AFTER a frustrating period plagued by injury Michael Close is just happy to regularly be back on field this season and pushing for selection at the Brisbane Lions.
“I’ve been lucky enough to get back on the park this season and I’ve been playing some much more consistent football over the past month,” he said. Early on it looked as though 2017 was shaping to be a breakthrough AFL season for the former Harrow-Balmoral player. After playing six of the club’s first nine games the 24-year-old has found himself in the Lions’ North East Australian Football League side.
“I wasn’t playing consistently enough,” he said. “My leading patterns weren’t quite right and that meant I wasn’t getting enough of the ball. “I played a some good footy against Sydney but I wasn’t consistently at that standard.”
Young players coming through have also provided tough competition for the forward as the side goes through a development phase.
“Eric Hipwood and Josh Schache are both really good kids,” he said. “It’s easy to see that Hipwood is going to be an absolute star.”
Close said he had also enjoyed Jarrod Berry coming to the club this season. “I love talking to Jarrod about stuff from around the Wimmera,” he said. “Last time he was down he went to watch Harrow-Balmoral play Laharum and he told me all about that.”
He said he continues to keep updated on how his old club his going. “Each week I speak to mum and dad and they keep me in the loop,” he said. “They seem to be doing pretty well at the moment. They just need to find a way to beat the (Southern Mallee) Giants.”
Since being selected at pick 32 in the 2012 national draft Close has played just 23 games for the Lions due to his injury setback. He said he really enjoyed the environment and the weather even though he was initially shocked by how early the sun came up in the morning.
“It comes up at something like 4.30,” he said. “It was really bad in the first place I lived at because it had shocking blinds.” He said he hopes to stay at the club once his contract expires at the end of the season.
“For the time being I’m focused on play good footy to end the season,” he said. “I want the club to say that they want me and that comes down to how I perform.”
While he has managed to string more games together this season Close has also been a star off the field. “I got a call the night before it was filmed asking me to fill in for Ryan Bastinac,” he said. “They told me I might have to do a bit of runway work but it wasn’t until I rocked up the next day that I found out what I had gotten myself into.”
The ad featured Close in a parody of a walkoff from the movie Zoolander. It featured the big forward’s best attempt at an American accent as well as his version of Derek Zoolander’s patented ‘blue steel’.
“It was so bad,” Close said. “I’ve copped a lot of stick for that and deservedly so.” He said the best advice he could give juniors was to enjoy playing as many sports as possible. “It’s cliche but it’s really important to enjoy the sport you are playing,” he said. “Obviously for me coming from Harrow footy was such a large part of the community but the key was to enjoy it.”
I did mean Port, thanks. Group think has nothing to do with it. Close had plenty of chances up forward, but he struggled to make an impact because he just couldn’t consistently hold contested marks. For a player his size and with his aerobic capacity, I have no doubt that any club looking to pick him up wouldn’t be looking for a key forward, because as far as Close is concerned, that horse has bolted. If he gets drafted it will be by a club who has figured that he has the pace and size to match up in defence on a key forward. Daniel Merrett was a player that Brisbane had originally hoped would be able to replace Alastair Lynch as a key forward, but when his obvious deficiencies were recognised, he quickly transitioned to defence and had a great career as a backman. I can see Close’s career going the same way if he is drafted.
I agree 100%. What I don’t understand is why we didn’t give him an opportunity to play in defence. We gave Eagles every chance to develop as a defender yet ignored Close who had 5 years of development,is only 23 and has amazing aerobic capacity for his size as well as good speed and strength. I really think we have missed an opportunity with him,but I hope he has success elsewhere,particularly given his unfortunate injury issue.
Not 100% sure but l think Close didn't want to become a defender, only wanted to be a forward. Ofcourse if he thought he was going to be delisted then maybe he should have tried. But not 100% sure as l said
