Patrick Dangerfield talks Grand Final obsessions, family ties, Gary Ablett and how the AFL’s craziest season could have perfect ending
The last time Geelong won the premiership, Patrick Dangerfield was streaming to victory on the MCG during the 2011 Grand Final day halftime sprint. Now, the childhood Cats fan will fight for the AFL’s top prize on its biggest stage.
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Patrick Dangerfield has dominated on AFL Grand Final day before … just not in the manner he dreamt it would be as a kid growing up in Moggs Creek.
That might change on Saturday night as he and Geelong prepare to take on Richmond in the historic Gabba premiership playoff.
But even this week as he prepared for what looms as the biggest game of his football life, the 30-year-old Cats superstar could still see the humour in his Grand Final past.
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He’s never won a premiership – other than a junior under 12s lightning premiership which he says doesn’t count – but he has at least shone on footy’s biggest day.
“Everyone talks about the dynasties of Geelong and Hawthorn, and lately Richmond, well, someone else went back-to-back-to-back,” Dangerfield joked this week.
With tongue firmly planted in cheek, Dangerfield can still see the funny side of his three-peat of Grand Final sprint victories from 2011-2013.
His first sprint success came on the day Geelong won its last flag in 2011, albeit he was wearing an Adelaide jumper with his contribution lasting just a tick over 11 seconds.
He was 21 back then and dreaming of far bigger success.
But the promise of two free Grand Final tickets, a $5000 first prize to his local club, and the chance to see Geelong – the club he barracked for as a kid – compete for a flag was too good an opportunity to pass up.
So he agreed to compete in what was the first of three Grand Final sprints.
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As the Cats narrowly trailed the Magpies at halftime, Dangerfield streaked away with the win, saying on Channel 10: “I hope the Cats get over them in the end.”
They did!
Dangerfield won the next two Grand Final sprints as well, with his three wins leaving him only one behind record-holder, Hawthorn speedster of the ’70s and ’80s, Geoff Ablett.
It’s a record he has no intention of chasing.
Instead, he will join Geoff Ablett’s nephew, Gary Jr, in the chase for the most unique premiership medal in history.
“I can guarantee you one thing, anyone who competes in a Grand Final sprint is only there for the free tickets,” Dangerfield told the Herald Sun this week.
“We know what the real show is.”
Nine years on, Dangerfield’s quest to play a more meaningful role on football’s grandest stage – this time at the Gabba – has him excited and eternally grateful.
“It was a special moment when the siren went (in the preliminary final win over Brisbane), we’ve played some good footy (in 2020) and finally after a few years of hard trying, we have got there,” he said.
“But if we are going to get there, we might as well finish it off on a winning note.”
The drive to win a premiership has been an obsession for Dangerfield through four losing preliminary finals.
Candidly, he said recently that if his career ended without a flag it would “suck”.
Dangerfield had a lighthearted encounter in his hotel last Sunday morning involving Richmond’s Marlion Pickett, who famously won a premiership last year in his debut match.
“I was sitting down having a chat to Bachar (Houli) and (Tigers assistant coach) Justin Leppitsch was down there,” he said.
“He was having a bit of a giggle about how it has taken me 13 years for me (to play in a Grand Final) and it took Marlion one game.
“So, we took different paths to the Big Dance.
“I think the longer you play in the game, the greater appreciation you have for playing in Grand Finals and what it would be like to play in and win a Grand Final.
“As the journey goes on, those feelings really elevate.
“Early in your career you are just thankful to be drafted, and then you are stoked to play an AFL game, and as it progresses you start to appreciate what the game really means for you.”
The emotion of winning his way through to his first AFL Grand Final wasn’t lost on him last weekend when he gestured a “one more” finger sign to his wife, Mardi, immediately after the Cats’ preliminary final victory over the Brisbane Lions.
“(The sign) was just to my family in the crowd. It was a great game to win and it obviously puts us into the main game of the year,” he said.
Mardi and the couple’s two kids – George and Felicity – have been on the road with the Cats for most of the season.
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His parents, too, chose to travel north, taking the gamble of quarantining in the Northern Territory before being released in time to fly to Queensland and attend the preliminary final. They will be there to see their son make his maiden Grand Final appearance.
“We lost the first final, so they took a bit of a risk,” he said.
“But now we have made it, it has been worth their while to come up.
“They quarantined (in Darwin) with a whole different range of people, some of them who were racing at Bathurst (last weekend).”
The fact that the AFL season is now only one game from being completed after genuine fears it would never be finished has not been lost on Dangerfield.
Nor has the fact that Victorians have done it so tough this year with their favourite teams living in interstate hubs for more than 100 days.
He understands why he and the players, coaches and staff members have had to be away from home for so long – just to keep the game afloat.
“It has been such a challenging year for so many people for so many different reasons, and footy for so many has been a real unifier,” he said.
“It has been something that has given those back in Victoria some structure to their weeks and given them something to talk to their family and friends about.
“We are all really cognisant of that, and we are very grateful for the support we have received.”
As the president of the AFLPA, he couldn’t be more grateful for the players for agreeing to keep the season rolling on.
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“It has been a marathon. It has had its challenges at different stages,” he said.
“Quite clearly, being away from home for more than 100 days is a challenge in itself.
“It is testament to the work the AFL has done with the individual states and the players have played their part.
“We are incredibly grateful to Queensland for what they have provided for us.
“Without them, we wouldn’t have been able to finish the season.”
In April, when the season was in hiatus, and the country was in lockdown, Dangerfield said the 2020 flag would be the hardest to win – with an asterisk attached.
Six months later, and with only one game left to play, he said the reference to an asterisk was “meant more about the fairness of the competition, which goes out the window to a certain extent, because it was about getting a season away”.
“We knew it meant things like when you are playing off a four-day break and your opponent is coming off an eight-day break,” he said.
“It was always going to be a year where we all had to do our best to adjust to it.
“It has just been one of those years.”
While some clubs all but imploded in their respective hubs for varied reasons, Geelong grew tighter and Dangerfield said one of the most important things was the fact the group had come to know each other – and their families – better.
“It has been wonderful to have them along for the journey,” he said.
“It has been special to share that with the kids this year, albeit it has been challenging at times.
“We are very much a family-orientated club and that’s been an important part of everything we’ve done this year.
“Getting to know the families better than what we have in the past has been really rewarding.
“This has been a team effort that extends far beyond the playing 22, and the list of 46 this year.
“It has been all of our staff and all of our families that have contributed so much.
“More broadly, it has also been the people who haven’t been with us – some of whom have been let go – and we are doing it for them and for the members and supporters.”
Dangerfield has so much admiration for Gary Ablett, who will play his 357th and final game.
Ablett and his family, including Levi, who has a rare degenerative illness, rejoined the hub on the eve of the finals to help the Cats chase that elusive flag.
“He is one of the all-time greats and one of the nicest people you would ever meet,” Dangerfield said of Ablett.
“Both he and Jordan (Ablett’s wife) are absolute stars, and there is gorgeous little Levi.
“They bring so much to our team on and off the field.
“There would be no greater way to send off the little champ than with a premiership.
“There are plenty of those stories, but his (story) is something special.”
Asked about his “throw” to Ablett last week that resulted in a goal, Dangerfield laughed and said: “I don’t remember that one”.
Dangerfield said coach Chris Scott has kept the group level through the highs and lows of a challenging year.
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“He’s an incredible coach and an incredible person … I’ve loved my time under Chris,” he said.
“He is always very, very balanced.
“When we lose, it is not like the end of the world and the sky is caving in.
“When we win, it is not cloud nine and the lid’s off.
“We don’t ride the emotional rollercoaster of wins and losses and that’s what good organisations do.”
Dangerfield played 52 per cent in the midfield the last time the Cats and Tigers met in Round 17.
But he has spent the vast majority of his time forward in the past two finals wins.
He wasn’t giving much away about what his role will look like on Saturday night.
“It has genuinely been a candid conversation with Chris and the coaches on what’s best for the side,” he said.
“It has been more of a forward split over the last couple of weeks, but I am happy to do what suits the team best.”
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