The Kangaroos' Lindsay Thomas is not a great player; he is a 22-year-old small forward with 60-odd games under his belt at an average of about one goal-per-game - 'good' would be a kind ranking at this point of his career.
Yet on Friday night against Carlton, Thomas produced a truly great performance.
It might turn out to be a one-off, but any player in the history of the game would have been proud of what he produced.
Stationed in the Kangaroos' forward-50, Thomas did the lot: he had 19 kicks; 10 contested possessions inside forward-50 including four contested marks; and kicked 7.5 which was about half of North's winning score. A great getting and finishing effort.
What really added to his output was a great work rate to lay eight tackles, six of them inside forward-50.
Forward-50 tackles stop the opposition rebound and very often result in turnover goals. They are a key requirement of the quick small forward.
The best all-round games involve winning contests, using the footy well and working hard when the opposition have possession.
Great players play great games regularly. Thomas has proved he has an elite level within his capabilities and the challenge for him now is to produce closer to this standard more regularly.
