Patrick Dangerfield is a premiership player.
That sure beats being a three-time winner of the grand final sprint, as he was between 2011-13.
It took him until he was a 32-year-old, playing his 303rd AFL game and his 149th as a Cat, to win the flag he coveted.
Patrick Dangerfield celebrates a premiership with Cats’ skipper Joel Selwood. Credit:The age
He did not do so limping over the line, but being best on ground in the preliminary final and a dominant force in the grand final where he finished second in the Norm Smith Medal to Isaac Smith.
The work to get him there started in 2021 when he travelled to Adelaide four times a week to visit physiotherapist Dr Steve Saunders to settle his groin and calf troubles down.
With that done, a plan was set for 2022 to rebuild a power athlete who would perform best when the stakes were highest.
Ex-Cat Harry Taylor and Saunders convinced Dangerfield that he would not return before he was ready, having made a rapid comeback from a syndesmosis injury in 2021.
As a calf issue arose early in the season, frustration could have taken over, but the champion was convinced the team did not need him all the time – though they would need him.
“We were really thorough with our reconditioning and put a plan in place,” Taylor said.
He did it by focusing on his preparation. By not thinking he had to do anything other than be the best player he could be; a mighty player, a match-winner who did not need to be an ideas man, or try to fix the problems of others.
Dangerfield kept showing up, speaking freely and weighing into issues when required, but he had a steeliness to his strut that had not been seen in previous seasons.
To grab hold of what he wanted, he had to let go and recognise he did not have to do everything for Geelong to win; just pick up a lazy 26 touches, five centre clearances and 19 contested possessions.
Dangerfield did so by speaking to Dr Michael Gervais, a high-performance psychologist who helped the Seahawks coach Pete Carroll in the NFL, and learnt to return to the moment, any time the mind wandered, to him standing with family with a premiership medallion draped around his neck.
“There is a time when you have had a few hiccups here and there physically is to make sure your own preparation is right. That is the most important thing as a leader and a player, is to perform well,” Dangerfield said.
Gervais’ podcast is called Finding Mastery and Dangerfield had found it in the year he overcame calf problems, polled just six of his 236 Brownlow votes, and peaked like an Olympic athlete.
The Cats celebrate with the cup.Credit:Eddie Jim
On Saturday, he started his 26th final in the middle and won the first touch of the match. He bounced around to find the flow of the game before he surged in a four-minute patch midway through the opening quarter that signalled the end for Sydney.
In that spectacular period Dangerfield won the ball at half forward, sprinted around an opponent and hit Mark Blicavs on the chest. Blicavs kicked a goal. Dangerfield then won the next clearance through sheer will, launching at the ball like a sprinter attempting to win a beach flag race.
He won possession and kicked it forward where Smith crumbed the loose ball and kicked the goal.
Then came the coronation as Dangerfield sprinted from the centre clearance in familiar style, like a waterskier speeding towards a jump before launching forward. Tom Hawkins dropped the mark, but at that point it was clear Dangerfield was on and Sydney had no answer.
Dangerfield was controlled in executing his skills, heeding the message the great Leigh Matthews had delivered on radio during the week when he said the only danger for “Danger” was that he might try too hard.
He wasn’t dwelling on the past, he was ready to enjoy the moment.
“It’s nice to cap it off with this win and to have a season where we fulfilled what we set out to do,” Dangerfield said.
“For me it has never been about looking too far ahead, it’s to embrace the moment and enjoy each year and that is what collectively we have done.”
Eight times All-Australian, he was already a champion.
Now he is a premiership player, still Dangerfield the man from Moggs Creek who went to Geelong to be close to home, a player Chris Scott said had delivered already whether he won a flag or not.
