AFL State of Origin: Did Patrick Dangerfield mock Adelaide's Grand Final 'power stance'?
State of Origin fans were quick to notice Patrick Dangerfield adopting a stance similar to that employed by his former club Adelaide during the 2017 finals before Friday night's State of Origin match. But was he really mocking the Crows?
Patrick Dangerfield tackles Nat Fyfe during the AFL's bushfire relief match.
It was the intimidatory tactic which became a major talking point after Adelaide's 2017 finals campaign.
The so-called 'power stance' or 'staredown stance' was employed by the Crows during the finals series three years ago during which they progressed to the Grand Final.
Supporters were quick to note former Adelaide player Patrick Dangerfield taking on a very similar stance during the build-up to Friday night's State of Origin bushfire relief match.
Standing next to a smiling Trent Cotchin and Damien Hardwick, who faced Adelaide in the 2017 decider, Dangerfield pinned his arms and stared down the All Stars with a wry smile on his face.
Adelaide Crows employed the power stance during the 2017 finals series.
Meanwhile, Dustin Martin added another medal to his collection when he was voted best on ground in the bushfire relief match.
Premierships – tick, tick. Brownlow medal – tick. Normie, too – double tick again.
The best afeld medal fit him like a glove, and even among the biggest names in the game, the two-time premiership Tiger shone like the North Star to claim best on ground honours.
The superstar finished with two goals and 22 disposals, but fans questioned whether he was the deserving winner.
Alongside Collingwood skipper Scott Pendlebury and Western Bulldogs counterpart Marcus Bontempelli at the centre bounce, Martin weaved his magic.
Then too in front of goal, with a handy couple.
“It’s very quick – not my go,” Martin laughed.
“It’s good fun.”
Not his go? He didn’t look it.
And if he thought it was quick in the first half, that was nothing. Just like the NBA All Star outing just weeks ago, the notch was lifted in the final quarter as Victoria piled on the pain.
Straight to the goal square as the game hung in the balance at the start of the final term, with Toby Greene strutting up at the half-forward line, booting a goal to put the Vics in front with the ease of ordering a morning latte.
What a pair. To think that if Martin’s tour of western Sydney in a hardhat had eventuated … it was a night for that kind of dreaming.
To imagine having Dangerfield, Whitfield and Cotchin in the one midfield, or Houli, Sicily and Moore all roaming from defence.
But it was Martin, with his typical saunter, who showed he has anything but dipped after the Tigers’ second premiership glory in three years, gathering 23 touches, two goals and a couple of clearances for the night.
“We wanna win, so we’ll try and do something special,” he said, already walking away from Jonathon Brown on Fox Footy.
If his football being typically flashy wasn't enough, the brush was typical of his private persona.
This was just another night at the footy.
For his Richmond captain Trent Cotchin, tasked with leading Victoria under reigning premier coach Damien Hardwick, there was a sense of the unknown.
“Initially when you’re given the task, you don’t know really which way to think about it,” he said.
“Incredibly humbled. All doing it for a great cause.”
Updates
Malthouse says Origin won't work
Dan Batten
Lauren Wood reports…
The cause was evident and the buckets filled with cash for bushfire victims and the football clubs that are the heartbeat of country towns, but former West Coast, Collingwood and Carlton coach Mick Malthouse wasn’t sold on the match being labelled as State of Origin. “We’ve got to be very careful how it’s promoted. All along, it’s been a hell of a joke,” he said on ABC Radio. “Everyone … they’ve wrapped their arms around each other. “You want a fierce game of State of Origin football? You don’t combine the two groups. You push them as far away as you can possibly get them and let them unleash. Let them have a real crack at winning it for your state. “It’s very hard to win it for your state when you don’t belong to an ally. It is (an issue).” When fans erupted into the Mexican wave in the third quarter, Malthouse labelled the game “Mickey Mouse” in intensity. "This (the wave) is the sort of stuff you see in soccer when it's nil-all or cricket when someone’s 0/150. This is a game of football," he said. "Rarely do you get this because people are entertained by our game. People are entertaining themselves in the stands. “If people come along to see a really hot game of football, they’re going to wait until Round 1. “I can’t see it being a preseason game.”
Death, taxes, Dusty performing in a big game.
He has been awarded the Origin medal after booting two goals and winning 23 touches.
That means the past two games he's played, he's finished with a bets-on-ground medal draped around his neck
Did he deserve to win it?
All Stars defender Zach Tuohy has unleashed from a kick-in, booting it all the way to the centre circle!
It's their standout highlight since half-way through the third quarter – which says a lot about their finish.
