No. 40 David Wojcinski

[CatmanForever]

http://gfc.com.au/portals/0/images/players/cats/David_Wojcinski_small.jpg

David Wojcinski


Fast Facts

Jumper No: 40
Height: 180 cm
Weight: 80 kg
DOB: 18 September 1980

[darren forssman]

good polish stock...good to see a slav taking it to the world

[a.f.k.a.y.o.p.]

good polish stock...good to see a slav taking it to the world
Not only taking it to the world but ever so slowly dominating it........
given Polands record at the Olympics in track and field, touch surprising to see a genuine speedster emerge........

[Mooney_d'King]

Not only taking it to the world but ever so slowly dominating it........
given Polands record at the Olympics in track and field, touch surprising to see a genuine speedster emerge........

True. By genetics alone, he really should've turned out to be a shot-putter.

[darren forssman]

True. By genetics alone, he really should've turned out to be a shot-putter.

a female one at that

[G.F.C]

Nice article in the Herald Sun on David today, well worth the read.

[re cat]

Nice article in the Herald Sun on David today, well worth the read.
:thumbsu::)

[Cheshire Cat]

Nice article in the Herald Sun on David today, well worth the read.

Great article. Totally agree as well, Wojcinski is crucial to our premiership aspirations, its good to see he is becoming the player I knew he could be.

[CatmanForever]

Wojcinski the Geelong express
09 June 2007 Herald-Sun
Scott Gullan

EXACTLY how fast David Wojcinski can run remains a mystery. The only time the AFL's version of Asafa Powell has been clocked for 100m was a disaster.
Johnson fuels Cat revival

"I have been timed with a stopwatch once," the Cats defender recalled this week. "I had just got back from a broken leg two weeks earlier and I ran a pathetic time at a school sports meet.

"I ran in the 100m sprint at the Grand Final three or four years ago but the ground was heavy and I slipped at the start so that was also no good."

It is no secret that Wojcinski is fast but never before has his speed had such an impact. This year he and the Cats are living the motto: "Speed kills and thrills."

One opposition coach this week even went as far as to say he holds the key to Geelong's premiership aspirations.

"A lot of people would say Gary Ablett, Paul Chapman or a Cameron Mooney are the keys down there, but without Wojcinski it all breaks down," he said. "I'm telling you he is crucial to the way they play, he's a 60m player who breaks lines and that is like gold in today's game."

To be precise, Wojcinski is actually a 44.6m player according to Champion Data statistics. That's the average metres gained by Geelong from one of his possessions and it ranks No. 2 in the competition behind the Bulldogs' Ryan Griffen.

He is also No. 2 for running bounces and is averaging a career-high 18 disposals a match, hitting a target an impressive 85.4 per cent of the time.

The stats also show that Wojcinski has been crucial in straightening the Cats up this season, with 58 per cent of his midfield possessions through the corridor. The competition average is just 33 per cent.

A couple of hapless Saints in Nick Dal Santo and Shane Birss witnessed first-hand at Telstra Dome on Sunday exactly what Wojcinski can do when he switches on the after-burners.

At the 20-minute mark of the first quarter, Wojcinski received a handball from Cameron Ling on the wing and then, with total contempt for his St Kilda opponents, took them on, had two bounces and kicked the goal from 50m.

"I saw a bit of an opening and just went for it," he said. "Lingy was actually yelling at me to take them on so I figured I might.

"I have always been told to get the ball and just run, even from an early age. All I have ever been told is to get it and run with it, don't hog it, but just get it and go and take them on.

"People say you can hurt opposition teams and it really sparks your side so just do it."

The origins of the speed are a bit of a mystery although his father, Charlie, claimed he showed a bit of toe as a player.

"Dad reckons he was pretty quick when he was young and he used to crack jokes about it," Wojcinski said. "I can't remember him playing footy but I'm told he was pretty quick so I suppose that is where I get it from."

Growing up in the small Gippsland town of Heyfield - his parents used to run the local post office - Wojcinski was your typical country kid who played footy in the winter and cricket in the summer.

He progressed to the TAC Cup with Gippsland Power and played for Vic Country in the national championships which ensured he was on the recruiters' radar.

A broken leg midway through his second season in the under-18s had him worried that he might be overlooked, although his concerns were eased when then-Richmond coach Jeff Gieschen, who hailed from down the road at Maffra and had played with his dad, called in to see him leading up to the 1998 draft.

He told Wojcinski the Tigers would take him with their first pick (No. 40) if he was still around. He wasn't, with the Cats snaring him at No. 24 and James White (four career games) going to Punt Rd.

But looking back it was almost like he was meant to be a Cat. The person who broke his leg that year was a Geelong Falcon by the name of Cameron Ling plus he had filled in as a top-up player for the Geelong reserves earlier in the season and played alongside future teammates Steven King and Darren Milburn.

Earlier that year he had lined up in the blue and white hoops on the MCG against Melbourne. "I kicked a goal and was rapt," he said. "I also got to keep my shorts and socks which was great."

Maybe it's the youthful face, the bounce in his step or a look at his games-played stat which makes you think he's younger than his 26 years. "This is my ninth year and I think that surprises a lot of people," he said. "I'm probably fifth or sixth oldest down here."

Wojcinski finally played his 100th game in Round 7 against West Coast with the milestone met with a big sigh of relief.

"It was something I wanted to get out of the way," he said. "You see blokes my age who are playing 150-160 games and I am just getting to 100. I haven't done it real easy."

To be specific, it was Round 2, 2005 when Wojcinski's career suddenly got a whole lot harder. A regulation dash through the middle of Subiaco went horribly wrong when he went to change direction to evade an Eagle and his right knee buckled.

A full knee reconstruction was required and it has taken him two years to regain his confidence and play with the freedom which makes him the Cats' lethal weapon.

Wojcinski admits there were times when he thought he may never get back to being the player he was. "I had my doubts and last year was a very hard year," he said.

He was dropped three times and managed just 15 games as he battled his mental and physical demons.

"I missed out on the pre-season, I was running and stuff but it was all straight-line running and not football running," he said. "I just couldn't run out games, I would go for one run up the ground and I would be buggered for 10 or 15 minutes afterwards.

"I wasn't trying to cut too hard or try to take on the impossible. As the year went on I got better but it took me a few goes to get used to it again. I think once I got back to Subiaco (Round 12) and played a game over there and actually played all right it sort of erased all the doubts.

"I don't even think about it now. It really feels like I have got my leg back."

During his enforced layoff in 2005 Wojcinski - the name is Polish - headed to Europe for six weeks, visiting his father's cousins in Germany and then travelling through Greece, France and Italy.

"It helped me so much," he said. "I was still checking the internet every week to see how the boys went but it was so good to get away and it made the time out of the game go quicker."

Last year he got another chance to head back there following the Cats' end-of-season game against Port Adelaide in London but this time it was very different because he wanted to get home as quickly as possible.

Wojcinski and his long-time partner Casey had become the proud parents of a baby boy, Alfie, on Grand Final eve, making him just the third father at the club. (Cameron Mooney became No. 4 on Thursday with a baby boy, Jagger).

"It's awesome," he beams. "I just can't wait to get home and play with him. If you have had a bad day at training or something like that then you go home and he has always got a smile on his face."

Much like his football team, Wojcinski is enjoying life at the moment, which is something that couldn't be said about both last year.

While he has a cruisy personality - he often sits in his backyard and watches the stars - and is much loved by everyone down at Skilled Stadium for being a genuine good bloke, there is a seriousness to his tone when discussing where the Cats are heading this season.

"You get that feeling that everyone is expecting us to fall over again but we are pretty determined not to let it happen," he said.

"Hopefully this is it, we have changed it and from now on the new blokes coming in don't get exposed to that up and down form and the mentality of the place.

"Hopefully we can carry on forward in a good way."

At lightning speed, of course.


http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,21873501%255E19742,00.html

[Metallica_Man]

AFL Round 11 v Adelaide
Kept quiet today, didn't get the chance to run the lines like usual due to Adelaide's floods down the corridor.

[Rustybugles]

One of our best, this bloke!
Can we get a correct phonetic pronunciation of his name - they butchered it on the commentaries and frequently do. Is it 'Woi-chinski'? I'm told it's not 'Wodg-inski' which I've always called him. Most go for 'Monica' - hard to get wrong. One of you blokes with the Polish signatures can tell us. Then tell the media.

[Tommy the Cat]

he's always had good foot speed but now he has improved his disposals,

he is on fire atm

[thejester]

How good was he after that 50m? Should think about giving rugby a go after he burned through about three tacklers over 10 metres - and then went on a blinding run!

[Big Nasty]

How good was he after that 50m? Should think about giving rugby a go after he burned through about three tacklers over 10 metres - and then went on a blinding run!
Best play I have seriously seen in the AFL for a long time.

[Selwood07]

One of his best games - against Essendon, despite the fact that we could not always get our usual run - he did not give up. Umps watched him carefully as we noticed - penalised for retaliating. How do you pronounce his name?
Woja will do me.

[CatmanForever]

loved his heart in the 3rd quarter when he got a few umpire decisions against him. He seemed to fire up and take on everyone and win after that.

[JUBJUB]

loved his heart in the 3rd quarter when he got a few umpire decisions against him. He seemed to fire up and take on everyone and win after that.

I liked his di.ck head signal when he was on the mark :D