Josh Jenkins’ journey makes for quite a yarn. He’s the former NBL basketballer who took up AFL at age 19 and played just a handful of games (for Lake Boga of all places) before making his way onto an AFL list. He’s the Essendon rookie, Adelaide was desperate to trade for despite not having played an AFL game. For good reason to; He’s 199cm; he can run, jump, take a grab. He can do it all…Hell, he could even write the story too.
You see; at the same time Jenkins has been forging an AFL career for the Crows, he’s been developing another in the media.
Through the AFL Players’ Association and Sportsready – Next Goal program, Jenkins completed a work placement with the Adelaide Advertiser last year and continues to work for the newspaper one day a week.
In South Australia, the Crows and Power populate the back and sometimes front of the paper every day. Through the placement Jenkins had the opportunity to see how it all comes together. Instead of being the news, he was helping to write it. He wasn’t fetching cups of coffee; Jenkins was going to press conferences, writing copy, working to deadline, staying late when a story broke and contributing to the office banter.
Jenkins says experiencing the cut and thrust of a newsroom provided him with a different perspective on the media – which can so often maligned in the eyes of the playing group.
“I probably have a bit more tolerance for stuff that is written in the paper. Knowing the guys who write the stories, I know they aren’t writing personal attacks when they are writing negative stories about the club or players.
“It’s not personal and it’s just how they see it. Unfortunately they are in an industry where bad news sells more than good news.”
It’s a unique situation where the work experience kid can provide insights into the field beyond what the experts can. As an AFL footballer working on the sports desk, that’s exactly what Jenkins provides. A column written by Jenkins providing a unique insight into the reactions of the Crows to Kurt Tippet’s departure from the club gained plenty of traction across the news landscape.
“I just thought I would tell it how it is, I didn’t say anything untoward, but we were just disappointed with how Kurt decided to leave things and that is pretty much it.”
“A few of the media outlets ran with it, because Kurt is a big topic at the moment, but it was more about me trying to give a bit of insight, I think it is good to be honest, players often give the same old line…”
His work has been appreciated by fans and his teammates have responded in their own kind of way.
“It’s not often that fans get that insight from players so they love it and on the other hand by teammates like to give to me some gentle ribbing about writing for the paper but that’s part and parcel of a footy club.
Jenkins isn’t enrolled in any journalism courses, but working alongside senior journalists who provide feedback on his copy, he is learning on the job. This year he is writing a live blog each week and provides behind the scenes commentary and advice on the fantasy football competition, Supercoach.
Jenkins’ interest in journalism and the media is fuelled by an enjoyment of writing and a passion for being first with the news; Gerard Whateley and Courtney Walsh are two sportswriters he admires.
Jonno Simpson from Twitter Australia credits Jenkins as one of the first AFL players to embrace Twitter and while Jenkins recognises its pitfalls, he also believes all AFL players should be active on the social medium.
According to Jenkins Twitter provides players with a reach never seen before and an opportunity to drive change unique to any other time in the game.
Jenkins cites the Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations and the AFL Players’ Association IDAHO campaign as examples where Twitter aggregated the collective voice of the players and demonstrated unprecedented unity to the public.
“…Some of the players have 30, 40 and 50,000 followers so it can be a pretty powerful tool if they all unite and use it for the same purpose.”
Beyond the footy pages Jenkins makes a concerted effort to keep abreast of current affairs. “I try and make a habit of looking through the front half of the paper first. If I look at the back and read a few of the sport columns first I might lose interest,” he jokes.
Crime reporting is of particular interest – Fairfax crime reporter John Silvester is a favourite, but if there is one person in the world Jenkins would like to interview it’s NFL quarterback Tom Brady; who is famous for breaking records, not the law. The former might be reality one day, but for the moment he’ll settle with breaking the news.
You can follow Josh Jenkins on Twitter @JoshJenkins24