Work-life balance has been high on the agenda for the AFL Players Association lately.
That’s not to say it hasn’t been a concern for many years now.
In years gone by, the real value of the AFLPA wasn’t realised by the player until the warmth of the football club evaporated, and the real world slapped them in the face upon retirement.
A wage – much less attractive than what the player is accustom to – beckons if he’s lucky, having prepared in some capacity for that fateful day the club says, “It’s been real, but we have found a younger, slicker, cheaper version of you. Look after your self, champ”.
“It’s been real, but we have found a younger, slicker, cheaper version of you. Look after your self, champ.”
Now, that brash, flippant assessment of the thank you card left by the football club is slightly unfair and skewed.
I can say the Hawks have improved markedly in the past 10 years, to the point of being an industry leader in ensuring the transition from professional athlete to ‘common’ citizen, is smooth and without surprise.
Inevitably though, there will always be teething problems and challenges that lay ahead.
Across the other 17 clubs, more so than ever, the players have access to more resources and opportunities designed to assist in the transition out of the game.
AFL Commission chairman Mike Fitzpatrick, a Rhodes Scholar and premiership captain for Carlton, made comment not long ago about the current demands on players and how he may have struggled to comply if such demands were enforced when he was a player in the early 1980s.
All football clubs, with the support of the AFLPA, have full time welfare managers committed to assisting the players in all things “life”.
The shift we have seen in the past two to three years is the commitment from the clubs, driven by the AFLPA, in assisting and ensuring that all players are preparing for life after football in some manner, be that by studying at university or TAFE, doing a placement, or an involvement within their own business in some capacity.
All of which is generally limited in regards to commitment by time and energy levels as they fluctuate through the course of a season, pre-season included.
This is where the conversation lies.
Are the players committing too much time to football without developing their self outside the confines of the restrictive sphere the AFL industry has created? I have grappled with this notion.
On one hand, to be exceptional and excel within any profession, it takes total commitment in all facets of life. It’s a lifestyle choice.
If you can not make that commitment, it will soon be realised and apparent to all.
Considering the profession of being an AFL footballer, and comparing that only with other professions on the same wage, you would be well with in your rights to suggest the players are griping about what they do not fully understand.
Eight weeks leave a year, the chance to play in front of thousands with 22 good mates and make a living out of remaining healthy and fit.
On the surface, that is undeniably better than the alternative of working 70 hours a week chained to the desk or on the work site.
What needs to be considered, is the age at which the game demands a total life commitment from all wishing to make their mark.
And what those commitments actually entail.
While a players’ peers are allowed the liberties of making life mistakes and testing their own personal boundaries, without the intense scrutiny of public perception, the young footballer is considering things like if having a piece of chocolate will affect his performance on a Saturday afternoon.
There is no denying what comes with the privilege of being a player at the elite level.
It’s an obsession that’s required to succeed, yet in an ironic way it is a slightly unhealthy obsession.
This may go some way to identifying why so many players in years gone by struggle when the rigidity of AFL football is no longer there to support or discipline their lifestyle.
A team’s success at the season’s end, or at the conclusion of a coaches tenure, is purely measured by the win/loss ratio.
If we, the AFLPA can change that mentality by measuring success via the development of its players, by creating environments promoting the growth and development of young men, the success will follow.
*Hawthorn premiership player Brad Sewell was drafted from North Ballarat Rebels in 2003. He joined the AFL Players Association executive board in 2010.
This article originally appeared in the Courier Mail. Click here to view the article.