A tribute to Mr Consistency
As we get set for the big game on Easter Monday against Geelong, one milestone has crept up on us all
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Consistency.
For all the flash, all the skill and the hype that some players deliver across their careers, I don't think there would be anything you could want to be praised more for across your career.
The guy who shows up week in and week out and delivers everything they're told.
The guy who gets to every contest and delivers.
The guy that when, as fans, we see the ball in their general direction, we feel calm.
There have been some rough moments as supporters of this club in the past seven or so seasons, but when Blake Hardwick is near the ball, you feel calm. That's what Dimma does for this club.
When Blake Hardwick was drafted to the club, he was a forward, kicking 56 goals in 16 games for the Eastern Ranges - 20 more than anyone in the competition. I read his draft profile today:
A strong ‘lead-up’ forward, Hardwick has proven a difficult one-on-one match up, boasting the ability to burst away from contested situations.
No wonder he trained with the forwards this year - Box Hill's leading goal kicker in 2016 might I add.
But in a team loaded with small forwards, Clarko sent him down back, and you could almost immediately see why.
In round 15 that year his Rising Star nomination came off a performance that boasted 19 touches at 94 percent disposal efficiency, with five tackles and three marks to go with it.
A year later, in a year we finished top four, and in his first season in the number 15, he was our most promising player on PCM night. It's not hard to see why.
What we had on our hands was a guy who could read the play incredibly well, find himself in the right spot to contest, to slow an opposition forward. He could find the ball on his own, or he could intercept it just as easily.
A player who has never been credited for his rebound 50s like he should be. Who tackles with as much ferocity as anyone in the comp. Who flies for a spoil, who runs back with the flight of the ball like he has no fear. Who gains more metres on the ground than you'd expect, even to some of our more stat-heavy supporters.
It's why in 2022 he was our most courageous player. It's why in his second full season of 2018 he was second in the PCM, and why he did the same in 2021.
As for consistency - how does missing seven games since the start of 2017 sound to you? You know that Dimma is going to be out there, that he is going to be giving everything he has week in and week out.
This is a player who has become one of the most trusted cogs in the wheel, who takes every job and does it as well as anyone in our side.
Who is still telling the coach that he's really a forward that just plays in the backline.
That is playing 150 games this week.
Yet, that number still snuck up on me somehow. It's something about reliable and consistent players - even though you are ready to sing their praises, you also sometimes don't notice them. But there would be few inside our club who don't.
You know that Dimma is one of the first magents on the board when Sammy and the team pick their side.
It's been that way for 150 games, and long will it be.
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I think it borders on criminal that Blake Hardwick has never received a Brownlow vote (as far as I know). I realise he's not flashy, but he is so effective. In our game last April against the Bulldogs he had 27 possessions, 12 marks while giving his opponent for most of the day, Cody Weightman, an absolute bath. In a winning team, Cody managed 3 possies for the day. For Blake, not even the sniff of a single Brownlow vote!
Nice work Andrew and very well said.