I don’t think playing so many pre-season games had any effect on me going into the season proper. It’s just not quite the same as home and away games. Obviously different clubs treat the competition differently, so they may not field their best side out there. I think it’s a totally different feeling once the home and away season begins because you know the four points are on the line and it’s really do or die.
It’s interesting, I’ve been looking at the stats around pre-season games records, because when I played, Denis Pagan was the coach and he wanted to win every single game. So in the pre-season competition we’d get our best possible team out on the field every time. I knew that the North Melbourne guys that I played with that had come through at the same time would all be up the top [of the leaderboard] too, and eight of the top 10 are all North Melbourne players that I played with.
It was probably a little bit unusual at that time for a coach to field his best side. I mean we were very keen to win every game that we could - the club financially needed to win, and it was Denis’ belief that winning form is good form. We also got to play on the best grounds around the country whilst we were still in the competition, so North always put out their best side. I had a look at the records list, and you would’ve thought that someone like Wayne Carey would’ve been rested in the pre-season, but he’s played the second most games! [Wayne Carey and Glenn Archer are equal-second on the list, at 36 games apiece]
We won in ’95 and ’98. That was the other thing, I guess I’ve been able to play in such a high number of games because in just a few years we had done quite well in the competition. I also played in two losing premierships as well, one with Fitzroy and one with the Kangas, so I made my way through the competition on quite a few occasions, which obviously boosted the numbers up!
It’s totally different going into a pre-season competition premiership. Of course it’s good to win, but you realise that the main season is what it’s all about. You hope to have some good form so you take it into the season, both as a team and as an individual, and I guess it’s a bit of a relief to get through and know that you’re not injured, you’ve gotten through, you’ve played well, and now you can launch off and hopefully have a good season. It’s the best competition there is for getting the body ready to play home and away games. They’re good to win, but you know what the big picture is.
