LAURIE Pendrick is one of those grass-roots footy heroes who is entitled to feel pretty pleased with himself right now.
A former player with Coorparoo in Queensland, he was instrumental in the early development of Hawthorn's Jason Dunstall, who went on to become one of the great full-forwards in the history of the game.
And while captain-coach of the Wagga Saints in southern New South Wales, he was the first footy idol of an impressionable young Wayne Carey, who aged 12, had just switched from playing rugby league to Australian rules.
A star bush footy full-forward, the charismatic Pendrick was a reason why Carey would hang around the Wagga Saints footy ground all day, to run the boundary, man the scoreboard and to just want to belong.
So anyone who had the privilege of watching Carey play, and Dunstall as well for that matter, owes Pendrick a vote of thanks.
Carey took to footy like a duck to water, if you'll pardon the pun, embarking on a journey from Wagga to Adelaide, then to North Melbourne and for a brief time, back to Adelaide.
Glenn Archer might have been named the Shinboner of the Century, but if not for Carey's sad exit from Arden Street, surely the title would be his. Dual premiership captain, seven-time All-Australian (four as captain), five-time leading goalkicker, four-time best and fairest … the list goes on.
Carey was an audacious talent from the time he walked in the door at North Melbourne, which snared him after a smart piece of wheeling and dealing from football manager Greg Miller when by rights, he should have joined the Sydney Swans.
Moulded initially by Denis Pagan in the all-conquering North Melbourne under 19s, Carey made his senior debut for the Kangaroos under John Kennedy and started to emerge in Wayne Schimmelbusch's time as coach.
It was in 1992 when he starred for South Australia in a state of origin game that he finally believed he could be an elite player in the AFL, but when Pagan returned to the club as senior coach in 1993 Carey elevated himself to become one of the best forwards of the modern era and perhaps of all time.
Indeed, one of Pagan's first moves when he became coach was to install Carey as captain, and an inspirational leader he turned out to be.
"I was a little apprehensive at taking the position, but we had a core group of players around the same age and they provided some great support, but for me as captain the main thing was to go out there and play some great footy," he said in a recent interview with sports website BackPageLead.
And that he did. Although North had a handy full-forward in John Longmire, Pagan created what was called "Pagan's Paddock" which consisted of as many of North's small forwards playing up the ground as required to leave space for Carey to beat his opponent one-out.
And being both a brilliant and courageous contested mark and a long and accurate kick, Carey brought his opponent to his knees on virtually a weekly basis.
Throughout the '90s, Glen Jakovich was the only key defender to regularly give Carey trouble, and the North Melbourne-West Coast clashes were eagerly anticipated every time for that reason.
Carey captained North to the 1996 and 1999 flags, but still agonises over the lost opportunity in 1998, when an inaccurate North failed to put Adelaide away in the first half and paid the ultimate price in the second half.
Still, an opportunity to captain Australia in the first of the reconstituted International Rules was a handy second prize and Carey still says he can't thank then AFL chief executive Wayne Jackson enough for the opportunity.
Because of the tawdry end to his career with North Melbourne and a series of hiccups in the first years of his retirement, Carey had to wait through two years of eligibility before finally being inducted into the AFL Hall of Fame, but the delay doesn't seem to have bothered him one little bit.
"You don't expect to be inducted into these sorts of things. Look at Peter Moore. He won two Brownlows and was only inducted a few years ago, so you can't whinge about having to wait a couple of years," he said. "I'm just chuffed, honoured and humbled. All of those things."
Wayne Carey - By The Numbers
272 - games for North Melbourne and Adelaide
23 - finals played
60 - goals in finals
127 - career Brownlow votes
7 - All-Australian jumpers
4 - North Melbourne best and fairests
5 - times North's leading goalkickers
184 - games as captain of North Melbourne
