By Ben Somerford
December 2nd 2009 @ 5:21am
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Draftees heading interstate can be a lottery
2009 AFL draftees. Slattery Images
You could see the emotion etched on young indigenous player Lewis Jetta’s face the moment it was announced he was heading to Sydney as pick number 14 in last week’s AFL Draft: “I’m leaving home, not for the home of footy, but the rugby-loving big smoke of Sydney?”, seemed to be his stunned initial reaction.
Indeed, it’s a tough system the AFL Draft, but these youngsters know exactly what they’re getting themselves into when they put their names up for selection.
In Jetta’s case, it had been touted in the Perth press that the Swan Districts product could be picked up by local club West Coast with their first pick at number 7, but after that didn’t occur the 20-year-old might have hoped to head to Victoria where his first cousin Neville and second cousin Leroy currently play with the Demons and Bombers respectively.
Instead, he’s been swiftly flown off to Sydney away from family and friends to join the Swans.
And Jetta faced the media on Monday for his first session in the spotlight where he confidently claimed he was always better than cousin Neville and that Sydney’s gameplan would see him use his lightning-fast pace to feed off mentor Adam Goodes.
It was all lighthearted stuff but it clearly showed this was a youngster with a lot to learn.
But he’s not alone with over 30 youngsters having to head interstate from this year’s national draft.
The 2009 Rising Star winner Daniel Rich is an example of someone getting it right, but there are many less-publicized examples of those who couldn’t handle it and some rather more-publicized examples of those who headed home after a few years.
Indeed, Chris Judd is the obvious case, while there’s many more such as Scott Thompson, Jason Gram, Des Headland, Tyson Stenglein, Daniel Chick, Adam McPhee, Stephen Gilham, Robbie Warnock, Bradd Dalziell, John Meesen, Nick Davis, Henry Playfair and Daniel Motlop.
On the other hand, there are obviously many more examples of players who’ve settled interstate and gone onto enjoy fruitful careers at that club.
And actually during Foxtel’s draft coverage there was a story on Brisbane’s Victorian-born midfielder Luke Power, where his parents spoke about his initial years at the Lions and how he phoned them daily telling them how he desperately wanted to come home.
Instead, he toughed it out, broke into the Brisbane team and went onto play a major role in their three premierships before becoming a co-captain at the Lions in 2007.
Nevertheless, the point is young players getting homesick does happen and it is a risk at the draft table with these youngsters getting whisked away at such an early age.
And while Nathan Buckley’s now infamous new kicking test at the draft camp measures the skills of youngsters, there is no such test for homesickness. Indeed, it is something you can’t predict.
So it is about clubs helping these youngsters settle in and adjust to life away from family and friends.
These draftees obviously need somewhere to live for a start, but then there’s also finding new friends and hobbies to keep them busy, as well as the adjustment in terms of independence.
Brisbane are a club who’ve been successful in this department with the aforementioned duo of Rich and Power along with West Australian Simon Black and Victorian Jonathon Brown, who’ve both had trade attention from other home-state clubs at times in their careers.
It’s a problem non-Victorian clubs inevitably face a lot and there have been salary cap concessions in the past for these clubs to ensure they can retain non-local players.
Nowadays a lot of those concessions have been drawn back, so clubs must find new resources outside the salary cap to face this challenge.
I’m led to believe in the case of Jetta, who has lived in Bunbury (175 kilometres south of Perth) all of his life, his parents will make the move to join him in Sydney but that isn’t always possible.
Indeed, clubs must tackle these challenges otherwise they risk wasting a pick at the draft table should they let a talented interstate player cruise along frustrated and longing for home in their early AFL years.
That in itself poses the question of the wisdom of drafting players from interstate and whether clubs should prioritize selecting locals, although that’s another debate altogether.
But the main thing clubs want is to see talent reach its full potential under their guidance.
And obviously that is a challenge but just one of many challenges for clubs in the curious system that is the AFL Draft.
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(13)
Freud of Football said | December 2nd 2009 @ 8:05am | Report comment
I might add that b*stard Kane Johnson who demanded (not requested, demanded) that he go back to Victoria, this on the back of two premierships with the Crows as a kid and he was regularly racking up 25+ touches a game – Call me bitter but I’m glad he never tasted success with Richmond.
It’s a huge problem with the current draft/trade system, clubs hold out for the best deals because players initially have no power, once they slip through to the draft they still have no power but the clubs get nothing in return for their investment and Jason Torney + some draft picks weren’t a fair trade in the Johnson saga, the Crows simply had no other choice, take it or receive nothing.
What also really gets under my skin is the way the grassroots clubs are treated. My best friend’s brother is currently playing AFL and I spoke with him about it last time we met and he told me the clubs (in this case, also the club I played for as a junior) gets peanuts, the places responsible for shaping men into AFL athletes get a few scraps while the AFL laugh all the way to the bank to cash their billion dollar cheques.
AndyRoo said | December 2nd 2009 @ 8:58am | Report comment
in Futbal the clubs only get 3k. That’s got to be a bitter pill to swallow for clubs like South Melbourne or Marconi.
ren said | December 2nd 2009 @ 9:14am | Report comment
i remember when jeff farmer was drafted by melbourne his WAFL club south freo got all the money despite him never playing a game there- why because he was in their WAFL zone- so what happened to jeffs club- the once mighty tambellup demons are no more- with no money it became too difficult to compete against the bigger Albany clubs, the first setback was in 1997 when the club went into recess for a season- the players went to the neighbouring kojonup team who won their first and only premiership to date, the next season tambellup was back and needless to say the premiership flag was black and red that season (Kojunup picked up another spoon). After a few more gf appearances the shire of 500 could no longer putt together a team to compete against the larger teams of Albany and Mt Barker.
It ma have happened anyway but the money that should of been recieved for the development of jeff farmer could have put off the death of the demons for good or at least allowed us to win a few more flags and maybe produce another wizard.
Another notable AFL player to have played footy at Tambellup is MArk WIlliams while another two local boys went to victorian clubs but couldnt cope with the big city lifestyle
Freud of Football said | December 2nd 2009 @ 9:12pm | Report comment
This is a good example of one area that the AFL really needs to lift it’s game.
Players in the draft generally come from “bigger clubs”, that is, any country boy in SA/WA plays for their zoned team in the SANFL or WAFL and they get the dosh even though they might only play a few (or in your case, no) games for that club.
If the AFL was serious about grassroots football they’d feed the clubs at the bottom of the chain who create these players, not the representative sides where they get seen by the scouts but the sides that developed them into the players that they are.
Michael C said | December 2nd 2009 @ 9:20am | Report comment
AT North Melbourne we had our 1999 premiership including Scottt Welsh (SA), Byron Pickett (SA) and Peter Bell (WA),
as it turned out, Bell went home to Perth, Scott Welsh went home to Adelaide…..and then returned to Vic to the Doggies, and Pickett went home to Port Lincoln I think it was (and Port Power) only again, to later return to Vic and the Dees.
Thus we lost 3 of our gun youngish stars to the ‘go home factor’ and yet 2 of them ended up back in Victoria later on (perhaps, this won’t happen so much in the future with our new facilities???)
I’m amazed so far that we’ve held on to Daniel Wells for so long.
bever fever said | December 2nd 2009 @ 9:21am | Report comment
” Billion dollar cheques “. Freud, I’ve told you a million times to stop exaggerating.
CraigB said | December 2nd 2009 @ 5:03pm | Report comment
they did get the pick that the then on traded to get W Carey. big risk that failed
Freud of Football said | December 2nd 2009 @ 6:36pm | Report comment
It wasn’t a big risk that failed, it was that Ayres.
No-one wanted him in Adelaide from day one and that he managed to go and get Wayne Carey, past his prime for a #2 draft pick shows why he’s no longer employed by an AFL club, he was a crap coach who used his playing career to the max.
Pippinu said | December 2nd 2009 @ 8:51am | Report comment
I thought that in recent years, clubs had become a lot better about testing the mental preparedness of young athletes about to enter the draft.
macavity said | December 2nd 2009 @ 10:37am | Report comment
*rugby league loving big smoke
Michael C said | December 2nd 2009 @ 10:40am | Report comment
Just a btw – Reading about 21 yr old Trent Dennis-Lane from WA, he’s of Burmese descent, and, in the article in RealFooty, he points out that Andrew Embley has Burmese heritage too.
re clubs of origin, I still love the NAB cup with the $1000 (is it a full G or $500?) going to the nominated junior club of a player who kicks a ’super goal’. I love that.
Gibbo said | December 2nd 2009 @ 11:57am | Report comment
what an opportunity – 18 years of age, out of the parents house, across the country, a healthy pay cheque… sure, homesickness will always be there, but it shouldnt be too hard for the clubs to put measures in place to ensure each draftee is setting out on a once in a lifetime adventure. i’m just not sure how smart alot of these clubs operate.
davelee said | December 2nd 2009 @ 3:05pm | Report comment
Pippinu,
I dont think there actually is any mental strength tests per se at the draft camp. I always thought clubs just interviewed the players to get a feel of who they are and that kind of thing.
Anyway in regards to mental strength is that got a correlation to homesickness. And if you look at players like Chris Judd, Scott Thompson, Tyson Stenglen they are all pretty mentally strong young men yet they still found it important to head home.
Home is always a lure. Just look at A-League players returning to Australia.
And then there’s things like girlfriends, just take a look at Kennelly who I believe has an Australian girlfriend.