southerncross
25-05-2007, 05:30 AM
The early Boyd (http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,21789995%255E19742,00.html)
WHEN the opportunity to play league football came knocking, the Western Bulldogs' Matthew Boyd simply smashed the door down.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,1658,5497429,00.jpg Workaholic: Matthew Boyd in full flight at Western Bulldogs training. Picture: Michael Klein
That is the testimony of Boyd's coach Rodney Eade, who happily admitted this week that Boyd's status these days as a gun midfielder, alongside Daniel Cross and Scott West, was due solely to a "manic" work ethic and an iron will to succeed.
"He and Crossy would kick a door down for the chance to play football. They are manic on the track, manic," Eade said with unbridled admiration.
"The single reason Matt Boyd is playing league football is his commitment to hard work, there's no doubt about that."
Eade told of how the Doggies recruiting guru Scott Clayton plucked Boyd from the Frankston seconds and stuck him on the rookie list, where he stayed for two years before being elevated in 2003, the sole survivor of a rookie-list cull.
Eade also spoke of how it was Boyd and Cross who kept the assistant coaches out on the track to do extra work with them.
Boyd, 24, is a worthy inheritor of Rohan Smith's No. 5 guernsey. He has 76 senior games under his belt and is a vital cog in the side's on-ball unit.
That was underlined last Sunday, when Boyd won the inaugural Sutton-Rose Medal for the best player afield in the annual Robert Rose Cup match against Collingwood.
So how does a bloke from the Frankston magoos end up a star midfielder in one of the AFL's top sides?
"I think it's just a confidence thing, really. I've been given the opportunity and I'm just trying to make the most of it, really," Boyd said.
"Last year was a good start for me, playing every game and knowing I was part of the side. That's the main thing, feeling comfortable in the side.
"My pre-seasons have been pretty good. I pride myself on training really hard and trying to be as fit as I possibly can, in doing everything right."
Being on a rookie list is football limbo. There is only hard work and hope for an uncertain future.
"You do all the same work, everything the guys on the senior list are doing, but you know you can't play," Boyd said.
"It can be pretty hard mentally to get your head around that, but it makes you work harder because it could be one year and you're out of the system totally.
"It makes you work really hard for the opportunity, and when it comes it's a real bonus."
Being in and out of the side for a couple of seasons only served to make Boyd more driven and more determined to get where he wanted.
Last season came the dividends - an average of 20 touches a match, second in effective tackles and third in hard-ball gets.
"It was probably midway through last year when I'd played every game up to that point and I started to play some good footy," Boyd said.
"I started to think, 'Maybe I can do this' and it just snowballs from there. You think you're going all right in this team, you started backing yourself a bit more and your confidence grows.
"It took me a couple of years because I was in and out of the side, but it's going along well now."
Very well - and he's doing it alongside West and co.
"It's really good to be in there with Crossy and Westy and Coons (Adam Cooney) and those sort of guys. They're such good players, they get you involved in the game. It's just great to be part of this team," Boyd said.
While Eade said Boyd had been successful because of his hard work, his young charge readily handed the credit back to the coach.
"He's the best coach I've had and probably the catalyst for why I've improved over the last couple of years, I believe," Boyd said.
"He just backs his players in, backs his young blokes in. It gives you enormous confidence to know he's not going to worry if you make mistakes trying something. My game is built around my intensity and my work rate and that's what he harps on. If it's up, then he's going to be happy no matter what mistakes you make.
"He gives you a lot of confidence to just go out there and work hard and everything just stems from that."
Since arriving at the Western Oval, Boyd has put 10kg on his frame, the added muscle all part of his mission.
"I don't really set goals, but I know what I want to achieve. I want to play in a premiership, that's what you play footy for," he said.
"I want to do my best, be the best in the best side. We're a long way off premiership material at the moment, but if we keep on improving the way we have, hopefully it will come."
WHEN the opportunity to play league football came knocking, the Western Bulldogs' Matthew Boyd simply smashed the door down.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,1658,5497429,00.jpg Workaholic: Matthew Boyd in full flight at Western Bulldogs training. Picture: Michael Klein
That is the testimony of Boyd's coach Rodney Eade, who happily admitted this week that Boyd's status these days as a gun midfielder, alongside Daniel Cross and Scott West, was due solely to a "manic" work ethic and an iron will to succeed.
"He and Crossy would kick a door down for the chance to play football. They are manic on the track, manic," Eade said with unbridled admiration.
"The single reason Matt Boyd is playing league football is his commitment to hard work, there's no doubt about that."
Eade told of how the Doggies recruiting guru Scott Clayton plucked Boyd from the Frankston seconds and stuck him on the rookie list, where he stayed for two years before being elevated in 2003, the sole survivor of a rookie-list cull.
Eade also spoke of how it was Boyd and Cross who kept the assistant coaches out on the track to do extra work with them.
Boyd, 24, is a worthy inheritor of Rohan Smith's No. 5 guernsey. He has 76 senior games under his belt and is a vital cog in the side's on-ball unit.
That was underlined last Sunday, when Boyd won the inaugural Sutton-Rose Medal for the best player afield in the annual Robert Rose Cup match against Collingwood.
So how does a bloke from the Frankston magoos end up a star midfielder in one of the AFL's top sides?
"I think it's just a confidence thing, really. I've been given the opportunity and I'm just trying to make the most of it, really," Boyd said.
"Last year was a good start for me, playing every game and knowing I was part of the side. That's the main thing, feeling comfortable in the side.
"My pre-seasons have been pretty good. I pride myself on training really hard and trying to be as fit as I possibly can, in doing everything right."
Being on a rookie list is football limbo. There is only hard work and hope for an uncertain future.
"You do all the same work, everything the guys on the senior list are doing, but you know you can't play," Boyd said.
"It can be pretty hard mentally to get your head around that, but it makes you work harder because it could be one year and you're out of the system totally.
"It makes you work really hard for the opportunity, and when it comes it's a real bonus."
Being in and out of the side for a couple of seasons only served to make Boyd more driven and more determined to get where he wanted.
Last season came the dividends - an average of 20 touches a match, second in effective tackles and third in hard-ball gets.
"It was probably midway through last year when I'd played every game up to that point and I started to play some good footy," Boyd said.
"I started to think, 'Maybe I can do this' and it just snowballs from there. You think you're going all right in this team, you started backing yourself a bit more and your confidence grows.
"It took me a couple of years because I was in and out of the side, but it's going along well now."
Very well - and he's doing it alongside West and co.
"It's really good to be in there with Crossy and Westy and Coons (Adam Cooney) and those sort of guys. They're such good players, they get you involved in the game. It's just great to be part of this team," Boyd said.
While Eade said Boyd had been successful because of his hard work, his young charge readily handed the credit back to the coach.
"He's the best coach I've had and probably the catalyst for why I've improved over the last couple of years, I believe," Boyd said.
"He just backs his players in, backs his young blokes in. It gives you enormous confidence to know he's not going to worry if you make mistakes trying something. My game is built around my intensity and my work rate and that's what he harps on. If it's up, then he's going to be happy no matter what mistakes you make.
"He gives you a lot of confidence to just go out there and work hard and everything just stems from that."
Since arriving at the Western Oval, Boyd has put 10kg on his frame, the added muscle all part of his mission.
"I don't really set goals, but I know what I want to achieve. I want to play in a premiership, that's what you play footy for," he said.
"I want to do my best, be the best in the best side. We're a long way off premiership material at the moment, but if we keep on improving the way we have, hopefully it will come."