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To put it mildly, I currently harbor a small obsession for the 2011 Brad Pitt film “Moneyball”. For the unitiated, “Moneyball” is the story of the 2002 Oakland Athletics, who overcame enormous odds to string together one of Major League Baseball’s longest winning streaks.
Forced to compete on a shoe-string budget and with their best player pillaged by those pesky New York Yankees, General Manager Billy Beane assembles a team of rag-tag, unappreciated misfits based on statistics who eventually go on to win 20 straight games.
So it got me thinking – with another AFL season drawing to a close, who are the competition’s most undervalued players?
In this age of equalization through the salary cap and National Draft. it is unlikely we will ever see a “Cinderella Story’ like the 2002 Oakland A’s in the AFL again.
However, there are still plenty of players out there who’s output and value to their team far exceeds what goes in their bank account at the end of the week.
Here’s my take on some of the AFL’s unappreciated stars.
Tom Rockliff (Brisbane): When the likes of Gary Ablett, Dane Swan and Matthew Boyd record massive numbers, football commentators are so lavish in their praise it almost makes me sick. Yet Rockliff in the past two seasons has amassed a combined 1090 possessions, but I bet you didn’t hear even hear about it.
Amazingly overlooked at the 2008 National Draft while spuds like Jack Watts and Tyrone Vickery were taken as high draft picks, Rockliff has embarassed recruiters by cementing himself as the Lions’ premier on-baller along with Jack Redden.
Playing in the relative AFL outpost that is Queensland, Rockliff quietly won Brisbane’s 2011 Best and Fairest, and only a brave man would bet against him making it two in a row this year.
Grant Birchall (Hawthorn): When you’re at a club that has Lance Franklin, Luke Hodge, Sam Mitchell, Cyril Rioli and Jordan Lewis on the payroll, it’s likely you’re going to have to settle for second-rate coin.
Yet this bloke is arguably the game’s premier rebounding defender, and would slip comfortably into the midfield at any other AFL club. Quick, tough, and elite by foot, Birchall doesn’t attract the headlines but would be one of the first players picked by Alistair Clarkson every week.
Already a premiership player from 2008, this Tasmanian gem is every chance to add to that tally in 2012 the way Hawthorn are travelling.
Jay Schulz (Port): Ok, let’s put this in perspective. Travis Cloke, a player said to be demanding close to one million dollars per year for his services, kicked 50 goals from 22 games this season. Schulz played only 15 games due to some horrific injuries but still nailed 42 goals, and could have managed 60-70 with a full season under his belt.
So either Cloke is grossly over-hyped or Sergeant Schulz doesn’t get the credit he deserves. Deemed surplus to requirements by Richmond at the end of 2009, Schulz is now firmly entrenched as the most important player at Alberton.
If Domenic Cassisi does indeed decide to hand over the leadership baton at Port Adelaide, the Power could do a lot worse than consider the bloke with the #28 on his back.
Lewis Roberts-Thomson (Sydney): Slightly from left-field, yet the flexibility LRT provides for the Swans makes him one of their most important assets. Players who are 195 centimetres, 90-plus kilos, athletic and versatile don’t grow trees, which makes Roberts-Thomson so crucial to Sydney.
Never a high-possession winner, competing is LRT’s go and he has spent most of 2012 pinch-hitting in the ruck or forward lines. But with Heath Grundy’s brain-snap seeing him suspended, Roberts-Thomson will be called upon to shore up Sydney’s defence in Saturday’s Qualifying Final against Adelaide at AAMI Stadium, proof of his flexability.
Honourable mentions go to Adelaide’s Brent Reilly, St Kilda’s Sean Dempster and Richmond’s Shane Tuck.
And with September on our door step, what’s the bet that a so-called “lesser light” steps up and makes a hero of himself in the finals.
Because for every Darren Jarman or Gary Ayres, there has been a Paul Dear, Shane Ellen or Toby Thurstans. I can’t wait to see who it is this year!
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