Patrick Dangerfield ‘might be the most explosive player of his generation’: Chris Scott defends star after ‘heavy’ claim
Chris Scott has defended his star midfielder after Patrick Dangerfield received criticism over his playing weight.
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CHRIS Scott has defended the controversial mid-season conditioning block Geelong star Patrick Dangerfield will undertake ahead of the Cats’ bye in round 13.
Dangerfield will miss games against Adelaide and the Western Bulldogs before the break, with former player and media pundit Kane Cornes criticising the superstar’s playing weight.
Cornes made comments on the Sunday Footy Show that Dangerfield looked “heavy” and needed to “trim down”, an opinion that drew scorn from North Melbourne champion Wayne Carey.
Scott said he knew losing weight helped many players increase their longevity in the game, but Dangerfield was a different beast.
“Pat might be the most explosive player of his generation,” he said.
“Kane is a marathon runner and an elite aerobic athlete, a very different player to Paddy, and there is a school of thought that I respect that as players get older it makes it a little bit easier on their bodies if they get lighter.”
Dangerfield was not sighted during the team’s Wednesday-morning training session, with midfielder Quinton Narkle expected to come into the side against the Crows.
Despite Dangerfield missing two important games while the side sits sixth on the ladder, Scott said his approach with his midfielder was about optimising the club’s chances at long-term success.
“A big portion of the issue right at the moment with Pat is almost from the first round he hasn’t been able to train much,” he said.
“He’s just had a series of issues that have stopped him training without necessarily stopping him from playing.
“It’s more likely the lack of explosiveness that we’re seeing is down to a series of really significant corks that probably should’ve kept him out for a couple of games where he convinced us he could get through.
“Given there’s two games before the bye we can use that extra week, which is probably more than he needs in reality, we think that’s going to have him in the best shape to have a really good run in the last couple of months of the season.
“When I reflect over the last couple of years we just haven’t had him firing towards the end of the season.”
Dangerfield said that he could only see himself playing an explosive brand of football.
“That’s my game... I don’t know any other way, and I don’t think I could play the game in any other way,” he told SEN.
“I heard Kane speak about it (playing weight concerns) over the weekend... there is some relevance to it absolutely, but not at the cost of the way that you play.
“I don’t think you can go away from what is each individual player’s DNA... I don’t think you can coach that out of a game.”
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Originally published as Patrick Dangerfield ‘might be the most explosive player of his generation’: Chris Scott defends star after ‘heavy’ claim
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