AFL Record 2009 - Round 1 AFL Premiership Season by The Slattery Media Group

THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE AFL GAME

LEADING THE WAY The AFL club captains AR01 p01 Cover Gatefold.indd 1

ROUND 1, 2009 MARCH 26-29 $4 (INC. GST)

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64 One good reason we continue to love the game is Tiger Matthew Richardson. At 34, he is now the AFL’s oldest player.

ROUND 1, MARCH 26-29, 2009 F E AT U R E S

Why we (still) love football

And its clubs, players and the things they do.

Building a dynasty

Hawthorn’s blueprint for success.

Nick Maxwell

Sports psychologist Simon Lloyd sits down with new Collingwood skipper Nick Maxwell. REGUL ARS

The Bounce

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

The Interview

Jim Stynes talks up the Demons and the future.

Essay

Where to for the hip and shoulder?

Matchday

Stats, history and line-ups .

61 87 88 90

Dream Team Ask Col NAB AFL Rising Star Talking Point

Wayne Carey comes back to the fold.

YOU DON’T HAVE TO STAY AT HOME FOR THE AWAY GAMES! 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.

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feedback

backchat HAVE YOUR SAY ON THE FOOTBALL WORLD

NICK RIEWOLDT St Kilda

NICK MAXWELL Collingwood SIMON GOODWIN Adelaide

MATTHEW LLOYD Essendon

PHOTO: LACHLAN CUNNINGHAM/AFL PHOTOS ITEMS USED IN THE IMAGE COURTESY CLUB WAREHOUSE

SAM MITCHELL Hawthorn

CHRIS JUDD MATTHEW PAVLICH Carlton Fremantle JAMES McDONALD Melbourne

BRAD JOHNSON Western Bulldogs

TOM HARLEY Geelong

CHRIS NEWMAN Richmond

BRENT HARVEY North Melbourne

JONATHAN BROWN Brisbane Lions

DARREN GLASS West Coast Eagles

EDITOR’S LET TER

The special three-panel gatefold cover of this week’s new-look AFL Record is evidence of what happens when creative, skilled and hard-working people hatch a plan and see it through to the end, all under enormous deadline pressure. The spectacular cover features 16 AFL club captains,

h t h d att Docklands D kl d photographed on March 19 after weeks of planning led by designer Jarrod Witcombe and photographer Lachlan Cunningham. Working from a pencil sketch (inset) by illustrator Paul Vizzari, the ﬁnal image was constructed digitally

by photo manager Natalie Boccassini. Go to aﬂphotos.com.au to order prints of this image. This year, the AFL Record will continue providing broad coverage of the game, as it has since 1912 – with a few surprises along the way.

PETER DI SISTO

WRITERS Nick Bowen, Ben Collins, Jim Main, Peter Ryan, Callum Twomey, Andrew Wallace

PHOTO EDITORS Natalie Boccassini, Melanie Tanusetiawan

SUB-EDITORS Gary Hancock, Howard Kotton

PRODUCTION MANAGER Troy Davis

AFL CONSUMER PRODUCTS MANAGER Scott Munn

STATISTICIAN Cameron Sinclair

PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Stephen Lording

AFL RECORD MANAGING EDITOR Geoﬀ Slattery

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Andrew Hutchison

DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Adele Morton

AFL RECORD EDITOR Peter Di Sisto

DEPUTY ART DIRECTOR Sam Russell

COMMERCIAL MANAGER Alison Hurbert-Burns

PHOTOGRAPHY AFL Photos (03) 9627 2600 aﬂphotos.com.au

PRODUCTION EDITOR Michael Lovett

DESIGNERS Jarrod Witcombe, Alison Wright

NATIONAL SALES MANAGER Nathan Hill

PRINTED BY PMP Print

AFL CHIEF BROADCASTING & COMMERCIAL OFFICER Gillon McLachlan

ADAM GOODES Sydney Swans DOMENIC CASSISI Port Adelaide

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

SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER James Hickey

ADDRESS CORRESPONDENCE TO

AFL CLUB ACCOUNT MANAGER Anthony Palmer

Harbour Esplanade, Docklands, Victoria,

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The Editor, AFL Record, Ground Floor, 140 3008. P: (03) 9627 2600 F: (03) 9627 2650 E: peterd@slatterymedia.com

AFL RECORD, VOL. 98, ROUND 1, 2009 Copyright. ACN No. 004 155 211. ISSN 1444-2973, Print Post approved PP320258/00109

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thebounce ILLUSTRATION: GUY SHIELD/THE SLATTERY MEDIA GROUP

VIEWS NEWS FIRST PERSON FACTS DATA CULTURE

THE GAME’S INFLUENCE

A loyal friend in times of need Football is a constant the community can rely on in troubled times. PETER DI SISTO

or hardcore fans and even those a little less obsessed, the start of a football season is always anticipated, and welcomed. Perhaps more so this year than it has in a long, long time. Australia, like the rest of the world, is in a state of deep financial trouble, with uncertainty in homes, at workplaces and at all levels of society. Jobs are being lost; savings are being eroded. As a nation, our confidence is dipping. In February, bushfires

destroyed many once healthy and prosperous Victorian towns, killing hundreds and breaking the hearts of those who survived. Many were left with nothing, which in our consumer-focused world is almost impossible to imagine. The football industry responded swiftly, helping both its own and the broader affected communities, highlighted by a series of fundraising activities leading up to and during the Western Bulldogs-Essendon NAB Cup match that saw more than $1.2 million donated to the bushﬁ re appeal.

Football can’t solve the world’s acute financial crises, nor can it protect us from the ravages of fire or floods or other natural disasters. But as we’ve seen in both prosperous and perilous times, the game can – and does – play a critical role in uniting people, and by providing an outlet during difficult periods. During the Depression era in the late 1920s and 1930s, football (and sport in general) continued to retain its hold on the community, providing distraction – via larger-than-life heroes including cricketers (Don Bradman), a super racehorse (Phar Lap) and VFL heroes such

as Haydn Bunton (a three-time Brownlow medallist in the 1930s) and Richmond hard man ‘Captain Blood’ Jack Dyer. Granted, some of their deeds were exaggerated to support a myth-making industry, but their contribution and value to community were understood. For all the changes our society has undergone since, that necessary relationship between community and those who entertain and inspire us, those who give us reason to shout and argue and rejoice, and those who can do the things most others can’t, remains critical. In his address to the industry at the season launch last week, AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou said the game had the ability to contribute to community more broadly than it has ever done, and that the industry CON T IN U ED NE X T PAGE

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would do whatever was required to support others. “It is a time in which the AFL has a new responsibility, one that is beyond what is normal and reasonable,” Demetriou said. “We must use the strength of our game to contribute far beyond our weight. “A prosperous game is one that can engage with our supporters in all areas, and we make this vow – in these difficult times we will extend our engagement in as many areas as we are able,” he said. Football has mostly always responded when others have needed it, be it via organised support or through less heralded activities conducted by its people in hospitals, family homes and the like. The game will also find ways to deal with its own current challenges – the financial health of its clubs and its expansion plans being two of the most pressing. In the short term at least, playing games is a pretty good way to start.

RULE CHANGES

Game to evolve, as always

player after disposal, preventing him taking part in the next act of play. The rules were trialed during pre-season games. “The AFL is committed to ensuring the game remains an exciting and free-ﬂowing spectacle,” AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson said. “The feedback the AFL received was that more and more deliberate rushed behinds would occur if the rule was not changed.”

OTHER RULE CHANGES Oﬀ-line bounces: An umpire will recall a ﬁeld or centre bounce when it does not allow for the ball to be contested by both teams. Free kick for misconduct: A free kick can now be paid for acts such as interfering with an injured player or squirting water on an opponent. Previously, this was only a reportable offence. Restart of play following use of a stretcher: A team in possession when play stops for a stretcher will retain the ball when play re-starts. 50-metre penalty after all-clear: A free kick awarded to the defending team after the all-clear is given, but before play has re-started, will be taken where the infringement occurred or 50 metres from the kick-off line.

A NDR EW WA L L ACE

n and off the ﬁeld, the game keeps moving. On the eve of the season, the AFL approved two rule changes to go with previous amendments, and their impact is expected to spark even more interest and debate. Awarding a free kick against a player deliberately rushing a behind is clearly the most prominent. Beneﬁt of doubt will be given to a defender under direct pressure in a contest, or whose primary aim is to prevent the ball going through for a goal. Also, a free kick and 50-metre penalty will be awarded against the team interfering with a NEWS TRACKER

NEW INTERPRETATIONS Scoring line: To ensure goal umpires are using a consistent frame of reference, the scoring line will be drawn so the back of the line is equal with the back of the padding. Umpire interference: If he impedes a player in the act of setting the mark for a shot at goal, the umpire will stop play and reset the mark so no player is disadvantaged. The penalty for an interchange breach will now be a free kick plus 50-metre penalty from wherever play is stopped.

C A P TA I N S

The art of leadership PETER RYA N

ive new captains were appointed for this season, four the year before. The longest serving captains in the competition have been in the job since 2006. As usual, the 18 captains (the Swans have three co-captains) are a mixed bag of type and style, but all have one thing in common: only those who have an ability to positively influence the group (and the playing ability to be an automatic selection) need apply. All the new captains – James McDonald at Melbourne (below), Collingwood’s Nick Maxwell, Domenic Cassisi at the Power, Richmond’s Chris Newman and Kangaroo Brent Harvey – easily fulfil the ‘automatic selection’ criteria, however, only Harvey would be a worthy Brownlow Medal investment. In a year where the appointment of new captains was difficult to predict, here’s a tip: back the club’s choice. McDonald, the lowest-profile dual best and fairest winner and All-Australian going around, agrees it is an era when being the team’s best player does not make you an automatic choice as

captain. He cites himself as example No. 1. Along with the leadership group, his role is as much facilitator as inspirer. He wants to encourage players to become self-starters; the type who don’t need to be motivated by others to become professional, elite athletes. “The emphasis we’ve had as a leadership group is having an impact on the new blokes coming into the club,” he said. “They know what is expected of them straight away.” Why? Because captains need not only be able to do the job on the ﬁeld, but have the maturity and people skills to manage issues as they occur off the ﬁeld, as well as making decisions that are good for the group and the individual’s long-term welfare.

It’s rewarding when you see young blokes develop their football and develop as a person as well Only those with intimate knowledge of a person can judge who is likely to be best at that. Any leadership role requires a considerable time commitment beyond the normal demands on an AFL player. McDonald says it is not a chore: “It’s re rewarding when you see young blo blokes develop their football and develop d as a person as well, so you yo don’t think of it as a time iss issue.” Leadersh groups don’t Leadership want confor conformity, as some perceive it to be. The message is fo the last player on the same for the list as it is for the captain: your be yourself but be aware of re your responsibilities. “The great thing about ffootball clubs is that it ttakes 40 different blokes, McDonald says. blokes,” a have their own “They all backgro background and their own sto story. That is what th whole group, makes the do want everyone so you don’t s to be the same.” lead knows that. A good leader Who is Nick Maxw Maxwell? See sport p psychologist psycho p y Simon Lloyd’s interview starting on page 81.

➡

Four-time premiership coach David Parkin and historian Jim Main added to Australian Football Hall of Fame selection committee.

8 AFL RECORD visit aﬂ .com.au

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TRENDS

McKay has broader, analytical view PETER RYA N

ll football fans are unpaid game analysis managers. Most of us voluntarily spend the bulk of winter debating where the game is heading and suggesting ways it can improve. However, since last September, the role as the AFL’s game analysis manager has been Carlton premiership player Andrew McKay’s (below) main task. His job is to “monitor trends in the game, make recommendations for game research and drive the consultation process with AFL clubs and other stakeholders on tribunal and lawrelated matters”. McKay will be an important influence on the game we watch and play in the future. The essence of the role, he says, is to ensure the game remains “desirable to watch, desirable for young kids to play, desirable for mums and dads to allow their young kids to play and desirable to watch live or on TV”. That doesn’t necessarily mean constant change. He considers former Melbourne coach Neale Daniher’s suggestion last year that the game should have 10 untouchable elements – things we love about the game – has some merit. McKay understands as well as anyone the competing and justiﬁed agendas seeking to inﬂuence the game’s direction. The AFL wants a great product. The coaches want to win. Players want to play in the way they’re accustomed. Everyone wants the game to be NEWS TRACKER

safe. The AFL wants to make evidence-based decisions. People with a great gut feel for the game are capable of common-sense decisions. Such factors power a million conversations a year. McKay is paid to make sense of them and recommend logical solutions to the multitude of issues that arise as the game evolves at top pace. It’s not an easy brief, as discussions during pre-season surrounding the rushed behind rule and the Nick Maxwell bump show. McKay recognises the most important part of his job right now is to be accessible and communicate with clubs, simultaneously learning and educating. The written submission from clubs has its place, but McKay understands face-to-face communication is a much better method for good decisions. The initial feeling he has from clubs is that they were pleased to have a single point of contact at the AFL, encouraging their input into decision-making. “It’s early and everyone has different inputs, even within clubs, so we won’t be able to get everyone’s input on the table,” McKay says. “As long as the clubs don’t get disgruntled with that and keep giving feedback (the process will work).”

FOOTBALL 2010

By stealth, Bombers reload C A L LU M T WOMEY

ome 18 or so months ago, Essendon lost two of its greatest and most charismatic modern servants when coach Kevin Sheedy left after 27 seasons and James Hird retired. Those who thought the appointment of Matthew Knights to replace Sheedy and the allocation of Hird’s No. 5 jumper to Brent Stanton completed the transition, might be surprised to learn the revolution of late 2007 continues, albeit with considerably less coverage. In early 2007, the Bombers formalised a strategic plan titled ‘Football 2010’. Since then, they have undergone a sizeable football department restructure (primarily since the end of last season), adding key personnel in what today are

We’ve had a lot more emphasis on off-field development and off-field wellbeing of players

STRATEGIC PLAN: Matthew Knights’ appointment was part of a complete restructure of Essendon’s football department.

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seen as critical areas. “With ‘Football 2010’, we wanted to understand and outline what the football department should look like going forward with the way the game is changing, in terms of facilities, sports science and development coaching,” CEO Peter Jackson said. “Once we’d put that plan together, it became apparent what that meant.” Although Knights’ appointment was one of the fi rst and defi nitely the most publicised change, many more have been made since in an effort to re-establish Essendon as a League powerhouse, a title it rightly deserved when it dominated the 2000 season and was projected to continue setting the on-field pace. The Bombers have not played in the fi nals since 2004. In putting together ‘Football 2010’, Essendon looked at the Australian Institute of Sport as a benchmark in managing sports science, exercise and welfare matters. Knights’ appointment led to a restructure of the coaching team, including the hiring of noted talent developer Alan Richardson as an assistant with a key match-day role. Richardson, a 114-game player with Collingwood, coached successfully at local level and had coaching roles with the Magpies and the Western Bulldogs. The club also lured Stuart Cormack from West Coast as high performance manager, replacing long-time fitness boss John Quinn, ex-Bomber Paul Hamilton as football operations manager after coaching stints with North Melbourne and Adelaide, fitness coach Denise Jennings from the Victorian Institute of Sport and dietician Bennita Lalor from the AIS. Jackson places a high priority on players’ personal wellbeing and, as such, human resources expert Leigh Russell was brought to the club in a management role, heading the newly formed people and culture department. Jackson hopes the CON T IN U ED NE X T PAGE

Network Ten launches ONE HD, a 24-hour free-to-air sports channel that will feature AFL programming. AFL RECORD visit aﬂ .com.au 9

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high level of professionalism and skills of each appointee will fast track players’ development. “We’ve had a lot more emphasis on off-field development and off-field wellbeing of players, because it’s clear that if a player has his off-field life sorted out, then he’s likely to perform better on-field. That’s been just as important as the other areas we’ve developed,” Jackson said. Quietly, a revolution continues.

FAC I N G C H A L L E N G E S

Port’s testing times MICHEL A NGELO RUCCI

ort Adelaide is returning to its past – emphasising all that South Australia’s oldest football club has held as its values for more than a century – to find its future. At least off the field. The significant detailing to its new-look jumpers is the ‘1870’ on the back collar to honour its start. Its slogan, ‘Live the Creed’, dates back to 1962 when club legend Fos Williams wrote a set of values

to hold up in any era. But the present at Alberton is very much about developing a style of football never imagined in 1870 or 1962. Port is on full attack this year – it will repeatedly utter the want to play “fast, exciting football” – and hope this wipes out the stain left not only from the biggest Grand Final defeat in League history (119 points to Geelong in 2007) but hoisting the white flag in round 13 last season. The players say they are motivated and prepared to respond after a year of agony. Coach Mark Williams (right) is on edge in the last year of his contract; in similar circumstances previously, he has fully focused on what he does best, coaching. And the club is at a critical point, needing to not only stem the bleeding on its financial sheets, but to grow to keep up with the AFL’s cashloaded pacesetters. It recently approached the AFL for financial assistance. Williams starts his 11th season, breaking Mick Malthouse’s record at West Coast

If the Power does not change course, there will be less history to write in the future. (10) as the longest-serving coach at a non-Victorian club. His win-loss ratio (58 per cent), a premiership (2004), two grand final appearances (2004 and 2007) and record of missing finals in just three of 10 years are impressive notes. But, even on recalling 2004 e Williams a s had ad to deliver de when a flag, he has never felt more uncomfortable uncomf at Alberton. Alberto William Williams has a clause iin his contract saying s Port must must, by d June 30, declare its interes interest to renegotiate the deal – on one see the board seems t compelled to whil ignore while waiting to assess all things at Alberton at season’s end. Willia Williams’ declarati declaration th he will coach the lon Power for as long wan as the club wants Jun 30 suggests the June deadline can be waived.

Port last year reported the biggest ﬁnancial loss in South Australian football history – $1.4 million. Attendances at home dropped to an average of 23,842 (the lowest since the club joined the AFL in 1997). Membership was below 25,000 at the end of the pre-season – a modest result. If the Power does not change course, there will be less history to write in the future. Michelangelo Rucci is a reporter with the Adelaide Advertiser.

TRADITION

Unfurling plans unclear but waiving unlikely ASHLEY BROW NE

ick Malthouse was less than pleased when he faced the media in the minutes following West Coast’s opening match of the 1993 season. His reigning premiers had barely got over the line against an Essendon team that would win the ﬂag that year, but which at the time was a

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VIEWS > NEWS > FIRST PERSON > FACTS > DATA > CULTURE young, unmoulded group. And he was even more angry when pesky journalists, or to be truthful, this pesky journalist, peppered him with questions about why he had thumbed his nose at one of the great and enduring traditions of footy – the unfurling of the premiership flag. It’s not that West Coast didn’t unfurl its first premiership flag. Just that it did so in the most low-key fashion imaginable, in the middle of Subiaco Oval, with only a few words from the ground announcer and not in the presence of any of those responsible for winning it. Malthouse deliberately kept his players inside the rooms as the brief and understated festivities took place, explaining afterwards that he wanted their focus to be on Essendon that day, not what happened six months before against Geelong. Given the result (the Eagles held on to win a high-scoring affair by 13 points), he was right to be concerned. But it did represent a significant break with a tradition that stretched back the best part of 100 years. Ours is the only football code

This week, it’s Hawthorn’s turn and the AFL has granted the club 15 minutes to stage its ceremony that awards a flag and a piece of silverware to the premiership team, and given that cricket also awards pennants at the end of its season, the convention most likely started there. But nobody knows exactly when. AFL historian Col Hutchison has pictures of Fitzroy unfurling a VFL premiership flag from early last century, but there are some who say the idea pre-dates the League’s formation in 1897, having started in the Victorian Football Association. Still, with the exception of the opening round of 1993, not much has changed. Shortly before the reigning premier’s first home game of the year, the

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team and various officials stand, applaud and watch as usually the wife of the club president tugs on a rope that allows the flag to unfurl. The bulk of the crowd gets excited for a few minutes, and then the game gets underway. There have been a few tweaks to protocol. There have been divorced presidents who have handed the unfurling duties to their daughters while, more recently, both the Brisbane Lions and the Sydney Swans have unfurled their flags twice, once in their home state and again at their first game in Victoria, respectively recognising their Fitzroy and South Melbourne roots. This week, it’s Hawthorn’s turn and the AFL has granted the club 15 minutes to stage its ceremony. The Hawks have kept their plans under wraps but look for something a bit more inclusive of the entire club – playing and non-playing – than has been the norm. Might president Jeff Kennett take extra delight by insisting wife Felicity – a passionate Cats supporter – do the honours? Keeping an eye on it all will be AFL ground operations manager Jill Lindsay, who will juggle the needs of the Hawks against those of the AFL, the Melbourne Cricket Club and the Seven Network to ensure a timely start to the Friday night Grand Final re-match against Geelong. Lindsay expects things to run smoothly on the night. But perhaps superstitious, or even of a similar mind to Malthouse, she feels no need to look back. “Don’t want to talk about the past,” she said. “Just hope it all goes all right for Hawthorn on the night.” As for Malthouse, he might just be watching. “I’m not sure what I would do if the opportunity came up again,” the Collingwood coach confessed. “But gee, I’d like to be in a position to have to think about it.” Ashley Browne is the editor of the Australian Jewish News.

T H E S WA N S

No room or time for gloom J IM M A IN

he Sydney Swans insist the doom and gloom scenario painted by many observers for the red and white this season is misguided. In fact, football manager Andrew Ireland is quietly optimistic and argues that, although the club has lost key players (including a pair in January that effectively leaves it short on personnel), the gap between the Swans and the stronger clubs is nowhere near as wide as has been suggested. Sydney starts 2009 with the fewest players, including veterans and rookies, on their list (43); St Kilda, by comparison, has a Leaguehigh 48. Moreover, injuries are already biting, with Leo Barry (knee), Michael O’Loughlin

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(ankle), Patrick Veszpremi (finger) and Henry Playfair (hamstring) unavailable for early matches. It means the Swans will need every atom of resolve to maintain their proud recent record – they have played in 11 of the past 13 fi nals series, winning the premiership in 2005 and featuring in two other grand fi nals dating back to 1996. Ireland admits the collective loss of Tadhg Kennelly (who returned to Ireland), Nic Fosdike (forced to retire because of recurring injury problems), Nick Davis, Ben Mathews and Peter Everitt looks significant on paper, but also asks critics to consider closely what these players achieved last season. “Only Kennelly had anywhere near a full season (20 games), but even he was restricted by a recurring shoulder injury,” he says. “Everitt played just 16 games after being troubled early in the season by a knee injury, while Fosdike (one game), Davis (three) and Mathews (two) had limited game-time.” CON T IN U ED NE X T PAGE

Swans head age, experience tables Sydney has the fewest players on its list in 2009 but will ﬁeld the oldest and most experienced squad. q Club Sydney

Average Age Club (yrs, days) 24, 79 Sydney

Geelong

23, 201

Geelong

St Kilda

23, 201

St Kilda

Richmond

23, 85

W Bulldogs

23, 79

Richmond

Fremantle

23, 48

Collingwood

23, 14

Pt Adelaide

Pt Adelaide Adelaide

22, 352

W Coast

N Melb

22, 318

Adelaide

Collingwood

22, 266

Hawthorn

Carlton

22, 250

Carlton

Essendon

22, 222

Essendon

W Coast

22, 221

Fremantle

Hawthorn

22, 212

N Melb

Bris Lions

22, 174

Bris Lions

Melbourne

22, 158

Melbourne

AVERAGE

22, 362

Average games 76 67 64 62 61 58 56 53 52 51 51 49 49 48 48 45

SYDNEY’S OLDEST:

Brett Kirk

Richmond’s Joel Bowden (president of the AFLPA) and Adelaide’s Brett Burton (vice-president) re-elected unopposed at AFLPA AGM. AFL RECORD visit aﬂ .com.au 11

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Although Kennelly and Fosdike retired after the club had finalised its 2009 list and international rookie Kyle Coney cut short his stay and returned to Ireland, the Swans do not feel their depth will be greatly impacted, having introduced a host of youngsters last year, projecting several more to debut this year and banking on significant input from former Magpie Rhyce Shaw, a likely candidate to fill Kennelly’s defensive playmaking role.

F R E E AG E N C Y

Seeking the right to be free A NDR EW WA L L ACE

alk of free agency being introduced at AFL level makes people nervous, most likely because it’s a subject that, until now, has only been debated publicly in general terms. In summary, free agency – which operates in sports such as basketball, hockey and football in North America and soccer in the United Kingdom and Europe – gives an out-of-contract player the ability, at a given stage of his professional career, to sign with a club of his choice without having to be traded or drafted. At AFL level last year, Sydney Swan Ryan O’Keefe sought a move back to Victoria, but the Swans were unable to negotiate a suitable trade. O’Keefe had the option of nominating for the national or pre-season draft, but that scenario would not have allowed him to pick his new club, and his price tag also became a sticking point Eventually, he re-signed with the Swans. AFL Players’ Association CEO Brendon Gale (above) believes at some stage in their careers, professional

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footballers should have a right of self-determination. “If players have provided a minimum amount of service and are out of contract – or haven’t been offered a contract – they should be able to directly sign with another club,” Gale said. “We think the current highly regulated system needs to be reformed.” The “system” Gale refers to is built on the philosophy of competitive balance, with the draft and salary cap promoting equality among clubs. The worry for the AFL is that free agency could compromise this element of the competition. “We’ve had every team play in a preliminary final since 2000, and we have to be careful to protect that unpredictability,” AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson said, noting that clubs were also concerned about losing players after having outlaid significantly to develop them. The VFL had a brief yet unsuccessful flirtation with a form of free agency from August 1972 to May 1973, allowing any player with 10 years’ continuous service at one club to transfer to another without a clearance. An innovative North Melbourne took full advantage, luring players such as Geelong full-forward Doug Wade, Essendon skipper Barry Davis and South Melbourne star John Rantall, turning around the club’s fortunes quickly, with a Grand Final appearance in 1974 and a premiership the following season. Gale, however, is adamant that measures including strict regulation of the salary cap, list size limits and the national draft will safeguard a competition including free agency. The AFL, AFLPA and the clubs are working to resolve issues such as compensation for clubs losing free agents (draft picks), the threshold to enact free agency (after four, seven or eight years of service, for example), and the prevention of players from signing with

FAIRYTALE: Hawk champion

Shane Crawford bowed out in the best possible fashion with a premiership last season.

rival clubs mid-season. “We’ve committed to working through this process in good faith,” Anderson said. “We wouldn’t be doing that if there wasn’t a serious possibility of free agency in some form coming about.” However, if adopted by the AFL Commission, any free agency model would not likely be implemented until after the introduction of the proposed Gold Coast and West Sydney teams, slated for 2011 and 2012 respectively.

RETIREMENT

Crawford’s exit a decade in the making GLENN McFA R L A NE

hane Crawford stared at the contract, and couldn’t bring himself to sign it. The Hawthorn champion had ventured into the

Richmond offices of his management, Elite Sports Properties, for what was meant to be a formalisation of his one-year deal that would extend his AFL career into a 17th season. Crawford had met with Hawks officials in the afterglow of the club’s 10th premiership, and had decided to play on. It seemed the right decision at the time, especially after he received encouragement from former Essendon champion James Hird, whom many felt had retired from the game too early, and Olympic rowing legend James Tomkins, who had never really managed to give his sport away. But, for as long as he could remember, Crawford carried with him a football exit strategy and in the weeks following the birth of his second son Benjamin (Charlie was the first), a combination of issues brought a change of heart – and the end of his playing days. That exit strategy went back as far as 1999, when he won the Brownlow Medal. He had long wanted to leave the game on his terms, with some petrol still swirling around the tank that had carried him so far. At the start of the 1999 season, CON T IN U ED NE X T PAGE

Queensland Government commits $60 million to the redevelopment of Gold Coast Stadium at Carrara.

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he even told the club’s magazine: “It won’t be a drawn out career ... if you can ﬁnish just under your peak, you are doing well.” Yet given the zeal with which he approached training, and the gut-running in matches that helped deﬁ ne him as a footballer, Crawford knew – even then – that it was never going to be an easy thing to achieve. “I was so focused and disciplined that eventually I was going to have to run out of steam,” Crawford said. “I was nearly out of steam at the end, but I thought, ‘At least I’ve got some petrol left’.

I want my lasting memory to be playing on my favourite ground, the MCG, against Geelong, on the last Saturday in September, which is every kid’s dream “I have no doubt I could have played on. I wasn’t able to get the most out of myself last year due to the knee injury, and I suppose that tempted me to play on. But then I thought, ‘Don’t be greedy. Don’t try and push the body to the limit; don’t break it’.” Unquestionably, Crawford’s desire to be the best father he can be and his wish to spend more time with his long-time partner Olivia played a key role in his reversal. “To be honest, fatherhood is everything to me,” he said proudly. “I suppose, from my point of view, my dad wasn’t around. It is a driving force that I have a brilliant relationship with my children because I know what I missed out on. I don’t want them to go through that. I really want to be around my children as much as I possibly can. “I reckon the biggest achievement of my career is that I ﬁnished without any long-term injuries. And obviously having two boys, I want to be active with them as they grow older.”

NEWS TRACKER

The more he thought about it, too, Crawford realised he wanted the events of September 27 last year – his 305th and last game at AFL level – to be the ﬁtting full stop on his glittering career. “Every time I think about my last day with Hawthorn, it will be that we won the Grand Final,” he said. “I want my lasting memory to be playing on my favourite ground, the MCG, against Geelong, on the last Saturday in September, which is every kid’s dream. “To go in as underdog and to win was amazing. If you were doing a movie, you couldn’t write a better ending. “I wanted to ﬁ nish with an impact, and what better impact than playing in a Grand Final. If we had have lost that day, there is no doubt I would have played on. But thankfully my teammates did the right thing by me.” In the end, the easy part was coming to the decision to retire. The hard part was telling his teammates and communicating it to the club that has played a massive part in almost half of his 34 years. First, Crawford went to coach Alastair Clarkson’s home late on a Friday night last November. The coach understood his decision. A few of his teammates initially didn’t. An emotional Trent Croad tried in vain to convince him to change his mind again, and play on. Others did the same. But as much as Crawford appreciated the sentiment, he knew he needed to move on to the next phase of his life. “When you are in the football world, you live in a kind of cocoon. The thing that kept me playing for as long as I did was the fact that I was able to do a few things outside football to keep my enthusiasm up. Now I can direct my focus in those areas.” Glenn McFarlane is a reporter with the Sunday Herald Sun.

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HARD WORK: An Adam

Cooney stand-in dodges a bull while Jonathan Brown is in gridiron mode for the AFL’s new campaign.

ADVERTISING

Campaign pushes strengths PETER DI SISTO

risbane Lions captain Jonathan Brown’s recent foray into acting, while enjoyable, conﬁrmed to him where he does his best work. Brown and 18 other players feature in the AFL’s new advertising campaign In a League of Its Own, which positions the code as the strongest, hardest, highest and fastest on earth. The advertisements, created by George Patterson Y&R Melbourne and seen on TV, online, in print and on billboards, show the likes of Adam Goodes, Adam Cooney, Dean Cox and Justin Koschitzke using their Australian Football skills in others sports, including basketball, ice hockey, gridiron and soccer. Brown features in two scenes – running with the ball (and through several padded and helmeted opponents) in a gridiron setting and in a boxing ring facing Port Adelaide’s Chad Cornes. “It sure was enough work putting it together – I’d hate to be an actor. It’s not really my style, but it was good fun being in the action scenes,” he said. “The gridiron scene was the hardest, running through about

six or seven guys, trying to get that down pat. There was a stunt double for Chad and myself, just in case we cleaned each other up or went too heavy on each other.” The advertisements were filmed over five days at various locations in Melbourne, including the MCG, Flemington racecourse, the State Netball and Hockey Centre, and the You Yangs outside Melbourne, with 60 crew members and more than 200 extras involved. Former St Kilda captain and Richmond coach Danny Frawley, now CEO of the AFL Coaches’ Association, and ex-Essendon fitness head John Quinn provided technical support at the various shoots. The AFL’s acting commercial operations general manager Andrew Dillon said the push behind the two-year campaign was to highlight the supreme skills, attributes and versatility of AFL players. He said the campaign would appeal to supporters in traditional markets and those being targeted in new regions including Queensland and New South Wales. This is the AFL’s most ambitious campaign since its 1996 centenary season I’d Like to See That series of commercials that featured the likes of comedian George Burns, musician John Lee Hooker, actress Heather Locklear and tennis player John McEnroe. To see the ad go to afl.com.au/inaleagueofitsown

Sixty-seven draftees debuted at AFL level during the NAB Cup. > Mark Ricciuto joins the All-Australian selection committee.

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We’ve kicked a few goals over the years JELD-WEN is the name behind the St Kilda Football Club. And we’re also the name behind iconic brands like Stegbar and Corinthian – leaders in door, window and showerscreen manufacture, supply and installation. Great club, great brands. jeld-wen.com.au

M A J O R PA R T N E R

DISEGNO STE2928

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A N I C O N PA S S E S

WEG’s mark will long remain PAU L H A RV EY

XXXXXXX: Drawing courtesy Weg’s

World

n December 29 last year, William Ellis Green (known to d most as ‘WEG’) passed quietly away in Melbourne, aged 85. Australian cartoonists lost their godfather; football fans lost the man who had G drawn their annual iconic WEG premiership poster since 1954; Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital lost its champion, and I lost a great mate. It is safe to say the sure and sweeping lines in those characteristic WEG drawings inspired all working in the field today. To those of us who dare to pick up a pen, brush or marker, this diminutiveand bespectacled bloke was a true giant. Bill, as I always called him, was the guru of the corporate caricaturist. He was the fastest and the most prolific. Cyclone WEG (the perfect description for how he worked) could capture your likeness in two minutes flat and did it for more than 60 years. It was a long-running joke that Bill had drawn everybody in Victoria, most of them twice. I’ll miss sharing a pot of tea in the Green kitchen in Melbourne’s outer east with Bill, his wife Joan and their friend Jim Bridges, the acrid smell of burnt toast lingering in the air. Bill had an agile mind, an irreverent wit and an astounding breadth of knowledge. I’d usually bring the conversation back to football and Bill had no problem with this. He loved it. Bill grew up in Essendon and remained a passionate Bomber fan. He confessed his black and red heart would beat a little faster when drawing an

NEWS TRACKER

ARTIST AT WORK: Bill Green doing what he loved best and, inset, one of his last caricatures (courtesy WEG’s World).

To those of us who dare to pick up a pen, brush or marker, this diminutive and bespectacled bloke was a true giant Essendon premiership poster. Yet he attacked them all with the same fervour in the knowledge that, for more than 50 years, the WEG poster was synonymous with football’s biggest day and a godsend for the Royal Children’s Hospital, for which they had contributed more than $2 million. Bill received an Order of Australia Award for this benevolence. He loved the tales of opposition supporters buying his posters to burn them. More money for the kids, he reasoned. Bill didn’t mind that older posters were fetching gargantuan prices, despite never keeping any himself. He was content with the legacy he had created. Once the two grand ﬁnalists were known, he’d illustrate both club mascots and I’d joke that the team with the better poster always lost. I begged him to do a brilliant Port Adelaide poster in 2004, the year my Lions were aiming to win four premierships in a row. Sadly, the masterpiece of four leering lions leaping from

the paper was unceremoniously pulped. He greeted my protests with sparkling eyes and a wheezy chuckle. Nothing was going to stop Bill from drawing the 2008 Grand Final posters. Not his dicky heart. Not an unyielding hospital. His doctor suggested that, if Bill left, he wouldn’t make the door. “We’ll see!” he replied, and off he trotted. He had some drawing to do. Paul Harvey is a Melbourne-based freelance illustrator.

JOHN COLEMAN

Sixty years on and still the best BRUCE E VA

t’s the debut that still stands head and shoulders above the rest. This round th marks the 60th hn anniversary of John Coleman’s (right) st ﬁrst game, the most ng striking ﬁrst outing recorded at the highest level. The Essendon forward’s 12 goalss n at Windy against Hawthorn urday, 1949, Hill on Easter Saturday,

was the first of 12 times he kicked double figures in a career that spanned only 98 games, and was over by the age of 25, courtesy of a knee injury. The 20-year-old from Hastings blew away any hopes the Hawks had of a bright start to the season by kicking twothirds of his team’s score (18.12) to ‘beat’ the opposition on his own by three goals (9.3 was Hawthorn’s final tally). Coleman was Essendon’s only debutant that afternoon; the side’s next most inexperienced player was George Goninon, appearing in just his third of nine games in red and black before crossing to Geelong and enjoying a storied career as a Cat. Goninon recalled kicking eight goals in an intra-club practice match before the start of the 1949 season – trouble was, Coleman bagged 10 at the other end. “They played me on the halfforward flank (in round one) and a couple of times I kicked it up to Coleman,” he said. “He was the best player I ever saw – his leap, his marking and he could kick goals from anywhere. He was such a long kick as well.” Coleman’s remarkable haul earned the following offering – under the heading ‘Dead Shot’ Coleman Makes Sensational Debut – in the round two Football Record: “Essendon are rejoicing at the discovery of a full-forward, the lack of which, they reckon, has cost them two premierships in the last two years. There’s no doubt that Coleman’s form on Saturday was good enough to cause all Don supporters to throw their hats in the air. But it might be as well to wait until the lad has come up against some of the real toughies in the League.” Harry Beitzel was the field um umpire for Coleman’s first game, and while of cial records list offi the attendance as just 13,500 Beitzel is adamant 13,500, traditio of fans following the tradition champ the champion spearhead from end to end began after the first i which the home quarter, in s team slammed on seven goa goals to one. CON T IN U ED NE X T PAGE

AFL awards Life Membership to 12 including former Commissioner Colin Carter and former Hawthorn president Ian Dicker.

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Swatch Irony RRP $145. Available now at your local Club Store and AFL Stores.

AFL COLLECTION

2009

AFL

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“‘Coley’ had champion written all over him from that ﬁrst game,” Beitzel said. “He was the best I umpired and he’s always stayed in my top three of all the other players I’ve seen since. He was an athlete, he was tough, he was a freak.” For the record, Coleman – immortalised with a statue on the main street in Hastings – had broken Bill Wood of Footscray’s record of nine goals, against Collingwood, which had stood since round three, 1944. Since Coleman’s dozen, nine from Carlton’s Warren Ralph in round one, 1984, against North Melbourne at Waverley has been the best haul. Bruce Eva is a producer for Sport’s Today on 3AW and a commentator for the National Indigenous Radio Service.

VA L E

A major inﬂuence J IM M A IN

ost Victorians who followed football via radio in the era immediately before the VFL became the AFL in 1990 knew of the ‘Captain and the Major’. The Captain was Richmond legend Jack ‘Captain Blood’ Dyer and his lieutenant was Ian Major, who recently died in Melbourne, aged 65, after a lengthy illness. The pair formed the most entertaining radio broadcasting combination of the 1970s and 1980s. Major started his career in radio with 3KZ as a turntable operator and, when former umpire Harry Beitzel left the station to join rival 3AW in 1972, Major was asked to call football with Dyer. Major started sprinkling “the Captain and the Major” tag in the match coverage and the station’s marketing department liked it so much that a football catch-cry was born. With his deep, resonant voice, Major was a radio natural, but he also had a deep love of football, which showed NEWS TRACKER

in his commentary. He mainly called the action, while Dyer provided the expert commentary (and the unplanned comedy). They shared a great sense of humour and their enjoyment of the game shone through. Major, the consummate professional, was mostly able to contain himself whenever his broadcasting partner came up with what were famously known as “Dyerisms” – often bumbling descriptions that mixed metaphors or jumbled names. Major often said he loved football from the time he could remember. He played with Braybrook in Melbourne’s west, famous for producing Footscray great Ted Whitten. Major was a Bulldogs supporter, but it never showed in his commentary. He was totally impartial – he never gloated over a Bulldog victory or moaned in defeat. Major was an expert in the difﬁcult art of painting verbal pictures in an era when radio was the prime source of information for many.

C U LT U R A L T O U R

Footy the PNG way JOHN T UR NBU L L

lasting memory of a recent Australian Football tour to Papua New Guinea will be of a Sunday morning in the hot, steamy town of Lae on the northern coast. Here, the Flying Boomerangs, a squad of young indigenous players from all over Australia, gathered wearily after a week of training and leadership sessions, school and community clinics, civic receptions, formal dinners, long ﬂights and bus trips, and muggy hotel rooms. There’s one game still to be played but coaches Jason Mifsud (pictured addressing his players in front of a large local crowd) and Jason McCartney decided

Spot open for Voss Michael Voss faces a signiﬁcant challenge if he is to match his on-ﬁeld heroics as a Brisbane Lions player. Should he coach the Lions to a premiership, Voss – a three-time premiership captain – would become only thee 13th 3 h person e o in history oryy to o play a in and coach o ha premiership rship s p at the same mee club. u

on a novel pre-match approach. After a visit to an art gallery and a souvenir-purchasing opportunity (spears from Mount Hagen were a favourite), it was time to cool off. So a police-escorted convoy bumped and rolled over rough, tropical roads and tracks to an idyllic village “five minutes” away. The group arrived to find half their local opponents (and their coach, former Richmond player Ray Hall) cooling off under shade trees or lolling in the water. This is Australian Football, PNG-style. The tourists instantly relaxed, their spirits lifted in a classic Coral Sea setting – kids swinging off ropes tied to huge overhanging trees and then somersaulting into the sea, while mums and babies sat and sang in the shallows. When the Boomerangs eventually made it Eriku Oval for their third and final match in six days, more than 8000 enthusiastic locals were packed around a huge oval next to the town centre. The Boomerangs were terrific, posting a win after two close losses by playing with pace and flair, moving the ball quickly and tackling ferociously. This was the fourth Boomerangs tour run as part of the Qantas AFL KickStart program, with the previous three in South Africa. It was not easy for the boys; they were challenged every day in a variety of ways. But they will have returned home more mature young men. John Turnbull travelled to PNG to work on a talent identification project funded by Melbourne Football Club.

C A L LU M EY Y T WOMEY

Premiership players and coaches at the same club CARLTON Norman Clark (played in 1906, ’07, ’08; coached in 1914, ’15) Robert Walls (played in 1968, ’70, ’72; coached in 1987)

COLLINGWOOD George Angus (played in 1902, ’03, ’10; coached in 1910) Jock McHale (played in 1910, ’17; coached in 1917, ’19, ’27, ’28, ’29, ’30, ’35, ’36) Phonse Kyne (played in 1935, ’36; coached in 1953, ’58)

ESSENDON John Coleman (played in 1949, ’50; coached in 1962, ’65)

GEELONG Reg Hickey (played in 1931, ’37; coached in 1951, ’52) Bob Davis (played in 1951, ’52; coached in 1963)

HAWTHORN David Parkin (played in 1971; coached in 1978)

MELBOURNE Norm Smith (played in 1939, ’40, ’41, ’48; coached in 1955, ’56, ’57, ’59, ’60, ’64)

RICHMOND Frank ‘Checker’ Hughes (played in 1920, ’21; coached in 1932)

WEST COAST John Worsfold (played in 1992 and ’94; coached in 2006) THE LIST DOES NOT INCLUDE THOSE WHO WON FLAGS AS CAPTAIN-COACH OR THOSE WHO WON FLAGS AS A CO-COACH. MARK WILLIAMS COACHED PORT ADELAIDE TO THE 2004 AFL PREMIERSHIP, HAVING PLAYED WITH PORT ADELAIDE IN THE SANFL.

AFL launches its Next Generation Australian Football Match Policy for conduct of the game at junior level.

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T H E C O M PA R I S O N : T H E T W O B E S T F O R WA R D S I N 2 0 0 8

Brendan Fevola 22 9.7 2

V Kicks PER GAME

Handballs PER GAME

Marks

1.7

Tackles

11.7

Disposals

Goals

4.5

Lance Franklin

Matches

5.8

MIKE SHEAHAN

PER GAME

TOTAL

Goals PER MATCH

25 12.3 3 6.3 2 15.3 113 4.52

Behinds

Goal assists

Scoring assists

Free kicks for

Free kicks against

1.4

Inside 50 entries PER GAME

2.2

4.7

Marks inside 50

TOTAL

PER GAME

88 18 25 27 74

Inside 50 2.7 1.5 Ball-Gets PER GAME

In a league of their own A look at the statistics show just how close the game’s two dominant forwards were. Lance Franklin received much credit for his scintillating and spectacular performances for Hawthorn last year, and deservedly so. His 113-goal tally was the most in a season since Tony Lockett booted 121 in 1996. Franklin’s eﬀorts overshadowed the deeds of Carlton spearhead Brendan Fevola. In 22 games, Fevola booted 99 goals, falling short of the Coleman Medal by three, Franklin taking it home with 102 in the home and away matches. NEWS TRACKER

The statistics above highlight how close Fevola was to matching Franklin’s super season. Though Fevola was behind in all categories, there was not much in it, especially the goals-per-game average. Including three ﬁnals, Franklin averaged 4.52 goals a match. Fevola, in an improving Blues team that did not make the ﬁnals, slotted 4.5 per match. While Franklin was frustratingly wayward in front of goal, Fevola was generally accurate.

The Hawk scored 37 more behinds, and had 51 moreshots at goal. Interestingly, they were similarly placed when it came to giving away free kicks: Franklin gave away the most (74) since Garry Hocking in 1991, while Fevola was the third most undisciplined player in the competition, conceding 44. C A L LU M T WOMEY Statistics courtesy Champion Data and the AFL Prospectus.

Media honour Great journalism is not about the byline, but the copy that follows, and the energy encased in that copy. Mike Sheahan’s copy has been full of energy and detail and perspective for more than ﬁve decades and continues at the Herald Sun. This week, the AFL opened its media centre at AFL House named after him. Sheahan’s stories and analysis – in print, on radio and television, and ultimately online – pay respect not only to the principles of investigative and provocative journalism, but also to the subject matter, whether an individual or an institution. His commentary is never the irrational consideration of a fanatic, but the thoughtful view of one who has the game’s long view as his driver. Sheahan writes and commentates in the same spirit and style he has maintained throughout his career, and with the same tension as he considers each phrase, praise and criticism. Always he will extend the same generosity he has provided throughout his career to those coming into the craft – to journalism’s next generation. GEOFF SL AT TERY

M I LE S T O N E S – RO U N D 1

150 Games Umpired Scott Jeﬀery

100 Games Michael Osborne Hawthorn Rick Ladson Hawthorn Toby Thurstans Port Adelaide Matt Maguire St Kilda

Former Saint Gary Colling recognised for service to the game with the Jack Titus Award.

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the interview

Jim Stynes Jim Stynes became a Melbourne legend, willing his mind to learn a foreign game and his body to ignore pain on the way to setting a new mark for consecutive matches and winning the game’s ultimate individual honour, the Brownlow Medal. He returned to the Demons last year to save a once mighty club struggling ﬁnancially and on the ﬁeld. C A L LU M T WOMEY

What has changed since you took over as chairman?

Already we’ve seen a change in the culture of the organisation. There’s a lot more optimism and we’re back in control of the business. I think we have re-engaged with a lot of our members, supporters and sponsors, and they are starting to get back involved. We realised we needed to make changes to become more competitive. What eﬀect have initiatives such as supporter forums, Debt Demolition and Mates of Melbourne had?

They make people feel like they’re a part of the club. If you’re a member, you like to have a say. No one group is going to make a successful club. It’s like a team; one player isn’t going to win a ﬂag. We saw that last year with Hawthorn; it took a full team effort. That’s what we really need. The more people who feel they’re able to participate, then the better results we are going to get. You went back to the club as an energetic and fresh passionate former player determined to turn things around. What sort of vibe did you want to bring?

We wanted people to be proud of being a supporter of Melbourne. We don’t want them to be embarrassed. We just want them to be proud of the club, of what we’re doing and the steps we’re taking. We want them to

feel like we’re on the right path and that the vision of winning a premiership can be realised. We saw it as not being about quick ﬁxes, but long-term sustainable growth within our football club. In Dean Bailey’s ﬁrst year as coach, he lost his captain, CEO and president. Has stability been a main focus of the new board?

When we came in, it was about stabilising the club as quickly as possible. It was rocky in more places than one, and I think we have gone about that in a real positive way. The previous board were very good in being prepared to step aside in a very professional way, and they allowed us to get on with the job. I think the playing group and the football department took a lot of conﬁdence from that. Where will the club be based in the future: Casey Fields or the new Olympic Park Stadium?

Casey (in Melbourne’s outer south-east) will be a training base that we will use during the season on a regular basis. We see that as a summer base, and our main winter training centre will be the Olympic Park campus. We see it as us having a campus at Casey, a campus at Olympic Park and our home being the MCG. The club clearly lacks an identity. What is being done to re-establish the red and blue brand?

I think winning games is the best way of re-establishing

the brand. You can do all the work you want on the brand, but it also comes from within. We have, however, made an effort to bring the Demon back, and we’ve worked hard on our clash jumper, bringing the red and blue back. What was the motivation for bringing past presidents back to the club?

We’re trying to unite the club, and if we can’t get it right at the top then what hope have we got at getting it right at any other level? We ask the players to be role models, we ask our senior team and senior leaders to be role models, and we have to be doing the same thing at board level. Often people who give a lot of service to a football club get pushed aside and we move on, and we don’t acknowledge what they’ve done for the club. All these past presidents have given a lot of time and years of service, and the least we can do is acknowledge them and make sure they feel welcome. Do you believe the wider football public cares about the welfare of Melbourne any more?

Before we came in, I thought there was a little bit of apathy around about our club, and people thought we weren’t doing ourselves any favours. But a lot of people have shown me a lot of support and welcomed me back. Other people from other clubs have taken memberships,

and players and presidents from other clubs have done the same. That’s been a boost. What’s been a bigger challenge: your ﬁrst 10 months as a player at Melbourne in 1987, or your ﬁrst 10 months as chairman?

Being chairman has been a lot tougher. When I came as a player there wasn’t a heap of expectation. It was tough learning the game but, if I didn’t make it, I didn’t make it. I wasn’t really letting anyone down because it was an experiment, but this is not an experiment. It’s one that we really can’t fail. There’s a lot riding on it, a lot of history and tradition, people’s sweat and tears. This is not just about me; it’s about a whole football club that has been around for 150 years. You said at the start of your tenure that you hoped the club was around for your “son to be able to watch the Demons run out on to the MCG alongside his own children”. Is this still a reality?

I’ve never got up and thought, ‘We are in a lot of trouble’. I have a very optimistic view of the club, particularly because of the people who have shown support. People haven’t given up hope, but I also realise that it’s a huge challenge ahead and we have to be bold and brave and courageous and we have to try new things. We can’t dwell on the success of our past, but we can use it as motivation to try new things.

22 AFL RECORD visit aﬂ .com.au

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PHOTO: LACHLAN CUNNINGHAM/AFL PHOTOS

This is not an experiment. It’s one that we really can’t fail. There’s a lot riding on it, a lot of history and tradition

AFL RECORD visit aﬂ .com.au 23

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H AV E Y O U PI CK ED YO U R TE AM FOR 20 09? GO TO AFL.COM . AU Untitled-1 1

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essay THE HIP AND SHOULDER

Changing times bring the bump to a head While the hip and shoulder remains a unique part of our game, tightening of the AFL’s rough conduct rules has reduced the potential for serious injury. NICK BOW EN

CRUNCH TIME:

Geelong’s Gary Ablett and West Coast’s David Wirrpanda collide in a game in 2006.

imes change. And with them attitudes. So much so in some cases that things which were applauded in the past may no longer be tolerated today. Take the hip and shoulder, or bump, for example. A part of Australian Football that has long been celebrated, the hip and shoulder is still seen by many as intrinsic to the game and its cherished physical toughness. In previous times, a hip and shoulder was considered fair so long as a player’s elbow was tucked in and the ball was within five metres at the time of contact. Aside from the back, it did not matter where he made contact with the other player. Even the head was fair game. And any injuries inflicted? Just part – albeit an unfortunate part – of the game. But many people’s attitudes towards the hip and shoulder have changed. To appreciate just how far, you need only consider the recent Nick Maxwell tribunal case. The incident in question occurred in Collingwood’s opening NAB Cup match against West Coast. Eagles youngster Patrick McGinnity was leading Maxwell’s teammate Anthony Corrie in a contest for the ball on the wing, when the Collingwood captain came in from the side and collected McGinnity with a textbook hip and shoulder – elbow tucked in, feet on the ground and the ball within five metres. Significantly, though, the force of the collision, in which Maxwell’s shoulder appeared to make contact with McGinnity’s head, knocked the young Eagle to the ground and broke his jaw.

Despite this, some past players, commentators and fans expressed their surprise when Maxwell was charged with rough conduct by the AFL’s match review panel. It offered him a three-week suspension, deeming his bump on McGinnity negligent, but Collingwood decided to plead Maxwell’s case at the AFL Tribunal. The Tribunal upheld the review panel’s decision, finding Maxwell could have contested the ball rather than bumped McGinnity. With no discount for a guilty plea, Maxwell was handed a four-match suspension. Though Maxwell was ultimately cleared of the charge at a subsequent hearing of the AFL Appeals Board – which found his bump on McGinnity was reasonable and not negligent, and his contact with McGinnity’s head accidental – AFL match review panel chairman Andrew McKay defended his panel’s original finding. McKay said in a similar case the panel would again charge the player concerned and offer him a similar penalty to Maxwell’s. In short, it would continue to take a hard line on head-high bumps. And to remove any shadow of doubt, the AFL Commission expeditiously amended the AFL player rules, so a player charged for a Maxwell-like bump in the future could not escape suspension on the basis the head-high contact was reasonable. For the moment, let’s return to those outraged by Maxwell’s original suspension. If we can ask them to put aside their white-line fever for one second, AFL RECORD visit afl .com.au 25

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essay can they honestly be surprised than that. Much like the shift the AFL is seeking to protect in people’s attitudes towards The player who is prepared to put his head over players contesting the ball on-field racism. Where many the ball to win possession deserves protection – from preventable head-high in football once swore by the and the player who chooses to ignore the ball and contact? Especially given the adage ‘what’s said on the footy risk of serious head, neck, or field stays on the footy field’, charge into him head-on will get no sympathy or even spinal injuries occurring the campaign led by Essendon favours under the present match review panel in such collisions? champion Michael Long in the PETER SCHWAB If so, they’ve had their head mid-1990s made most people protection. Especially from the end of the 1999 season, the in the sand, or are still stuck in realise that racist comments head-high contact. AFL amended its charging laws the late 1970s-early 1980s. Back were never acceptable, on or One of the biggest turning so that a player could be reported then, you had bone-shattering off the field. points came in round eight, if the force used in a bump was bumps like Stan Magro’s on Similarly, people began to 1999. On a cold night at “unreasonable or unnecessary in Carlton great Alex Jesaulenko in take stock of the damage the Waverley Park, as North the circumstances”. 1979. If you haven’t seen it check hip and shoulder could inflict, Melbourne hardman Byron Previous defences that the it out on YouTube. There, you’ll particularly when contact was Pickett moved towards a ground player was in, or was about to see the Pie toughman cannon made to a player’s head. ball, he made a split-second take, possession and that the front-on into ‘Jezza’, springing off While the hip and shoulder decision not to take possession, ball was within five metres the ground at the last second to was a unique part of our game, but instead to run past it and were specifically removed. collect him high. and one that virtually no one bump Hawk Brendan Krummel. The rule soon had an impact, Blues fans were incensed, but wanted to see disappear, many Krummel had his head down most notably when Long was only because Jesaulenko was came to accept that players who and eyes on the ball, so suspended for four matches for wide open, had been knocked chose to use it should no longer head-high contact was inevitable crashing into young Melbourne senseless and wouldn’t be have complete immunity from – and severe. Although Pickett ruckman Troy Simmonds as he taking any further part in any consequences that flowed. ran at him from only a few stooped to pick up the ball in the the game. Few, if any, would The player contesting the paces, the Hawk was left with 2000 Grand Final. have considered the incident ball had to receive more concussion and a Long’s bump was similar to reportable, certainly the broken nose. Pickett’s on Krummel, with umpires didn’t. Again, in fairness contact made solely with his In fairness to Magro N EMPHASIS ON RISK MINIMISATIO to Pickett, his bump hip and shoulder, but the AFL – having singled his Nick on ion decis d Boar als After the AFL Appe was perfectly legal Tribunal spelt out it was no alteration an oved hip and shoulder out appr ion miss Com Maxwell, the AFL risk of injury to at the time – he longer acceptable. of a number that to the player rules to ensure the was minimised. made contact with Another clear signal was sent players’ head and neck regions occurred in that Krummel without at the start of the 2005 season. era – such a bump 1 ndix Appe AFL Player Rules – raising his elbow This was the first year of the was perfectly legal in to have committed a (1) A player shall be deemed and within 19.2.2(g)(vii) (rough match review panel and its those times. reportable offence under Law of an opponent five metres chairman Peter Schwab and his But, fortunately, the conduct) where in the bumping ably) he causes of the ball – (whether reasonably or unreason members were soon called into majority in football his of part any with e mad forceful contact to be and Krummel, of action to deliberate on another ad inste and has moved on from neck or head body to an opponent’s himself, later Pickett bump. stic alternative to: that era. Not, as some bumping, the player had a reali defended him, Pickett, then playing with Port may argue, merely out a) contest the ball; or saying such a Adelaide, had bumped Adelaide’s of a desire to appease bump was part James Begley front-on, as he bent b) tackle the opponent. mothers who want to g the level of a of the game. over the ball in a pre-season cup be sure that Australian (2) For the purpose of categorisin h (1) in accordance Signifi cantly, match, knocking him out. reportable offence under paragrap Football is a safe game for tional or reckless, with this Appendix 1, unless inten though, some started In suspending Pickett for six their sons or daughters. gent. negli as ed ifi class such conduct shall be to question whether it matches, the panel sent a strong No, the change that should continue to be. At message to him, and everyone has occurred runs deeper

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essay in the AFL, that any act that had the potential to cause serious injury, especially to the head, neck or spine, would be subject to a hefty suspension. Shortly after this case, Schwab wrote in The Age: “At the outset of the AFL’s Tribunal reforms for 2005, it was established that there would be a strong stance on certain issues under the ‘impact guidelines’. “It was stated that in determining the level of impact, regard would also be given to the potential to cause serious injury, such as in any headhigh contact with a player who has had his head over the ball, particularly when contact is made from an opponent charging from a front-on position. “The player who is prepared to put his head over the ball to win possession deserves protection – and the player who chooses to ignore the ball and charge into him head-on will get no sympathy or favours under the present match review panel.” Couldn’t be any clearer, really. Then, two years ago, from the start of the 2007 season, the AFL Commission sought

If you want to use the hip and shoulder, be prepared to face the consequences for any damage to give yet further protection to players contesting the ball when it determined that a player executing a bump would face a report for any head-high contact where he had a reasonable alternative to contest the ball or tackle. In other words, if you want to use the hip and shoulder, be prepared to face the consequences for any damage you cause. Signiﬁcantly, almost immediately after the AFL Appeals Board overturned Maxwell’s suspension last month, AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson said its ﬁnding was out of step with the intent behind the 2007 rule change. Hence, the AFL’s latest amendment to its rough conduct rules. Now, a forceful head-high bump will be reportable even if it was reasonable, provided still that the player could have

IMPACT: Fremantle’s Jeﬀ Farmer and Adelaide’s Graham Johncock in a typical hip and shoulder contest.

realistically contested the ball or tackled instead of bumping. Which is, despite the loud noises made by some past players and commentators, in keeping with where football should be heading in the 21st century and where the majority

of football followers want it to head. Surely laws aimed at preventing neck and head injuries are something we can all agree is for the betterment of everyone in the game – players, clubs, fans and players’ families. The argument that the clampdown on head-high contact has reduced football as a contact sport and as a physical contest does not wash either. Seeing the way players attack the ball – rather than the man – running straight at it, often against on-coming trafﬁc, seemingly with no regard for their own safety, is enough to make you shudder. The hip and shoulder is not outlawed either. Provided contact is not made with the head or neck, players can still use it and it remains one of the unique physical tests they can put to an opposition player. But, football is primarily about winning the ball, so ball players simply have to be protected. And just because front-on, high contact was permitted in the past, doesn’t mean it should be today. Some things are better consigned to the past.

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Why we (still)

football... and our clubs, our players and the things they do

GAME ON: Players to watch in 2009 include stars such as Jonathan Brown, Chad Cornes and Gary Ablett (opposite) while Jason Akermanis (below) probably doesn’t want to look this anguished in his ﬁnal season.

AR01 p64-70 TheGame.indd 64

ur game provides as much highlight reel material as any sport played across the world, if not more. Consider the hush, the audible gasp, the instant recognition of audacity attempted, followed by the often-deafening roar. Numerous and varied heroics produce such a response. The “hang-time” screamer, where a player launches himself like a kangaroo on to the shoulders of the pack. The long bomb that penetrates a defence, or bisects the goalposts. The sheer act of genius that results in a goal from a seemingly impossible angle – the kind that Jack Dyer would have said had the ball wedged between the posts. The poetic, ballet-like pirouetting that enables a player to evade several opponents without a hand even touching him. Those capable of this kind of ‘faking’ are usually the genuine article. The millimetre-perfect awareness and second-nature decision-making under intense pressure that sets apart the visionaries from one-dimensional, mere mortals. The perfectly legal, bone-jarring bump that even the most parochial of opposition barrackers doesn’t even try

to moan about. This intrinsic part of the game isn’t dead. On the other side (the wrong side) of the clash of bodies, the spine-tingling, almost chilling, act of courage where a player knowingly places himself in the way of a stampede, all for the honour of his team, his mates, his jumper – and to hell with the consequences. And so it goes. The complex tapestry of our great game comprises many colours and textures that fade in and out of view the more we look at it. For the most part, virtually anything goes in Australian Football. The ball and players can, and do, travel in any direction and over any distance. Teams can employ any number of styles – long and direct, short and wide, and vice versa; in close, crash ’n bash, free-wheeling, one-on-one, clusters. In keeping with Australia’s traditionally egalitarian society, almost any body shape can prosper. Big or small, short or tall, fast or slow. The fresh, invigorating breeze of an AFL season brings with it hope, for everyone and everything. For a better season than last. For success. For one team, in this case, Hawthorn, sustained success. Whatever happens in 2009, we’ll love the journey – and ride it for all it’s worth. BEN COL LINS

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whywe(still)lovefootball

Because the Crows’ veterans just keep going on and on and on…

Of course, we’re referring to Andrew McLeod, Simon Goodwin and Tyson Edwards, the timeless trio that seems to keep going without any discernible drop in productivity. It’s been that way since they burst on to the scene in the mid-1990s, with each finishing in the top-five in the best-and-fairest in at least eight of the past 12 seasons. Born within seven months of one another in 1976 (all three are 32), the effervescent veterans have clocked up a combined 40 AFL seasons and 831 games. The Crows can’t keep relying on them to deliver the goods – age waits for no one and their collective output simply has to diminish. It’s as inevitable as a Brett Burton screamer. Others need to fire. Scott Thompson has, developing into a wellbalanced, skilful player. The likes of Nathan van Berlo, Chris Knights and Bernie Vince need to jump into the elite category.

2 Because Matthew Pavlich can pretty much do it all on the field With the past four best and fairest and goalkicking awards (and five of each in 194 matches), the captain is clearly Fremantle’s outstanding player, and one of the game’s all-round stars, boasting skill, strength and speed for his size. But, having one dominant player is not always beneficial, a fact the Dockers are well aware of. “It’s very important to share the load over the entire list,”

Pavlich said. “We’ve drafted a lot of young players, but it’s the guys who’ve been around for three or more years who are going to have to shoulder a lot of the burden.” The departure of veterans Peter Bell, Heath Black, Josh and Matthew Carr, Jeﬀ Farmer, Mark Johnson, Shaun McManus and Luke Webster over summer saw Fremantle go from having the oldest list in 2008 to the ninth youngest this season. Pavlich nominates hardened types including Roger Hayden, Michael Johnson, Byron Schammer, Paul Hasleby and Des Headland as those who must improve if the team is to progress. A NDR EW WA L L ACE

Because Daniel Motlop and the word ‘freakish’ are naturally associated With 57 goals – and many that defied football logic – Motlop was a rare positive for Port Adelaide in 2008. The 27-year-old former Kangaroo booted three or more goals in all seven of Port Adelaide’s wins. While it is easy to draw the conclusion that the flashy but inconsistent forward is reflective of his team, new captain Domenic a . Cassisi believes this is unfair. “‘Mots’ was close to All-Australian last year and,

BEN COL LINS

four

Because Matthew Richardson has morphed into the most popular player in the AFL We love our veteran stars, probably because we knowthey’re soon to depart. He’s the oldest player in the League (34 recently) and he’s starting his 17th season, but his value to Richmond is unquestioned, especially after a successful move to a wing last year saw him win his ﬁrst best and fairest award. He’s a Tiger icon even rival clubs’ supporters have warmed to – has an equal third-place ﬁnish in the Brownlow Medal ever been greeted so warmly?

while he is a flashy player, what people don’t see is that he sets the standard for us with his defensive pressure,” Cassisi said. The skipper makes no excuses for Port’s fall from a Grand Final berth in 2007 to 13th last year, but is adamant a torturous pre-season campaign under new fitness coach Cameron Falloon has the squad prepared. “The guys are a lot stronger, which gives us the confidence to adopt a tougher style of play. at will co p e e t ou That complement our pace and high skill level.” A NDR EW WA L L ACE

“To be a premier player yer over such a long period is nd a feat in itself,” Richmond captain Chris Newman said of Richardson. “He can inspire you by his actions and words, and who knows, he might keep playing laying for another five years.” While Richardson and d a recruit named Ben Cousins have ve been attracting interest, the Tigers are confident their balanced nced and improving squad will see ee them reach me since 2001. the finals for the first time “We’ve got a core group roup that’s been able to develop together, ogether, tter teams and that’s what the better like Geelong have donee over the years,” Newman said. aid. A NDR EW WA L L ACE

66 AFL RECORD visit aﬂ .com.au

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whywe(still)lovefootball

Because we never quite know what might happen when Jared Brennan’s got the ball Brennan has played 81 games. For those who prefer oldfashioned terms, he’s a utility. His play is, at times, unpredictable. Last season was, however, his most consistent since his impressive debut in round four, 2003, against Collingwood. He finished fifth in the best and fairest. The challenge is to back up this year. His team faces the same test as it attempts to build on its 10th-placed finish last season.

Both Brennan and the team show positive signs their improvement is no illusion. With captain Jonathan Brown, on-ballers Simon Black and Luke Power and forward Daniel Bradshaw always good (they filled the top four placings in the best and fairest), the responsibility falls to players such as Brennan, Michael Rischitelli (sixth) Joel Patfull (seventh), Joel Macdonald (eighth) and Jed Adcock (10th). All have played at least 50 games and must become the club’s best players if the Lions are to play finals for the first time since their 2004 Grand Final loss. PETER RYA N

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Because North Melbourne continues to give fans value for money Against all odds and the better judgement of experts, North Melbourne simply keeps on performing, making three of the past four finals series. And they will bee keen to move on after a disappointing end to 2008. After finishing third hird in 2007, North Melbourne appeared headed for anotherr top-four finish last year, but fell to Port rt Adelaide in round 22, derailing its finals plans. While his club’s September credentials remain n in question – seemingly a constant stant point of pre-season discussion ussion – new captain Brent Harvey (right) nominates speedster Daniel Wells and newcomer ayers set Jack Ziebell as players to excite in 2009.

“Daniel’s been our best player over the pre-season, and I reckon he’s ready to move from being a good player to a very, very good player,” Harvey said. The skipper is wary of putting too much pressure on the 18-yearold Ziebell, a skilful, ﬁercely competitive midﬁelder picked at No. 9 in the 2008 NAB AFL Draft, but is glowing nonetheless. “We’ve all seen what he can do. He’s going to be a long-time player with North Melbourne.” A NDR EW WA L L ACE

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SG4: Simon Black (B. Lions) $12 SG5: Brendan Fevola (Carl) $20 SG6: Nick Stevens (Carl) $15 SG7: Paul Medhurst (Coll) $20 SG8: Scott Pendlebury (Coll) $20 SG9: David Hille (Ess) $15 SG10: Brent Stanton (Ess) $15 SG11: Rhys Palmer (Frem) $12 SG12: Luke McPharlin (Frem) $12 SG13: Paul Chapman (Geel) $15 SG14: Joel Selwood (Geel) $15 SG15: Luke Hodge (Haw) $15 SG16: Sam Mitchell (Haw) $15 SG17: Drew Petrie (N. Melb) $12 SG18: Aaron Edwards (N. Melb) $12 SG19: Brad Miller (Melb) $12 SG20: Brad Green (Melb) $12 SG21: Brett Ebert (P. Adel) $12 SG22: Daniel Motlop (P. Adel) $12 SG23: Nathan Foley (Rich) $15 SG24: Trent Cotchin (Rich) $15 SG25: Brendon Goddard (St K) $12 SG26: Lenny Hayes (St K) $12 SG27: Nick Malceski (Syd) $12 SG28: Brett Kirk (Syd) $12 SG29: Matthew Priddis (WCE) $12 SG30: David Wirrpanda (WCE) $12 SG31: Jason Akermanis (Bulldogs) $15 SG32: Daniel Giansiracusa (Bulldogs) $15

4. Superstar Mascot Gem (16): 1: 36 pks

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L ED IM IT ITE IO D N

5. Draft Rookie Cards (16): 1: 36 Packs

DR1: Jack Watts (Melb) $40 DR2: Nick Naitanui (WCE) $40 DR3: Stephen Hill (Frem) $40 DR4: Hamish Hartlett (P. Adel) $30 DR5: Michael Hurley (Ess) $35 DR6: Chris Yarran (Carl) $35 DR7: Daniel Rich (B. Lions) $30 DR8: Tyrone Vickery (Rich) $30 DR9: Jack Ziebell (N. Melb) $30 DR10: Phil Davis (Adel) $25 DR11: Steele Sidebottom (Coll) $30 DR12: Lewis Johnson (Syd) $25 DR13: Tom Lynch (St K) $25 DR14: Ayce Cordy (W. Bulldogs) $25 DR15: Mitch Brown (Geel) $25 DR16: Ryan Schoenmakers (Haw) $30 6. Double Trouble (6)1: 108 Packs DT1: Simon Black/Jonathan Brown $45 DT2: Judd/Fevola $55 DT3: Thomas/Davis $55 DT4: Franklin/Roughead $55 DT5: Ablett/Bartel $55 DT6: Koschitzke/Riewoldt $45

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seven

Because we know the Cats are on a mission

Geelong was the best team in 2008, but its Grand Final loss to Hawthorn hurt its chances of becoming one of the great modern teams. But anyone who watched the Cats’ 76-point demolition of Collingwood in the NAB Cup Grand Final could see they are out for redemption. Asked for one word to describe Geelong’s 2009 theme, captain Tom Harley replied: “Committed.”

8 Because we get one more year of Jason Akermanis Western Bulldogs skipper Brad Johnson is unsure whether we’ll see Akermanis try his patented handstand, but Johnson is certain his teammate is obsessed with claiming his fourth ﬂag, and

the Dogs’ second. Akermanis had a frustrating 2008 season for the Dogs: he was super at times, but the form ﬂuctuated, and he struggled with injury. Still, he ﬁnished sixth in the best and fairest, and knows about winning important games. “’Aker’s major focus is about team success, and he wants to go out on a high note,” Johnson said. Akermanis, Johnson, Scott

Because there’s every chance we still haven’t seen the very best of Nick Riewoldt

Riewoldt is just about the perfect modern-day AFL player. He has speed and endurance, can jump, mark and d knows how to lead his team. kick goals, and haracteristics were evident All those characteristics -ground performance in his best-on-ground ngwood in last year’s against Collingwood al, when he took 15 first semi-final, oted five goals in a marks and booted play that inspired his dominant display sy win, just six days team to an easy rashed by Geelong. after being thrashed gly for Saints fans, it’s Frustratingly e-man show up too often a one-man h genuine support forward. With on a regular basis – and ieve they can the Saints believe iewoldt could provide it – Riewoldt ssible, even become, if possible, ous, and the team more dangerous, ter. naturally better. “I think wee can improve efensively we our attack. Defensively olid last year, were really solid ooking to add but we’ll be looking two goals to our game every week. We’ve been hat all working on that nd trying pre-season and to improve,” Riewoldt he No. said. Watch the 12 closely. C A L LU M T WOMEY OMEY

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The Cats have a talented and experienced list, few injury concerns (the season-long loss of Josh Hunt is still to be felt) and a confident coaching structure. Don’t expect them to diverge from the rapid-fire, handball-focused game-plan that has seen them win 42 of their past 45 matches dating back to round six, 2007. “Our preparation hasn’t been specifically different and

Welsh, Ben Hudson and Nathan Eagleton are the experienced pillars of a developing list. The Dogs have picked talls at the past two drafts, bringing in Jarrad Grant, Liam Jones, Jordan Roughead and Ayce Cordy. Johnson believes they could eventually force a change to the Dogs’ frantic run-andcarry style. A NDR EW WA L L ACE

Because we know the cycle system that results from the draft and salary cap will allow Melbourne every chance to impro improve Melbourne is the classic c club in transition, one year y down the same path Hawthorn Haw and Geelong successfu successfully traversed in recent times. The Th Demons have 20 players on the list who weren’t there two years ago, allowing coach De Dean Bailey, football boss Chris Connolly onnolly and the leadership group, oup, led by James McD ald, to McDonald, ng the mould a team car carrying characteristics needed eded for success. Inst Instant results are not expect expected, even though the squad squa features eatures 14 top-20 top 0 dra s. This draftees. rec mation reclamation pro projectt is being b g under en with undertaken a longerm view in longer-term mind. Playe Players were better prepared for what w t lay ahead at the beginning o his preof this season than they were w at the start of the 2008 campaign, ca paign, so fans can rightly expect exp t a much improved performance, performa e, in perspective. PETER RYA YA N

we’re going to back ourselves in,” Harley said. However, the team has learned not to take anything for granted. “The advantage of having experience at the pointy end of the season teaches you what can happen if you take your mind oﬀ the job,” he said. “We’ll keep it pretty simple.” A NDR EW WA L L ACE

9 Because Adam Goodes can seemingly turn a game when he wants to Goodes didn’t have a great 2008. He often was out of form, got injured, was reported three times and suspended once. Yet he still polled 21 Brownlow Medal votes, highlighting the impact he can have on games. He remains a Sydney matchwinner – an outstanding modern player and clearly the Swans’ most important asset, considering other key players from recent seasons are gone, or going. Goodes, 29, is one of three co-captains this year (with Brett Kirk and Craig Bolton) and wants to prove he can still play football at his own special level, while also playing an important leader’s role. Every player wants to “Every be more consistent, but in the co-captaincy role, I really want to work on my leadership and my voice out on the ground. If I I’m doing that the then I’m playing good football as well,” Goodes said. C A L LU LUM M T WOMEY

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whywe(still)lovefootball ( )

Because ause we w keep hearing Chris ing C Judd is as healthy as he’s e’s ever been

The 15 opposition captains tipped Carlton to o make the finals this year, for good reason. The Blues have a young ung and talented midfield including ncluding the likes of Marc Murphy and Brycee Gibbs. They also o have a full-forward ard in Brendan Fevola coming ming off a 99-goal season. eason. But it’s Chris Judd, their own captain, ain, who sets them apart. art. Judd was brilliant in 2008, his first at Carlton, arlton, winning the best and fairest and being named med skipper of the All-Australian ralian team. All that despite only nly having done minimal work pre-season while recovering overing from groin surgery. gery. Be warned, Judd has had a full and outstanding ing summer. “This time ime last year I was unsure off how everything was going to pan out. But having done a full ll summer, you’re confidentt your own body is going to withstand what’s coming. We’re coming from a long way back, having not played finals since ce 2001, but we’re certainly looking to improve on what we did last year.” C A L LU M T WOMEY

thirteen Because John Worsfold is again building an exciting young Eagles side When Worsfold took over as coach from Ken Judge in late la 2001, the Eagles were coming off 13th and 14th place ﬁnishes the previous two seasons. However, with star yyoungsters such as Chris Judd, Dani Daniel Kerr, Dean Cox Gl at his disposal, and Darren Glass the dual prem premiership skipper steered We West Coast through six straight Sep September campaigns, highlighte highlighted by the 2006 premiers premiership. With the departures of Judd and Be Ben Cousins, the cyclic nature of the AFL and a cripplin crippling injury toll last season, Worsfold now ﬁnds himself in a familiar position.

Mitchell Brown, Brad Ebert, Josh Kennedy, Nick Naitanui, Chris Masten, Ben McKinley, Luke Shuey and Tom pressive Swift head up an impressive nt, second wave of talent, and current captain Glass (right) is determined to help the y. club rebound quickly. ss “It’s a new side,” Glass said. “Things changee and evolve; we feel like we’re our own side and our own identity. We know what we want re to achieve and where we’re at.” A NDR EW WA L L ACE

Because the Pies’ pickpockets steal ou our imagination

Old Fagin of Oliver Twist would have rubbed his ﬁngerless glove gloves together at the prospect of opportunists su such as Alan Didak, Paul D Medhurst, Leon Davis and Dale Thomas joining his crew o of pickpockets. dod These artful dodgers – perhaps the best and most exciting small forward quartet in the AFL career on creating something from – have forged careers pounc and pilfer, and aren’t too nothing. They pounce h fussy whether they have to launch themselves ma or scrounge around on for sky-scraping marks the ground. They combined for 129 goals last year, and had their hands in numerous others. They have worked hard on im improving their endurance, dim adding another dimension to the Pies’ by being able to altern alternate through the midﬁeld. ta key forwards (Travis Collingwood’s tall Cloke, Anthony Roc Rocca, Sean Rusling, John Anthony, Ben Reid and Chris Dawes) will p provide plenty of pickings. Please, Pies, can we have some more? BEN COL LINS

Because a forward line that boasts Matthew Lloyd and Scott Lucas will still be extremely dangerous The old ‘mollydookers’ mightn’t be as explosive as they once were, but the classy forward ﬁrm of Lloyd and Lucas Inc. is still capable of providing more than just the occasional reminder of former glories. In recent years, due to factors including injury and the limited opportunities a struggling team creates, we’ve been deprived of watching them work in tandem. Last year, a dicky knee restricted

Lucas to just nine games, while skipper Lloyd was written oﬀ as a spent force mid-year but responded admirably to ﬁnish runner-up in the best and fairest, with 62 goals and the mark of the year. Lloyd is up to 891 goals – eighth on the AFL’s all-time list, and within perhaps two seasons of becoming just the sixth man to reach 1000 goals. Lucas has booted 197 goals in his past 75 games. With younger forward options including Jay Neagle still developing, they should shepherd the Bombers through to the next era, trying to make the most of this one. BEN COLLINS

Because of Lance ‘Buddy’ Franklin. Enough said.

(Well, maybe not, considering the impact the young forward had on the competition last year, when he became the first indigenous player to kick 100 goals in an AFL season and helped the Hawks to their 10th flag. For more on Franklin and an analysis of Hawthorn’s development, see Ben Collins’ story starting on page 72. WHY DO YOU LOVE FOOTY? Write or email your thoughts to: AFL Record, Slattery Media Group, 140 Harbour Esplanade, Docklands, VIC, 3008. aflrecordeditor@slatterymedia.com

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Planning for a dynasty Hawthorn won the premiership last year even though it wasn’t the best team throughout the season. Are we witnessing the start of another era of brown and gold dominance? The AFL Record examines the keys to the Hawks’ success, and their potential impact on the competition. BEN COL LINS

he game at the elite level has never been more complex or so minutely analysed, but many of the game’s most astute observers point to basic explanations for Hawthorn’s win over Geelong in last year’s Grand Final. They start by pointing out the obvious: that the Cats couldn’t kick straight. They also drag out that old ‘Bad kicking is bad football’ line. And they claim the Hawks had the Midas touch. For such a heavily scrutinised match, it’s a simple summary. The facts are undeniable. Geelong beat Hawthorn in virtually every major statistical area: scoring shots (34 – including 11 rushed behinds – to 25) inside 50s (62-43), clearances (41-27), contested possessions (103-100), disposals (378-372) and clangers (committing 47 to 56). Indeed, the Cats won everywhere except where it counted most – on the scoreboard. Although it appeared inevitable the Hawks would launch a serious challenge for a premiership, there’s a belief the 2008 ﬂag was won before schedule. Hawthorn assistant coach Damien Hardwick

explains: “By no means was it unexpected, but we didn’t expect it either. You can’t bank on the development of players and when they are going to perform, and that’s what opened our premiership window a bit sooner. A number of players improved, including (Lance) Franklin and (Jarryd) Roughead, super players but still developing. Michael Osborne had an outstanding season, Grant Birchall continued to develop, so did Rick Ladson – the list goes on.” General consensus has the Hawks and Cats meeting again in this year’s Grand Final. Many believe it’s a two-horse race, with the gap between those two and the rest to grow. There is also the inevitable speculation about whether we are witnessing the dawn of another Hawk dynasty. Fourtime premiership coach Leigh Matthews provides a commonsense response: “None of us know that yet because

The facts are undeniable: Geelong beat Hawthorn in virtually every major statistical area ... except where it counted most – on the scoreboard. the word dynasty can only ever be applied retrospectively.” He should know. Adelaide coach Neil Craig also deals in common sense when he reminds us: “Ignore Geelong at your peril.” And let’s not forget the lessons of history, either. Just take the recent example of West Coast. After its 2006 Grand Final win led by a midﬁeld including Chris Judd, Ben Cousins and Daniel Kerr, the Eagles appeared set for a long stay at the top. But Cousins endured off-ﬁeld problems and Judd left BIG IMPROVER: Star forward Jarryd Roughead, already an awesome force, is still developing.

for Carlton, and the Eagles’ fall was as swift as it was unexpected. However, the Hawks and Cats appear to have more in their favour. For one, they don’t rely too much on too few. They are also well placed to manage their way through the next few drafts that will see the proposed Gold Coast and West Sydney franchises given signiﬁcant draft concessions and the pick of the young talent. To some extent, clubs will be forced to make do with what they already have, and the Hawks and the Cats have the goods. At the start of the pre-season, the Hawks’ coaching staff reinforced to players that if they kept getting the process right, the results would look after themselves. Hardwick believes they have little to worry about in this regard; the players are driven and committed and won’t relax their intensity. “We’d like the bottom end of our list to improve and put more pressure on the top guys to improve. That’s where we see our overall improvement coming from. We’ve got some real quality kids who haven’t even scratched the surface at AFL level yet, and that’s really exciting,” Hardwick says.

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DRIVEN : Hawthorn officials hold no fears of a premiership hangover, as the players remain fiercely committed. AFL RECORD visit afl .com.au 73

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Here, we examine key elements of Hawthorn’s success: the emphasis on zone football, Luke Hodge’s defensive role, its versatile forward line, ‘unsociable’ play and list management.

Zone football – the latest way The rolling zone or ‘Clarko’s Cluster’ is basically about owning real estate – not necessarily how much, but where. It’s literally a case of ‘location, location’. Like the early settlers, the Hawks like to claim prime land (in this case, the corridor) while forcing opponents to occupy infertile country (the pockets, wings and flanks). The concept of guarding space instead of players is not new. In fact, it goes back to Matthews employing ‘outriders’ to stifle Robert Walls’ ‘huddle’ kick-out system in the mid-1980s while coaching Collingwood. ‘Flooding’ followed a decade later and today, most clubs implement forms of zoning. “It just makes sense because if you defend the person he can take you anywhere and control your movements to a certain extent,” Neil Craig says. However, the Hawks’ concept of a mobile, central grid involving 16-18 players and allowing them to suffocate opponents with a midfield squeeze was certainly novel. But they disdainfully reject claims they are football visionaries. They say their system is evolutionary, rather than revolutionary. They took particular notice of zone set-ups used by Adelaide and Geelong (Gold Coast coach Guy McKenna says the Cats never received kudos for this) and created their own version of it, which they continue to refine. The genius of this plan lies in its ability to turn a perceived weakness into a strength. On paper, Hawthorn’s weak point is its defence, which is generally undersized and open to exploitation against bigger, stronger opponents. Playing a heavily regulated zone system made it difficult for opponents to expose their back half. “Every team plays to certain strengths and weaknesses, and it suited our

style of play and the calibre of our players,” was all Hardwick would say on this point. Former Collingwood captain and commentator Nathan Buckley believes Hawthorn’s plans to implement a cluster-like formation inﬂuenced the type of defenders they recruited. “I think they created a game plan they believed in and then recruited around it,” Buckley says. “Maybe they felt, ‘We don’t necessarily need many great one-on-one players back there because we’re going to defend further up the ﬁeld and get help. We need defenders who are mobile enough to get over to support each other, who can play in small teams of two and three and who can get involved in the run-and-carry and rebound’. Those attributes and expectations are very different to conventional defensive play.”

Like the early settlers, the Hawks like to claim prime land (the corridor) while forcing opponents to occupy infertile country (the pockets, wings and flanks The Hawks dared to ignore convention, and logic, which dictated that premiership sides boast cast-iron defences. Geelong’s back half is supreme, while Hawthorn’s (bar playmaker Hodge) is skilful but no better than ‘good’ at limiting scoring opportunities. The cluster generally isn’t as taxing on players’ bodies as a one-on-one system can be, and it accommodates more body shapes (i.e. a robust type such as Stuart Dew, who provides great value with solid decisionmaking and precise, long-range kicking). But in some ways, this type of zone play demands more accountability. For example, if an opposition player runs across the field, five Hawthorn players might be responsible for him for two seconds each, but eventually someone must guard him if he becomes the most dangerous option. It requires great communication and concentration. Traditionalists despise the cluster because it’s mechanical

and close-to robotic, and it often forces opponents to adopt similar tactics, making for a mundane, keepings-off affair. But the Hawthorn coaching panel loves it; when executed well, it enables them to play the game on their terms. It has become the Da Vinci Code of the AFL, and has assumed almost mythical status. But is it largely just a myth? Geelong dismantled the code in last year’s Grand Final, piling up inside 50s and scoring shots. The Cats’ wastefulness, Craig says, had nothing to do with Hawthorn’s defensive ability. “As a coach, I ask myself: ‘How did Geelong get the ball inside 50 with regular ease against a team that over the year had held sides to low 40s?’ Success leaves clues.” The Hawks predictably play down the cluster’s importance in their success. “The thing that eventually helps you get where you want to go is talent. People look at the cluster and forget we had a very talented side with a number of players who had outstanding years. The cluster was just one strategic part of it,” Hardwick says. Craig says ﬁnding the best counter for such zones is “the exciting unknown of our sport”, but adds there appear two obvious options: either you go through it or around it. “Going around it can be the longest way, but it can also be the safest way.” McKenna says that regardless of the method, the pre-requisites include players who are skilful, quick and smart. A turnover brings into play two underrated bi-products of the cluster: the Hawks already have players ready to capitalise in dangerous central positions, and their forward line is generally open, making it easier to score – hence their remarkable efﬁciency in the Grand Final. “You have to constantly evolve, otherwise the competition will swallow you up and gradually overtake you,” Hardwick says, adding that the Hawks have already made some necessary amendments to their style. With up to four of their premiership back six (Stephen Gilham, Trent Croad, Birchall and Rick Ladson) likely to be missing in round one and Hodge having a limited

The defensive general Hawthorn wouldn’t have won the flag if it wasn’t for Luke Hodge’s efforts to shore up a defence exposed by the loss of injured pair Trent Croad and Clinton Young before half-time of the Grand Final. Hodge, it should be remembered, played under duress, having injured his chest/ribs in the preliminary final. “I was incredibly impressed with the way he coordinated and controlled Hawthorn’s defence in the last couple of months of the season. His leadership was outstanding,” former Brisbane Lions coach Leigh Matthews says. Matthews vividly recalls Hodge dominating in the Hawks’ round 19 win over the Lions in Launceston. “Hodge was used permanently in the back 50 and I felt it bolstered an area where Hawthorn was possibly a bit vulnerable. All of a sudden their personnel back there looked a lot better.” Every club would love a player in the Hodge mould. Hodge, 24, is aggressive, tough, highly skilled and a great decision-maker who contests equally as well in the air or on the ground. He can also play in a variety of positions. On top of the defensive roles he excelled at in the finals, he can play as a ruck-rover, as a classic half-forward or one-out in the goalsquare in a small full-forward role.

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preparation after a shoulder injury, their approach will be instructive. Craig predicts the expected copycat zoning from others will result in slower play and less scoring, for a period. “Sides generally ﬁnd ways of playing against it within half a year.” Many experts warn clubs against simply trying to replicate Hawthorn’s system because, as Buckley says, “All you’ll end up with is a cheap imitation”. This view is shared by Craig, who has enlisted the expertise of assistant coach Todd Viney, who joined the Crows during pre-season after four years at Hawthorn. “If you identify things that ﬁt with your philosophies as a coach, the way you want to play the game and your personnel,” he says, “you might just come up with a model that’s the biggest and the best for a period of time.” McKenna believes he might have stumbled on to the answer to the cluster. After examining how teams have beaten it, he was reminded of some effective zone-breaking tactics used commonly in another sport, which he refused to divulge and is not one of the usual candidates

FAST FORWARDS: Cyril Rioli and Mark Williams are a key part of a ﬂexible Hawthorn forward set up.

(soccer, basketball, hockey or water polo). “It’s played in Australia and it’s very close to our hearts,” was his cryptic clue. “I reckon our game will end up very similar in the way it’s played, and it’ll still make for a very exciting brand of football.” Buckley believes the next major trend will be an offensive theory, perhaps a method of moving the ball quickly through a zone defence. “Clubs will be more protective of intellectual property, so they won’t be as likely to

An outside view he competition’s two dominant teams, Geelong and Hawthorn, employ styles that some consider an insult to the game’s traditional roots. And yet, their respective approaches are being copied around the League, selected as paths to success. How did we get here? Surprisingly, a man born in the United States might have some answers. Brian Goorjian (above) is the National Basketball League’s most successful coach, having recently led the South Dragons to a championship in his first season with the club, his sixth title in 20 seasons as a coach. Goorjian, 55, has a remarkable technical grasp of his sport, but is also an astute thinker when it comes to our game. He is a confidant of many current and past AFL coaches, and is happy to share information with them. Goorjian understands only too well that coaches such as Alastair Clarkson (right) have to be adaptable; they simply have to find a way to win, especially when they might not have the most talent. “In my profession, you do everything you possibly

divulge any of the nuances of what they do, and those nuances will be harder to detect because they won’t be as obvious.” Queried on Hawthorn’s next tactical advance, Hardwick laughs: “That’s for Hawthorn to know and everyone else to ﬁnd out! Seriously, that’s Clarko’s greatest strength – he’s always looking for the next edge. We often joke at Hawthorn that whenever he goes for a run, he comes back and challenges the coaches. He drives us to

can within the rules to win.” He points to Clarkson’s approach, with emphasis placed not on man-on-man football but on zone defence involving midfielders and smaller forwards pushing into space when required, while skilled players are positioned to win the ball on their own and transfer it quickly to key forwards. “I don’t know if they’re picking the brain of basketball, but as the game is evolving, the tactics are becoming more basketball-like,” Goorjian says. So, can the zone be beaten? Geelong showed in the Grand Final that it could dismantle it (but failed to capitalise). Coach Mark Thompson’s system – cultivated over a period and seen at its best in the past two seasons – requires players to run non-stop, take risks and move the ball as quickly as possible, mostly by hand. It’s a style to which many are unaccustomed, and in some ways reminiscent of a system National Basketball Association coach Mike D’Antoni employed successfully at the Phoenix Suns, an exciting, high-scoring team that moved the ball in transition at rapid pace with tremendous offensive efficiency.

become better and to think outside the square.”

Unsociable football – living on the edge John Kennedy has long been an inﬂuence on Clarkson – it goes back to their coach-player relationship at North Melbourne in the 1980s – and there is plenty of the master’s steel in the protégé’s approach. Clarkson has instilled in his young team a hardness and vigour – and intimidation

This isn’t a natural way to play either sport – they have roots in a physical, grinding approach – but it works on the scoreboard. “Geelong has revolutionised the game,” says Goorjian, pointing to the Cats’ supreme decision-making ability. He says their gameplan has taken “an enormous amount of time and development and tremendous patience” to implement. “They’re doing something special with their methodology of teaching. They’re showing players how to make decisions under pressure, and they’re phenomenal at it.” While teams have tried to copy Hawthorn’s defensive tactics, Goorjian believes Geelong’s style cannot be replicated overnight. He does, however, predict that rapid-fire style is the future. “There’s going to be more zoning areas, more up-and-down play and more emphasis on skill and decision making.” But change won’t be flawless. Rule changes loom as necessary, according to Goorjian, to ensure offensive set-ups can catch up and match new defensive structures. He nominates removing ball-ups and allocating extra points for goals kicked from outside 50, and even a shot clock to streamline the game.

TOM MINEAR

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factor – reminiscent of Kennedy’s Hawthorn sides of the 1960s and ’70s, which he transformed into football ‘Commandos’ through a combination of ﬁtness and fury. To watch tough nuts such as Hodge, Campbell Brown and Jordan Lewis crash and bash, even when carrying injuries, is a throwback to archetypal Hawk warriors Matthews, Don Scott, Dermott Brereton and Robert DiPierdomenico, who were tough (physically and mentally), aggressive, always mean and often dangerous. The Hawks zone off a lot, but when the ball is up for grabs they play primal, kamikaze footy. They readily concede they tread the tightrope between controlled aggression and indiscretion – Buckley termed it “unsociable football” – but they are willing to wear certain consequences because of the beneﬁts it reaps. Hardwick explains: “If you look at the most successful sides over the past 10 years, there’s no coincidence that they generally give away the most free kicks and tend to have the most players

RUTHLESS: The Hawks’ ‘unsociable’

football is a throwback to past warriors such as Robert DiPierdomenico.

reported. At Hawthorn, we love players who hate to lose – whether they are ﬁghting over a Sherrin on Grand Final day or the last piece of cheese on the dinner plate.”

List management – piece-by-piece

The Hawthorn depth chart Hawthorn has steadily built a list (the youngest in the AFL) with players capable of slotting into various roles, depending on given situations. They believe some of their less experienced or untried players are also good enough to hold down key roles in their system.

RUCKS

Under Clarkson, who was appointed in September 2004, the Hawks absorbed the retirements of experienced team men including Nick Holland, Angelo Lekkas, Luke McCabe and Rayden Tallis, and traded prominent players such as Peter Everitt, Nathan Thompson, Jade Rawlings and Jonathan Hay, and delisted others. They replaced them with more athletic, skilful youngsters, recruited to fill specific needs. Franklin and Roughead naturally attract plenty of draft strategy discussion, but they weren’t the only coups. The Hawks also picked Jordan Lewis, Xavier Ellis, Cyril Rioli, Grant Birchall and Tom Murphy, took chances with Clinton Young, Stephen Gilham and Ben McGlynn as rookies (all are now senior list players) and claimed mature-age bargains Stuart Dew and Brent Guerra, whom Clarkson had observed while he was an assistant at Port Adelaide. Like the great dynasties of Melbourne in the 1950s and ’60s, Hawthorn and Essendon of the 1980s, the Brisbane Lions of the early 2000s, and Geelong of more recent times, this Hawk group is developing together, creating a talented and deep pool. “Credit there goes firstly to our recruiting staff and also to our development coaches Chris Fagan and Geoff Morris.

Robert Campbell * Brent Renouf * Simon Taylor Max Bailey Luke Lowden Tim Walsh (r)

MIDFIELDERS (Inside) Sam Mitchell * Brad Sewell * Jordan Lewis * Travis Tuck Josh Kennedy Liam Shiels Garry Moss (r)

(Outside) Chance Bateman * Clinton Young * Ben McGlynn Jarryd Morton Beau Muston Brendan Whitecross Shane Savage Will Sierakowski (r)

Beau Dowler Jordan Lisle Riley Milne (r)

(Small) Campbell Brown * Brent Guerra * Luke Hodge * Xavier Ellis * Rick Ladson * Thomas Murphy Matthew Suckling (r)

FORWARDS (Tall) Lance Franklin * Jarryd Roughead * Tim Boyle Mitch Thorp Ryan Schoenmakers

(Small)

DEFENDERS (Tall)

Cyril Rioli * Mark Williams * Stuart Dew * Michael Osborne * Cameron Stokes (r) Luke Bruest (r) Haydn Kiel (r) Carl Peterson (r)

Trent Croad * Stephen Gilham * Grant Birchall *

* Played in 2008 premiership team (r) Rookie

We develop players really well and we work hard on them being able to play different roles and not just being pigeon-holed,” Hardwick says. The Hawks have also started stockpiling NSW-based scholarship players to offset

DEPTH:

The Hawks have plenty of talent waiting in the wings, including midﬁelder Travis Tuck.

expected effects of the upcoming ‘diluted’ drafts. They have nine rookies (more than ever), with one – Will Sierakowski – having graduated from the scholarship system. Will Langford, son of club great and AFL Commissioner Chris, is also on the books.

WATCH BEFORE THE GAME SATURDAY NIGHTS ON TEN

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AR01 p72-78 Hawthorn.indd 78

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mindgames

Introducing

Maxwell Simon Lloyd speaks with new Collingwood captain n Nick Maxwell about overcoming early rejection, what he has learned from Mick Malthouse, how hiss leadership style reﬂects his personality and pushing hing through the pain barrier.

PHOTO: MICHAEL WILLSON/AFL PHOTOS

ick Maxwell’s psychological profile shows all the characteristics of a strong leader; he is highly ambitious, resilient, dependable and confident. What makes the profile outstanding is that Nick also maintains an unwavering focus on the greater good. Termed ‘socialised power’, Nick’s high concern for others means he is happiest supporting and developing the playing group and club so that everyone succeeds. He uses his empathetic relationship skills to maintain an intimate understanding of every player’s situation, their challenges and desires, so that he can get the very best out of them.

ollingwood Taking on the Collingwood ignificantly captaincy hasn’t signifi haviour changed Nick’s behaviour ways led because he has always e past two by example. In the een awarded seasons, he has been what internally is seen as estigious one of the most prestigious n Brown awards, the Gavin Desire Indicator Award. es This acknowledges est the person who best field team demonstrates on-fi entless acts through a relentless centers’ focus on ‘one percenters’ – tackles, chases, shepherds ame and spoils. This same gritty persistence saw rdles in him overcome hurdles FL career his pursuit of an AFL and he continues to make the most of every opportunity that has come his way.

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mindgames Simon Lloyd: You missed out on selection many times when you were coming through the ranks. Did you ever doubt yourself? Nick Maxwell: My early career

was characterised by rejection. In Geelong, if you are not in the Falcons (TAC Cup) team, you are not expected to make it in the AFL. At 14, 15 and 16, I got cut from the Falcons after training with them. At 17, I trained through the pre-season but broke a vertebrae, so got cut again. Finally, I got a go in the ﬁnal year and played for most of that year. I grew up with Jimmy Bartel and he was always going to play AFL. I was miles off him, so I never thought I was going to make it. SL: But there was some part of you that never gave up? NM: There were so many false

starts. At 18, I was told Port Adelaide was interested, but nothing came of it. The same followed with Hawthorn. Then Geelong invited me to train with them but, on the last day, they said they were not going to pick me. Then out of nowhere I got a message from a mate telling me Collingwood had picked me as a rookie. It was hard to believe it was really happening. I knew I had to make the most of this opportunity. SL: What motivates and drives you now? NM: (President) Eddie (McGuire)

and the board, (coach) Mick (Malthouse) and the players have put their trust in me, so letting them down would be unthinkable. Sometimes everything I do on-ﬁeld is not going to be good enough to win, but if I have done everything I could, then I’ve done my job. SL: Tell me about your relationship with Mick Malthouse. NM: While I did not always

understand the way Mick has handled me, I do now. After my ﬁrst year he said, ‘I am going to be hard on you to get the most out of you’. If I put in an average performance, he would be harder on me than anyone else, and sometimes it was so hard I thought it was uncalled for, but that stuff developed me into the player and leader I am today. Now, he is comfortable that I am doing my job on and off the ﬁeld so he just lets me get on with it.

Eddie and the board, Mick and the players have put their trust in me, so letting them down would be unthinkable He recognised early I had my own drive and ambition. That is his talent, picking things early to get the best out of players. Overall he has had a huge inﬂuence on my career. SL: In the 2008 pre-season, you were handed the No. 5 guernsey previously worn by retired champion and close friend Nathan Buckley. ‘Bucks’ said he wanted you to wear his number because of his admiration for your hardness, commitment and team-ﬁrst attitude. What ran through your mind when he suggested it to you? NM: My initial reaction was, ‘No

way, I don’t want it’. I didn’t want the pressure or the comparison because I am never going to win Copeland trophies or Brownlow medals. But then he told me why he wanted me to have it and, as he has been very influential on my career, I realised it was a great honour to receive it. If I didn’t take it, he was going to offer it to Dale (Thomas) or ‘Pendles’ (Scott Pendlebury). Those two are going to be stars of the game and win Copeland trophies, and I knew they would be compared to Bucks, so in a way I also wanted to protect them from that. SL: You are the 45th Collingwood captain. It must be very humbling and challenging – tell me about your first five months in the job? NM: Footy-wise, not much has

changed. Leadership-wise, I’ve continued to play a similar role as I did in previous years. I think it is important that I don’t change a lot.

SL: How has your leadership style developed over the years? NM: In everything, I lead by

example; I think it is easier to lead off the field than on. In a game when you are stuffed and things aren’t going right, that is when you have an opportunity to stand up. For me, it is all about my attack on the footy and on the game. I am never going to get 30 touches, so I lead more by my physical presence than my stats. SL: The majority of your leadership takes place off-field. How do you approach this? NM: My off-field leadership

style is just a reflection of who I am. Relationships are very important to me so I try to build strong bonds with everyone. My on- and off-field actions stem from the same place and my role is to support and build up the team. I don’t just aim to make my teammates better footballers; I aim to help them become better people. SL: In addition to the club and player values, you are really passionate about teammates earning respect and showing respect. Can you elaborate? NM: When I first came to

Collingwood, I learned underr Jimmy Clement; his style was old-school. Just as he had to earn his stripes at Fremantle, you had to earn his respect before he would give you the time of day. I’ve always been the other way; I want everyone to be comfortable. But this year I made the decision that, yes, we all want the team to be happy

Off the top SL: Let’s do some free association. Tell me the first thing that pops into your head when I say the following: Collingwood: Side by side. Nathan Buckley: Support. Jimmy Clement: Guidance. Mick Malthouse: Grateful. Football: An avenue. Motivation: Fulfilling my

potential. Setbacks: Part of life. The future: Hard work. The hip and shoulder:

Part of the game. Leadership: Responsibility. Captaincy: Honour. The No. 5 jumper: A number. Life after football: Less work. Anzac Day: Anticipation, remembrance and mateship Persistence: Success. Rookie list: Opportunity. Natural ability or character:

Character. h a e

5 and feel supported, but they have to return that by rising to some high expectations – it was Jimmy coming out in me. Every player must prove their value and, in doing so, earn respect. Respect is important on so many levels. Some of the most important people at the club are the volunteers who have been AFL RECORD visit aﬂ .com.au 83

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mindgames

Others on Maxwell

LEADERS: Mick Malthouse, Eddie McGuire and Nick Maxwell.

around for decades. I really admire that they do it all purely for love. If anyone disrespected these people, who I consider to be the heart and soul of the club, I would be absolutely furious. It is important the team understands where I stand on this. SL: Where do you need to develop your leadership style? NM: Probably all of it. I just

want to be better at everything. SL: You recently made history as the subject of the ﬁrst successful AFL Appeals Board case. How did you handle this challenging time? NM: It was two weeks of

pure frustration. I could not understand what I had done wrong; even the prosecution said it was the perfect bump,

that there was nothing wrong with it technically. Once I found out I had been suspended, I accepted it. It was Eddie who said we were appealing, which I am eternally grateful to him for, although I didn’t really believe it would change the outcome. When the appeal was successful, it was a massive relief, a load off my shoulders. SL: I witnessed some critics closer to home, too. One particular Collingwood leader questioned the appeal. What was your response? NM: There were two of them. They

both said that I should not have been rubbed out, but after going through the process and getting four weeks, I should just accept it. We had some pretty heated arguments about it. They did

make outlandish promises that if I got off they would run the ‘Tan’ nude. I am still waiting – but who wants to see Josh Fraser and ‘Scruff’ (physiotherapist Dave Francis) nude anyway! SL: In round 10 of 2006, you put your body on the line in a contest where you dived in to win a hard-ball get, getting crunched by Jonathan Brown of the Brisbane Lions, and suﬀered a broken leg. You missed only six weeks and then played every game for the rest of the year. How do you respond to injury? NM: The doctors said the

best-case scenario was that I would miss 12 weeks, based on previous players who had sustained the injury. I responded by refusing to accept that. This

James Clement: Nick’s leadership style reﬂects the man himself: earthy, honest and objective. What you see is what you get. Nathan Buckley: I love his commitment to the cause. He’s come from a long way back and only enjoys a football career because he has willed himself to that position. If every player on a team shared that type of commitment, they would be hard to stop. Scott Pendlebury: A very reliable person who leads by example with his application on and off the ground.

was another lesson I learned from Jimmy early on. I had osteitis pubis for four years and, while I managed it, I would get really tight so the physiotherapists would constantly pull me up. In my third year, Jimmy said that I needed to push through the tightness in order to push through my perceived limit. That was him saying, ‘Stop being soft and get out there’. Since then, I haven’t missed a session through tightness. I keep on pushing through and haven’t yet found the limit he spoke of. Simon Lloyd, a sports psychologist, is Collingwood’s high performance manager. He will contribute regularly to the AFL Record this year.

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HJM8420_275x205_AR.pdf

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time on AFL history guru Col Hutchinson answers your queries

Like Father, like son DOUBLE ACT: Sergio

Gary Ablett senior won Geelong’s best and fairest award in 1984 and Gary junior did so 23 years l ater. How many father-son combinations have won such trophies? Sancho Martinez, North Adelaide, SA CH: The Abletts became the seventh such family double. Another Geelong family was the ﬁrst. Teddy Rankin was declared the Pivotonians’ most outstanding performer in 1903 and his son, Bert, repeated the achievement in 1917. The others have been the Clarkes at Essendon (Tom 1931 and Jack 1958 & 1962), the Murphys (Leo at Hawthorn 1936-37 and John at Fitzroy 1968, 1970, 1971, 1973 & 1977 and South Melbourne 1978), the Silvagnis at Carlton (Sergio 1962 & 1968 and Stephen 1990

and Stephen Silvagni both won Carlton’s goalkicking.

& 1996), the Martyns at North Melbourne (Brian 1957 and Mick 1989 & 1991) and the Fletchers at Essendon (Ken 1978 and Dustin 2000). If Marc Murphy can achieve the honour for the Blues, a unique threegeneration situation will occur.

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

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 Melbourne player Jack Huntington? Huntington, who played 43 games in the war-interrupted period from 1914-20, was the most prominent of three

brothers to reach VFL level, with Les playing four matches with Collingwood in 1914 and Stan ﬁve with Melbourne in 1919. A 173cm, 71kg half-forward/ forward pocket recruited from Coburg, Jack kicked 43 goals in

NAME GAME

Hawthorn draftee Ryan Schoenmakers (below) has a surname which is the name of a trade, the Dutch form of “shoemaker”. Both forms are based ultimately on the German Schuh, a shoe. The ﬁnal “s” in his name means “son of”. Somewhere in his ancestry was someone who was the son of a shoemaker. In German and English, it appears as Shoemaker and Schumacher respectively. The high-proﬁle sporting representatives of these names are ex-Formula One champion Michael Schumacher and legendary US jockey Willie Shoemaker. An older word for a shoemaker is “souter” (“soutar”/“suter”), from the Latin sutor, literally one who sews. K E VA N C A R ROL L

his career, including 22 in 1915. He died on July 17, 1971. Should you have any information in regards to Huntington, including his date of birth, please email col.hutchinson@aﬂ.com.au.

1. Cryptic footballer: ller: l Docker who is generally beaten n 2. Scrambled footballer: The drums ANSWERS: 1. (MARCUS) DRUM 2. (PAUL) MEDHURST

Answer man

p90

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timeon

NAB AFL RISING STAR

The magnificent seven As the latest batch of draftees including the Lions’ Daniel Rich, North Melbourne’s Jack Ziebell and Collingwood’s Steele Sidebottom prepare to light up the AFL stage, it is worth reﬂecting that it is seven full seasons since NAB came on board with its backing of the AFL’s Rising Star Award. Long-time judge Robert Walls critiques the talented crop of footballers who have claimed the prestigious prize during this period.

2002

2004

NICK RIEWOLDT

JARED RIVERS

(ST KILDA) Games: 158 Goals: 320 Honours: best and fairest 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007; All-Australian 2004, 2006, 2008; club leading goalkicker 2008; captain 2005; co-captain 2007; captain since 2008.

WALLS: “I remember he was fearless in his attempts to mark the footy and how he had a really good pair of hands. He was exciting and wasn’t intimidated by the fact he was just starting a League career. His kicking is still a work in progress, but it has certainly come on since then.”

2003 SAM MITCHELL (HAWTHORN) Games: 133 Goals: 22 Honours: best and fairest 2006; premiership side 2008; captain since 2008.

WALLS: “The boy was just tenacious; he had eyes only for the ball and willed himself into the contest. He didn’t have the greatest skills in the world, but had a magniﬁcent competitive attitude. The big difference now is his skills have really improved; he can go either side of his body by hand or foot and is most accomplished with his delivery.”

(MELBOURNE) Games: 70 Goals: 4

WALLS: “That year he was very good, standing up at centre half-back for the Demons. He was under a fair bit of pressure and very slightly built, but just stood ﬁrm. Everybody thought, ‘Gee, he’s going to be a terriﬁc player’, but he’s been knocked around with injury and probably hasn’t put on the size I think he should have.”

2005 BRETT DELEDIO (RICHMOND) Games: 84 Goals: 68 Honours: best and fairest 2008.

WALLS: “He was the No. 1 pick in the 2004 draft and Richmond played him straight away. He’s improved a lot in the past few years; he’s gotten bigger and stronger and has taken his defensive game to a new level. The bonus is he can now play as a midﬁelder or a marking forward.”

2006 DANYLE PEARCE (PORT ADELAIDE) Games: 71 Goals: 42

WALLS: “That year it could have been any one of him, Andrew Raines (Richmond) or Heath

Shaw (Collingwood). But Pearce was just super quick and skilful, covered enormous ground, used the ball well with his left foot and was stylish. He may have stalled a little, but the team did fall away last year.”

and they did; kept him pretty much on the wing and he was one of their few shining lights. His kicking has got to improve, but he’s a tough nut, no doubt about it.”

2007 JOEL SELWOOD (GEELONG) Games: 45 Goals: 13 Honours: premiership side 2007.

WALLS: “For the pick of the NAB AFL Rising Star winners over the journey, it’d be hard to go past Selwood. He is an absolute standout, and I think the complete package. He’s tough, courageous, talented, modest and he’s showing now really strong leadership capabilities. I’ve got little doubt he’ll captain Geelong one day.”

2008 RHYS PALMER (FREMANTLE) Games: 20 Goals: 10

WALLS: “He just got a heap of the ball in his ﬁrst year for Fremantle. They needed to play him,

IN GOOD HANDS:

Fremantle’s Rhys Palmer was a ball magnet in his ﬁrst year of AFL football.

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.

88 AFL RECORD visit aﬂ .com.au

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timeon

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX TALKING POINT

Bonded forever When it comes to football clubs, time heals all wounds. NICK BOW EN

ootball clubs are special places. They create bonds that can’t be broken by time or distance. When past players return to the fold, they are welcomed with open arms. Teammates are for ever joined by the blood, sweat and tears they spilt on the ﬁeld. Supporters are forever grateful for the memories they left behind – the speccies, 70m torpedo goals, high-octane bursts down the wing and matchsaving tackles. Certainly, there was a lot of football love in the air at the North Melbourne Hall of Fame dinner last weekend, when several past players and ofﬁcials were honoured (see breakout). As the North Melbourne faithful gathered at the Grand Hyatt, the major focus was the return of Wayne Carey, who had left the club in disgrace seven years earlier. For most of the night, everyone waited, breath baited, for the 1996 and ’99 premiership skipper to address the room. But the night was not all about Carey. Other former greats also returned to the spotlight they had known so well, and some in new guises as budding comics threatened to steal the show. First there was Laurie Dwyer, the 201-gamer known as ‘Twinkletoes’, who was a star on the wing for North from 1956-70. In accepting his place in the Hall of Fame, he thanked his wife, Mary, for her support throughout his career and, in explaining her absence that night, joked: “She’s at home with shingles. I don’t even know the fella and hope I can trust him.” Raucous applause followed.

EMOTIONAL RETURN:

Former great Wayne Carey was welcomed backed into the North Melbourne fold last weekend.

For most of the night, everyone waited, breath baited, for the 1996 and ’99 premiership skipper to address the room Just like his playing days, Dwyer could do no wrong. Then there was Denis Pagan, the two-time premiership coach known for his intensity and demanding nature. Not exactly someone you’d pick to be ‘Captain Laughs’. But he, too, had the audience in hysterics, when he explained why he had named his blue heeler after one of his former players, Anthony Rock. “(They have) the same characteristics: loveable, suspicious, affectionate, nasty – all in the one breed,” he deadpanned.

Hall of Fame inductees John ‘Jack’ Adams, Wayne Carey, Barry Cheatley, Laurie Dwyer, John Lewis, Albert Mantello, Denis Pagan. David Dench and Keith Greig, previously inducted, were elevated to ‘Legend’ status.

But amid all the laughs, you had to feel for comedian Peter Rowsthorn, who performed on the night but failed to hit the same heights as Dwyer and Pagan. Admittedly, he didn’t do himself any favours at the start of his routine when he outed himself as a Hawthorn supporter and mocked the Roos’ ﬁnances. Soon enough, though, it was time for more weighty matters. ‘King’ Carey was ready to take the stage. It was an emotional Carey who addressed the gathering, which included former teammates Corey McKernan, Rock and Shannon Grant, and he just wanted to say ‘sorry’. Sorry for the circumstances in which he departed the club, sorry for the pain he had caused family, friends

and many former teammates, and sorry for more recent erratic behaviour. Carey said he was a “failure as an emotional man” but had started to “make private amends to certain people and (I) have more to do”. He made it clear, though, he didn’t expect any sympathy. But he got it – in spades. He received the most rousing applause of any of the inductees that night, who also included ‘Legends’ David Dench and Keith Greig, and was given a standing ovation. Fortunately, footy clubs offer forgiveness as readily as they laugh at their heroes’ jokes. There was one thing missing from the night, though. Despite attempts by several of the Hall of Fame inductees, including Carey, no one could say exactly how the much-vaunted ‘Shinboner spirit’ is distilled. One part cow shin, add the hot air from a Pagan spray, then a blade of grass from Arden Street? No one could say. Not that that should come as any surprise. Scholars and media types have been trying to deﬁne it for years. And it’s been about as hard to pin down as the meaning of life. But, just like life, it exists nonetheless, its heartbeat as strong as ever. That much was clear last Saturday night.

90 AFL RECORD visit aﬂ .com.au

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Aurion V6: In a league of its own

10/3/09,

3:15

The rules of the Big 6 game have been re-written. Now it's a game of power and efficiency, performance and control. The Toyota Aurion V6. The most fuel efficient big Aussie 6 at 9.9L/100km,* while also pumping out 200 kW. An aerodynamic body thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s F1 inspired. Plus, Driver Assist Technologies including Vehicle Stability Control, Traction Control and Active Braking with intelligence, all standard. No wonder the Toyota Aurion changed the game. *ADR81/02

combined cycle. Actual fuel consumption may vary depending on driving style and conditions.

oh what a feeling!