Loyalty in football a much loved attribute

Little Johnny stomps to his bedroom and slams the door. With tears in his eyes he begins ripping down the posters of his favourite player before angrily opening his wardrobe and snatching his beloved football guernsey from its hanger.

Flinging it onto the bed, he flops down beside it and tries to tear the number right off its back.

In the mid-60s it would have been Ron Barrassi’s number 31 being consigned to rubbish bins all over Melbourne. More recently Gary Ablett Junior’s number 29 or Brendan Goddard’s number 18 would have suffered similar fates.

Their tattered and torn numbers would have been left to blow down the windswept streets of Geelong and St. Kilda, leaving sad, heartbreaking voids across the backs of thousands of young supporters.

Refreshingly though, not everyone chases the money.

If you were a Kangaroos supporter as a child in the mid 1990s and chose your favourite player wisely, chances are you never experienced the trauma of going through what was outlined above.

Brent Harvey, that diminutive but blistering fast midfielder whose debut came back in 1996 after being taken at number 47 in the 1995 draft, is still leaving flat footed opponents in his wake some 17 years later.

This weekend ‘Boomer’ will line-up for his 350th game of AFL football and is proudly a one club player. Only Essendon’s Dustin Fletcher surpasses him in the longevity stakes.

There is not much that the speedy number 29 for North Melbourne hasn’t achieved.

He has represented Victoria and been selected as an All Australian. He has captained Australia in its internationals against Ireland and has been runner up in the Brownlow medal. He is also the last member of North Melbourne’s 1999 premiership team still playing.

Last, but not least, he achieved all of that while playing for one club.

In an era where money and so called greener pastures beckon so easily, it is refreshing to see players like Boomer Harvey and Dustin Fletcher stick with their original clubs though thick and thin.

While both players have been well looked after by their respective clubs, lucrative offers from rival teams would have certainly landed on their tables at various stages of their careers.

That they have been happy to reject these offers and stay with their original clubs over such a long period of time is heartening and their supporters love them for it.

They are respected as much for their loyalty as for their on-field exploits.

Essendon’s re-signing of Jobe Watson earlier this week is also to be celebrated.

With the saga surrounding Gary Ablett Junior’s departure from Geelong still fresh in the memory of many fans, followed by a similar situation with Tom Scully leaving Melbourne a year later, and now Buddy Franklin causing unending speculation after refusing to talk contracts with the Hawks hierarchy until the season’s end, Watson’s re-signing is a breath of fresh air.

The reigning Brownlow medallist is happy at Essendon, and although his new contract will net him in the vicinity of $800,000 per year over the next four years, it is hardly in the upper echelons of what the game’s highest paid players are earning.

Watson could have held out to season’s end like Franklin, holding his club to ransom in a bid to get the best offer possible, but he is happy in his surroundings and was willing to sacrifice further dollars to continue to captain the club he holds so dear.

This four year contract should see him end his career as a one club player.

It was also good to see young Richmond captain Trent Cotchin re-sign with the Tigers. This is the type of loyalty and leadership the fans love and Cotchin, wonderful player that he is, is setting an example both on and off the field for his teammates.

Richmond is not always the easiest club to play for or follow, but Cotchin’s commitment to the yellow and black (to at least the end of 2015 anyway) sends the message he is confident his club is heading in the right direction and he wants to be the one to lead it into a new era.

It promotes confidence within the club and provides the type of stability a developing team needs.

Another player celebrating a milestone this weekend is Boomer Harvey’s teammate Daniel Wells.

While Wells hasn’t always lived up to the expectations place upon him by others (he was taken number two in the 2002 draft), his 200 games and 10 years with North Melbourne show he must have been doing something right.

The former club best and fairest winner deserves to enjoy his milestone and should be warmly applauded for his efforts over the years.

After a week the AFL would prefer to forget, it is great to see some of the game’s most loved and admired stars reaching milestones or making decisions we can all appreciate.

Bring on Round 10.