Tom Boyd's retirement shines a light on the game's biggest challenge

On Thursday afternoon, Tom Boyd retired from AFL football citing injuries and “the emotional toll of the game” as the main reasons why he pulled the pin.

A gifted big man on a big pay packet, Boyd’s move to the Western Bulldogs was always the stimulus for much debate about whether the investment in a then-teenager who had played only nine games in his first year was worthwhile.

Fifty-two games for the Western Bulldogs later, he leaves the game on his own terms and will forever be a hero of the mighty west, delivering a moment that hundreds and thousands of fans can only ever dare to dream about.

However, the reality of Boyd’s reasons behind stepping away from the game at only 23 years of age only highlights the biggest issue in the AFL.

(Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

It’s not the umpires, it’s not the MRO and it certainly isn’t the scheduling of games.

While getting the chance to play AFL footy is a privilege, it isn’t for everyone. More and more often we see players step away from the game to deal with mental health issues.

Jack Steven has had two stints away from St Kilda to make sure he is right before he plays footy.

But more and more frequently, our game is becoming littered with individuals who are stepping away from the sport entirely because they lose the passion because it’s affecting their mental health.

It is the biggest issue in the game today.

When Paul Marsh took over as the new chief of the AFLPA in 2014, he wanted to find out what made the players tick.

While the pay deals and CBA would be at the forefront, he needed to know what motivated a current-day AFL player.

What he found out alarmed him. Players were not enjoying their footy and the number of players suffering from mental illness was on the rise. The career isn’t as glamorous as it is made out to be.

“It really hit me between the eyes,” Marsh told the Herald-Sun.

“The amount of time players were at their clubs, the lack of ability to think for themselves, almost the lack of trust in what they were doing was the biggest talking point when I got here.

“It was too much. Everything was too much. They didn’t feel like they were getting a mental break from the game, they were spending too much time there.”

While clubs have hired full-time psychologists and in-house mental health services, it remains an under-serviced beast that in some cases is preventing fledgling young careers from even getting going.

Just last year, Harley Balic retired at 20 citing he had lost the passion to commit to being a professional AFL player. Tom Downie stepped away at 24 to deal with mental health issues. Reece McKenzie didn’t play a game after being drafted. Simon Hogan battled depression during his playing career and it got serious enough that he nearly took his own life. Mitch Clark couldn’t get a fair run at it due to his battles with both injuries and more notably depression.

The average AFL career is six or seven years. It is a small portion of your life, and if you are lucky enough to get there, you cherish every moment. It’s a childhood dream.

But the stresses that come with fame, scrutiny, social media and pressure to perform on the public stage are much more intense.

From the moment you’re drafted and you put that club polo on, everything you say is media-managed, while every action you make on and off the field can and will get seen and scrutinised.

One step out of line and there’s a good chance it’s in the papers the very next day for the world to see.

We don’t have many characters left in the game because everyone is becoming overcome by an ever-consuming environment, which is not what the individual wants it to be.

In recent years, Jack Steven, Jesse Hogan, Dayne Beams, Heath Grundy, Tom Boyd and many more have taken time away from the game. But as the AFL prepares to appoint a new head of mental health to tackle the issue, there are varying views on what they should do.

(Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)

For every Paul Roos arguing there is not enough face time or weeks to train players in the pre-season, there is an expert saying players need less time at clubs.

For every mature response to a player like Jack Steven stepping away to work on his mental health or Alex Fasolo taking time out to deal with depression, there is a misunderstanding when Jesse Hogan’s anxiety is revealed in conjunction with off-field high jinks.

It remains the biggest flashpoint and area of growth in the game today.

As an industry, we need to be more open to the stresses and fragility of mental health and just how prevalent it is in today’s world. We are getting better at caring, though. Calling out the rubbish and abuse on social media from both players and fans alike has been one of the high points of the season thus far.

While we want to protect the game, plus make adjustments and rulings to ensure that we have the best version of it moving forward, we need to protect the players as they are the game’s most important assets.

To Bulldogs people, the critical role Boyd played in the 2016 flag – in both the preliminary final against his old club and the grand final triumph over Sydney – more than offsets the fact that he was largely unfulfilled as a footballer.

But for what he did in that period and across his 61-game career – bringing hundreds of thousands of people unrelenting joy and happiness – the Dogs’ investment in their great white hope was worth every last penny.

While we will never know how good Tom Boyd may have become, by walking away from football, he unburdened himself and as a young man, giving himself a chance to go again at this crazy thing called life.

If you’re struggling with mental health, contact Lifeline Australia on 13 11 14.