Raw steaks to heal a black eye, rubbing out corkies, gruelling training sessions where water is for the weak and players are flogged until they drop. There’s no doubt footy has changed markedly since the days of yesteryear, no matter how much we like to glorify those halcyon days.
Every aspect of the game has evolved and become more sophisticated, and the most recent and notable changes at the top level centre on player welfare and the emotional intelligence that coaches and staff require – and regularly show – in their interactions with players.
Bailey Smith is drawing attention for the quality of the football he is playing and, as always, for his interactions on and off the field.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
In years gone by, the senior coach ruled with an iron first, imposing rigid team rules and standards. It was a one-size-fits-all approach with little flexibility – except, perhaps, for the occasional superstar player.
But life in AFL club land is nowhere near as stringent or hard and fast as it once was. Training programs are tailored to the specific needs of each individual and adjusted as needed.
This doesn’t mean players can do whatever they want on and off the field. Australian rules football remains one of the great team sports, so unity and alignment are as important as ever.
But what has shifted in recent years is the ways clubs embrace the individuality of their players, and how they encourage them to let their personality shine. It’s now understood that for every “footy dork”, a team that wants to be dynamic and truly successful needs to have some “free spirits”.
For over a decade, my locker at Geelong was next to Tom Harley, a man who became a two-time premiership captain for the club.
Even Tom would admit that he grew as a leader when he learned to understand that not every player was like him. We didn’t all weigh our food or do additional ice baths after games; some preferred to unwind with a couple of beers after a game, and when you let them do that – responsibly, of course – and trusted them to do what was right for them, it most often produced the best results.
This can also translate to how players show their off-field personality on field. The conservative, hard-nosed player needs the extroverted brash teammate just as much as each other. For every Tom Atkins you need a Bailey Smith, for every Jai Newcombe you need a Nick Watson.
Speaking of Smith and Watson, I’m putting my hand up (not middle finger) to say I enjoy the theatre these colourful characters bring to the game and the attention they attract. It is entertainment backed up with performance.
I understand others might feel different, but as the saying goes, you can choose to be offended by whatever you want; you have that right.
Footy fans also need to understand that what their coaches are saying about their antics in public might not always be the same as the message that is being delivered to them behind closed doors.
There is no doubt Smith’s coach Chris Scott and Sam Mitchell – who coaches Watson’s Hawks – would be supporting them, and encouraging them to be the personality that makes them happy. But I also expect the coaches will have some caveats, and perhaps an occasional subtle word of caution.
Most importantly, the questions that Scott, Mitchell and their assistants will be asking include: Is their behaviour hurting the team? Are they still playing within our team rules? Are they a good teammate?
Nick Watson plays with an energy that can lift his teammates.Credit: AFL Photos
From where I sit, on the outside looking in, those two have been a massive reason why their sides sit inside the top eight.
I know some will think I’m biased because Smith now plays at my old club in the No.3 guernsey I used to wear, but I really do love the spunk and edgy, new-age attitude he plays with, just as much as I love the way Watson does his thing and also Harley Reid at West Coast.
At 24, Smith has arrived at Geelong at the peak of his powers. After missing all of his final year at the Western Bulldogs because of a knee injury, he would’ve been excused for starting a bit slowly at the Cats.
But he’s been a revelation; exactly what Geelong needed, complementing Max Holmes as a one-two punch in the midfield and freeing up Patrick Dangerfield to spend more time as a forward.
He’s relishing being a bona fide midfielder, getting more of the ball than ever before and pushing himself with gut-running and work ethic that commands the respect of his new teammates.
One thing that hasn’t changed since he moved to the Cattery is Smith’s ability to attract attention and – from some quarters – criticism for how he expresses himself.
Amid their exhaustion – emotional and physical – at the end of a game, most players roll out a series of cliches when they’re interviewed by the host broadcaster’s boundary rider as they leave the field.
But not Smith. Last week after the Cats snuck home against Collingwood, he signed off his interview with Fox’s Cam Mooney with a not-so-subtle dig at his former club the Doggies about the size of the crowd they’d played in front of in Ballarat earlier that day.
We constantly ask for less cliches from our players and want them to give us, more of themselves. Smith did that. That’s not to say we can’t critique him for what he said, but nor should he be smashed for it.
The last thing we want is Smith rolling out the “one week at a time” junk next time the Cats win a thriller.
As much as we now accept there are different personalities playing the game and learn to embrace those differences, we also must accept there will be different reactions to Smith’s comments.
Some will be upset, others won’t care, and there will be a group who, like myself, enjoyed the Bont’s response just as much.
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