Bruce Uses Brain And Brawn

The Sunday Age

Sunday April 10, 2005

MARK FULLER

APPLICATION to his studies delayed the start of Cameron Bruce's AFL career, but the Melbourne midfielder's innate thirst for knowledge has helped propel him into Brownlow Medal favouritism after a stunning start to his sixth season.

If Melbourne is the team of the moment after its rollicking, unbeaten start to 2005, Bruce is the moment's man. His 30-possession, three-goal display in Melbourne's 48-point win over Geelong on Friday was his third best-on-ground in three games.

In the past three weeks, he has firmed from a $101 chance for the Brownlow with TAB Sportsbet to $61 after his stopping job on James Hird in round one, and from $26 to $15 in the week after his five goals against the Bulldogs in round two. Yesterday, he was the $8 favourite.

Melbourne coach Neale Daniher on Friday night readily acknowledged Bruce was "outstanding" against the Cats, and said his stellar start to the season showed his continued improvement had taken him to another level.

"He's always been a very good player for us over the journey," Daniher said. "He's just taken another step."

But there was a hint of the lid being tightened when Daniher was asked whether Bruce might have the makings of a superstar. "I just want him to play his role," he said.

It is a role that is diverse and, through Bruce's remarkable aptitude this season, far-reaching. The former Melbourne supplementary-list player was used in the early parts of his career as a hunter, and there remains elements of that to his play. But now, as his game becomes more complete, Bruce is more often the hunted.

When he considers how his game has evolved, the man with an honours degree in commerce reveals a lingering hunger for knowledge. In his desire for continual improvement, Bruce has taken lessons from his close encounters with the game's finest players.

"You just learn every week how the great players cope with the attention and how they go about their work-rate on the ground," he said. "I've played on some pretty big names - Simon Black, (Nathan) Buckley, Hirdy - and they've all just got an amazing work-rate and work ethic. So to succeed, you've got to be willing to do all that."

The former Melbourne High student, who sat out his under-18 football year to concentrate on his schooling, used his trips to Ireland with the Australian International Rules team in the past two years to deepen his knowledge. He is always ready to "pick a few brains".

"I got great experience when I went over the to Ireland, watching the way the league's elite prepare themselves for games," he said.

Bruce said the past pre-season began like any other: with a discussion with the coaching staff about what he needed to do to improve. "I haven't done anything really different," he said. "I'm always wanting to get stronger and get bigger because I'm a bit of late developer, so I've still got to improve that, and my skills can still improve."

Maybe so, but for now he is well enough equipped to not only negate the likes of Hird, but to make an impact on the scoreboard.

"It's an honour to be able to play on players like that, and then in order to hurt them, there's no better way than to get off them and kick a goal," Bruce said.

"I know what it's like now - you feel pretty upset with yourself if you're getting tagged and the tagger kicks a goal.

"I'm just want to strike that balance between inside and outside ball, and doing the defensive and also attacking. I just want to be a two-way player and not purely an attacker or purely a defender."

The result is he has become purely brilliant.

DETAILS

MELBOURNE

6.2 11.4 14.5 18.6 (114)

GEELONG

1.5 5.8 6.11 8.18 (66)

GOALS - Melbourne: Neitz 5, Robertson 3, Bruce 3, Green 2, Davey 2, Whelan, Sylvia, Johnstone.

Geelong: Chapman 3, Kingsley 2, Playfair, Corey, Ablett.

BEST - Melbourne: Bruce, Neitz, Johnstone, White, Bizzell, Whelan.

Geelong: Hunt, Playfair, Milburn, Rooke, Chapman.

INJURIES - Melbourne: Whelan (hamstring), Wheatley (quad strain).

Geelong: Bartel (neck).

UMPIRES: Kennedy, Ellis, K Nicholls.

CROWD: 51,793 at the MCG.

© 2005 The Sunday Age

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