Enter Dragicevic, for one last shot
24 July 2004
Herald Sun
Mark Stevens
MARC Dragicevic sat outside Richmond training in December like a nervous kid desperately wishing he didn't have to walk through the school gates for the first time.
A few weeks earlier, the Tigers had delivered a blunt message that AFL footy had gone past him.
If it hadn't been for a final word of encouragement and a shove from his manager Dan Richardson, Dragicevic might have turned around and walked away.
Richardson said yesterday: "I remember he rang. He was about to go in and he said, `I'm not sure I can do it'. I said to him, `Just swallow your pride and walk back in there. I'm sure the boys will welcome you back'.
"He did it and he rang me afterwards and said it was great. The lesson there is the difficult things in life are often the best things."
Eight months on, Dragicevic is preparing to be reborn as a senior player against Melbourne at the MCG tomorrow.
It has been an amazing journey considering Dragicevic, delisted by the Tigers in November after two knee reconstructions, started the season as a rookie on a base wage of $25,000.
Both Dragicevic and Richardson were realistic enough to think he had no hope of being elevated to the senior list.
"They made a commitment to rookie-list him and we felt initially that was just a little bit of a token goodwill gesture," Richardson said.
"From the discussions `Draga' had had with Danny Frawley and Greg Miller, it was fairly clear Richmond didn't see him at any stage being elevated this year.
"They felt through the knee reconstructions that the game had gone past him."
After getting the chop, Dragicevic trained at both Essendon and St Kilda hoping to be picked up in the national draft.
When neither club would commit, Dragicevic wanted to give the Tigers a wide berth. It was the VFL or interstate.
But after discussions with his management company Elite Sports Properties, Dragicevic went with the Tigers and their affiliate Coburg – on the minimum base without the luxury of match payments.
"In his third and fourth years he was on a pretty good wicket financially, so he's had to make adjustments there," Richardson said.
Along with the budget adjustments came a change to his approach. It has been so successful many believe he would be leading the VFL's best-and-fairest Liston Trophy voting.
Early on in his career, perhaps the senior games came too easily. There is now a feeling Dragicevic relaxed and the work ethic dropped off.
"One knee reconstruction is bad enough, but then to do it again he did go through a phase where he was pretty down on himself," Richardson said.
`Because he had two years where he wasn't able to run, he did a lot of weight work and probably got a bit big as well.
"Now, finally being able to string a full year together, he's got his fitness back up. Maybe he hasn't lost the pace Richmond thought he'd lost. Maybe it was a fitness issue."
Richardson will be in the stands tomorrow hoping as much as anyone Dragicevic can have an impact.
As for the man himself, there'll be no thoughts of turning back this time when he arrives at the MCG car park.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,10225292%255E19771,00.html
