AFL Clubs Need To Avoid Draft Scandals
Every year there are players who get surprisingly delisted and people wonder why. There are also stars of the Under 18 competitions who can start sliding on draft day and sometimes go undrafted. AFL clubs know a lot more than they let on, and as the money in football keeps getting bigger there will be a lot more spent on making sure that clubs don't waste their draft picks on potential busts with bad attitudes.
In the NFL, every team will employ people, like former FBI agents, to check the background of the players they are thinking about drafting.
The AFL clubs do not need to have Jim Rockford or Michael Knight investigating the prospects to find some who could be the rotten apple. A number of them allegedly have their own internet sites, on myspace and other similar sites, that make them nearly undraftable.
Callan Ward and Cruize Garlett are two prospects on the fringe of being selected in the draft, but their alleged internet pages could be a red flag for AFL recruiters. Take Ben Cousins' fashion sense, and attitude, and it gives an idea of how they portray themselves. At least if they get picked in the rookie draft they will get some shirts to wear. Recruiters would watch them and wonder if they can be team players, and how they act off the field could sway their decision.
Darin Stewart is another potential AFL player who gives an indication on his alleged internet page that football isn't the biggest priority. Sam Reid probably has recruiters wondering if he is really giving it his all when he plays, what he allegedly writes on the internet for people to read means his attitude will continue to be questioned.
Their "friends" will say that these people can do anything they want, and that may be true, but AFL clubs and their sponsors will be doing what is best for them. As soon as a club drafts a player it locks them into giving them at least $100,000, over two years. That is a big investment, and many teams can't afford to make too many mistakes. Most sponsors don't want to be associated with clubs that have problems, and when a large company is choosing netball instead of a premiership club that sends a message.
The Bulldogs probably paid Jordan McMahon around $1,000,000 during his years at the club, that is a lot to spend on someone when he didn’t contribute to any real success and when he left the club all he could say was "I just had some personal issues off the field with regards to family and I'm not sure it was handled that well at my previous club". The Bulldogs might have gotten the fancy suit back from him but all that money is gone.
While the actual players need to take responsibility for how they act, it is also an indictment on their coaches. Sometimes coaches at a lower level will let people get away with anything as long as the team wins, which is good for their chances of being promoted and getting a coaching job in a bigger league. An example of that could be the Dandenong Stingrays a decade ago, whoever was in charge there sent out prospects like Angwin, Fevola and Johnstone, not exactly the types of people you would have to greet the Pope if he visited.
It would be great if these internet sites were not from the possible draft picks, and it was just someone using their name, but it is unlikely.
Hopefully young players who think they are a chance of being taken in a future draft will decide it is much better to be visiting sick children in hospital and training to be their best at football than to be getting attention for acting like rappers and soccer fans. Being a role model and a possible future millionaire footballer is a better goal to target than being Big Man On Campus for a year or two and missing out on the draft.
The days of clubs letting their stars get away with nearly anything are coming to an end, so they aren't going to be using their draft picks on players with character issues. It will be interesting to see if some of the "talented" prospects start to get overlooked because of their baggage, although there will always be one club that is going to take a risk, but for the 2007 draft it won't be the Eagles.
In the NFL, every team will employ people, like former FBI agents, to check the background of the players they are thinking about drafting.
The AFL clubs do not need to have Jim Rockford or Michael Knight investigating the prospects to find some who could be the rotten apple. A number of them allegedly have their own internet sites, on myspace and other similar sites, that make them nearly undraftable.
Callan Ward and Cruize Garlett are two prospects on the fringe of being selected in the draft, but their alleged internet pages could be a red flag for AFL recruiters. Take Ben Cousins' fashion sense, and attitude, and it gives an idea of how they portray themselves. At least if they get picked in the rookie draft they will get some shirts to wear. Recruiters would watch them and wonder if they can be team players, and how they act off the field could sway their decision.
Darin Stewart is another potential AFL player who gives an indication on his alleged internet page that football isn't the biggest priority. Sam Reid probably has recruiters wondering if he is really giving it his all when he plays, what he allegedly writes on the internet for people to read means his attitude will continue to be questioned.
Their "friends" will say that these people can do anything they want, and that may be true, but AFL clubs and their sponsors will be doing what is best for them. As soon as a club drafts a player it locks them into giving them at least $100,000, over two years. That is a big investment, and many teams can't afford to make too many mistakes. Most sponsors don't want to be associated with clubs that have problems, and when a large company is choosing netball instead of a premiership club that sends a message.
The Bulldogs probably paid Jordan McMahon around $1,000,000 during his years at the club, that is a lot to spend on someone when he didn’t contribute to any real success and when he left the club all he could say was "I just had some personal issues off the field with regards to family and I'm not sure it was handled that well at my previous club". The Bulldogs might have gotten the fancy suit back from him but all that money is gone.
While the actual players need to take responsibility for how they act, it is also an indictment on their coaches. Sometimes coaches at a lower level will let people get away with anything as long as the team wins, which is good for their chances of being promoted and getting a coaching job in a bigger league. An example of that could be the Dandenong Stingrays a decade ago, whoever was in charge there sent out prospects like Angwin, Fevola and Johnstone, not exactly the types of people you would have to greet the Pope if he visited.
It would be great if these internet sites were not from the possible draft picks, and it was just someone using their name, but it is unlikely.
Hopefully young players who think they are a chance of being taken in a future draft will decide it is much better to be visiting sick children in hospital and training to be their best at football than to be getting attention for acting like rappers and soccer fans. Being a role model and a possible future millionaire footballer is a better goal to target than being Big Man On Campus for a year or two and missing out on the draft.
The days of clubs letting their stars get away with nearly anything are coming to an end, so they aren't going to be using their draft picks on players with character issues. It will be interesting to see if some of the "talented" prospects start to get overlooked because of their baggage, although there will always be one club that is going to take a risk, but for the 2007 draft it won't be the Eagles.
There might also be a good part, and at least one potential draft pick seems to have found a shirt, as well as a tie, to replace a previous picture on their page.
Please help me build this data bank:
BlackWhiteStripes
After reading this article I did some more searches and nothing.
If they are so easy to find and therefore publicly available, just publish them would ya!
If not all the credibility you gained from the great James Manson week will be lowered in my book.
Please help me build this data bank:
Typing this into google should get the results you want at the top of the list:
"cruize garlett" bebo
"cal ward" myspace
"darin stewart" myspace
They could all still get drafted, the Dockers have a lot of picks and might use the last one on Garlett, Stewart might be a Lion in the rookie draft, Ward could be a Bulldog although that may not please their veterans like Akermanis.