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WAYNE Primmer describes the influence of Kristan Height at Sandhurst this season as that of a second coach.
Height joined the Dragons in November last year amid plenty of hype given his footballing resume that included league medals in both the power competitions of the Goulburn Valley (2010) and Ovens and Murray (2014).
Star midfielder/forward Height now has a third league medal to add to his collection after last Sunday night winning the BFNL’s Michelsen Medal with 24 votes.
At age 33, Height is the oldest player since Eaglehawk’s Reece Langan, who was also 33 in 2000, to win the BFNL’s most coveted individual honour.
Height – worth every bit of his four-point allocation – now has the chance to become just the 12th player in league history to claim a Michelsen-premiership double when the Dragons take on Golden Square in Saturday’s grand final at the QEO.
“What he has brought to the group is he is a good player for starters, he’s experienced and he knows the game,” Dragons coach Primmer said this week.
“He can feel the game when he’s out there playing. He takes a leadership role out there and instructs the players really well, and they have no qualms about that. They know where he has been and what he can do.
“When he trains they watch him and learn from him with where he runs, what he does and what he says, so in all that, you could say he’s basically a second coach on the ground.
“He’s brought a wealth of experience that Sandhurst probably didn’t have.”
As well as his work through the midfield, Height – named in the centre in the Bendigo Advertiser Team of the Year – is also the Dragons’ leading goalkicker with 42.
Dragons captain Blair Holmes said the addition of Height – a former Bendigo Pioneer, Box Hill captain and Hawthorn rookie – had given the midfield group a timely freshen up this year.
“He’s brought a few different ideas and some different insights into the way he thinks in terms of different set-ups that we haven’t done before,” Holmes said.
“He lives in Melbourne, but when he’s down here he gets right involved with the club. For him to come in first year and do what he has done has been unreal for us.”
Michael Lenaghan in 1981 is the only Sandhurst player who has won a Michelsen-premiership double.
