James Podsiadly says he was "lucky" to kick nine goals in Adelaide's record-breaking win over Sturt on Saturday afternoon.
The former Geelong premiership player was in sublime form against the Double Blues. Podsiadly kicked 9.1 at Peter Motley Oval, including four goals in both the third and four quarters, to steer Adelaide to its biggest SANFL victory in the team's young history.
The strong-marking forward, who turns 34 next month, slotted an incredible goal from the boundary line 45 metres out to record his first major early in the second term, and also nailed several long set shots from his 23 possession and 11-mark performance.
Although there was no horseshoe in his pocket or four-leaf clover in his socks, Podsiadly insists he was simply fortunate to be the beneficiary of a dominant team performance.
"I was a bit lucky today," Podsiadly told afc.com.au.
"Realistically as a forward, when the mids play well you just get on the end of it and that's what happened to me today.
"I was happy that I had my kicking boots on because I can imagine sometimes mids can get pretty frustrated with forwards missing goals, so I was just lucky. My role was really just finishing off the mids' good work.
"It was just good to get the win."
It's not the first time Podsiadly has been "lucky" on the football field. The ex-Werribee captain slotted 10 goals for the Tigers in the VFL during a match against Springvale back in 2004. He averaged just under three goals a match with Werribee over 109 games.
"I kicked 10 goals once a long time ago," he said.
"That was when I had a lot more hair than I do now!"
Podsiadly has now booted four bags of five goals or more this year and catapulted himself into fifth place in the SANFL's Ken Farmer Medal race despite missing four games to a back injury early in the season. He's another nine goals behind Glenelg's Clint Alleway at the top of the SANFL's goalkicking leaderboard.
Crows SANFL coach Heath Younie was glowing in his praise of Podsiadly post-match, but highlighted his forward's team-first approach rather than his nine-goal haul.
"The pleasing thing with James' effort today, it's reward for effort, but I think early in the game he gave off two or three and he did some really good things off the ball," Younie said.
"(Things like) blocking, and that team-first mentality. I believe you do that and you get rewarded in the end.
"It was a great individual performance, however I think it was off the back of some really good team defence."
Podsiadly also spent periods further up the ground against the Double Blues. The 193cm, 100kg left-footer made his presence felt in the middle alongside the likes of Matthew Wright (33 possessions), Sam Kerridge (29), David Mackay (29) and Mitch Grigg (27), who all staked their claims for a senior recall with impressive performances.
"It was good to see how the midfielders work their craft," Podsiadly said.
"Last week we got beaten around the ball a little bit and Ryan O'Keefe (Midfield Development Coach) spoke to me and said he might have me at a few stoppages, not to be a 'go to' player, but just to control the inside of the contest.
"I didn't really do much damage in there, but it was a good experience to learn what the mids do and how they structure up."
While SANFL finals are out of reach, Podsiadly said Adelaide's last game of the year against Glenelg would represent another important opportunity for a host of Crows leading into the business end of the season.
"These games can sometimes be really tricky to get up for," he said.
"But we've got guys that are playing in the SANFL who are very close to playing senior footy, and we've got young guys that need to continue to develop their game.
"This is a ruthless industry, and we want to see continued development from those guys. We need our whole squad playing well if our AFL team contends in the finals.
"There's still a lot to play for."
