Cult hero Maric lets it flow Michelangelo Rucci
From: The Advertiser
June 30, 2012 IVAN Maric today becomes the third former Crow - among the four defectors from last spring - to return to AAMI Stadium as "the enemy".
Phil Davis, a key defender and co-captain at expansion franchise Greater Western Sydney, will have a much healthier bank balance by the end of his first season away from Adelaide.
Jack Gunston may establish himself in the Hawthorn attack - and perhaps have an AFL premiership medal to cap off his "go-home" defection from West Lakes.
Maric will have no regrets by his move to Richmond. It is a career-defining decision.
He has fulfilled his ambition to be a No. 1 ruckman. He would not have achieved this at Adelaide in the shadow of Sam Jacobs.
He has played every game at the Tigers.
Maric would not have had this record at Adelaide where playing second fiddle to Jacobs has become an intense internal race between Shaun McKernan and Essendon recruit Josh Jenkins.
Maric is a contender for the All-Australian line-up at the end of the year. He would not have been mentioned in such terms at Adelaide.
Maric and Jacobs today face each other across the centre circle at AAMI Stadium not as rivals in Crows training, but as key combatants in an AFL premiership game of high stakes, personal and team-wise.
The winner of the ruck duel takes the high ground for All-Australian selection.
The winner of the game is better-placed in the race to September's AFL finals.
Maric arrived in Adelaide as a third-round draft pick at the end of the 2004 season. At that stage the Crows had an established ruck battery with Matthew Clarke, Rhett Biglands and Ben Hudson.
Maric was in a development race with the rookie-listed Jon Griffin.
By the end of last season, Maric had outlasted them all but was still not No. 1. Clarke was in Adelaide's coaching panel, Biglands had a radio gig, Hudson was retiring at the Western Bulldogs and being called back to the AFL by Brisbane and Griffin was looking at leaving Fremantle to join Port Adelaide.
Maric felt crucified - and was outspoken - not by Adelaide's preference for Jacobs, but by the AFL's changes to the four-man interchange system. The move to a substitute among the four interchange seats sacrificed the second ruckman.
Unlike "future captain" Davis, Gunston and Tony Armstrong, who defected to Sydney, Maric is the only former Crow finding his potential as an AFL player is being fulfilled by the decision to change clubs.
He is the No. 1 at Tigerland.
Maric has numbers - and All-Australian prospects - he could have never imagined at West Lakes - not while living in Jacobs' shadow.
Maric ranks No. 2 for hit-outs with 372. Jacobs is No. 3 with 357. Melbourne ruckman Mark Jamar leads this category (418).
Maric is No. 2 for hit-outs to advantage with 100. Jacobs is No. 1 (108).
In field play, Maric today will surpass his season-high for disposals - 196 in 20 games with Adelaide in 2009. He has 193 in 12 games with Richmond this season.
Richmond coach Damien Hardwick notes Maric's hands are counting for more than hit-outs.
This stood out to Hardwick in the Dreamtime game against Essendon at a rain-soaked MCG on May 19.
"The amount of times he took a crucial mark when we needed it and used the ball well was fantastic," said Hardwick.
If Maric takes seven marks today, he will equal his season-high of 62 in 21 games in 2010 with Adelaide.
"He's been a star," adds Hardwick. "He's been a high-calibre person, what he's delivering on the field is high-calibre also.
"He's been a very good player for us."
By the time Brenton Sanderson arrived at West Lakes as Adelaide's new coach - to be well briefed on Maric's strength of character - Maric was beyond second thoughts on leaving.
"I sat down with him and I was really keen for him to stay, but his mind had already been made up," Sanderson said.
"But a door shuts and another one opens, and we've given an opportunity to Jenkins and McKernan, who have been fantastic for us at different times this season."
For the record, Maric's trade to Richmond engineered Tom Lynch's arrival from St Kilda.
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