In a team featuring a generational great In Matthew Pavlich and a number of star midfielders, the Docker receiving the most media attention heading into the 2013 AFL Grand Final is Ryan Crowley.
The Dockers have enjoyed their most successful season in club history on the back of a team-first mentality, portrayed in Monday night’s Brownlow Medal voting where three Dockers registered a spread of between 18 and 14 votes.
Fremantle’s success in 2013 has come down to the contributions of many and Crowley’s ability to tag oppositions’ best players has made him one of the AFL’s most hated figures.
Crowley will again be asked to play a defining role on Saturday afternoon and is likely to come against the prolific Sam Mitchell while numerous experts have warned of Crowley’s influence, going as far on occasion to say Hawthorn should physically target Crowley in order to limit his influence on the contest. The 29-year-old doesn’t appear to be too fazed by the attention.
“I feel like because it’s a Grand Final (the attention) gets amplified,” Crowley told Fox Footy during the AFL Grand Final parade on Friday. “All the good teams try to protect their players and I feel like it will be no different tomorrow.”
“It’s tough to do things outside the rules these days, I’m not expecting any of that. We’ll play a fair game and it will be good.”
When asked if Mitchell would be his direct opponent, Crowley responded coyly, “I expect to go to one of them, yeah.”
Crowley’s name carries a bad reputation around the league, but all reports out of the West indicate he’s one of the best guys going around and he finds the negative attention humorous.
“It just goes with the territory, we joked about having me and (fellow serial pest) Hayden Ballantyne in one car but (it’s) probably not the best idea,” Crowley said of the parade plans.
Facing the biggest day in club history, Crowley said coach Ross Lyon had the playing group handling the momentous occasion well.
“The club has been really good at making everything as normal as possible up until this point but this isn’t normal. It’s been fantastic,” Crowley said.
“Our schedule is always just so constant that it just felt like we were rolling into another week but there’s obviously things during the week that are very different and you’ve just got to try and not let them get to you too much.
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