southerncross
05-05-2007, 06:27 AM
Judge Jordy (http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,21673011%255E19742,00.html)
IT'S as if Jordan McMahon was traumatised by events in Perth in September last year.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,1658,5472150,00.jpg Better outcome: Western Bulldog Jordan McMahon is hopeful his side can perform better against West Coast at Subiaco today, despite barely remembering the Bulldogs thrashing it received from the Eagles last year. Picture: George Salpigtidis
I ask him a simple question about the Western Bulldogs' semi-final loss to West Coast and he looks me in the eye and goes blank. He's not sure whether he played midfield or in defence; unsure, actually, whether he started on the ground or the interchange bench.
He thinks he might have played on "Rosa and maybe Jones, B. Jones" (Matt Rosa and Brett Jones), concluding he probably played midfield.
I look back in amazement. We're talking of a game played less than eight months ago, the second final of his AFL career.
"It's like I don't want to remember the damn thing," he says sheepishly.
That's what the Eagles in full flight can do to their victims.
That's why the Bulldogs' return visit this afternoon carries special significance.
They copped a hiding in September, beaten by 74 points after kicking 5.9 for the night in front of more than 40,000 fanatics.
Champion Data informs us McMahon started on the bench. He got his chance after 13 minutes and spent his time on various opponents, including the two Joneses, Brett and Rowan, and Sam Butler and Steven Armstrong.
The Doggies are back in Perth as the popular nomination as Victoria's best hope in 2007. Whether it's merit or by default, we shall know more tonight.
"I think we were beaten by a much more mature side last year," McMahon says. Physically and in terms of experience.
"They knew what they were doing, what they were coming up against. It was a whole new thing for us, a whole new experience."
Brad Johnson kicked three goals for the Doggies, Scott West had 29 disposals and West Coast barged on towards the flag.
It was a nightmare, one that alerted an entire club to the work ahead to match the big boys.
"We all knew we put up a disappointing effort," he says.
"We got beaten horribly. We know we had to change things. Attitudes as well."
McMahon has a couple of theories of his own.
It was the club's first time in finals since 2000 and the Doggies had systematically destroyed Collingwood the previous week in front of 84,000, securing Rohan Smith's dream of finishing with 300 games in the process.
"That was like the game. I don't know if we were content to be in that position (playing finals) but I'd played one final and we won it and I thought, 'How good is this'?"
He sees a fundamental difference this time.
"There's not as much on the line, at stake. It's not a knockout (game). We know we're going to be playing football after this weekend, that's guaranteed."
He said the club needed to remain committed to its twin tasks: making the final eight, and claiming a spot in the top four.
Personally, he is enjoying the best stretch of his 101-game career. "Playing OK, yeah," he says. "I'm happy with it. It's more about consistency. No specific reason. Probably maturity. I'm coming up 24."
He played all 24 games last year, finishing 10th in the best-and-fairest, and has been even better this year. An average of almost 25 disposals a week is most impressive for a small defender, and his pace and searching left foot give him huge rebound value.
He is over his early misgivings about what he saw as being banished to defence by Rodney Eade. "We have a good little unit back there. I get along well with Ryan Hargrave and Brian Harris. Then you've got Lindsay Gilbee, who's a good fella, and Dale Morris who's a really good guy, and the others.
"It helps being mates. We can read each other and we're honest with each other.
"Sometimes if you're not good mates, you can take the old constructive criticism thing in a pretty negative way.
"With your mates, they're not criticising you for a crap reason, they genuinely want to make things better."
He said there were no rifts or cliques among the player group.
"The whole group is solid. When I first got to the club, it didn't feel like that. There were certain guys who didn't divide the group but kind of accentuated the differences between people, and those guys left.
"Now we're pretty tight."
I take a wild guess and ask if he is referring to people such as Richmond's Nathan Brown, and he just laughs.
He is a friendly, open young man. After arriving 40 minutes late, he apologises profusely, greets photographer George Salpigtidis warmly and with his name, orders himself a chocolate milkshake and settles in for a chat.
He is enjoying being seen as a senior player and the trappings: things like the Peter Jackson ads in which five of the Doggies model smart suits.
Dougie Hawkins might shake his head at the sight of McMahon, Daniel Giansiracusa and company on display in expensive threads, but the player profile at Whitten Oval has changed dramatically in a generation.
McMahon says his football improved from the moment coach Rodney Eade threw him a challenge as soon as he arrived as coach for the 2005 season.
"He put me under the pump. He challenged me. He put it straight to me. He pulled me aside and said, 'Look, I've heard these things about you. Basically, you're at the crossroads'
"He said he didn't know first hand: 'This is basically a challenge to you to see where you're at, how you're going to go'."
Eade was querying McMahon's attitude generally, and his on-field performances.
"That was fair enough," McMahon says. "I wanted to prove him wrong."
While Eade has to be happy with McMahon, he wasn't happy with many last Sunday night after the scrappy performance against Hawthorn.
"Not at all," says McMahon.
"He said he would have been happy before the game to think we would have won by what we did, but it was the way we went about it.
"Even though we won, we were pretty horrible. I thought there was a lot of improvement in us. So much improvement.
"We've got a long way to go."
Yet there is an obvious feeling of anticipation and confidence in the camp.
"We're going over with the mindset we can win. We beat 'em pre-season. They might not have been full strength, we might have taken it more seriously than them, but we beat 'em.
"That West Coast game (final) was a reality check."
IT'S as if Jordan McMahon was traumatised by events in Perth in September last year.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,1658,5472150,00.jpg Better outcome: Western Bulldog Jordan McMahon is hopeful his side can perform better against West Coast at Subiaco today, despite barely remembering the Bulldogs thrashing it received from the Eagles last year. Picture: George Salpigtidis
I ask him a simple question about the Western Bulldogs' semi-final loss to West Coast and he looks me in the eye and goes blank. He's not sure whether he played midfield or in defence; unsure, actually, whether he started on the ground or the interchange bench.
He thinks he might have played on "Rosa and maybe Jones, B. Jones" (Matt Rosa and Brett Jones), concluding he probably played midfield.
I look back in amazement. We're talking of a game played less than eight months ago, the second final of his AFL career.
"It's like I don't want to remember the damn thing," he says sheepishly.
That's what the Eagles in full flight can do to their victims.
That's why the Bulldogs' return visit this afternoon carries special significance.
They copped a hiding in September, beaten by 74 points after kicking 5.9 for the night in front of more than 40,000 fanatics.
Champion Data informs us McMahon started on the bench. He got his chance after 13 minutes and spent his time on various opponents, including the two Joneses, Brett and Rowan, and Sam Butler and Steven Armstrong.
The Doggies are back in Perth as the popular nomination as Victoria's best hope in 2007. Whether it's merit or by default, we shall know more tonight.
"I think we were beaten by a much more mature side last year," McMahon says. Physically and in terms of experience.
"They knew what they were doing, what they were coming up against. It was a whole new thing for us, a whole new experience."
Brad Johnson kicked three goals for the Doggies, Scott West had 29 disposals and West Coast barged on towards the flag.
It was a nightmare, one that alerted an entire club to the work ahead to match the big boys.
"We all knew we put up a disappointing effort," he says.
"We got beaten horribly. We know we had to change things. Attitudes as well."
McMahon has a couple of theories of his own.
It was the club's first time in finals since 2000 and the Doggies had systematically destroyed Collingwood the previous week in front of 84,000, securing Rohan Smith's dream of finishing with 300 games in the process.
"That was like the game. I don't know if we were content to be in that position (playing finals) but I'd played one final and we won it and I thought, 'How good is this'?"
He sees a fundamental difference this time.
"There's not as much on the line, at stake. It's not a knockout (game). We know we're going to be playing football after this weekend, that's guaranteed."
He said the club needed to remain committed to its twin tasks: making the final eight, and claiming a spot in the top four.
Personally, he is enjoying the best stretch of his 101-game career. "Playing OK, yeah," he says. "I'm happy with it. It's more about consistency. No specific reason. Probably maturity. I'm coming up 24."
He played all 24 games last year, finishing 10th in the best-and-fairest, and has been even better this year. An average of almost 25 disposals a week is most impressive for a small defender, and his pace and searching left foot give him huge rebound value.
He is over his early misgivings about what he saw as being banished to defence by Rodney Eade. "We have a good little unit back there. I get along well with Ryan Hargrave and Brian Harris. Then you've got Lindsay Gilbee, who's a good fella, and Dale Morris who's a really good guy, and the others.
"It helps being mates. We can read each other and we're honest with each other.
"Sometimes if you're not good mates, you can take the old constructive criticism thing in a pretty negative way.
"With your mates, they're not criticising you for a crap reason, they genuinely want to make things better."
He said there were no rifts or cliques among the player group.
"The whole group is solid. When I first got to the club, it didn't feel like that. There were certain guys who didn't divide the group but kind of accentuated the differences between people, and those guys left.
"Now we're pretty tight."
I take a wild guess and ask if he is referring to people such as Richmond's Nathan Brown, and he just laughs.
He is a friendly, open young man. After arriving 40 minutes late, he apologises profusely, greets photographer George Salpigtidis warmly and with his name, orders himself a chocolate milkshake and settles in for a chat.
He is enjoying being seen as a senior player and the trappings: things like the Peter Jackson ads in which five of the Doggies model smart suits.
Dougie Hawkins might shake his head at the sight of McMahon, Daniel Giansiracusa and company on display in expensive threads, but the player profile at Whitten Oval has changed dramatically in a generation.
McMahon says his football improved from the moment coach Rodney Eade threw him a challenge as soon as he arrived as coach for the 2005 season.
"He put me under the pump. He challenged me. He put it straight to me. He pulled me aside and said, 'Look, I've heard these things about you. Basically, you're at the crossroads'
"He said he didn't know first hand: 'This is basically a challenge to you to see where you're at, how you're going to go'."
Eade was querying McMahon's attitude generally, and his on-field performances.
"That was fair enough," McMahon says. "I wanted to prove him wrong."
While Eade has to be happy with McMahon, he wasn't happy with many last Sunday night after the scrappy performance against Hawthorn.
"Not at all," says McMahon.
"He said he would have been happy before the game to think we would have won by what we did, but it was the way we went about it.
"Even though we won, we were pretty horrible. I thought there was a lot of improvement in us. So much improvement.
"We've got a long way to go."
Yet there is an obvious feeling of anticipation and confidence in the camp.
"We're going over with the mindset we can win. We beat 'em pre-season. They might not have been full strength, we might have taken it more seriously than them, but we beat 'em.
"That West Coast game (final) was a reality check."