The Unheralded Heroes

As Finals 2005 loom, the media focus will intensity on the big names of our great game. However, as Nick Mockford suggests, there will be certain players without the high profile who will prove just as important to their teams' fortunes.

It’s finals time, and everyone’s eyes are on the big prize. Reputations will be formed and shattered, every kick, tackle and spoil becomes twice as important, and seasons will be on the line every week up until that final day in September.

The focus will be on the big names in football. Who will truly stamp themselves as champions, and who will prove to be nothing more than home and away specialists? A blank book is upon us, and over the next four weeks the pages will be filled.

Of course, it’s not just the stars of the game that will be called upon. There are plenty of unheralded players who have a big role to play; those footballers who don’t get the recognition they probably deserve and aren’t held in the same regard as more esteemed counterparts, yet will still be vital to their side’s charge at premiership glory.

I have picked out eight players – one from each finals representative – who fit this mould.

For Adelaide, Martin Mattner has had a fine season, in a team that is superbly balanced across the board – not with superstars left right and centre, but players who do their job every week. Mattner generally plays on a wing, and has established himself as the team’s best tackler, and a very effective playmaker with a booming left-foot kick. While the names Ricciuto, Goodwin, Welsh, McLeod and Edwards will come up on opposition radars the most, Mattner’s drive and penetration could catch a few teams out.

If there is a criticism on West Coast, apart from their form in football’s primary state, it is their key position stocks. A midfield to die for, the best ruckman going around and plenty of running defenders and small forwards, but it’s a perceived lack of depth at both tall forward and defensive spots that has attracted criticism. As it stands, Adam Hunter isn’t a household name by any stretch, but has enjoyed a fine season at centre-half back, and looms as a key figure as he assists Darren Glass in the back half. Hunter is a dark horse for All-Australian honours at his position, but in the meantime John Worsfold will have no doubts as to the importance of his tough, reliable key defender.

People still refuse to give Sydney their fair dues, despite the fact that they are the arguably the most in-form side in the competition, and yet they continue to go about their business very efficiently. Their success has been built on a backline able to shut down opposition attacks, and then turn it into an offensive movement of their own, and unheralded Craig Bolton is at the root of it. Whilst his colleagues Leo Barry, Paul Williams and Tadgh Kennelly create most of this run, it is Bolton’s ability to shut down an opponent that sparks this.

Andrew Thompson has often been called St Kilda’s game breaker, which is an interesting perception given the riches Grant Thomas has at his disposal. However, whilst possible All-Australians Lenny Hayes, Luke Ball and Nick Dal Santo form the crux of an impressive engine room, it is Thompson’s experience and ability to spell the aforementioned three with short bursts on the ball that underlines his importance to a young Saints outfit. Once the central piece of St Kilda’s onball unit, he is now a spare parts man involved in the quest to bring a second trophy to Moorabbin.

He hails from Gembrook, he never misses an episode of Neighbours and he has become the Kangaroos’ Mr Fix-It of recent times. A successful product of the rookie system, Michael Firrito has gone from being a depth player to a key cog in the Roos’ first finals campaign in three years. He has performed roles as both a run-with a midfielder and as an effective key defender this season, and his attack on the man and ball, along with a rare ability to play on talls and smalls, ensures he will be among the most important names at Dean Laidley’s disposal.

It is amazing how many times Darren Milburn gets overlooked when it comes to listing Geelong’s stars. The names Cameron Ling, Matthew Scarlett, James Kelly, Gary Ablett Jnr, Joel Corey and James Bartel are regularly thrown about, but it is Milburn’s amazing consistency and football smarts which hold him in such high stead at the Cattery. He will be called upon to do a number of jobs by Mark Thompson, whether it be as a steadying influence in defence, providing run through the midfield or even pinch-hitting up forward, and while he won’t be given the recognition of some of his team mates, Cat fans know exactly how important he is to their team’s fortunes.

A month or three is a long time in football, and there is no team that represents this more than Melbourne. Being top of the ladder with five rounds to go in 2004 ended with a finals exit in the first week, and a blistering start to this season has been frittered away with the Demons hanging onto a final eight spot by the skin of their teeth. They possess a number of talented ball users and potent forwards, but the one player who doesn’t get enough credit is Matthew Whelan. While Brad Green, Cameron Bruce and Travis Johnstone will provide the silky finishing and Russell Robertson the goals, Whelan’s dash out of the back half and tough tackling should prove nearly as important.

Nothing in football is certain, while fortunes can change quickly, and Port Adelaide veteran Adam Kingsley is testament to both. Two seasons ago he was told he was unwanted at Alberton, but a summer of hard work convinced the club to retain him, and the response has been two of his most consistent seasons at senior level. Kingsley blends into a list that is starting to age, but his work rate and ability to always create an option for his team mates going forward are both key to a Power game plan that revolves around quick movement and rebound from the backline.

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