Joe Daniher needs to develop a harder edge to take his footy to a new level, Mark Robinson writes

There’s a lot of similarities between Joe Daniher and Matthew Lloyd and if Essendon is to go deep into September, the Bombers’ current spearhead must find his physical edge, Mark Robinson writes.

Joe Daniher can often be seen laughing on the footy field. Picture: Michael Klein

At a pinch, there’s similarities between Joe Daniher and a young Matthew Lloyd.

One of them, of course, became a Hall of Famer and the other, at 25, still has the potential to become a Hall of Famer.

The similarity is Lloyd, against his natural instincts, had to change the manner in which he played and Daniher, and certainly against his instincts, has to do the same.

At 20, and in his fourth season, Lloyd was seen as a floppy ball player who lacked grunt. He was bullied by opposition monsters.

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Times were different back then.

It was 1998 and intimidation and occasional violence were factors.

For Lloyd, his crossroad came in Round 6 against the Western Bulldogs at Optus Stadium.

His opponent was gnarly backman Steve Kretiuk.

“He terrorised me that day,’’ Lloyd said.

“I had two possessions for the day. ‘Sheeds’ sent Ryan O’Connor or Dean Wallis to try to get in between the two of us, to help me.

“I walked off the ground that embarrassed. I said that can’t happen again.

Steven Kretiuk once left Matthew Lloyd embarrassed with his performance, and his tactics caught on across the league.

“The next week, big Paul Bulluss came steaming down and was doing the same to me.

“The week after, Ben Graham who wasn’t one of those intimidating types, well, he did it to me.

“I thought it’s swept right across the competition that’s how you could get under my skin and stop me.

“Sheeds told me, ‘you have to fight fire with fire and we’ll accept the consequences if you cross the line occasionally’.

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“And then I started to throw my weight around and dealt with the tough attention, and at the same time started kicking big goals, and before I knew it, the opposition thought this doesn’t work on him anymore.

“That is one of the prouder times of your career when you get through a war of attrition like that.’’

Daniher is a prodigious talent, as was Lloyd, and he has to adopt the Lloyd mentality.

He needs to want to change. He needs to be more aggressive. That’s not belting blokes, that’s being more of a presence, being a more difficult player for opponents to combat.

Lloyd eventually learned how to not let himself be pushed around on the footy field.

Lloyd was intense when he played. He was a fierce combatant who seemed to both love and hate the game, depending on his performance.

Daniher is the opposite. He’s laconic, he laughs with his teammates and foes. Tomfoolery is part of his character.

At 200cm, he is a footballing gazelle.

He runs and soars and takes hangers and when he kicks goals on the run from 55m, he looks every bit one of the most devastating players in the competition.

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But football isn’t so jim-dandy as to simply run, jump and mark.

Just as Lloyd had to make a statement as a young fella to better himself and the team, so too does Daniher.

He looms as Essendon’s most pivotal player this season if they are to make it deep into September

Lloyd sees an edgier attitude in other full-forwards — such as Lance Franklin chasing and tackling and using his body like an ice plough, spreadeagling the opposition.

Like Jack Riewoldt’s defensive efforts over the past four years.

Joe Daniher can often be seen laughing on the footy field. Picture: Michael Klein

“You’re often double-teamed nowadays, and you don’t have the brutality like when I started,’’ Lloyd said.

“Now you’ve got frustration of being double and or tripled teamed and it’s about how desperate are you to bring the ball to ground, how desperate are you to not be outmarked, the defensive side.’’

It’s about hitting packs, knowing you won’t mark the ball, but hitting bodies on the way through.

“That didn’t come naturally,’’ Lloyd said.

“But I grew to know that’s what Sheeds expected.’’

Lloyd became known as the “Velvet Sledgehammer”.

Daniher played his first game of the new year against Carlton on Thursday night, coming off a long stint on the sidelines because of osteitis pubis.

The good news was that he played uninhibited.

Opposed largely to Jacob Weitering, he kicked the first goal, played mainly deep forward and had a gallop in the ruck.

Understandably, he lacked some timing and touch.

The good and bad will be clipped for review. The good will get better.

Daniher needs a harder edge to his game to take his footy to the next level, for his sake and for Essendon’s. Picture: Michael Klein

The bad might include a Carlton kick-out in the third quarter. Against ruckman Andrew Phillips, Daniher didn’t get within two metres of Phillips who marked the 55m kick.

Still, it was his first run in almost a year.

What’s not so forgiving, and it’s not a Daniher project alone, is it seems pressure is a choice and not a given for any player more than 192cm in Essendon’s forward line.

Mitch Brown is 196cm, Daniher is 200cm, Jake Stringer is 192cm, James Stewart is 198cm and Shaun McKernan is 196cm.

All five of them are ranked below average or poor when it comes to defensive pressure.

A transition scoring team, the ball goes in quick and over the back, but you suspect coach John Worsfold wouldn’t like it leaving the area as easy as it does at times.

It’s important to note Daniher, despite missing almost 12 months, retained his spot, as did Orazio Fantasia, in the five-man leadership group for 2019, ahead of veterans Michael Hurley and Cale Hooker.

Whether that was right or wrong is beside the point.

As a leader, in what looms as a potential contending season, Daniher’s shadow over this team is large.

He can be a brilliant footballer, yet he needs to be better all-round footballer.

Lloyd changed to improve himself and the team.

Essendon would love Daniher to do the same.