By Bob Murphy

Copyright smh

I have long regarded Lake as a football genius, but unlike Lennon, whose genius spread from musicality, to songwriting to activism, my old teammate’s vein of genius was reserved for one thing. A single quiver. This skill that Brian possessed came to the fore at finals time, and it earned him the Norm Smith Medal in the 2013 grand final .

To stand under a high, floating football while wrestling the opposition’s biggest and best player is as tough a challenge that footy has to offer. In this situation, if a full-back can simply stop their opponent from marking, he is a great player.

But if he can mark the footy over and over and over again with that combination of power, timing and spatial awareness, that is an act of a genius. That was Brian. Did Brian’s genius flourish in other pursuits? To the best of my knowledge, it didn’t.

This innate skill that Brian had with marking opposition kicks was most prevalent in finals because that’s when the pressure soars. The intensity of pressure on each possession all over the field is so extreme that players who might be afforded more time and space in the home-and-away rounds are all of a sudden rushed, panicked and forced to kick the ball before they are slammed into the turf.