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Sandilands footy's next big thing
07 April 2007 Herald-Sun
Trevor Grant
WHEN a self-conscious Aaron Sandilands first ducked his head through the doorway at Fremantle five years ago and everyone stopped and stared, as you do when someone the size of an office block enters the building, the coach Chris Connolly did not bat an eyelid.
Huge presence: Aaron Sandilands is one of the most influential ruckmen in the AFL, but the Docker is still learning.
While others wondered about the worth of such a huge man in a game built around speed and hand-eye co-ordination, Connolly was already convinced Sandilands, all 211cm of him, was close to the club's most valuable long-term asset. Right from the start he was unequivocal in his view of what the rookie ruckman could bring to the team. "If you think of Brisbane you think of Voss, think of Collingwood and it's Buckley. Eventually we want others thinking in the same way about Aaron Sandilands at Fremantle," he said.
It was clearly a pet project, and a big part of it was to convince Sandilands, probably more than anyone else, just how big he could become in the game.
Connolly nicknamed him the Big Ship of Fremantle, and implored him to celebrate his size. "When we are walking into joints I want him to walk tall and proud. I want him to wear high heels and a top hat and look even bigger. The taller the better for me," he said.
As with most people who tower above the rest of the population, Sandilands initially struggled to feel comfortable about projecting himself, both on and off the field.
It's not easy to stand up and be proud when people give you funny looks all the time.
You develop a stoop, mainly because of the ever-present fear of doorways and ceiling fans, and you can look awkward and unsure. You also grow tired of people talking of nothing but your stature when they meet you.
Add some teenage insecurity to all of this and it's easy to see why Sandilands wasn't keen to put on his top hat and high heels when he went out. Or why it took time to inject a bit of swagger into him on the field.
It's a feeling that Luc Longley, a 218cm (7ft 2in) big-time basketballer from Perth, knows from first-hand experience. "Initially I grew up being told by my parents, 'You are bigger than everyone so try not to hurt people; be nice and be careful because you are so big and strong'," he said.
"I don't think parents realise that they are coaching that passiveness into you. As a sportsperson, I had to learn it was OK to smash someone, that it doesn't matter if you are bigger, sometimes you have to do what comes naturally."
Longley learned well, becoming Australia's most successful player in the NBA, winning three championships, alongside Michael Jordan, at the Chicago Bulls in an 11-year, four-club career that was ended by injury in 2001.
Now 38, retired and resident in Perth, Longley, an unashamed footy tragic who proudly holds the No. 1 ticket at Fremantle, has quietly and unobtrusively become a valued adviser to Sandilands on his path to becoming a very fine ruckman and one of the game's most imposing figures.
It was Connolly who saw the value in tapping into Longley's reservoir of experience. "Luc is one of the best people you'll ever meet," Connolly said. "He went into a ruthless sport and had to learn about the importance of presence and how to use it. I think there are a lot of similarities in their personalities and in the way they have had to develop their game."
Longley and 24-year-old Sandilands, who meet occasionally for coffee and a chin wag, have developed the rapport which Connolly suspected would be there.
"We've had a few good chats about what it's like to be tall," Longley said. "I talk to him about not seeing height as a curse, not that I think he does. I just keep reminding him that there's only one of him and that the little 5ft 10in blokes are a dime a dozen."
Longley was reluctant to make any judgments or offer firm opinions to Sandilands, believing he already had the attributes to grow into one of the elite performers in his sport. "I guess what I shared with Aaron was how hard it was for me because when you are big everyone expects you to dominate," he said.
"But you are still getting your co-ordination together and your heart is about half the size it should be because it hasn't grown into your body yet.
"Everyone starts saying why isn't he dominating but they don't understand you need a lot more time to develop. It took me two or three years longer than most people to grow into my body. If you are lucky your talent gets to grow in behind your body."
Of course, as Longley points out, while you are waiting for things to happen, you also have to endure the slings and arrows from mindless fools. "You go into a pub and every drunken d...head wants to come up and either try to fight you or measure their height against you," he said.
"Constantly in pubs you are accidentally treading on people who are standing behind you, measuring themselves against you. You do feel like a bit of a sideshow."
Although Longley was at pains to insist he has done nothing more than pass on a few experiences, Sandilands cannot speak too highly of him, especially when he looks in the mirror these days.
After the company which had made Sandilands' customised size 17 boots closed down, Longley's US agent helped him organise a new deal to get some imported boots. There have also been handy new contacts for everyday items, such as jeans and shoes.
"Luc has been really great, helping me with all sorts of things like dealing with my height as well as clothing," Sandilands said. "He put me on to a couple of good websites (oddball.com). You really struggle to find decent jeans and shoes here. Now I'm starting to find some that don't look too bad."
Just as his dress sense is picking up, Sandilands is also looking a million dollars out in the middle of the ground, taking command of games, as he did in last year's preliminary final against Sydney with 39 hitouts, and making the sort of impact that Connolly dreamed about five years ago.
Now into his fifth AFL season, there is an obvious self-assurance as well as a controlled aggression about Sandilands that brings comfort to his teammates and provokes genuine fear among opponents.
How do you stop a 125kg monster with innate ball-handling skills who can run 400m in 56sec, give the likes of wingman and teammate Sean McManus a run for his money in a 70m sprint and beat his own midfielders over 800m? Do you concede the ruck knockouts, knowing his height and strength dwarfs your own big men?
And what do you do when he goes forward and stands there like the Eureka Tower? Take the lift or the stairs?
As with all opposing teams, Essendon has no doubt been pondering these questions all week in preparation for tomorrow's clash with Fremantle at Telstra Dome. Answers, though, are another matter.
"I'm just more comfortable with my height and all that now. It's maturity. You get used to it," Sandilands said, adding that the addition of 15kg to the immature, 110kg frame that he brought to the club in 2002 had given him the confidence to run more and start throwing his weight around.
"It's given me a lot of strength, which in turn, gives me a lot of confidence, especially now that I've got used to being able to run with the extra weight. I feel I've got my fitness and body shape up to a good level and over time I've learned little things, like how to use your body and how to make position. I've still got a lot of improvement, in areas like contested marking, but it's all part of the process."
The impact Sandilands has made in the past season can be measured by the respect, and, sometimes, awe, that comes from opponents.
"The big fella is just a man mountain. How do you win a tap? Good luck," said Melbourne's Nathan Brown after Sandilands destroyed the Demons in last year's semi-final with 32 hitouts and 15 possessions.
His opposite number at West Coast, Dean Cox, rightly ranked the best ruckman in the competition, sees a rapidly developing challenger.
"He's starting to get a lot more of the footy around the ground and become a linkman. He's a massive man and it's another great challenge to come up with ways to combat his prominence and confidence in the hitouts," he said.
Sandilands already has a formidable presence in the AFL competition but what makes him even more striking is the fact that he's very much a work in progress.
"The first stage of his learning was understanding the importance of having a presence," Connolly explained. "Now he's practising demanding the ball, his positioning and his physicality around clearances. He has a great capacity to absorb this information and he knows he's got a lot more to learn.
"People would say to me: 'Aaron should smash the ball forward or jump up and command it'. But a lot of these things, like jumping, timing and reading of the play didn't come naturally to him. What did is his tremendous ball skills and his ability to run.
"When the penny drops with him that six-footers are a dime a dozen and 'I'm pretty special and I can have an influence on a game like no other', we'll see the best of him. It's a learning thing. It will come."
As for Longley, there has been a quiet satisfaction -- both as a sounding board and mad Dockers' fan -- at witnessing the gradual progress of a fellow monster.
"It's been fun watching him evolve. It seems to me he's backing himself more; that he feels more free to play footy and do it how he wants to do it. His movements look more fluid because he's probably following his own intuition," he said.
"I don't think he needs me or anyone to tell him these things. He's figured it out for himself. And now we are seeing it."
As the drunks once did to Longley in the pubs, opponents continue to try to measure themselves against Sandilands and, inevitably, come away feeling decidedly inferior.
But, as Connolly says, if they think they're caught short now, just wait until he puts on his top hat and high heels.
07 April 2007 Herald-Sun
Trevor Grant
WHEN a self-conscious Aaron Sandilands first ducked his head through the doorway at Fremantle five years ago and everyone stopped and stared, as you do when someone the size of an office block enters the building, the coach Chris Connolly did not bat an eyelid.
While others wondered about the worth of such a huge man in a game built around speed and hand-eye co-ordination, Connolly was already convinced Sandilands, all 211cm of him, was close to the club's most valuable long-term asset. Right from the start he was unequivocal in his view of what the rookie ruckman could bring to the team. "If you think of Brisbane you think of Voss, think of Collingwood and it's Buckley. Eventually we want others thinking in the same way about Aaron Sandilands at Fremantle," he said.
It was clearly a pet project, and a big part of it was to convince Sandilands, probably more than anyone else, just how big he could become in the game.
Connolly nicknamed him the Big Ship of Fremantle, and implored him to celebrate his size. "When we are walking into joints I want him to walk tall and proud. I want him to wear high heels and a top hat and look even bigger. The taller the better for me," he said.
As with most people who tower above the rest of the population, Sandilands initially struggled to feel comfortable about projecting himself, both on and off the field.
It's not easy to stand up and be proud when people give you funny looks all the time.
You develop a stoop, mainly because of the ever-present fear of doorways and ceiling fans, and you can look awkward and unsure. You also grow tired of people talking of nothing but your stature when they meet you.
Add some teenage insecurity to all of this and it's easy to see why Sandilands wasn't keen to put on his top hat and high heels when he went out. Or why it took time to inject a bit of swagger into him on the field.
It's a feeling that Luc Longley, a 218cm (7ft 2in) big-time basketballer from Perth, knows from first-hand experience. "Initially I grew up being told by my parents, 'You are bigger than everyone so try not to hurt people; be nice and be careful because you are so big and strong'," he said.
"I don't think parents realise that they are coaching that passiveness into you. As a sportsperson, I had to learn it was OK to smash someone, that it doesn't matter if you are bigger, sometimes you have to do what comes naturally."
Longley learned well, becoming Australia's most successful player in the NBA, winning three championships, alongside Michael Jordan, at the Chicago Bulls in an 11-year, four-club career that was ended by injury in 2001.
Now 38, retired and resident in Perth, Longley, an unashamed footy tragic who proudly holds the No. 1 ticket at Fremantle, has quietly and unobtrusively become a valued adviser to Sandilands on his path to becoming a very fine ruckman and one of the game's most imposing figures.
It was Connolly who saw the value in tapping into Longley's reservoir of experience. "Luc is one of the best people you'll ever meet," Connolly said. "He went into a ruthless sport and had to learn about the importance of presence and how to use it. I think there are a lot of similarities in their personalities and in the way they have had to develop their game."
Longley and 24-year-old Sandilands, who meet occasionally for coffee and a chin wag, have developed the rapport which Connolly suspected would be there.
"We've had a few good chats about what it's like to be tall," Longley said. "I talk to him about not seeing height as a curse, not that I think he does. I just keep reminding him that there's only one of him and that the little 5ft 10in blokes are a dime a dozen."
Longley was reluctant to make any judgments or offer firm opinions to Sandilands, believing he already had the attributes to grow into one of the elite performers in his sport. "I guess what I shared with Aaron was how hard it was for me because when you are big everyone expects you to dominate," he said.
"But you are still getting your co-ordination together and your heart is about half the size it should be because it hasn't grown into your body yet.
"Everyone starts saying why isn't he dominating but they don't understand you need a lot more time to develop. It took me two or three years longer than most people to grow into my body. If you are lucky your talent gets to grow in behind your body."
Of course, as Longley points out, while you are waiting for things to happen, you also have to endure the slings and arrows from mindless fools. "You go into a pub and every drunken d...head wants to come up and either try to fight you or measure their height against you," he said.
"Constantly in pubs you are accidentally treading on people who are standing behind you, measuring themselves against you. You do feel like a bit of a sideshow."
Although Longley was at pains to insist he has done nothing more than pass on a few experiences, Sandilands cannot speak too highly of him, especially when he looks in the mirror these days.
After the company which had made Sandilands' customised size 17 boots closed down, Longley's US agent helped him organise a new deal to get some imported boots. There have also been handy new contacts for everyday items, such as jeans and shoes.
"Luc has been really great, helping me with all sorts of things like dealing with my height as well as clothing," Sandilands said. "He put me on to a couple of good websites (oddball.com). You really struggle to find decent jeans and shoes here. Now I'm starting to find some that don't look too bad."
Just as his dress sense is picking up, Sandilands is also looking a million dollars out in the middle of the ground, taking command of games, as he did in last year's preliminary final against Sydney with 39 hitouts, and making the sort of impact that Connolly dreamed about five years ago.
Now into his fifth AFL season, there is an obvious self-assurance as well as a controlled aggression about Sandilands that brings comfort to his teammates and provokes genuine fear among opponents.
How do you stop a 125kg monster with innate ball-handling skills who can run 400m in 56sec, give the likes of wingman and teammate Sean McManus a run for his money in a 70m sprint and beat his own midfielders over 800m? Do you concede the ruck knockouts, knowing his height and strength dwarfs your own big men?
And what do you do when he goes forward and stands there like the Eureka Tower? Take the lift or the stairs?
As with all opposing teams, Essendon has no doubt been pondering these questions all week in preparation for tomorrow's clash with Fremantle at Telstra Dome. Answers, though, are another matter.
"I'm just more comfortable with my height and all that now. It's maturity. You get used to it," Sandilands said, adding that the addition of 15kg to the immature, 110kg frame that he brought to the club in 2002 had given him the confidence to run more and start throwing his weight around.
"It's given me a lot of strength, which in turn, gives me a lot of confidence, especially now that I've got used to being able to run with the extra weight. I feel I've got my fitness and body shape up to a good level and over time I've learned little things, like how to use your body and how to make position. I've still got a lot of improvement, in areas like contested marking, but it's all part of the process."
The impact Sandilands has made in the past season can be measured by the respect, and, sometimes, awe, that comes from opponents.
"The big fella is just a man mountain. How do you win a tap? Good luck," said Melbourne's Nathan Brown after Sandilands destroyed the Demons in last year's semi-final with 32 hitouts and 15 possessions.
His opposite number at West Coast, Dean Cox, rightly ranked the best ruckman in the competition, sees a rapidly developing challenger.
"He's starting to get a lot more of the footy around the ground and become a linkman. He's a massive man and it's another great challenge to come up with ways to combat his prominence and confidence in the hitouts," he said.
Sandilands already has a formidable presence in the AFL competition but what makes him even more striking is the fact that he's very much a work in progress.
"The first stage of his learning was understanding the importance of having a presence," Connolly explained. "Now he's practising demanding the ball, his positioning and his physicality around clearances. He has a great capacity to absorb this information and he knows he's got a lot more to learn.
"People would say to me: 'Aaron should smash the ball forward or jump up and command it'. But a lot of these things, like jumping, timing and reading of the play didn't come naturally to him. What did is his tremendous ball skills and his ability to run.
"When the penny drops with him that six-footers are a dime a dozen and 'I'm pretty special and I can have an influence on a game like no other', we'll see the best of him. It's a learning thing. It will come."
As for Longley, there has been a quiet satisfaction -- both as a sounding board and mad Dockers' fan -- at witnessing the gradual progress of a fellow monster.
"It's been fun watching him evolve. It seems to me he's backing himself more; that he feels more free to play footy and do it how he wants to do it. His movements look more fluid because he's probably following his own intuition," he said.
"I don't think he needs me or anyone to tell him these things. He's figured it out for himself. And now we are seeing it."
As the drunks once did to Longley in the pubs, opponents continue to try to measure themselves against Sandilands and, inevitably, come away feeling decidedly inferior.
But, as Connolly says, if they think they're caught short now, just wait until he puts on his top hat and high heels.
