IT'S A simpler version of a more famous quote belonging to basketball great Michael Jordan, but it has been equally effective for Paddy Dangerfield who has lived by it for half his life.
"F*** doesn't win."
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First directed Dangerfield's way when he was a 17-year-old in the weeks after he had been drafted to play for the Adelaide Crows, the power of those words has helped shape an all-time great AFL career, and was still influencing the actions of the now 34-year-old playing game No.333 last Saturday in Perth.
Dangerfield had just missed a goal from the goalsquare. Moments later, he sent another kick for goal out of bounds on the full. But for Dangerfield, as always, these were not reasons for self-loathing. There was a game still to be won, there was going to be another opportunity to influence the result. His first coach, Neil Craig, taught him that.
"Craigy taught me a lot, and when I came in, 17 I was, I remember saying, 'f***' after I missed a kick, and Craigy just looked at me and said, 'f*** doesn't win'," Dangerfield told AFL.com.au.
"It is still my favourite saying in footy, in sport. So often players come in and it is like they have been conditioned to perfection and they have to let everyone know, 'I am so disappointed in that mistake'. I mean, who cares? The pros just get on with it.
"I say that to all our draftees when they come in. They will all swear when they miss a kick, or miss a spoil, and we are sort of trying to condition perfection because that is what social media is, that is what the highlights are, but that is not what the reality of sport is."
The mistakes didn't matter. Dangerfield was best afield against Fremantle at Optus Stadium on Saturday. It was another gritty performance by the Cats and their captain in a year which is as open as any in the AFL era.
In season No.17 where he has again been hit with soft-tissue injuries, Dangerfield is still explosively fast, super strong and shaping match results. And arguably most importantly, able to move on from making in-match mistakes.
"That (the miss from the goalsquare) is my whole philosophy on sport – it is not that I don't care enough – I care, a lot – but once that is done, it just doesn't matter," he said. "There are blokes who live in the space of, 'I've just f***ed this up for the game, that was our opportunity to win'. No, it was an opportunity, and now I've got to look for the next one, and how I can impact that next one for us.
"The game is far from perfection on a weekend, but you need to have the will to give the next moment a crack, and eventually you will break them. I am such a believer in that."
There was an extenuating circumstance in the goalsquare miss, too. Having been forced to rehabilitate too many hamstring tears in recent seasons, Dangerfield has come to know that reaching for that ball in that moment may have put those hamstrings into the red-rev range.
"That's why I did not want to bend over on that Jeremy Cameron ball, that was the recurring nightmare position, and I have trained the shit out of that for so long, it gives you the confidence to do that move without thinking for the vast majority too much," he said.
"Steve Saunders (physiotherapist) has been amazing, I daresay most of his salary is dedicated toward servicing me as an athlete. He has been important. When I re-did it, it was like our guys said, 'OK, everything we are doing is fine, we just have to do more of it'. They were like, 'OK, we've got to go again, there is clearly something we are not doing, we have got to go harder'. So it was doubling down of everything, weight training in that position of extension."
Dangerfield turned 34 in April, and even after eight All-Australians, a Brownlow Medal, four best-and-fairests and 333 matches behind him, there is no phasing out of his role or responsibilities.
"I still feel my fastest is as fast as the vast majority," he said. "Not everyone, not Max Holmes. I feel like I can get the ball that is three metres away in space still faster than anyone, that's probably been the best thing, and I reckon I can still do that."
Geelong has missed the finals just three times since 2003 and holds a top-four place on the ladder with two matches (against St Kilda and West Coast) remaining of 2024.
The Cats won a premiership in 2022 when no one outside their own operations felt they were a chance upon entering that year's competition, and again with zero outside expectations have brilliantly given themselves another chance two seasons later.
It is unique list management strategy, to attempt to present for a flag every season.
"It's a great example, the buy-in, when you have that," Dangerfield said. "You don't get the, 'Oh, the season is too long' or 'You're too long in the tooth', because every year (here) it is like we are going to give you the best chance we possibly can.
"It doesn't mean you execute every single trade you want to, or that you get every single player you want in the draft. But you want the engagement of your playing group to be like, 'If we get this right, there is going to be an opportunity'.
"You can't tell me (that in 2024) there is a team like Hawthorn in the early teens, just better than everyone else where they had to have an off day and everyone else had to be super-on, if they were going to get beaten. This season doesn't feel like that to me.
"Look at the last 10 weeks. To me, it is going to be a finals series of moments, and if you get the momentum and score when you've got it, and you're able to stop the scoring when you haven't got it, well …"
The famous Michael Jordan quote was: "I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."
"F*** doesn't win". It's simpler, just as effective in its motivation, and still driving a 34-year-old to reach more team and personal greatness.
