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Protects his teammates and gives them a bit more time, plays WELL beyond his games
How often has young player had a poor game after being in the press...Great story on Maxxy in the Ady..
Unfortunately it's a long read so get in quick before it gets removed by the mods...
AFL 2023: Max Michalanney’ hot start as a Crow turns him into a fan favourite
Father-son draftee Max Michalanney has made a roaring start to his time at the Crows, and it may have something to do with the hard-nosed mantra his dad instills in his family.
They have a bit of a catchphrase in the Michalanney household.
And it sums up the approach of first year Adelaide defender Max Michalanney who is already becoming a Crows’ fan favourite.
When the Crows told Michalanney in front of the playing group that he was going to debut in Round 1, just months after being selected as a father-son with pick 17 in the draft, they got four-time Norwood premiership winning dad Jim to say a few words.
He ended his speech with “flog the daylights out of Maxy”, which prompted a playful tap from the young Crow.
“Whenever any of our kids go out to play tennis, cricket, footy, whatever it is I would say to Max or Jack (Max’s brother) “flog the daylights out of them” it is a bit of a family catchphrase,” Jim told News Corp.
“Do your best sort of thing, be a teammate first, don’t go looking for cheap kicks and my last bit of advice was flog the daylights out of him.
“That is just a bit of a common phrase in our family when they go out and play sport.”
Michalanney had already impressed in his first two games of the season for the Crows.
With just under 19 minutes to go in the third quarter of Adelaide’s famous Showdown win he won a place in the hearts of every Crows fan, and endeared himself to many others around the league.
Chasing the ball, as soon as Michalanney got his hands on it he was met with a huge tackle from Port Adelaide's Todd Marshall.
The 19-year-old is listed on the Crows website as weighing 80kg, but to the eye he looks much skinnier.
Marshall, five years older, eight centimetres higher at 198cm weights 94kg.
It looked like a tackle, fair and absolutely legal, that would have left Michalanney with broken ribs at the very least.
With all the air hit out of him, Michalanney took some time to get up but was able to jog off the field.
He then returned to the field and played an important role as the Crows overcame the Power in a Showdown classic.
Looking on from the southern stand Jim and Max’s mum Amanda weren’t surprised that Michalanney got back up and played on.
“It happened so quickly, I just hoped he was OK. He was pretty winded and he came off,” Jim said.
“But his mother had the binoculars and said he was sitting up on the bench so we knew there was nothing too wrong with him and we didn’t really think too much of it.
“When he got back on he didn’t seem to have too many ill effects from it.
“He said he got a lot of positive from it because people appreciated that he was able to get back up after going down so hard.
“He is pretty tough, he has three other brothers one is two years older than him and one is two years younger than him.
“And they were always squabbling and fighting on the front lawn and with the kids down the road.
“They used to have impromptu matches as kids and they would be full on so he’s grown up in a tough environment in that respect.”
It also didn’t surprise past and present coaches of Michalanney.
“That’s what that sort of game asks of you,” Norwood coach Jade Rawlings said.
“For three and a half quarters of it, it was full of intensity and players got asked the question and Max didn’t shirk it one iota when Marshall came the other way.
“It was memorable and as a player trying to forge a career you can earn a lot of respect and credibility very quickly like he has and like he did.”
Crows senior assistant coach Scott Burns was asked if the coaches learnt something about Michalanney from the way he responded to the heavy hit.
“No we didn’t learn anything new about Maxy,” he said.
“It’s funny when, you have a player that has come in and played three games but it is nearly what we expect from Maxy.
“He has come in and from the first day he was fantastic for us, I reckon it was probably three weeks in and he was on Izak Rankine in some match sim and kept with him then.
“He shown some signs from then.
“That showed a bit ticker didn’t it because that was a reasonable hit to the ribs.”
News Corp understands that Michalanney’s performance on West Coast’s Liam Ryan in the Crows pre-season game, keeping him to 10 touches and a goal, really caught the eye of Adelaide coaches.
Rawlings said Michalanney always enjoyed the big tasks, which was one of the main things that impressed him.
“He just plays footy, he doesn’t try to do anything more or take it for granted he just plays footy and his natural ability and competitiveness just shines through,” he said.
“When we played Adelaide in the prelim last year we were going to have him on (Luke) Pedlar who had done a reasonable job on him a few weeks before.
“So I came up to him in the warm-up and I said to him that I have some bad news for you, and he might have thought I was going to drop him in the warm-up, but I said mate unfortunately Pedlar is a late out.
“And he said “oh, that’s Pedlar’s lucky day”.
“He said it in jest, and with complete respect for Luke who is a teammate now, but it summed up that he wanted to be matched up on arguably the most or if not one of the most important players that day.”
One week later Michalanney was omitted from the Norwood side that would go on and win the SANFL grand final.
Rawlings said the way he handled it was just almost as impressive as the way he went about it on the field.
“The dignity that he handled omission from the grand final team was all class,” he said.
“He understood that he got his opportunity because Pierce Seymour hurt his ankle and equally that when Pierce Seymour was fit he would probably come back into the team.
“So humorous, dignified, all those things that are great human traits are what I love about Max.”
Yes
What a game from Max again, I was hoping Doedee was going to be like this but he has been disappointing with what he has done the last couple of years
That he squeezed into the redlegs league side for a few games last year showed he was able to play against men and he has seemlessly adapted to AFL level. Best part is he is a lifelong crow's fan from a huge crow supporting family and hopefully he is a player for life with us
