Milestone man Patrick Dangerfield says winning this year’s premiership would mark a “finishing piece” of career achievements, but it won’t define him as a player.
Dangerfield will become the 99th player in VFL/AFL history to reach the 300-game milestone when he lines up in Saturday’s clash with West Coast at GMHBA Stadium.
The 32-year-old’s career has been littered with individual success – eight All-Australians, the 2016 Brownlow medal, and three best and fairests with Geelong to go with one at Adelaide.
The one glaring omission has been premiership success.
The closest he came was in 2020, when Geelong led Richmond by 22 points in the grand final before the Dustin Martin-inspired Tigers romped home to win by 31 points.
With the Cats to finish on top of the ladder regardless of results this weekend, Dangerfield has another golden opportunity to end his flag drought over the coming weeks.
But even if it doesn’t come to fruition, he won’t let it define him.
“I think it’s the finishing piece if you will, but I don’t think it necessarily defines players,” Dangerfield told reporters on Wednesday.
“It’s what we all play for, but there’s so much of our game that you take enjoyment from, not just the final game in September.
“Clearly that would be a wonderful thing to achieve, and we’ve given ourselves a shot this year. We’re in a good position.
“But there’s so much enjoyment externally to just that.”
Dangerfield played 154 games across eight seasons at Adelaide before making a high-profile switch to Geelong at the end of 2015.
Cats coach Chris Scott was full of praise for Dangerfield’s impact both on and off the field.
“From a club’s perspective, we were at a real point of transition when Pat came in and he changed our club for the better,” Scott said.
“Obviously on the field, but that wasn’t the most significant part in my opinion. He changed us off the field.
“He gave our playing group some confidence and has really influenced the culture that we continue to try to build. He’s been integral to that.”
Scott is urging his players to embrace the growing expectations surrounding the team.
“We’d much rather have the privilege of that pressure than explain why we’re not in contention at this time of year,” he said.
“It’s all pretty exciting. You can’t do great things in life without a little bit of anxiety as your partner. We’re feeling good about it.”
Scott is confident both Jeremy Cameron (hamstring) and Rhys Stanley (adductor) will be fit for week one of the finals.
“Those two are right on track. They’ve both been running,” he said.
