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June 24, 2007
The Fire that Burns
It was probably around the Ayres era that the concept of recruitment by character became a key consideration at the Cattery. According to the good book of Ayres , we seemed to be inundated with flashy, selfish sods that had a less than the ideal mental strength or a capacity to be team orientated. Coming from a man who had participated in a period of sustained success it was an opinion that was hard to ignore. We had failed to win a GF and he personally had come to Geelong to show us the way. An almighty clean out followed , Champions of the club were told to improve or move and some did. Feelings were hurt and relationships bruised but to install a new era a clean sweep from a new broom was needed and if some past champs had to feel the bristles , then so be it.
Now I have had plenty of pot-shots at Ayres over the years. IMO , he treated our history like a disposable razor when he tossed guys like Bairstow out but I’ll give him his due he was correct on the quality of people that represent a club , its more than just picking some good looking rooster that can run like the wind and kick like a mule because once a player is at your club they have the ability to can ruin harmony and destroy discipline. It can be worse if he’s more than just a handy player , the bad example a champ sets for younger players can waste a clubs best efforts and sometimes cost careers.
The thing is , a football club is not a monastery. Its setup to win games of footy not to set new standards of morality and quite often the best footy players are mongrels. Its an age old balancing calculation that clubs have been doing for as long as recruiting has been done.” We know he’s a bit an idiot but boy can he play.” Common sense decrees that a Leopard does not changes his spots yet a footy club more often than not will think “Hey maybe they just didn’t know how to handle him , I’m sure he will be much better here…” The temptation of talent , readily available talent can be hard to ignore and the fact is that more often than not , the thing that makes a player outstanding on the field can generate negative consequences off it. Ego, confidence, arrogance, assertiveness all things that handy when playing a footy game but can be troubling in pub or dealing with a rude public.
Inspite of these risks however mistakes will be made because the longer a club has been deprived of success the more likely it will be willing to accommodate a few eccentricities and roll the dice on a talented wildchild. Coaches get desperate when they hear the clock ticking and want instant success and the example of a fresh start for some players can make the risk worth while. Plenty of champs have had baggage over the years , plenty have made blues that would cost average players their gig yet champs usually have no problem finding another club willing to give a second chance. Clubs have become reasonably proficient at managing these talented bombs trying to prevent explosions yet occasionally a little bang happens. Clubs know it , they almost expect it , they understand this to a degree and are willing to forgive to a point but everything has its limits. Its a double edged sword , the warmth of a glowing fire can also scar for life if you are not careful . Too often , it can be short term gain , long term pain and the pain may remain long after the player has gone.
The modern game exposures the clubs to more media attention than ever before. Player misdemeanours are news worthy and once news worthy an issue can remain news worthy for years. Once a player puts on the jumper of a club his behaviour can be a reflection on that club for long after he has stopped playing for the club. Think of the news clip showing an old player that’s in court , they nearly always show him as a player. Its bad enough when a clean skin kid you picked out goes off the rails but when you’ve made the choice to recruit troubled talent and its doesn’t work it can cost the decision maker his job.
So the tendencies in the modern game , not just at Geelong , is to focus youth. Get a clean skin kid , with no history and hopefully train him in the behaviour required. Sounds ideal but its not that easy. When looking at young draftees clubs endeavour to not only look for match winning ability but also looking for kids who would be solid mature characters and potential leaders. In a perfect world every young kid would have the temperament of a Harvey or a Hird but we don’t live in a perfect world , when drafting your dealing with kids that are still developing. Most of the time some sort of rough arsed judgement call has to be made , after all your dealing with kids that are green and raw and they present themselves differently. After the choice has been made , the kid arrives at your club and the kid you thought you got might be totally different than the one you really got. Some might change attitude in a new environment. Some may relax after being drafted , others can be distracted by all the peripherals perhaps forgetting what got them drafted in the first place. And of course , there is no guarantee that they will cut it at AFL level. Not hard to see how a ready made match winner could tempt a club. Yet at the end of last year Steve Johnson tempted no one.
The options and doors that are open to AFL players can make it oh so easy for young , immature men to make poor choices. Sometimes these poor choices can have devastating effects, final effect while other times a lucky few , the ones with extreme talent , can get a chance for redemption. Steve Johnson has made a few of these poor choices and at the end of last year he was shopped around pre-draft and deemed worth less than some fresh faced , untried rookie by the clubs that looked him. A seasoned , match winner with a dicky ankles and less than ideal attitude , it wouldn’t have surprise me that another might have been tempted yet the stuck with a draft pick. One would have thought this would have finally have been enough for Steve to hear the chime of clarity but no he yet again had an other silly mistake to come. The club must had felt that they tried most things and had not been able to find a way to change his behaviour. Nothing the club had done seemed to be able drive the nail home , so they handed it to player group The punishment they framed was deemed by many as too strong but sometimes strong medicine is needed , sometimes the nail needs a hard hit from the hammer or it will not go in.
There is no doubt Steve is currently playing as well as he ever has. No one seeing the man who has been playing this year would say he was not worthy of a 1st Round pick in draft. Long may it continue , because when he is on there are very few footballers as good as him , when on , the fire he makes warms like few others
Posted by Turbocat at June 24, 2007 05:19 PM
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