Collingwood midfielder Jordan De Goey has heaped praise on recruit Daniel Wells for bringing an aura to the club.
Fresh from a best-on-ground performance in the Magpies' eight-point win over West Coast yesterday, De Goey told SEN Breakfast the veteran was proving his worth since shaking off niggling injuries after crossing from the Roos.
"He's just a fantastic bloke, especially when you see him out on the field," he said.
"His leadership is outstanding and I think he's taken that to a new level since coming to the club.
"His overall aura at the club, he's trying to teach the new guys lots of things and he's been good for my development, that's for sure."
De Goey, 21, kicked four-second half goals at Etihad Stadium and stood up once the Magpies were two players down following injuries to Darcy Moore and Travis Varcoe.
"At the start of the game I played a little bit mid-forward rotation and when Darcy went down we needed another target so we sort of just changed the game plan around to allow for just one tall with Reidy (Ben Reid) and the rest being small,'' he said.
"I think Darc is all good, he's got a sore neck but I think he's all fine. Varcs dislocated his shoulder and knocked himself out so I think that might be year done for him.
"I'm just trying to build that consistency, it's a tough game AFL and some of the players that are elite at it play consistently throughout the year and that's just what I'm trying to do at the moment."
De Goey said coach Nathan Buckley was delighted with the Magpies' endeavour in yesterday's victory.
"He was really proud of our performance and he was just saying how good it was to see us put in a four-quarter performance and when we really needed to do work we did and that's what he was most happy about,'' he said.
"That was the part all the players were frustrated about earlier in the year, being a head coach is a pretty tough gig and when players aren't performing there isn't much really you can do.
"It was good to show that never-die attitude and really fight the game out like we did."
The Magpie revealing he still felt guilty about his early-season suspension for lying about his involvement in a bar brawl.
"100 per cent, obviously it was a really disappointing start to the year and I let everyone around me down,'' De Goey said.
"Like I said earlier on in the year I'll just put my head down and focus on trying to play good football but it's going to take time.
"With me, Wellsy (Daniel Wells) and Jamie (Elliott) out it was really disappointing for the team and probably cost us in a way."