There are plenty of great players who may never play in at
AFL level. There are plenty more who will only ever play ten games, if that. So
just what is it that makes a player ready to step up and, once there, able to
keep their spot? Is it just down to that X factor? Is it a combination of
skills and attitude that combine to make the player worthy? Is it the team they
play for? Is it potluck?
In reality, it is all of those things. You will hear player’s
talk of their debut in the Seniors and you will realise that it is not just one
aspect that gave them that opportunity. At the new clubs, Gold Coast and Greater
Western Sydney, the opportunity is much easier to come by, as there are fewer
established players. The same can be said for teams with young lists. As the
teams become more stable the opportunity to break through becomes increasingly
rare. This is where luck plays a huge role.
Players waiting in the wings of the big league often need to
rely on luck to make their debut, whether this is good luck or bad luck depends
on who you are. For the Senior player is almost certainly bad luck. They must
relinquish their place in the team due to injury or suspension, sometimes even
due to off-field drama. For the Reserve Grade player it seems as though lady
luck is smiling on them but making the team does not mean the hard work stops.
If you rest on you laurels then you are going to lose your place just as
quickly as you gained it.
Making that step up to AFL level is something that every
player must go though. No one just magically appears in a senior list, even
though sometimes it might feel like that from the sidelines. There are those
players who make their debut without fanfare. There are others which come in
surrounded by all the hype the media outlets can muster. Regardless of this
entrance, the path is the same. The on field performance from that debut will set
the tone for the rest of their immediate playing future.
If we look at a couple of recent debutants, and one not so
recent debutants, from the Sydney Swans in particular, we can see how
performance in the reserves is not always an indicator for success in the
seniors and how hard it is to maintain your place once you gain selection.
Sydney is one of the most stable teams in the league. This
is evident from the number of 100, 200 and 300 game players in the side and
from the low number of total players used in a given season. It prides itself
on maintaining a core of players who work well together and follow the old
adage of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". This makes gaining
selection for the reserves players very difficult. They really need to show something
extra special in their reserve grade games to even be considered. The success
of a senior side can have a two-fold effect. It can lift the reserve grade
players as they know that a higher standard is being set. It can also lift the
senior team as they don't want to lose their place in the team to these up and
coming players. The depth this creates can be terrific. Having multiple back
ups for almost every key position and having game plans which don't rely solely
on individual players makes for a strong team, and a strong team makes for some
interesting and spectacular debuts.
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Dane Rampe is Sydney born and bred. He is not a traditional
footballer. He had a background in basketball and soccer before swapping to
AFL. A move to Victoria for play in the VFL and a trial with the Western
bulldogs did not pan out for the young player but when he moved back to Sydney,
the team he loved saw something in him. He played in the Swans reserves during
2012 and impressed the coaching staff with his maturity, both of mind and of
play, but there was also something else that impressed them. Athletic ability -
being able to kick, handball, mark, tackle and run - will only get you so far. What
the Sydney selectors were looking for wasn't simply a good footballer. These
are a dime a dozen. They were looking for a particular attitude to suit a
particular culture.
The culture at Sydney is well documented. It is about the team first and foremost, and being a team player is something the Swans strive to achieve in all their players, whether they are debutants or 300-game Brownlow Medallists. Rampe showed in his time in the Reserves that he had this attitude. He put in the hard yards physically yet he was able to draw from deep inside a tenacity that shone through and a cohesiveness with his fellow players that instilled confidence in his teammates and his coaches. While natural talent got his foot in the door, hard work has given him a key; and while luck may have played a part in opening up a spot in the Seniors, it was having that something special that has kept Rampe in his position for the majority of this season.
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Photo Courtesy of Matthew G Moses
Another debutant, Tom Mitchell, came to the Swans in
completely different manner. Being drafted under the father-son rule can add
significant pressure to a young player. For some it can overwhelm them and they
fade into obscurity. For others, like Mitchell, their debut is nothing short of
spectacular. Indeed, Mitchell came away with 18 disposals, 6 tackles, 3 goal
assists and a goal of his own in his first senior game, but backing up after a
breakout game such as that can also be tough. Not if you're Tom Mitchell, it
seems. His second game earned him a Rising Star nomination. Perhaps the Bloods
culture is more than skin deep. Perhaps it courses through the veins of the
players and is handed down from one generation to the next. Perhaps it is
simply knowing what is expected well in advance and not being afraid to live up
to that lofty expectation.
Mitchell's debut was not without its challenges. An injury
plagued 2012 meant a prolonged stint in the Reserves before making his debut. Even
then, he began as the sub, not an uncommon way to make a debut since its
inception. Normally a sub would look to play a quarter, maybe a half of footy.
Luck stepped in and Mitchell took to the field for nearly three quarters on
debut after an unlucky Tommy Walsh went down with a torn hamstring. Had he not
been on the field for such a protracted amount of time, perhaps his debut would
not have been as spectacular as it was, but football is all about taking
opportunities when they are presented to you and if a player wants to stay in
the Senior side, they have to prove they deserve to be there by fitting in
seamlessly with the established players while still making their own mark. It
is a balancing act that can pay awesome dividends when the players get it
right.
The path to the top is never easy, no matter how it might
seem from the outside looking in, and for some players it comes harder than
others. There are players who show such promise yet never quite live up to the
expectation placed on their shoulders. There are others who just need a little
more nurturing. Ever sat on the sidelines, watched your team, and wondered,
"why do they keeping picking him, he's terrible?" That's the player.
The player who has that dreaded P word - potential. There are plenty of them in
the AFL. Sydney's own Jesse White is probably one of the best examples.
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Photo Courtesy of Matthew G Moses
White made his debut in 2008. Since then he has played 62
games for the Swans at a senior level but, until this year, seemed unable to
replicate the spectacular form he has displayed in the Reserves despite earning
the clubs Rising Star award in 2009. White became known as a fringe player:
better than the average reserve grade player yet somehow not quite cutting it
with the seniors. Flashes here and there whet the appetite but how long can a
senior career be sustained by glimpses of brilliance? Jesse's talent was always
there, it was just a matter of unearthing it. An unsuccessful trade to Adelaide
may have been the catalyst for him. Whether the improvement would have happened
regardless is pure conjecture though there are many who would say this is the
case. The faith of the senior staff has paid off and White is playing some of
the best football of his career.
In the end, there is no hard and fast rule, no defined path
to follow, when making the move from reserve grade to seniors. Jed Lamb credits
a trip to Burma with giving him a new perspective on life. Tom Mitchell says
that working together with the coaches and having a strong knowledge of
positional work is vital. Dane Rampe thinks that building relationships with
your teammates is one of the keys. What comes through, when talking to the
young players at the Swans is that, while their debut is a proud moment in
their football career, the result of the game is about the team, they play for
the team and win for the team, and their debut is celebrated by the team.
Maybe that is the ultimate factor in the success of any
player: being welcomed into the team, as a friend and colleague, by the
established players and staff. A team that works for each other, celebrates the
milestones together, holds it's debutants and it's veterans to the same
exacting standard and creates an atmosphere of reward for effort not only
creates successful top tier players, it creates successful people.
Whatever the reason for great players, whatever tips them
over the edge into superstardom, whatever challenges they overcome - there is
something special about AFL players at a senior level. The tempo of the game
rises. The media frenzy steps up a notch. The expectations increase
exponentially. All that hard work; all that dedication; all that self-belief.
When all of it has been put to the test and when all of it is still there, better
than ever, that's when the magic happens and that's when those debutants become
part of the fabric of a club.
