AFL: Amazon Prime series Making their Mark trailer goes inside Richmond 2020 flag, Eddie Betts exit meeting

Mercurial forward Eddie Betts questioned whether he could still perform on the big stage in his twilight years in a candid moment on the new Amazon Prime series.

Carlton veteran Eddie Betts was told he had lost “confidence in his craft” and was “sucked in to what everyone says” in a brutal exit meeting shown in a new AFL documentary.

In a revealing insight to the harsh reviews players faced at the end of the season, Carlton’s director of high performance Andrew Russell told Betts, now 34, the biggest challenge he faced at his age was not physical but a mental one.

The small forward was seen facing the Blues medicos at the end of the 2020 season in the soon-to-be-released Amazon Prime documentary Making their Mark.

“The thing that is different for a player of your age is you seem to have lost your confidence in your hand and your touch, you seem to have lost your confidence in your craft, which has nothing to do with age,” Russell told Betts in the meeting.

Watch every match of the 2021 AAMI Community Series LIVE on Kayo. New to Kayo? Get your free trial now & start streaming instantly >

Eddie Betts was dealt a hard reality check at his exit meeting. Picture: Matt Roberts/AFL Photos/via Getty Images

“And you’re such a public figure, my feeling is you’ve got too sucked in to what everyone says and you can’t remove yourself from it.

“As harsh as it is, good players have to deal with that as they go through their career and some of them do it well and some of them don’t do it well.

“The ones that do it well, that genuinely don’t give a shit about, they add years to their career … they do.

“The biggest challenge here is not physical, the biggest challenge is mental.”

Betts admitted in the video doubts had crept in about the game passing him by since he had turned 30.

“Since I’ve turned 30, you always have those doubts like the game has gone past you,” Betts said.

“Those doubts in your head, always trying to take it away because I love playing footy. And that’s the hardest part.”

In his second stint at the club, Betts, a veteran of 331 AFL matches, played 15 games for the Blues last season.

Betts will play at least one more season at the Blues. Picture: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

The fan-favourite earned a one-year contract extension to play on for the Blues in 2021. He has kicked 613 AFL goals.

Meanwhile, Greater Western Sydney coach Leon Cameron said it was “hard to say” whether having a camera crew for the Amazon documentary following Stephen Coniglio and the Giants last season had an impact on the captain when he was dropped from the team.

“If you sit down and put everything on the plate and say what did you get right and what did you get wrong - that’s for me as well as a coach - there is no doubt you discuss how did we handle hubs, how did we handle Amazon, how did we handle the extra pressure, how did we handle injuries again?,” Cameron said on SEN.

“Some we probably got right and some we didn’t clearly because our performances are inconsistent. It’s probably thrown into the mix, but in saying that there is probably going to be some pretty good vision come out in a few weeks’ time.”

Cameron said Coniglio had produced a “first-class” response over the pre-season to what had been a challenging year.

“Clearly he’s got a steely resolve and he wants to bounce back and show the footy world what he is capable of,” Cameron said.

Doco goes inside Dimma’s inner sanctum

Amazon Prime Video’s warts-and-all documentary on last year’s AFL season will take footy fans inside Damien Hardwick’s stirring Grand Final address.

The Richmond premiership coach takes centre stage in Making Their Mark as he leads the Tigers to a remarkable third premiership from the club’s Queensland hub.

The Herald Sun on Sunday obtained exclusive access to a new trailer for the seven-part series which shows Hardwick addressing his Richmond players before and during the Grand Final win over Geelong.

Despite two COVID-19 regulation breaches which threatened to derail their season, the Tigers clawed back from 22 points down to prevail in the decider at the Gabba.

“We have been through a hell of a journey,” Hardwick says.

“It is our story to write. What story you want it to be is determined by the man in that f----- jumper and the man in that jumper beside you.

“It all comes down to us.”

Dustin Martin embraces coach Damien Hardwick after Richmond’s Grand Final win.

Hardwick is seen to play an instrumental part in triggering the second-half comeback after some adjustments at halftime.

The filmmakers followed Hardwick and chief executive Brendon Gale on the road throughout the second half of the season.

West Coast’s Nic Naitanui also describes in the series the extraordinary situation which faced AFL players last year as they left their families to save the season.

“Being in the hubs is like a paradise jail,” Naitanui said.

Naitanui said the documentary would give fans an inside look into the many hurdles players had to jump last season.

“I agreed to participate to allow AFL fans to see the journey of the 2020 season, which clearly ended up different from any other in history,” Naitanui said.

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick savours his third premiership. Picture: Sarah Reed

“There were personal, physical and mental tolls on all players and teams, along with the highs and lows of the season, which the viewers will get to see in this warts and all documentary.

“The Amazon crew were able to get access to the teams, the locker rooms, and our homes, which has never been captured to this extent for any AFL documentary.

“Personally I wanted to showcase a different side to my on-field persona, and allow fans to see what I’m really like, what makes me tick, and what happens for me off the field.”

The cameras also followed Carlton’s Eddie Betts, GWS Giants captain Stephen Coniglio, Gold Coast coach Stuart Dew and Adelaide’s Rory Sloane.

Making Their Mark premieres on Amazon Prime on March 12.

Originally published as AFL: Amazon Prime series Making their Mark trailer goes inside Richmond 2020 flag, Eddie Betts exit meeting