Optimax
Brownlow Medallist
This was in the Age and gave good insight into the kid
http://realfooty.com.au/news/news/m...1177788141602.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
I THOUGHT Brad Dick was special when I saw him playing for the AFL's indigenous youth team last year in South Africa. Even relative to his skilful peers, he had unusual amounts of time. He also had a big grin. Most indigenous kids are shy and hard to get to know. Brad was easy to say hello to.
Early in that tour, we went to a black township to do a clinic with local schoolkids. About 600 of them were sitting in a steel grandstand when the indigenous team arrived. The reception wouldn't have been any bigger if they'd been U2.
I saw what Brad Dick wrote at the end of the tour. His writing skills aren't the best, but his meaning was clear. The kids had touched his heart — he said as much. I remember him that day, conducting a game for the enthusiastic young locals, big grin on his face. Saw the grin again on Anzac Day when he slotted the decider from near the 50 in the flick of an eyelid.
Brad Dick is said to get his grin from his mother, Ros. She and Brad's father, Kim, have moved to Melbourne to help their son make it in the AFL and she was in the stands at the MCG on Anzac Day. She was actually sitting in front of Collingwood players Paul Medhurst and Marty Clarke. When he kicked the goal, one of them tapped her on the shoulder and said: "It was only a matter of time." She was on her feet at that moment.
Dick, 18, played his first game in round three against Richmond. I was taken aback to see him out there. I can only imagine how his mother must have felt. It was like watching a kid playing in heavy traffic. Is the AFL different to the other footy you've played, I asked him? "Yeah," he said. "It's faster and the bodies are bigger. It's harder to get a kick."
Dick won the medal for the best player on the youth tour of South Africa. Everyone said he was good enough to play in the AFL, but everyone thought he was too slight. When he arrived at Collingwood, he weighed 64 kilograms. He's up to 67 now. "Mick (Malthouse) wants me to get to between 74 and 78." Dick is working nearly every day in the gym. At first, he didn't like doing weights, but he does now because he sees the need for it.
Dick got his first football from his father when he was eight months old. As a kid growing up in Geraldton in Western Australia, he saw footage of a West Coast match in which the Eagles' Chris Mainwaring bent and dodged his way out of a pack after being trapped on the wing. "He used to watch it and watch it," says his mother. He'd get his parents out in the backyard and make them re-enact it. He, of course, was Mainwaring.
An uncle on his mother's side is 1970s Carlton star Syd Jackson; an uncle on his father's side is former Essendon player Willie Dick. Essendon recruit Dean Dick is his cousin. Dean stays with Brad's family at weekends.
Brad's father Kim, a mental health worker, is a Noongar, from the south of the state. Many of the great Aboriginal footballers — Polly Farmer, Stephen Michael, the Krakouers, Jackson — have been Noongars, who include among their number those who'll tell you they were never conquered by the whites.
On the inside of his right arm, Dick has two tattoos in large, ornate script. One is the name of the town Goomalling, where his father's Noongar family are buried. The other is the word "mum". "I've got a lot of respect for Mum." A woman who works at Collingwood told me Dick is the first footballer to have offered to carry her bags on a trip.
At first, Collingwood also thought he was too small, but gave him a go because of Dale Thomas. (Thomas' career could be important to the game. He's bringing a certain type back to the game — Ronnie Wearmouth with class.) Collingwood gave Dick a chance in its practice matches. "He kept getting the ball," says assistant coach Alan Richardson. The Pies are pleased with how hard Dick is working at his game, including its defensive aspects.
Each of the junior players at Collingwood has a mentor; Dick's is Paul Licuria. Leon Davis is the Aboriginal player who has been longest at the club and is a Noongar to boot. Dick describes Davis as being "like a big brother".
I also know enough about Nathan Buckley to know that he would be important to Dick. Buckley played footy with a lot of Aboriginal players. His mother worked in Aboriginal health when the family lived in the Northern Territory.
In 2002, I went to the Tiwi Islands with Buckley and a handful of Collingwood players. Some of the older women in the community knew Buckley's mother and I saw the highly respectful way in which he was received by them. I also saw the respect he showed back. Dick says: "Bucks talks to me a lot." Buckley's mother also has rung Dick's mother to see how she's getting on. Even Joffa, the ringmaster of the crowd behind the Collingwood goal, has rung the family to check everything's OK. Good club, Collingwood. Smart, too.
Dick and I met last week at the Lexus Centre, which he described as "real flash". He still grins, but he's not the relaxed kid I met in South Africa. He's being driven by something but maybe he needs to be to make it. He always wanted to play for Collingwood.
i sure hope he makes it as he will be exciting to watch, it will be one hell of a good ride, and good to know he is determined to make it too. Good luck Brad
http://realfooty.com.au/news/news/m...1177788141602.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
I THOUGHT Brad Dick was special when I saw him playing for the AFL's indigenous youth team last year in South Africa. Even relative to his skilful peers, he had unusual amounts of time. He also had a big grin. Most indigenous kids are shy and hard to get to know. Brad was easy to say hello to.
Early in that tour, we went to a black township to do a clinic with local schoolkids. About 600 of them were sitting in a steel grandstand when the indigenous team arrived. The reception wouldn't have been any bigger if they'd been U2.
I saw what Brad Dick wrote at the end of the tour. His writing skills aren't the best, but his meaning was clear. The kids had touched his heart — he said as much. I remember him that day, conducting a game for the enthusiastic young locals, big grin on his face. Saw the grin again on Anzac Day when he slotted the decider from near the 50 in the flick of an eyelid.
Brad Dick is said to get his grin from his mother, Ros. She and Brad's father, Kim, have moved to Melbourne to help their son make it in the AFL and she was in the stands at the MCG on Anzac Day. She was actually sitting in front of Collingwood players Paul Medhurst and Marty Clarke. When he kicked the goal, one of them tapped her on the shoulder and said: "It was only a matter of time." She was on her feet at that moment.
Dick, 18, played his first game in round three against Richmond. I was taken aback to see him out there. I can only imagine how his mother must have felt. It was like watching a kid playing in heavy traffic. Is the AFL different to the other footy you've played, I asked him? "Yeah," he said. "It's faster and the bodies are bigger. It's harder to get a kick."
Dick won the medal for the best player on the youth tour of South Africa. Everyone said he was good enough to play in the AFL, but everyone thought he was too slight. When he arrived at Collingwood, he weighed 64 kilograms. He's up to 67 now. "Mick (Malthouse) wants me to get to between 74 and 78." Dick is working nearly every day in the gym. At first, he didn't like doing weights, but he does now because he sees the need for it.
Dick got his first football from his father when he was eight months old. As a kid growing up in Geraldton in Western Australia, he saw footage of a West Coast match in which the Eagles' Chris Mainwaring bent and dodged his way out of a pack after being trapped on the wing. "He used to watch it and watch it," says his mother. He'd get his parents out in the backyard and make them re-enact it. He, of course, was Mainwaring.
An uncle on his mother's side is 1970s Carlton star Syd Jackson; an uncle on his father's side is former Essendon player Willie Dick. Essendon recruit Dean Dick is his cousin. Dean stays with Brad's family at weekends.
Brad's father Kim, a mental health worker, is a Noongar, from the south of the state. Many of the great Aboriginal footballers — Polly Farmer, Stephen Michael, the Krakouers, Jackson — have been Noongars, who include among their number those who'll tell you they were never conquered by the whites.
On the inside of his right arm, Dick has two tattoos in large, ornate script. One is the name of the town Goomalling, where his father's Noongar family are buried. The other is the word "mum". "I've got a lot of respect for Mum." A woman who works at Collingwood told me Dick is the first footballer to have offered to carry her bags on a trip.
At first, Collingwood also thought he was too small, but gave him a go because of Dale Thomas. (Thomas' career could be important to the game. He's bringing a certain type back to the game — Ronnie Wearmouth with class.) Collingwood gave Dick a chance in its practice matches. "He kept getting the ball," says assistant coach Alan Richardson. The Pies are pleased with how hard Dick is working at his game, including its defensive aspects.
Each of the junior players at Collingwood has a mentor; Dick's is Paul Licuria. Leon Davis is the Aboriginal player who has been longest at the club and is a Noongar to boot. Dick describes Davis as being "like a big brother".
I also know enough about Nathan Buckley to know that he would be important to Dick. Buckley played footy with a lot of Aboriginal players. His mother worked in Aboriginal health when the family lived in the Northern Territory.
In 2002, I went to the Tiwi Islands with Buckley and a handful of Collingwood players. Some of the older women in the community knew Buckley's mother and I saw the highly respectful way in which he was received by them. I also saw the respect he showed back. Dick says: "Bucks talks to me a lot." Buckley's mother also has rung Dick's mother to see how she's getting on. Even Joffa, the ringmaster of the crowd behind the Collingwood goal, has rung the family to check everything's OK. Good club, Collingwood. Smart, too.
Dick and I met last week at the Lexus Centre, which he described as "real flash". He still grins, but he's not the relaxed kid I met in South Africa. He's being driven by something but maybe he needs to be to make it. He always wanted to play for Collingwood.
i sure hope he makes it as he will be exciting to watch, it will be one hell of a good ride, and good to know he is determined to make it too. Good luck Brad
