Young Sun playing through pain as expectation shifts
Murray Wenzel |
Bailey Humphrey is recalibrating his expectations now he and Gold Coast have ticked the first box.
The Suns will break their 15-year AFL finals drought in Saturday’s elimination final against Fremantle in Perth.
The third-year talent is nursing a knee issue that could require off-season surgery, but says he’s fit and firing to make a trademark impact at Optus Stadium.
“There’s a little bit of an issue there, but the two weeks off helped heaps,” said Bailey, who returned in last Wednesday’s finals-sealing win over Essendon.
“I’ll let the docs take care of that (potentially with surgery), but they’ve made sure I’m ready and right to go.
“It’s pretty crazy; as a young kid you dream of getting drafted, then you dream of playing in big games.
“As a club this is all we’ve asked for. We’ve had the opportunity now with some Friday night games during the year, and now we’re in finals.”
But that alone won’t satisfy a group that should be inspired by the return from injury of foundation Sun David Swallow, who will finally play in September in his 248th AFL game.
“We knew making it was the goal, but we spoke through the whole year and summer that making it wasn’t the expectation,” Humphrey said.
“We want to win finals and be a club that goes far into September.”
Humphrey, still just 20, laughs now at coach Damien Hardwick’s remarks before last season that he’d be given a “Dustin Martin-type licence”.
He struggled to back up his bright debut season, but Humphrey has discovered his best in a role forward of centre, winning one-on-one battles.
“Dimma, he’s backing me in, but let’s leave all the Dusty stuff aside,” he said.
“I’m just trying to be me and nobody should be compared to Dusty, the player he was.
“I’ve gone to work on a lot of stuff over the summer … one-on-one craft, ground level and aerial.
“And this year I’ve enjoyed my footy a lot more, and it makes it easier to play with freedom.”
AAP
