Haberfield. A name very quickly becoming synonymous with the Surfers Paradise Football Club, and for good reason.
Cassidy Haberfield has taken out the Demons’ Best and Fairest Award for 2015, just pipping his brother, Brodie, to take out the gong.
Haberfield was the engine room to the Surfers Paradise freightliner this year, burying himself at the bottom of every pack, scrapping to get the ball out wide before he got his skates on and taking off.
“Probably that in and under ball was the key. Usually when I’m in and under, I find it easier to get the outside ball from being able to run off the contest,” Haberfield said.
“It’s always something I have worked on, right throughout my juniors, just because it helps me play better outside, so it’s something I’ve focused on for sure.
“I do enjoy it, as much as the knocks hurt, I do love it though.”
He puts the successful vote count down to his consistency this year.
“I was pretty happy with my year. I thought I was pretty consistent throughout most of the year, so that was one of my goals heading into it.”
While Haberfield’s year was strong week in week out, the Demons struggled a bit early on to get over the line.
They were close, very close at times, but it just wasn’t falling their way.
“Frustrated would be one word, but it just gave us a real feel of how close we were to being one of the better teams in the competition,” he said.
“In most games we felt like we had the experience of the close ones over the other team because we had so many of them, but I was just glad one fell our way eventually and got the ball rolling.”
The second half of the Demons’ year was much better, and the results started to fall their way.
Haberfield puts the turn of form down to a couple of things.
“Our game plan was the same all year, I just think that all the boys brought in a bit more to towards the end of the year. It’s a new game style to all of us, so getting used to it was a big one. Hopefully we should be all the better for it next year,” he said.
Looking forward, with such a young group around him, Haberfield thinks that the key to a successful 2016 will be continuing to play to the structures set out by Peter Young and his team.
“Structures will be the big thing I think. We are a young group, I think out fitness is good, so if we continue to buy into the structure, it’ll help us improve,” he said.
“It is exciting. I think everyone is excited about where we are headed. Now it’s about keeping the group together and I think we can really achieve some great things.”
He believes that if that can happens, finals should be a reality.
“Finals are definitely a goal, it’s always a goal to win game. If we play that consistent, structured football right throughout the year, we should be playing finals,” Haberfield said.
As for himself, he wouldn’t be against a bit of show time up forward.
“I’d like to get forward a bit more and kick a few snags, but I think everyone wants that.”
By Andrew Wiles
Follow @andrewjwiles
