Here’s a guy from South Australia who went to an interstate football team and wasn’t quite sure how long he’d stay.
It was a challenging time in the mid 1990s for the Swans because they weren’t successful, they weren’t playing a high-quality style of football, crowds were very low and the financial plight was dire.
For a guy to make such a big decision at such a young age and stay there his entire career says a lot about him as an individual.
He’s one of the foundation players who enabled the Swans to entice a number of other young players from all around the country to make Sydney their home.
Most importantly, he’s not only a good player but he’s a good person.
He’s very supportive of those he interacts with. He makes other people feel good when they are at the football club, whether they are playing, training or just hanging around.
I think he deserves all the accolades he gets, he’s been an integral part of that footy club, not only on the field but more importantly in setting a good example for the next generation of players to come through.
My most vivid recollection of Mick when I was playing at North Melbourne was the 1996 grand final against the Sydney Swans.
He was a skinny kid – a prodigious talent who, like many indigenous players, could do the unbelievable.
While we didn’t know a great deal about him, we knew that if we didn’t mark him closely in that grand final, he was a player who could do something quite magical.
There was a lot of effort put into the likes of Tony Lockett, Paul Roos, Daryn Cresswell and Paul Kelly but we were also mindful of this kid called O’Loughlin in the forward pocket. He actually played fairly well and that says a lot about him at an early age.
When I came to the Swans in 1998, the entire coaching and playing group made the transition an easy one but Mick was one of the players who went out of his way to speak to me.
That might sound like no big deal but it’s a competitive environment that we’re in and some blokes are good at communicating and engaging with people. Mick’s one of the best. He’s a likeable person and he’s a guy you want to play football with.
Of all the players I’ve played with or against, he is the best player that I’ve seen in regards to out bodying an opponent one-on-one.
I’ve never seen anybody who has been able to initiate the first contact and get himself into a position where he can mark the ball or take possession as well as Mick’s done over so many years.
I retired in 2002 and at that time – seven years ago – Mick had a wonky knee.
This year hasn’t been his best year but to get another six and a half years of quality football out of himself when you consider he was struggling with knee tendonitis back then is testament to his durability and his ability to play with pain. Not every player has that ability, but he certainly has.
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
