Collingwood star Alan Didak has defended his on-field behaviour during last week's loss to Hawthorn when he lost his cool under the constant provocation of Hawks tagger Ben McGlynn.
Didak, who will play his 150th AFL game on Friday night when the Magpies take on arch-rivals Carlton at the MCG, also spoke of his troubled past and his new-found professionalism on the eve of a milestone game that so nearly never eventuated.
The 26-year-old's future was very much up in the air at the end of last year when he was suspended by the club for the business end of the season after lying about his involvement in a drink-driving incident with team-mate Heath Shaw.
The pair missed the Magpies' ultimately failed finals campaign as a result of the incident, which also came a year after Didak found himself involved with notorious Melbourne CBD killer Christopher Wayne Hudson after the player accepted a lift with Hudson just days before the bikie killed one man and shot two other people in June 2007.
But throughout all of his off-field difficulties, the Pies have stood by Didak and up until last week's poor performance against Hawthorn had been rewarded by some of the best form of the 2006 Copeland Trophy winner's career.
Didak revealed that with maturity he has become a more dedicated footballer.
"In my previous years I was probably 30 percent about footy and 70 percent enjoying my time with my mates and family and not too worried about footy but now it's the other way around," he said.
"I got to the stage where I wanted to be a full-time footballer and I have worked hard on a few areas and it's starting to pay off."
Didak said he learned from last year's messy episode with Shaw and dedicated himself to his best pre-season ever as he finally built up the stamina needed to play in the midfield rather than as the specialist forward he has been for most of his career
"I thought my time was up at Collingwood but I worked hard on a few areas and I spoke to the club end of season and they were keen to keep me on and so was I (keen to stay)," he said.
"After nine seasons here I finally had (an injury-free) pre-season and I got to the stage where I could run hard for four quarters and not just the first quarter."
"And when Scott Pendlebury got hurt against Sydney, (coach) Mick (Malthouse) put me in the midfield - he drafted me as a midfielder and now nine years later I finally got my gig in the midfield."
Didak had managed at least 33 disposals in each of his past five matches, prior to last week's clash against the Hawks, when he could only manage 17 touches as he appeared to spend most of the game wrestling with McGlynn in frustration at his tactics rather than playing his natural game.
The Pies star defended his actions but admitted it was not of his better games.
"I didn't think I lost my cool too much, McGlynn just get the better of me on the night," he said.
"He played a terrific game but the most important thing wasn't about how McGlynn tagged me but that we lost the game."
Didak is expecting similar treatment this week with Blues tagger Aaron Joseph likely to go to him but says he will simply have to get used to such treatment given his importance to his team.
"I suppose if you are playing good footy you have got to expect close attention and you look at all the superstars of the game and they get tagged week in, week out," he said.