A Cross To Bear

The Age

Thursday September 18, 2008

Michael Gleeson

Football is Daniel Cross' life and if he's awake he's probably thinking about it and bouncing a ball, writes Michael Gleeson.

MATTHEW Boyd knows Daniel Cross well. A little too well. They are very close mates and in fact Boyd will be one of Cross' groomsmen when he marries next month. Yet Cross drives Boyd mad.

Even for a football perfectionist like Boyd, Cross' drive is troubling.

"He is the most dedicated bloke to his footy I have ever seen. It drives me insane, absolutely insane. He can't walk past a pylon or something hanging from a tree without tackling it. You are walking along and suddenly he is tackling something or practising ground balls. He always does something stupid like that," Boyd said.

"He has a footy in his bag everywhere he goes and he throws it on the ground and practises ground balls when you are walking along.

"I worry about his mental state all the time because there is just no down time. Sam, his future wife, says when he gets to bed he just crashes because all day he is up and buzzing around and then he crashes.

"He even takes a footy to bed, so I feel sorry for Sam who gets kicked out of bed for a footy each night."

Despite Boyd's good-natured teasing at Cross' more obsessive behaviours Cross admits there is barely a moment in his life when he gets to switch off, little delineation between football and life. For football is his life.

There are players who are elite by superior talent, others who become so by sheer force of will to make the most of their abilities. Cross has had to work for what he has.

His drive to achieve has been the source of amazement and humour to teammates. Some laugh that you hear him coming through the car park because he does not walk anywhere and runs to the rooms practising picking up pretend balls as he goes.

Coach Rodney Eade describes him as the most thorough and complete professional for preparation he has seen.

"I have seen a lot in my time but he is the best for preparation - Paul Kelly, Dermott (Brereton) he is better than any of them for preparation," Eade said. Former Bulldogs assistant coach Jason Mifsud, now the AFL indigenous programs manager, has Cross speak with young players because he is such a model of achievement from a work ethic point of view.

He laughed that at home Cross had his fiancee hide footies in the cupboards around the house so if he opened a door they would fall out and it would help sharpen his reflexes catching them. Like the mad kid in the bank ads practising cricket in the kitchen, there is no moment in Cross' life in which he cannot conceive of something that might help him hone a skill.

"That's a bit over the top from Jase but I do have about 20 footies in the cupboards at home, we usually get one at the end of the year but I am always the one Noel the property steward comes to if there is a ball missing because one or two always seem to sneak into my bag," he said.

"I like to get a new one because they are a bit stickier and as they get older they are a bit slipperier so Noel is always on to me.

"The balls are just sitting there gathering dust, Sam is always on to me to get rid of them but I like having them there.

"I always have a ball in my hands. It even drives me insane sometimes, I don't know if I am obsessive compulsive or what it is. I just love footy, I love the game, I love being part of this club - it is what I have grown up watching and I just want to make sure I do everything I can to play as well as I can for as long as I can."

He credits that commitment with ensuring he has made it this far in football. He is now in the Bulldogs' leadership group and currently leads the competition in handballs with 400 - 43 more than the next best (Joel Corey).

"I was always going to push myself to get here. The way I have got here I wouldn't change it I don't reckon, I have been made to work for everything I have got and I am very proud of the way I have gone about it. I knew I wouldn't die wondering, if I didn't make it I knew I could leave knowing there was nothing else I could have done."

That fanatical drive has not abated with arrival at the highest level. He weighs his food, does not eat lollies or chocolates, nor drink soft drink. He only drinks alcohol for two weeks of the year save for special occasions such as birthdays or weddings. Even then he feels awful guilt.

"I pretty much train myself for 50 weeks of the year, I basically have two weeks off and I make sure I have a really good off-season. I try and build my body up a bit stronger every year.

"I take it very seriously, there is certainly time for me to have a bit of fun in those two weeks but I am studying exercise science so I know the effects of alcohol on my body, my reflexes are very important to me and the way I play. I know during pre-season you don't have to be that sharp, you are not playing games, but it is a bit of a mindset for me, I like to be one step ahead.

"I feel when I am having a drink 'maybe some of my competitors mightn't be out doing the same thing and they might be getting a step ahead of me'. That's the way I think, I know it sounds a bit extreme, but it is why I am here today and part of this very good team.

"I am very strict on what I eat, and Sam is exactly the same, she is probably worse than me to be honest, she trains six days a week. She tries to get me out for a run on my day off but I am learning as I go along that rest is just as important as training but as I was going through more was always better so (fitness coach) Cam Falloon is driving it into me that recovery is important as well.

"I have always got the footy in my hands at home, which frustrates me sometimes because I can't let go of the footy and my mind is ticking over all the time."

His mum Sharon says it has always been thus. A talented junior middle distance runner and basketballer, he was always sport crazy. Footy eventually chose him as much as he chose it. His dad Peter was a veteran of the local Albury side. "He has been a fanatic with his diet since he was 14, 15," Sharon said. "He will not eat anything high fat or sweets lollies nothing ... He is very hard on himself when they lose, probably to the point we get worried that he does take it too seriously."

Football for Daniel, though, is a serious business. It is one that consumes his life. It is his cross to bear. At the Bulldogs he is the Cross they are happy to bear.

© 2008 The Age

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