AFL Record, Round 3 2009 by The Slattery Media Group

THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE AFL GAME

ROUND 3, 2009 APRIL 9-13 $4 (INC. GST)

Jarrad Waite

An emerging presence

Are they feeling the pinch?

DANIEL

Wells On making the most of his talent and the importance of family and faith

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64 One-time Essendon fan Jarrad Waite will be hoping to guide Carlton to a win over the Bombers in a crucial clash this week.

ROUND 3, APRIL 9-13, 2009 F E AT U R E S

Ted Hopkins

A premiership hero delivers the latest stats.

Daniel Wells

North’s star finds space on and off the field.

Jarrad Waite

He’s a true Blue in every sense. REGUL ARS

Backchat

Have your say on the football world.

The Bounce

Views, news, ﬁrst person, facts, data, culture.

Matchday

Stats, history and line-ups.

53 70 74

Dream Team Answer Man Testing your knowledge

Things to keep you amused at the footy.

76 78

NAB AFL Rising Star Talking Point

Why a break from the game is welcome. THIS WEEK’S COVER Daniel Wells photographed by Lachlan Cunningham in Williamstown. Go to aﬂphotos.com.au to order prints of this image.

FOLLOW YOUR TEAM TO THE AWAY GAMES TOO! Check out the ﬁxture in the match day section to see when your team is playing their next interstate game! To follow your team around the country visit jetstar.com now.

Jetstar Airways Pty Ltd ABN 33 069 720 243.

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feedback

backchat HAVE YOUR SAY ON THE FOOTBALL WORLD RLD

A cut above

Right way to go

I had my regular haircut the other day. What’s left of it, anyway. My English-born barber barracks for Manchester United and quite honestly says he was getting a little bored of the uneven competition over there – same old teams consistently win year after year, same old teams consistently lose. He is amazed at our absolutely spot-on draft system that helps keep our wonderful game full of hope for whoever you barrack for. I reckon with a few more blow-waves I might nearly have converted him to the Dons. Even if things don’t pan out for us this year, there’s always 2010.

To say there have been many misconceptions ions about Australian Football in Sydney ey would be an understatement. The game did not arrive rive in Sydney with the Swans. There has as been competition on in Sydney for more than 120 years. s. However, the game in Sydney traditionally onally receives little media attention, much ch to fans’ frustrations. ions. There is a massive assive advantage in establishing blishing a second team in Sydney, given its proposed location and potential following. Blacktown would be close to the centre of the suburbs in the western half of Sydney. The potential is massive. It has a bigger population than all of Tasmania and bigger than either Adelaide or Perth. Sydney could, should and will have a bigger place in the national competition. And don’t be surprised if a third team is added within 20 years of the second.

GRANT HOLLAND, VIA EMAIL

Worth the risk As a Collingwood supporter, I am delighted to get a win on the board against Melbourne, but extremely frustrated at the game-plan the Pies continue to use. Constantly hugging the boundary line may be a useful tactic when the side is not travelling well, but at some stage during this game I would have liked to see some risks taken and the ball funneled through the centre corridor. Against stronger opposition, the Pies will struggle unless they take a chance and try to get some run through the middle of the ground. After all, it is still the shortest way to goal. GREG OATES, VIA EMAIL

AFL CHIEF BROADCASTING & COMMERCIAL OFFICER Gillon McLachlan AFL CONSUMER PRODUCTS MANAGER Scott Munn AFL RECORD MANAGING EDITOR Geoﬀ Slattery AFL RECORD EDITOR Peter Di Sisto

LINDSAY FOYLE, STANMORE, NSW

Welcome return It was pleasing to see Wayne Carey reconcile with North Melbourne Football Club. Carey has made some serious blunders for which he still needs

PRODUCTION EDITOR Michael Lovett WRITERS Nick Bowen, Ben Collins, Jim Main, Peter Ryan, Callum Twomey, Andrew Wallace SUB-EDITORS Gary Hancock, Howard Kotton STATISTICIAN Cameron Sinclair CREATIVE DIRECTOR Andrew Hutchison DEPUTY ART DIRECTOR Sam Russell

BACK IN THE FOLD: The AFL Record’s coverage of Wayne Carey’s return to North Melbourne.

to atone. But he is one of the greatest players of all time, and should receive recognition in the Australian Football Hall of Fame sooner rather than later. PHILIP MENDES, VIA EMAIL

HAVE YOUR SAY Send us your feedback on n the Record and matters relating to the game, the clubs and the players. The best letter in round four will receive a copy of the AFL Record Season n Guide 2009. Email aﬂrecordeditor@ slatterymedia.com or write to AFL Record, Slattery Media Group, 140 Harbour Esplanade, Docklands, VIC, 3008.

DESIGNERS Jarrod Witcombe, Alison Wright PHOTO EDITORS Natalie Boccassini, Melanie Tanusetiawan PRODUCTION MANAGER Troy Davis PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Stephen Lording DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Adele Morton COMMERCIAL MANAGER Alison Hurbert-Burns

NATIONAL SALES MANAGER Nathan Hill SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER James Hickey AFL CLUB ACCOUNT MANAGER Anthony Palmer ADVERTISING SALES COORDINATOR Deanne Horkings Advertising (03) 9627 2600 PHOTOGRAPHY AFL Photos (03) 9627 2600 aﬂphotos.com.au

EDITOR’S LET TER

Learning from their mistakes Last week, we knew St Kilda was on a major mission against Adelaide at AAMI Stadium, having generally struggled in recent times away from Victoria. The Saints were brilliant in applying non-stop pressure and excelling in contested situations, especially when the game tightened. The early good form of St Kilda and the Western Bulldogs suggests the beaten preliminary ﬁnalists from last year learned plenty from their respective exits, and along with the Blues (who are also unbeaten), loom as the early candidates to challenge Hawthorn and Geelong. However, with 20 rounds still to be played, it’s unwise to be making deﬁnitive statements – we know the game’s unpredictable nature makes that sort of exercise a dangerous one. Unfortunately, last week’s round was marred by two incidents – one involving a supporter throwing a bottle at AAMI Stadium and the other seeing Brad Jones, the father of Melbourne player Nathan Jones, allegedly assaulted as he left the MCG after watching the Demons lose to Collingwood. “Our game has absolutely no place for this unacceptable behaviour and we would urge all fans, at any time, to come forward and assist police when they deal with any such incident,” AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou said of the Jones matter. PETER DI SISTO

PRINTED BY PMP Print ADDRESS CORRESPONDENCE TO The Editor, AFL Record, Ground Floor, 140 Harbour Esplanade, Docklands, Victoria, 3008. P: (03) 9627 2600 F: (03) 9627 2650 E: peterd@slatterymedia.com AFL RECORD, VOL. 98, ROUND 3, 2009 Copyright. ACN No. 004 155 211. ISSN 1444-2973, Print Post approved PP320258/00109

4 AFL RECORD visit aﬂrecord.com.au

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ZAC APPEAL

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6 AFL RECORD visit aďŹ&#x201A;record.com.au

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thebounce VIEWS NEWS FIRST PERSON FACTS DATA CULTURE

FLAT CATS: Geelong took some time to shake oﬀ Richmond last week.

E X P E C TAT I O N S

Tough at the top for Cats Geelong is the premiership favourite, but have those who tipped it applied enough thought to the process? ASHLEY BROW NE

ike lemmings, many in the football media overwhelmingly anointed Geelong as the premiership favourite in their pre-season prognostications. All but a handful of pundits picked the Cats to win the ﬂag, but what was surprising was a complete lack of intellectual rigour applied as to why. In my eyes, “revenge for last year” was not a legitimate reason to nominate the Cats as such clear-cut favourites to win it all.

Granted, Geelong has a midﬁeld to die for. Gary Ablett, Jimmy Bartel, Cameron Ling, Corey Enright, Joel Selwood and Joel Corey are all top-shelf. But there are enough questions at both ends of the ground to suggest that if the Cats are to prevail this year, it will be a hard-earned win. Let’s start down back. Full-back Matthew Scarlett is a genuine champion, but has had to carry a heavier load in the ﬁrst two weeks of the season.

Captain and centre half-back Tom Harley isn’t back for at least another month – and his best footy is likely behind him – while Josh Hunt and his zone-breaking booming punts out of the backline are gone for the season after his NAB Cup Grand Final knee injury. Matthew Egan won’t be back any time soon, if at all. Up forward, Steve Johnson is a genius. But in 2007, the Cats had Nathan Ablett as the hit-up forward, leaving Johnson and

Cameron Mooney to wreak havoc closer to goal. This arrangement worked a treat, with such a class midﬁeld providing them frequently with quality delivery. Boasting his family’s undeniable footy smarts, Nathan Ablett knew where to lead in order to allow Johnson and Mooney to do their thing. Tom Lonergan, Ryan Gamble and Tom Hawkins have not CON T IN U ED NE X T PAGE

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VIEWS > NEWS > FIRST PERSON > FACTS > DATA > CULTURE

shown enough to suggest they can adequately replace Ablett. Add last week’s knee injury to Brad Ottens and structurally, the Cats have their issues – but the revenge factor has also been way overstated. It can be argued that in the last quarter of a century, which roughly equates to the start of the salary cap/national draft era, only two teams have used the so-called revenge factor to win the premiership – Carlton in 1995 and Essendon in 2000. The Blues were bundled out by the under-strength Cats in a semi-final at Waverley in 1994 and lost only two games the following year. The Blues then humbled the Dons in an amazing preliminary final in 1999, from which the Bombers rebounded the following year, losing just once on their way to the flag. History also tells us that only once or twice every decade does a team win a flag after dominating right through the season. The Bombers did so in 1985 and Hawthorn in 1988. In the decade that followed, perhaps only the Blues in 1995 won the flag after being so clearly ahead of the rest of the competition. In this decade, we’ve already had two such dominant premiership teams – Essendon in 2000 and the Cats in 2007. By seemingly handing the Cats the flag on a platter in March, many footy pundits did themselves no favours. And their almost unanimous selection of Hawthorn to finish second is also looking shaky. Two weeks into the season, the Hawks are already showing signs of a team whose end-of-season epitaph may read: “Never able to get their best team on the park”. None of this is to say that the Cats won’t win the flag. For now, they still deserve to be premiership favourites. But if they do prevail, it will be by borrowing from the same recipe book as the Hawks last year and most other premiership teams before them – peaking in September. Ashley Browne is national editor of The Australian Jewish News.

NEWS TRACKER

STATE OF THE ART: An artist’s view of the $16 million Arden St development.

O U T S TA N D I N G D E B U T

A world of talent waiting to be discovered MICH A EL LOV ET T

REDEVELOPMENT

More than a football home NICK BOW EN

orth Melbourne’s long-overdue $16 million redevelopment of its Arden St headquarters is an important step in putting the Roos back on level terms with the AFL’s richer clubs that have long spoiled their players with state-of-the-art training facilities. But Kangaroos CEO Eugene Arocca says the redevelopment is also an important psychological boost for the club and should reduce the number of sceptics questioning its ability to survive as a Melbourne-based club. Further, Arocca says the new site will help North reconnect with its local multicultural community, which has been neglected since the mid-1990s when the club explored the Sydney, Canberra and Gold Coast markets. When completed in early 2010, the redevelopment will house a learning and life centre, gymnasium, the state fencing centre and a theatrette and classroom. Arocca says in partnership with the Australian Multicultural Foundation and Scanlon Foundation, the club will staff the learning and life centre with a full-time teacher who will run

classes for local children aged eight-16, focusing on numeracy and literacy. For the older children, topics including anti-racism, discrimination and drug and alcohol abuse will also be canvassed. Arocca says the club’s vision is to bring 8000-10,000 children through the centre every year, with 150-200 children coming into the club each week to sit a two-day course. Additionally, the club intends to offer homework classes for children (especially those whose parents are from non-English speaking backgrounds) and health and lifestyle classes for adults, while the facilities will be available to community groups for meetings and seminars. “It’s all pretty ambitious but something that this club needs as part of its community interaction,” Arocca says. “We didn’t want to have a 300 square metre space that we shared with the community just for meetings. We felt we had to give more than that. “We want kids to come into the centre’s classroom as part of the club, meeting the players and undertaking some curriculum-based activities, and also learning a little bit about the history of the local area. “And over time, we think that will help us form a strong community base that will make us one of the stronger franchises in the AFL.” The redevelopment is being funded by the Victorian and federal governments, Melbourne City Council, the AFL and the Scanlon Foundation.

ssendon has unveiled three first-gamers this season; two have come via the traditional football pathway and one from the other side of the world. While local boys Michael Hurley and David Zaharakis have followed the path of most draftees – junior and school football, TAC Cup, NAB AFL Under-18 Championships – we’re still asking how an Irish teenager could play in the AFL just five months after picking up a Sherrin for the first time. Michael Quinn’s debut against Fremantle last Sunday is all the more amazing given he IMPRESSIVE:

Bomber Michael Quinn has adapted to football quickly.

Melbourne appoints ex-North Melbourne football manager Tim Harrington on to oversee its list management and player payment strategies.

8 AFL RECORD visit aﬂrecord.com.au

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Top dog at the Docklands MICH A EL LOV ET T

Brad Johnson’s love affair with Docklands Stadium didn’t exactly start well. The Western Bulldogs skipper, who this week becomes the first player to appear in 100 games at the ground, had to sit out his first game at the AFL’s new venue in 2000 through suspension. Later in the year, he missed the last game at Drew Banfield (West Coast Eagles) the ground, after again Subiaco Oval, PERTH incurring the wrath of the AFL Tribunal. But since then, Johnson has been as reliable as kids kicking footballs on the concourse. He has missed just one more game in seven seasons – a hamstring complaint ruled him out of the round 19 clash with Melbourne in 2007. And even then, he was a late withdrawal. “It’s been a fantastic ground and it has really evolved,” Johnson says. “There was a huge buzz about the place in the early days – playing under the roof and in true conditions. The best thing for us (the Bulldogs) is that it’s now our home ground and we have kept improving our performances there.” The stadium holds two special memories for the 326-game veteran.

Other games leaders at major grounds

117

was signed by the Bombers last November after a short trial and returned to Australia after the Christmas break to learn what most take for granted – how to kick, mark and handball. The 19-year-old from Killoe in County Longford had 20 disposals and took four marks against the Dockers in his ﬁfth game of Australian Football. He’d played one NAB Cup game in February and three practice matches before the season started yet managed four more touches than Fremantle superstar Matthew Pavlich. Quinn is the ninth Irishman to make the transition from Gaelic Football to our code, but none have done it in such a short time. NEWS TRACKER

So how does it happen? “With so many full-time specialist coaches at AFL clubs now, they can afford to put speciﬁc development into international players,” AFL national and international talent manager Kevin Sheehan says. “A lot of these players are coming from other codes and sports but you have to remember they are at the elite end. They are proving to be very coachable and what we are seeing opens up all sorts of possibilities.” Canadian Mike Pyke is set to be the next international to play in the AFL after a promising introduction with the Sydney Swans in the pre-season and recruiters have noted Stanis

140

Nigel Lappin, Michael Voss (Brisbane Lions) ‘Gabba, BRISBANE

159

Ben Hart, Andrew McLeod (Adelaide) AAMI Stadium, ADELAIDE

138

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Ian Nankervis (Geelong) Skilled Stadium, GEELONG

“Beating Essendon in 2000 and stopping their (20-game) winning streak and the round one game last year,” Johnson says. The Dogs’ opening round win over Adelaide was sealed by Johnson’s ﬁve-goal heroics in his 300th AFL game.

Susuve from Papua New Guinea was among the best for the Gold Coast under-18 team in the TAC Cup last weekend. The AFL is also investing in a talent search for potential players from South Africa. “The world is opening up. We’ve seen Sav Rocca and Ben Graham have great success in the NFL and the kicking aspect of our game will always hold an attraction over there,” Sheehan says. “But we have players in the AFL from soccer, basketball and rugby backgrounds and in many cases we have been able to shorten their introduction to playing the game at the AFL level.”

Michael O’Loughlin (Sydney Swans) SCG, SYDNEY

200

Kevin Bartlett (Richmond) MCG, MELBOURNE

IRISH EXPERIMENT

Irishmen in the AFL Jim Stynes (1987-98) Melbourne 264 Tadhg Kennelly (2001-08) Sydney Swans 158 Setanta O’hAilpin (2005-) Carlton 46 Marty Clarke (2007-) Collingwood 36 Colm Begley (2006-) Brisbane Lions/St Kilda 29 Dermot McNicholl (1990) St Kilda 3 Brian Stynes (1992) Melbourne 2 Pearce Hanley (2008-) Brisbane Lions 2 Michael Quinn (2009-) Essendon 1 Sean Wight from Ireland played 150 games for Melbourne (198595) but was born in Scotland.

Adelaide defender Nathan Bock fined $5000 and suspended indefinitely by the club after an alleged off-field assault. AFL RECORD visit aflrecord.com.au 9

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VIEWS > NEWS > FIRST PERSON > FACTS > DATA > CULTURE

GROOMING

Hair of the Bulldog When Bulldog Ben Hudson abandoned his razor some months ago, he probably didn’t anticipate being the subject of robust discussion and critical analysis on beardcommunity. com, a website run from Taiwan devoted to the appreciation of facial hair. Hudson’s beard is a beauty, one of the best seen on a footballer in recent years. For a while during pre-season, it seemed Sydney’s Luke Ablett was prepared to go beard-to-beard with him, but Ablett has since refamiliarised himself with a regular shaving routine. Geelong’s Max Rooke also impressed recently with his growth. ‘Furr’ is a regular contributor to beardcommunity.com. “One of my little hobbies is to look for Australian Football players with good beards,” Furr writes. “Given the nature of the sport – and the fact the players tend to be late teens on up with the average somewhere in the 20s – you’re not going to see

any really long beards. But the facial furriness overall seems to be inching up.” Russ McClay, an American who operates the website, says Hudson “has great potential with regards to growing a huge beard”. Bulldogs fans have also taken to Hudson’s ‘look’, with Easybeat, a poster on woof.net.au, recently starting ‘The Ben Hudson’s Beard Appreciation Society’. One wag suggested Hudson was auditioning for a spot in the band ZZ Top, whose veteran guitarists have long sported beards while, ironically, drummer Frank Beard has only worn a moustache. Unlike moustaches (which have enjoyed seasonal periods of popularity starting in the early 1900s), beards were rare in football before the mid-1970s, when full beards and moustaches were in vogue, with the likes of Bomber Simon Madden, Blue Rod Ashman and Demon Garry Baker at the (non) cutting edge. Later, others including Hawthorn’s Michael Tuck, Richmond’s Jim Jess and Carlton’s Bruce Doull became almost as well known for their facial hair as they were for their sterling football. PETER DI SISTO

OTHER CLASSIC BEARDS POTENTIAL:

1 2

Michael Tuck Hawthorn

3 4

Bruce Doull Carlton

GrahamTeasdale Sth Melb/Coll

5 6

Max Rooke Geelong

Jim Jess Richmond

Simon Madden Essendon

NEWS TRACKER

The world’s beard experts are lauding Ben Hudson’s eﬀort.

SHOWPIECE:

The Gabba has in recent years become one of the AFL’s major venues.

MILES TONE

Double ton for Gabba BRUCE E VA

t a time when Australian Football in Queensland is receiving national attention with the awarding of the 17th AFL licence to the Gold Coast, the state’s main stadium, the Gabba, reaches a significant milestone this weekend. Saturday night’s Brisbane Lions-Sydney Swans game will be the 200th AFL match at the famous venue, with the ground unrecognisable in 2009 from the pear-shaped playing arena (surrounded by a greyhound racing track and a few ramshackle grandstands) that was the setting for the first game there in 1981. Twenty-eight years ago, it was Hawthorn and Essendon meeting in a round 14 encounter, with Simon Madden booting seven goals and the Bombers winning by 18 points (22.19 to 20.13) in front of 20,351 people. It remains the only game played at the Gabba not involving the Brisbane Bears or the Brisbane Lions. The first game the Bears played there was in round four, 1991, when Bill Brownless kicked a record 11 goals in Geelong’s 102-point victory.

Four weeks later, in the Bears’ second home match at the Gabba, Tony Lockett dined out with 10 goals for St Kilda in another big win to the visitors. A full-time move to the ground by the Bears occurred in 1993, with the stadium’s total refurbishment over the past 15 years making it a showpiece venue. It has hosted 11 finals (with the visiting team yet to be successful) in its 199 fixtures, been the scene for one of the greatest marks of all-time (Melbourne’s Shaun Smith in the final round of 1995), produced three draws and boasts a record attendance of 37,224 for the Brisbane Lions-Collingwood clash in round 15, 2005.

VA L E

‘Clelo’ had ump option J IM M A IN

ormer VFL umpire and broadcaster Ian Cleland died last month, aged 89. He had been involved in the game for more than 60 years. Known as ‘Clelo’, he played junior football in Melbourne’s north and for Fitzroy reserves, until injury forced him to retire. He enlisted in the army during World War II and when the army played an RAAF team in Papua New Guinea, he had a choice of latrine duties or umpiring. After the war, he umpired 33 senior VFL games from 1946-50. He was later a successful businessman and commentator.

St Kilda defender Sam Gilbert extends his contract to at least the end of 2011.

10 AFL RECORD visit aﬂrecord.com.au

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GAME TRENDS

Hit-outs only good if others work

Last week during his regular radio segment on 3AW, four-time premiership coach Leigh Matthews touched on that always-contentious topic: ruckmen and their role. Claiming that the hit-out count is essentially “useless” unless midﬁelders make the most of the taps their ruckmen

win, Matthews might have been vindicated after last weekend. Sydney’s Darren Jolly (pictured left) dominated in the ruck against Hawthorn, winning a record 42 hit-outs, with 26 per cent of them to advantage. The Swans smashed the Hawks in the clearances, 48-36. Jolly also was superb around the ground, and was a key to the Swans’ win. The day after, Fremantle’s Aaron Sandilands had 36 hit-outs, of which 22 per cent were to advantage. But with the Dockers’ on-ballers rarely capitalising (managing only 24 clearances), Sandilands’ taps were essentially wasted as Fremantle succumbed to the Dons. C A L LU M T WOMEY

He said what? I think hit-outs per se are the most useless stat in football. Which of the big guys touches the ball in the air matters not. It’s a matter of what happens after that. If you haven’t got a ruckman, and the opposition ruckman can totally dominate in the ruck hit-outs and hit it exactly where he wants to hit it, well then you’re going to be in trouble. On that basis, there’s a lot more analysis of what happens after the ball leaves the ruckman’s hands than simply who touched it Leigh Matthews on 3AW radio, April 2.

THE GA ME ’S BROAD ROLE

Family ties PETER DI SISTO

here’s an obvious sense of panic building at a Hawthorn home the morning after the Hawks’ ﬁrst round loss to Geelong. Outside on the footpath, Bev and Laurie Young and two of their six sons, Lachlan and Blake, are waiting for Clinton, the Hawthorn wingman. The premiership player is running late for a photo shoot after Hawthorn’s post-match recovery session. But the Hawks’ loss and tardiness aren’t the reasons for the panic. A chook owned by Annette and Phillip Muldeary – the host family who looked after Clinton when he ﬁrst arrived in Melbourne and with whom the Youngs occasionally stay when they visit from Minyip 1 in Victoria’s Wimmera region – has gone missing. Clinton Young arrives minutes later, weary after a tough night against the Cats. Lachlan, 16, lights up when he spots his brother, seven years his senior. Lachlan has Down syndrome, a chromosomal disorder which impairs cognitive ability and physical development. Clinton recently took up a role as ambassador for the Football NEWS TRACKER

SUPPORT: Hawthorn’s Clinton Young and younger brother Lachlan.

Integration Development Association (FIDA), a 22-team league supporting about 400 Victorians aged 16 and over with intellectual disabilities. Lachlan will play for the Ringwood Spiders against the Mazenod Panthers at half-time of this week’s Geelong-Collingwood match at the MCG as part of the AFL’s Sports CONNECT program addressing barriers that prevent people with disabilities from participating fully in the game. Clinton developed an interest in integration programs after he and teammate Grant Birchall took up an invitation from the Ringwood Spiders to visit the club in Melbourne’s outer east after last year’s Grand Final. Having grown up with a brother with a disability, Clinton

understood the many challenges of integration for those with disabilities, so his decision to become involved with the club and FIDA on a broader level was an easy one. “I was looking for something involved with sport and this opportunity arose,” he says. “I’m only just starting the role, but hopefully I can learn a bit more about the area.” Aware that Clinton had a brother with a disability, the match organisers approached him to get Lachlan involved. “It was hard when (as a junior) I was going to training all the time and Lachie wanted to come with me but couldn’t,” Clinton says. “This hopefully will make up for some of the things he missed out on.” Clinton will be involved on

the night, likely speaking with the players before the game and generally lending support. Lachlan attends Murtoa College three days a week and nearby Warracknabeal Special School twice a week. He played in modiﬁed junior programs as a boy and also took part in Auskick programs; being involved in the FIDA program will see him play with and against people with similar physical abilities. Participating in the game will count as a credit for Lachlan’s special education program. Lachlan lists Hawthorn captain Sam Mitchell as his favourite player and always has the attention of Hawthorn players and coach Alastair Clarkson when he visits the rooms. He loves having a kick with his brother, but also sets high standards for him. “I hear that when I do kick a goal, Lachie celebrates pretty wildly, but when I miss one, he gets pretty disappointed in me,” Clinton says. Rightfully proud of Clinton’s status as an AFL premiership player – Laurie says he’s the analytical fan at Hawthorn games while Bev plays the role of the “more enthusiastic” parent – they are just as proud about Lachlan’s own planned MCG moment. Laurie predicts Lachlan will handle the occasion as well as CON T IN U ED NE X T PAGE

Football mourns the deaths of Carlton’s 1968 premiership player Peter McLean and ex-Bulldog and Test cricketer George Tribe.

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VIEWS > NEWS > FIRST PERSON > FACTS > DATA > CULTURE

Clinton does a Sherrin when he drops it to his left foot for one of his long bombs to the Hawthorn forward line. “He’s a bit of a showman, Lachie. He’ll love it,” says Laurie. As the backyard chat with the Youngs continues, there’s activity near the back fence, and a cheer goes up. Blake, 13, the youngest of the boys and said to be a handy junior footballer on the way up, has found the missing chook. Everyone’s calm again. 1 Much of the television show The Flying Doctors, which ran from 1986-93, was ﬁlmed in Minyip, a wheat belt town 320km north-west of Melbourne with a population of about 400. The show was based in the ﬁctional town of Coopers Crossing. As a toddler, Clinton Young had his photograph taken with Collingwood legend Lou Richards when Richards visited Minyip for a guest appearance on the show.

TEAM BONDING

It’s not just a song SH A NE McNA L LY

ou only needed to stick your head in the visitors’ rooms at AAMI Stadium last Friday to realise there’s a lot more to the club song than just an out-of-tune anthem that needs to be sung after victory. As the St Kilda players joined arms and belted out “Oh when the Saints …” with a gusto

PASSIONATE: James Gwilt, Justin Koschitzke and Stephen Milne.

rarely seen or heard for years in the seemingly countless after-match rituals, it was obvious the song reflected the soul of the club, the spirit of the game they’d just played and the reason they became a team. Watching them throw their heads back as they yelled out the song, you’d swear they’d just won the flag. It was only round two but it was an important away win, and it seemed the song did as much to bond the players as anything they did on the field against Adelaide that night. St Kilda historian Russell Holmesby says the song has served the club well, and the fact it was adopted at about the time of the Saints’ 1966 premiership has cemented its place.

“When they went to Moorabbin at the start of ’65, the song went from I Do Long To Be Beside the Seaside to We Are The Saints, The Red Blooded Saints but somewhere along the way, When The Saints Go Marching In became popular,” Holmesby says. “They certainly belted it out when they won the ’66 premiership and it’s been part of the club ever since. I think a stirring club song helps.” The song has been modiﬁed to suit the post-Moorabbin era but retains its passion and place with supporters, according to Holmesby. “The passion remains the same,” he says. “It strikes the right chord, it’s an emotional song and isn’t that what you want when you pour your heart

thebounce

into a footy club? The players love it. ‘Milney’ (Stephen Milne) is always leading the charge and Stevie Baker gets them pumped up as well.” Many other clubs will argue their song is the greatest, more than just a tune for post-match celebrations. Try telling Liverpool supporters that Walk On is just a song. It’s part of their culture and their psyche. In Australia, some club songs are still trying to ﬁnd their place while others are genuinely great, with built-in passion and history behind them. St Kilda, by virtue of the club name, was able to borrow from the legendary 19th century spiritual that went on to become a jazz classic and a favourite of any sporting team wearing a “St” preﬁx. Hawthorn had the great George Cohen at its disposal, transforming his musical masterpiece Yankee Doodle Dandy into a “happy team at Hawthorn”, and Collingwood calls on the pride of a Boer War anthem to unify its players. And then there’s Richmond. What more can be said about probably the most stirring and exhilarating club song of them all? Let’s hope the boys from Punt Road win enough games this season to warrant repeat renditions of their Tigerland theme.

KNOW EVERY GAME PLAN.

HEAR IT LIKE YOU’RE IN IT. 3AW is football. Get the complete run-down on Sports Today with Gerard Healy and Dwayne Russell from 6pm Monday to Thursday on 3AW 693.

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VIEWS > NEWS > FIRST PERSON > FACTS > DATA > CULTURE

SOUTH AFRICA

Testing for talent Just as Ireland continues to produce AFL players, a new program in South Africa is aimed at identifying talented South Africans who can eventually do the same. The ROAR Talent initiative was recently announced by the Australian Football League South Africa (AFLSA) with the support of the AFL. Under the initiative, testing sessions will be held for interested youngsters aged 15-19 at high performance institutes across South Africa, where standard AFL tests will be used to identify those with potential. AFL youth and high performance coordinator Jason McCartney and AFLSA ROAR talent manager Stewart Edge will oversee the talent search, including the ﬁrst round of testing this month. From these tests, a select few will be included in the South African Lions national side that will play against the Australian under-17 side in an international challenge match at Boland Park in Paarl on April 20. Four outstanding players will then be awarded scholarships that, among other things, will give them the opportunity to take part in a AIS-AFL Academy camp at the AIS in Canberra. “Those who excel stand a chance to be recruited to international scholarships lists with AFL clubs, opening the door to a high-level sporting career in Australia,” Edge said.

L I S T M A N AG E M E N T

Crows below average, by design SH A NE McNA L LY

oo old, too slow and in need of an injection of youth and enthusiasm? That’s been the front bar talk around Adelaide for a couple of years but the good news for supporters is that the club is now well and truly below average – in a good way. The Crows fall 10 days short of the average age for an AFL player and are four games short of the game average as well. So, while Adelaide struggled to withstand the enormous pressure applied by St Kilda last Friday – coach Neil Craig described it as the best pressure he’d witnesses in a home and away game – he acknowledged the experience would do the developing side the world of good. When you consider there were four teenagers in the side that took the ﬁeld against the Saints,

ONE TO WATCH: Jared Petrenko is one

NICK BOW EN

of several young Crows on the rise.

NEWS TRACKER

it’s easy to understand why Craig wasn’t all doom and gloom after the tight contest. Boom 2008 draft pick Patrick Dangerfield ran hard and broke more than his share of tackles, Andy Otten was a fine contributor, Jared Petrenko backed up a good game against the Pies in round one with another creative performance, and only inaccurate kicking prevented Taylor Walker from having a big impact near goal. A closer look at the quartet should inspire confidence among Crows supporters. Creative Petrenko and 192cm Otten are just 19, Dangerfield turned 19 two days after the Saints game and Walker is 18. Despite their youth, they all have contributed in both games this season and Myke Cook, dropped to make way for the return of star midfielder Scott Thompson despite a solid debut a week earlier, is six months away from his 19th birthday. And these are just the youngsters tested in the first two rounds – there are a further eight teenagers on the main list, as well as two teenage rookies. Craig said the young players would learn from the intensity of the St Kilda game and that the experience was an invaluable lesson. He singled out Dangerfield for his attack on the ball and composure under pressure. “He was one of our real pluses out of the night, to be able to stand up in that game from a physical point of view and do some of those things,” Craig said of the youngster who attracted so much debate last year as he completed studies back home in Geelong. The controversy, of course, didn’t faze the single-minded Craig, who never doubted the teenager and is being praised for his patience. General manager of football operations John Reid said Adelaide identified the need to rejuvenate its list a couple of years back and the injection of youth has come at an ideal time while the club has enough elite older players to help them with the transition.

“We’ve found some genuine talent and what we’ve seen so far, we’ve liked. We’ve got nearly as much footy talent as we’ve ever had in the club but we know converting talent into consistent AFL performers is the challenge in front of us all.” Shane McNally is an Adelaide-based football writer.

TRADITIONS

The numbers game PAU L DA FFEY

hose who grew up watching Collingwood in the 1970s might remember the way black-and-white ﬂoggers formed a moving sea of paper behind the goals and the fact the Magpies had a numbers tradition – the captain wore the No. 1 jumper and his vice-captain and deputy vice-captain fell into line with Nos. 2 and 3. The club tradition began with Harry Collier in 1935. It ended in 1979 when rover Ray Shaw was elected captain and chose to stay with No. 23. Every Collingwood captain since has maintained his number of choice, including Shaw’s brother Tony, who wore No. 22 during his seven years as Magpie captain. No. 22 is one of the most revered numbers at Collingwood, having also been worn by Bob Rose, Bill Serong and John Greening. Nathan Buckley wore No. 5 in his nine years as Magpie skipper. After retiring, he requested that Nick Maxwell be offered the jumper; Buckley believed Maxwell’s work ethic reﬂected his own. Collingwood people loved Maxwell’s leadership skills and style enough to appoint him captain for 2009. The early signs are that he will be a strong Magpie skipper, and it’s not hard to see a tradition developing in which future club captains carry the No. 5.

Geelong continues its ‘Make it happen in provincial Victoria’ partnership with the Victorian Government.

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Number call 36 16 5 5 18 29 2 5 23 29 1 17 12 37 31 6 23 6

Simon Goodwin (Adel) Jonathan Brown (BL) Chris Judd (Carl) Nick Maxwell (Coll) Matthew Lloyd (Ess) Matthew Pavlich (Frem) Tom Harley (Geel) Sam Mitchell (Haw) James McDonald (Melb) Brent Harvey (NM) Domenic Cassisi (PA) Chris Newman (Rich) Nick Riewoldt (StK) Adam Goodes (Syd) Brett Kirk (Syd) Craig Bolton (Syd) Darren Glass (WCE) Brad Johnson (WB)

In 2004, the year after the death of Jack Dyer, the greatest Tiger of all, Richmond thought to honour him on the ﬁeld by having the captain wear No. 17, the legend’s old number. Others to wear No. 17 at Punt Road include Barry Richardson, Allan Edwards, Maurice Rioli and Paul Broderick. Wayne Campbell was the ﬁrst Tigers skipper to change to No. 17. The next year, in 2005, he gave up the captaincy and reverted to No. 9. Kane Johnson succeeded Campbell and took the No. 17. His No. 28 remained vacant until he gave up the captaincy after the 2008 season. He’s back in No. 28, with new skipper Chris Newman swapping No. 1 for 17.

The other AFL club with a strong numbers tradition is Port Adelaide, whose captains began wearing No. 1 in the SANFL in 1922. When the club joined the AFL in 1997, the captain of its SANFL club (Port Adelaide Magpies) continued to wear No. 1, as did the skipper of the Power. Warren Tredrea wore No. 1 for the past three seasons. Having relinquished the captaincy at the end of last year, he returned to No. 16, with Domenic Cassisi taking the No. 1. The only Port Adelaide captain in almost nine decades to break the tradition was legendary halfback Geof Motley. Appointed captain in 1959, Motley wore No .1 for the opening three games of the season before reverting to his No. 17. He continued to wear his favourite number for the rest of his eight seasons as skipper. When he retired after the 1966 season, Motley was the only Port player to have played in the nine premierships the club won from 1954-65. Bob Fabian wore No. 1 for Port Adelaide in 16 games in 1961 and Wilfred Huddleston wore it for two games in 1963. Players were reluctant to take over the number until half-back Dennis Errey began wearing it late in the 1963 season and sported it for 72 games, until 1966. In 1967, John Cahill took over as captain. He swapped from No.

14 to No. 1 and the Port tradition was revived. Paul Daﬀey is a Melbourne-based freelance writer.

COMMUNITY

Rebuilding continues

M I LE S T O N E S – RO U N D 3

200 Club Leigh Brown Collingwood 182 premiership season games, 17 pre-season matches

200 Games Tyson Stenglein West Coast

A NDR EW WA L L ACE

urrounded by blackened trees, but overcome by community goodwill, Kinglake Football Club last weekend returned to the field for the first time since the horrific bushfires of February 7. Yarra Valley and Mountain District Football League CEO Stephen Walter estimates 4000 fans turned out for the Kinglake-Emerald match. To recognise the heroic efforts of fire fighters during the loss of 42 Kinglake and Kinglake West residents on Black Saturday and devastation of Emerald in the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires, each game between the two townships will now be known as the Country Fire Authority Football Shield. Kinglake wore commemorative grey jumpers until half-time, before reverting to its yellow and green strip. While many deemed the return of the side a feat in itself, the Lakers would only be

100 Games Aaron Davey Melbourne Daniel Motlop Port Adelaide Matt Maguire St Kilda

50 Games Cameron Cloke Carlton Richard Hadley Carlton Daniel Jackson Richmond

content with a win, and with fullforward Brent Gallicho booting 10 goals, posted a 43-point win. The day also featured appearances by Victorian Premier John Brumby and Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett, with an emotional rendition of the national anthem sung by Kinglake resident Ross Buchanan, who lost two children in the recent ﬁres.

KICK EVERY GOAL.

HEAR IT LIKE YOU’RE IN IT. 3AW is football. Listen to four quarters of all-star commentary with Rex Hunt, Dennis Cometti, Tony Leonard and Shane Healy at 3AW 693.

AFL RECORD visit aﬂrecord.com.au 17

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essay FEEDING FRENZY:

Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson inspired the Hawks with his ‘shark’ analogy before last year’s Grand Final.

M O T I VAT I O N

The meaning of the message Coaches are ﬁnding new and sophisticated ways to encourage good performances from their players. GLENN McFA R L A NE

ports psychology might be regarded as a relatively new science, but try telling that to some famous League coaches of the past. For years, some of the game’s greatest tutors have searched for new ways to get inside the heads of players in order to motivate them to achieve success, especially in big games. The legendary Jock McHale’s calling cry to generations of Collingwood players was that

they needed to “stoke the stove”. They followed him almost with a sense of foreboding should they fail to keep the ﬁre burning. Such was his inﬂuence, when McHale was too ill to attend the 1930 Grand Final, his replacement, Bob Rush, told the players McHale would be listening on radio and would know who was letting him and the team down. John Kennedy urged his Hawthorn players at half-time

of the 1975 Grand Final to abandon thought in favour of the practical. “Don’t think ... do!” was his message to those in the team he felt weren’t pulling their weight in the ﬁrst half. It didn’t help that day (the Hawks were smashed by North Melbourne), but the speech became embedded in the club’s psyche, and has in recent years been used in various membership campaigns. At half-time of the 1989 Grand Final, another Hawk coach,

Allan Jeans, told his team the parable of a boy who had been given $50 to buy a pair of shoes. The boy was faced with the option of buying a superior pair for $50 or a cheaper pair for $30, and keeping the change. The dilemma the boy faced, Jeans told his players, was whether he wanted to pay the price. He then yelled: “Are you prepared to pay the price?” They clearly were, and held on to beat Geelong in one of the best Grand Finals of the modern era.

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essay In 2001, Leigh Matthews borrowed a line from the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie Predator – “If it bleeds, we can kill it” – to highlight the fact that a seemingly invincible Essendon could be beaten. The line helped the Brisbane Lions win a home and away match, and it also gave them the belief they could beat the Bombers in the Grand Final a few months later. Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson had his own message last September that will likely go down in Grand Final folklore. As captured in the excellent football documentary The Essence of the Game, Clarkson implored his team to stop Geelong’s relentless run. “Sharks have to move forward,” he said. “Sharks die if they get caught in nets because there is no water and oxygen in their gills. So as soon as they stop, they die. (Geelong) will try to come through us like a shark. We have to kill sharks as early as we possibly can, because if it just sits there, it’s going to die.” The Hawks hooked their catch and won a 10th premiership as their reward. The message and the metaphor from each of the above examples might have been markedly different; but the intention was the same – to try and inspire players to premiership glory. “These (motivational speeches) might not necessarily be the best, but they are some of the ones we know the best,” said Dr Noel Blundell, one of the country’s leading sports psychologists. Dr Blundell said Clarkson’s shark analogy showed the sophistication of the messaging used in football circles had increased in recent years. There had also been a change in coaches’ understanding of their players’ reactionary tendencies. “Messages affect different people in different ways, and the person delivering the message has to be aware of that,” Dr Blundell said. “They have a big impact for some players who need to sharpen their focus. For others, though, it can push them over the top. So the coach has to be able to adapt accordingly.”

FEAR AND RESPECT

The motivator As the only coach in AFL/VFL history to guide his team to four successive ﬂags (1927-30), Jock McHale motivated his charges with two key weapons – fear and respect. Collingwood players were in awe of McHale’s playing and coaching record, and his all-consuming passion for the black and white. Famous for his stirring pre-game and half-time speeches, he drew upon the club’s renowned spirit, its loyal supporter base and its history. “When he used to talk to us, you could feel your belly turning over,” champion rover Harry Collier once recalled. LISTENING IN:

Collingwood players were urged not to let down coach Jock McHale, who heard the 1930 Grand Final from his hospital bed.

Clarkson’s shark analogy showed the sophistication of the messaging used in football circles had increased He said the tone and the delivery often had as much impact as the message itself, citing Neale Daniher as an example. Daniher had just returned as an Essendon player after a stint as a part-time assistant coach to Kevin Sheedy (a role he took on while rehabilitating from a serious knee injury) when Dr Blundell asked him what sort of effect the coach’s speeches had on him. Daniher said he had heard the messages before, but especially revelled in the way Sheedy delivered them. Dr Blundell said coaches had to be aware that motivational speeches in front of the group needed to be used sparingly. If they became too regular or too contrived, they could lose their effectiveness. With coaches relying more

on delivering clinical messages rather than alarming or sparking players into action, it appears the traditional hot-gospel pre-match speech is all but gone. “The old pre-game rev-up is a heap of crap. If you had it now, the lads would think you are a raving lunatic,” one veteran football manager concluded a few years ago. Former Hawthorn star Shane Crawford agreed: “Coaches have identiﬁed the fact that all players respond differently. Some react better when it happens in front of the group. Others don’t and go into their shells. “It is now much more controlled before a game. If you are going to get a rev-up, it will probably happen at quarter-time or half-time.” Crawford said the Clarkson speech worked because it was such a simple message and one that resonated with the group. “It just made sense to us,” he said of the comments, which were accompanied by assistant coach Ross Smith drawing a shark ﬁgure alongside the team line-up on the whiteboard in the MCG rooms.

“Sharks don’t mess about. They go straight at you. That’s the way Geelong were, and that’s the mindset he wanted us to have.” Dr Blundell said today’s elite footballers, not to mention the game’s aspiring draftees, were signiﬁcantly different from their predecessors. “I was with Essendon when (Ray) ‘Slug’ Jordon was there as coach of the under-19s,” Dr Blundell said. “He was very emotive and gruff. “I’ve had a fair bit to do with the under-18 players in recent years and they are a lot more sophisticated than players used to be. The message has just got to be different from what it was back then.” He said a greater emphasis on personal interaction with the players had meant AFL coaches had taken a leap forward in their approach to sports psychology. But he insisted there was still plenty of room for further development. “It’s come a long way, but in relation to a number of international sports, it still has a fair way to go,” Dr Blundell said. “That’s the next challenge for the coaches.” And topping Clarkson’s ‘shark’ metaphor might also be on the agenda. Glenn McFarlane is a reporter with the Sunday Herald Sun.

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THINKER: Ted Hopkins is one of the game’s leading statistical analysts.

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the interview

Ted A Carlton premiership player with a left-of-centre approach continues to change the way we think about our game. C A L LU M T WOMEY

PHOTO: SEAN GARNSWORTHY/AFL PHOTOS

ed Hopkins munches on what he refers to as an “energy bun”. Small and round, the bun is covered in sugar with sprinklings of sultanas embedded in the dough. Within a matter of minutes, it’s ﬁnished and being washed down by a gulp of tea. It’s clear, however, that Hopkins’ energy and enthusiasm comes in something less tasty and physical than a baker’s sweet treat. It comes in the form of knowledge. Remembered for his starring role in Carlton’s come-from-behind win over Collingwood in the 1970 Grand Final (he kicked four goals after coming on at half-time as the 19th man), Hopkins doesn’t often reﬂect on what happened that day, but why and how. “I was sort of the new hero, like the fairytale kid from nowhere who comes off the bench and changes the game,” he says. “But I’m actually very proud of something else. How did I kick those goals? How did I do it? That’s what I was more interested in. “People have always come up to me and said, ‘You’re the guy who put loose-ball gets on the map, because that’s how you won the ball to kick your goals’. And I thought if that’s how I got my goals, maybe they were really important stats and nobody had been recording them, which was the case. “So how did I get my four goals?” Hopkins asks, before explaining. “Two handball receives and two front and square loose-ball gets.” It was an interest in statistics

that brought the eccentric Hopkins back to football. Following his effort in the Blues’ premiership win, Hopkins played one game in 1971 and then promptly retired at 21, with 29 games and 10 goals to his name. A strong interest in the environment led him to pick up a job as a park ranger at Falls Creek in the north-western Victorian Alpine region, but it was in the writing and publishing industry that Hopkins saw his future. He wrote for several newspapers, including the Herald Sun and The Australian Financial Review on a range of topics, including sport, poetry and measurement. The latter likely led to a change in the way football is assessed and analysed. Hopkins is the founder of statistics and media company Champion Data (the AFL’s ofﬁcial statistics partner), which provides, analyses and crunches football data for clubs, coaches, media and, of course, Dream Team football enthusiasts. By using computers, programs and codes, not to mention more than 20 full-time and 70 part-time staff, the company has become a source of information and knowledge for the football world. It was also through Champion Data that the language of statistics (including hard-ball gets, contested marks and effective kicks) emerged into the vernacular. Not that the concept was necessarily supported in its infancy. With help from mathematicians, Hopkins was seen as producing almost “avant-

garde” material, and some were sceptical about its use. “No doubt my reputation as a footballer helped. No doubt if I’d never played a game, nobody would have taken me seriously,” he says. Now, however, the competition and a growing number of supporters are converts, with the AFL Prospectus (a statistically based assessment of teams and players) growing in importance.

We settle arguments and create debate. It also means that you, as an enthusiast, can in some ways be more knowledgeable than a coach “I think that’s one of the great things we do with our stats because it gives a licence for a lot of people to make calls on football,” he says. “We settle arguments and create debate. It also means that you, as an enthusiast, can in some ways be more knowledgeable than a coach.” Tucked away in a back office in the IT department of Champion Data’s headquarters in Melbourne’s Southbank region, Hopkins stands out. With almost-silver hair and dark-rimmed glasses, he easily passes for the stereotypical mathematical mastermind. He says he does his most creative thinking “whilst sitting around the kitchen table”, and his office would suggest this. With blank walls and low lighting, it’s decidedly understated. His influence on how football is played today, though, cannot be downplayed.

“If we make a comment on something, it’s based on evidence. It’s not opinion,” he says. “With the game getting more sophisticated from the playing and coaching point of view, evidence-based references become more important than ever. That’s why stats are growing.” Hopkins suggests that of the current coaching crop, Port Adelaide’s Mark Williams, Hawthorn’s Alastair Clarkson and North Melbourne’s Dean Laidley have been the most astute when it comes to using data. With the competition as even as it is, Hopkins argues that if providing the data helps a team win an extra two or three games, “then how good’s that!” Hopkins can’t predict where the statistical industry is going, but thinks player ranking systems will soon become so valuable that clubs will trade players based purely on statistics. It’s important too, he says, to keep the rest interesting. “There’s no limit to what we can do, as long as we can tell the story of the game in a credible fashion. As the game gets more complex, we probably understand it better now,” he says. “We’re probably giving a better picture than ever. When the picture becomes boring or uninformed, that’s when the stats will have a limit.” In between regular kayaking pursuits and yoga sessions, the 59-year-old Hopkins remains enchanted by the possibilities of “the humble stat”. The pioneer of the use of evidence-based numbers jokes that “it’s a rock and roll show, this stats business”. If that’s the case, then surely Ted Hopkins takes the stage as lead singer. AFL RECORD visit aﬂrecord.com.au 23

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Wells R O O R E A DY T O R I S E

Kangaroo speedster Daniel Wells’ prodigious talents have never been in doubt, but the perception has persisted throughout his career that he has not made the most of his ability. Even the man himself admits as much. However, at 24, the classy midfielder has never been happier, on or off the field, and believes his time is now. NICK BOW EN

sk any footy fan to rate Daniel Wells and chances are they’ll tell you: “Needs to do more”. Sure, they may drool about his ability to cut opposition zones to shreads with his pace, or rave about his pin-point kicking and knack of pulling off freakish bits of play. But they’ll add a rider – the North Melbourne midfielder’s flashes of brilliance are all too infrequent. They also say when things don’t go his way, he lacks the fi re in the belly and the work-rate to turn things around, pointing to his ‘bad’ body language. Yes, marking Wells hard has become a year-round sport in AFL circles, so widespread that it includes a most unlikely participant – Wells himself. Speak to him and he’ll freely admit he needs to do more, that he’s wasted a couple of seasons, that he

hasn’t backed himself to take the opposition on nearly enough, or imposed himself on games like he should have. But during that conversation, any preconceptions you may have had about Wells being someone happy to cruise through games of football and life will vanish. The AFL Record met Wells recently at Williamstown beach near the Surf Life Saving Club. It was not really a day for the beach. Windy and chilly – a wild thunder storm hit Melbourne later that day – the only other person brave enough to join us was a hardy treasure hunter scouring the sand with a metal detector. Wells, who lives nearby, brought his wife, Mariangela, and 12-week-old daughter, Laudate Angelus. But while it is soon obvious Wells could not be more content with fatherhood, in a 30-minute interview canvassing a range of AFL RECORD visit aﬂrecord.com.au 59

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subjects he also revealed a quiet determination to be the best footballer, provider and man he can be. Though laidback and quietly spoken, this is one 24-year-old who’s anything but a cruiser. “I want to really challenge myself and really use my ability better to my side’s advantage,” he says of his personal goals for this season. “I don’t think I’ve used it as much as I could have and I can probably see why people say, ‘He needs to improve his work-rate or whatever’.” And when quizzed on how he wants to be remembered when he eventually hangs up the boots, Wells responded: “As a really dangerous player that can do things that a lot of players can’t do. “I am really looking forward to redeeming myself, no not so much redeeming myself, but showing everybody what I’ve really got, which I haven’t done yet. “And I won’t leave anything in the tank; there’ll be no excuses.” Wells is not about to sit back and wait for something to fall into his lap post-football either. He has been working closely with the AFL Players’ Association (AFLPA) to canvas future career options and is doing a work placement with Srixon Golf, learning the ropes with one of its on-road sales team. “As we all know, your career can ﬁnish pretty soon and I want to be able to make the transition as smooth as possible so I can continue to support my family,” he says. “And since I became a dad, my daughter has been the main reason I’ve wanted to get a move on and think about my future.” FAC T F I L E

I want to really challenge myself and use my ability better to my side’s advantage. I don’t think I’ve used it as much as I could have Still, as a father, Wells admits he could do more. “I’m pretty hands on, I try to change her nappies as much as I can. I haven’t changed too many ‘number twos’ though,” he says, laughing. “So that’s probably the one thing I’m a bit slack with. I think I’d better lift my game there or the wife will be on to me.” Not that Wells’ aversion to a smelly nappy is the only thing that gets him into trouble on the homefront. Asked whether he’s into music, he says he doesn’t have any favourite bands, but does like listening to his iPod or the radio. There is one small problem, though. “I’m notorious for not listening to a full song. I listen to a few minutes then change the station,” he says. “My wife gets a bit upset sometimes, but I can’t listen to a full song unless I really like it.” At one stage, Wells was toying with the idea of getting a tattoo but Mariangela talked him out of it, something he is grateful for. “I’m not really an ink person,” he says. “There’s a lot of ‘tatts’ going on in footy at the moment. At North, we’ve

got guys like Aaron Edwards and Gavin Urquhart. Though one of Gavin’s spells out Urquhart – I think we know your name, Gavin.” But let’s return to Wells the footballer. Though his critics would argue he has had plenty of time to transform himself from a prodigious talent into a regular gamebreaker, it’s worth remembering that, in 2009, Wells has entered just his seventh AFL season. His achievements in his first six seasons should not be sneezed at either. Equal second in the Roos’ best and fairest in 2006 and an Australian representative in the International Rules Series in 2003 and 2008. And last year he found the consistency he has sometimes lacked, racking up 25 disposals or more in every game bar one from rounds 13-21. But it’s hard to live up to expectations when you set the bar so high early in your career. As a 17-year-old with Peel Thunder, Wells was runner-up in the 2002 Sandover Medal (the WAFL’s highest individual honour), then was drafted by the Roos with the No. 2 pick in that year’s draft. In his first season, 2003, he finished fourth in the AFL Rising

DANIEL EL L WELLS W L S Born: February u y 3,, 1985 8 Recruited ted e from: r m hunder u e (WA) W ) Peel Thunder 2 3 Debut: 2003 1 c Weight: e gh 78kg 7 g Height:: 180cm 125 Goals: o s 677 Games:: 125 rs: s 2nd n best b t and fairest a s Honours: 2006 (equal); equal) equ q al); l);; Inte IInternational nterna n rrnatio ttional nal n Rules Series e s 2003, 0 , 2008; NAB AFL FL L Rising s g Star t nominee eee 2003 0

HIGH FIVES:

Daniel Wells and teammate David Hale celebrate after a goal.

Finding family and faith When Daniel Wells moved to Melbourne as a 17-year-old at the end of 2002, like a lot of teenagers he wasn’t overly fussed about religion. But soon after meeting his future wife, Mariangela, he found Catholicism. Six years ago, after a match against Carlton at Docklands Stadium, Wells made the short trip to St Augustine’s in Bourke Street, where in the one afternoon he was baptised, conﬁrmed and took communion for the ﬁrst time. Now a church regular, Wells feels blessed to have found the Christian faith, saying it plays a big part in his life. “It keeps me grounded, it keeps me respectful towards other people, it keeps me trying to do the right thing all the time. It means pretty much everything.” Not that Wells will ever advertise his faith. It’s just not his style. “I don’t really want to be seen to preaching my religion,’ he said. “Religion is all about actions. I’ve just started a book about Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, a young Italian man who died at just 24 of polio. (Blessed is an honorary title bestowed by the Catholic Church on a person seen as exceptionally holy, and can lead to sainthood). “He was brought up in a wealthy family, had good looks, was into sport, he could do anything, but he chose to help the poor and devoted his life to them. He had such a beautiful heart. To me that is what religion is all about.”

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Star award, but the three players who finished ahead of him – Sam Mitchell, Graham Polak and Luke Ball – were all second-year players. He was then named the AFLPA’s best first-year player. The following season, he was named the AFL Coaches Association’s best young player and also won the AFLPA’s Marn Grook award as the most outstanding emerging indigenous player. But it was his ability to stand up at crucial times in those first two seasons that most had commentators, Roos supporters and footy fans in raptures. In round 11, 2003, in just his seventh game – Jason McCartney’s comeback game after he nearly died in the October 2002 Bali bombings – Wells gave a demonstration of his blistering pace in the dying minutes when he conceded Tiger speedster David Rodan a sizeable start and mowed him down in a tackle. The turnover resulted in a Kangaroos goal that helped clinch a thrilling three-point win. The following season, he kicked two amazing last-quarter goals that helped secure crucial victories for the Roos. The first came in round three against Carlton when North found itself one point down with less than a minute to go. With a set shot from 55 metres out near the boundary, Wells coolly went back, composed himself and kicked truly. Then at Subiaco in round 15, Wells conjured a piece of magic in the goal square that not only helped clinch the game against Fremantle but also rendered

CONFIDENT: After a tough

pre-season, Daniel Wells believes he is mentally and physically ready to blossom.

We’ve got some really good young kids coming through that we’re really confident can take the club forward ... we’re definitely expecting to be really competitive that season’s AFL Goal of the Year award a no contest from that point on. Springing up to steal the ball at a ruck contest, Wells somehow got the ball on to his boot before hitting the ground, a move you’d expect to see in a karate dojo, not a footy field. It was an outstanding piece of co-ordination and athleticism. Yes, Wells has never been short of tricks. Not surprising when you discover he started playing footy as a nine-year-old in Port Lincoln in South Australia. There, he played alongside Shaun Burgoyne and Graham Johncock, while Bryon Pickett also played for his club.

Wells pays tribute to his father Leonard – he says the correct spelling is Lenard but defers to his dad’s preferred spelling, saying: “I’ll make him happy” – and elder brother Leonard, who also played for Peel Thunder, for their roles in his football development. But when we speak, Wells is more focused on what 2009 and future seasons hold for him. Wells is mindful of the Roos’ poor performances in recent finals series (since 2002, they have won one of their five finals) but excited about their young list’s prospects. “Other than the Hawthorn win (in the 2007 first semi-final), we haven’t looked like we’ve

belonged in the finals,” he says. “It’s hard to put (our poor record) down to one thing, it’s more like a series of little incidents all over the ground where, if we could have gone a bit harder each time, things could have been different. “But this year is a new year and we’ve got some really good young kids coming through who we’re really confident can take the club forward. “The competition is so tight this year but we’re definitely expecting to be really competitive. We don’t have the big superstars who can kick four or five goals in the last quarter to get us over the line but if we can tackle hard and keep our pressure up the whole game, we’ll go all right.” Personally, Wells is confident he’s finally ready to unleash his full array of talents on the competition. Addressing his work-rate, he says he has learnt much from North captain Brent Harvey’s example, working harder than ever during pre-season to improve his ability to run out games. He’s also confident he’s more mentally prepared than ever to handle the attention of taggers, having been pitted against the Roos’ No. 1 tagger Brady Rawlings in pre-season match practice. And while there are never any guarantees in football, know this: whether Wells is playing well or struggling this year, whether North is winning or losing, and whether you think his body language looks positive or hangdog, he is trying his guts out. That much he can assure you.

AT AFL CLUBS, AFL STORES AND GOOD SPORTS SHOPS

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Jarrad

AN EMERGING PRESENCE

He keeps his exuberance a little more in check but there is no doubting Jarrad Waite is his father’s son, and that he was destined to make a name for himself in the Carlton defence. A NDR EW WA L L ACE

CHIP OFF THE OLD BLOCK:

Like his late father Vin, Jarrad Waite has become a cornerstone of the Carlton defence.

onsidering the late Vin Waite played in 153 games and two premierships with Carlton, it would come as a shock to most Blues fans that his son followed one of the club’s most bitter rivals as a youngster. Not since Anakin Skywalker has there been such a defection. Corrupted by the influence of cousins and his sister’s boyfriend, Jarrad Waite took up the Essendon cause – much to the horror of dad. “It’s fair to say I was a little bit rebellious,” Waite said. “I don’t think the old man was too rapt but, deep down, he knew if I was going to play football, I would only end up at one place.” Born in 1983, eight years after Vin’s final VFL season, Waite’s only memory of his father’s playing days is watching him at local club Glengarry in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley. “I was only five or six and he used to run around terrorising all of his opponents down there,” he said. Over a 10-year VFL career, Vin – a hard-nosed back pocket – was reported seven times and suspended for a total of 11 weeks, leaving his son to ponder how he would have fared in today’s game. “I’ve seen footage of his Grand Finals and how he went about it, and I don’t think you’d

get away with what he used to do these days!” However, Waite is appreciative of the support of his father in his ﬂedgling years, recounting that he was never pressured into following in his footsteps and, if anything, Vin held him back to prevent early burnout. A comparison of the pair makes for an interesting read.

Every now and then, Mum (Christine) is watching me play and has to do a double-take, because she watched Dad a lot and really sees the similarities Both were blessed with height, with Vin measuring 192cm and Jarrad topping him at 194cm, and each found his niche in the back half. Jarrad inherited some of his father’s vigorous temperament, having made three trips to the AFL tribunal for two suspensions (totalling three weeks), but is a right-footer while Vin preferred his left. “Every now and then, Mum (Christine) is watching me play and has to do a double-take, because she watched Dad a lot and really sees the similarities,” Waite said. The 26-year-old is quick to acknowledge the efforts of his mother, who raised him after

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his parents separated when he was in Year 9, ferrying him to and from training and games at the Benalla Football Club and with the Murray Bushrangers’ TAC Cup side. “Mum had a big influence on me, and I’m always grateful to have had a parent who’s so considerate and selfless,” he said. “You have to realise how much time and effort is put into making football a big part of your life, and if you didn’t have parents who were willing to do that, you’d find it a lot harder to take the next step.” Selected by Carlton under the father-son rule in the 2001 National AFL Draft, Waite broke through for his senior debut in the opening round of the 2003 season. Although the Blues lost by 74 points against the Sydney Swans at Telstra (now ANZ) Stadium, running out in front of over 30,000 fans was an experience he will always savour. FAC T F I L E

JARRAD WAITE Born: February 4, 1983 Recruited from: Benalla/Murray U18 Debut: 2003 Height: 194cm Weight: 97kg Games: 108 Goals: 110 Honours: 3rd best and fairest 2007; NAB AFL Rising Star nominee 2003; International Rules Series 2005; pre-season premiership side 2007.

The achievement of reaching the top ﬂight was soon overshadowed by the shattering loss of his father, who died of a heart attack on July 5, barely 24 hours before Waite was due to take the ﬁeld in the Blues’ round 14 clash against Melbourne. “I hadn’t really experienced death in the family – although my Pop passed away when I was very young – so it was obviously a life-changing moment,” Waite said. But there was never any issue about whether he would line up against the Demons. “The club said I had up until the last minute to decide, but not playing didn’t even cross my mind. I just really wanted to play and kept thinking, ‘What would Dad want me to do?’ He would have wanted me to play, so I went out there and tried my hardest,” Waite said. Records show that Waite racked up 18 disposals and a goal in Carlton’s seven-point loss at the ground now known as Visy Park, but the man himself wouldn’t know. “I was in a fair bit of shock and can’t remember much of the actual game,” he said. “I just recall seeing my family in the rooms afterwards and it was very emotional, one of the hardest times in my life. “It took me a few years to come to terms with it, especially being at the football club and being reminded of Dad all the time.” However, as the seasons passed, Waite began to appreciate how fortunate he was to not only be wearing the No. 30 that his father donned all those years ago, but to have a loving family,

TRUE BLUE:

Waite celebrates with spearhead Brendan Fevola after kicking one of his three goals in the round one romp against Richmond.

I really cherish the jumper and, now that I have played over 100 games (108), my name is alongside Dad’s on the locker, which is a nice achievement including sisters Tanya, Leah and Sharyn, to support him. “When I came to the club, I didn’t think the No. 30 was free, but was lucky enough to get it. I really cherish the jumper and, now that I have played over 100 games (108), my name is alongside Dad’s on the locker, which is a nice achievement.” Waite feels he has learned much from his loss, and is conscious to never take anything for granted again. “One day Dad was coming to your games and the next you won’t ever see him again,” he said. “Now, I always try to keep in touch with my family as much as

possible, because you never know what’s around the corner. It’s one of those things you have no control over, and it’s pretty hard to comprehend when it happens.” The dark times for Waite were mirrored by the worst period in Carlton’s history, culminating in wooden spoons in 2005 and 2006 and the removal of coach Denis Pagan during 2007. But like so many associated with the Melbourne institution, Waite always had faith in the power of the Blues. “With Carlton being such a great footy club with its proud history, you know you’re not going to be down there for

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too long,” he said. “You just have to ride it out, and now when we do win a game, it feels that much sweeter.” How sweet it is for the Blues two rounds into 2009, with wins over Richmond and the Brisbane Lions giving the club its best start since 2000. Waite proved the ignition key in round one against the Tigers, booting the opening goal of the AFL season and adding two further majors in a 16-possession display against Richmond cult hero Matthew Richardson. “We knew ‘Richo’ would try to drop back in front of Brendan Fevola, so I was told to get into dangerous positions so he (Richardson) would have to worry about me,” Waite said. After revelling in the novelty and freedom of the 83-point romp, Waite was presented with a new and far more imposing challenge last week against the Lions. With the Blues ﬁghting off a last-quarter challenge, Waite rushed to confront opposition skipper Jonathan Brown when the most feared player in the AFL tangled with 21-year-old midﬁelder Marc Murphy. “He (Brown) is a big unit and a powerful player, but you don’t think twice when you’re looking after your teammates,” Waite said. “I got a few texts from mates afterwards saying I was batting out of my league,

The defence rests

SINGING THE BLUES: Waite (right),

with skipper Chris Judd (far left) and Andrew Carrazzo, is hopeful of reaching his ﬁrst ﬁnals series.

He (Brown) is a big unit and a powerful player, but you don’t think twice when you’re looking after your teammates. I got a few texts from mates afterwards saying I was batting out of my league but you don’t like seeing your players get remonstrated with after the contest.” Like most at Visy Park, Waite is cautiously optimistic about playing in his first finals series this September, but believes the Carlton side has the right mix to do damage in the coming years. Now in his seventh year at AFL level, the exciting backman adds experience and flair to a defensive unit that is seen by many as the weakest link in a rapidly improving outfit. He enjoys using this criticism as motivation in the back six’s

goal to restrict rival teams to less than 100 points each week, and he will need every bit of his talent and willpower to help cover the loss of key defender Michael Jamison, who is out with a shoulder injury for the next two to three weeks. This weekend, Waite lines up against arch rival Essendon, the club he barracked for as a boy. And while Bomber supporters may be pleasantly surprised about his early allegiance, they would much prefer he be pulling on the red and black come Saturday night.

Jarrad Waite started his AFL career primarily as a forward and, even with the extensive time spent in defence recently, still averages just over one goal a game. When asked their preferred position, most players reel off the clichéd response that they’re “happy to play wherever the coach wants me me”. e . Waite, W t however, h w e iss refreshingly nglyy diff n fferent. e . “If I was as coaching, a c chin I’d stick m myself s down w back,” hee said. said i “I “I enjoy n y it down there t r and n get g the opportunity ortunityy to o play on a all of o the the gun forwards wards w d a and to run off ff and n counter attack. a a . “Playing iing n as a a defenderr has a helped my my ncy,, n ncy consistency, and I’m a bitt more settled t d ttled y yer as a player because I’m not floating around as a much.” m much h

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time on Answer man

AFL history guru Col Hutchinson answers your queries.

NAB AF RISING STL AR

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NAME GAME

Beastly beauties

Singing the Blues At last! The Blues were at the top of the ladder at the end of round one and two after their big wins against Richmond and the Brisbane Lions. When was Carlton most recently placed ﬁrst at any stage of a season? Will Stephenson, Mt Waverley, Vic CH: Does your memory stretch back more

than 12 years? The club last enjoyed such status after its 21-point win against Collingwood in round 12, 1996. Brett Ratten was a member of that team, but no current player took part. From that week until the end of 2008, Carlton participated in 264 matches without being higher than second on the table. For a total of 43 rounds during that period, it was at the bottom of the ladder. SITTING PRETTY:

WRITE TO ANSWER MAN The Slattery Media Group 140 Harbour Esplanade Docklands, 3008 or email michaell@slatterymedia.com

Stephen Silvagni is chaired oﬀ after playing his 200th game in round 12, 1996, at the MCG. It was the last time before this season that the Blues topped the ladder.

P L AY E R I N F O R M AT I O N S E A R C H

Are you, or do you know a descendant of former player Dick Campbell? Precisely 1058 men have played just one career match at AFL level, one of whom was Richard Thomas Campbell, who represented

St Kilda as a full-forward in round 12, 1909, against University at the East Melbourne Cricket Ground. We believe he was born in Ireland during the mid-1880s before migrating to Melbourne and joining the Fortrose Football Club.

He died at Parkville on February 15, 1949, aged 64. Should you have any information regarding Campbell, including his date of birth, contact Col Hutchinson on (03) 9643 1929 or at col.hutchinson@aﬂ.com.au

Ryan Griffen (Western Bulldogs) and Jonathon Griffin (Adelaide) seem to be playing for the wrong teams if the origin of their names is considered. A gryphon was a mythical beast, usually represented as having the head and wings of an eagle and the hind quarters of a lion – no mention of a bulldog or a crow. It was regarded as a strong and majestic creature and was often portrayed as a guardian of treasure or the gods – a good name for a defender, perhaps. The name was usually bestowed upon people known for their strength and fierceness, characteristics beloved of AFL coaches. Griffin is generally a surname in English-speaking countries and has its origins in the anglicised form of the Irish Ó Gríobhtha (“descendant of Griffin”). Only eight Griffins/ Griffens have played League football, and none for very long – Ryan Griffen is the longest serving with 76 games. KEVAN CARROLL

visit aﬂ.com.au

NAB AFL Tipping - Win $20,000 The ofﬁcial tipping competition of the AFL Round two winner was George Zeibak who tipped eight with exact margin of 32. The round two celebrity competition winner was Danny Frawley. There are fantastic cash prizes to be won every week – join in the fun now at aﬂ.com.au

70 AFL RECORD visit aﬂrecord.com.au NAB_Tipping_60x179_Rd 3.indd 1

AR03 p70 Ask Col.indd 70

7/4/09 5:23:37 PM

7/4/09 5:26:46 PM

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COLLECTABLES WITH RICK MILNE

Grin and bear it A weekly look at collectables, memorabilia and all footy things stored in boxes and garages. s. I am wondering if VFL (pre-1990) and newer AFL soft toys are worth anything? I have Collingwood, Fitzroy and Geelong toys from the VFL era and the tags on them refer to Croner Toys. I also have more recent AFL-endorsed Hawthorn teddy bears. KYLIE, VIA EMAIL

SOFT AND CUDDLY:

VFL-era toys are valued at around $25, while AFL ones att tttrac ttra rac t a bout $ bo bou 1 15. attract about $15.

RM: The VFL soft toys would

be worth $25 each, depending on size, while I would value the AFL ones at $15, again depending on size. I have a complete set of the 1996 Herald Sun collection of the Century of AFL Football Medals (with the book in which the medals were placed). I also have several Herald Sun hologram cards with a leader board, from around 1990. The cards have the team logo and you turn it around to get a photo of the club captain. Also, the club captain’s details appear on the back of the card. Any idea of their value? CASEY, VIA EMAIL RM: Anything produced by the Herald Sun sells in massive numbers. I have a set of each myself as I thought they were worth collecting, even though I know they’ll be worth no more than what I paid for them.

I have a copy of The Story of the Melbourne Football Club – 1858-1958, written and edited by E.C.H. Taylor. It is in perfect condition and I was wondering how many were printed and whether it is a collector’s item. JOHN, VIA EMAIL

I have several WA Coca-Cola football card albums from 1961. They feature the East Fremantle, East Perth, Perth, West Perth and Subiaco clubs and each has 24 photocards of star players. Could you please give me a valuation? TONY, VIA EMAIL

RM: I have a copy of this book

RM: I have seen a complete

and I believe it had a print run of 5000. I have sold a few copies for up to $100, depending on condition.

set only once, about ﬁve years ago, and they are extremely rare. Each album would sell for at least $500.

RICK’S RARITY

There used to be a time tim m when n thee av average football ffootb t tb fan made ad three purchases purch r on n Grand a Final day day – a copy co of The hee Football Record, Footb o ord,, aW WEG poster and d a pennant featuring a picture ffeatu t ture r of one o of the team’s on am’s m captains and a list capta p s of all a the players. rs. rs s features Thiss pennant p atures t e Collingwood’s Ray Collin l ay Gabelich, who led Gabe b d the h Magpies Magp Mag gp when they ey gave v the Demons a hell h off a ffright in the 1964 6 Grand a Final. This pennant e a is worth more than n $150 $ 0 d had h but, if Collingwood won, it would sell forr twice as much.

CONTACT RICK MILNE mrpp@iprimus.com.au or drop him a line: 5 Cooraminta St, Brunswick, Vic, 3056 or call (03) 9387 4131. One query per reader.

WATCH BEFORE THE GAME SATURDAY NIGHTS ON TEN

beforethegame.com.au LADDER MICK LEHMO DAVE STRAUCHANIE SAM ANDY

9 10 11 5 9 11

TIPSTERS

MICK Geelong Cats St Kilda Brisbane Lions Carlton Port Adelaide Hawthorn Fremantle Richmond

72 AFL RECORD visit aﬂrecord.com.au b4thgame_RD03.indd 1

AR03 p72 RickMilne.indd 72

LEHMO Geelong Cats St Kilda Brisbane Lions Carlton Port Adelaide Hawthorn Adelaide Western Bulldogs

DAVE Collingwood St Kilda Brisbane Lions Carlton Port Adelaide Hawthorn Fremantle Western Bulldogs

STRAUCHANIE Geelong Cats West Coast Eagles Sydney Swans Essendon Melbourne North Melbourne Fremantle Richmond

SAM Geelong Cats St Kilda Sydney Swans Carlton Port Adelaide Hawthorn Fremantle Western Bulldogs

ANDY Geelong Cats St Kilda Brisbane Lions Carlton Port Adelaide Hawthorn Adelaide Western Bulldogs

7/4/09 3:01:15 PM

7/4/09 5:17:15 PM

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timeon

TESTING YOUR KNOWLEDGE AC R O S S 1 5

Won 1992 ﬂag (6)

7 9

A short kick (4)

Given name of AFL statistician ... Hutchinson (3) Games missed after punishment handed out by Tribunal (10)

10 Colloquial for thrashing (4) 11 A round to remember the game’s history (8)

12 Thomas ...... played two games with Richmond in 1909. Same surname as former Prime Minister known as ‘Black Jack’ (6)

Equine nickname of former Roo full-forward (5)

15 Current young Saint from WA, drafted No. 4 in 2003 (6, 3)

18 19 21 23 25

The motorbike of Geelong (3, 6) Wels ..... , an early St Kilda champion (5) The process that adds years to all (6) Carlton’s Bruce Doull always wore one (8) Nickname of former Richmond rover Dale Weightman (4)

DOWN 2 3

Describes a diﬃcult angle (5)

Ian ...... St Kilda’s 1966 premiership defender (6)

Blond former Docker taken as No. 1 draft pick (5, 10)

6 7 8

Surname of 13 across (8)

Surname of Brisbane Lions assistant coach known as ‘orange roughy’ (9)

Coach of indigenous Team of Century (5) Free kick awarded for infringement from behind (2, 3, 4)

14 Surname of Swan known as ‘Magic’ (9) 16 A very tight ﬁnish (4, 5) 17 Players are given no warning of these 44 weeks of the year (4, 4)

20 Vin and Jarrad, Carlton father-son pair, the ...... (6)

22 A supporter’s mood after a poor umpiring decision (5)

24 Nickname of 1960s St Kilda star Kevin Roberts (5) games

26 What supporters feel in victory (10) 27 What players try to do to opponents early in a game (8)

28 Surname of Port Adelaide youngster Jacob ...... (6)

Scrambled footballer Big eel

Cryptic footballers

O N T H E M E NU

starts Ever found your mouth It’s no ll? watering at the footba se, the e lik rs wonder wit h playe long be y the t es gg su whose names ! eld ty ﬁ on a menu, not the foo

1. Power player’s terrible groan

following initial blow. 2. For Lions, lad makes comeback

with enthusiasm, we hear. 3. The ﬁrst poor reader playing

for Port Adelaide. 4. Hawk young boys oﬀ the bench. 5. WA road for Bulldog. 6. Bomber sadly left Sonny’s widow. 7. Swan able to lift Carr, reportedly. 8. Travis Tuck and Luke Ablett,

for example, at Richmond. 9. Cat embraces ﬁrst love

at Melbourne. 10.Docker’s barrister back

No.10 PARMA

THIS WEEK’S ANSWERS

CRYPTIC FOOTBALLERS: 1. Brogan 2. Dalziell ll 3. Tredrea 4. Ladson 5. Ward 6. Fletcher 7. Jack k 8. Cousins 9. Moloney 10. Schammer

T H A I G R E E N C U R RY

M O N S T E R F RIES

rger FOOTBALLERS ON THE MENU: Matthew Leuenberger (Brisbane Lions), Angus Monfries (Essendon), Brad Green (Melbourne), Rhys Palmer (Fremantle).

L I O N -B U R GE R

in East London.

SCRAMBLED FOOTBALLER: Gilbee

74 AFL RECORD visit aﬂrecord.com.au

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ANSWERMAN NAB AFL RISING WITH STAR COL HUTCHINSON

David’s on his way Life could not be any sweeter for lifelong g Bomber fan David Zaharakis. A NDR EW WA L L ACE

nless your father has played 100 or more games with a club, the likelihood is that if you’re a promising young footballer, you’re going to end up playing for a team you didn’t support. With 16 clubs spread across the country and a regulated draft system, there is only a 6.25 per cent chance of pulling on the AFL colours you worshipped as a child.

BABY BOMBER:

David Zaharakis burst on to the AFL scene for the club he has supported all his life.

Round 1 Daniel Rich (BL) Round 2 David Zaharakis (Ess) HIGH FIVE

Was coached by father John at NAB AFL Auskick and the Eltham Junior Football Club. 2 Wore the famous No. 5 of James Hird in his younger days. 3 Favourite moment from first game was sprinting down the wing and drilling a perfect pass to teammate Patrick Ryder in the second quarter. Hit the post with his 4 first scoring shot in the opening term. “I was pretty nervous lining up, and really wanted to kick the goal,” he said. Ran to his phone to text 5 his father upon finding out about his inclusion in the Essendon side.

It’s something ut I’ve dreamed about since I was a kid But for Essendon youngster David Zaharakis, the numbers at the NAB AFL Draft table definitely fell his way. The lifelong Bomber fan couldn’t believe his luck last November, when his name was called at pick No. 23 by the outfit from Windy Hill. And late one morning last week, the 19-year-old was similarly elated when called into coach Matthew Knights’ office to be told he would be making his debut against Fremantle in round two. “It was pretty exciting when I found out I was coming to the Bombers, and it was unbelievable to play for them on the weekend,” Zaharakis said. “It’s something I’ve dreamed about since I was a kid.” The former Eltham Football Club junior did not disappoint in

NAB AFL Rising Star nominees

his introduction to elite football, picking up 21 possessions on a wing, and impressing with his pace and pinpoint delivery. The effort earned Zaharakis the latest nomination for the 2009 NAB AFL Rising Star Award, an honour that could not have been further from his mind when the season started. “It’s obviously a pretty good feeling, but coming into this year I just wanted to play games of footy and didn’t expect to get a nomination,” he said.

The recognition is just reward for an arduous pre-season campaign that often left Zaharakis spent in both body and mind. “The aspect of training every day was really hard physically and mentally, because at under-18 level (Northern Knights), we only trained a couple of times a week,” he said. “You’re basically at the club nine to ﬁve, Monday to Friday, and when you get home, you’re so drained and tired you just

want to go to bed. You’ve then got to back it up day after day.” Having achieved his aim of breaking into the senior side much earlier than expected, Zaharakis will reassess his goals for 2009, but he is keen to add the weight and strength required to make the move from the wing to the midﬁeld.

Each week throughout the home and away season, a panel of judges will select the nominee for the 2009 NAB AFL Rising Star. At the completion of the season, one outstanding player will be chosen as the 2009 NAB AFL Rising Star winner. He will receive an investment folio, a dedicated personal banker, a financial planner and the Ron Evans Medal, all courtesy of the NAB. The NAB Rising Star award is the final stage of the NAB AFL Rising Stars Program, which supports grassroots players and football communities and helps young Australians fulfil their dream of playing in the AFL.

76 AFL RECORD visit aﬂrecord.com.au

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TALKING POINT

Give us this day A day free of football can provide time and space to contemplate.

H A MISH TOW NSEND

ILLUSTRATION: GUY SHIELD/THE SLATTERY MEDIA GROUP

he ancient Greek philosopher Socrates argued that “the unexamined life is not worth living”. The thrust of his point was that deep thought and rest were needed to ensure we lived full lives. Football coaches implore their players to find or create ‘space’ on the field, for it opens up opportunities to score. Off the field, the creation of space is often put forward to help explain why Australia’s religious communities are grateful the AFL continues to rest on Good Friday. In a previous life, our football ritual revolved only around Saturday afternoon matches. However, for several years now, the AFL’s Easter scheduling has seen a Thursday game start the round, with matches played Saturday through to Monday. Good Friday, one of the most important days on the Christian calendar, remains football-free, with supporters of the rest (or space) day adamant it ought to remain that way. Although Easter football could well be called a football feast, we still stop. Many of us – as hard as it might be for some to believe – take time to think of something other than footy. And although Anglican Bishop (and Geelong fanatic) Philip Huggins is anxious to express gratitude for the day of contemplation (and space) on behalf of Christians, he argues that the broader community also appreciates the importance of the rest day, and the chance it provides to pause and bring stillness to our busy lives. “It’s been tremendously well received, perhaps more than the AFL recognises,” Bishop Huggins says. “We do need space in our lives to think about deeper things.” After a quick prayer over

But in today’s world, with free time and space to rest and contemplate seemingly harder to ﬁnd, a day devoted to matters other than football is certainly welcome a bowl of fruit salad during another frantic lunch-hour in a busy Melbourne café, the man whose promotion to bishop of Melbourne’s northern region several years ago was greeted by The Age with the headline ‘Anglicans install ex-hippy as bishop’, is always happy to talk footy and religion. “AFL is a good version of the faith,” he says with a smile, and means it. In the ongoing discussion about whether football should be played on Good Friday, people

who support the free day have a strong advocate in Bishop Huggins. He understands the passion of footy fans, having being called to the blue and white hoops “when Freddie Wooller 1 was still a boy” – long before being called to the church. But the place of family, faith, community and time to nurture relationships is the real stuff of life, what Bishop Huggins calls “authentic living”. Bishop Huggins is a member of the interfaith committee and regularly

speaks with leaders of other denominations and religions. “The leaders of Muslim, Buddhist and other communities are likewise appreciative of the non-invasion of Good Friday,” he says. Like most of us with dueling passions, Bishop Huggins finds it as difficult as anyone to keep his passions apart. The day after the 2007 AFL Grand Final, he stepped forward to deliver his Sunday sermon to the congregation at the Parish of St Alban the Martyr in St Albans in Melbourne’s west, warmed with a brighter than usual fire. The subject of the day was redemption, and the Bishop chose the example of Geelong forward Steve Johnson and his journey from outcast to Norm Smith Medal-winning hero to illustrate his point. “I was still in a euphoric condition, I thought I was being quite profound,” Bishop Huggins says. “Unfortunately, it was somewhat lost on the congregation who were largely Sudanese and Sri Lankan migrants. They had no idea who and what I was talking about.” Even a Bishop (albeit a passionate footy-supporting one) can get muddled in communicating the main game. Organisations such as the AFL are constantly under pressure to break from tradition. But in today’s world, with free time and space to rest and contemplate seemingly harder to find, a day devoted to matters other than football is certainly welcome. Hamish Townsend is a Melbourne-based freelance writer. 1 Fred Wooller was a star Geelong forward who played 132 matches from 1956-64 and captained the Cats to the 1963 premiership.

78 AFL RECORD visit aﬂrecord.com.au

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TY6055-AFL.pdf

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Aurion V6: In a league of its own

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