In episode twenty of Inside Melbourne, the players takeover! Caty Price and Clint Stanaway take a well deserved break as Angus Brayshaw, Dom Tyson and Daniel Cross join the team. We recap the milestone week in Adelaide (3:10), the boys break down the season so far (8:00), Cross discusses the difficulties of being a runner in the AFL (9:00) and we take all your questions from the outer (16:10). Plus find out which photo caption wins the signed jumper this week thanks to our good friends at Zurich (29:00).
MELBOURNE runner and development and rehabilitation coach, Daniel Cross says that the criticism directed at AFL runners this year is unfair.
Speaking on Inside Melbourne’s player takeover episode hosted by Angus Brayshaw and Dom Tyson, Cross said it could be a “bloody hard job” running messages onto the ground.
“I’m president of the Runners Association and we’ve copped a bit of fire this year, which has been a bit unwarranted I think. They’ve really come for us for some unknown reason,” Cross said.
“It’s hard to find a place to hide on the ground. You think you’re out of the play and you try and be as inconspicuous as possible.
“Sometimes when they show vision of runners in bad spots, I doubt very much whether they’re intentionally doing that.”
The role of runners was recently placed in the spotlight, after the Sydney Swans were warned by the AFL over runner conduct in round 17. The situation raised talk that the time runners are allowed on-field could potentially be limited.
Covering up to 15 km per game, Cross said the importance of runners was something he took for granted during his 249-game career.
He also said it could be a fine art communicating tough messages to players in the middle of tense contests.
“You’ve got to know different personalities of players as well. Some can take the heat you’ve given them and the feedback straight up, whereas others you need to sugar-coat it a bit.
“[Christian Petracca] he can get a bit angry, a bit narky, Trac. He’s focussed on the ball, which is fine and you try and pick your right time to give him a message.
“But I completely understand, I know what it’s like in the heat of the moment. It’s water off a duck’s back, I get back on the bench and onto the next message.”
While he played 210 games for the Western Bulldogs, Cross said he now feels at home at Melbourne, where he has been part of the set-up since 2013.
Cross played 39 games for the Demons, before moving to the football department after his retirement in 2015.
“This is my fifth season. I love the unity of the place. It seems like the whole football staff works well as one.
“It was certainly different when I got here, a lot of things have changed, a lot of hard work’s gone on behind the scenes to get us to this point.
“The list that we have now, it’s so exciting to be a part of and to have young players like yourself [Brayshaw] continually signing on, because you see the vision as well, that excites us as staff.”
