Player Watch Jordan De Goey

[The Royal Sampler]

I'd take Brisbane's midfield:

McInerny>Briggs by a lot
Neale>Kelly but getting really close
Dunkley> Cogs by a lot
Kelly>Zorko by a lot

But then Brisbane also have McLuggage and Berry who I rate.

Don’t rate Whitfield or Toby, if we’re just throwing in extras?

 

[sr36]

Don’t rate Whitfield or Toby, if we’re just throwing in extras?

Both awesome. I included McCluggage as I would have thought he played more midfield minutes than Zorko, and then got carried away as I do rate Berry - reckon he's a really underrated player.

 

[The Royal Sampler]

Both awesome. I included McCluggage as I would have thought he played more midfield minutes than Zorko, and then got carried away as I do rate Berry - reckon he's a really underrated player.

Have to include Ward if we’re including McCluggage.

 

[sr36]

Have to include Ward if we’re including McCluggage.

Both really strong midfields and deeper than I thought when you run through them.

Pretty close - I rate Dunkley really ****ing highly, as in if there really was an Australian team, I'd want him as a starting mid on the opposition gun - so it's still Brisbane in a close one for me.

 

[Brent24]

I'd take Brisbane's midfield:

McInerny>Briggs by a lot
Neale>Kelly but getting really close
Dunkley> Cogs by a lot
Kelly>Zorko by a lot

But then Brisbane also have McLuggage and Berry who I rate.

Tom Green better than Dunkley.

 

[sr36]

Tom Green better than Dunkley.

I was trying to say Neale better than Green.

Dunkley is awesome. The pure attacking free wheelers get all the press, but he goes head to head in an accountable role against the hyped free wheelers and beats them way more often than not.

 

[gouki88]

I was trying to say Neale better than Green.

Dunkley is awesome. The pure attacking free wheelers get all the press, but he goes head to head in an accountable role against the hyped free wheelers and beats them way more often than not.

I don't think Dunkley has been much better than Coniglio this year, let alone a lot

 

[sr36]

I don't think Dunkley has been much better than Coniglio this year, let alone a lot

I think he'll win Brisbanes b n f.

 

[gouki88]

I think he'll win Brisbanes b n f.

As he deserves (making Neale's Brownlow even funnier), but Coniglio has been excellent this year. Gets a heap of the footy for the Giants - plays a bit more outside now with Green

 

[Anzacday]

 

[sr36]

As he deserves (making Neale's Brownlow even funnier), but Coniglio has been excellent this year. Gets a heap of the footy for the Giants - plays a bit more outside now with Green

I think I have a bit of Dunkley bias. I rate him much higher than anyone else seems to. Anyway, I don't want to think about that now, as I'm dreaming of Jordy tearing him to shreds.

 

[gouki88]

I think I have a bit of Dunkley bias. I rate him much higher than anyone else seems to. Anyway, I don't want to think about that now, as I'm dreaming of Jordy tearing him to shreds.

Jordy will split him in two with a fend off at the first stoppage

 

[Carringbush2010]

I think I have a bit of Dunkley bias. I rate him much higher than anyone else seems to. Anyway, I don't want to think about that now, as I'm dreaming of Jordy tearing him to shreds.

Jordy will split him in two with a fend off at the first stoppage

Crippa doesn't have the burst of Jordy, Dunkley will have a much harder time curtailing Jordy.

Looks like Jordy is in this mood where no one can stop him. If he plays half as good as Friday night, give us the cup now.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Crippa doesn't have the burst of Jordy, Dunkley will have a much harder time curtailing Jordy.

Looks like Jordy is in this mood where no one can stop him. If he plays half as good as Friday night, give us the cup now.

Thank you for finally not calling him Degs.

 

[JuniorB]

There's a good article about Jordy in the Hun.
Is someone able to get around the paywall and put it up here?
There's also one about Oleg.

 

[gouki88]

There's a good article about Jordy in the Hun.
Is someone able to get around the paywall and put it up here?
There's also one about Oleg.

Here it is (lengthy!):

The 20km runs for Jordan De Goey kicked off at 6am each day from his Bali hide-out near Canggu.

It was the Bali boot camp that could transform him into an AFL finals great.

The uber-cool resort village is at the north end of the Bali strip and features all kinds of bacchanalian temptations – from beach clubs to nightclubs to seedy Kuta pubs.

But that wasn’t what De Goey was here for. Not this time.

In June 2022, during the club’s mid-season bye, the bright lights of the party island seduced De Goey.

He was forced to apologise for his late-night antics – Collingwood called it “disrespectful conduct” – which resulted in a $25,000 suspended fine.

De Goey’s 2023 trip had a very different feel.

As the January humidity engulfed him in the early hours, he slogged past high-priced villas into the backstreets through to adjoining rice fields or on to the beach to hone body and mind.

As his endurance fitness trainer Jack Kelly said of that four-month summer training program: “He wasn’t waking up and chilling out before drinks in the afternoon. This was training twice a day every day. A focus on diet and sleep. No drinking, no drugs, no partying. Literally a training camp.”

Former triathlete Kelly had linked-upwith De Goey through his manager (and brother-in-law) Ryan Vague after a breakout 2022 season that still did not have the Collingwood midfielder content.

The goal, according to Kelly: “What makes Jordy so talented is his physical capabilities. Strength, power, speed, balance. He’s blessed. But he hasn’t had to work very hard at it. So in my opinion he lacked self-discipline and he wasn’t very fit. So literally the whole 3-4 months, we worked on developing his maximal aerobic capacity.”

The program included training with UFC fighters using mixed martial arts tactics to hone that humility and discipline. De Goey progressed from running twice a week to every day.

After De Goey lapped up those early weeks of training, the punishment began. By those Bali mornings, De Goey was hardened and fighting fit.

His biggest sessions – 20km of continuous pain –in sectionals of the perfect speeds to build that AFL endurance.

Five kilometres at a pace of 4.45 minutes per kilometre, 7km at 3.45min p/km, 5km at 4.45min p/km then 3km at 3.45min p/km.

It was an astonishing volume for a 93kg AFL footballer at sustained high-end speeds. The next morning he would do it again.

All in preparation for days like last Friday’s glorious preliminary final performance against Greater Western Sydney where De Goey put another brick in the wall to build that impressive finals record.

As De Goey said this week, he will draw on that summer of toil the deeper he goes into Saturday’s grand final – set to be in Bali-esque 29C sunshine.

“It does get nerve-racking but I have put in the work in the off-season. You look back at moments where you are doing a 10-15km run and you are going through hell to put yourself in this position. It gives you an edge to push a little bit harder, tackle a little bit harder, put your body on the line. You have that strength to keep going,” De Goey said.

“It was obviously really tough at the time. You are getting up at 6am in the morning and it’s already 28 degrees. You are by yourself and you are out there running with no one around.

“You are teaching yourself and teaching your mind to be strong and that was the biggest thing for me. The consistency. Get up morning after morning. Put the work in because I wanted to be in this position and I am. And now I am going to let it all out.”

De Goey doesn’t shy away from his determination to be great in finals.

Last year he rocked the 2022 finals with a pair of peerless displays (26 touches, two goals, eight clearances, nine tackles v Geelong, then 24 possessions, one goal and six clearances against Fremantle) before a quiet preliminary final.

The 2018 campaign saw him peel off a trio of game-breaking finals – 3.2 against GWS in the semi-final, 4.2 in a preliminary final against Richmond, and then 3.1 against West Coast in the grand final.

And yet stuck on the last line against Jeremy McGovern with the game in the balance, he trailed into the defining contest to allow the game’s best interceptor to soar and mark.

History will show that it led to that historic passage of play – McGovern to Nathan Vardy, to Liam Ryan, to Dom Sheed – that helped West Coast steal the premiership from Collingwood’s grasp.

No wonder De Goey calls this grand final “redemption time”, even if he says he hasn’t dwelled on that passage.

This time he will not be caught two steps short as he proves himself on the game’s biggest stage.

“Within the season everyone talks about consistency but everyone in the media says it’s the finals that make a player who they are,” De Goey said.

“If you are able to step up in finals it really stands out from the rest and I would like to think I have the potential to do that, but it’s a team game so my role is also to guide the younger players up to that big stage.”

De Goey actually considered the Kelly training regime in the previous pre-season post-New York, but didn’t want to rock the boat with a rebel program given he was already on shaky ground with the Pies.

This year Collingwood was on board with De Goey’s plan – or at least most of it – as its new fitness boss Jarrod Wade built on that summer with his own tailored in-season program.

Kelly said De Goey is finally training like a world-class athlete, not as an AFL player coasting through his career.

“The reality of AFL footy is that they are professional in some ways and not in others,” Kelly said.

“In any endurance sport they would consider players to be unprofessional. They barely train (in-season), they are constantly forced to do less. It is ridiculous. It increases the risk of injury.

“With the season he’s had, it’s the least injured he has been. It’s definitely the most consistent year. He’s been able to play better games more consistently. It stems from the fact he’s more resilient. He’s fitter and he is able to meet the demands of the game.

“He made a commitment to be the best midfielder in the game. He didn’t want to be a flashy half-forward. He can sustain a very high percentage of maximal aerobic capacity for a very long time.”

MEANINGFUL CHANGE​

It is the smile that hits you.

A 100-watt smile with those perfect gleaming pearly whites as a relaxed De Goey sits in Collingwood’s Glasshouse function space reflecting on a year of personal growth.

Not so long ago that smile was prominent as clips of De Goey went viral as he danced around in a white dressing gown playing up in a New York nightclub.

Now it is a sign of contentment as De Goey, diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, learns about what makes him happy and what triggers to avoid.

That 2022 Bali incident, as he made lewd gestures to the camera and pulled aside a companion’s bikini top, saw the Pies park contract discussions amid more crisis talks.

If the Pies were overly sensitive – and some believed they were – it was because the incident came fresh from the New York episode of October 2021 that saw De Goey stood down by the Pies.

De Goey eventually pleaded guilty in New York to one charge of harassment after more serious charges were dropped and returned to the club.

But it was a period that saw him finally make meaningful life changes that included intensive work with Collingwood psychologist Jacquie Louder.

Brother-in-law and manager Vague, married to De Goey’s sister Jade, took over his affairs in October 2021.

He said the greatest misnomer about De Goey was that he didn’t care about the repercussions after a string of negative incidents.

“Happiness is his biggest change. He is so happy in his footy. Being around his family, he is more connected than he has ever been. He looks so happy. It’s not a million dollar smile, but it’s not far off …. And even the Collingwood staff say he looks happy,” Vague said.

“Everyone has spoken about the maturity of Jordan and what we see now. He knows his actions have consequences. And the biggest thing about his maturity is understanding what could have been a flippant decision in the past. He would make it with haste. Now he really has to think: ‘What is this going to do? Is this a smart decision?’

“If you said to Jordy this off-season there is a rooftop Halloween bar in New York and you are going to rock up in a robe, he would say, ‘No I am not’. He wouldn’t even think about it.”

The De Goey clan were never less than steadfast in their support of their famous son, but they knew he was capable of so much more.

“He hates the bad press,” Vague, who has witnessed De Goey’s rise through Ashburton’s juniors to missing representative squads to the Oakleigh Chargers star drafted at No.5 by Collingwood, said.

“Not only seeing himself painted in that light, but what it drags his family through.

“His dad goes into work and it’s, ‘What has your boy done?’

“My wife shares the De Goey surname and my Vague surname. It’s, ‘Oh, you are Jordan’s sister’. Jordy gets branded as a bad boy. All these things he is not.

“He doesn’t want to put people through that, or himself. That is why everyone is proud of the credit he is getting now. We have seen that version of Jordan and not everyone has.”

The De Goey clan that has backed Jordan all the way is chuffed.

There is dad Roger, mother Lee, Ryan’s wife Jade and another sister Paige, who is engaged to Terry Daniher’s son.

Part of the evolution of De Goey’s growth has been pruning friends who were bad influences, which he admits has been challenging

“It is tough, especially when you are younger,” De Goey said.

“You go down that track of caring what people think and trying to change yourself to please others. As time goes on, you realise you can’t focus your energy on that, you have to focus on yourself.

“I want to be the best version of myself I can be, and if that changes perspectives it does, but if not, then oh well. I think I am changing people’s perspectives but at the end of the day I am going to be me.”

He said of Louder: “Jacquie is huge. She has changed my life a lot. Getting me to understand myself and the triggers that make me tick.”

Did De Goey fear for his career before those New York charges of assault and forcible touching were downgraded?

“Yeah, it was pretty close there for a bit,” he said.

“But once it happened and everything settled, the coaching staff was fine. I knew I had the full support of the team and coaching staff. So it was just about regaining the trust of the other side of the footy club and the president.”

President Jeff Browne and the board held firm on a series of behavioural clauses that were inserted into the eventual five-year offer he signed a year to the day last year on September 29.

Vague, who turned from family sounding board to confidante to official manager (following previous advisers Nick Gieschen and Ben Niall), said both parties held the line.

It was a deal that has bonuses for performance and a hefty rise in line with the new pay deal, but also leaves money on the table for the Pies to build a premiership list.

For De Goey, set to re-sign with footwear giant Puma and with a continuing sponsorship with telco Boost, it should be enough to set him up post-footy.

He is dipping his toe into property development and will consider new sponsorship opportunities but is not interested in having to service a dozen companies.

If he isn’t earning a million bucks a year from Collingwood by the end of that contract he won’t be too far off.

“Jordy’s heart was always at Collingwood,” Vague said.

“There were certain clauses the club wanted for safety and we didn’t want them to be too onerous. We didn’t want something that was the catalyst as ‘The Jordy De Goey Clause’ and we didn’t shirk our conversations with other clubs.

“But in the end both club and player were exceptionally happy landing on where we got to.

“We knew things were coming over the hill (with the new pay deal) and the percentage of revenue and if any rewards came Jordan’s way (with performance-incentives) but you also want the club to be successful so you don’t want to push too much and hurt them.”

De Goey said of the contract: “Deep down I might have thought about it but my heart was always here. I thought we had the list to be able to do this and the culture is here. That is why I am here.”

“The Magpie army is the biggest of them all. They have been known as the misfit army and they love that. It’s all the people other people have palmed away but we always give them the time of day,” he said.

De Goey’s day of reckoning has arrived.

AFL midfielders are a dime a dozen.

Truly great finals players – who can win Norm Smith Medals and break late-game deadlocks with moments of football genius – are a rarity.

His football life has built towards this moment.

Time to right the wrongs of 2018.

“(This week) has brought back a bit of that heartbreak,” De Goey said.

“Because you push it away, you don’t want to know about it. That game was disappointing. We were so close but so far. I got the exposure. I got the experience at that level and so did a lot of other players. So it will only make us stronger.”

 

[Abdul_The_Bull]

Thanks, for posting. I love reading about athletes that push themselves and acknowledge that talent alone doesn;t get you there. I truly hope that DeGoey gets the uiltimate reward for the effort and growth he has gone through. It would truly be just reward.

There are so many 'storys' that can be told if we get to raise the cup on Saturday afternoon. DeGoey's transformation, Oleg's signing from delisting, Framapton's one and only final, Pendles' record as Captain 9without a flag) but two as a player, Sidey bookending his carrer with falgs, Elliot getting a success after so many injury-riddled seasons, the Daicos boys emulating their father's success, Moore getting to do what his dad could not.... There will be fodder for the media for weeks.

God, I hope it comes to fruition!
Floreat Pica! Go Pies!!

 

[pablo disco bar]

Going to be one hell of a Norm Smith if he can do it against Dunkley.

I'm betting on Nick or Crisp for the medal.

Just put 40 on him for the norm

He plays well

We win

Simple

 

[Markfs]

you know, I dont dislike these stories. I read about half of it before I realised once again that this story should be printed after he had achieved greatness....wait until the sunday version of the hun. It might be brutal to say but talk is cheap...

 

[Kirby]

Jordy smash

 

[Chrispiesssss]

Jordy’s goal in the last was everything. He’s a Collingwood champion now.

 

[GoldenMagpie16]

I'm glad he didn't go to St Kilda.

 

[stormskye]

I'm glad he didn't go to St Kilda.

So is he

 

[3rdMan]

Not the dominant game of the Prelim, but some huge moments, none bigger than his two incredible goals.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Has the club assigned him a security team for the off season