Rory Sloane on the Crows’ winless start to season 2020: ‘It’s going to be a humbling year for the footy club’
It might sound a little odd, given his side is a winless 0-12 and getting smashed every round, but Adelaide captain Rory Sloane says he “loves playing footy more than ever”, having adopted a ‘don’t worry, be happpy’ approach.
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Rory Sloane has just learnt to play Don’t Worry, Be Happy on the ukulele and every morning he strums it for his almost one-year-old son Sonny.
“It’s a relevant song for life at the moment,” the Crows captain muses, “and it’s a nice little song to play to him in the morning. He loves it.”
In a season like no other, in which COVID-19 has wreaked its havoc not just on the AFL industry, but life in general, a song as simple as Don’t Worry, Be Happy, is a nice little reminder that a positive attitude can help overcome any challenge.
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There are have been plenty in 2020, including a rebuild at the Adelaide Football Club that is proving far more painful than first expected, with the club sitting 0-12, its worst season-start on record, under rookie coach Matthew Nicks.
“I think it’s going to be quite a humbling year for the footy club,” Sloane says.
“(But) you learn an incredible amount from years like this and as a whole organisation, we’re going to be so much better for it as long, as long as we can keep finding positives and keep working on the things we know are going to give us success and that is helping each other out and helping other people out.
“That’s something we’re certainly going to keep driving on forward.
“I’m certainly excited to learn from this year. We’ll be the better for it.”
Sloane’s first season as sole captain — having co-captained in 2019 alongside great mate Taylor ‘Tex’ Walker — may not have gone to plan so far, but he’s proved himself something of “captain courageous” as he played through a string of injuries, as if nothing could stop him.
His injury-run started in the Crows’ Showdown loss in Round 2, when he suffered a severe cork to his right thigh in the third quarter, but it didn’t stop him fronting up in Round 3 against Gold Coast.
In Round 4 against Brisbane, Sloane then badly injured his ankle in the second term, however returned after halftime to play out the game. He passed a last-minute fitness test to play Fremantle in Round 5, at which point coach Matthew Nicks was telling the media that Sloane would play on a broken leg if you let him.
Then he broke his thumb in the third quarter against West Coast in Round 6.
“I knew straight away,” Sloane says of the incident.
“I’d done it before to my other thumb, so I knew how it felt.”
Sloane underwent surgery days later and has been sidelined for just over a month, the compressed fixture meaning he’s missed five matches.
“It’s not ideal, but life throws you challenges and it’s how you respond to them,” he says.
“You can feel like you miss out on a bit while you’re in rehab, but you just have to adjust a few things to make sure you’re still a part of the group and still be involved, (but my absence has) certainly given some of our younger midfield guys time to take some ownership and leadership through there and the last few weeks especially when you see the way Rory Laird’s been playing, Matty Crouch is in great form and you’ve got Ben Keays who’s really stood up too.
“I think it’s fast-tracked those guys’ leadership development and communication throughout that time.”
Nicks says he’s been impressed with how quickly his gun midfielder has been able to get the ball back in his hands post-surgery.
“We’ve had to hold him back a little bit … it’s been a bonus for Rory to be able to watch the footy (from the sidelines), work with his players off-field, he’s been really strong in that area speaking to the young mids, working with Lairdy on how he goes about it, we’ve seen some real growth in Lairdy on-ball and part of that’s been the leadership of Rory Sloane off-field,” Nicks says.
“He’s just chomping at the bit to get back in there and join in with those guys and bring that slightly different dynamic that Sloaney brings which is pretty hard at it, and leading by example.”
Now in his 12th season with Adelaide, Sloane says he’s loving his football more than ever.
“Tex was saying to me the other day: ‘How good is the job we have’,” he says.
“Although I haven’t been part of a year that’s had a win-loss record like this … I love playing footy more than ever.
“Every year provides you a different challenge and that’s what footy’s great at doing, giving you challenges and it’s how you respond to them.”
But there’s no point mentioning the words “winless season” to him; that’s far from a fait accompli for his side.
“We’ve only played 11 games so far, so we’re certainly not at that point yet,” Sloane says, however since this interview the Crows have slumped to 0-12 following their loss to the Western Bulldogs.
“I definitely didn’t think we’d be 0-11, but absolutely there are so many positives to look at as well and some of our young kids, especially, who have come into the side have played some incredible footy.
“Guys like Harry Schoenberg playing the last couple of weeks, Lachy Sholl has really slotted in well, Andy McPherson has had a horrid run of injuries over his career and has played some unbelievable footy for us down back, and these stories are going to continue to come.
“The improvements we’re seeing internally, it might not be as visible from external, but what we’re seeing internally, I’m positive we’re going to see a very quick rise from our team.”
That’s a similar sentiment to first-year coach Nicks who said in a recent post-game press conference that he wished he could throw open the doors of the club so everyone could see all the good that was being done.
Sloane says the good that Nicks is referring to is the hard work everyone’s putting in.
“It’s been a tough year, we’ve lost a lot of good staff because of COVID, so it’s really the work everyone’s putting in and the extra and over-and-above that everyone’s doing, both staff and players, to try and make sure that everyone’s doing something for someone else,” the 30-year-old says.
In fact, the “put someone else first” mentality is a new philosophy that Nicks has introduced to West Lakes and Sloane says not only has it helped shape a positive culture around the club, it’s given everyone – both staff and players – a mantra they carry forward in life.
“That’s probably the key theme that’s come across, whether that be our fitness staff joining in with some of our injured rehab guys, because that can be lonely sometimes, or staff members doing extra running sessions or cross-training sessions with guys over the whole COVID break as well.
“All our coaches are putting in a huge amount of time to help develop some of our younger players and then guys like Bryce Gibbs, he’s done an incredible amount of work in our SANFL team, that’s been tough for him but guys like McPherson and Sholl are the players they are now because of guys like Gibba.”
As Sloane continues to chat football, suddenly he stops because Sonny, who’s sitting next to him, has started laughing uncontrollably while he attempts to throw a ball to the family dog: it’s hard not to join in when a baby is giggling away uncontrollably.
“Sonny certainly keeps us (Sloane and wife Belinda) very busy and entertained, he’s been a great little distraction … coming home and seeing his beaming smile it puts everything into perspective,” he says.
It just goes to show: Don’t worry, be happy.