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True grit: Luke Ball's legacy

Expert
28th August, 2014
3

They say that you shouldn’t let your Year 12 marks define who you are as a person. While there’s merit in that, it hasn’t stopped me from long defining Luke Ball by his 98.8 ENTER score.

I’ve always viewed Luke Ball the footballer through the prism of his ENTER score. There’s a magnificent irony in the fact that one of the most working-class players in the AFL doubles as one of its highest academic achievers.

There’s very little in Ball’s style of play that alludes to his book smarts. He plays football more like a coal miner than an academic, earning his keep by digging under packs and sacrificing for his teammates.

He shows no regard for his body, treating it like a worthless piece of sentient meat. On the imaginary list of which football players are the least likely to have done well at school based on their style of play, Mitch Robinson would top it but Ball might come in second.

Before he came to Collingwood in 2010, I, like most, thought of Luke Ball as a largely unskilled hard nut; a glorified Paul Licuria or a Daniel Cross with more hype. As a Pies fan though, over the past five years I’ve come to appreciate the nuance in Ball’s game, the subtle but unmistakable cerebral intelligence in his play.

Ball is a genius in the clinches; a virtuoso at extraction and body contortion in heavy traffic. Always moving with conviction, purpose and intent, Ball is also impossibly clean and composed around the stoppages – fiercely willing himself to win the ball and then having the presence of mind to accurately dispose of it with a calm urgency.

In an emerging generation of 6’2 super athlete midfielders, Ball is a throwback, a remnant of a bygone era. There’s never been anything flashy about Luke Ball.

Ball’s calling card has always been his courage and while other tough nuts around the league like Joel Selwood, Luke Hodge and Lenny Hayes often make highlight reels with their violent displays of bravery, Ball has never been that type of player. He’s the ultimate teammate, the type of player who lays the tackle which leads to the pass that leads to the highlight goal.

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Ball’s foot skills have never been a strength and have often been a liability. His kicking always lacked penetration. A 45m set shot for Luke Ball was always a 50/50 proposition at best in terms of making the distance.

As much as the simple skill of kicking a football can be taught and moulded and adjusted, it is ultimately an innate talent. When you watch someone like Daniel Rich or Trent McKenzie you get the sense that they were put on Earth to kick an oddly shaped piece of leather. For not one second in his career did Luke Ball inspire that sentiment.

Regardless, Ball did not let his shortcomings by foot define him as a footballer. He was always an inside player, the necessary someone to extract the ball for a more gifted user like a Nick Dal Santo or a Scott Pendlebury.

While he was never a good kick, it’s trite to say that Luke Ball was bereft of skill. The ability to win contested ball is a skill in high demand still, and Ball was as good at it as anyone.

St Kilda fans may have more complicated feelings about Ball given his unceremonious exit and his unfortunate symbolism of a failed era, but Collingwood fans should feel nothing but goodwill towards him.

Although his past three years, like much of his career, have been marred by injury, Ball was an integral part of the 2010 and 2011 premiership and grand final teams, finishing top five in the best and fairest in both of those years. Ball’s 2011 season was his best in black and white and it was that year that he delivered his finest individual moment.

Never a prolific goalscorer, having kicked 26.38 in the five seasons prior, in 2011 Ball was impossibly accurate, booting 18.3 on the year. Two of those 18 goals came in the dying minutes of close finals; a right foot snap from the boundary to beat West Coast and a left foot snap from the opposite pocket a fortnight later to beat Hawthorn and send Collingwood into the grand final.

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The latter and more famous of the two has become an iconic Collingwood moment. Ball became the symbol of the most exciting Collingwood victory of my lifetime and he did so in typically Luke Ball fashion – finding the ball at a stoppage and kicking it awkwardly but truly. It was the perfect Luke Ball moment.

The coal miner with the 98.8 ENTER score, the understated player, making the ultimate statement.

In a new era of high flyers, it’s the right time for the perpetually grounded Luke Ball to walk off into the sunset. History might view him as a relative disappointment given his draft position (#2 in the legendary 2001 draft, sandwiched between Luke Hodge and Chris Judd), injuries and failure to capture the ultimate prize at St Kilda, but those that watched him will remember him as a tireless, courageous and exceedingly honest footballer.

He’s not a superstar, but he’s a champion. He’ll retire as a premiership player, All-Australian, captain of St Kilda and best and fairest winner. And something tells me he won’t find it difficult finding work outside of football.

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