THERE is no point being overly dramatic around Alan Toovey.

Underpinning any conversation with the Collingwood defender is his laid-back sense of humour and keen sense of the ridiculous.

Add to that a rare ability to enhance a story with a mere shrug of the shoulders, or a slight raise of the eyebrows, and you have a player unaffected by the hoopla that surrounds the AFL, and particularly Collingwood.

Perhaps it is part of the make-up of those raised on a sheep and crop farm in Frankland, a small town in Western Australia. Perhaps it is just him, the man who evolved as he attended boarding school in Perth in his teenage years.

Whatever the reason, it is a handy asset for a key figure in the competition's form team.

Take this line that arises when we are discussing the horrifying collision he had with the knee of Geelong's Tom Hawkins in round eight. He reflects on the moment he was carted from the ground wearing a neck brace for starters.

"I was thinking, like when you see (the late motorcycle daredevil) Evel Knievel and those sorts of guys when they get a big caning and crash, they give the big thumbs up to the crowd. That was one of those moments," he said.

We are guessing his parents Martin and Judy were not similarly amused while listening to the incident described on radio as they drove towards Perth.

Nor his girlfriend, Jade, or sister, Jenna, as they headed from the grandstand to the rooms more than a little stressed.

And not just those with a direct connection: all who saw the incident were fearful for his safety.

Thankfully, everyone could smile afterwards when the diagnosis was 'only' a bruised lung and the recuperation required 'just' a couple of days in hospital.

Toovey is a hard nut, but he is no nut. Had he not been called back by Heath Shaw to take on the pack, he said he would have assessed the situation before charging in. For all that, he is relaxed about the position he found himself in.

"You can run back like that into a contest and get hit 10 times and you would get away with it seven or eight times," he said.

Still, he was lucky, and his bravery was made very public. When he saw the ball go over his head, he thought he might be a chance to cut it off.

He knew teammate Ben Reid and Hawkins were coming from the goalsquare, but when he heard Shaw calling him in to take the mark, he figured he had time to complete the mark before they arrived.

Sometimes in such instances, Toovey said, the ball is high enough to allow the player to judge whether he is going to make it or not and then have a peek at what is coming. In this case, however, he couldn't take his eye off the ball, as he knew he wouldn't make it if he did.

At the last second, with about 30cm separating him from Hawkins' knee, Toovey saw what was coming and knew he was going to get hit.
He hit the ground before managing to get to his hands and knees. He suspected he was merely winded. "I thought, 'I got out of that pretty sweet'," he said.

He waited for his breath to come back but, when his first effort to breathe had him bringing up blood he had one thought. "I was like 'Ah, that is not good'. I knew I was struggling but I felt my face and neck and everything else was fine."

Jade and Jenna went with him to nearby Epworth Hospital in an ambulance and became less stressed as the damage was assessed. His mum was relieved when she heard that all was not as bad as it seemed.

Shaw was apologetic in his inimitable, larrikin style.
"He said, 'I didn't call you back head-first'," Toovey said. "He was good about it. He came to see me in hospital."

Although all the Collingwood defenders are fearless, their actions are based on trust. The tight-knit group sometimes uses dark humour to steel each other for battle.

But to define Toovey as merely courageous would be a limiting description. The truth is, Toovey's performances deserve more attention than they often get.

Toovey is quick. In the one-on-one contest, there are few better. He can shut down an opponent and break open a game with his dash.

He has the capacity to perform in big games and in big moments, too.  He never loses his head off the ground and rarely loses his feet when performing on it.

When Collingwood came back to win the 2010 Grand Final replay Champion Data rated Toovey among the top three players on the ground for exerting pressure.

His ability to keep his feet is explained simply. "If the ball is on the ground, then I can use my speed, so I don't want to be lying on the ground because then I can't run," he said.

"I don't know if it's something you practise and get good at. Balance would be a part of it, and core strength."

Adding balance to the capacity to perform in big games makes for a great double.

Toovey said when the pressure is on and the game is tight, he is just playing, a footballer in the moment, acting instinctively.

"That's why finals are so much better to play," he said.

Toovey has played in seven finals, won four and been involved in that classic 2010 draw. His overall win-loss record is handy too, 79 games for 57 wins. He was one of six Magpies to play every game in the premiership season.

His teammates and coaches trust and respect him. He is predictable and plays within the structure. He said he has no choice to be anything else. "That's why I'm in the team and, if I don't do that, I won't be."

He knows well what it is like to be out of the team; and because he took the rookie path, his talent is often sold short.

Contrary to popular perception, he was a standout junior footballer, part of the 2003-04 AIS-AFL Academy intake and an All Australian after the 2004 NAB AFL Under-18 Championships.

He was overlooked at the 2004 draft, his ability to perform late in that season curtailed when he unknowingly played four games with stress fractures in his back.

In 2005, disappointed but realistic, he began studying exercise science at the University of Western Australia while playing for Claremont in the WAFL, picking up a part-time job in a bottle shop to keep the wolves from the door.

Either training or work filled his nights and the nagging need to study the rest of the spare time.

Under former Tiger and Fremantle player and now Freo development coach Ashley Prescott, he made Claremont's senior team in 2005, replacing former Melbourne player Darren Kowal late in the season when the ex-Demon hurt his knee. Claremont played in that year's Grand Final but lost.

Toovey thought he was some chance to be drafted and had performed well in speed and beep tests at the draft camp, but again the draft passed without his name being read out.

Half an hour after the draft had finished, Collingwood recruiter Derek Hine rang and offered Toovey the chance to train with the Magpies, with a spot on the rookie list up for grabs. Toovey thought, 'Why not?' At worst, it would mean three weeks inside an AFL club.

Once he claimed that spot on the 2006 rookie list, drafted No.2 in the rookie draft behind Carlton's Ryan Jackson, he resolved to work hard to grab a place on the list. Such is his way.

Collingwood's development coach at the time, Alan Richardson, told him he needed to improve his kicking. If he couldn't, he wouldn't get a game.

But Richardson (now at Carlton) also told Toovey he had plenty of strengths, so if he maintained those positives while improving in that one area, he could make the grade.

When asked whether he did anything out of the ordinary to lift himself, Toovey stopped to think. "Not really. I just trained more," he said, concentrating on kicking skills.

Three extra sessions a week devoted to kicking were the bare minimum. Occasionally, he would find himself at the club late, with darkness closing in. He'd think to himself he was a long way from getting a game.
 
Because of the 12-10 rule in place that encouraged teams to play VFL-listed players, he often found himself playing VFL reserves for Collingwood's then affiliate Williamstown, kicking off the dew at a cold, windy Point Gellibrand Oval, regardless of form.

Toovey would occasionally think in those moments it would be nice to be home. But he never became despondent, recognising the opportunity he had was too good to waste.

Sharing a house in Williamstown with then Magpie Shannon Cox and Sam Iles (now with Gold Coast) was fun. For a while, Toovey was the only one with a car and he remembers often stopping to check a map on the way home from wherever they had been, his mates asleep as he worked out the best route.

That winter of working and waiting was soon pushed back in the memory, when he was elevated to the senior list for the 2007 season. He made his AFL debut in round three, kicking three goals against the Tigers in a Magpie win.

He logged 17 games in two seasons, amazingly playing his final game in 2008 with a broken foot.

While he hadn't made a spot his own, he had the trust of the back six who knew Toovey was a man they could depend upon. This was important to those trying to elevate Collingwood from a top-four team to a premiership team.
 
Being named in the team for the opening round of 2009 was another big achievement. Toovey was picking up the pace of the ever-changing game quickly, and as the season progressed, he began to be given more important roles in bigger games.

His hard work was starting to pay off and he was using his time better, too. He decided to work even harder on his kicking at training with variations. "Increasing the difficulty of it I guess, and making it more game-like," he said. 

As the game demanded defenders play on multiple opponents, switching and swapping as required, Toovey was able to excel. His unflappable nature stands him in good stead in that environment. He has missed two games since round one, 2009.

"In the first two years of my career, we'd always get separate match-ups and you'd go through it with the coach, looking at different tapes of one or two opponents, but now we do it together because any one of the six could play on any opponent," he said.

"You always have different guys you focus on, but you can't focus to a point where, if that doesn't happen, you don't know what's going on. It's about being prepared for every little outcome and then focusing on what you think might happen. But don't rely on it happening."

The admiration for him as a player has never flagged at Collingwood, and now, after that big hit, the broader knowledge of him as a person is just as high through the football world.

He transferred his studies to Melbourne and hopes to finish his degree next year. And his continued good form suggests he is not resting on his laurels.

"Getting a premiership is what everyone aims for and what you dream about, but as soon as we started again this year, everyone said we have to get better, otherwise we won't be able to do that again."

This article first appeared in the AFL Record

Peter Ryan writes for afl.com.au and the AFL Record. Follow him on Twitter at @pet_ryan