YOUNG West Coast defender Tom Cole will be playing for his late father in Saturday's Grand Final, knowing his dad Russell would be bursting with pride if he was at the MCG to see it.
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Cole's entire family and a group of friends will travel from Bendigo – about 90 minutes north of Melbourne – for the season decider, showing their support for the 21-year-old who has made a back pocket his own this season.
But his father won't be there after passing away from cancer on the eve of the season, and Cole has been reflecting on his dad's influence on his career all week.
"It's hard not to. It's a big thing this Grand Final, and this whole finals series has been consuming," Cole told AFL.com.au.
"I'd love for him to see it, and I know he'd be so proud.
"This just makes it that little bit more special how big a stage this is.
"He's always in the back of my mind."
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Cole vowed to play every game for his father this year, and after six games in his first two seasons, the tough defender has gone to another level in 2018.
Blessed with pace and a whatever-it-takes attitude, Cole has cemented a spot and could be a premiership player after just his 27th career game against Collingwood.
"You've always got to dream. You find yourself daydreaming throughout the week about the thought of what could potentially happen," Cole said.
"I have dreamed, but there's a task at hand and we've got to do that first before anything happens."
Cole's job could be one of the most important if the Eagles are going to clip the Pies' wings for the third time this year.
He is likely to stand Jordan De Goey, the Collingwood firestarter who has booted seven goals in two finals.
De Goey looms as the No.1 danger man for West Coast, but Cole held him relatively well after being forced onto the last line of defence when experienced teammate Brad Sheppard was cut down by a hamstring tear early in the qualifying final.
"'Shepp' went down and then literally the next play I was down in the goalsquare," Cole said.
"It is a little bit nerve-wracking, but we've got a lot of good defenders who tried to help me out in the air and fold back.
"I didn't know a lot about how he played. Obviously I knew he was a really good player, he's very fast, he's very strong, he's good at ground level, he's good in the air – he's got a lot of strengths.
"He plays deep a lot and I hadn't played deep a lot throughout this year much, so that was a good learning experience.
"I had to do it a little bit last week on (Jake) Melksham against Melbourne, so if I have to do it, I feel like I've had two weeks of work experience."
