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Steve Johnson and James Kelly were shown the door at Geelong last season. Kelly had lost a bit of leg speed, Johnson seemed to be playing as well as ever. Perhaps understandably, Kelly took it better and retired before getting the SOS call from Essendon, but Johnson was stung.
Now shining at their new clubs, the ex-Cats are part of a tradition of players climbing out of the dustbin of history and proving their point.
They’re not the only rejects standing up this season. Another ex-Cat doing well with the Bombers is Mitch Brown. Carlton defender Jeremy Laidler is starring at Sydney.
Who are the greatest AFL rejects in recent times?
There’s a story, perhaps apocryphal, of a talent scout warning against picking up “the fat Queenslander”. They’d obviously forgotten that Aussie rules champs can come in all shapes and sizes, but Hawthorn and Jason Dunstall knew better. The late Paul Couch was considered too slow and too one-sided by some clubs who probably revisited their verdicts after he won the 1989 Brownlow.
Sometimes it isn’t a mistake, and the player was never going to flourish at their original club. Environment, attitudes (player and coach alike), set-up – all manner of factors can provide problems. Sometimes the player’s attitude changes radically when given a second – or third – chance.
Sometimes the club gets to correct their mistake. South Fremantle’s Peter Bell started at the Dockers, who engaged in what became their notorious practice of jettisoning good players, and sent him to North Melbourne. A grateful Bell collected a premiership before returning to his home state to star for Fremantle.
More recently, Leigh Brown was an important player for Collingwood, particularly in their most recent premiership season, after being canned by North. Tom Harley managed one game in two seasons at Port and was a double-premiership captain at Geelong. David Rodan was sacked in shabby fashion after five seasons at Richmond before racking up 111 games at Port. And Darryl Wakelin had two years at the Crows without a senior game before playing more than 100 each at St Kilda and Port Adelaide.
Port coach Ken Hinkley wasn’t getting much of a run as a forward at Fitzroy in 1987 and early 1988. He cracked it and walked. Three years later he was All Australian, and in 1992 was All Australian, the Cats’ best and fairest, and ran third in the Brownlow.
Arguably the two greatest rejects in recent AFL history were Greg Williams and Gary Ablett Sr.
Williams was another example of a club correcting a mistake. In early ‘82 Williams trained at Carlton, who decided against picking him up because of his lack of leg speed. In ‘84 he debuted with the Cats, and ultimately wasn’t rejected (a second time) so much as encouraged out by a tight-arsed administration – and the big-spending Sydney Swans.
After a strong 1985 at the Cats, he reputedly wanted an extra $5000 a year. When the club said no he followed coach Tom Hafey to Sydney for a (then) fortune. The following season he won the Brownlow. Williams returned to Carlton in 1992, where the club that once overlooked him put him on the then biggest contract in league history.
In addition to a healthy salary, Williams collected another Brownlow in 1994, as well as a Norm Smith and premiership medal in ’95.
Gary Ablett Senior is the standout. The Hawks knew he had talent, but a fondness for going bush and a distaste for training saw him gone after six games. After a year at Myrtleford, he came to Geelong in 1984 and had a reasonably productive 12 seasons at the club.
Post script: Obviously, were it not for his run-in with a taxi, Fitzroy’s Doc Wheildon would have launched the greatest comeback of all time at Essendon. Tragically, it was not to be.
Over to you, Roarers.
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