The back-with-the-flight mark that revealed Jimmy Bartel’s courage to his Geelong teammates
Jimmy Bartel was in his third season at Geelong in 2004 had yet to cement his spot in the senior team until this courageous mark that would later define his career.
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Jimmy Bartel’s back-with-the-flight mark might be one of footy’s must under-appreciated acts.
Taking off from the centre square from Luke Darcy’s clearing kick, he tracked the ball for 30m as a pack of players loomed at the fall of the ball.
Then the 187cm midfielder hurtled into the air, literally plucking the ball out of the grasp of an astonished Adam Cooney and over Cats teammates including Matthew Scarlett.
Bartel’s legacy now is as a courageous and decorated champion who never shirked an issue or let his team down in dozens of big moments across 305 brilliant games.
But as teammate Cam Mooney tells the Herald Sun, back in Round 11, 2004 Bartel was very far from the finished article.
Bartel was in only his second game back from a Round 3-9 VFL stint and in his third season and had played only 27 games after being taken at No.8 in the 2001 national draft.
“I remember that mark because I was in the pack and I just remember watching the ball come up and out of the corner of my eye I just say Jimmy coming come flying the other way and just flying for it. I reckon that was the first time you got to see his courage,” he said.
“We knew he was a tough little bugger but I don’t think Bomber (Thompson) loved him.
“It actually took Daryn Cresswell who as the midfield coach who started really pushing for him.
“He had struggled to hold his spot prior to that year. The thing with Geelong and why it was so great is that with (senior assistant Brendan McCartney), you had to prove to him you were that tough as an inside midfielder to get a gig in there.
“It was one of the craziest marks I have ever seen. He covered a good 30m sprinting and it was a fairly big pack he launched at. He almost split the pack. It was incredible. It was the first time I thought, “This kid has got it”.
“I don’t rate it quite as highly as Jonathan Brown’s mark but it was one of the most courageous marks I have seen live.”
Cooney laughed this week that he had led to the contest hoping to mark his own mark, only to be gazumped by the fellow top-10 pick from Geelong.
“I got a bit of a ride and thought to myself, “Nomination for mark of the week coming up here”,” he joked.
“Then I sort of closed my eyes as a flash came from nowhere and snatched the Sherrin from me. I had idea who it was or where he came from.”
Darcy had even less idea, having booted the ball long and high from the centre square.
He admits his recall of particular moments in his career can be sketchy, but Bartel’s mark is one that stands out.
“You know, I do remember that one … All I remember was asking one of the Geelong boys after the game, ‘Who the hell is that, that bloke is a freak?’.
“It was the first time Jimmy’s name came up on the radar. I thought, ‘This guy is going to be star’ on the back of that.
“Whoever I was speaking to, said, ‘Don't worry he is a gun, we have a ripper on our hands there’, and time proved it.
“It is one that doesn’t get looked at much but it is up there with the Jonno Brown and Nick Riewoldt moments.”
Mooney believes competitiveness was a base requirement in a Geelong midfield, not an added extra.
“No one talks about the Steve Johnson mark. It was in the 2004 qualifying final against Port Adelaide and the vision isn’t great so it hasn’t been spoken about.” he said.
“I kicked it and munged the hell out of it and Johnson was sprinting the other way from that pack. He was running the other way from the guys leading at the ball and it hasn’t got the love, but s--t that was courageous. He hits the pack so hard he gets flung around.”
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