WE'VE all seen the cheesy American movies where a college kid is a star on the sports field but can barely write their own name in the classroom.
The plot trots out cliché after cliché. The pushy sports coach who is just interested in on-field success. The concerned professor who realises the kid is just a knee injury away from a life on the streets if they don't get serious about their education. And the kid who grows both on and off the field by conquering the learning difficulties that have pigeonholed them.
It's all a bit of feel-good fluff, that's as removed from the real world - or, at least, our real world in Australia - as the movie stars who bring it to life.
Or is it?
In an interview with the Herald Sun's online program Front and Square, AFL Players' Association player development general manager Steve Alessio said a quarter of the players who come into the AFL system each year have reading and skills lower than year 10 level.
You did not misread this: one in four, or 25 per cent, of new AFL players every year cannot read or solve mathematical problems to year 10 standard.
It's a staggering statistic. But, at least, the problem was identified when the AFLPA started testing AFL recruits three years ago.
Better still, the problem is being addressed. Alessio told the Herald Sun the AFLPA was working hard in conjunction with AFL clubs to provide such players with intensive tutoring sessions to bridge the gaps in their educations.
When a player was found to have learning difficulties, his club and the AFL tailored courses for his individual needs, Alessio said.
Beyond the obvious problems a lack of education presents in everyday life, Alessio said it also handicapped players who were trying to learn complex tactics or work with fitness staff on tailored programs.
Alessio said the problem in the AFL was reflective of the broader community. But he had no doubt some players had failed in football because of their lack of eduction.
Hopefully, from now on, that won't be the case.
Changing clubs OK: Petrie
Last week, North Melbourne vice-captain Drew Petrie signed a two-year contract extension that he hoped would ensure he finished his career as a one-club player.
However, the football landscape has changed dramatically since Petrie was plucked from the North Ballarat Rebels with pick No. 23 in the 2000 National AFL Draft.
In the past two years, Gold Coast and, now, Greater Western Sydney have been armed with inflated salary caps and recruiting concessions that have allowed them to try to land one uncontracted player from every club.
And, from the end of next season, most players that have served eight years at a club will have the right to move to another club as free agents when they come out of contract. All out-of-contract players will have that right after 10 years' service.
Despite his affection for North, Petrie, who is also an AFLPA board member, is not blind to these new realities.
In a column in Wednesday's Age, he wrote the people had to be more understanding of players who decided to accept the lucrative offers of the competition's new clubs. It was "inevitable" some players would prioritise shoring up their long-term financial security and that of their families over being a one-club player, Petrie wrote.
Petrie felt for second-year Melbourne player Tom Scully who faced a "downside" whether he accepted GWS' reported multi-million-dollar offer or stayed at Melbourne.
But in focusing on such high-profile players and clubs' frenzied efforts to land them, Petrie warned people could overlook the issues facing all of the other players on AFL lists.
Petrie wrote mid-level players were vulnerable whenever a new coach came into a club and decided to rebuild with youth. Such players could often sense they weren't part of a coach's long-term plans and would then proactively seek a new club, he wrote. Just as others in a struggling club might seek to join a club that was in premiership contention.
To simply portray players who left a club for such reasons as greedy was "really unfair", Petrie wrote.
Petrie asked people to remember that players were only in the AFL for a short time and had "a whole range of factors" to consider when making their decisions.
It's a fair point, one that recognises playing in the AFL is now a career. This new landscape will probably mean there is greater movement of players between clubs.
But Media Watch doubts such movement will ever reach rugby league proportions. Once the GWS' two-year window to poach out-of-contract stars closes at the end of next season, we think player movement will largely be limited to the mid-level players Petrie referred to: those keen for greater opportunities elsewhere rather than an inflated pay packet.
New Voss era on track
It's less than two years since the Brisbane Lions were chasing short-term success on the back of a raft of mature-age recruits that included Brendan Fevola, Brent Staker, Amon Buchanan, Andrew Raines, Xavier Clarke and Matt Maguire.
The Lions' plan at the time seemed fairly simple - get some experience in to give Jonathan Brown, Simon Black and Luke Power the support they need to take the club to another premiership before they retire.
However, the Lions' quickly abandoned that plan when their 2010 season descended into their very own annus horribilis.
When senior coach Michael Voss spoke with the AFL Record at the start of this season, it was clear the club was now putting all of its chips in the youth basket.
This continued on Tuesday when the Lions announced they had resigned five youngsters central to their plans to build another era of sustained success, most notably ruckman Matthew Leuenberger and 2009 NAB AFL Rising Star winner Daniel Rich, but also Ryan Harwood, Jared Polec and Patrick Karnezis.
Another youngster crucial to the Lions' plans is about to be signed up shortly too, The Age reports.
No, we're not talking about ruckman/forward Mitch Clark, who remains unsigned and has been linked with GWS among other clubs.
Rather, we mean Voss, himself. The 2001-03 premiership captain was as raw as any first-year player when he took over the Lions' coaching reins in 2009, aged 34.
And, like any young player, he has made his share of mistakes as a coach. However, it seems the Lions are confident he has learned from those mistakes and is the best man to lead the club's rebuild.
Lions chief executive Malcolm Holmes told The Age the club's coaching staff had done "a fantastic job" this season despite returning just three wins, saying the team had been very competitive despite a raft of injuries.
Holmes also reiterated the club's focus.
"The strategy we are following is developing our youth. We just need the time to keep following the plan through," Holmes said.
It seems increasingly likely Voss will be given the time to oversee that plan's implementation. The Age expects he will receive a contract extension, possibly as early as this month when a club review is finalised.
In short
Prominent player agents say the AFL's plan to set up its own player management arm represents a conflict of interest, The Age reports. Liam Pickering of IMG said the AFL's proposal would threaten player agents' independence, while Alex McDonald of Stride Sports Management said it could betray players' rights to confidentiality. Speaking at Aegis Park on Tuesday, AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou acknowledged the League's plan raised a conflict of interest but said it could be "managed properly".
Hawthorn and Carlton premiership coach David Parkin says the working relationship between Mick Malthouse and Nathan Buckley will be "very, very tenuous" if they work together at Collingwood as coaching director and senior coach, the Herald Sun reports.
Parkin said Malthouse and Buckley both had the best interests of Collingwood at heart but warned their relationship would come under pressure if Malthouse fulfils his contract as coaching director when Buckley takes over as coach at the end of this season. Parkin served as Hawthorn director of coaching when Peter Schwab was coach but said he decided to leave because they had been "philosophically opposed".
Port Adelaide is not interested in recruiting former Carlton and Brisbane Lions spearhead Brendan Fevola despite his 11-goal haul for the Casey Scorpions in the VFL last Sunday, The Advertiser reports. Power football operations manager Peter Rohde said Fevola's name had not been raised in the club's recruiting talks and dismissed any suggestion Fevola's ability to pull a crowd held any appeal for the Power.
First-year Gold Coast ruckman Daniel Gorringe will miss the rest of the 2011 season with a bad ankle sprain, the Gold Coast Bulletin reports. It was initially feared Gorringe, the No. 10 pick in last year's NAB AFL Draft, had broken his foot in the Suns' reserves team's NEAFL clash against the NT Thunder in Cairns last weekend. Scans also cleared Gorringe of torn ligaments.
The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL
