Polo’s school of hard knocks
By Greg Lange
richmondfc.com.au
Thursday, May 17, 2007
THE CHANCES of Richmond midfielder Dean Polo shying away from any physical intimidation by his AFL opponents are slim to none.
According to the power-packed Tigers midfielder, the AFL is peanuts compared to the heat he experienced when growing up with his three brothers.
“There have been that many fights, it’s not funny,” Polo said with a sense of pride.
“There have been occasions where punches, table tennis bats and picture frames have been thrown. I think I even broke my little brother’s ribs.”
Exposing his softer side, Polo paid homage to his mother’s patience.
“We sent Mum mental. She certainly has had it tough with four boys, poor lady,” he admitted.
However, no amount of brotherly love could have prepared Polo for the type of intensity and public scrutiny caused by his club’s poor start to this year’s season.
While Polo admits it has been “frustrating”, he refuses to do anything other than take the positives out of each game.
“It makes me even hungrier,” Polo said of the Tigers’ failure to chalk up a victory. “I had a couple of weeks down at Coburg where I won both games. It was exciting and just good to get that feeling of being in the winning side.”
After playing 17 senior games last year for the Tigers, in which he averaged 15 possessions a game, Polo said he has worked hard on improving his range of skills he feels are crucial to becoming a successful AFL player.
“I have tried to be a more running player this year and have tried to take the opposition players on, whereas last year, I’d try and look to give it off,” he said.
“I really want to be an elite kick, so I have been concentrating on my kicking skills and also running and bouncing with the football.”
But, it doesn’t matter how many hours he puts in on the training track. Polo says nothing is as valuable as the real thing.
“The more games you play the more confidence you receive and the better you get. Now that I have a little bit more experience it has been a lot better.”
Unfortunately, for Polo, his off-field changes have not turned out as well as he had planned. A visit to a lackadaisical hairdresser earlier in the year proved disastrous.
“I asked for tips and they did them on the top and the side and it looked okay,” Polo explained.
Assuming the hairdresser had followed ‘tip protocol’, Polo forewent the hairdresser’s offer to show him the back of his head. It was a move that proved disastrous for the young Tiger’s locks.
“I didn’t know they did them on the back until I was looking up at the MCG screen. When I saw my hair I thought ‘that looks horrendous’,” he said.
“It was disgusting. I was not happy with them at all. As soon as I got home I shaved it off. I’ve dyed my hair plenty of times before but this one just went horribly wrong.”
Polo’s hair has since recovered and the 20-year-old believes the Tigers’ season will follow suit, as long as the players maintain their positive attitude.
“We play our best footy when we run and take risks. Our skills are good and I still have belief in the team that we can do it. I go into every game with confidence and that is the same attitude of all the guys.”
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