After a year out of the game, Dew continues to make steady progress through a carefully planned training regime that does not include playing a major role in the NAB Cup, but leaves him on track to be available for selection for round one.
“When I first arrived at the club we mapped out a bit of a plan for me that went right up to round one of the season proper,” Dew says.
“We’re getting there, but there’s still progress to be made, so I won’t be playing in the first round of the NAB Cup. It’s more about preparation for me at this point because once you start playing games, you get into recovery mode and getting ready for the next match.
“So I’ve still got a really good chance to get a solid block of training before the season starts.”
Dew had limited impact on the intra-club contest, but that was hardly the point as the slimmed-down left-footer delighted Alastair Clarkson with his ability to run out the game.
Subjecting himself once again to the rigours of a pre-season campaign was the furthest thing from Dew’s mind when he shocked the Power by announcing his retirement at the end of the 2006 season.
But, after several months travelling abroad, Dew landed back in Adelaide midway through last year and took up a regular special comments role with ABC Radio’s AFL coverage which he credits for rekindling the fire within.
“I was working with a good crew over there in Adelaide and just started to enjoy watching footy again, whereas early on in the year I wasn’t interested in watching it too much,” he explains.
“But to actually watch it and have to speak about it and what’s happening on the ground just got me involved in the game again.
“Around August I started to think I wouldn’t mind having a kick with Centrals in the SANFL. That was sort of what I set myself for, but then it all happened pretty quick leading up to the draft. I decided to nominate and see what happened and the next minute here I am.”
Dew maintains he was offered no guarantees by anyone, including Clarkson, in the lead up to the NAB AFL Draft in November, but knew he was doing the right thing by at least giving himself the opportunity to add to his 180 AFL games.
“On draft day I was actually out of mobile range, so I didn’t find out the Hawks had picked me up until about four hours later and once I heard, just the excitement that I felt, I knew that I’d made the right decision,” he recalls.
“Even when I was over in Melbourne and I walked in to the AFL to hand in my nomination papers, I walked out of there thinking, ‘I’m ready. If someone picks me I’m ready to do the hard yards, cop the criticism, wear it all and just get back into it’.”
And there certainly was criticism directed at both him and the club after he was taken with pick 45 including plenty of focus on his weight after a year out of the game.
“That’s sort of been there throughout my whole career; if it bothered me then I wouldn’t have nominated,” he says with a shrug.
“I knew that it would happen, but I wasn’t about to sit there and worry about what people think. The first thing I said to anyone who did speak to me about playing was ‘I’m not fit’. I hadn’t done any sort of preparation; I retired from footy to retire from footy, I didn’t retire to have a year off and then come again.”
The glare of the media spotlight intensified when an unflattering newspaper pictorial of the 2004 premiership player from an early training session at Waverley was published, but his commitment didn’t waver.
“They [the media] have got their job to do and if I worry too much about what they’re doing then I’m not paying proper attention to what I should be doing,” he says.
“I’m just happy to worry about myself, mixing in with the group, fitting in with the team’s style and I’m really not bothered about reading the paper too much. Where I get my feedback from is not the back page of the paper, it’s from the players and the coaches.
“Coming from Adelaide where the media is just focussed on two teams, you are in the spotlight a lot whether you’re going well or not. So it was no different when I nominated, but it’s been good to have the opportunity to improve as I’ve gone along.
“Admittedly it was pretty easy with the way I was to get where I am now, but the harder part comes when you get close to where you want to be.”
Dew is highly motivated to reach his fitness goals with the finish line in sight and is grateful for the chance that Clarkson, who he acknowledges “worked pretty hard” to get him to the club, has afforded him.
After 10 years at Port Adelaide, a club he retains a special affection for, Dew is enjoying the challenge of removing himself from his comfort zone, but says the things that drive him to succeed remain the same.
“I think the main thing is that you’ve got to have respect for the people that have played before you and also the support staff who put their time and effort into the club often for little or no monetary reward,” he says.
“I think the off-field group here is very similar to Port in that they’ve got a lot of volunteers who help out and the club is their life. Some people’s weeks rely heavily on what 22 blokes do on the weekend, so I think the main thing to understand is just the responsibility that you have in playing for a club whether it’s Hawthorn or Port or anyone.
“You’ve got to understand the opportunity you’ve got, take your chances and put on your very best performance because you want to make those people proud.”
