Tom De Koning opens up on backing himself to fly for marks, Carlton fans and Robbie Williams
Robbie Williams will be pleased with the message Michael Voss has given Tom De Koning ahead of Saturday night’s preliminary final against the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba.
Robbie Williams will be pleased … Tom De Koning has revealed his coach Michael Voss has given him a “licence to fly”.
And the Carlton forward-ruck intends to keep using it.
A week after helping to propel the Blues into Saturday’s preliminary final with a strong semi-final aerial display against Melbourne that had pop royalty and Carlton fan Williams crooning ‘De Koning’s in the air” to his 2.8 million Instagram followers, De Koning is eager to back it up against the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba.
He’s prepared to do whatever he can for the sake of the team, to help the Blues keep their September magic carpet ride rolling on.
“That’s something that is probably a bit of a strength of mine,” De Koning explained about his capacity to fly for marks.
“Vossy has given me the licence to fly, which is good. He gives me the licence to fly for the ball whenever I want really.
“You have got to know the right situation and you have got to work with the other forwards such as Charlie (Curnow). But when the right time comes, I’ll be going for it.”
De Koning’s 15-disposal, four-mark, two-goal performance in last week’s semi-final win captured his importance to the Blues as they try to qualify for their first grand final since 1999.
To put that into context, 24-year-old De Koning was only a few months old at the time.
He took a towering mark on the centre wing last week, and kicked the Blues’ first two goals within 100 seconds late in the first term.
“I was lucky enough to get on the end of some really good ball movement,” he said.
“I didn’t realise we hadn’t kicked a goal at that stage, so it was good to go into the quarter-time break a bit closer. Hopefully it gave us a bit of energy when we needed it.”
De Koning’s two goals not only got the scoreboard ticking over, but helped to unleash one of footy’s most powerful weapons – the reinvigorated Blues army.
He says the roar that the Carlton crowd – in full voice in September for the first time in a decade – has been unlike anything he has heard before.
“Thinking about finals was more nervous than preparing to play them,” he explained. “I felt like through the year we got to play in front of huge crowds and that has made things (in recent weeks) feel a bit more settled.”
“Coming out for the first final (against Sydney), I thought I would be a lot more nervous but I was actually feeling pretty good and confident in myself, and in the team. We played like that, thanks to the fans.”
One of those fans cheering from afar has been Robbie Williams, whose links to Carlton have been tenuous at best, but getting stronger by the week.
The last time the Blues won a flag (1995) was the year Williams decided to go solo and leave Take That.
But it wasn’t Australian musician and songwriter Tim Metcalfe – who helped to write eight songs on Williams’ Take The Crown album – presented him with a Blues jumper in 2012 that the pop star came to know about Carlton.
Then when Williams came to Melbourne last year to play in a memorable grand final set, Voss caught up with him and gifted him with a jumper.
In an interview with Channel 7, Williams explained: “I think I’m going for Carlton.”
“They sent their coach (Voss) to come and say hello. We had a great chat and they bought me a shirt and I’m easily swayed.
“I also like that white emblem thing they have on the front and the navy blue.”
Williams has responded to each of the Blues’ two finals wins on social media and sent off a reworked version of John Paul Young’s classic Love Is In The Air in honour of De Koning after last week’s game.
“De Koning’s in the air, everywhere I look around,” Williams sang. “De Koning’s everywhere, leaving bodies on the ground.”
“And he’s better than his brother, even better than his dad.
“There’s only one Thomas de Koning, and he’s the best one we’ll ever have.”
Almost from the moment Williams posted to his Instagram story, De Koning’s phone started going off, with mates asking him if he had seen Williams’ serenade.
“It was obviously out of the blue; I wasn’t expecting it,” De Koning laughed. “He posted it on Saturday morning, or maybe Friday night, and I found out pretty quickly.”
“He is a massive superstar, so it is amazing he did that. I’ve got to say that I sent it straight to my brother (Sam) and my dad (Terry).”
He and Sam – Geelong’s premiership defender who is 18 months his junior – are very close, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a healthy sibling competitive streak.
“Yeah, we grew up competitive and that’s what has probably given us our edge and the will to win,” he said. “We still love each other and we get around each other more than the other way. But he still has a fair bit on me though in winning the flag (last year).”
De Koning is one of 10 kids in a blended family, with his mother Jackie, and his father, Terry, who played 31 games for Footscray in the VFL back in the 1980s.
He is impressed Williams even knew his dad played league football 40 years ago.
“That’s a good get from Robbie about my old man,” De Koning said.
As a keen surfer, De Koning is loving the fact that the Blues are riding the crest of a finals wave at the moment.
But as the Blues prepare for the herculean task of trying to become the first team to unseat Brisbane at the Gabba this year, he is appreciative of the journey he has been on this year with the club he loves and the teammates he feels connected to.
In a sense, it has been a rollercoaster for both club and the player.
Carlton was almost a wipe-out midway through the season with Voss under pressure as coach, at least from an external point of view.
De Koning was in the news, too, elevated for a time back to the VFL while rival clubs such as Geelong, St Kilda and Sydney were clambering for the out of contract Blue.
“It was only a little part of the year (playing in the VFL), but for me I knew I wasn’t playing the footy that I wanted to,” he said. “Speaking to the coaches, I knew what I had to work on.”
“Unfortunately, I had a concussion in the first one (VFL game) and missed a few weeks. It was a difficult period, but once I got back into the rhythm, I really haven’t missed a beat.
“I was lucky enough to get some consistency at AFL level which boosted my confidence.”
Family and football are the centre of De Koning’s axis.
That’s why many felt he could unite with brother Sam down the highway given that he already has a home on the Bellarine Peninsula.
Seven of his nine siblings live down there, while his parents are in the process of packing up their home on the Mornington Peninsula and heading down to the Surf Coast.
Lifestyle might have been a lure that Geelong used, but the Saints and the Swans were also in the frame with lucrative offers.
Through it all, he spoke at length with his captain Patrick Cripps, who had been through similar processes.
Cripps never pressured him. He acted as a sounding board at a time when the surfing partners were using a very different board.
“He said to me that he wasn’t going to tell me what to do, but he was there to help if I needed anything,” De Koning said.
“That allowed me to take the time to have a pressureless situation where I could sit back and make the best decision for me.”
He left the negotiations to his manager Robbie D’Orazio, but the longer the process went on, the more he realised he wanted to stick with the Blues.
He shocked the footy world by sticking with the navy Blues for two more seasons, announcing the deal the day before a crucial clash with Collingwood in round 20.
“In the end, the decision became pretty obvious to me,” he said.
“For me, I had to work through every aspect of my life personally. Once I weighed everything up, it was glaringly obvious that I wanted to re-sign with Carlton.
“It was like a weight off my shoulders. I could focus on my footy and I feel like I have been able to play more consistent footy.
“I feel like I belong now.”
Months on from signing the deal, he couldn’t be happier.
“I look back on the decision as the best one I have made, and I feel like it has freed me up as a player too,” he said.
His form, like that of his club, has shone in the second of the season. While some wondered if he and Marc Pittonet could forge a ruck partnership, they have thrived working together.
“‘Pitto’ did an amazing job on (Max) Gawn to nullify his game,” he said. “Hopefully that gives him a bit of confidence going into this week’s game against ‘Big O’ (Oscar McInerney).
“Vossy says it all the time, we feel like we complement each other. I feel like we’ve been able to build a real connection on the field which brings out our different strengths.
“He goes in there and ruffs them up, and uses his physicality, and that allows me to use my strengths as well, especially the last month.
“He (Pittonet) is one of the nicest blokes you would ever come across, but once he crosses that white line, he becomes very aggressive.
“It’s our job before a game to rev him up and kind of get him angry because that’s when he plays his best footy.”
De Koning credits Voss – and his teammates – for giving him the confidence to play to his strengths, especially in the back end of the year.
“I have learnt so much about my body this year and about how important it is to get consistency through a pre-season,” he said.
“I felt like off the back of getting a whole season in last year (19 games) and having a pre-season this year, it has taken me to this point in the year where I feel like I am hitting my straps (at the right time) rather being flat and having my body cooked.
“I still have heaps of energy and a lot left to give.”
Voss has been a key component of De Koning’s improvement.
“I love the way he goes about it, we walk out of meetings and we all say that we want to run through a brick wall for him,” he said.
“He is so motivational and so experienced. He shares his stories with us and I am sure that has helped to build the confidence we have right now.”
De Koning and the Blues stand one win away from a grand final, albeit with a huge task against a red-hot Brisbane outfit.
But he and his teammates are daring to dream of making that last Saturday in September – where his brother excelled for the Cats 12 months ago.
“We are trying to keep a lid on things at the moment and just concentrate on the task at hand (Brisbane),” he said. “But when Sammy won (last year), it kind of lit a fire in me to want to strive for that ultimate success.”
To play on footy’s biggest stage would be the ultimate for De Koning who has been to two grand finals, including last year when Robbie Williams acted as the entertainment and his brother etched his name into grand final folklore.
There might even be another stage on offer for De Koning later in the year, too, with Robbie Williams hinting about getting the Blues star to one of his Australian shows in November.
“I think he (Williams) is saying something about getting (me) to one of his shows … I would definitely go … I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
But first, and foremost, there is the date with Brisbane on Saturday, with a grand final berth on offer.
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