Second-year Crow has it all before himWORK. That's the buzzword for Adelaide rookie Tony Armstrong as the 19-year-old looks to force his way into the finals-bound Crows' line-up.
Armstrong (pictured), yet to make his AFL debut, was named as an emergency twice this season and has made all the right steps on the training track should an opening eventuate. Key to it all is work, something he hasn't shied away from in his short time at the Crows.
The teenager, a graduate of the NSW/ACT Rams under-18s, suffered a broken arm at the end of last season playing in the SANFL reserves. But he has bounced back and has had a consistent season with the North Adelaide senior side, having been named in the Roosters' best players several times.
"It's about maintaining a good level of work-rate, trying to work harder than my opponent and also focusing on beating my man one-on-one as well," Armstrong said. "It's pretty much been my focus from the get-go this year. Trying to be strong in the contested ball and one-on-one and from there having a really high work-rate. As long as I have the ball in my hands I feel pretty confident and pretty comfortable. It's just about doing the stuff without the ball."
Armstrong was a late inclusion for the Crows when they played the Indigenous All-Stars in Darwin in February. He had wanted to build on that one-off appearance but feels his time will come.
"I haven't achieved all my goals yet, I wanted to play just the one game of AFL footy this year," he said. "That hasn't come to fruition yet but there's still a couple of weeks to go, plus finals. I guess the very first goal I set was to get through the pre-season unscathed and that happened. That has obviously set up a pretty good fitness base and it has allowed me to work on those focus points, which have been higher work-rate and harder running than my opponent."
Headland soars to great heightsFREMANTLE'S Des Headland hasn't had the best of seasons due to injury forcing him to miss the bulk of it, but he was fit and firing enough on Sunday to put himself in contention for AFL Mark of the Year.
The smooth-skilled Docker was playing just his sixth game this season and is the eighth Indigenous player nominated for this award.
* Click the
AFL > Mark/Goal of the Year link above to see all the nominations and to view the online videos.
DARREN MONCRIEFF
Darren@AboriginalFootball.com.au
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Last Modified on 11/08/2009 22:29