IT WAS round 19, 2003, and the stakes were high at an MCG that was under construction. Fremantle had never played in a finals series, but a win against North Melbourne would be enough to guarantee the club’s first September appearance.
Playing in the red and white of the original Fremantle WAFL team to commemorate Heritage Round, the Dockers were four goals down in the third quarter but had a weapon up their sleeves.
Selected as a key forward in the 1999 National Draft and named All Australian at full-back in 2002, Matthew Pavlich was ready to stamp himself as a genuine midfielder.
Much like the ground he was playing on, Pavlich had been under construction for the previous two years, with fitness coach Adam Larcom carving a new path for the 21-year-old.
As Larcom watched Pavlich stream through the midfield in the fourth quarter, win crucial clearances and kick two goals to seal a significant win, he knew the pair’s work had paid off.
"I remember thinking at that point, ‘This guy is a genuine midfielder’,” Larcom said. "He won that game for us playing midfield and it was his pure athleticism that won out."
When Chris Connolly arrived as coach at Fremantle in late 2001, bringing Larcom from Hawthorn as his fitness chief, both put Pavlich in the key position basket.
Larcom, however, wanted to conduct a VO2 max test on every player – a treadmill assessment that measures a player’s maximum oxygen intake when running, reflecting their aerobic fitness.
What he found was that Pavlich had the potential to run like a midfielder and he requested one-on-one time to train him.
Eventually he reported back to Connolly that Pavlich had “phenomenal running capacity and great speed endurance”.
"As soon as you’re told that, you look at him in a whole different light," Connolly said. "From that point, we knew we had something special."
Pavlich’s versatility has been the outstanding trait of his career. Named All Australian six times in five different positions, he has kicked 72 goals in a season, averaged more than 23 possessions in another, and beaten the game’s best forwards when he was finding his way.
The 32-year-old said it had been challenging at times overriding his natural forward instincts, and frustrations threatened to surface when he was moved around.
However, he said his versatility had "only been beneficial for my football and the team".
"When I play forward now, there’s a great deal of empathy for the guys that play deep in defence and the hard work that happens around the contest in the midfield," he told the AFL Record this week.
"There’s no doubt it’s influenced my game greatly and my understanding to play in all areas of the ground.
"It’s a challenge to not get too mentally frustrated playing in a different position and see it as an opportunity to be versatile and help the team."
The star Docker has been remarkably durable over the course of his career. Picture: AFL Media
An aspect of Pavlich’s magnificent career that can’t be overlooked as he prepares for his 300th game is his durability.
In becoming the first player from Fremantle or West Coast to reach 300 AFL games, he has overcome the burden of regular travel, flying interstate 136 times for matches (excluding pre-season games).
Before last year’s Achilles injury, he had not played fewer than 18 games in a season, and that included persisting with a left shoulder that would regularly pop out in his early seasons.
Pavlich’s meticulous approach to preparation and recovery is well known and Larcom, who now coaches the Australian 4 x 100m relay team, describes his mentality as "international elite".
Indeed, it’s hard to comprehend the level of performance he has reached playing through shoulder, hip and groin injuries and knee and Achilles tendinitis.
"It’s always been a battle, but that’s where the mental strength and capacity to keep pushing when you’re sore is really important," Pavlich said.
"At times the knee and achilles pain was really severe, but the shoulder is the one that restricted my game the most.
"There were some marking contests and tackle attempts on my left side when my shoulder was at its worst where I had to do it in a manner when it didn’t look like I was avoiding contact.
"That was certainly a mental challenge, to play at a high standard when I had some shoulder issues."
Pavlich’s elite mentality, his size (192cm and 99kg) and his phenomenal running capacity combine to make him a rare player who, Connolly says, revolutionised the game.
Only former Carlton star Anthony Koutoufides and Sydney Swans champion Adam Goodes compare when discussing big-bodied midfielders.
"This guy, in the history of the AFL, is unique," says Connolly, who was Pavlich’s longest-serving coach (from 2002-07).
"Playing onball at his size, that was seen as a revolutionary thing in a sense. With Matthew onball, we could keep him in the game, he could fall behind and become a ‘quarterback’ to set up play if needed, or he could slide forward and take contested marks and kick goals. This guy is a one-off; there’s no prototype."
Pavlich boasts a unique combination of size, strength and running power. Picture: AFL Media
Veteran commentator Dennis Cometti, a member of the Australian Football Hall of Fame selection committee, agrees Pavlich’s unique make-up opened up new possibilities in the AFL.
"I’m not sure we’ve seen his like too often. He’s probably as big a midfielder as we’ve seen in terms of a ground player," says Cometti who has developed a strong friendship with Pavlich.
"He’s like a tall Leigh Matthews. He’s not as physical as Leigh but, around the packs as a midfielder, he was making his presence felt."
Cometti, who worked in television with Pavlich and has owned racehorses with the star goalkicker, believes it took longer than it should for some to appreciate just how good a player he was.
As a South Australian playing for a West Australian club, some of his early career almost passed unnoticed, Cometti says, but his standing in the game now is crystal clear.
"That would make him, I would think, a Hall of Fame first ballot player," Cometti says.
"I can’t imagine he wouldn’t go in when he’s first eligible. He’s in that league, there’s no question about that.
"What I marvel at still is at 300 games he goes out there now and is a potential match-winner."
An unfair criticism of Pavlich throughout his career was that he hadn’t performed on the big stage like, for example, Brisbane Lions champion Jonathan Brown.
Selected in the same draft as Pavlich, Brown has played in 17 finals, including three premierships in his first four seasons.
Pavlich, in comparison, had played in just six finals before coach Ross Lyon arrived at the club ahead of the 2012 season.
The opportunity to play on the big stage in the past two seasons is one he has grasped with both hands, turning in memorable performances against Geelong at the MCG in 2012 and Simonds Stadium in 2013.
Matthew Pavlich has risen to the challenge during Fremantle's finals appearances. Picture: AFL Media
Riding every bump as Pavlich continues to enhance his reputation is his father, Steve, a former star with SANFL club Woodville-West Torrens.
Watching his son grow up from afar has been tough, but he swells with pride when he talks about the path his son has taken to 300 games.
It is clear that determination and an ability to stick to a task were traits embedded in the young footballer before he was drafted by Fremantle with pick No. 4.
"It’s a never-say-die, never-lay-down attitude that he developed," Pavlich snr said.
"One of his darkest times I would imagine was as a youngster having osteitis pubis and he wasn’t allowed to do anything for six or seven months. It was shattering for him.
"But he realised that to get better he had to do exactly as they say – the rehab, the stretching, the routine and the patience. He was very disciplined in that way."
Another source of pride for Pavlich’s family is the fact he has been a one-club player, winning six club champion awards and stamping himself undoubtedly as Fremantle’s most significant figure in its 20-year history.
His willingness to stay with the Dockers through dark times, despite aggressive pushes from Adelaide and Port Adelaide to lure him home, was also due to a trait ingrained before he was drafted.
"He really is loyal," Pavlich snr said. "Those things are important to him, loyalty and family.
"It’s terrific that he’s played for one club and he’s starting to reap some benefits now.
"And its great that he’s been part of a club as it’s evolved and got stronger. It’s in his blood – purple blood."
Contracted to the end of this season, Pavlich appears to have more football in him, but the next stage of his life is taking shape alongside wife Lauren and one-year-old daughter Harper Rose.
Active away from the game, he has completed a Bachelor of Science at the University of Western Australia and is undertaking a postgraduate MBA.
Vice-president of the AFL Players’ Association and a former member of the Laws of the Game Committee, he has strong media and business networks and will often arrive at Fremantle Oval after other commitments looking more like a member of the club’s executive than its playing list.
It is on the field where Pavlich has made his name, however, and he agrees there was significance in that final quarter performance against the Kangaroos in 2003.
It was a game after which "people maybe stood up and took notice" of what big-bodied players were capable of when used in the engine room.
At the end of that season, which saw him named All Australian for the second time, Pavlich gave his fitness coach Larcom a framed picture that showed the star Docker poised to kick and in peak condition.
The message read, ‘Adam, this is what we aim for – lean. Never be content’.
"It was highlighting the fact that this is the elite guy we set out to produce and he had become it," Larcom said.
"But he is never fully content, he’s always thinking next level.
"He is a prototype in the AFL for elite thinking."
Read more about Fremantle’s Matthew Pavlich in the round nine edition of the AFL Record, available at all grounds.
