Brownlow Medal: Patrick Dangerfield would swap individual honours for Geelong team success
PATRICK Dangerfield — the record-breaking Brownlow Medal winner — said the individual accolade comes a distant second to his ultimate professional goal.
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PATRICK Dangerfield will bask in the Brownlow Medal afterglow while admitting he is still totally unfulfilled as an AFL footballer.
The record-breaking winner of Monday night’s count said the individual medal came a distant second to his craving for an AFL premiership.
Dangerfield wowed the Crown Palladium crowd with a heartfelt speech touching on departed figures Phil Walsh and Paul Couch.
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But afterwards he said he felt he had already missed nine chances at a premiership, adamant Geelong would improve next year as a finals contender.
“When I first started playing I didn’t totally get it. I played finals my first season and you don’t realise how hard it is to get there,’’ he said.
“You don’t know how many opportunities you will get to achieve the ultimate success.
“Nine years down and I have played in two losing preliminary finals. I am lucky enough to play with players who are three-time premiership players.
“I crave what they have. At the end of the day, with respect to the Brownlow, the most important thing will always be team success.
“The greatest stories come out of the stories you share with your mates.”
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Dangerfield believes greater synergy with his teammates will result in a deeper September run, backing his team’s best football against anyone.
“I always said I wouldn’t be a bitter old player but as the years go past and you don’t get the experience of success you crave you are bitter and disappointed and frustrated.
“But I think what Cats fans can take out of our season is we lost six games.
“Our best footy was against the best sides in the competition. We were convincingly beaten by Sydney on two times, but our best footy was against the very best.
“I have no doubt our game style stands up. We have to make sure we as players consistently implement it and that’s what we didn’t do on Friday night.”
He says Geelong fell at the final hurdle before a Grand Final not because of talent but because of the lack of time together.
“I have spoken a bit about this season and that we will be a better team next season. That is because we will have spent more time together and the cohesion will be stronger,’’ he said.
“We will have played more that 15 games together, more than 24 gams. The more time we spend together we will better understand each other’s games.”
Originally published as Brownlow Medal: Patrick Dangerfield would swap individual honours for Geelong team success
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