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2014 has been a disaster for The Artist Formerly Known as Daisy. In his first year at Carlton, Dale Thomas has become a national punchline.
His second-rate performances have been made all the worse by his very public and very over-priced $700K contract. Watching Thomas play in 2014 has been like watching season nine of Seinfeld – mediocrity made so much worse by the knowledge that it used to be so much better.
At least the last season of Seinfeld still had some quality gags. There are few silver linings for Thomas. To call him a shell of himself would be to give him too much credit; he’s aspiring to be a shell of himself.
The explosive pace, the improvisational genius and most importantly, the infectious dare and swagger in his play are nowhere to be seen. Thomas’s kicking has always ranged from average to suspect, and without his athletic advantages he’s become a depressingly ordinary footballer.
Thomas was once a creative spark-plug in the vein of Cyril Rioli, the type of player where every time he got the ball there was the tantalising possibility of something special happening.
Now he’s distressingly conventional. His Round 19 game against Fremantle was his best as a Carlton player. He was solid all match, popping up around stoppages and launching attacks out of defence with the underrated class and composure that he’s always had. But there was no magic in his performance. There was no explosion and no excitement. There was no Daisy.
The beauty of Thomas in his prime was his juxtaposition of flash and grit. He was a highlight reel unto himself, taking hangers and kicking goals from impossible angles on a near weekly basis.
While his taste for the spectacular made him a national star, what made him so endearing to Collingwood fans was his work when no one was looking. Daisy was the best two-way runner in the competition, an aerobic beast with an insatiable appetite for the contest.
He was the master of the chase-down tackle, with his gut-running embarrassing countless unaware opponents. I don’t know how many times I sat at the MCG and marvelled at Daisy sprinting from a forward pocket into the defensive half of the ground simply to lay a shepherd for a teammate or a tackle on an opponent.
Such was his application that he made the utterly unspectacular look spectacular. He was as courageous as any player in the competition; a dreadlocked kamikaze who threw his body at the contest with no regard for his physical wellbeing.
As flashy as he could be, at his core he was a gritty hard-worker, something that made him as endearing to Collingwood fans as any player on the list.
So, what happened to this version of Thomas? Where did the ‘Daisy’ go?
The easy answer is injuries, which have robbed him of his explosiveness, but the real answer might simply be age. There was a youthful exuberance that was synonymous with the way he played the game, and without it he’s become painfully ordinary. As a player edges towards his thirties – Thomas is 27 – pace and athleticism inevitably decline and adaptation becomes essential.
Thomas’s captain Chris Judd lost his elite explosiveness at 25 and adapted himself into a hard-nosed inside midfielder. While nobody is doubting Thomas’s toughness, it’s hard to see him recapturing his past glory without his special athleticism.
At his best, Thomas played football like he was a headless chicken in a pinball machine – operating at a frenetic pace, bouncing off of opponents and doing everything with an endearing mania. Age has taken away his ability to play at that pace and he’s lost his identity in the process.
Once an above the rim, electric aerial player, Thomas has become depressingly grounded. If he wants to remain relevant he’s going to have to carve out a new identity for himself, because ‘Daisy’ is seemingly dead.
If Dale Thomas retires tomorrow he will have had a pretty good career. He’s a premiership player, All-Australian and finished third in a best and fairest in a club’s premiership season.
Across Collingwood’s three grand finals in 2010 and 2011 Thomas was the Pies’ best player by a long shot. Collingwood fans have been quick to turn on their one time cult hero but hopefully future years will bring them some perspective.
At just 27, Thomas still has plenty of time to turn things around. Hopefully he can prove me and the doubters wrong. However, until that time comes or it doesn’t, we will just have to be content with the memory of what he once was, the memory of ‘Daisy’.