Polak finds his passion
Michael Gleeson
The Age
March 18, 2007
GRAHAM Polak admits he has been slow to grow up. His large frame still retains the rakishness of youth while socially he has been reluctant to forgo his teenage habits and desires.
A young man would not be condemned for either were he not attempting to be an elite athlete. Time in modern football, like timing, is precious. Those slow to mature physically and emotionally may find their time passes too quickly. Unless of course you are 194 centimetres tall and at one point the pre-eminent tall footballer in the country for your year.
"The first few years of AFL I probably didn't put on as much weight as I should have but the last few years I have really worked on it and been in the gym a lot more and eating the right foods and getting the right stuff in me to make me bigger, I would still like to be bigger and get to like 95 kilograms, which I am not far off," he said.
"I do like my social life and it is getting that balance right I think. I have a good bunch of mates so I am not going to blame anything on them but I do think the balance of getting the social life and the footy life right is something I have needed to work on as well and I think I have done that.
"I think that was one change I had to make coming over here as well which has been good so far. I don't know anyone in Melbourne so it hasn't been hard not to be distracted."
When the 22-year-old was dropped by Fremantle last year and the side went on undaunted into a lengthy winning streak that carried them to a preliminary final, it was unsurprising that the No. 4 draft pick of 2001 would be traded at year's end. Both player and club could see the logic.
"I am not sure why (the opportunities dried up last year)," he said. "I was a bit inconsistent in my playing, then my confidence went a bit. I was a keen trainer, I have always been a keen trainer, so I was doing the work, it was just my confidence I suppose was lacking. The other guys were playing really well and it was making it hard for me because they were on a winning streak, a 10-game winning streak, and it was hard to get back in the team. I thought I was in good form in the WAFL and it was just hard to get another crack.
"It would have been good to be part of it, I played the first half of the season but it didn't go my way. I thought it was time for a change."
Polak is a player of undoubted potential but football is littered with those with unfulfilled potential. Physically the query was not on knees, ankles or groin but more of bulk and strength. The true question mark was also about desire. He had a comfort level in Perth that would be best challenged moving interstate.
Several clubs expressed interest, but none as earnestly as Richmond. Aware that any new club would be across the Nullarbor, Polak flew to Melbourne in grand final week and met Terry Wallace at Punt Road. He left Wallace underwhelmed.
"Terry was not convinced that Graham wanted to come and there were a few questions unanswered I guess," said Richmond's director of coaching Brian Royal.
"There were questions over Graham I suppose — why he was out of the side and did he still have the passion to play? And Terry was not convinced he wanted to move."
So Royal flew to Perth to see Polak in his home environment and get a better handle on whether he was legitimately interested in a shift and to do what was needed to make it as a footballer. Or was he simply saying what he knew the Tigers wanted to hear?
"The reason I ended up flying over there was to sit down face to face and make sure he was leaving for the right reasons, and that was because he wanted to fulfil his ambitions in football and the potential that he had shown as a young fellow. So I probably spent four hours with him just sitting in his lounge room watching a bit of TV — the cricket was on — we just generally spoke about life," Royal said.
"I said to him 'I am here because Terry is not convinced you want to come to Melbourne', and he said to me honestly, 'Brian at the time I was not sure I wanted to move. I have a girlfriend and she has a good job. My last 12 months in footy I have started to turn things around. I have put on weight, I have started to enjoy footy again, so I was not too sure I wanted to move, but now I have had another two weeks to think about it and I want to move. I want to start a new life in Melbourne and I want to be at the Richmond footy club."
Royal was convinced and immediately rang Greg Miller to tell him. Polak became the club's prime focus of trade week, ultimately leading the club to switch their pick eight for the Dockers' pick 13 and give up a third-round draft pick. The club insists that at pick 13 they still selected the player (Jack Riewoldt) that they had wanted all along at pick eight, so the trade effectively cost them a lowly third-round pick for potentially a 10-year key position player.
"Graham was the No. 1 key position player of his year and that's why we went out and got him. I don't care what he had done in the two or three years previous, I always believed that if you were the best in your age group at 18 that with the right development and the right opportunity you should be able to be the best at 24," Wallace said.
"I thought he was incredibly down in fitness and body structure when he arrived but he has really worked hard to complete every session and show us. He has the capacity to be a hard-running player but he hasn't been that in the past.
"It is fair to say he has probably let himself down in the past. When he got to us he looked like an under-18 player straight out of the draft, where he had been in the system four or five years. I said whatever he does in the first 12 months I reckon he will be far better after that, once he starts to build up a base fitness because he hasn't had a base fitness and it has restricted him up until this stage of his career. But he has all the wares there to be able to have a reasonable engine because he is quick enough and skilled enough."
Richmond wants Polak, who is able to play forward or back, to establish himself at centre half-back, where at Fremantle in 2003 he had his best season in AFL. The move would also allow the under-sized Joel Bowden to be released to be more attacking — if that is possible — to sweep across half back and run through the middle.
"I get along well with everyone here so that has been good. They have made me welcome but I have just been focused on footy here. I don't know anyone so it is a bit hard to be distracted," Polak said.
"It is obviously a big year for me, or I want it to be a big year for me. Terry has said to me he considers it a building year but I don't think so, I look at it as a big year for me and I want to make an impact immediately. I think I have a lot to offer football. I want to show the fans I can play and the people that have doubted me before that I can play.
"I had a good year in 2003 and was happy with my year then but I can be a better player than that. I think I still have a lot more to offer and I am expecting a lot more out of myself, and hopefully the next few years and the future I can show them what I can do."
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