4. Draft rollercoaster

Without hesitation Jeremy willingly jumps onto the AFL Draft Rollercoaster Ride along with about 1700 other hopeful and capable young footballers. They soon all realise that only about 90 of them will come out at the other end successfully.

The ride begins when players are at about the age of 16 years and they find a firm position in an under 18 team that is above the level of local football. The football is excellent. Most of the boys can kick straight. They know a pass will be delivered to their chest. It is almost perfect football; a dream come true.

So it was for Jeremy. Whilst each player will have a slightly different experience of the ride, this is Jeremy’s tale. He trains hard, plays hard; bonds with his team mates, coach and support staff. He makes all the right sacrifices, abstaining from alcohol, fatty foods, and night-before-the-game parties. It’s all good.

He sees the AFL recruiters at every game. They sit alone, watching, assessing, and scribbling notes on their clipboards. They stand out like sore thumbs. They do not cheer the teams or talk to anyone, and stay away from the small audience of supportive parent spectators.

All is going smoothly and then he gets injured. He can pinpoint the moment it happens. It was just one of those things. There is a long road to recovery. Weeks of not playing and modified training. He visits the doctor and the physio. He is often asked how he is going and he easily responds in medical terms. It is frustrating watching his team play while he sits on the sidelines. He itches to get back out there.

Finally he is well enough to get back on the ground. He plays well and is invited to go to the AFL Draft Camp in Canberra. WOW! What a fantastic opportunity! He feels excited and humble and very scared. What will happen there? He knows the AFL selectors and some top coaches will be there. He knows there will be interviews and testing.

They do test and measure everything – well almost. The things AFL clubs want to know about each individual far exceeds anything a single person ever really need to know about themselves. After this Jeremy knows his: skinfolds; flexibility; agility; how high he can jump from standing and from a run-up; how fast he can run 20 meters, and 3 kilometers; his reflex response; the weight he can lift; his greatest number of chin-ups and push-ups; his highest score for the beep test; his height, weight, hand span and shoe size; his gait; how straight and how far he can kick a football; his ball handling skills; his recovery response; his psychological profile.

They interview every player to find out what their interests are and try to judge what sort of person they are. What about the significant qualities that cannot be measured? Can a player handle rejection? How do they distinguish between a real team player (like Jeremy) and someone who is only focused on themselves? And what about personal integrity? How do they rate a good sense of humour? But this is purely a scientific exercise. They offer no encouragement or words of support or advice. Even the interviews are brief, superficial, and fail to touch on the human elements that really shape us.

On return he feels flat. He has no clue how he performed or where he rated. All of his team mates who shared this experience say they feel exactly the same. A week or so later he receives his results in the mail. He can now see how he compares with the others. It’s OK. He isn’t the best, but he is far from the worst. Small encouragement.

He tries to focus on the footy; on the games because that is what it is all about. He loves his team mates so it’s easy to slip back into the training and routine.

There is also school work and exams to consider. He thinks he may still need to consider an alternative career if he doesn’t make it to the AFL. It is so hard to focus on one thing wholeheartedly, working towards that sole outcome with the passion that the AFL clubs require, and still have a Plan B in mind.

Finally the footy finals and school exams are over and it’s Draft Day! He has had some encouraging words from agents and recruiters. He is an outside chance – perhaps. He knows he is not in the top 10. Those players know who they are. His father didn’t play AFL football so there is no side-door option for him that is offered to some players. So fingers crossed.

He huddles around the radio with his parents listening to the selections as the clubs make them. It is a slow agonising process. He listens out for the clubs who have shown interest in him. Numbers and names are rattled off. Team mates are selected and he feels excitement for them. It gets to 70 and it’s all over. No luck. He wonders why they didn’t pick him. Why?

After a day of really feeling the impact of rejection he realises it’s not all bad. He still has another year of the under 18 competition. There is next year. Another year! A whole other year of this emotional and physical roller coaster ride. But what else do footballer’s do except play football?

So after a small break it is all on again. It’s easy because this is what he knows and loves: training; being with the boys; getting out there with a ball; playing together to win.

This year he is in the leadership group. He has had a year of experience now. He knows what to expect, what the marks are, and what to aim for. He has “Draft Camp” status. There is a photo and an article about him in a major newspaper. There are extra expectations on his ability and performance now. He secretly wonders if he can live up to these high expectations. He begins to make mistakes on the field: missing easy goals; misjudging passes; he feels slow. But his team is winning. It looks like the team has a chance to make the final four. He focuses on the team and the premiership. He tries to forget about the draft.

Then he gets selected to play in the state team for the under 18 National Championship. A couple of his team mates are selected also. This is an honour. The training takes him away from his main team and to other venues with other coaches and players that were/are his opponents. His mind has to make some quick readjustments. They are working towards the under 18 premiership also. They are all trying for AFL selection also. Now they discover they all want the National Title as badly as this new coach does.

He finds it difficult to adjust to his position in this team of elite under 18 footballers. They are all great players. The players quickly bond because they are all in the same situation. Jeremy performs well enough within the team making sure he does the job the coach sets for him. His team wins the National Championship. He is elated and proud to be a part of this team. He celebrates with the other players, and then says goodbye to his new best buddies.

Meanwhile his other team has gone on without him. They have lost some and won some. A place in the finals is not a certainty. There is some work to do yet. He returns to the fold and tries to regroup the team.

The team manages to get a finals position and miraculously scrapes through to the Grand Final play off. This is played at the famous MCG on AFL Grand Final Day. What a huge buzz! The game is televised on pay TV. It is a great contest. His team plays well but is beaten by the team who held number one position for most of the season. His team had beaten them once and this other team was not going to let that happen again.

Jeremy is so upset at the final siren that he actually cries. It is such a huge disappointment to him. It feels so bad to lose this game. This is the last game he will play with this particular group of players that he has come to count as his best mates. He has to move on. The whereabouts of that is still yet to be known.

Another AFL draft looms. He feels his chances are no better than last year. In fact he has had less interest shown from AFL clubs. He gets positive encouragement from some agents, recruiters and of course from his team support staff. He is invited to attend a state AFL draft screening and performs well enough. No worse than last year.

On AFL Draft day he sits close to the radio listening to the selections. The top 10 is predictable. He knows all of these players now as team mates and he knows how good they are. The father/son players are known and chosen. Some of his team mates get chosen with some surprises. Not him. He is overlooked again. He wonders what more he can possibly do? What will he do now? He is surprised that the rejection does not hurt quite as much as it did last year. But he is still shattered. It seems unfair. He has done everything. He knows his performance on the field was not his best. He knows he is as good as many of the players that were selected. He is crushed. For a little while anyway. Then it’s back to training with a local VFL club. What else can he do? The bonus of this is that many of his other team mates are there training alongside him, so it is an easy transition.

He receives phone calls of shared dismay and kind encouragement from people who know him and know football. There is disbelief. They tell him to hang in there, to not give up and stay focused.

Two weeks later the rookie draft comes up. This hardly excites him but it is his last chance for this year. He gets selected early by an interstate team. He is in! He is an AFL player with a team and a number.

So he has two days to pack his bags. He gets on a plane and leaves to go to a place where he has never been before and where he knows absolutely no one. He will have no emotional support base that is familiar to him. He leaves all of his friends, family, team mates, and everyone he has ever known in the world. He is still only 18 years old and he has a great deal of work ahead and one season to prove himself to these strangers.

The team Jeremy plays for has a bye this weekend so he is not playing even though he is raring to go. He is back doing full training sessions which this week included a session of surfing. He will go along as part of his AFL team to watch them play at home. They will need to play 100% better than they did last weekend. Unfortunately they lose again and even though Jeremy did not play he too is punished during the next grueling training session.