“Boys, to anyone who has ever told you that you’re ordinary, no good, not worthy and an underachiever – they’re wrong.”
They are words that will give chills to the Fremantle faithful and footy fans alike.
Fremantle captain Matthew Pavlich has revealed his final message to the 22, moments before heading up the race onto the field for the club’s inaugural AFL Grand Final appearance in 2013.
The excerpt is from his recently released autobiography Purple Heart.
It is a revealing insight into the inner sanctum of the club’s playing group.
“After our final individual preparations we gathered for the last part of our warm-up before bunching up in a tight huddle with me in the middle to give one last message to the players,” Pavlich writes.
“Don’t let the early emotion get to us. Do the basics well.
“Throw our bodies on the line and keep our head over the footy.
“Stay close to support our teammates under pressure, keep composed with the ball, but play quickly when we can to find out their extra in defence.
“Let’s explode out of the blocks, get up in their face and play our Docker Brotherhood footy!
“Boys, to anyone who has ever told you that you’re ordinary, no good, not worthy and an underachiever – they’re wrong.
“Getting to this moment and being here with you all today, I know we’ve all had to overcome fears and be extraordinary in our individual lives to succeed – and recently we’ve done it together.
“And that’s what we are going to have to do in these next two hours to realise the ultimate prize.
“You’ll be beaten in contests, we’ll be down on the scoreboard, an umpiring decision will go against you, but if we stick together and keep hanging in there with 100 per cent extraordinary effort and strong minds, we can achieve, we can be great.
“Today we can get over our greatest fears. Together our Brotherhood today can be powerful beyond belief.
“With those words, we left our rooms and made the long walk up the race and onto the ground for battle.”
Purple Heart is available to purchase at the online Fremantle team store.
