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Opinion
If you picked up a thesaurus and wanted to find a word that was different to “adjust” or “adapt to changes”, the AFL has probably used and exhausted all the words available and are looking to invent a few more synonyms of their own.
As the game continues amid the backdrop of the global pandemic and cases in Victoria skyrocketing and getting out of control, the AFL is continuing to try to run a fair and equitable competition.
Right now, we have teams in hubs. Teams can’t even train together properly. In a matter of days, teams will be forced into quarantine if they travel to play a game.
State governments are doing whatever they can to keep pesky Victorians away from their little patch to avoid the carnage that has ensued happening in their state or territory. The year could not be more compromised, and the year could not be more challenging for the entire AFL industry.
It’s three weeks since the resumption and the league has been thrown curve ball after curve ball. The rise of the Gold Coast and the plight on the Eagles and the Tigers – the pre-season premiership picks – have been strong talking points.
The state-of-the-game debate has made its yearly appearance, and even Carlton not being hopelessly terrible has surprised the vast majority of AFL fans.
But we arrive at this critical juncture when we knew that Gillon McLachlan and Travis Auld would need to continue to make changes on the fly.
(Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
Not only do they have to keep the competition running because they can’t afford to stop it again, but they also have the task of keeping all 18 clubs and all of their players “happy and content”. Those words are in quotation marks because some clubs are telling us this is how they are through gritted teeth and big, ivory smiles.
While the AFL can’t really guarantee anything this year in terms of certainty of a fixture, where clubs will be based and what they are and are not allowed to do in their non-contact hours at the club, one thing is for sure: this year, more than ever, the mantra of mind over matter could not be more appropriate in the quest for the premiership this season.
It looks like a certainty that all Victorian teams will be told that they have to relocate and enter hubs away from their homes. The hubs are apart from families and away from any semblance of normality, which has all but gone out the window in the past six months.
The season is hanging on by the skin of its teeth. As things change by the day, we all adapt. As Gillon McLachlan has repeated time and time again, AFL will continue to find a way.
The psychology from different clubs has been and will continue to be a case study as this wild season goes on. Teams are entitled to ask questions such as end dates and what support mechanisms will be in place for those players and staff who need it.
From the evidence we have seen up in Queensland thus far, the different mindsets of the various teams that have relocated there have some correlations to where they currently sit on the ladder. So coaching plays a massive role in the remainder of the year.
It might be fewer skills, game-plan training and by-the-book AFL coaching but more of mind coaching and management of young people, who are making significant sacrifices just to keep their jobs and the industry afloat.
It’s a season that is being put together on the fly, and by the looks of it, it will remain that way for the foreseeable future. The sacrifices are big, and the impact is being felt everywhere.
But there is a season to be played and the game will keep on plugging away and for the team that does end up winning the premiership at the end of it all, whenever that is, it will be built on their strong mind and strong will to dig in.
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