In bloom again: Daisy Thomas returns to relevance

Sporting obituaries might be written with a haste that often seems unfair, but the rareness of retractions seems to almost justify them.

Dale Thomas’ AFL funeral has been held several times. The faint knocking on heaven’s door started in 2013, when Daisy managed only five games before his chronically worrisome ankle was operated on, ending his season.

The whispers became louder that Thomas was finished after he laboured through a disappointing 2014, his first year in blue, his performances sharing almost nothing in common with the player who finished third in the best and fairest for a team that won the premiership.

Last year seemed to be the death knell for Daisy’s AFL relevance. His season effectively ended seconds after it began, with Thomas dislocating his shoulder in the first contest of Round 1. Turning 29 this season, on a team widely expected to finish in the bottom two, Dale Thomas had become the thought that follows an afterthought.

All the game’s stars have defining, idiosyncratic presences. Luke Hodge is violently uncompromising and admirably reckless. Sam Mitchell is impossibly poised. Patrick Dangerfield is the perfect equation of mass times acceleration. Dale Thomas’s defining characteristic was that he played the game with joy and vitality.

His on-field personality was almost childlike. He played like someone kicking the ball with three mates on a high school oval at lunchtime. He seemed to always have the semblance of a grin whenever he found the ball, and he played with a showmanship and swagger that made it feel like he was trying to impress some girl in the stands.

The handballs along the ground to himself, the unnecessary number of bounces on his runs down the wing, the dribbled goals from the boundary, the improbable aerial launches – Dale Thomas was having fun out there.

But he was never selfish, and never lazy. He stood out as a performer in a midfield featuring the statesmanlike composure of Scott Pendlebury and the honesty of Luke Ball, but he worked just as hard as them. The beauty of Thomas was that he was Collingwood’s flashiest player, but also their grittiest. It was the juxtaposition of ‘Daisy’ and ‘Plain Old Dale’ that made him so special.

His courage was irresponsible in a way that could only be endearing, and his gut running became legendary. The mania that he played with was as schizophrenic as it was balletic. It’s only fitting that his two most memorable acts as a footballer are an opposite foot banana from 40 metres out on the boundary, and a chase-down tackle on the hardest player in the game to catch.

The energy and joy that defined Thomas seemed to have left him after 2012 (and really, after 2011), and that’s been the hardest thing to watch. It’s one thing to see a player fade with age – it’s another to see them lose their entire identity.

But in 2016, Thomas has blossomed again. He’s averaging 21 possessions, his most since 2013, and five tackles per game, the most in his career. He’s coming off his best fortnight in blue, a three-goal haul sinking the Dockers before a best-on-ground 31 possessions, one goal, seven tackle turn against the Bombers. Both were Carlton victories, largely because of Thomas.

More than the numbers though, Thomas looks like himself again. He’s playing with the same swagger he had when his hair was longer and blonder. He’s having ‘Daisy’ moments again. There was the opening goal against Essendon, in the wrong pocket for a right footer, where he pulled the trigger with a casualness that seemed lazy, but six points resulted all the same.

He’s dashing along the wings, posing a threat in the air, and snapping goals from the boundary. He’s doing that quintessential Thomas thing where he runs towards the wing then delicately, cheekily caresses a short pass across his body in the corridor. He’s Dale Thomas again.

Thomas came to Carlton to give Mick Malthouse the final puzzle piece that would transform a top-eight team into a top-four contender. Now Malthouse is gone, Thomas hasn’t featured in a final in blue, and Carlton have won nine of the 30 matches he’s played. His $700K a year contract has been a disaster.

But what looked like an unmitigated disaster is now looking to be, well, a little mitigated. That’s not something to throw a parade for, but in a time where Carlton fans can only look for silver linings, Thomas is one of the best in the playbook.