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Matthew Pavlich last week signed on for another year with Fremantle. The Dockers champion has strong claims to be considered as versatile as any player in the history of Australian football.
Earning six All-Australian jumpers in three different positions – key forward, key defender and a midfielder – is truly extraordinary.
Turning 33 this year, he may no longer have the wind tank to roam through the midfield every week but he remains a dangerous forward capable of having an impact in big games against quality opposition.
He displayed that priceless ability to perform when it matters most in Fremantle’s two toughest games this season against heavyweights Sydney and Hawthorn.
Pavlich was buoyed by the big occasions, slotting four goals in each match in losing efforts.
He has had a slow start to the season but has gradually built momentum and fitness. He is yet to register a bag of goals but has been a consistent contributor, slotting three or more majors seven times this season.
It seems just a matter of time before he has a breakout performance and notches six or seven. Despite his age, Pavlich remains arguably as important as any player at Fremantle as they build towards another premiership assault this season.
As much as the likes of midfield maestros Nat Fyfe and David Mundy marshal the Dockers, it is the big men Pavlich and Aaron Sandilands who will be most pivotal come finals time.
His record in September is fantastic, with 31 goals from 11 matches. That is yet another string to his bow, another big tick next to his name.
His track record in finals, nay his entire career, is superior to that of a man who is arguably more revered nationwide in Brisbane Lions key forward Jonathan Brown.
Brown, who booted 32 goals in his 17 finals appearances, announced his retirement recently. The Victorian has been a quality player and an icon of his club.
He has been rightly lauded this week as a champion of the game.
That made me consider his career in comparison to Pavlich’s and it simply does not measure up.
Some people will point to the fact that Brown is a three-time premiership player whereas Pavlich has never even claimed one flag at Fremantle.
However, that is simply the luck of the draw. Had Pavlich been recruited to Brisbane instead of Fremantle he would have the same credit to his name. Brown was fortunate to be drafted into perhaps the greatest Australian football team of all time.
He was largely a role player in those three premierships rather than having any profound impact.
The reality is that Brown was a raw player for many years and didn’t become a genuine star of the competition until his seventh season of AFL.
In fact, it wasn’t until his eighth AFL campaign that he earned his first All-Australian selection.
By the same stage of his career, Pavlich had five All-Australian jumpers, and had been selected in three vastly-different positions.
Granted, Brown’s first All-Australian selection coincided with an extraordinary run of form. From 2007 to 2010, he booted 285 goals in the space of 83 games. During this period he was one of the top five players in the competition. At his peak, Brown was a marginally better key forward than Pavlich.
But before and after those four golden seasons he was never anywhere near as productive. Pavlich, meanwhile, has been a phenomenally consistent player for someone his size. And his astounding versatility takes him a notch above Brown.
Pavlich for many years played in a team which was desperately trying to plug gaps in its lineup. He would be shifted into different positions at the whim of the coach.
Despite the key forward posts clearly being his best fit, he has gallantly accepted the challenge of trying to add grunt to his team’s midfield which, until recent seasons, was often lacking significantly in size and stoppage ability.
Ross Lyon seems to have decided that the days of tossing Pavlich around the field are over. He is a permanent forward and looks capable of playing that role for possibly another two seasons after this one.
He has already notched 305 games and could quite possibly break the 350 barrier, which is unbelievably rare for a big man to achieve.
Had Pavlich played all those games and kicked his 600-plus goals for a Victorian heavyweight club like Collingwood, Essendon or Hawthorn, he would be talked about as one of the greatest players of all time.
Instead, because he has played for one of the lowest-profile and least-glamorous outfits in the AFL, he has consistently flown under the radar.