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Brisbane Broncos rugby league player Karmichael Hunt poses with a Gold Coast AFL franchise jersey. AAP Image/Patrick Hamilton
Brisbane Broncos star Israel Folau is expected to soon announce which club – and code – he’ll be playing for next year. With just the slightest hint that Greater Western Sydney was his destination last week, it didn’t take long for the usual lines to be thrown out. You know, the “This is proof anyone can play AFL”-type lines.
Just like after the Billy Slater talk a week beforehand. Just like after the Karmichael Hunt signing before that.
The AFL chasing after rugby league converts has been misconstrued in many ways, and it’s time a few of the “myths” are put to bed.
This is proof anyone can play in the AFL
Not quite. This is proof that anyone that possesses the athletic qualities of a Karmichael Hunt or Israel Folau can be given the chance to play in the AFL. There’s a bit of a difference.
Not everyone has the talents of Hunt and Folau, of course. It’s not as though these guys have been plucked straight off the street. But even then, there’s no guarantee they will make it, or even play a single senior game – at this stage all they’ve been presented with is an opportunity.
And for those who think playing in the AFL is a walk in the park, have a look at the Jordan Lewis and Jarrod Harbrow collision from a few weeks back and you’ll see the AFL isn’t a place for just “anyone”.
Look at all those Irish blokes crossing over – it’s easy to make the transition
Another perplexing myth. Only three converts from Gaelic football have reached the 100-game milestone – Tadhg Kennelly, Jim Stynes and Stynes’ teammate Sean Wight. Outside of those three, the list of Irish players to have come over is littered with stories of those who couldn’t cut it. Many never make a senior debut, some even struggle to see out their first season.
The stories of Stynes and Kennelly, as great as they are, shouldn’t lead to the conclusion that it’s easy to make the transition.
It has everything to do with publicity and nothing to do with them playing footy
Publicity is a huge factor in all of this. It’s the chief motivator, I’ve written. But these signings are not all for publicity. Expansion has forced all clubs to think outside the square when it comes to recruiting and to try and open new avenues for talent.
It’s not just rugby league players being signed up, it’s Americans and former basketballers, it’s rugby union players, it’s even more Irishmen, it’s young Fijians, it’s young Kiwis. Players on Gold Coast’s current VFL list have backgrounds in soccer, cricket, basketball, swimming and athletics.
Mind you, having said all that, the fact they are high-profile rugby league players means they get a fair bit more money thrown at them. Which leads to the next myth …
It’s money down the drain
This simply isn’t the case. Believe it or not, the investment in Karmichael Hunt has already paid off. After stories filtered through newspapers, radio, television and the internet, the publicity generated by his signing was valued at $7.5 million.
That’s well above what he’s being paid, and the best part for Gold Coast and the AFL is he hasn’t even played a game yet. Imagine the media attention on his first training session, his first VFL game, his first pre-season game, his first AFL game … it’s crazy to even think about what all that will be worth.
Again, this isn’t to say publicity is the only reason Gold Coast and the AFL went after him. He actually possesses athletic talents. But it is to say that his signing – and any potential Folau signing – isn’t simply money down the drain.
They’ll be taking spots off guys who’ve played the game their whole lives
Actually, the introduction of two new clubs will create almost a hundred new senior list positions, not even including the rookies listed on top of that. The next few years provide a number of opportunities for talent – be they already playing the game or otherwise – to find a spot on an AFL list.
Even then, the non-registered rookie provision – the provision used to sign players like Hunt and Folau – allows players not registered as playing Aussie Rules in the past three years to be signed onto the rookie list (away from the senior list) virtually on top of the salary cap (away from the entire list).
Have the AFL ever seen this guy actually kick?
Both Hunt and Folau have gone through kicking tests – and a general skills test, for that matter – with the AFL’s Jason McCartney. Just because nobody’s seen Folau kick in an NRL game, doesn’t mean the AFL haven’t seen him kick.
This is great, it’s the best thing the AFL have ever done, it’s a no-brainer …
To be fair on the critics, there are a couple of reasons to think a few AFL people are getting a little bit too excited by what’s happening. To suggest there’s completely no downside to all this is also a tad off the mark.
The AFL are setting a strange precedent by helping to pay these players’ salaries through a “marketing allowance”. What’s to stop Carlton asking for the AFL to pay part of Chris Judd’s salary? Is he not marketable? What about Gary Ablett at Geelong? Better yet, what if an existing club, a club not in a developing market, wanted to sign an NRL player?
It does open up a can of worms.
Also, there’s definitely a chance for the positive publicity to backfire once these recruits take to the field or, worse still, don’t take to the field. The scrutiny on them will be intense.
They are going to be absolute failures / great successes
This part of things cannot be foreseen. Nobody knows whether it’s possible to pluck a young rugby league star, develop him for a year and see him out on an AFL field and have him actually belong there.
Which is why experiments like the Hunt signing will be so fascinating. They are great stories.
Instead of jumping to conclusions, the best thing for any Australian sports fan right now is to simply sit back and see how it all plays out.