MICHAEL GARDINER was raised at the racetrack, so he knows a lot about broken-down thoroughbreds and long odds.
The 30-year-old St Kilda ruckman spent his childhood on the other side of the country, a fixture at the Albany course in WA where his father, Renny, was a longstanding race caller and personality.
When he was still in primary school, young Michael worked as a “glassie’ at the track, and he grew up knowing how tough the breaks could be, not just for the horses, but for the cast of characters who followed the nags.
Gardiner himself was once a thoroughbred of the football industry, regarded as the best teenage talent in the country when he was taken as the No1 draft pick by West Coast in 1996.
But 10 years later, he was on his way to football’s version of the knackery. Hampered by chronic foot pain, he had played in West Coast’s losing 2005 grand final side and performed miserably. Then six months later he was discarded by the club after he crashed his car through a roundabout, affected by alcohol and painkillers.
There was only one chance left for the burly Gardiner. St Kilda and new coach Ross Lyon, desperate for a ruckman, took their own punt on the 199cm, 99kg big man at the end of 2006.
But Gardiner brought his foot injury with him, and if he was a horse, he would definitely have seen his final days. In 2007, his first season at the Saints, he underwent surgery and wasn’t fit to play a single game.
At that stage his chances of ever taking part in another season finale were about as good as a three-legged horse winning the Melbourne Cup.
“Well I suppose at times I was probably 100-to-1 to play another one, so it is exciting to be given the opportunity to play in another one with St Kilda,” Gardiner said yesterday, fittingly in the language of the track. “My first year here I didn’t play a game because I had to have my other foot operated on. So at that stage I had just left West Coast and came here, and in my first year I didn’t play, so I knew it was going to be difficult.”
Gardiner’s luck began to turn early last year, when his foot problems had finally been solved and he was able to string a few games together. While he played just nine games for the season, still hampered by calf and hamstring problems, the club showed faith, impressed by glimpses of form, and his new-found maturity.
“Ross Lyon and the St Kilda football club stuck by me and it is just great to be rewarded with a chance of playing in another grand final,” Gardiner said yesterday.
“I have brought a bit of experience to the team and obviously I’ve given them some reasonable ruck work this year.”
That he has. Never more so than in the round-14 blockbuster against Geelong, when Gardiner crashed into a pack of players and clutched a superb mark just before the siren. His subsequent goal was enough to give the Saints a win in one of the best games of the year, a match-up that has turned out to be a grand-final preview.
Gardiner isn’t dwelling on that performance, but believes his form overall this year will stand him in good stead against Geelong’s Brad Ottens and Mark Blake.
“I think being able to consistently play this year, that gives me some confidence going into the game. Round 14 was a while ago and this is a new game, a new challenge.”
Gardiner will work in tandem with Steven King, who also came from the recycle bin, having played in Geelong’s 2007 flag.
His is also a remarkable story. A former club captain, he was out of favour in 2007, then recalled from the reserves to play in the grand final, edging out young ruckman Blake in a selection tear-jerker.
Then, as soon as the champagne glasses were empty, Geelong told King he was no longer wanted. But Lyon’s eyes lit up, and King and Gardiner have since proved to be missing pieces of the puzzle in the Saint’s quest to win its second premiership in history.
The brilliant midfielders were already there — now they have the consistent ball supply from two tough competitors in the ruck. And King, 30, has the opportunity to claim a second premiership medallion, playing against his old teammates.
“It is something every player would love to do, come up against their old side in a grand final,” King said yesterday. “I’ve got the opportunity this week so I am going to enjoy it and embrace it. I’ve got some great mates who still play at Geelong, but I’ve got some great mates here and this is where I’ve been now for a couple of years so I’ve moved on.”
King and small forward Adam Schneider, who won a premiership with Sydney in 2005 before being traded to St Kilda at the end of 2007, have been on hand to provide tips to teammates who haven’t played in a grand final before. Even the superstar ones.
“The biggest thing that stuck out to me during this year is how hungry the guys are for team success, and to see the boys asking me little stuff, even Nick Riewoldt has asked me a question, so that stood out to me,” Schneider said.
