Universal Love Q&A with Tim Lawrence, Lachie's manager - chapter III

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From Tim -

Tim- What are you passionate about outside of footy? Can you tell us some of the work you you’ve been doing lately with youths outside of football? #Dixer


Ha ha you hit me from every angle, Arcassius . I think I touched on this earlier but I don’t do the player management thing full time at the moment. If I wanted to start my own management business I could do it now but to be honest, I enjoy working with just a few of the lads so I can concentrate on them and still have a life away from footy – which come late November, after Draft day, I’m finding I need more and more each year.

So management is my ‘life’ – I’m single and don’t have kids, I don’t have time really to change that, it’s too hard with my lifestyle – but I do have another job. I work for the Aboriginal Health Council of SA, heading up a project called ‘Shedding the Smokes’. It’s an innovation project, funded federally be the Department of Health as part of the ‘Tackling Indigenous Smoking’ programs.

The project is focused on the two communities of Yalata (which is 220km west of Ceduna) and up at Coober Pedy. It is based on the whole ‘Men Shed’ philosophy that we have in the non-Indigenous world. You know, the places where men can hang out, do men’s stuff together and then, hopefully, talk about men specific issues such as mental and physical health, relationship issues, being a dad, grandfather or uncle.... that type of thing. However, in an Aboriginal context a ‘shed’ may not actually be a physical building as such, but it may be a space where men meet and talk. It might be a place by a creek, or a place where they go hunting, that type of thing. in Coober Pedy we do our yarning and health/social discussions ‘out bush’ where the men love to get out of town and get back to country. We have bought a couple of marquee’s that we take out of town, where a GP or Aboriginal Health Worker can do health checks in a comfortable environment but in a private environment also.

See Aboriginal men are no different to rest of us men. We aren’t really that good at going to see the doctor for a check-up. We aren’t that good about talking to each other if we are feeling down or angry. We aren’t always good at sharing our feelings or asking for help.

So Aboriginal men face the same stuff as we ‘older’ mean find difficult to deal with – I think younger guys are going to do this a lot better think our generation(s) – but due to cultural reasons, they won’t go to a local clinic for ‘men’s stuff’ if women go there also (which includes female family members, so privacy is an issue). So this creates a real challenge, in a small community, when there isn’t exactly a lot of choices when it comes to health care.

Did you all know that the lifespan of Aboriginal men is still 10-20 years less than the rest of us? Whilst I can’t remember the exact context, there are quotes of Aboriginal men in some remote communities of having an average life span of 47 years old. That’s horrific. In 2017 Aboriginal brothers, nephews, sons and fathers are dying, on average, at 47 years of age.

So, ‘Shedding the Smokes’ is a project, as its name suggests, with an aim to try and reduce smoking rates, amongst males aged 15 years old and upwards in these remote Aboriginal communities. These smoking cessation discussions are very holistic and involve ‘soft’ discussions enabling men to learn more about the dangers of smoking, ways to help give up but in a space that was safe and appropriate. Not only will we have these discussions but we will also talk about other health matters also such as diabetes, sexual health, mental health, eye health and I have employed a full time, male Aboriginal Health Worker to run the programme on a day to day basis within Yalata and Coober Pedy. These Health Workers are LOCALS so know the local men, have the local men’s trust and know all the appropriate local cultural protocols. We have a local Aboriginal man running the programme in Yalata, Walter Champion (Champion by name, Champion by nature – he is a legend) – not me, a middle aged white man who lives in Adelaide. We will do health checks with the fella’s also so we can start overcoming this sure of men becoming very sick before anything can be done; we can overcome that issue of men not going to the local clinic. Chronic Disease is a massive issue still with remote Aboriginal health and smoking is a gateway disease to this.

Further to that, we will do regular activities with the fellas. Painting, gardening, making artefacts, hunting and very importantly, reconnecting with the land. We also have the capacity to reconnect the older men with the younger men… this then gives the opportunity to share stories of local dreaming, cultural stories and local lore. See, these things are not written down anywhere but are expressed through local language, so the only way culture and history can be shared is through conversation. So they can reconnect again through this programme. Skills can be shared and passed on also through painting, wood burning and hunting. In fact to share these stories and skills, the fella’s decided that we should get a Go Pro so we can record things they are doing to not only pass onto younger generations and mainstream society, but very cleverly, as part of our final reports to the Department of Health.

In Yalata, the ‘male health shed’ is actually a building called the Blue House – it’s aptly called that because it painted bright blue! It has been used for men’s focused programmes before but due to funding cessation it has stopped, leaving no men’s programmes at all in the community. There are plenty for women and children and they have a Youth worker for the younger kids but nothing for the men. The enthusiasm within Yalata to get the Blue House up and running again has been incredible and it’s very obvious that they don’t want to lose the Blue House again, so, very cleverly they are coming up with ways to make the project self-sufficient, so it doesn’t need to be as reliant on funding from the tax payer.

So not only are we trying to arrest and destroy physical health issues, by making people feel better about themselves – reconnecting with culture, giving something to look forward to each day (going to the Blue House) and giving men the capacity to be able to provide again – we are also potentially helping men just feel better about themselves again…. So the positive mental health aspects are also huge. It’s going to be interesting, with the final government reports, on how we show these outcomes because there aren’t statistics around people ‘feeling better about themselves’. We will have to use some clever language to paint it, I think.

Anyway, we are only still in the early stages of Shedding the Smokes. No one has ever tried to do this kind of thing in remote Aboriginal Australia before, so it’s pretty ground breaking stuff but stuff that will work. That we already know.

Once we can show it works, we will put together resources, speak to Aboriginal Health Workers and health departments on how it can be done and, who knows, hopefully we can finally spend the money in the right way and help Close the Gap on Aboriginal health.


Most of my recent replies to you all have been while I was in Coober Pedy over the last couple of days with Trevor Wingard – Chad’s dad. Trev works with the AHCSA Tackling Indigenous Smoking team, a slightly different project but with an obvious common theme or goal. Chad’s older brother, Trent, works for the TIS team also.

Chad is becoming quite engaged with Aboriginal community both with Port Power’s Aboriginal Academy but he often rocks up when the TIS Team are doing some promotional and education work. Obviously he is a handy draw card!

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Trent W, Chad W and Tim at this years, Port Power Cup earlier this month


editor : I asked this one because Tim does some really interesting work in the community that is worth talking about and sharing, Thanks Tim for the epic reply
 
Arcassius said:
From Tim -

How often if ever do you sniff around on places like big footy

I was going to say never but that’s not true obviously tonygeeks . Maybe once or twice a year but never to try and find anything out. Just for shits and giggles if I’m bored and I’ll tell you why.

Firstly please don’t any of you get offended with anything I say here. People who know me know that whilst I am fun, not overly PC and engaging (well, I think I am anyway) I can also be confronting, very honest and I don’t always hold back as much as I should.

Now, my intention with this answer is not to upset or offend anyone. In fact, because of our engagement together over the past few years, I know you are all open and understanding of things and for what it’s worth, any negative comments I have about BigFooty below is not necessarily aimed at any of you, including yourself, tonygeeks.

Some people use BigFooty to discuss their love of the game, their club and their favourite players. Talk about potential draftees or recruits and sometimes if things aren’t going well, discuss what their club needs to do to improve.

These type of things are great and I reckon, what blog sites like BigFooty are perfect for.

And then there are others. Others who publicly abuse the players and denigrate their character. Question the players motives. Question their work ethic or commitment to the cause. People who think their opinions are valid and correct. They don’t give a s**t about what they say or the impact it has. In fact, go back and look at my comments about young people not considering the impacts of their actions others and its relationship with social media.

Unfortunately, there are grown people - adults - who act like kids on sites such as this. Keyboard warriors who have no experience, understanding or factual insight into what they are saying.

I don’t encourage any of my players, their families or loved ones to ever look at BigFooty or similar websites. Why would I when there are gutless idiots on here attacking other people with no justification?

Society is evolving constantly so we understand what is acceptable to say to other people and how to treat other people.

There are some people on BigFooty who have missed this evolution. They don’t deserve any recognition of any kind.

Again, the fact you are all on a thread such as this tells me you are genuinely interested in what this site should be used for and I know that this board has little tolerance for fools.

The reality is I work in a world where there is a lot of smoke and mirrors. But you know what? By and large I can’t work like that. So if I need to know information, I’ll speak to people in the industry who, if they can’t give me factual, truthful answer, they can give me an opinion based on industry experience and knowledge.

Unfortunately, that isn’t BigFooty.

I hope this hasn’t offended any of you. I consider ALL of you to be good guys on here, who use this site in a positive way with discussion and I wouldn’t come on and do this if I thought otherwise. I haven’t ever engaged with any other club board.

I guess you need to look into a mirror and decide yourselves which category you actually fall into.
Click to expand...

Love this response. Reminded me of the line "the internet's not written in pencil, it's written in Ink"

 

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From Tim -

What are the points of difference between managers when a young man is in the market for a manager? Are there rules against "incentive" gifts to lure clients?

How accurate is Ballers?


I guess, like anyone Tayl0r , there are different things about managers and management groups and what a young player (and their family) may want from them.

Some players want a big company that understands the system, has strength and knowledge with negotiations and has many connections within media and marketing pathways. I should add, media and marketing is something that comes after a player is established and not something to worry about in your draft year… when you haven’t actually been drafted yet!!

Some players want a smaller group or an individual manager.

A lot of currently accredited managers may be lawyers, accountants or other businessmen. The reality is, that a lot of what we do after a player is drafted, we are all pretty similar on. However, and here come a blatant sell about us, I always wonder what skill sets many agents have to help a player to get drafted. It’s all wonderful seeling what you can do after a player is drafted but…. They have to get their first don’t they? I don’t need to go into the experience in this area that Rohdey and I have and there are other managers within our group who have just as much (sometimes more) experience in the requirements leading up to the draft.

I should add there are other managers/groups with similar, appropriate experience as we hold so its not all just about us at Stride.

Let’s face it, a kid going into their draft year, along with their family, have no idea about what could happen in the final 12-18 months from draft day and unfortunately, many of the inexperienced groups sell the player also sorts of garbage to make it look like they can get them drafted and to keep them away from the more experienced groups.

There is only one person who can get a player drafted and that is the player themselves. That’s the simple truth.

So these little floggish groups (are you getting the vibe I am giving out yet?? Ha ha) tell players they will make DVDs of them playing and send them to the club recruiting staff or even put their vision on Youtube!! So they either don’t understand that recruiters are at the games, have access to the Champion Data vision for every state league game and spend all week reviewing it or they just happily knowingly talk bullshit to trick kids into signing with them.

Trust me, unfortunately there are many young AFL footballers in the system who are being guided by fools and they are taking the piss. It really, really annoys me.

Not every kid would want to sign with me/us and not every player do I/we want to sign so there are players to go around but we have too many accredited agents in the system currently and too many of them are not up to scratch…. Which is a blight on our industry and really bad for young players trying to make the most of their opportunity.

Sorry Tayl0r, that got a bit too much about me didn’t it. What I am trying to say id different players want different things and there is variety in the table when it comes to management groups. I still think the relationship and trust between player and agent is the most vital thing.

As far as inducements go, it’s a big no, no. We have had some clown join the industry in recent years and whilst he has signed a couple of players who have been drafted, he has mass signed heaps of kids who won’t get drafted. Can you imagine the expectation these kids now have because of this? And I hope he picks up the pieces for them after they drafted, which we have to do. Anyway, despite the fact it is clearly stated within the rules that you can use inducements. He has been happily doing it but got caught recently and has been sanctioned.

Possibly in the US (in regards to accuracy of Ballers) they are allowed to use inducements (I think there is enough evidence to say they can) so it is a different scene to what we are in and well could be accurate.
 
From Tim -

Quick question - lot of talk about trading during the draft as happens in the NFL. What are the ramifications of this for player managers if this does occur?

Dormammu , it is just talk at the moment but I think there is no doubt it is coming and I think sooner rather than later and possibly a good chance as early as this year. It looks as if the draft could be spread out over a couple of days NFL style. Nothing like tormenting the kids and their families with another day waiting. For some of them it has been 3 months since they last played… so what’s another day to add to the hell?

It won’t affect the managers at all. Let’s face it, the boys could end up anywhere anyway – its out of our control – and at the end of the day we still go back to our homes as we have done for the X amount of days beforehand.

Strangely, nothing really changes for the players either. They still have no control over where they are going…. Or possibly going again on draft night!

What we do need to do, however, is ensure that the players and their families and loved ones understand that if little Billy’s name gets called out, yes, the boy is definitely going to the AFL BUT… we might have to wait until the last name is called out on the night before we can be sure where that career is going to start out.
 
From Tim (quite possibly his most in-depth answer ever) -

Tim. It takes a community to raise a child, so it also takes a community to create a draft ready young footy player. What steps do you think the footy community can take to invest and grow young talent? Also, on a narrower focus (the broader focus is the real question, this is just a curiosity), what steps do you think supporters can take to help grow young talents where they are at least motivated to help out given the self-interest (clubs priority access to academies).



FreoMonocle , this is possibly one of the best questions I have ever been asked.

We can sit here and crap on about Fremantle, the AFL, high performance, pathways, player agents etc but it means nothing if we can’t keep producing young, local talent is there?

I remember hearing (or reading) recently that the introduction of GWS and Gold Coast – with the resultant 80 or so players listed – has stretched the nationwide talent pool that much that the standard had dropped below an acceptable level.

What a load of s**t.

I’ll tell you what is going wrong and you will have to forgive me, as per usual I am about to go off on a different tangent for a bit, but I will return to what people can do locally to help nurture and develop talent. This could be my longest ever reply to date. This, in my eyes, is one of the greatest issues we have with the current ‘State of the Game’.

First will be Chapter 1 – What we are seeing in today’s AFL game, then Chapter 2 – Pre-Draft, then finally, Chapter 3 – What can we do to help at local level… which also doubles as FreoMonocle ’s answer.


Chapter 1 – AFL These days


Ten or so years ago – just after the mighty Cats with their attacking, care free brand of footy took them to their first of 3 premierships in 5 years in 2007 – that crafty coach, Alastair Clarkson bought in the game this moving, evolving spread (or zone) of players. The media called it ‘Clarko’s Cluster’.

I remember seeing a couple of other coaches do similar things. Neil Craig had something – to a lesser level – happening with Adelaide in the mid 2000’s. Rodney Eade built a metaphoric Arc, summonsed the god Tlaloc (yes, I’m watching Vikings on Netflix at the moment) and created the ‘Flood’.

But Clarkson – unlike the other two – won a premiership in 2008 against the freewheeling Cats. Now, as we have discussed with rule changes and how coaches work out ways to exploit changes, well they also start implementing facets from the premiership team into their own game plan, the following year.

Strangely during this period, Geelong, still using their attacking, pressure brand of football won the flag again in 2009 but other coaches seemed to have noticed what Clarkson bought in and over the next few years we saw the Cluster develop to the point that now, we see this low scoring game style where 1/3 of the ground is full with 36 players for 80% of the time.

Defence, Defence, Defence. You need to defend before you can attack, they tell us. Well that’s a load of s**t too – yes, you do need to defend before you can attack in the current world of AFL football because if one coach totally dropped the defend, defend, defend mantra, they would struggle to score enough to win a game.. and eventually, go back to the defend, defend, defend style so they could compete and let’s face it, coaches get sacked if they don’t win games.

Don’t ever forget that coaches both coach and plan (list management) for the now (maybe 1 or 2 years ahead) because if they don’t succeed in the short to mid-term, they will be shown the door. So they don’t have the long term interest of the game (from a business perspective anyway) in their mind because, quite simply they can’t.

Let’s face it, many players are at a club longer than a coach and for us supporters, well we are there for a life time aren’t we?

Don’t’ get me wrong, I am not suggesting that coaches don’t care about the game – of course they do, as much as anyone – but their career lifespan doesn’t often allow for it. They need to ‘be in the now’ so to speak and that is something they have no choice about.

I should throw in here that there is one team that is clearly starting to change this mould – Richmond. Yeah, they defend hard but they also run in numbers and attack hard. The Cats do it at times and amongst some others, so are the Dockers! I’m sure many of you, like me, like the way Freo have been playing this year. I’m pleased because in the past few years, I don’t think Fremantle have had the players on their list that suited the ultra-defensive style of game. And sorry, whether you like it or not, West Coast with Kennedy and Darling do it also. In fact, when I think about it, I think all clubs are starting to do it more which is a good sign.

Let me elaborate further and I’ll use your beloved Freo as a classic example of one major thing that has been happening – the advent of low scoring droughts. Why isn’t Tleloc an AFL fan??

I’m dusting off my coaches hat here. It’s dusty and covered in cobwebs but hopefully I can explain it. You will hear about teams ‘holding or controlling possession of the ball', ‘slowing the game down’ or ‘running the clock down’. When I coached – and I was a coach that had my boys transition and defend hard but by Christ, we would attack hard and kick goals too. However, when we needed to slow the game down back then, there was only one way to do it. And that was to chip the ball around by foot and hit team mates so they could take the mark. Stop. Push back. Look around then pass – by foot again – to another team mate.. often to a team mate standing in a more defensive area than the guy who kicked it!

So the key to slowing a game down is by distributing the ball by foot and not handball. Kick the ball by foot leads to a mark, the umpire blows their whistle then… no one from the opposition can touch them for a few seconds, then repeat and the game clocks runs down and more importantly, the opposition can’t get the ball and if you can’t get the ball, you can’t score.

Handballing doesn’t slow the game down – the umpire doesn’t blow a whistle to stop the opposition from tackling you when you receive a handball – it actually makes the game go fast.

But what also happens, is that the opposition, without the ball, will have time to start defending and move players into defensive areas.. because they want to ensure that team with the ball can’t score. So what’s happening is actually two things. The opposition doesn’t have the ball (so can’t score) and they are also moving into more defensive areas or positions which means… they have physically moved away from their own goals making it harder – or for it to take longer, albeit only by a few seconds but a few seconds is a long time in modern footy – for them to score if they do happen to get the ball back.

So the team with the ball, when controlling or slowing the play down, has a double win if you like. Does that make sense?

So now we move forward a few years to today.

We have now progressed this style even further where teams have now gone ‘ok, what is an even better way to slow the game down and focus on being defensive? What is a way we can stop the opposition from scoring even if we don’t have the ball?’

One of my mantras when coaching was this. ‘When we have the ball we need to find space on the ground and in the game. If they get the ball, we take the space away from them.’ It’s pretty simple when you think about and with everything that happens in football – at any level - it actually follows this principle all the time.

So back to the question, ‘How can we stop the opposition from scoring even when we don’t have the ball?’. It’s easy. We just take away total space from them – even if it means taking our own space away. So we will push our 18 players into their defence which means, the will also have to put their 18 players in the same are so we don’t get the ball by outnumbering them…… and this whole shemozzle of contested, congested, pressured and let’s be honest, largely unskilled style of football has developed and now has been ingrained into our beloved game.

Now, as I have mentioned before one brave coach may go ‘bugger this, we are going old school’ but they are on a hiding to nothing. Firstly because if they get the ball they are going to hit a wall of 18 opposition players in their F50, where they are then likely to lose possession and so the 18 players from the opposition will run together, in tandem forward and outnumber their defenders who are standing on their lonesome trying to work out which of the wall of players they should run towards..

So the only way we can fix this is by one of two ways.

  1. The game slowly evolves out of the current style of footy and transitions into a more open, higher scoring style of game. I think this could happen over the next few years BUT Foxtel and Ch. 7 clearly want a better viewing game now and not in 5-6 years’ time…. And that’s presuming the game does actually evolve back because there is no certainties it will!! I think it will be I can’t be sure….

  2. The AFL steps in and yes, changes the rules again. Brings in ‘anti density rules’. This will bring an immediate change to the game. You may have heard about it this week but Hawthorn and Brisbane have trialled these new anti-density rules to see what the game looks like. I spoke to one of my boys, Tim O’Brien last night and he said the changes seem really, really good. Midfielders have space to move the ball because there isn’t as many people around and forwards have space to lead and mark into…. Does that sound familiar to us older readers from a by gone era here?? Dayne Zorko said on Foxtel it was a lot of fun too. So, that’s 2 out of 2 Stride boys who like the potential change.



Chapter 2 -The Pre-Draft Years

Recruiters look for players who play on instinct. They innately know when to jump, when to run, when to baulk and make instinctive decisions. The best and most obvious examples of this are Indigenous players. Run, jump, kick goals and do special ‘wow did you see that’ kind of things. Instinctive players are players who are always looking for a way to attack whenever they can. Defence isn’t an instinctive thing.

So, the recruiters watch them. Take note of their instinctive skills. Question whether they have other instinctive skills. Watch. Debate. Watch again. Put their names on a whiteboard. Watch more. Interview. Watch. Debate. Leave their name on the whiteboard (while removing others). Maybe interview again. Debate more. Decide they want to draft them because of their (instinctive) talent. Call out their name at the draft. Organise their flights to the club 2 days later to start training then….

From day 1 let the coaches start belting the instinctiveness out of them. Make them structured. Follow so many game plans and team rules the kids can’t think instinctively any more.

So the irony is we recruit players who show natural (or developed) instinctiveness into the AFL but once they get there, we don’t want them to be instinctive anymore and force them to play a structured, contested style of footy. As long as you are good under pressure, are strong over the ball and can handball to a team mate who is under pressure, is good over the ball and thankfully can handball because he is under pressure also.

It’s f*cking insane and I’ve spoken to experienced List and Recruiting Managers and they have shaken their heads, laughing and 100% agree with me.

FreoMonocle , take notice of this next bit will be the first part of your information gathering.

I saw something very concerning a few years ago. I went to an U15 SANFL carnival a few years ago – 2015 I think it was – and all of the coaches at this carnival had their players playing games EXACTLY the same as we see on TV. I went to many of the games and had no idea who the talented players where. I spoke to a couple of AFL recruiters who said the same thing. Said it was ‘disgusting’ and that they were going to make complaints to the SANFL about it.

How the hell do kids develop the appropriate skills being taught to play football this way? How can they develop their skills and instinctive talent enough to get drafted (Yeah for it to be belted out of them when they get drafted but let’s cross that bridge when we get there).


How do recruiters even know who the best players are?

But then I got think and whilst I was also disgusted with what I was seeing, it then also dawned on me that these coaches, along with the players themselves, where from the country zones of the SANFL club…. This meant these coaches were coaching the same way out in the country (as coaches probably where in suburban, local footy)! And if they were coaching the same way, that meant the players were playing the same way… so all those things I just mentioned (skill, AFL talent, instinctiveness) was being cut off at the knees at ‘lower’ levels and potentially with kids younger than the ones I had seen at the U15 carnival.


So this isn’t a knock on the SANFL it was far wider spread then that.

I had a Victorian based journo ring me a few weeks back, asking me for my opinion on the new anti-density rules the TAC Cup was implementing. I should add, in the last couple of years, the SANFL have also bought in similar ‘zoning’ rules (similar to the u18 National Champs) to try and resolve, in part, the issues I have just touched on.

You may be surprised at this but I spoke to him for a very long time about it. Yes, I know you’re all shocked at that.

We talked about all the stuff I have just talked about but I also gave him my thoughts on part of my ‘space’ theory – especially the bit about having space for forwards to run into.

He is a St Kilda supporter so I used Paddy McCartin as my example. We as supporters are screaming for more goals to be kicked in games. We look at footage of Plugger, Gazza Snr and Jason Dunstall kicking 100 goals plus in a season. We remember back to 10 or so years ago when Buddy managed to do it at Hawthorn and we ask ourselves, “I wonder of we will ever see someone kick 100 goals in year again?”. See whilst we lament the loss of goal scoring, the truth is out there – we have destroyed big forwards in the game (some are still going ok, I’ll explain shortly) as well.

We question why Patrick McCartin can’t live up to his Number 1 draft selection status as a big forward. We question why Tom Boyd gets a reputed $1m a year when he is in the VFL. Justin Patton has been running around in the NEAFL. We question the hype around Josh Schache and for you Freo supporters wonder if Tabs will ever ‘get there’ and was all the hype about Cam McCarthy justified? The great hope to Fremantle’s goal kicking woes?

I’ll tell you why we question these guys and their ability as a key forward. It is because WE HAVE A GAME NOW WHERE THEY HAVE ZERO CHANCE OF SUCCEEDING.

When these boys have been drafted (some with very high selections) they then have to develop their ability to a just to the highest level of footy in the land, but we throw them into a game where we have 2-3 defenders competing against them and we have taken any space away from them to lead into; get away from the defenders, take a mark and kick a goal.

And then when they aren’t touching the footy and kicking goals, we all get on blog sites and forums and tell them they are useless. Get onto twitter and other social media platforms and tell them they are s**t. Then the coach drops them to the reserves ‘so they can go back, get touch and find confidence’…. (Errr, derrrrr) and the media starts online polls and encourages talkback to discuss the problems with these kids and if the pick used to draft them was a waste.

And we wonder why more and more players are coming out with mental health issues.

“But Tim, what about Buddy and Tommy Hawkins and Josh Kennedy who still seem to be able to kick a bag of goals now and then? They can do it?!?”

Yes, they can because they started their developing careers in an era where they had space to run into and only had one defender to contend with. They had a chance to survive and learn the skills required and that’s why they survive and can perform (at times) today.

God help these kids, nowadays.

A couple of final things before the final chapter.

Cam McCarthy isn’t a key forward. This isn’t a knock on him, he never was a key forward. At GWS he was 3rd in line behind Cameron and Patton. This meant he took the 3rd best defender. Then he went to Fremantle. As your saving grace key forward. With no other key forwards (minus Tabs on occasions) to help him and no other key forwards to take other defenders away from him. Plus up until recently, Freo played a slow, defensive game plan which, yes you guessed it, gave ample time for defenders to get back, fill holes and double team him.

I hope he can get the support he needs, play a suitable role, play well for Freo at AFL level and keep loving the game.


I have spoken to a number of players over the last couple of weeks; some were my boys, some were not. There is a common denominator with all of them; they are predominately forwards. Key forwards, small forwards, pressure forwards etc. I should add, none of these were Cam McCarthy the above was my thoughts and I have no personal connection or insight to his situation in any way.

The majority of them hate the game as it is now. And I don’t mean “I hate it but she’ll be right”, I mean as in they hate playing the game and are quickly losing their love and passion for it. One even recounted a story from this year where, after they had had a shock win against more fancied opponents, my ‘source’ and a team mate where walking off the ground, and this guy’s team mate – who is out of contract at the end of this year – said he was starting to feel that he really didn’t care if the club offered him another contract or not, such was his disillusionment with how the game is now.

This was only a matter of moments after a big win. When they still had their playing gear on and when they were still walking off the oval!!

And no, they aren’t being pedantic forwards. Trust me they are battered and bruised and injured. I see it. They are giving it their all and PLAYING THE GAME THEY ARE INSTRUCTED TO PLAY BY THE COACH, BUT HAVE NO HOPE IN SUCEEDING but when they don’t take marks, or get many possessions or kick any goals, it’s see you later, back to the two’s and lets watch the media and public destroy your soul and confidence again.

I have this awful feeling we are destroying the love of the game for some of these young men who have dreamt of getting to the AFL. Coaches have developed game styles and on field roles that – I feel - are destroying careers.

And meanwhile, potential mental health issues continue to rise.



Chapter 3 – What can we do at local level?


From a junior level – from Auskick to U17 level where kids may go to the WAFL Colts, it is simple.

If we really want to develop talent, we need to focus on developing talent. Not focus on trying to be an AFL coach at junior level. Not focus on winning games of football.

Let’s focus on this:

Auskick to U12’s – develop all skills, every facet of the game, have plenty of footballs so everyone has lots of touches, no long lines waiting in drills, lots of little skill games (not necessarily actual playing a game) and yeah, make it a bit competitive and have races but don’t focus on the winner, focus on everyone improving – even the last team and above all, make sure everyone is having fun. We want every kid, who gets their first taste of Aussie Rules at this level, to bloody love the game and never want to leave. Some will play senior footy locally, some will become umpires, some will play AFL and some could become the local club’s next president. Keep them loving the game.

U13-U15’s – Keep developing all skills in line with their age, bring in little extra things such as knowing some good things to eat (not a whole meal plan, that will get you offside with mums everywhere) but what’s good to eat and what’s not good to eat, get them bringing their won water bottle to all trainings, games, club events, make sure school is important as is theor role in local society – no bullying etc – and with games, play them but play the game as is was naturally played. Open, fun, fast. But don’t focus on winning games. Focus on individual development – that will bring scoreboard results at some stage but importantly, helping EVERY kid (not just the most talented ones) feel like they are getting better and they feel better about themselves.



U16 –U17’s – Develop skills further and again, to the appropriate level and start to demand higher standards WITHOUT yelling, screaming and threatening. That went out in the 80s. If they make a mistake during a game, don’t drag them – encourage them to keep trying it and to not be scared of giving it a go again. Further implement maturity and respect for those around them – clean up after themselves, help the trainers take the medical gear and water bottles in, say thank you to all the volunteers and be good within your community. Further develop their understanding of hydration, nutrition and strength conditioning as they all want too – just make sure they know that getting shredded for stereo’s is very different to strengthening for footy. At this age, their priorities should be (and in this order):

  1. Family
  2. School/Work

    Daylight….
  3. Football

And as a coach, remember these priorities. Please.

Another thing I often see is local coaches and clubs restricting kids from going to the next level. If one of your players gets invited to state training, encourage and support it. If they end up in the WAFL as part of their dream of getting to the AFL, don’t go and offer them money to come back and play locally when they haven’t yet satisfied their yearning to get to the highest level. Encourage them to keep trying. Offer support. Offer guidance. Be a good coach and mentor.

I have had so many run ins with country clubs who try and lure kids back from the city with the offer of money, well before the player has developed fully.


When kids are 16,17,18 they dream of playing in the AFL/AFLW. They don’t dream about playing for their local club.

As far as character goes, keep out of trouble, go to school, be respectful to your elders. Be firm on them but understand them also. Take time to learn about the individuals in their group – they are not all cut from the same cloth as each other. When I coached at Glenelg I made sure I spoke to EVERY player at each training and very rarely about their game. Footy on the weekend, their new girlfriend, the crazy new haircut they had…be relatable. When they relate to you, they will listen and learn from you.

When an AFL player is asked who their best coach was, it’s never their AFL coach. It will be one of their junior coaches. To verify this, go onto Lachie’s Instagram and look at his #thankscoach post about this time last year ;);)

Finally, I always get asked if there is one thing, when it comes to character, that I tell all my boys. There actually is something. Arcassius may need to sensor this (editor: but won't) but the one thing I tell all my boys is this:


Don’t be a campaigner.


Simple.
 
From Tim -

One more – what differences have you noticed, if any, between club cultures?

I guess for starters Jezzitizle , I need to clarify that I only closely work with 4 clubs – Fremantle, West Coast, Geelong and Hawthorn – on a regular basis. I also do some work with Bec Goddard, former Crows AFLW coach, and a couple of Adelaide Crows AFLW girls also, however, that is more to give them advice and guidance more than anything.

So I watch what the four clubs are doing from personal level, however, obviously I speak to our other agents and players have a grasp on a few others also.


We all know the best clubs have strong cultures. They have good values which hold up in mainstream society, they are prepared to make personal sacrifices (or are they investments?) to help achieve the ultimate together. They are held accountable by each other and don’t take short cuts.

They understand what it takes to win and be the best.

Culture, if implemented deeply and embraced, is something that is then ingrained into the playing group and club for many years ahead. The leaders pass it down, to the younger players and it becomes cyclical.

And if they do achieve the ultimate – a premiership – well cultured clubs don’t drop off. If anything they seem to yearn and want it more. They are loyal, love the club and want to be there and wasn’t their mates to come and be there also. There is also another part to this, I think, that I will touch on now.

From a club point of view, and I think I have mentioned it elsewhere on a previous occasion, that there are clubs like Geelong, Sydney and Hawthorn who take a very different approach to how they manage their players. For them, it’s about putting the players first. I heard Neil Balme, talk about the importance of it when they let Dusty shoot back to NZ to see his father the other week. Some clubs would demand he spent the whole time with the club physio. Richmond felt that wasn’t necessary and Dusty was going to gain more, holistically, if he got to see his dad instead. Player first.

Keep in mind, Balmey was the Football Manager at Geelong for their 3 premierships, he went to Richmond a couple of years and can anyone remember what happened in the grand final last year?


There is no doubt, in my mind, that the success these clubs are having and how they treat their players, is no coincidence.

I know for a fact, the Cats and Hawks give their players a couple more days off that the CBA dictates during the year to freshen up. This year (the week just been actually), the Cats lost to Richmond on the Sunday and they were all on leave by Monday. Most of my lads went to North Queensland until Friday… when they then flew to the Gold Coast for a 4 day club camp – partners and children welcome there also.

There are a number of other examples how these clubs are significantly reducing contact hours with the players, then supporting them to replace these hours with personal development time; university, working in the community, spending time doing work experience. Nothing to do with football but a lot to do with the holistic development of the players.

If a young players, in their first year as an example, has played every game but looks tired – mentally and physically – these clubs happily give them a weekend off and tell them to go back home to see family or go somewhere away from football and have a few days break.

So when the chips are down and extra work needs to be put in to help out the club, the players from these clubs happily go the extra mile because they have a great relationship with their employer and appreciate how they are treated.. You very rarely see players leave these clubs either do you?

I know there is a lot more to it than these things, but just as I think there is no coincidence that the regularly successful clubs put their players first, I also don’t think that the perennial underachieving clubs, who think they ‘own’ their players and don’t put them first is no coincidence either.

From a managers point of view these ‘player first’ clubs are obviously a pleasure to deal with and I always feel like working harder to help them where we can because it’s a great and happy place for my players to be.

For what it’s worth, I think in time these kind of things will become common practice for all clubs.
 
Tim, How early do you sign players up? Do you have dealings with 2nd tier clubs in terms of identifying talent? Is there a 2nd tier club (WAFL, SANFL or TAC) that you look at more closely because of their set up?? Are you across the emerging WA talent?? Great insight and thanks for your time

Hi Brutal_Deluxe14 , thanks for your questions!

We start tracking them a built from U16 level.. but probably moreso from the U16 National Championships rather than from State Leagues. There is always one or two that you watch and they clearly have AFL attributes but to be honest, it is problematic at times pinning your hoped on kids at this age. There is just so much that can happen in the few years between then and their draft year.

We are not allowed to make any contact with players until after they have completed the U16 championships in their final year that they are eligible (for the U16 National Champs)

As far as physically signing them to a management agreement, we can’t actually do this until after the draft in the year before the players is eligible. So for instance, our players in this year’s draft, we could not sign until the day after last year’s draft.

However, as far as making contact with them goes (and then hopefully the start of forming a relationship) occurs 12-18 months BEFORE their draft year. Eg. Players for this year’s draft, we potentially started working with them during last year’s football season.

As far as using second tier clubs to help identify talent, generally no – and that simply is because of the talent background of the people we have working for us - and we do that ourselves. However, having a good relationship with a club may help us identify a ‘smoky’ who is moving up from the country before other groups may be across them, so a good relationship with the Talent Manager/Footy Manager here in the SANFL is handy; obviously this would replicate to WAFL, NEAFL, Tac Cup etc also.

The other factor to having a goods relationship with a state league club is we can then support our players, in their draft year, together. In my eyes their club is an important part of the relationship.

There do seem to be some 2nd Tier clubs who do things well. I am hesitant to name SANFL clubs who are doing it well for fear that people may come to the conclusion that the others aren’t doing it that well, which is simply not the case. North Adelaide and Sturt are two who have done pretty well over the last couple of years over here.

As far as being across WA talent, no I’m not to be honest. We focus on the SA/NT talent and leave that to JD and Trent Ovens over there. Having said that, I like the look of Luke Jackson from over there. I got to see him play his one U18 Champs game against SA over here a few weeks ago. It was his only game as he has been playing for the Aussies in the World Basketball Championships. Young fella may have some pleasant choices to make in the coming months.

From what I can make out, you have a good crop coming through for next year’s draft.
 
From Tim -

My own personal comment to the above about Fremantle's list strategy - I would think that what the club tells players and managers would be an accurate view of their strategy. Thing is - strategies are just a pathway to a goal. Lots of things can happen in between. Targets can reject the club, or have a change of heart. Negotiations can fall through. Draft targets might get snaffled by other clubs. Players might have season ending injuries. Support staff might up and leave. Players who you would think are solid might suddenly request to get traded to the Gold Coast. Point is, things happen, and it's a moving feast. There's a difference between having a roadmap and being able to navigate it. Not reaching the destination doesn't necessarily mean that the strategy was 'wrong'

Spot on, Arcassius

Fremantle’s draft strategy is sound and good…. Pulling it off is the tricky bit.

As you have pointed out, there are so many variable and things that are out of the clubs control.

Patience is non-negotiable.
 
Arcassius and Tim, thank you so much for your time and commitment to asking and answering our questions. I really wish I had the words to express my gratitude to what you’ve done but I don’t; all I can really say is a hear felt THANK YOU!!!! If I ever get to meet you in person, I’ll be sure to buy you a beer or coffee or round of golf or all of the above :thumbsu:
 
Arcassius said:
From Tim (quite possibly his most in-depth answer ever) -

Tim. It takes a community to raise a child, so it also takes a community to create a draft ready young footy player. What steps do you think the footy community can take to invest and grow young talent? Also, on a narrower focus (the broader focus is the real question, this is just a curiosity), what steps do you think supporters can take to help grow young talents where they are at least motivated to help out given the self-interest (clubs priority access to academies).



FreoMonocle , this is possibly one of the best questions I have ever been asked.

We can sit here and crap on about Fremantle, the AFL, high performance, pathways, player agents etc but it means nothing if we can’t keep producing young, local talent is there?

I remember hearing (or reading) recently that the introduction of GWS and Gold Coast – with the resultant 80 or so players listed – has stretched the nationwide talent pool that much that the standard had dropped below an acceptable level.

What a load of s**t.

I’ll tell you what is going wrong and you will have to forgive me, as per usual I am about to go off on a different tangent for a bit, but I will return to what people can do locally to help nurture and develop talent. This could be my longest ever reply to date. This, in my eyes, is one of the greatest issues we have with the current ‘State of the Game’.

First will be Chapter 1 – What we are seeing in today’s AFL game, then Chapter 2 – Pre-Draft, then finally, Chapter 3 – What can we do to help at local level… which also doubles as FreoMonocle ’s answer.


Chapter 1 – AFL These days


Ten or so years ago – just after the mighty Cats with their attacking, care free brand of footy took them to their first of 3 premierships in 5 years in 2007 – that crafty coach, Alastair Clarkson bought in the game this moving, evolving spread (or zone) of players. The media called it ‘Clarko’s Cluster’.

I remember seeing a couple of other coaches do similar things. Neil Craig had something – to a lesser level – happening with Adelaide in the mid 2000’s. Rodney Eade built a metaphoric Arc, summonsed the god Tlaloc (yes, I’m watching Vikings on Netflix at the moment) and created the ‘Flood’.

But Clarkson – unlike the other two – won a premiership in 2008 against the freewheeling Cats. Now, as we have discussed with rule changes and how coaches work out ways to exploit changes, well they also start implementing facets from the premiership team into their own game plan, the following year.

Strangely during this period, Geelong, still using their attacking, pressure brand of football won the flag again in 2009 but other coaches seemed to have noticed what Clarkson bought in and over the next few years we saw the Cluster develop to the point that now, we see this low scoring game style where 1/3 of the ground is full with 36 players for 80% of the time.

Defence, Defence, Defence. You need to defend before you can attack, they tell us. Well that’s a load of s**t too – yes, you do need to defend before you can attack in the current world of AFL football because if one coach totally dropped the defend, defend, defend mantra, they would struggle to score enough to win a game.. and eventually, go back to the defend, defend, defend style so they could compete and let’s face it, coaches get sacked if they don’t win games.

Don’t ever forget that coaches both coach and plan (list management) for the now (maybe 1 or 2 years ahead) because if they don’t succeed in the short to mid-term, they will be shown the door. So they don’t have the long term interest of the game (from a business perspective anyway) in their mind because, quite simply they can’t.

Let’s face it, many players are at a club longer than a coach and for us supporters, well we are there for a life time aren’t we?

Don’t’ get me wrong, I am not suggesting that coaches don’t care about the game – of course they do, as much as anyone – but their career lifespan doesn’t often allow for it. They need to ‘be in the now’ so to speak and that is something they have no choice about.

I should throw in here that there is one team that is clearly starting to change this mould – Richmond. Yeah, they defend hard but they also run in numbers and attack hard. The Cats do it at times and amongst some others, so are the Dockers! I’m sure many of you, like me, like the way Freo have been playing this year. I’m pleased because in the past few years, I don’t think Fremantle have had the players on their list that suited the ultra-defensive style of game. And sorry, whether you like it or not, West Coast with Kennedy and Darling do it also. In fact, when I think about it, I think all clubs are starting to do it more which is a good sign.

Let me elaborate further and I’ll use your beloved Freo as a classic example of one major thing that has been happening – the advent of low scoring droughts. Why isn’t Tleloc an AFL fan??

I’m dusting off my coaches hat here. It’s dusty and covered in cobwebs but hopefully I can explain it. You will hear about teams ‘holding or controlling possession of the ball', ‘slowing the game down’ or ‘running the clock down’. When I coached – and I was a coach that had my boys transition and defend hard but by Christ, we would attack hard and kick goals too. However, when we needed to slow the game down back then, there was only one way to do it. And that was to chip the ball around by foot and hit team mates so they could take the mark. Stop. Push back. Look around then pass – by foot again – to another team mate.. often to a team mate standing in a more defensive area than the guy who kicked it!

So the key to slowing a game down is by distributing the ball by foot and not handball. Kick the ball by foot leads to a mark, the umpire blows their whistle then… no one from the opposition can touch them for a few seconds, then repeat and the game clocks runs down and more importantly, the opposition can’t get the ball and if you can’t get the ball, you can’t score.

Handballing doesn’t slow the game down – the umpire doesn’t blow a whistle to stop the opposition from tackling you when you receive a handball – it actually makes the game go fast.

But what also happens, is that the opposition, without the ball, will have time to start defending and move players into defensive areas.. because they want to ensure that team with the ball can’t score. So what’s happening is actually two things. The opposition doesn’t have the ball (so can’t score) and they are also moving into more defensive areas or positions which means… they have physically moved away from their own goals making it harder – or for it to take longer, albeit only by a few seconds but a few seconds is a long time in modern footy – for them to score if they do happen to get the ball back.

So the team with the ball, when controlling or slowing the play down, has a double win if you like. Does that make sense?

So now we move forward a few years to today.

We have now progressed this style even further where teams have now gone ‘ok, what is an even better way to slow the game down and focus on being defensive? What is a way we can stop the opposition from scoring even if we don’t have the ball?’

One of my mantras when coaching was this. ‘When we have the ball we need to find space on the ground and in the game. If they get the ball, we take the space away from them.’ It’s pretty simple when you think about and with everything that happens in football – at any level - it actually follows this principle all the time.

So back to the question, ‘How can we stop the opposition from scoring even when we don’t have the ball?’. It’s easy. We just take away total space from them – even if it means taking our own space away. So we will push our 18 players into their defence which means, the will also have to put their 18 players in the same are so we don’t get the ball by outnumbering them…… and this whole shemozzle of contested, congested, pressured and let’s be honest, largely unskilled style of football has developed and now has been ingrained into our beloved game.

Now, as I have mentioned before one brave coach may go ‘bugger this, we are going old school’ but they are on a hiding to nothing. Firstly because if they get the ball they are going to hit a wall of 18 opposition players in their F50, where they are then likely to lose possession and so the 18 players from the opposition will run together, in tandem forward and outnumber their defenders who are standing on their lonesome trying to work out which of the wall of players they should run towards..

So the only way we can fix this is by one of two ways.

  1. The game slowly evolves out of the current style of footy and transitions into a more open, higher scoring style of game. I think this could happen over the next few years BUT Foxtel and Ch. 7 clearly want a better viewing game now and not in 5-6 years’ time…. And that’s presuming the game does actually evolve back because there is no certainties it will!! I think it will be I can’t be sure….

  2. The AFL steps in and yes, changes the rules again. Brings in ‘anti density rules’. This will bring an immediate change to the game. You may have heard about it this week but Hawthorn and Brisbane have trialled these new anti-density rules to see what the game looks like. I spoke to one of my boys, Tim O’Brien last night and he said the changes seem really, really good. Midfielders have space to move the ball because there isn’t as many people around and forwards have space to lead and mark into…. Does that sound familiar to us older readers from a by gone era here?? Dayne Zorko said on Foxtel it was a lot of fun too. So, that’s 2 out of 2 Stride boys who like the potential change.



Chapter 2 -The Pre-Draft Years

Recruiters look for players who play on instinct. They innately know when to jump, when to run, when to baulk and make instinctive decisions. The best and most obvious examples of this are Indigenous players. Run, jump, kick goals and do special ‘wow did you see that’ kind of things. Instinctive players are players who are always looking for a way to attack whenever they can. Defence isn’t an instinctive thing.

So, the recruiters watch them. Take note of their instinctive skills. Question whether they have other instinctive skills. Watch. Debate. Watch again. Put their names on a whiteboard. Watch more. Interview. Watch. Debate. Leave their name on the whiteboard (while removing others). Maybe interview again. Debate more. Decide they want to draft them because of their (instinctive) talent. Call out their name at the draft. Organise their flights to the club 2 days later to start training then….

From day 1 let the coaches start belting the instinctiveness out of them. Make them structured. Follow so many game plans and team rules the kids can’t think instinctively any more.

So the irony is we recruit players who show natural (or developed) instinctiveness into the AFL but once they get there, we don’t want them to be instinctive anymore and force them to play a structured, contested style of footy. As long as you are good under pressure, are strong over the ball and can handball to a team mate who is under pressure, is good over the ball and thankfully can handball because he is under pressure also.

It’s f*cking insane and I’ve spoken to experienced List and Recruiting Managers and they have shaken their heads, laughing and 100% agree with me.

FreoMonocle , take notice of this next bit will be the first part of your information gathering.

I saw something very concerning a few years ago. I went to an U15 SANFL carnival a few years ago – 2015 I think it was – and all of the coaches at this carnival had their players playing games EXACTLY the same as we see on TV. I went to many of the games and had no idea who the talented players where. I spoke to a couple of AFL recruiters who said the same thing. Said it was ‘disgusting’ and that they were going to make complaints to the SANFL about it.

How the hell do kids develop the appropriate skills being taught to play football this way? How can they develop their skills and instinctive talent enough to get drafted (Yeah for it to be belted out of them when they get drafted but let’s cross that bridge when we get there).


How do recruiters even know who the best players are?

But then I got think and whilst I was also disgusted with what I was seeing, it then also dawned on me that these coaches, along with the players themselves, where from the country zones of the SANFL club…. This meant these coaches were coaching the same way out in the country (as coaches probably where in suburban, local footy)! And if they were coaching the same way, that meant the players were playing the same way… so all those things I just mentioned (skill, AFL talent, instinctiveness) was being cut off at the knees at ‘lower’ levels and potentially with kids younger than the ones I had seen at the U15 carnival.


So this isn’t a knock on the SANFL it was far wider spread then that.

I had a Victorian based journo ring me a few weeks back, asking me for my opinion on the new anti-density rules the TAC Cup was implementing. I should add, in the last couple of years, the SANFL have also bought in similar ‘zoning’ rules (similar to the u18 National Champs) to try and resolve, in part, the issues I have just touched on.

You may be surprised at this but I spoke to him for a very long time about it. Yes, I know you’re all shocked at that.

We talked about all the stuff I have just talked about but I also gave him my thoughts on part of my ‘space’ theory – especially the bit about having space for forwards to run into.

He is a St Kilda supporter so I used Paddy McCartin as my example. We as supporters are screaming for more goals to be kicked in games. We look at footage of Plugger, Gazza Snr and Jason Dunstall kicking 100 goals plus in a season. We remember back to 10 or so years ago when Buddy managed to do it at Hawthorn and we ask ourselves, “I wonder of we will ever see someone kick 100 goals in year again?”. See whilst we lament the loss of goal scoring, the truth is out there – we have destroyed big forwards in the game (some are still going ok, I’ll explain shortly) as well.

We question why Patrick McCartin can’t live up to his Number 1 draft selection status as a big forward. We question why Tom Boyd gets a reputed $1m a year when he is in the VFL. Justin Patton has been running around in the NEAFL. We question the hype around Josh Schache and for you Freo supporters wonder if Tabs will ever ‘get there’ and was all the hype about Cam McCarthy justified? The great hope to Fremantle’s goal kicking woes?

I’ll tell you why we question these guys and their ability as a key forward. It is because WE HAVE A GAME NOW WHERE THEY HAVE ZERO CHANCE OF SUCCEEDING.

When these boys have been drafted (some with very high selections) they then have to develop their ability to a just to the highest level of footy in the land, but we throw them into a game where we have 2-3 defenders competing against them and we have taken any space away from them to lead into; get away from the defenders, take a mark and kick a goal.

And then when they aren’t touching the footy and kicking goals, we all get on blog sites and forums and tell them they are useless. Get onto twitter and other social media platforms and tell them they are s**t. Then the coach drops them to the reserves ‘so they can go back, get touch and find confidence’…. (Errr, derrrrr) and the media starts online polls and encourages talkback to discuss the problems with these kids and if the pick used to draft them was a waste.

And we wonder why more and more players are coming out with mental health issues.

“But Tim, what about Buddy and Tommy Hawkins and Josh Kennedy who still seem to be able to kick a bag of goals now and then? They can do it?!?”

Yes, they can because they started their developing careers in an era where they had space to run into and only had one defender to contend with. They had a chance to survive and learn the skills required and that’s why they survive and can perform (at times) today.

God help these kids, nowadays.

A couple of final things before the final chapter.

Cam McCarthy isn’t a key forward. This isn’t a knock on him, he never was a key forward. At GWS he was 3rd in line behind Cameron and Patton. This meant he took the 3rd best defender. Then he went to Fremantle. As your saving grace key forward. With no other key forwards (minus Tabs on occasions) to help him and no other key forwards to take other defenders away from him. Plus up until recently, Freo played a slow, defensive game plan which, yes you guessed it, gave ample time for defenders to get back, fill holes and double team him.

I hope he can get the support he needs, play a suitable role, play well for Freo at AFL level and keep loving the game.


I have spoken to a number of players over the last couple of weeks; some were my boys, some were not. There is a common denominator with all of them; they are predominately forwards. Key forwards, small forwards, pressure forwards etc. I should add, none of these were Cam McCarthy the above was my thoughts and I have no personal connection or insight to his situation in any way.

The majority of them hate the game as it is now. And I don’t mean “I hate it but she’ll be right”, I mean as in they hate playing the game and are quickly losing their love and passion for it. One even recounted a story from this year where, after they had had a shock win against more fancied opponents, my ‘source’ and a team mate where walking off the ground, and this guy’s team mate – who is out of contract at the end of this year – said he was starting to feel that he really didn’t care if the club offered him another contract or not, such was his disillusionment with how the game is now.

This was only a matter of moments after a big win. When they still had their playing gear on and when they were still walking off the oval!!

And no, they aren’t being pedantic forwards. Trust me they are battered and bruised and injured. I see it. They are giving it their all and PLAYING THE GAME THEY ARE INSTRUCTED TO PLAY BY THE COACH, BUT HAVE NO HOPE IN SUCEEDING but when they don’t take marks, or get many possessions or kick any goals, it’s see you later, back to the two’s and lets watch the media and public destroy your soul and confidence again.

I have this awful feeling we are destroying the love of the game for some of these young men who have dreamt of getting to the AFL. Coaches have developed game styles and on field roles that – I feel - are destroying careers.

And meanwhile, potential mental health issues continue to rise.



Chapter 3 – What can we do at local level?


From a junior level – from Auskick to U17 level where kids may go to the WAFL Colts, it is simple.

If we really want to develop talent, we need to focus on developing talent. Not focus on trying to be an AFL coach at junior level. Not focus on winning games of football.

Let’s focus on this:

Auskick to U12’s – develop all skills, every facet of the game, have plenty of footballs so everyone has lots of touches, no long lines waiting in drills, lots of little skill games (not necessarily actual playing a game) and yeah, make it a bit competitive and have races but don’t focus on the winner, focus on everyone improving – even the last team and above all, make sure everyone is having fun. We want every kid, who gets their first taste of Aussie Rules at this level, to bloody love the game and never want to leave. Some will play senior footy locally, some will become umpires, some will play AFL and some could become the local club’s next president. Keep them loving the game.

U13-U15’s – Keep developing all skills in line with their age, bring in little extra things such as knowing some good things to eat (not a whole meal plan, that will get you offside with mums everywhere) but what’s good to eat and what’s not good to eat, get them bringing their won water bottle to all trainings, games, club events, make sure school is important as is theor role in local society – no bullying etc – and with games, play them but play the game as is was naturally played. Open, fun, fast. But don’t focus on winning games. Focus on individual development – that will bring scoreboard results at some stage but importantly, helping EVERY kid (not just the most talented ones) feel like they are getting better and they feel better about themselves.



U16 –U17’s – Develop skills further and again, to the appropriate level and start to demand higher standards WITHOUT yelling, screaming and threatening. That went out in the 80s. If they make a mistake during a game, don’t drag them – encourage them to keep trying it and to not be scared of giving it a go again. Further implement maturity and respect for those around them – clean up after themselves, help the trainers take the medical gear and water bottles in, say thank you to all the volunteers and be good within your community. Further develop their understanding of hydration, nutrition and strength conditioning as they all want too – just make sure they know that getting shredded for stereo’s is very different to strengthening for footy. At this age, their priorities should be (and in this order):

  1. Family
  2. School/Work

    Daylight….
  3. Football

And as a coach, remember these priorities. Please.

Another thing I often see is local coaches and clubs restricting kids from going to the next level. If one of your players gets invited to state training, encourage and support it. If they end up in the WAFL as part of their dream of getting to the AFL, don’t go and offer them money to come back and play locally when they haven’t yet satisfied their yearning to get to the highest level. Encourage them to keep trying. Offer support. Offer guidance. Be a good coach and mentor.

I have had so many run ins with country clubs who try and lure kids back from the city with the offer of money, well before the player has developed fully.


When kids are 16,17,18 they dream of playing in the AFL/AFLW. They don’t dream about playing for their local club.

As far as character goes, keep out of trouble, go to school, be respectful to your elders. Be firm on them but understand them also. Take time to learn about the individuals in their group – they are not all cut from the same cloth as each other. When I coached at Glenelg I made sure I spoke to EVERY player at each training and very rarely about their game. Footy on the weekend, their new girlfriend, the crazy new haircut they had…be relatable. When they relate to you, they will listen and learn from you.

When an AFL player is asked who their best coach was, it’s never their AFL coach. It will be one of their junior coaches. To verify this, go onto Lachie’s Instagram and look at his #thankscoach post about this time last year ;);)

Finally, I always get asked if there is one thing, when it comes to character, that I tell all my boys. There actually is something. Arcassius may need to sensor this (editor: but won't) but the one thing I tell all my boys is this:


Don’t be a campaigner.


Simple.
Click to expand...
I'm relatively confident Tim is actually E Shed ....
 

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And its nice to have some of my thinking around the way the game is played & coached and that effect on players confirmed. There are little tells everywhere if you're looking. I heard an interview somewhere with Brendon Gale talking about how the biggest change they made around the club before the 2017 season was to make it a place where the players wanted to come because they were enjoying themselves. Taking the emphasis off process and discipline and getting them to remember how to actually enjoy just playing the game with creativity & instinct.
 
From Tim -

Dirty_banchez - And yet...http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-05-15/chads-giant-refusal

Then in reply….

TheMcManusNose - Yeah that is the obvious counter example. I'm assuming the workaround is that nominating for the draft commits you to serve out the standard 2 year contact with whichever club selects you. Wingard implies he said he would absolutely do this (and thus abiding by the terms of nominating for the draft) but would not re-sign after his draftee contract.



Good pick up, Dirty_banchez . This may sound like I am making this up but when I was typing my original answer about this, I actually started typing up the Chad Wingard story with GWS (with no names or clubs mentioned). It was earlier this week, in Coober Pedy, and across the room on the couch was Trev Wingard, Chad’s dad, watching AFL 360 on the TV. I looked at him and thought 'Nah' and I deleted it!

TheMcManusNose – you are spot on with your thoughts. 100%.

For starts, the headline borders on click bait I reckon – “Chad’s giant refusal” insinuates he refused to be drafted by them. You may notice in the story, at no stage did they quote Chad as saying to Sheeds or Choco, or anyone for that matter, that he wasn’t going to go there – or refuse to go - if they drafted him.

The article does mention however – and this is the bit The Nose is all over – that he couldn’t guarantee he would stay after the initial 2 year Standard Playing Contract.

There is a big difference in saying “I won’t go” (which is draft tampering) to saying “I’ll go but I can’t guarantee I’ll stay after my first contract is finished”.

Another way of looking at is this. Draft tampering takes the opportunity to draft a player away from the club.

With this scenario GWS still could have drafted him (and I know for a fact he would have happily gone) if they wanted too… they could have backed themselves in to change Chad’s mind to stay or hope that in time he chose to stay himself, but they obviously thought it was too high of a risk with a high draft pick.
 
A couple of questions after re-reading the first 2 sessions. You mentioned only 10 clubs interviewed Lachie. How often and how many clubs interview at the various levels of potential drafting? Do all 18 clubs interview potential top 18 draftees? Do some clubs not interview players below their lowest expected draft pick?

After the draft, if a player is not selected, what is the process?

Without going into specifics, are player's agents paid as a percentage of contract, per negotiation or flat fee?
 
tants said:
A couple of questions after re-reading the first 2 sessions. You mentioned only 10 clubs interviewed Lachie. How often and how many clubs interview at the various levels of potential drafting? Do all 18 clubs interview potential top 18 draftees? Do some clubs not interview players below their lowest expected draft pick?

After the draft, if a player is not selected, what is the process?

Without going into specifics, are player's agents paid as a percentage of contract, per negotiation or flat fee?
Click to expand...
From Tim -

Hi again, tants

There is no exact answer to this one, however, I’ll give you the ‘vibe’ of how it works.

In the past, club interviews usually happened after the national championships. If a player is a member if the AFL Academy, players obviously would get interviewed and observed during their camps and on their overseas trip. However, this year a lot of clubs chose not to go to the USA as the cost versus the fact they don’t have any meaningful access to the players meant many stayed here in Australia.

Away from the Academy players, as I just said, apart from the very odd occasion the interviews have been after the Nationals. However, this year clubs have started interviewing before the National championships; more than I have seen in the past.

There could be a number of reasons for this. Maybe they just want to get across players earlier or maybe, it is because of the draft this year. See, everyone talk about 2018 being a ‘superdraft’ but I am yet to speak to a recruiter who actually thinks that. Yes, some very, very high end talent at the start but the depth of this high end talent isn’t deep. Does that mean we are in for a weak draft? No, quite the opposite.

What it potentially means is that, there could be a blanket spread over the rest of the draft nominees and possibly, quite a few hidden gems amongst them. Let’s face it there always is, so potentially the clubs know they may need to interview more players this year to be across as many as they can to cover this depth, hence the earlier start to interviews.

Recruiting Managers hate not being across a player. Clubs will interview 100+ players in a season in preparation for the draft.

As the ladder sits right now, you may wonder why Richmond, Sydney or West Coast would bother interviewing say, a Jack Lukosius (or insert any other possible #1 draft pick) when he will go pick 1 or 2 and they will have picks 16, 17 or 18. Well, who knows what crazy stuff may occur during the trade period where they could suddenly find themselves with pick 1 or 2 so they need to cover everything off.

For the record, it would take something massive for any club to give up an early draft pick this year. No one will want to miss out on that high end talent.

When I recruited for North Melbourne, Cam Joyce, Bryce Lewis and myself drove from Adelaide to Murray Bridge to interview Chad Wingard - this name has popped up a bit this Q&A hasn’t it? Anyway our first pick was pick 18. Chad was never going to slip that far quite clearly but a couple of years earlier, the Roos had a player they felt was in the top few of the draft. Again, like 2011 their first pick was some way further down so they didn’t interview him.

So come draft night the player slipped. And slipped and slipped down the order and suddenly North had the next pick. Now, on draft night every club has a list they have put together ranking the top players in the draft and as the names get called by the club, they cross them off. When their turn comes, they call out the highest ranked player on their list who is still available. In this case, this player was the highest ranked player the Roos had on their list. So they drafted him.... without interviewing him!

It just doesn’t happen anymore and despite the Kangaroos being very happy to get their player, they also swore it would never happen again either. That’s why we went and interviewed Chad at his home.

So yes, there is a vey, very good chance all of the highest rated players will get interviewed by all 18 clubs.

However, with lower ranked players it can differ. They obviously don’t get rated like the top tier and to be honest, if a club doesn’t think a player is draftable, they aren’t going to waste their time interviewing them. There is also the pathway where a club does think a player is draftable but they just don’t need more players like them (because they have so many like the player already on the list) so they may not bother interviewing also. But keep in mind whilst one club may not either rate them not want them (even if they do rate them) it doesn’t mean other clubs have the same opinion!

When it comes to club interviews, generally from my point of view with my boys is ‘the more the merrier’. The more clubs that show interest, the more clubs that are interested... that’s not rocket science is it?

However, I have a mate who had 13 club interviews in his draft year and a further 8 the season afterwards. He was never drafted. This guy is the guy I mentioned earlier who was told the night before a draft, by the club coach, to say they definitely where taking him the next day... and obviously didn’t. I should add here, clubs are far more responsible with this now a days and are often at pains to try and avoid making a verbal commitment in case something changes and they can’t commit to the player.

I have one player with me who was interviewed by 1 club. That club drafted him with their last pick in his draft.

So nothing is definitive but yes, the more options generally the better.

However, you do only need 1 club to call your name out on the night, don’t you?

Some managers dump (as in don’t talk to them) their players if they aren’t drafted. There is one well known agent who doesn’t even return his clients phone calls if they are delisted. Happy to take the players money while they are there, not so happy to do the hard work. I won’t mention the agents name but I despise him, as do a lot of clubs (they tell me that’s how I know) but I have very, very little time for anyone who isn’t on ‘my team’. It’s just the way I am, I guess.

We certainly stick with our boys. 95% of the time, we know if they will get drafted or not some time before the actual draft itself. If it’s going to not happen, It’s a tough conversation to have but as I said earlier, honesty is the key so the discussion needs to be had so they can start preparing. Do you want to have another crack next year? If so, what’s our plan? I also encourage my boys to get on with other parts of their life, especially around study and/or work because the reality is they may never get drafted but life must go on for them. In this year (if they do try and get drafted) I’m not as full on with them again for these 12 months. They know what they need to do, the clubs already know them so it’s a matter of getting on with life and playing good footy. Whilst there may be a ‘separation’ of sorts, that doesn’t mean I dump them! It’s just that I represent something (AFL) and I am conscious of how that can impact on them or distract them. Even then, all of my lads I help out, whether it’s with a contract with their SANFL club or just being there for life advice and we always remain friends. It’s a case by case thing depending on the player, their personality and their needs. I still help one of my boys who was eligible in 2013 and is still in the SANFL here! We are good mates and I will always be there to support him if he needs it.

They mightn’t have made it to the AFL but they will still be brilliant young men and will always achieve, in my eyes.

In regards to fees, it’s generally a flat % of their base and match payments and this gives all the service the players need for their everyday needs. 24/7, 365.

Some agents may charge to do specific things (which often should be part of the flat % fee really) but that would be totally up to them and with the approval of the players they represent. All this is put into the management agreement between the agent and player so it is transparent from the start.
 
Arcassius said:
From Tim (quite possibly his most in-depth answer ever) -

Tim. It takes a community to raise a child, so it also takes a community to create a draft ready young footy player. What steps do you think the footy community can take to invest and grow young talent? Also, on a narrower focus (the broader focus is the real question, this is just a curiosity), what steps do you think supporters can take to help grow young talents where they are at least motivated to help out given the self-interest (clubs priority access to academies).



FreoMonocle , this is possibly one of the best questions I have ever been asked.

We can sit here and crap on about Fremantle, the AFL, high performance, pathways, player agents etc but it means nothing if we can’t keep producing young, local talent is there?

I remember hearing (or reading) recently that the introduction of GWS and Gold Coast – with the resultant 80 or so players listed – has stretched the nationwide talent pool that much that the standard had dropped below an acceptable level.

What a load of s**t.

I’ll tell you what is going wrong and you will have to forgive me, as per usual I am about to go off on a different tangent for a bit, but I will return to what people can do locally to help nurture and develop talent. This could be my longest ever reply to date. This, in my eyes, is one of the greatest issues we have with the current ‘State of the Game’.

First will be Chapter 1 – What we are seeing in today’s AFL game, then Chapter 2 – Pre-Draft, then finally, Chapter 3 – What can we do to help at local level… which also doubles as FreoMonocle ’s answer.


Chapter 1 – AFL These days


Ten or so years ago – just after the mighty Cats with their attacking, care free brand of footy took them to their first of 3 premierships in 5 years in 2007 – that crafty coach, Alastair Clarkson bought in the game this moving, evolving spread (or zone) of players. The media called it ‘Clarko’s Cluster’.

I remember seeing a couple of other coaches do similar things. Neil Craig had something – to a lesser level – happening with Adelaide in the mid 2000’s. Rodney Eade built a metaphoric Arc, summonsed the god Tlaloc (yes, I’m watching Vikings on Netflix at the moment) and created the ‘Flood’.

But Clarkson – unlike the other two – won a premiership in 2008 against the freewheeling Cats. Now, as we have discussed with rule changes and how coaches work out ways to exploit changes, well they also start implementing facets from the premiership team into their own game plan, the following year.

Strangely during this period, Geelong, still using their attacking, pressure brand of football won the flag again in 2009 but other coaches seemed to have noticed what Clarkson bought in and over the next few years we saw the Cluster develop to the point that now, we see this low scoring game style where 1/3 of the ground is full with 36 players for 80% of the time.

Defence, Defence, Defence. You need to defend before you can attack, they tell us. Well that’s a load of s**t too – yes, you do need to defend before you can attack in the current world of AFL football because if one coach totally dropped the defend, defend, defend mantra, they would struggle to score enough to win a game.. and eventually, go back to the defend, defend, defend style so they could compete and let’s face it, coaches get sacked if they don’t win games.

Don’t ever forget that coaches both coach and plan (list management) for the now (maybe 1 or 2 years ahead) because if they don’t succeed in the short to mid-term, they will be shown the door. So they don’t have the long term interest of the game (from a business perspective anyway) in their mind because, quite simply they can’t.

Let’s face it, many players are at a club longer than a coach and for us supporters, well we are there for a life time aren’t we?

Don’t’ get me wrong, I am not suggesting that coaches don’t care about the game – of course they do, as much as anyone – but their career lifespan doesn’t often allow for it. They need to ‘be in the now’ so to speak and that is something they have no choice about.

I should throw in here that there is one team that is clearly starting to change this mould – Richmond. Yeah, they defend hard but they also run in numbers and attack hard. The Cats do it at times and amongst some others, so are the Dockers! I’m sure many of you, like me, like the way Freo have been playing this year. I’m pleased because in the past few years, I don’t think Fremantle have had the players on their list that suited the ultra-defensive style of game. And sorry, whether you like it or not, West Coast with Kennedy and Darling do it also. In fact, when I think about it, I think all clubs are starting to do it more which is a good sign.

Let me elaborate further and I’ll use your beloved Freo as a classic example of one major thing that has been happening – the advent of low scoring droughts. Why isn’t Tleloc an AFL fan??

I’m dusting off my coaches hat here. It’s dusty and covered in cobwebs but hopefully I can explain it. You will hear about teams ‘holding or controlling possession of the ball', ‘slowing the game down’ or ‘running the clock down’. When I coached – and I was a coach that had my boys transition and defend hard but by Christ, we would attack hard and kick goals too. However, when we needed to slow the game down back then, there was only one way to do it. And that was to chip the ball around by foot and hit team mates so they could take the mark. Stop. Push back. Look around then pass – by foot again – to another team mate.. often to a team mate standing in a more defensive area than the guy who kicked it!

So the key to slowing a game down is by distributing the ball by foot and not handball. Kick the ball by foot leads to a mark, the umpire blows their whistle then… no one from the opposition can touch them for a few seconds, then repeat and the game clocks runs down and more importantly, the opposition can’t get the ball and if you can’t get the ball, you can’t score.

Handballing doesn’t slow the game down – the umpire doesn’t blow a whistle to stop the opposition from tackling you when you receive a handball – it actually makes the game go fast.

But what also happens, is that the opposition, without the ball, will have time to start defending and move players into defensive areas.. because they want to ensure that team with the ball can’t score. So what’s happening is actually two things. The opposition doesn’t have the ball (so can’t score) and they are also moving into more defensive areas or positions which means… they have physically moved away from their own goals making it harder – or for it to take longer, albeit only by a few seconds but a few seconds is a long time in modern footy – for them to score if they do happen to get the ball back.

So the team with the ball, when controlling or slowing the play down, has a double win if you like. Does that make sense?

So now we move forward a few years to today.

We have now progressed this style even further where teams have now gone ‘ok, what is an even better way to slow the game down and focus on being defensive? What is a way we can stop the opposition from scoring even if we don’t have the ball?’

One of my mantras when coaching was this. ‘When we have the ball we need to find space on the ground and in the game. If they get the ball, we take the space away from them.’ It’s pretty simple when you think about and with everything that happens in football – at any level - it actually follows this principle all the time.

So back to the question, ‘How can we stop the opposition from scoring even when we don’t have the ball?’. It’s easy. We just take away total space from them – even if it means taking our own space away. So we will push our 18 players into their defence which means, the will also have to put their 18 players in the same are so we don’t get the ball by outnumbering them…… and this whole shemozzle of contested, congested, pressured and let’s be honest, largely unskilled style of football has developed and now has been ingrained into our beloved game.

Now, as I have mentioned before one brave coach may go ‘bugger this, we are going old school’ but they are on a hiding to nothing. Firstly because if they get the ball they are going to hit a wall of 18 opposition players in their F50, where they are then likely to lose possession and so the 18 players from the opposition will run together, in tandem forward and outnumber their defenders who are standing on their lonesome trying to work out which of the wall of players they should run towards..

So the only way we can fix this is by one of two ways.

  1. The game slowly evolves out of the current style of footy and transitions into a more open, higher scoring style of game. I think this could happen over the next few years BUT Foxtel and Ch. 7 clearly want a better viewing game now and not in 5-6 years’ time…. And that’s presuming the game does actually evolve back because there is no certainties it will!! I think it will be I can’t be sure….

  2. The AFL steps in and yes, changes the rules again. Brings in ‘anti density rules’. This will bring an immediate change to the game. You may have heard about it this week but Hawthorn and Brisbane have trialled these new anti-density rules to see what the game looks like. I spoke to one of my boys, Tim O’Brien last night and he said the changes seem really, really good. Midfielders have space to move the ball because there isn’t as many people around and forwards have space to lead and mark into…. Does that sound familiar to us older readers from a by gone era here?? Dayne Zorko said on Foxtel it was a lot of fun too. So, that’s 2 out of 2 Stride boys who like the potential change.



Chapter 2 -The Pre-Draft Years

Recruiters look for players who play on instinct. They innately know when to jump, when to run, when to baulk and make instinctive decisions. The best and most obvious examples of this are Indigenous players. Run, jump, kick goals and do special ‘wow did you see that’ kind of things. Instinctive players are players who are always looking for a way to attack whenever they can. Defence isn’t an instinctive thing.

So, the recruiters watch them. Take note of their instinctive skills. Question whether they have other instinctive skills. Watch. Debate. Watch again. Put their names on a whiteboard. Watch more. Interview. Watch. Debate. Leave their name on the whiteboard (while removing others). Maybe interview again. Debate more. Decide they want to draft them because of their (instinctive) talent. Call out their name at the draft. Organise their flights to the club 2 days later to start training then….

From day 1 let the coaches start belting the instinctiveness out of them. Make them structured. Follow so many game plans and team rules the kids can’t think instinctively any more.

So the irony is we recruit players who show natural (or developed) instinctiveness into the AFL but once they get there, we don’t want them to be instinctive anymore and force them to play a structured, contested style of footy. As long as you are good under pressure, are strong over the ball and can handball to a team mate who is under pressure, is good over the ball and thankfully can handball because he is under pressure also.

It’s f*cking insane and I’ve spoken to experienced List and Recruiting Managers and they have shaken their heads, laughing and 100% agree with me.

FreoMonocle , take notice of this next bit will be the first part of your information gathering.

I saw something very concerning a few years ago. I went to an U15 SANFL carnival a few years ago – 2015 I think it was – and all of the coaches at this carnival had their players playing games EXACTLY the same as we see on TV. I went to many of the games and had no idea who the talented players where. I spoke to a couple of AFL recruiters who said the same thing. Said it was ‘disgusting’ and that they were going to make complaints to the SANFL about it.

How the hell do kids develop the appropriate skills being taught to play football this way? How can they develop their skills and instinctive talent enough to get drafted (Yeah for it to be belted out of them when they get drafted but let’s cross that bridge when we get there).


How do recruiters even know who the best players are?

But then I got think and whilst I was also disgusted with what I was seeing, it then also dawned on me that these coaches, along with the players themselves, where from the country zones of the SANFL club…. This meant these coaches were coaching the same way out in the country (as coaches probably where in suburban, local footy)! And if they were coaching the same way, that meant the players were playing the same way… so all those things I just mentioned (skill, AFL talent, instinctiveness) was being cut off at the knees at ‘lower’ levels and potentially with kids younger than the ones I had seen at the U15 carnival.


So this isn’t a knock on the SANFL it was far wider spread then that.

I had a Victorian based journo ring me a few weeks back, asking me for my opinion on the new anti-density rules the TAC Cup was implementing. I should add, in the last couple of years, the SANFL have also bought in similar ‘zoning’ rules (similar to the u18 National Champs) to try and resolve, in part, the issues I have just touched on.

You may be surprised at this but I spoke to him for a very long time about it. Yes, I know you’re all shocked at that.

We talked about all the stuff I have just talked about but I also gave him my thoughts on part of my ‘space’ theory – especially the bit about having space for forwards to run into.

He is a St Kilda supporter so I used Paddy McCartin as my example. We as supporters are screaming for more goals to be kicked in games. We look at footage of Plugger, Gazza Snr and Jason Dunstall kicking 100 goals plus in a season. We remember back to 10 or so years ago when Buddy managed to do it at Hawthorn and we ask ourselves, “I wonder of we will ever see someone kick 100 goals in year again?”. See whilst we lament the loss of goal scoring, the truth is out there – we have destroyed big forwards in the game (some are still going ok, I’ll explain shortly) as well.

We question why Patrick McCartin can’t live up to his Number 1 draft selection status as a big forward. We question why Tom Boyd gets a reputed $1m a year when he is in the VFL. Justin Patton has been running around in the NEAFL. We question the hype around Josh Schache and for you Freo supporters wonder if Tabs will ever ‘get there’ and was all the hype about Cam McCarthy justified? The great hope to Fremantle’s goal kicking woes?

I’ll tell you why we question these guys and their ability as a key forward. It is because WE HAVE A GAME NOW WHERE THEY HAVE ZERO CHANCE OF SUCCEEDING.

When these boys have been drafted (some with very high selections) they then have to develop their ability to a just to the highest level of footy in the land, but we throw them into a game where we have 2-3 defenders competing against them and we have taken any space away from them to lead into; get away from the defenders, take a mark and kick a goal.

And then when they aren’t touching the footy and kicking goals, we all get on blog sites and forums and tell them they are useless. Get onto twitter and other social media platforms and tell them they are s**t. Then the coach drops them to the reserves ‘so they can go back, get touch and find confidence’…. (Errr, derrrrr) and the media starts online polls and encourages talkback to discuss the problems with these kids and if the pick used to draft them was a waste.

And we wonder why more and more players are coming out with mental health issues.

“But Tim, what about Buddy and Tommy Hawkins and Josh Kennedy who still seem to be able to kick a bag of goals now and then? They can do it?!?”

Yes, they can because they started their developing careers in an era where they had space to run into and only had one defender to contend with. They had a chance to survive and learn the skills required and that’s why they survive and can perform (at times) today.

God help these kids, nowadays.

A couple of final things before the final chapter.

Cam McCarthy isn’t a key forward. This isn’t a knock on him, he never was a key forward. At GWS he was 3rd in line behind Cameron and Patton. This meant he took the 3rd best defender. Then he went to Fremantle. As your saving grace key forward. With no other key forwards (minus Tabs on occasions) to help him and no other key forwards to take other defenders away from him. Plus up until recently, Freo played a slow, defensive game plan which, yes you guessed it, gave ample time for defenders to get back, fill holes and double team him.

I hope he can get the support he needs, play a suitable role, play well for Freo at AFL level and keep loving the game.


I have spoken to a number of players over the last couple of weeks; some were my boys, some were not. There is a common denominator with all of them; they are predominately forwards. Key forwards, small forwards, pressure forwards etc. I should add, none of these were Cam McCarthy the above was my thoughts and I have no personal connection or insight to his situation in any way.

The majority of them hate the game as it is now. And I don’t mean “I hate it but she’ll be right”, I mean as in they hate playing the game and are quickly losing their love and passion for it. One even recounted a story from this year where, after they had had a shock win against more fancied opponents, my ‘source’ and a team mate where walking off the ground, and this guy’s team mate – who is out of contract at the end of this year – said he was starting to feel that he really didn’t care if the club offered him another contract or not, such was his disillusionment with how the game is now.

This was only a matter of moments after a big win. When they still had their playing gear on and when they were still walking off the oval!!

And no, they aren’t being pedantic forwards. Trust me they are battered and bruised and injured. I see it. They are giving it their all and PLAYING THE GAME THEY ARE INSTRUCTED TO PLAY BY THE COACH, BUT HAVE NO HOPE IN SUCEEDING but when they don’t take marks, or get many possessions or kick any goals, it’s see you later, back to the two’s and lets watch the media and public destroy your soul and confidence again.

I have this awful feeling we are destroying the love of the game for some of these young men who have dreamt of getting to the AFL. Coaches have developed game styles and on field roles that – I feel - are destroying careers.

And meanwhile, potential mental health issues continue to rise.



Chapter 3 – What can we do at local level?


From a junior level – from Auskick to U17 level where kids may go to the WAFL Colts, it is simple.

If we really want to develop talent, we need to focus on developing talent. Not focus on trying to be an AFL coach at junior level. Not focus on winning games of football.

Let’s focus on this:

Auskick to U12’s – develop all skills, every facet of the game, have plenty of footballs so everyone has lots of touches, no long lines waiting in drills, lots of little skill games (not necessarily actual playing a game) and yeah, make it a bit competitive and have races but don’t focus on the winner, focus on everyone improving – even the last team and above all, make sure everyone is having fun. We want every kid, who gets their first taste of Aussie Rules at this level, to bloody love the game and never want to leave. Some will play senior footy locally, some will become umpires, some will play AFL and some could become the local club’s next president. Keep them loving the game.

U13-U15’s – Keep developing all skills in line with their age, bring in little extra things such as knowing some good things to eat (not a whole meal plan, that will get you offside with mums everywhere) but what’s good to eat and what’s not good to eat, get them bringing their won water bottle to all trainings, games, club events, make sure school is important as is theor role in local society – no bullying etc – and with games, play them but play the game as is was naturally played. Open, fun, fast. But don’t focus on winning games. Focus on individual development – that will bring scoreboard results at some stage but importantly, helping EVERY kid (not just the most talented ones) feel like they are getting better and they feel better about themselves.



U16 –U17’s – Develop skills further and again, to the appropriate level and start to demand higher standards WITHOUT yelling, screaming and threatening. That went out in the 80s. If they make a mistake during a game, don’t drag them – encourage them to keep trying it and to not be scared of giving it a go again. Further implement maturity and respect for those around them – clean up after themselves, help the trainers take the medical gear and water bottles in, say thank you to all the volunteers and be good within your community. Further develop their understanding of hydration, nutrition and strength conditioning as they all want too – just make sure they know that getting shredded for stereo’s is very different to strengthening for footy. At this age, their priorities should be (and in this order):

  1. Family
  2. School/Work

    Daylight….
  3. Football

And as a coach, remember these priorities. Please.

Another thing I often see is local coaches and clubs restricting kids from going to the next level. If one of your players gets invited to state training, encourage and support it. If they end up in the WAFL as part of their dream of getting to the AFL, don’t go and offer them money to come back and play locally when they haven’t yet satisfied their yearning to get to the highest level. Encourage them to keep trying. Offer support. Offer guidance. Be a good coach and mentor.

I have had so many run ins with country clubs who try and lure kids back from the city with the offer of money, well before the player has developed fully.


When kids are 16,17,18 they dream of playing in the AFL/AFLW. They don’t dream about playing for their local club.

As far as character goes, keep out of trouble, go to school, be respectful to your elders. Be firm on them but understand them also. Take time to learn about the individuals in their group – they are not all cut from the same cloth as each other. When I coached at Glenelg I made sure I spoke to EVERY player at each training and very rarely about their game. Footy on the weekend, their new girlfriend, the crazy new haircut they had…be relatable. When they relate to you, they will listen and learn from you.

When an AFL player is asked who their best coach was, it’s never their AFL coach. It will be one of their junior coaches. To verify this, go onto Lachie’s Instagram and look at his #thankscoach post about this time last year ;);)

Finally, I always get asked if there is one thing, when it comes to character, that I tell all my boys. There actually is something. Arcassius may need to sensor this (editor: but won't) but the one thing I tell all my boys is this:


Don’t be a campaigner.


Simple.
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