Footscray premiership star Lin Jong completed a remarkable return from a broken collarbone suffered little more than two weeks ago by winning the Norm Goss Medal on Sunday.
23-year-old Jong was in tears on the interchange bench after being injured in a tackle during the Western Bulldogs’ AFL elimination-final victory over West Coast, fearing his season was over.
But the tough 188cm midfielder overcame his nerves to be named the best player on the ground in Footscray’s 31-point triumph over the Casey Scorpions in the Peter Jackson VFL Legendairy Grand Final at Etihad Stadium.
Jong was consistently involved in key scoring passages for the Bulldogs, recording an equal-team-high 29 disposals, as well as nine marks, six inside-50s, four clearances, four tackles and four score assists.
His attack on the ball belied the fact he was essentially still recovering from invasive surgery.
“I’d probably be lying if I said I wasn’t worried,” Jong said about his feelings before the game. “I think that’s natural, but once I got into it (the game)... it was no dramas.
“I assumed the worst (after my injury) and this is probably the best-case scenario, the way it’s turned out.
“(My individual goal was to) play as I normally do. I couldn’t let the collarbone deter me from doing what I normally do, so I tried to do that as best as I could.”
While Footscray blew the game open with a stunning eight-goal-unanswered third quarter, Jong was a constant contributor throughout the match.
He had a hand in his team’s pair of second-term goals, helping keep the Bulldogs within six points of the Scorpions at half time when it looked as though Casey was set to break away.
Jong was also the centre of attention on the quarter-time siren when Scorpions defender Lynden Dunn provoked a melee by physically targeting him following a missed set shot on goal. He said the treatment was “fair enough” given he had put his hand up to play, and that Casey had “tested the collarbone out a bit” during the match.
But Jong benefited from sneakily strapping his left shoulder instead of his right side where the collarbone break had occurred, helping him emerge from the contest “unscathed”.
While he was pleased to put himself in the frame for a call-up to the Western Bulldogs’ AFL Grand Final team this week, the 2014 Footscray premiership player said he was happier just to join captain Jordan Russell, Tom Campbell, Alex Greenwood, Will Hayes and Mitch Honeychurch as dual VFL flag-winners.
“It was a thrill to win it (Norm Goss Medal), but not as much as the premiership medal,” Jong said. “I’d take the premiership medal every day.”
NORM GOSS MEDAL VOTING
Ben Pollard (AFL Victoria Communications Assistant)
3. Lin Jong (Footscray)
2. Jordan Russell (Footscray)
1. Koby Stevens (Footscray)
Campbell Brown (Channel 7)
3. Lin Jong (Footscray)
2. Jordan Russell (Footscray)
1. Clayton Oliver (Casey Scorpions)
Leigh Brown (SEN/VFL Live)
3. Lin Jong (Footscray)
2. Jordan Russell (Footscray)
1. Clayton Oliver (Casey Scorpions)
Chad Van Estrop (Herald Sun)
3. Lin Jong (Footscray)
2. Nick Jamieson (Footscray)
1. Tom Campbell (Footscray)
TOTAL
12 – Lin Jong (Footscray)
6 – Jordan Russell (Footscray)
2 – Clayton Oliver (Casey Scorpions)
2 – Nick Jamieson (Footscray)
1 – Koby Stevens (Footscray)
1 – Tom Campbell (Footscray)
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Last Modified on 28/09/2016 11:21
