INSIDE FEATURE Dr Jodi Richardson
All work & no play... Clubs have realised how important it is to give AFL players adequate time off.
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nyone with a smartphone – which means just about everyone – knows that the line between work and home life has been irreparably blurred. Employees and business owners alike can be answering work calls and reading emails right up to the time their heads hit the pillow. We are strangely drawn to checking in, meaning we don’t “switch off ” in a way that fosters a genuine mental and physical break from work. We all need a holiday. AFL players are no different, as the time they spend
playing, training for, planning for, travelling to and from, thinking and talking about, and recovering from, football is greater than ever. In light of this, new annual leave arrangements are now ensuring that players have a genuine break from their work away from the watchful eyes of GPS satellites and club mandated check-ins. Dual Hawthorn premiership player Brad Sewell gives an insight into the rigours of an ordinary week in football and why these changes are important. “In a typical week during
the season we are at the club between 10 and 11am on a Monday,” Sewell said. “Early in the week is really important for recovery. All of the players are screened to make sure that injuries are assessed properly and treated accordingly. There are massage and weight sessions, and some guys will do some running, followed by a structured recovery session (bike, stretch, pool, sauna or ice bath) for around an hour with meetings and reviews in the afternoon. We usually leave the club around 5.30pm. “Tuesday we start at 8:30am
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Intensity: Brad Sewell describes the relentless working week of an AFL player.
with a video review meeting with our coach. There are three to four meetings over the course of the day based around reviewing the game, and then there will be a light training session. It’s all very individualised so some guys will box, some will bike or swim, and we’re still very much in recovery mode. “Wednesday is our day off and the majority of guys are engaged in TAFE, university, short courses or placements. “Thursdays we start at 9am when we have our main training session for the week followed by three to four more meetings now looking forward to the competition we are about to play. “After that, there is massage, some guys will box, some will swim, and we get away from the club around 5.30pm. “Friday morning is our last training session and then we have Friday afternoon off.” After that of course is a game on the weekend and any necessary travel depending on the fixture. This is an example of a week in football for approximately 10 months of the year. What Sewell has described is the nuts and bolts of how players are committed each week, but there is one major factor in football that can’t be underestimated. “It’s all very structured but the one thing in particular that is difficult to measure is the stress and pressure associated week to week with the performance aspect of what we do, and how important it is for guys to be able to switch off and focus on something other than football for a short period,” Sewell said. “It’s been well recognised that time away from the club is almost as important as time at the club. It allows the guys to freshen up and recharge their batteries, so when you do get
Golf junkie: Brendon Goddard went on a golfing odyssey.
into the club you’ve got the energy and the passion and it’s all there for you. “Over time we’ve been able to increase time away from the club and the clubs are getting a better understanding of it themselves, allowing a little more leeway for certain individuals.” Brett Johnson, General Manager of Football Development at the AFL Players Association, said the need for new arrangements stemmed from many work-life balance discussions. “There was a working group that had representation from the AFLPA, the AFL, club football managers, club sports scientists and physiotherapists. Everyone was represented in that group,” Johnson said. “It’s finding that right balance and ensuring that players are able to achieve a mental break and get extended time off but then there’s enough time for clubs to be able to work with players to make sure they are prepared for the following season and that they are not
predisposing themselves to getting injured.” New annual leave entitlements for players have been designed to safeguard consistency of leave across the league, and ensure that no club is at a disadvantage. “There were a lot of rolling dates under the old system in terms of guys on long service leave and younger players, and it all depended on which week you finished,” Johnson said. “This system is a lot more simple and easier to enforce. “The categories are broken down into 0-4-year players and 5-year plus players. Basically the 0-4 year players who didn’t play finals or were eliminated in week one returned on November 6, and then their teammates, the 5-year players returned on November 18. There’s almost a two-week gap between the younger guys and the older guys. “For players in finals weeks two to four, 0-4-year players returned on November 18 and 5-year players returned a bit later on December 2.”
State side: Bomber David Zaharakis at an NBA game.
The extra time for older players accounts for long service leave and the fact that their training maturity means they get up to speed with their conditioning faster. Additional time with the younger players enables clubs to fast-track their football development before the more experienced players return. “Once you’ve done a certain number of pre-seasons you get a better understanding of your body and how best to prepare, and you get fitter quicker,” Sewell said. The new agreement also gives more structure around the contact clubs are allowed with players, and to leave arrangement over the Christmas period.
“We have reduced the load pre-Christmas as well because we wanted to make the annual leave period more meaningful,” Johnson said. A roam around the Twitter sphere or Instagram shows just how much the players have enjoyed their time off. Bali was a popular destination where Cat stars Stevie Johnson, Tom Hawkins and Mitch Duncan enjoyed a few rounds of golf, and where Tigers captain Trent Cotchin posted pics of himself and his fiancée soaking up the sunshine. David Zaharakis posted pics of himself in Chicago and at Niagra Falls while Dane Swan headed to the Bahamas. Some, like Chris Judd, stayed home. Rebecca
Judd posted a pic of him wrestling with their son on the beach at Portsea. While players are on leave, clubs are allowed to provide a reasonable training program and can set guidelines around time trial times and skinfold expectations for when players return from leave. Mandatory reporting back to the clubs by players is no longer allowed. Players can choose to use club facilities but clubs are not allowed to prescribe any activity for players while they are at the club during annual leave periods. “Guys are expected to return back in a certain condition and clubs can benchmark those types of things, that’s fine,” Johnson said. “If guys don’t rock up in the shape that they need to be then the club’s got the opportunity before Christmas to work with that player to get him where he needs to be when he returns from the Christmas break.” Though there is an unprecedented reduction in contact between players and clubs, players understand what’s expected of them on pre-season day one. “All players need to come back in a condition that allows them to step right back into
rigorous training,” Sewell explained. “If you don’t come back in good shape you will just break down. “The leave allows the players to train away from the footy club, in an environment that will keep them fresh and ready to go when it comes to preseason again.” Sewell’s own holiday training regime includes running and weight training three times a week, kicking the footy and otherwise riding his bike, playing tennis or playing golf to generally stay active. The load once players return to training after their long break is reduced to four days a week with a day off between Monday and Friday and weekends off. This is flexible where players can have three full days and two half days per week with the weekend off. If the club chooses to train on a Saturday it can be no more than two hours. The Christmas break allows a minimum of two weeks; most clubs finish up on December 23 and return on January 6. “It’s important we protect that Christmas to New Year period so players can spend time with family,” Johnson said. Changes have also been made
‘If you don’t come back in good shape you will just break down.’ – Brad Sewell to player entitlements after the Christmas break. “Post-Christmas they have a day off between Monday and Friday and the clubs have to submit their schedules so that players can plan ahead,” Johnson said. “That day can float, it doesn’t have to be fixed, but as long as players have a full 12-month schedule so they can plan around their day off.” Between January and March players will have two three-day mini-breaks and the two bye rounds during the 2014 season will see players having two fourday breaks away from footy. A significant issue for players is the need for professional development. The urgent need for this is highlighted by some stats from the cohort of players whose careers in the AFL finished at the end of 2012. A staggering 130 players
left the AFL in 2012, and of that group only three had university degrees. Of that 130, 40 players had seven or more years of experience and the average number of years in the game was 10.35 – providing ample time for players to have earned a tertiary qualification during that time. In light of this, the necessary change to player entitlements is the provision of a four-hour block of professional development time for each player between Monday and Friday. This means that players get a day and a half off now. The additional half day is for players to pursue professional development and in support of this allowance, each club will have a minimum of one full-time qualified Professional Development Manager with no conflicting football responsibilities.
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