Fremantle captain Matthew Pavlichs winding journey is nearly complete after taking team to AFL final
FREMANTLE was the last AFL club Matthew Pavlich wanted to be drafted by in 1999 but now he will be leading the team to its first AFL grand final.| Full coverage
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FREMANTLE was the last AFL club Matthew Pavlich wanted to be drafted by in 1999 but now he will be leading the team to its first AFL grand final.
When the Dockers snared Sacred Heart College’s greatest football product with pick four at the 1999 national draft, the then 17-year-old - who had his heart set on staying in Adelaide or playing in Melbourne - was thinking he would serve out his two-year contract and then seek a return to SA to play with the Crows or Power.
Fourteen years later, Pavlich is not only Fremantle’s games and goals record-holder but stands on the verge of being its first premiership captain.
“It’s amazing how things have turned out,’’ said Pavlich’s father, Steve, who will be at the MCG with other family members for today’s grand final against Hawthorn.
“Those 14 years have gone really quickly but it’s been a long journey for Matthew and there were some tough times for him early.
“But now he has the opportunity to play in a premiership with his mates. Hopefully the result will go his and Fremantle’s way.
“It would be just reward for a lot of hard work.’’
A flag would be the icing on the cake of a fabulous career for the 31-year-old key forward, who is a six-times All-Australian and club champion.
The Woodville-West Torrens product - whose association with the club stretches back further through dad Steve, who played for West Torrens - has kicked 580 goals in 290 appearances for the Purple Haze since making his AFL debut in round five, 2000, against Melbourne.
Should the Dockers win today, Pavlich will enter the history books as having had the third longest wait before playing in a premiership in VFL-AFL history.
The longest waits for a first flag are Shane Crawford (305 games for Hawthorn) and Paul Williams (294 games for Collingwood and Sydney). Crawford played in the 2008 premiership and Williams the 2005 flag for the Swans.
Pavlich’s story is one of persistence.
After not wanting to play so far from home, he embarrassingly passed out during his first Dockers training session and was rushed to hospital.
He eventually settled in WA and rejected several overtures from both Adelaide - the team he supported when growing up - and Port Adelaide to return to SA.
“He has shown a lot of loyalty to Fremantle,’’ said Steve, a former West Torrens ace who will join about 10 family members and friends at today’s game. “He’s a loyal person and it’s just great that he has the opportunity to lead Fremantle into a grand final. Now, fingers crossed he can win it.’’
The man who coached a teenage Pavlich to a grand final will be one of many locals who adopt the Dockers for today’s premiership decider.
Anthony Goodrich mentored him in Sacred Heart’s First XVIII during the late 1990s and has this week caught purple fever - the club’s colour.
“I’m playing Deep Purple in the car, listening to Jimi Hendrix’s Purple Haze,” he said.
“Just all out getting purple.”
Like Steve, Goodrich said Pavlich’s loyalty to his WA team was being rewarded.
“He was 100 per cent committed to his club who gave him the opportunity,” Goodrich said.
“I’m sure most of Adelaide would have loved to have him back here, but I think a lot of people respected the decision he made.
“It seems like it might be paying dividends - in footy terms it’s the ultimate dividend to lead a side into a grand final and perhaps be captain of a premiership team.”
Pavlich’s last flag was an under-19s premiership with the Eagles. He has coveted team success ever since.
“Team success is all that matters in this game,” said Pavlich, whose early idol was Crows star Tony Modra.
“I have considered my options before (to play elsewhere) but I’ve always felt there was unfinished business here. I believe strongly that if you start something and if you think it’s worthwhile, you may as well see it through.”
A win today would be the ultimate reward for him.
Goodrich says AFL success stories such as Pavlich’s inspire his young charges.
“It gives them an insight that it’s possible to make your way,” he said.
“Grand finals don’t come around all that often ... Matthew’s had to wait 14 years for one at AFL level but it might well be worth it.”
The Pavlich name is also revered at the Lockleys primary school he attended.
It is most evident in the way St Francis School students trade footy cards, principal Rick Favilla said.
“I understand that Matthew Pavlich was worth three or four of the other players,” Mr Favilla said.
“I mentioned the other day about the Dockers and Matthew’s name came up from a few of the more senior staff members here.
“They said ‘Matthew’s playing so we’ve all got to barrack for the Dockers’.
“I’ll certainly be barracking for Matthew and hoping he gets a lot of goals.”
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