FOR those of us watching on it’s been tough yards. For Paddy Dow – Swan Hill’s own in 'Big Nick’s' old No.2 - it’s been fun with a capital ‘F’.
“I don’t see this (League football) as a job,” Dow said over lunch at The Carlton Café this week. "There are times where it’s pretty full-on, but I’ve been loving every bit of it. It’s awesome fun.
“I haven’t really been surprised with much. I’ve been more surprised with how much extra I’ve had to invest. But I remember when I was in the Academy two years ago there were a couple of weeks where I got the chance to go to Geelong, so I was exposed to life at a League club and that helped me a lot.”
It is here that two memories of GMHBA Stadium linger for Dow, then a 16-year-old in a growing body. “I remember not being able to do everything and tiring pretty quickly,” he said. “I also remember Joel Selwood was very nice. He was a great bloke.”
Fast-forward to the opening round of 2018 on the MCG, and Dow needed little reminding of time and place.
“I remember warming up in the rooms and I couldn’t actually believe it,” Dow said.
“My adrenalin was pumping, I was so worked up, and running out onto the ground and through the banner with 90,000 people watching on was awesome. It was like nothing I’d experienced before and I’ll never forget it.
“The more experienced players like ‘Murph’ (Marc Murphy) and ‘Simmo’ (Kade Simpson) were trying to calm me down. They were saying to me ‘play to your strengths’ which was a great help to me because they’d been through it before and they know what’s going on.”
Paddy Dow in full flight during his AFL debut. (Photo: AFL Media)
In the weeks and months since the Richmond match, Dow, with his innate ball-winning capability and rare capacity to explode out of the stoppages, caught the collective eye of a hard-marking football audience – amongst them the Rising Star judges who nominated Dow following his Round 14 showing against Collingwood.
A fortnight later, Dow was managed for the Brisbane match, which meant he took advantage of the week’s layoff to recover for the run home – and who could forget THAT goal on the run at Metricon Stadium?
Did he feel the need for a spell? “There was data which showed that my total distance and my high-speed running wasn’t up to where it had been through the year,” came the reply. “So they thought the Round 16 game was probably the best time to flush out all the heaviness in the body for the week after and that, coupled with the mid-season break, definitely helped.”
These days, Carlton’s first-round selection of last year’s national draft shares adjoining lockers with Murphy at No.3. In the captain, Dow has a ready ally, but then again the kid has found the entire Carlton family so very welcoming.
“‘Murph’ has been awesome in the midfield and so has ‘Crippa’. I had a chat to ‘Juddy’ (Chris Judd) the other week and he helped me out a lot also,” Dow said.
“Everyone’s so close – the coaches, the staff and the players – everyone gets around each other which is good. Even though we’re not getting the results we want, you come to the Club knowing everyone is sticking tight.”
Paddy Dow won't soon forget his first win in the navy blue. (Photo: AFL Media)
Come season’s end, Dow will head back to the family orchard for some well-earned 'R and R'. He’s promised to return to the big smoke armed with a caseload of the latest harvest (read peaches, nectarines, mandarins and lemons) - and a steely resolve to build on his most impressive maiden season.
