To win one league medal is impressive. In consecutive years, phenomenal.
However, the depth of Jack Yates’ achievement in claiming consecutive Whitley medals as GDFNL best-and-fairest becomes even more significant when you find out the Bell Post Hill captain was battling plantar fasciitis for a large part of the season.
In fact, the issue, which he initially thought was a bruised heel, arose in the middle of a string of seven consecutive matches from Round 5 onwards, during which he polled in every match.
“There’s obviously not much you can do for that,” Yates said in the moments after his medal win. “I was just swimming on Tuesday nights instead of training.
“I’m sure, like most of the other players in this league, they’d all have injuries… it is what it is, isn’t it? It’s footy.”
Yates, who polled 22 votes to win by two from Winchelsea star Indi Parish, and was also named captain of the Team of the Year, says he never really considered not playing.
“It’s either you’ve got to have a month or two off where you just don’t run, or you’ve just got to kind of push through,” he said.
“I’ve been dealing with that for a little bit and still dealing with it now, but I’ve got plenty of time to get it right.”
Yates barely rated a mention in a pre-count poll of coaches, with only Bell Post Hill coach Ash Witney keeping the faith that the 29-year-old could become the first player in 24 years to go back-to-back.
“No one ever really rates me, to be honest,” he said. “But that’s why I love playing the way I do.
“I’ve always got a chip on my shoulder no matter what. That’s just the way I love playing my footy.
“I love playing it on the edge. I love playing for my teammates. I love doing that.
“I don’t care if anyone rates me or they think I’m a good player.
“As long as I’m a good teammate to my teammates and my teammates rate me, that’s all I care about.”
After featuring in last year’s preliminary final, Bell Post Hill was squeezed out of this year’s top five following a seven-point final-round loss to the Belmont Lions in what proved to be a virtual elimination final.
“I think this year was a bit of a funny one,” he said.
“I just felt like we definitely had the list.
“We just couldn’t get that momentum that we needed, which is a bit disappointing.
“I don’t think anyone’s to blame. We’ll go back to the drawing board; there’ll be a few changes next year, and we’ll go from there.”
It could be a different-looking Bell Post Hill come Round 1, 2027, with premiership greats Caleb Bacely, Dyl Witney, Nick Costello and Tim Barton understood to be weighing up whether they’ll play on.
“Those guys have served us so well, and for us to keep nagging them to have one more year is a bit selfish, really,”.he said.
“They’ve done it all, they’ve done everything they can for the club, and they’ve probably achieved everything they want to achieve.
“But they keep playing to get the younger blokes one and trying to win them one.
“I don’t know. There could be a couple that stay on, which they still can because they’re still very good footballers, but I’d totally understand if their time’s up.”
X: @krockfootball
