Injuries likely to hurt cross-code recruits

Markus says:

09:21am | 07/06/10

I am sure they will adapt, but the question then becomes how successful do they have to become to justify the money forked out for them? Is being able to hold their own enough to warrant the dollars being paid?
This issue raised its head in the cross-code fiasco Rugby went through a few years back.
While some converts were quite successful (Tuqiri, Rogers) and others very disappointing (Tahu, Sailor), none were ever the best player in the team, and often not even the best player in their position.
Yet they were the highest paid players in the Australian squad. In Tuqiri’s case he was paid double what Gregan and Larkham, two of the greatest player’s in Wallaby history, were earning.
It caused tension among the fans, and surely did the same in the player ranks.
AFL should really try to learn from this experience before history repeats.

Prove me wrong says:

10:27am | 07/06/10

AFL players will resent the big money these players make - especially when they have no Australian rules experience. Prove me wrong, fellas!

Kent says:

01:21pm | 07/06/10

There are three things that need to be realized. Firstly, the Hunt and Folau signings have already produced many more millions of dollars worth of promotion than the entire lifetime of their contracts. Secondly, the money spent on these players has been grossly exaggerated. Thirdly, their core playing contracts are at or below AFL average.

Jackson says:

04:48pm | 07/06/10

Kent sounds like he’s been brainwashed by the AFL House.

Kent says:

01:26pm | 07/06/10

Plenty. Merrett of Brisbane changed from league to australian football relatively late. Mike Pyke of Sydney played international rugby for Canada. I’m sure there’s others. There’s also soccer players, gaelic footballers, hurling players, american college basketball players that have switched relatively late as well. This isn’t the big deal it’s being made out to be.

Hank says:

07:59pm | 07/06/10

Yeah, but Merrett was huge and lean. All he did was mark and kick the ball.

BTS says:

12:37pm | 07/06/10

Huh?

You should try watching the AFL.

Kent says:

01:29pm | 07/06/10

Depends where you play. A big guy like Folau could do quite well as a stay at home forward because you don’t have run so much.

Phil Ebbott says:

01:56pm | 07/06/10

Yeah, as Plugger type stay at home forward Israel could work, If he learns how to kick a ball.

BTS says:

03:04pm | 07/06/10

Ruck?

Some Rucks at the moment are woeful kickers.

Burger power says:

04:44pm | 07/06/10

Phil, Plugger was yesteryear. He wouldn’t survive today’s game. Too many burgers!

Dan says:

04:53am | 08/06/10

What is so concerning about Africans being recruited?

If your concern is based on providing opportunities for young Australians, there will always be opportunities. Someone who has grown up playing the game is far more desirable a target than someone who has not.

If your concern is racial, then it doesn’t deserve the dignity of a response. I will say though, that bemoaning the fact that US basketball is no longer an all-white affair is astounding in this day and age.

Janine says:

10:31pm | 08/06/10

The idea that sportspeople would be imported (US basketballers as Sheedy promotes) is an insult to the thousands of mightily talented, keen young Aussie kids who come up through the school and local ranks,  competing hard over many years for hopeful selection. 

With born and bred Australian youth now being displaced within their social, work and sporting environments,  resentments are on the rise.

The idea that any particular foreign race might be better, faster or uniquely able in any way to promote or play an Australian game more efficiently than a long-term Australian, is a sinister development and certainly would meet the test of unlawful discrimination.  Sheedy has made a career out of promoting himself, and now he is promoting division.

The difference with the Jim Stynes story is that this outstandingly remarkable man migrated to Australia, adopted our prevailing customs, culture,social values and tribal game, and set about contributing to our community, expecting nothing and giving his all.  AFL football has always been tribal.  Sheedy should know that no good ever results from deliberate destabilisation of tribes.

Not once did we ever hear anything from Stynes except language of exceptional gratitude for the opportunities afforded in his adopted country, particularly within his Melbourne football club.  Jim Stynes would have played his chosen game for nothing.  He became us, he did not expect us to become him. He was afforded no favours because he hailed from a foreign land.

I am wondering why obscene salary payments to business sections are routinely loathed and derided, particularly where huge corporate responsibilities are a daily event,  yet similarly large sums paid to selected sportsmen who have never played a particular code, and are elevated beyond their direct experience, are staunchly justified by Kevin Sheedy whose most notable skill is the art of self promotion.

If the same conditions occurred within a non-sporting organisation, we would hear accusations of workplace discrimination, unfair promotion, denial of relativity, and the unions would be demanding answers.

So where is the players’ union on all this?  Nowhere to be seen or heard and in itself, the absence of any official representation on behalf of proven, long-term and dedicated AFL players is in itself, a form of personal abuse.

Michelle says:

01:48pm | 09/06/10

Janine highlights the insult implied to traditional AFL players when you import players from foreign countries and other codes: “The idea that any particular foreign race might be better… is a sinister development and certainly would meet the test of unlawful discrimination”.

Yet “better” is exactly what Sheedy and his cohorts imply when they deliberately fawn over the “athleticism”, “natural” and “gifted” nature of Folau, Hunt and US basketballers. By fawning over these newcomers, they insult the traditional base of players and imply that they are somehow less of a spectacle. That is an insult. That is discrimination based on body type. And that’s why there is so much outrage.

Julie Tullberg says:

10:06pm | 09/06/10

Haha Mike Smith - you are a card! I am content just to sit back and observe what’s happening in sport, based on my knowledge Go Mike!