his career with some run-with roles, and now he’s able to intercept balls largely because he is able to read the game so well in front of him.’’
andrew.capel@news.com.au
Capel: SA footy’s new heavyweight showdown hasn’t come easy
They might be some of the most decorated names in recent SANFL history but they’ve both taken the hard road to the grand final, writes Andrew Capel.
Star’s selfless reaction to emotional Magarey stunner
He broke the SANFL’s Magarey Medal ruck curse but Norwood’s Harry Boyd didn’t want a single vote in the final round of the count. Andrew Capel reveals why.