Shaun Higgins felt his time at Western Bulldogs was over and it’s been North Melbourne’s gain

SHAUN Higgins was almost at wit’s end as his time at the Western Bulldogs came to an end. The silky midfielder is now a best-and-fairest winner, All-Australian contender and Brownlow Medal fancy thanks to North Melbourne’s faith.

Shaun Higgins in action for North Melbourne.

SHAUN Higgins was almost at wit’s end.

At the same time he was being courted by North Melbourne, the silky-smooth, but supposedly brittle Bulldog was being told by his club his position in the team no longer held any certainty.

It came during a tumultuous 2014 season at the Whitten Oval, where a few senior players - Higgins among them - believed they were being squeezed out by the Bulldogs and coach Brendan McCartney.

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Higgins was playing in defence and felt left out in the cold. The soon-to-be free agent was dropped late in the year, with the Bulldogs seemingly losing faith in his ability and durability.

It got to a point where Higgins’ manager, and close friend, Bruce Kaider, began to worry about his mental wellbeing.

“There were a lot of conversations had in that last year at the Western Bulldogs that were disappointing,” Kaider recalled. “Some of the feedback we were receiving was that he was probably going to end his career in the back pocket.

Shaun Higgins breaks through Mitch Wallis’ tackle.

“They said to us he may not even be seen as being in the best 18 players the following season.

“I said to him, ‘Mate, where are you at mentally?’ I was concerned about him because he had lost his love of the game.

“We had to make a decision … the footy club at that point was having its challenges. If he hadn’t moved, I guess he wouldn’t be playing football today.”

Shaun Higgins is not only playing football today he is one of the AFL’s best players of 2018.

Four years on from that dark last season in the tricolours, he is on his way to potentially back-to-back best-and-fairests with the Kangaroos, considered an All-Australian lock for the first time, and has been backed into equal third favouritism for the Brownlow Medal.

The turnaround has been swift and stark, as he reaches the midpoint of his fourth year with the Kangaroos, with at least two more seasons to come.

Shaun Higgins at a Bulldog. Picture: Michael Klein.

Shaun Higgins as a Kangaroo.

He is thriving in the midfield, as well as going forward. Importantly, his body - once considered an Achilles heel - has in recent seasons allowed him to become the player those close to him knew he could be.

Nick Dal Santo, a former North Melbourne teammate, rates the 30-year-old has been the No.1 player in the league across the last six weeks.

“His last six weeks have been exceptional,” Dal Santo said. “Shaun Higgins has had as much influence on his team than any player in the league in that period.”

All of this begs the question of how the Western Bulldogs let it get to a situation where Higgins felt as if he had no other alternative than to leave.

Having been chosen as pick 11 in the 2005 draft, the one-time Geelong Falcon ended up playing 129 games with the Bulldogs, showing many good early signs, but encountering a series of nagging injuries.

In two of his nine seasons at the club - 2008 and 2013 - he was significantly handicapped by injury, playing only 10 games.

One-time teammate Brad Johnson said: “You could always see what Shaun could do when he was younger … but he had some injuries that were quite bizarre.

“He had elbows and thyroid issues and problems that hadn’t really been seen before. You just knew if he could get some continuity with his body, he was going to be a very good player.”

Shaun Higgins listens in as Brendan McCartney speaks.

Even in Higgins’ last season with the Dogs, he managed 20 games, often in the backline, despite an ongoing foot issue, and being dropped for two matches.

By that stage, he knew his “card had been marked”.

The first feelers from North Melbourne had come 12 months earlier. After the 2013 season, despite playing only three games, Higgins was short-listed as a Kangaroos’ free agency target.

That led to a preliminary coffee between Kaider and North Melbourne general manager of football Cameron Joyce.

“North Melbourne, and Cam Joyce, were well ahead of the curve,” Kaider said.

“Cam and I had a mutual friend at the LA Lakers, who was a mentor to me. We just had a coffee and a chat. It was just like, ‘Where are things at with Higgo?’ It was too early at that point, but we had it there for consideration.”

Joyce said: “There was no secret about the fact we wanted to attack free agency and keep our (national draft) picks at the same time.”

“We thought Shaun could give us something forward of centre and through the midfield. We thought he had a fair bit to offer.”

Brad Scott listens to Shaun Higgins.

Higgins attacked 2014 with everything he had, but by the early stages, it became patently clear if he wanted to have longevity in the game, he would have to leave.

“We realised where we were at (with the Bulldogs),” Kaider said. “I didn’t want to hear the word retirement (from him). He had too much to give the game.

“I said to him ‘I don’t know what your head space is, but I know where there might be another opportunity. I think we should explore it’.”

During the course of that year, Higgins met Kangaroos coach Brad Scott and was immediately sold on the club and the coach.

“Brad didn’t put on a hard sell … he was more about ‘this is what we are as a footy club’, and ‘this is who I am as a coach’,” Kaider said. “That resonated with Higgo.

“We both walked away from that conversation saying what an impressive bloke he was.”

Scott assured Higgins he saw him as a midfielder who could go forward. He told him the club backed its medical staff to get him on the park more often.

By mid-season, with his relationship with McCartney unworkable from his point, and feeling as if his club didn’t want to fight to keep him, Higgins made the decision to test his free agency options. He chose North Melbourne over another interested party in Carlton, thinking it was a better fit from a team perspective.

“He’d had some niggles,” Joyce said. “That was part of our message to him. We said ‘We think we can get your body right … We think we can look after you.’”

Kaider felt Higgins had to leave for his long-term future.

Shaun Higgins injured his elbow in 2006.

Shaun Higgins injured his ankle in 2010.

“We were respectful of the club, but I guess in the end we were disappointed … the guy was an elite player and the way it ended at the Bulldogs, and some of the commentary around it, wasn’t great,” he said.

Industry sources confirmed the Bulldogs had little intention of fighting to keep him. They didn’t match North Melbourne’s offer. One external source said they seemed happy to save the money needed to keep Higgins, bank the second-round compensation pick, and “move on”.

“There were a bit of excitement in his voice and a bit of relief,” Joyce said of Higgins’ confirmation call. “It was almost like a fresh start for him.”

As much angst as there was in the final year at the Dogs, Higgins has steadfastly chosen not to publicly criticise his former club, or McCartney.

“He never said a bad word to me about the Dogs, or Brendan McCartney,” Dal Santo said. “That’s just the way he is, he has moved on.”

Those close to him say he has never looked back, despite what was to follow.

Not even when McCartney stepped down as Bulldogs coach just days after he joined North, following skipper Ryan Griffen’s decision to also leave.

Not even when the Bulldogs won a remarkable 2016 premiership under a new coach two years later. A fairytale result no one saw coming.

“He was really happy for his former teammates, but he has never regretted his decision to leave,” Kaider said.

“It would have been very unlikely he would played (in the flag). He might have been 50/50 at best … because his card had been marked.

Shaun Higgins in action for North Melbourne.

“I don’t think he would have been playing football now, if he hadn’t left. He wasn’t in the right headspace, he would have been gone.”

Joyce agreed Higgins didn’t need any counselling after the Bulldogs’ premiership: “Don’t get me wrong, everyone wants to win a flag, and there are never any guarantees if you stay at a club or you go. But he knew he had to forge his own path. He made the right decision for him as a footballer.”

On the eve of his 196th game, and his 67th with the Kangaroos, Higgins is playing with freedom and with a beaming smile on his face again.

He and wife Heidi welcomed their first child, Rosie, this year.

His body is holding up well, too.

Part of that came from a decision Kaider and Higgins made about eight years ago, to work with running coach Bohdan Babijczuk - who played a role in shaping Shane Crawford’s career - and core strength specialist Domenic Trimboli.

On his own time, and at his own expense, Higgins altered his running gait to help him overcome career-interrupting injuries.

“We sat down with ‘Baba’ (and Trimboli) and said that our long term goal was to have him play for as long as he possibly could,” Kaider said.

Dal Santo knew from the first three months of doing a pre-season with him that he could reach a level far exceeding that which he attained with the Bulldogs.

“I do remember when he came to North Melbourne, one of the phys-eders saying that he has got one of the most efficient running styles they have ever seen,” Dal Santo said. “He is just professional the way he goes about things.”

Shaun Higgins goes on the attack.

So much so that a handful of Kangaroos — including Jack Ziebell and Ben Jacobs — have scheduling their pre-season holidays around his location so they can tap into his meticulous preparation.

Higgins’ pathway to the Kangaroos might yet lead him to a Brownlow, a return that seemed fanciful four years ago to all but those who intimately know his mental strength and resoluteness.

“I joke to him about having a good suit for the Brownlow, but that’s the last thing on his mind,” Kaider said. “To Higgo right now, he isn’t thinking about the best and fairest, or the All-Australian, or even the Brownlow.

“There’s nine games left and he wants to help give this team the best possible chance of going deep into the finals. That’s all he cares about.”

North Melbourne is confident Higgins can play beyond his current deal which runs until the end of the 2021 season.

Higgins, 30, is in career-best form, prompting Joyce to suggest he could have several more seasons left in him.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if he goes on past the next deal,” Joyce told the Herald Sun. “There is no doubt he has even exceeded our expectations.”

Dal Santo says the fact Higgins missed so much football early in his career might end up prolonging his career.

“I am always optimistic about those things,” Dal Santo said.

“He has missed so much footy that maybe his body is only 27 or 29 (instead of 30) in terms of the impact of football.

“I would back him in, having seen what they have done with (35-year-old) Jarrad Waite.

“It won’t be for a lack of preparation that will bring guys like that undone. It won’t be because they are complacent or they have lost the love of it.”

Johnson - who shares the same manager in Bruce Kaider as Higgins - believes the Kangaroos star will eventually return to the forward line, which will extend his career.

“What he can do is play in the midfield for the next couple of years and then (go forward),” Johnson said. “He knows the goals. He has that class. He is a good mark overhead and he is strong. I reckon he can finish his career doing what (Jack) Ziebell is doing now.”

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