bornadog
15-05-2016, 11:15 AM
Link (http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/easton-wood-from-the-edge-of-the-western-bulldogs-team-to-its-captain-20160513-gouoku.html)
http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/o/u/w/r/5/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gouoku.png/1463215156506.jpg
Easton Wood was sitting in the stands on that night. He places one hand on his heart as he remembers what it felt like to watch Bob Murphy crumple to the ground with a few seconds left in the Western Bulldogs' game against Hawthorn five weeks ago. He knew. Everyone knew. 'Oh. Oh no. Please no,' he thought, and it was only later he realised what his captain's predicament would mean for him.
"I'm quite naive," Wood said. "I was only thinking about Bob when it happened, like everyone was. I didn't really think about what would come next. But even when I became vice-captain at the start of the year I never thought, there might come some point where I'm captain."
When it did sink in, it all felt a little overwhelming. It is less than two years ago that Wood used to worry so much about getting injuries that he's sure the stress must have helped caused some of them. It doesn't feel like that long ago that he wasn't certain he would get a game, that he was in his club's best team.
Everything happened so quickly last year: a new coach, a more creative role, a bunch of awards, a trip overseas with the international rules team, a position in the Bulldogs' leadership group. "I found it overwhelming to suddenly be acting captain. To be honest it was daunting," he said. "I think a big part of it was never really seeing myself as a viable kind of option."
Why? "Last year with the way things played out, I probably performed above a lot of people's expectations including my own," Wood said. "I wasn't really in the best 22 before that, so it's the rise more than anything. I guess it's been a rapid progression and for me, I wanted to be sure I could do it right, do it properly. I thought, if I had more experience, I'd be better prepared for this."
Things have settled down, though. Murphy is still there: at training, in meetings, in the rooms before games. "He's still our captain," Wood said, "and he's such a calm person, such a calming person. He's just one of those people who makes you feel like everything's going to be all right." The one thing he can't do is pull the team together before each game, for one last word before they start to play. "And that's one of the things I was feeling most daunted about," Wood said.
"I'm not really one of those chest-beating types of people, so I've tried to keep pretty measured and to stay within my comfort zone rather than try something new. But I overplayed it a bit in my head, because when I actually went out and did it, I gave it some thought but it's really more about the moment, the symbolism of being there in a circle, holding each other's jumpers and just being together.
"It's more about creating a feeling than saying anything, because by the time we get to that point we're as prepared as we could possibly be. Once I simplified it, it was much better. You don't need to be Braveheart. We're lucky we have a group that when it gets there, is ready to go."
Some things have felt more new, in a good way. Last year Wood played, kept playing every week and played extremely well. After being reprogrammed from a running, jumping draftee into a basic, by-the-book defender, he was told to back himself, to try things, to invent and explore.
When it ended he won a best and fairest award he never for a moment imagined was possible for him to win, not even a bit: his highest finish before then was 17th. This year, he has found himself thinking more about his teammates, trying to read their mood on the ground and to pick up on things, work out why they are or are not happening and decide what needs to be done.
He has liked that. "I think the main thing I've had to do is come out of my own head more," Wood said. "In previous years and growing up, I was really focused on what the job was and how I had to do it. For me that's meant setting up the right way behind the ball and making sure I'm getting a good read on the ball coming in.
"I'm still doing that, but I guess you're also trying to get a sense of how the group's feeling out there, no matter what's going right or wrong, so that you know what message you need to deliver and what you need to reinforce and encourage. And it's important to just keep an eye on people who might be feeling the heat a bit, which happens. It's actually been quite nice to think about myself a bit less. You can get sick of that voice in your head."
In other ways, he has found comfort in being entirely himself. It's the first thing Murphy reminded him to be. Wood has an older brother in the army, about to become a major. Mac spoke to him and his teammates before their game three weeks ago; Wood had heard all the stories before but was again struck by how young his 29-year-old brother was – 22 – when he became responsible for teams of up to 30 people and six vehicles, making split second, life and death decisions on the battlefield.
"The speed at which they have to make decisions gets me," he said. "There's no time for thinking, no time for anything, really, and you can't get more high pressure than than. It has to be cold, it has be black and white. That's why they do so much training, so they can be instinctive."
He knows that isn't him. "That's why he's there and I'm here. I'd be terrible," Wood said. "I'd want to consider everything. I'd want to go into the emotional side of it and empathise, do all of that and try and see where people are coming from. I can't stand that really cold side, the 'do this' but that's just who I am and that's what Bob said, he said that if you pretend, this won't work very well."
That means taking things in, thinking and being conscious of the people around him. "I like to be honest, in terms of, if I don't feel like I've got an answer for something then I won't try to make one up. It's OK to say you don't know," Wood said.
"If I'm going to have an opinion on something I like to be thorough. I'm not an impulsive person, I'm probably a bit more considered and try and look at things not just from my own angle but see it through other people's eyes and really try and understand a situation before making a call or deciding to do anything about it, I suppose.
"And in the end, you look around and there's so much support. You feel like you can be yourself because everyone's here to do the same thing and because we love the place so much. I'm no different. I just want to do the right thing for my teammates and also for us as a club."
http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/o/u/w/r/5/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gouoku.png/1463215156506.jpg
Easton Wood was sitting in the stands on that night. He places one hand on his heart as he remembers what it felt like to watch Bob Murphy crumple to the ground with a few seconds left in the Western Bulldogs' game against Hawthorn five weeks ago. He knew. Everyone knew. 'Oh. Oh no. Please no,' he thought, and it was only later he realised what his captain's predicament would mean for him.
"I'm quite naive," Wood said. "I was only thinking about Bob when it happened, like everyone was. I didn't really think about what would come next. But even when I became vice-captain at the start of the year I never thought, there might come some point where I'm captain."
When it did sink in, it all felt a little overwhelming. It is less than two years ago that Wood used to worry so much about getting injuries that he's sure the stress must have helped caused some of them. It doesn't feel like that long ago that he wasn't certain he would get a game, that he was in his club's best team.
Everything happened so quickly last year: a new coach, a more creative role, a bunch of awards, a trip overseas with the international rules team, a position in the Bulldogs' leadership group. "I found it overwhelming to suddenly be acting captain. To be honest it was daunting," he said. "I think a big part of it was never really seeing myself as a viable kind of option."
Why? "Last year with the way things played out, I probably performed above a lot of people's expectations including my own," Wood said. "I wasn't really in the best 22 before that, so it's the rise more than anything. I guess it's been a rapid progression and for me, I wanted to be sure I could do it right, do it properly. I thought, if I had more experience, I'd be better prepared for this."
Things have settled down, though. Murphy is still there: at training, in meetings, in the rooms before games. "He's still our captain," Wood said, "and he's such a calm person, such a calming person. He's just one of those people who makes you feel like everything's going to be all right." The one thing he can't do is pull the team together before each game, for one last word before they start to play. "And that's one of the things I was feeling most daunted about," Wood said.
"I'm not really one of those chest-beating types of people, so I've tried to keep pretty measured and to stay within my comfort zone rather than try something new. But I overplayed it a bit in my head, because when I actually went out and did it, I gave it some thought but it's really more about the moment, the symbolism of being there in a circle, holding each other's jumpers and just being together.
"It's more about creating a feeling than saying anything, because by the time we get to that point we're as prepared as we could possibly be. Once I simplified it, it was much better. You don't need to be Braveheart. We're lucky we have a group that when it gets there, is ready to go."
Some things have felt more new, in a good way. Last year Wood played, kept playing every week and played extremely well. After being reprogrammed from a running, jumping draftee into a basic, by-the-book defender, he was told to back himself, to try things, to invent and explore.
When it ended he won a best and fairest award he never for a moment imagined was possible for him to win, not even a bit: his highest finish before then was 17th. This year, he has found himself thinking more about his teammates, trying to read their mood on the ground and to pick up on things, work out why they are or are not happening and decide what needs to be done.
He has liked that. "I think the main thing I've had to do is come out of my own head more," Wood said. "In previous years and growing up, I was really focused on what the job was and how I had to do it. For me that's meant setting up the right way behind the ball and making sure I'm getting a good read on the ball coming in.
"I'm still doing that, but I guess you're also trying to get a sense of how the group's feeling out there, no matter what's going right or wrong, so that you know what message you need to deliver and what you need to reinforce and encourage. And it's important to just keep an eye on people who might be feeling the heat a bit, which happens. It's actually been quite nice to think about myself a bit less. You can get sick of that voice in your head."
In other ways, he has found comfort in being entirely himself. It's the first thing Murphy reminded him to be. Wood has an older brother in the army, about to become a major. Mac spoke to him and his teammates before their game three weeks ago; Wood had heard all the stories before but was again struck by how young his 29-year-old brother was – 22 – when he became responsible for teams of up to 30 people and six vehicles, making split second, life and death decisions on the battlefield.
"The speed at which they have to make decisions gets me," he said. "There's no time for thinking, no time for anything, really, and you can't get more high pressure than than. It has to be cold, it has be black and white. That's why they do so much training, so they can be instinctive."
He knows that isn't him. "That's why he's there and I'm here. I'd be terrible," Wood said. "I'd want to consider everything. I'd want to go into the emotional side of it and empathise, do all of that and try and see where people are coming from. I can't stand that really cold side, the 'do this' but that's just who I am and that's what Bob said, he said that if you pretend, this won't work very well."
That means taking things in, thinking and being conscious of the people around him. "I like to be honest, in terms of, if I don't feel like I've got an answer for something then I won't try to make one up. It's OK to say you don't know," Wood said.
"If I'm going to have an opinion on something I like to be thorough. I'm not an impulsive person, I'm probably a bit more considered and try and look at things not just from my own angle but see it through other people's eyes and really try and understand a situation before making a call or deciding to do anything about it, I suppose.
"And in the end, you look around and there's so much support. You feel like you can be yourself because everyone's here to do the same thing and because we love the place so much. I'm no different. I just want to do the right thing for my teammates and also for us as a club."