For those of you old enough to remember the old telemall shopping adverts on late night TV, Tim Shaw from “Demtel” was basically a household name. Tim Shaw was famous for his catchphrase “but wait there’s more” – as he is trying to flog you a vacuum that he has demonstrated can lift a bowling ball, he promises if you call in the next ten minutes, you will also get a free set of steak knives. For those of you not old enough to remember these ads, or even telemall shopping, well one day you will recount something that sounds as ridiculous as this paragraph does!
Now – cast your mind back to 2014 – where were you? What were you doing with your life?
If you’re anything like me (I’m an old man now) it’s almost impossible to remember that far back. As old as I am, I did manage to figure out how to go back and look at my 2014 on Facebook – at the time a reliable indicator of what was going on in my life. Instagram wasn’t really a huge thing yet, and MySpace certainly was no longer a thing (poor Tom).
So in 2014, I was living in a share house in Mentone, I travelled to England for a month to start the year with a good mate, to basically watch a bunch of EPL games. I changed jobs (more than once) and was also working in an unnamed bar in Hawthorn. I posted a lot more on Facebook with zingers such as “I just read a book about Stockholm Syndrome. It was pretty bad at first, but by the end of kind of liked it”, and also posted pretty regularly about my beloved Magpies, who did not have their best season.
The world was also a different place in 2014. 239 people just disappeared when Malaysia Airlines flight 370 decided to play hide and seek but forgot about the “seek” part of the game. The Winter Olympics were on that year in Sochi, and Robin Williams sadly passed away.
In the AFL landscape, I’m sure Hawks supporters remember 2014 as they won their second consecutive flag, smashing Sydney by a whopping 63 points in the year in which Matt Priddis won the Brownlow and Buddy won the Coleman with 79 goals.
Something else that happened during the 2014 season, which was nowhere near as memorable at the time, was a young player by the name of Jack Crisp played his first game of the 2014 season for Brisbane, in Round 18 against Gold Coast. He would then go on to play the remaining five games of the season.
At the end of the 2014 season, Dayne Beams a high draft pick just five years earlier and a premiership player, decided he wanted to be closer to family in Queensland and asked Collingwood to trade him to the Brisbane Lions. It was one of the biggest trade stories of that year, and dragged on over several days, from memory. The deal was eventually completed, with Collingwood receiving picks 5 and 25 from Brisbane, as well as a young player by the name of Jack Crisp. With only 18 games to his name at this stage, he was basically the difference maker that got the trade over the line – leading to him being dubbed the “steak knives”.
I know early on his career, Jack Crisp hated the “steak knives” moniker – but I tell you what, if someone can tell me where I can buy some steak knives that are as durable and dependable as Jack Crisp I’ll happily pay for them.
Ten years on, and those “steak knives” are about to create AFL history with Crispy set to play his 245th consecutive game tomorrow night against Geelong, a record held by Jim Stynes since his retirement in 1998. The next closest is Adam Yze who played 226 consecutive games up until 2007, and of current players only Callum Wilkie at St Kilda is close, having played 139 consecutive games since 2019.
I really don’t think this achievement can be underestimated. A 25 year old record, that seems likely to be added to, and unlikely to be beaten in the next 25 years with the way the game is going.
And it’s not like Crisp has been a passenger over these 244 games. Daniel Hoyne of Champion Data noted on SEN this week that since Crisp arrived at Collingwood in 2015, he is rated as the 17th best player in the entire competition over that time, and remarkably, the second-highest rated player at Collingwood (I imagine the first is Pendlebury). Personally, I cannot recall a single “bad” game from Crisp.
Hoyne also pointed out that over the last ten years, Champion Data’s top three finals players are Dusty at number one, Crisp at number two and Luke Hodge at number three. That is some rarified air Crisp is breathing there. Say what you will about Champion Data’s rating systems (I know we at The Mongrel regularly disagree with them), but for Crisp, who is far from a household name, to be in the same conversation as guys like Dusty and Hodge gives you some indication to the way he has quietly gone about impacting the game for the Pies for the last 10 years.
When you think about Collingwood’s best players over the last ten years, Crisp is probably not the first name that comes to mind. We often have conversations amongst the Mongrel writers about who is genuinely an underrated player in the game, the catch being that once you are recognised as “underrated” you immediately become rated. From memory, I don’t think Jack Crisp’s name has ever come into those conversations, which must demonstrate how truly underrated he is, I guess.
The Pies have had a lot of weapons over the last decade, particularly through the midfield with names like Sidebottom and Pendlebury ever present, but you sleep on Jack Crisp at your peril. Just ask Brisbane in 2023 in what was arguably one of the best (certainly the closest) Grand Finals in recent memory, Crisp’s two goals were all important. His goal on the half-time siren to put the Pies a goal ahead and give them the momentum going into the break certainly sticks in my mind.
He doesn’t make headlines off-field, which is not surprising considering the amount of professionalism and preparation that would be needed to play this many consecutive games. Just imagine not having a single sick day in your last 10 years of work? I know I have had probably as many “sickies” as Crisp has played consecutive games! He’s never been suspended, and it’s not like he has never been sick or injured – he noted this week that he played the end of the 2018 season with a stress fracture in his lower back and then couldn’t run for three months in the off-season. Craig McRae also revealed this week that Crisp may or may not have (which means he definitely did) played through Covid at one point.
He has filled many roles for Collingwood over the years, such is his versatility. A running half-back to begin with, he now rotates through the midfield group either on a wing or in at the centre bounces. He is the type of player that can play anywhere on the field – which is often a detriment to some players. Crisp just goes about his business, quick for a player of his size (190cm) and strong in the tackle (both applying the tackle and escaping the tackle). He doesn’t mind a running goal, either.
Crisp is a premiership player (2023), a two-time Copeland trophy winner (2021, 22) and won the Bob Rose award for the best finals player of 2023 – not bad considering the Pies won the flag that year.
To put into perspective how unlikely this record of Crisp’s is, 914 players have made their debut since Crisp’s streak began in 2014. Of those, 339 are no longer on an AFL list. Over 35% of players who have started their careers in the last ten years are no longer playing! And Crisp hasn’t stopped in that time – not once!
Crisp is an example of a player who has gotten the most out of himself. He wasn’t a high draft pick (pick 40 in the 2012 rookie draft), he didn’t have a famous surname, and at no point at either club was he guaranteed a game. Perhaps a certain highly talented player who is currently pissing his career away could take a leaf or two out of Crispy’s book!
Sometimes writing an article like this about a guy who is still playing can come across (and feel like) a bit of a eulogy in a way, but Crispy is far from done yet, and I’m rapt to see him being acknowledged for what has truly been a great career thus far, perhaps overshadowed by even greater careers at the Pies in the last ten years.
I could wax lyrical about Jack Crisp and this amazing record all day, but I’ll leave you where I began, with a bit of the Tim Shaw from Demtel magic:
But wait, there’s STILL more.
