IT IS the societal shift that recruiters are seeing more and more.
In interviewing draft prospects across their under-18 seasons in AFL and AFLW competitions, club scouts want to find out everything about the players they are set to invest in: their skills, their habits, their background, their drive, their hopes, dreams and fears.
But as each year passes, clubs are finding a new generation of draftees that are open to telling them more about themselves and painting a truer, unedited, clearer view into their lives and personalities.
There are those with anxiety. Some with mental ill health. There are draftees with ADHD (attention-deficient/hyperactivity disorder), autism, learning disorders and dyslexia. The normality of neurodivergence has bled into football clubs at AFL level, a result of a long process of destigmatisation.
"Identification, diagnosis, open disclosure. It's a different landscape for young people," Dr Kate Hall, the AFL's head of mental health and wellbeing, told AFL.com.au.
"Our setting, like every setting, is experiencing young people who don't have the same stigma as older generations around mental health and learning difficulties and the threshold for diagnosis within schools is quite common.
"Those environments are making all of those adjustments to ensure the individual can work through it the best way they can. It's probably not so much 'Has it changed in our environment?' but across society we've invested an enormous amount in destigmatisation."
Recruiters, as the first port of call these players have in the AFL landscape, are seeing the disclosure far more often. It has become just another thing to add to their mix in assessing a player's aptitude in elevating themselves as want-to-be professionals.
"I think the players and families are more open to talk about it and be upfront and say 'This is what they've got' or 'What I've got', no matter what it is," one senior recruiter said. "It also gives the clubs more opportunity to discuss it internally around 'If you drafted that player, how are you dealing with them from the moment they walk in?'
"They're the main reasons we see it more: the frequency and openness of parents and families of getting a proper diagnosis, because schools are better equipped to be able to deal with kids who have these sorts of issues. And they become more open to letting people know. It wouldn’t discriminate against you as a kid getting drafted."
Another club recruiter said that had changed over time. "Clubs have gotten better with learning disorders and how to manage those internally. Years ago we just might not have picked the kid but the systems in place now, with everyone having a full-time psychologist, databases, information and coaches at all levels who are in on getting the best from the player, means that wouldn't be a factor as it might have in the past," he said.
Whether there are more players across the AFL and AFLW competitions coming into the elite level with neurodivergences and mental ill-health, or just more who are willing to share it, is up for debate but the AFL has seen the evolution happening.
"We are able to provide support to players both in the lead-up to having a job interview with clubs, and then afterwards as well, we always provide debrief resources if needed and if they want to," said Nicky Couston, the AFL's head of talent pathways, who has previously held wellbeing and mental health roles in the League's talent development system. .
"Generally players are more comfortable to talk about themselves freely and truly and it actually is energising for them. From that perspective, I think there's probably a shift in the way the clubs are talking to the players and the type of questions they're asking.
"Ultimately we want to be able to attract the most talented players to the pathways and given the shift in society around how normalised neurodivergence is becoming and talking about it, if we don’t adapt and shift our systems to be inclusive as possible, then we might not be attracting or retaining the best or most talented athletes who could be the future of our game."
The decision-making process from clubs in assessing the different personalities and make-up of draftees comes back to the question of: how do we get the most of this player knowing everything we know?
Clubs have seen a significant rise of prospects who talk more freely about their struggles or challenges since COVID in 2020. Hall said the AFLW players had been a "driving force" in the destigmatisation process in football, while many male players have also been open.
"Bailey Humphrey was one of the first to really talk about it and you absolutely still wanted to pick him," said a recruiter.
Before he was Gold Coast's No.6 pick at the 2022 draft Humphrey had been open in media interviews and even more so with clubs about his mental health and having lost a close friend to suicide. As a late-season bolter up the board, Humphrey took a little time to be really comfortable about where his mind was at with recruiters before finding the right time to share.
"With some interstate clubs I didn't really want to be so open about it at first and tell them I had struggles about it, because my main source of help was my mum at the time, so moving away from mum I didn’t want clubs to think 'Oh, he won't want to move away from his family' or 'He'll move and then he'll move home'," he told AFL.com.au recently.
"I was pretty hesitant to talk at the start to interstate clubs but if anyone asked me or wanted help, I'd be so open about it."
Humphrey is having a career-best season, has played 51 of a possible 57 games since arriving at the Suns and because of his disclosure, Gold Coast knew exactly how to support him once he stepped into the club.
"A lot of people see mental health as a weakness. But I find it's a strength to talk about it and everyone has their struggles in some way, whether it be mental health or other illness. It's not a weakness," Humphrey said.
"Everyone deals with their struggles differently and my way of dealing with it is talking about it – I still see a psych every week. I'm pretty open and honest about it. I don't find it something I should be ashamed of. It's a part of me and something I'm going to continue to work at.
"There's so many suicides every year and it's something that needs to change and the only way it can really change is if people erase the stereotype of [talking about mental ill-health] being weak. If I'd give any advice to anyone it would be to talk about it and to look after yourself and not be ashamed about it. Don't think you're silly."
Anxiety has been proven to be the most common mental health condition in people and usually onset occurs before 10-12 years old. Data from the AFL Players Association has shown lower rates of distress in the AFL and AFLW landscape than the general population and dealing with it has become core business for all parties, including the talent pathways across the countries.
"Coaches and high-performance staff are equally aware of supporting athletes through anxiety or other stresses. Everything we hear from clubs is 'How can we get better at this? And not 'Do we have to do this?' Clubs have really stepped up to educate themselves on their environments," Hall said.
"We have individual plans around sensory intervention so they are at peak performance with that. I can think of three clubs that have built physical environments that are really good standards for managing sensory needs and for athletes it's seen as unlocking the next edge.
"There's a couple of core examples where that working partnership with someone who specialises in the mind, and wants to get the most out of an individual, set up that environment. It can be a pre-game routine, how game-day instructions are delivered, it can be match day sitting on the bench in knowing what to say or how to say it and how to communicate.
"That's in play a lot for particular athletes. Some athletes will have noise cancelling headphones on prior to the game, others will have a sensory aid as their arousal is managed.
"If you are able to look for it, you will see it in so many different ways. We know that each player who identifies as having ADHD or identifies as having ADHD and autism usually has their own individual plan they work on with their healthcare providers."
Other examples revolve around learning difficulties, with some players getting into clubs and being unable to take in all of the game plan and daily information fed to them by coaches and other resources. There have been examples where clubs have picked up on those challenges and will set up one-on-one meetings with certain players directly after wider team meetings so they can take in the messages in a way more specific to them.
"The coaches know how each player needs and has to be coached," said a recruiter. "You have to consider all of the factors in interviews but still have to find players who can embrace the grit."
In clubland, requests for ADHD medication exemptions have become more common, with the AFL acknowledging its number of athletes with ADHD is likely to be higher than the general population, with the league using the NFL's public disclosure to help inform them of their own rates. This year, player development managers at clubs are joining learning sessions on neurodivergence as they had named it as a priority in how to get the best from the players at their respective clubs.
Couston said it is all part of a more knowing approach, which begins at the drafting phase.
"We just know more. We've got more qualified people, they're trying to set up environments and people to succeed. We know so much more than we used to know 10 years ago whether someone may be experiencing something in a different way," she said.
"That's a good thing. If they are higher numbers, and general society would say they are, then we are so well equipped to provide individualised management of anyone who comes in."
If you or anyone you know needs support, contact:
- Headspace on 1800 650 890 or headspace.org.au
- Lifeline: 13 11 14 or lifeline.org.au
- 13YARN: 13 92 76 or 13yarn.org.au
- Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636 or beyondblue.org.au
- Urgent Help - Play AFL: play.afl/urgent-help