Once a local kid who stood on a milk crate watching his Geelong heroes from afar, Patrick Dangerfield will enter his 350th AFL game as the once-in-a-generation unicorn who transformed his boyhood club.
Dangerfield will become the 25th AFL/VFL player to reach the rare milestone when he takes the field against Brisbane at GMHBA Stadium on Friday night.
The 35-year-old notched 154 games for Adelaide between 2008 and 2015 before heading home to Geelong as a free agent.
The eight-time All-Australian has added another 195 games, the 2016 Brownlow Medal, three best and fairests and a long-elusive premiership in 2022 – the Cats’ first in 11 years.
“It coincided with a period where I wouldn’t go so far as to say we were at the crossroads, but history is a pretty good guide in terms of list management and the length of time that teams can stay up in contention,” coach Chris Scott said.
“And we were certainly testing the boundaries of that through that period.
“He didn’t do it all himself, but he did a lot of it in terms of getting us back into contention.
“Pat himself talks about it a lot – there’s so many people that go into making a club successful over a long period of time. But none of them more important than him.
“… We were hopeful that he could help a lot, but no one could be so optimistic to think that one player is going to come in and completely transform the fortunes of our football team.
“But I’m happy enough to say, in the fullness of time, that he did that.”
For Scott, former AFLPA president Dangerfield is a player as influential off the field as on it, noting his ability to juggle being a friendly ear to teenage draftees with having “high-powered negotiations” with the AFL hierarchy.
“The impact he’s had on the club, off field, it’s been instructive for all of us, and certainly on a personal level he’s been great for me,” he said.
If Dangerfield was the driving force behind Geelong’s latest success, then the club has been just as important for the Moggs Creek local.
He joins former teammates Gary Ablett Jr, Joel Selwood and Tom Hawkins in reaching 350 games.
“It speaks to the organisation and the environment that’s been created that players want to hang around,” he said.
“They want to enjoy the environment. They want to squeeze everything out of their career.
“And it’s not necessarily the game that catches up with you mentally. It’s your body physically failing you, which I think is a great spot to be.”
Scott stands by past comments that Dangerfield, an explosive midfielder with relentless attack on the ball, was a “unicorn” of a player.
“He was the best player of that type in the competition,” he said.
“I’ve always had a bias, personally, towards the powerful inside midfielders. There have been some pretty good ones over the years, (Nat) Fyfe and (Dustin) Martin at that time. Patrick was singular in the way he played.
“… Habitually, he does some things that no other player can do.”
Now in his 18th season, Dangerfield has been transformed from a midfielder to a more permanent forward, which he considers a “game changer”.
It appears a move that could extend his career, though he refuses to look any further forward than his contract for next year.
“I’m happy to say I’m loving the game as much as I’ve ever loved it, to be honest,” he said.
“And perhaps that’s because you do get closer to the end than the start.
“And you realise how fortunate you are to play the game, to be involved in it, to try and feel young with the young players that come in and the stories they have and the way they go about things.
“.. That keeps things fun. It keeps you willing to be around.”
