The AFL’s most durable player, Jack Crisp, believes he could play until he’s 40.
Preparing to play his 250th game, the Collingwood premiership star has set the standard for how to look after his body.
Sunday’s season-opening match against GWS will be Crisp’s 238th consecutive game, a streak that dates back to round 18 in 2014 when he still played for the Brisbane Lions.
The 31-year-old is just six games away from matching Melbourne legend Jim Stynes’ all-time VFL/AFL record of 244 consecutive matches.
Crisp’s passion for football is as strong as ever, believing he could continue playing deep into his 30s.
“I’ve been saying the last couple of years, I could probably play for 10 years, but now I’m 31, turning 32 this year,” Crisp said on Wednesday.
“I’d like to say 10 more years, but maybe eight. Get to 40, that’d be great.
“I know I feel good in my body, and I’ll give myself the best chance to do that.”
(Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
Crisp is as diligent and dedicated to his preparation and recovery as they come.
He works hard outside of the club, making sure he has extra massage treatments, and engages in cryotherapy, ice baths, saunas and Pilates.
The classy left-footer tries to get as much sleep as possible, which is not always easy with three young children at home.
“I had a few years where I probably didn’t touch a weight, I did Pilates instead,” Crisp said.
“I just find different things to try and get my body to rest and then recover and go again.”
Arriving at Collingwood in 2015, Crisp had the ultimate role model in Scott Pendlebury to look up to.
“I’ve definitely taken a leaf out of his book,” Crisp said.
“I remember when he lived in Port Melbourne, early days, and he was coming in during the middle of the night to do ice baths here.
“I definitely wasn’t doing that.
“But all the recovery stuff, a little bit of diet, (there’s) a lot of work you do outside the club to make sure your body’s cherry ripe.”
Crisp was flanked by his best mates, Brody Mihocek and Will Hoskin-Elliott, for his milestone press conference.
Mihocek held a mug with Crisp’s face on it for the duration, while Hoskin-Elliott sported a badge on his chest of his friend.
Hawthorn know what they can do when they’re on their game, and how badly it can go south when the AFL brand they call “Hokball” misfires.
Cyclone Alfred means Hawthorn’s game against Sydney at the SCG on Friday night is now the season opener, giving coach Sam Mitchell and his players an even greater sense of the unknown.
A year ago, the Hawks lost their first five games before they stormed back into the finals, unleashing Hokball and going within three points of beating Port Adelaide in a semi-final.
Now they face the Swans, hurting from another humiliating grand final loss with Dean Cox as their new coach, plus having to readjust without injured star onballer Errol Gulden.
“You always look backwards, but knowing that you need to look forward,” Mitchell said at Wednesday training.
“The thing that we look backwards with … when we work really hard, we improve. So we have evidence now that we can improve and we know that we need to – we need to beat the top sides regularly and when it matters.
“We had a little taste of finals footy. We want to try to get back to there.
“The first round of any season is a great unknown – you do all this preparation with very little true feedback.”
A documentary of Hawthorn’s pre-season, to be screened on Wednesday night, features Mitchell telling his players that they will need “a little bit of rage about us when we need it – and the rage is coming.”
He says there is plenty of room for improvement if they are to build on last year’s progress.
“Realistically, we weren’t good enough last year and we were sixth and there were five teams ahead of us – the Swans were certainly one of those,” Mitchell said.
“We didn’t finish that well, actually.
“Our consistency, quarter to quarter, our close-game scenario training needs to improve.
“I didn’t think there was any shortage of things we could improve across our pre-season.”
Hawthorn will not risk Changkuoth Jiath as he nurses “a naggy hip”, while big-name recruits Josh Battle and Tom Barrass will make their debuts for the club.
“He’s obviously an impressive and beautiful athlete, but he needs to be pretty close to right,” Mitchell said of Jiath.
“Risking him at this time of year doesn’t make a lot of sense with us. When he’s been injured, it’s been a bit longer than it might be for some others.”
Mitchell was pleasantly surprised with how well Battle and Barrass worked together in last week’s pre-season game against the Western Bulldogs.
“I actually thought they performed a bit better than I thought they might,” he said.
Mitchell added it’s an honour to play the first game of the season, while mindful of the worrying circumstances in south-east Queensland.
“I rang a couple of people in Brisbane … it was a beautiful, sunny day and it was literally calm before the storm,” he said.
“First and foremost you have to think about the people there … battening down the hatches for whatever’s coming.
“Being part of opening round is obviously a privilege in itself and now it being the first game of the season adds a little bit more.”
Greater Western Sydney will be without Jesse Hogan and Jake Stringer after the star forwards picked up injuries in the lead up to their AFL season-opener.
Reigning Coleman medallist Hogan broke his thumb after accidentally jamming it in a door, while off-season recruit Stringer has been sidelined with a low-grade hamstring strain.
The duo are expected to miss at least two weeks, though Hogan could miss up to three.
It is a major blow to the Giants ahead of their Sunday clash against Collingwood at Engie Stadium, already without star midfielder Tom Green (calf).
The Magpies are dealing with an injury concern of their own, with star Jordan De Goey ruled out of facing the Giants due to knee bruising.
Even though he has been training fully for the last three weeks, the Collingwood premiership hero suffered a setback during the pre-season and has not progressed enough to be considered for selection.
The Magpies remain hopeful De Goey could be available for their second match of the season against Port Adelaide on March 15.
Stringer, who already has a sordid history of soft-tissue injuries, had complained of hamstring tightness in a VFL practice match on Saturday, leaving the field after one quarter.
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GWS coach Adam Kingsley was already mulling the make up of his squad after the departures of mainstays Harry Perryman, Isaac Cumming and James Peatling.
Jake Riccardi, Harvey Thomas, Toby McMullin and Joe Fonti will also have to serve two-match bans for their involvement in a post-season function last year, with fringe Giants player Josh Fahey out for four.
The Giants will at least welcome back forward Callum Brown from a hamstring injury, while ruckman Kieren Briggs has overcome illness and is available for selection.
“My body is feeling good,” Briggs said on Tuesday.
“I managed to get a big block of pre-season in and I’m firing and ready to go.”
Phoenix Gothard, looking to make his AFL debut, is a test for the Collingwood clash after spraining his ankle in pre-season.
Green is pushing for a return to round one after originally being slated to return after the club’s round-two bye.
Sydney ruckman Brodie Grundy is under an injury cloud ahead of the Swans’ clash with Hawthorn at the SCG on Friday night.
Grundy suffered a knock to his knee at training last week, forcing him to miss the practice match against Gold Coast.
In that same match against the Suns, star midfielder Errol Gulden fractured his ankle in a major blow.
Gulden had surgery in Brisbane on Sunday with the Swans on Tuesday confirming he will be in a cast for two weeks.
He will meet with his surgeon again in five weeks when the Swans will give an update on his progress.
with AAP
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