GEELONG superstar Patrick Dangerfield has urged his teammates to use the club's devastating preliminary final loss to go a step better in 2017.
After accepting the first 'Carji' Greeves Medal of his career, Dangerfield said it was vital the Cats left no stone unturned in their pursuit of the ultimate success.
The pain of the 37-point loss to the Swans was evident in everyone who spoke on stage on Thursday night at the best and fairest event.
Another day, another gong for Dangerfield
"I think the challenge is – you have the emotion now, but to use it when it actually counts," Dangerfield said.
"The most important time for us is through the pre-season … (we) put in the hard yards to make that the level that we’re training at, we’re training harder, we’re going to be fitter and stronger than we’ve been, previously because that’s how we’re going to get better.
"I don't think there's many players, if any, in the room that aren’t hurting from the result."
"And as good as the footy that we played, it’s almost a silver lining that it finished the way that it did, so it just reminds us we’ve got a lot of work to do in order to match it with the very best."
Dangerfield joined Geelong greats Bernie Smith (1951), Alistair Lord (1962), Paul Couch (1989) and Gary Ablett Jnr as players to win the Brownlow and the ‘Carji’ in the same year.
"It's pretty special, absolutely," he said.
"They're champions of the football club that sit around the walls of Kardinia Park.
"It's certainly something I’ll look back in time and really appreciate.
"I'm humbled to sit amongst them now."
Dangerfield also paid tribute to retiring great Corey Enright and said how privileged he was to spend a year playing alongside the Geelong games record holder.
Enright was toasted appropriately on the night, with tributes from fans and premiership teammates Matthew Scarlett, Darren Milburn and Tom Lonergan.
"It's a year not long enough, from a greedy perspective,” Dangerfield said.
"It's hard to replace, arguably, the greatest half-back of all time."
"What he's done, best and fairests, premierships, to be so cool and calm under pressure.
"To not only negate and defend the best forwards in the competition, but to create the attack he’s done, is invaluable to our team."
