IT'S an indication of the regard in which Glenn Archer isheld among his peers that even his teammates find themselves in awe after yet anotherone of his familiar kamikaze acts.

Drew Petrie simply offers a shake of the head and a littlelaugh when asked about the courage of his much-loved teammate.

"How does he do it?" Petrie says, sounding morelike an amazed fan than someone who is no slouch in the bravery stakes himself.

"I really don't know how he gets back up. On the groundyou find yourself sometimes just shaking your head. When you watch it back onvideo later on you just laugh at some of the stuff he does."

"I've played alongside him a bit in the backline overthe last couple of years and it can be easy to find yourself spectating when itcomes to Arch a bit.

"You can always trust that if he is in the area, he'llcrunch a pack or clear the ball or take a mark – you can trust him with yourlife."

If Petrie's glowing endorsement isn't enough to erase anydoubts about Archer's reputation as one of the bravest players to ever pull ona boot, you only have to look at the fact that he has won the AFL Players'Association's most courageous player award on six – yes, six – occasions.

As Petrie highlights, while his insatiable appetite forventuring into the unknown is the facet of Archer's game that elicits mostpraise, it is easy to forget what a highly polished player he has been over his299-game career.

"People see him as a hard, rugged bloke who always getsthe job done, but you've just got to watch him at training to know that he hasgot great skills. He hits the target every time, with his left and right side.

"And before he hurt his hand, he had the safest hands,especially for a bloke of his size.

"His bravery obviously sets him apart from just abouteveryone who has played the game, but he probably wouldn't have lasted so longif he wasn't such a skilful player."

With the Archer love-fest dominating the lead-up to thisweek's match, it's easy to forget the importance of this match to the Kangaroosas they look to get their season back on track after two losses in their past threestarts.

The Bulldogs were super impressive in their 26-point winover Fremantle in Darwina fortnight ago and, with this in mind, Petrie was keen to allay any fears thatthe team is focused on anything other than the four points on Sunday.

"We knew it was going to be a big week but Dean hastold us all to worry about our own preparation and let Arch deal with all theother stuff.

"We aren't hiding from the fact that we want to winthis one for Arch, but we all know that for so many reasons this game isprobably our biggest one for the year.

"It's important for Arch, but also for the team. I'msure North supporters will come out in support of Glenn, so hopefully we canget about 40-50,000 there for what should be a great game of footy.

"When you look at the Bulldogs, they are a great sidewho play a great style of footy. At the moment we're equal with them on theladder so it's massively important for us to get the win and hopefully we canget back in the eight."