By DAVID NAGEL
THE origin of the saying “Action’s speak louder than words” has always been a bit sketchy.
Some credit 16th century French writer Michel de Montaigne with his version, “Saying is one thing, doing is another”, while before him St Francis of Assisi embodied this principle, “Preach the gospel at all times… use words if necessary.”
If you want the football equivalent… watch Michael Collins, Casey Cardinia’s captain for this Saturday’s Worksafe VCFL Championship clash against the Bellarine… just watch him play football!
Collins doesn’t waste words, is quietly spoken, and off-field is one the nicest people you could meet… but hardly inspirational. There’s no rah-rah, no histrionics, no bulls#*t… just a genuinely nice bloke.
But throw a footy jumper over his shoulders, and watch a nice guy morph into a flaming lunatic… a competitive beast that has legitimate claims to being the most influential player in the 10-year history of the league.
“I’ve never considered myself a great leader off the field,” the Narre Warren skipper said ahead of this week’s clash.
“It’s probably more on field where I just do what has to be done.
“If I attack the footy as hard as I can and my team mates see that and take something from it… that’s great.”
This campaign has so far been a brilliant one for the CCFL Demons; record numbers at training has seen a real enthusiasm filter through the group as it prepares for a huge challenge against the best from the west.
“Yeah it’s been good – we’ve had 30 or 40 train instead of a dozen last year so it shows everyone’s pretty keen,” Collins said.
“These guys all just love playing footy and it’s great to test yourself against the best from other leagues. It’s like a grand final in a sense because all the best players are playing. That’s when you get to challenge yourself and see what you can take… see how far you can step up.
“Every game brings up its own challenges and it’s great to see how these blokes handle these situations when they’re confronted. The camaraderie from these games is fantastic, to get that with blokes you normally play against is what it’s all about.”
And make no mistake… there’ll be no taking the foot off the pedal even though his beloved black and white jumper of Narre Warren will be safely tucked away for the weekend.
“Nah… none of that.
“I just play footy to win and I think these better players all think the same.
“Every game you play to win, and you want to win, it doesn’t matter what the colour of the jumper is.
“The commitment to each other is to go out and win this game… losing’s not great.”
