Carlton Star bashed on New Years Eve

It was bound to happen wasn’t it. Day 1 of the new year and yet another off field incident involving an AFL Footballer. Although I was expecting a Ben Cousins report on New Years Day after a reporter had tailed him on his partying adventures on the night and he had caught him doing something outrageous.

Not to be. This time it was Carlton star Jarrad Waite who was king hit with bottles at Lorne on New Years Eve by 4 men which police have since arrested. Cartlon Football Club have quickly come out and released a press statement saying the Waite was an innocent bystander. It was reported that Waite and his girlfriend were attacked by 4 youths and Waite was hit over the head with bottles suffering facial injuries. Although Carlton cheif Greg Swan has said that his injuries will not affect his pre season training there are rumours on a few AFL Forums that suggest his injuries are more serious than that, a fractured eye socket has been floated around.

I think Swan was being politically correct when he said “The fact Jarrad is an AFL player had no bearing on the incident.” I just don’t buy that at all! There is no way this is what he really believes. These people would have been well aware who he was and they would have had the 10% tougher theory flowing through their minds after quite a few “frothies” I would imagine. I have been around and talked to a lot of AFL players and they all say that people come up to them in pubs and clubs and intend to “have a go”, just because they are AFL players and they can then boast about the incident to their mates.

It is another example of a cowardly act on an AFL Footballer. Let’s hope Waite is OK and there are no serious facial injuries that will affect his pre season program. Waite is an important part of the Carlton Football Clubs plans to make their climb up the AFL Ladder starting in 2008.

AFL Players need to evolve as people

This is quite a common theme coming form the AFL Clubs and Coaches at the moment. AFL Footballers are so caught up in the intense nature of AFL Football that they forget about life outside football. Mark Harvey is just one of many coaches that is going to give his Fremantle Dockers players some experiences that will be “fairly traumatic”. AFL Clubs are all about giving their players life experiences these days but does this really have an impact on the players?

Recently John Worsfold and the West Coast Eagles made a trip to South Africa to promote the game of AFL Football and also to give the players
an “understanding about what opportunities they have delivered to themselves, regardless of being footballers, by living in Australia,”. I guess the Eagles are trying to change the culture and behavioral issues they seem to have. Worsfold was quoted as saying:

“I think it was eye-opening for them, and some of them were probably shocked by what they saw and smelled and heard, but they all coped with it extremely well.”

I just wonder if when the players get back from these sort of “life changing” trips and camps they actually do appreciate where they are and the privlidge they have. I mean a couple of weeks after being back and doing another 10-15 gruelling pre season sessions do they even remember the reason of the trip they were on or are they back to their old self and tangled up in the hype of being an AFL Footballer?

It will be interesting to observe the impact these types of trips have on, not only the Eagles, but also the Dockers because they themselves have some off field cultural issue they have to deal with.