BRISBANE Lions’ star Simon Black says the “cocky” nature of his Victorian counterparts will motivate him to perform to his optimum if he lines out against Victoria in the AFL’s Hall of Fame Tribute Game at the MCG on May 10th.
The triple premiership player has been selected in a squad of 40 players from whom 25 will be picked for an AFL Dream Team to take on the ‘Big V’.
Black’s teammate Jonathan Brown will captain the opposition and could have fellow Lions Daniel Bradshaw, Nigel Lappin, and Luke Power for company while ruckmen Jamie Charman and Matthew Leuenberger also named on the extended Dream team panel.
“They’ve always been a bit cocky the Vics,” Black said.
“It would be nice to come back to training with the bragging rights. We’d have to give them a bit of a ribbing.”
The Brownlow medalist said it would be difficult to effectively sledge Brown, but he’d do his best.
“I’ll try to stir him up but he’s pretty mentally strong. We’ve got a couple of nicknames for him and a few stories we can pull out when he’s lining up for goal,” Black laughed.
As for what nicknames will be used against the opposition skipper, there’s only one that Black feels comfortable going on the record with.
“We call him legohead now and then because the hair on his forehead comes just about or very close to his eye line. We haven’t called him that in a while but maybe we’ll pull that out,” he joked.
As for the occasion itself, Black, who has achieved every known accolade in the game from Brownlow to Norm Smith to best and fairest medals, said the opportunity to play in the historic game would be one of the highlights of his career.
“It’s a real honour. To get to play with the best players in the competition and with a big crowd expected would be great.
“I used to watch state of origin as a kid growing up. It was always a really exciting game of footy. I always dreamt of playing in a game like that so it would be a dream come true.”
Ticket for the game are available online from www.ticketmaster.com.au or via phone on 1300 136 122
