Jan Guy
Draftee
Sorry everyone I meant "leather poisoning" not "lead poisoning".
Go Gavin!!!
Go Gavin!!!
Gavin Wanganeen
- Thread starter Jan Guy
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- Apr 27, 2002
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You didn't need to start a new thread in order to say that 
Did someone say 'merge'?
Did someone say 'merge'?
[Port Pirie Joke]
Mark Bickley
[/Port Pirie Joke]
Mark Bickley
[/Port Pirie Joke]
Ford Fairlane
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- Feb 21, 2002
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- #4
So the thread isn't wasted, here's an article on Wangas by Tim Watson from today's Age .
Wily Wanganeen driven by need for a challenge
By Tim Watson
June 11 2003
Gavin Wanganeen has always found the game so easy to play - keeping him challenged has been the greatest coaching task.
At 30 years of age he will be out of contract at the end of this season. His form would suggest a healthy two-to-three year extension but the negotiations have stalled. Port Adelaide has the upperhand. The brilliant defender is home and he's nearing the age when you negotiate figures down, not up.
Deep down, Port may also be thinking that the bloke who has a tendency to coast is producing his best footy for a decade with this contractual challenge in the background. Gavin's reward will not be financial, it will be the fulfilment of his God-given talent.
Wanganeen is having his best season since winning the Brownlow Medal in 1993. He leads The Age award with 83 votes, having polled in every game this year. Michael Voss won the award last year with 81 votes and is 22 votes behind. Voss has also been in vintage form.
If Wanganeen does win his second Brownlow he will be the first to do so with a 10-year gap between victories.
In some ways he appears to be more complete than the 1993 version. Then, he was rarely pushed forward during games and could be exposed by smart forwards who presented to the ball. Experience has taught him the art of judging distance, while mounting pre-season campaigns have added endurance and strength to both his body and mind. Wanganeen is an all-rounder. In the round-10 game against Collingwood he was stopping them, setting them up in the midfield and kicking them into attack all in the space of 30 minutes.
The move by Essendon back in '93 to put him in defence came as a result of a close evaluation of his strengths and weaknesses over the summer. Despite his flair he didn't kick a lot of goals. What he loved doing was tackling and chasing down opponents. It was quickly discovered that acceleration and pace would get him to the contests. Reflexes and recovery would help win the ball.
While his mind still wandered in the back half, the challenges kept presenting themselves, unlike at the other end of the ground where he was required to go looking for them. He was a natural. Against the flow of play he would win a 50-50 contest with sheer courage and anticipation. Opposition coaches would ask their forwards to play him deep. That didn't work because Wanganeen wouldn't go back.
The calculation in his head told him the best way to defend was to deny his direct opponent the ball, not sit anchored in the back pocket. He went in search of it and cut it off. Wanganeen would deny Pythagoras the ball so good is his reading of angles.
Dyslexic and troubled by the combination and placement of words, he has a remarkable talent to not only read the flow of play but what's on the mind of the player with the ball.
The next tactic that worked better was to play through his man, forcing him to be more accountable. It could reduce his effectiveness but didn't necessarily help the side score due to the reorganisation of the forward structure to implement the strategy.
Gavin changed the way people in footy viewed Aboriginal players. The tendency had always been to use the flair at the other end of the ground or in the middle. Wanganeen has trail-blazed a path for his indigenous brothers.
Chris Johnson and David Wirrpunda are masters at turning defence into attack while Xavier Clarke has given the Saints a sense of excitement every time the ball goes into defence.
Like so many other Aboriginal boys, Wanganeen was painfully shy in his first couple of years. The Brownlow Medal elevated him to superstar status and he immediately became a hero to thousands of kids, particularly Aboriginal kids in faraway places.
A group of islanders arrived one day eager to meet their idol, who was in the gym doing his weights. In turn, they ran to the door yelling out his name in excited tones before running off and disappearing into the larger group. Gavin was too embarrrassed to talk to them.
Wanganeen is Daicos-like in build. A long torso connects itself to short legs. The design has served him well, enabling him to hold his ground over the ball while not inhibiting his pace in any way.
In the pre-season of 1994 the Bombers went to Aberfeldie running track for speed testing. Danny Corcoran, our fitness coach, had paired up the players for 100-metre time-trials. There was one marquee match-up - Gavin Wanganeen against Michael Long. Never before had the two raced each other.
The entire list was at the track and by the time they had lined up for the start the viewing crowd had swelled.
A former coach describes it as one of the greatest contests he had witnessed. The two proud men, wearing runners, slugged it out all the way down the track, barely a cigarette paper separating them. The time didn't interest them - the contest did. Gavin contorted himself, dipping his shoulder at the finish.
Wanganeen was the narrowest of victors - Longy had forced him to produce his best, the challenge too hard to ignore.
Wily Wanganeen driven by need for a challenge
By Tim Watson
June 11 2003
Gavin Wanganeen has always found the game so easy to play - keeping him challenged has been the greatest coaching task.
At 30 years of age he will be out of contract at the end of this season. His form would suggest a healthy two-to-three year extension but the negotiations have stalled. Port Adelaide has the upperhand. The brilliant defender is home and he's nearing the age when you negotiate figures down, not up.
Deep down, Port may also be thinking that the bloke who has a tendency to coast is producing his best footy for a decade with this contractual challenge in the background. Gavin's reward will not be financial, it will be the fulfilment of his God-given talent.
Wanganeen is having his best season since winning the Brownlow Medal in 1993. He leads The Age award with 83 votes, having polled in every game this year. Michael Voss won the award last year with 81 votes and is 22 votes behind. Voss has also been in vintage form.
If Wanganeen does win his second Brownlow he will be the first to do so with a 10-year gap between victories.
In some ways he appears to be more complete than the 1993 version. Then, he was rarely pushed forward during games and could be exposed by smart forwards who presented to the ball. Experience has taught him the art of judging distance, while mounting pre-season campaigns have added endurance and strength to both his body and mind. Wanganeen is an all-rounder. In the round-10 game against Collingwood he was stopping them, setting them up in the midfield and kicking them into attack all in the space of 30 minutes.
The move by Essendon back in '93 to put him in defence came as a result of a close evaluation of his strengths and weaknesses over the summer. Despite his flair he didn't kick a lot of goals. What he loved doing was tackling and chasing down opponents. It was quickly discovered that acceleration and pace would get him to the contests. Reflexes and recovery would help win the ball.
While his mind still wandered in the back half, the challenges kept presenting themselves, unlike at the other end of the ground where he was required to go looking for them. He was a natural. Against the flow of play he would win a 50-50 contest with sheer courage and anticipation. Opposition coaches would ask their forwards to play him deep. That didn't work because Wanganeen wouldn't go back.
The calculation in his head told him the best way to defend was to deny his direct opponent the ball, not sit anchored in the back pocket. He went in search of it and cut it off. Wanganeen would deny Pythagoras the ball so good is his reading of angles.
Dyslexic and troubled by the combination and placement of words, he has a remarkable talent to not only read the flow of play but what's on the mind of the player with the ball.
The next tactic that worked better was to play through his man, forcing him to be more accountable. It could reduce his effectiveness but didn't necessarily help the side score due to the reorganisation of the forward structure to implement the strategy.
Gavin changed the way people in footy viewed Aboriginal players. The tendency had always been to use the flair at the other end of the ground or in the middle. Wanganeen has trail-blazed a path for his indigenous brothers.
Chris Johnson and David Wirrpunda are masters at turning defence into attack while Xavier Clarke has given the Saints a sense of excitement every time the ball goes into defence.
Like so many other Aboriginal boys, Wanganeen was painfully shy in his first couple of years. The Brownlow Medal elevated him to superstar status and he immediately became a hero to thousands of kids, particularly Aboriginal kids in faraway places.
A group of islanders arrived one day eager to meet their idol, who was in the gym doing his weights. In turn, they ran to the door yelling out his name in excited tones before running off and disappearing into the larger group. Gavin was too embarrrassed to talk to them.
Wanganeen is Daicos-like in build. A long torso connects itself to short legs. The design has served him well, enabling him to hold his ground over the ball while not inhibiting his pace in any way.
In the pre-season of 1994 the Bombers went to Aberfeldie running track for speed testing. Danny Corcoran, our fitness coach, had paired up the players for 100-metre time-trials. There was one marquee match-up - Gavin Wanganeen against Michael Long. Never before had the two raced each other.
The entire list was at the track and by the time they had lined up for the start the viewing crowd had swelled.
A former coach describes it as one of the greatest contests he had witnessed. The two proud men, wearing runners, slugged it out all the way down the track, barely a cigarette paper separating them. The time didn't interest them - the contest did. Gavin contorted himself, dipping his shoulder at the finish.
Wanganeen was the narrowest of victors - Longy had forced him to produce his best, the challenge too hard to ignore.
