Daniel Wells injured calf during Pies’ pre-season in bid to rush back and gain new teammates’ respect

AFTER signing a long-term deal with Collingwood, Daniel Wells was having a trip of a lifetime. But the pressure of changing clubs played its part in his troubled pre-season.

Daniel Wells took time to find his feet at Collingwood. Picture: Sarah Matray

DANIEL Wells knew he would be “short of a gallop”.

When the silken midfielder embarked on a trip to Israel last off-season, Wells and his family enjoyed one of the most enriching experiences of their lives, touring through the Holy Lands of Nazareth and Galilee.

A devout catholic, Wells even saved a woman from drowning after she hit her head on a riverbed.

But after signing a big deal to cross from North Melbourne to Collingwood only weeks earlier, there was a period when the 32-year-old’s waning fitness level played on his mind.

Training was largely difficult because of the uneven terrain and packed itinerary in the Middle East.

While family and religion will always come first for Wells, the former Kangaroo knew that when he arrived at his new club, there was work to do.

“It was an amazing trip and nothing else has come close to it, but I was stressing out about coming back to training in good shape,” Wells said this week.

“But I also wanted to try to enjoy the experience as well, so it just sort of got to the point where I let it (the worry) go.

“I said ‘whatever happens, happens’ and I will come back and do the work and then I will be right.

Daniel Wells had a slow start to his Collingwood career. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

“I wasn’t overweight or anything, I just wasn’t (match) conditioned. I hadn’t done the running.”

Players are expected to maintain a “reasonable” level of fitness in the off-season, but the use of monitoring equipment is banned, to ensure players are given crucial physical and mental rest time.

Determined to quickly gain the respect of his new Collingwood teammates upon his return, Wells said he tried too hard too soon at training and twice — once in December and February — he felt the dreaded pull in his calf muscle in an effort to switch on the afterburners.

Each time it forced Wells back to run lonely laps of Collingwood’s training ground, as the rest of his teammates geared up for the pre-season matches.

The stinging criticism came from everywhere, as the Magpies desperately needed the West Australian’s sublime ball use and pace from Round 1.

But coach Nathan Buckley supported his gun recruit, knowing that while the circumstances weren’t ideal, behind the scenes Wells was now doing all the work — plus extra — to get back in shape.

And it was throughout those testing first few months that Wells developed not only a strong connection and respect for the senior coach, but the entire club.

“I love it here, even though I probably struggled a bit at the start, they have really looked after me and showed me great support,” Wells said.

“At the end of the day I’ve got to feed my family and go home in the right frame of mind to look after my two girls, and if I’m getting extra stressed that’s going to impact.

Wells says the Pies have welcomed him, with coach Nathan Buckley firmly in his corner. Picture: Getty Images

“Nathan really understood and has given me a lot of support and put no pressure on me.

“He has been awesome and (North Melbourne senior coach) Brad (Scott) was too.

“I’ve had plenty of deep conversations with Brad and I’m starting to have those with Nathan.

“These guys are just doing their best to try and coach us and live their dreams. It’s a really tough job, but Nathan is a very genuine bloke.”

As the regular season games began, Wells was the one putting pressure on the fitness and coaching departments to finally play him in the win over the Sydney Swans in Round 3 at the SCG.

But the Pies held on two more weeks, making sure he was “cherry ripe”.

“I said to (fitness boss) Bill (Davoren), ‘come on man, what are you doing, mate?’,” he said.

“I wanted to hit him across the head (laughing), so yes it was hard watching, but it kept me hungry. I was chomping at the bit by the end, but it was the right thing to do.

“I’m not a spring chicken anymore and they had to be careful.”

For Wells, now it’s payback time.

The Magpies have suffered from a lack of fluency and connection in the forward half of the ground so far this season and Wells’ potent ball use and run and carry is one of their top weapons.

When the former Roo slotted his first goal in black and white against Essendon on Anzac Day, and leapt towards the crowd with a passionate first pump, it was clear Wells was fully invested in the Collingwood cause.

Wells celebrates his first goal as a Magpie — in the Round 5 Anzac Day clash. Picture: Getty Images

All the emotion, excitement and frustration of the past few months came out as he drilled one home on the run from 40m.

“I don’t normally carry on like that, but just the moment and playing on that big stage,” he said.

“I sit near ‘Billy’ (Jamie) Elliott in the locker room and I yelled out to him and when I knew he was going to handpass it to me I thought ‘I need to kick this now’.

“I tried to get my balance as quickly as I could and everyone expects you to kick goals like that and we probably should, but you are playing at a high pace and it is a high-pressure game.

“And the pressure, that is the thing that gets everyone.”

Collingwood faces another must-win game against Brisbane Lions at the MCG today. Over the past month, Wells has been one of the Pies best players, averaging 22 possessions.

But the 247-gamer and two-time Kangaroos’ best and fairest winner is having an impact at Collingwood in another much less visible way, too.

Along with Travis Varcoe, Wells is a proud indigenous man, who has played a key mentoring role for Collingwood’s younger indigenous players small forward Kayle Kirby and top rookie pick Mitch McCarthy.

Ahead of the Sir Doug Nicholls indigenous Round, Wells hosted close mate Daniel Motlop at the club as part of a Koori feast on Thursday. Players sampled some native foods such as bush tomatoes, Kakadu plums, crocodile and emu.

An incredibly talented goal kicker, Kirby also endured some challenges trying to improve his fitness from a low base in recent months. After struggling with his first time trial, Kirby, who was the No.50 pick in last year’s draft, is now the Magpies’ VFL team’s leading goal kicker.

Wells said the transition to an AFL club was a steep learning curve which required patience and understanding, especially for some young indigenous players such as Kirby.

Daniel Wells plays a key role at Collingwood, mentoring younger indigenous players such as small forward Kayle Kirby (above). Picture: Michael Klein

Wells said he would be forever grateful for the support and mateship of North’s senior players such as Motlop, Adam Simpson, Shannon Grant and Michael Firrito showed him at the same age.

“I think you’ve got to spend some time to understand their story so you can understand a bit better because some guys would have seen Kayle at the start and thought ‘what is going on here?’,” he said.

“I don’t think anyone was sure when he first arrived.

“But you should have seen Todd Goldstein when he first arrived at North, too. Even though he was a good runner, you thought ‘what the hell, what’s this bloke doing here?’.

“When you invest in him (Kirby) a little bit some of his (background) stuff will make sense to you.

“I learnt that lot earlier myself, don’t judge until you know where people come from.”

Wells said Kirby, 18, had come a long way in his first preseason.

“He’s a little beast watching him, a pretty exciting player even though he’s quiet, he’s a loveable guy, too,” he said.

“I know he’s doing everything he can to not necessarily win back the respect, but just get back in the fold and this game is built on trust.

“Players think, ‘are you going to be able to cover for me like I’m going to cover for you?’

“And it’s the smaller things that always count. He can do all the mercurial things and that’s what probably caught everyone’s eye.

“But I have been guilty of coming back in bad shape, too, you just put yourself at risk of getting injuries and he will learn from that.

“He has got the support of everyone at the club to help him out. What’s important is that he keeps working and building.”

Daniel Wells is loving life at the Pies. Picture: Sarah Matray

‘I WANTED TO GO HOME’

COLLINGWOOD recruit Daniel Wells has revealed he strongly considered leaving North Melbourne in his second season.

The West Australian was pick No.2 in the 2002 national draft and said he asked his manager Liam Pickering to manoeuvre a way back home.

Wells said the idea was an extension of his childhood experiences when he was constantly moving from town to town as his parents looked for work opportunities.

“When we grew up we moved town every couple of years that was just the way we were brought up,” Wells said.

“So in my second year at North I remember telling my manager ‘I wanted to go home’ and he said ‘What do you mean?’.

“When you come over from WA it (homesickness) can pull at the heart strings sometimes.

“Next minute North offered another contract and I stayed and stayed for a long time and it shows how special North was to me.”

The 247-gamer said instead of going interstate, his family now move houses every couple of years because he likes the fresh surroundings.

“I have moved house six or seven times and I think it annoyed the crap out of my wife at the start (laughs),” he said.

Daniel Wells in action for North Melbourne in 2004.

Wells said it was a difficult decision to leave North but that he would remain eternally grateful for its support over 14 seasons.

“It was very hard and it happened really quickly. North was going in a different direction but I still felt a part of that direction,” he said.

“I had been there for so long and thought it would be amazing to finish my career at a club that had given me so much.

“But in the end I was comfortable leaving and doing my thing because of the boys there like Jack Ziebell and Jamie Macmillan. North are in great hands.”

Wells said Collingwood could still make something significant of this season despite a slow start.

He said the team had addressed the issues which cost it in the early rounds.

“It’s been a frustrating year with some of the losses we have had, but they have happened for a reason, not because we were unlucky,” he said,

“They were things that weren’t standing up and we drilled down on them.

“The fix might not be straight away but we are going to keep fighting and who knows what will happen this season.”