Brian Taylor’s plea to AFL players to travel to interstate hubs
Brian Taylor can play for laughs with his commentary and post-match interviews. But he was deadly serious when he called on the AFL’s playing ranks to keep the 2020 season alive.
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AFL commentator Brian Taylor has issued a passionate plea to the competition’s players to keep the 2020 season alive.
The former Collingwood and Richmond goalkicker has become a larger than life media personality but he was deadly serious when he spoke after St Kilda’s win against Carlton at Marvel Stadium.
Neither the Saints or Blues know when or where their next match will be, or even which state it will be in, as the AFL tries to piece together a plan to keep the season going amid a surge of coronavirus cases in Victoria.
Richmond is one club with stars weighing up whether they will travel interstate for what could be a weeks-long road trip. But Taylor said he couldn’t understand that kind of thinking.
“You’ve got to go,” he said on Channel 7.
“You know why? The competition is hanging in the balance. The competition is hanging by a thread.
“For any players that think that this is a time to be procrastinating and making decisions other than playing, I just think is unimaginable. I don’t get it.
“There are sportsmen all over the world that travel for months and months at a time. There are soccer clubs here in Australia, basketball (clubs), they go away for a couple of weeks at a time, it is a common thread among professional sportsmen.
“Come on. When the competition is in this sort of need, surely you as players can fulfil the duty of playing football.
“We need you to. We need players to keep this competition going.”
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Collingwood’s Jordan Roughead is another player who has flagged he would be reluctant to leave the state because of his partner’s illness.
Teammate Chris Mayne also has a young child and is seeking clarity on what quarantine restrictions would be imposed on his family if they travelled with him to Perth where the Magpies will begin a multistate road trip.
The AFL Players Association said on Tuesday it expected that members who chose not to enter hubs would still be paid.
But anxiety is growing among players across the competition as the league scrambles to recast its fixture for rounds 6, round 7 and beyond.
The AFL fixture dilemma was further complicated after South Australian on Tuesday joined Queensland in shutting their borders to Victoria.
Victorian clubs could replace the two Perth and Adelaide teams at Royal Pines in Queensland, and there is likely to be a hub in NSW.
Player managers spent Tuesday calling players to double-check on any personal hub hurdles including support for partners, impending births and newborn babies, and care for young children.
Premiership captain Trent Cotchin said there was a “genuine chance” some teammates would skip the hubs.
“(There is) no doubt our footy club will be there (in a hub) and will partake and do what we need to do to continue the season,” he said.
“But there is going to be a number of different individual cases or scenarios.
“We have guys with pending babies and other challenges or things going on in their life that we will just have to manage accordingly.
“That is something we will manage inside of the club and make sure everyone is comfortable and happy.
“I think the most important thing is that our partners feel supported and have the required help that is going to be needed with players and coaches and staff being away for a period of time.”
Cothcin’s revelation follows news that the Tigers, Carlton and St Kilda are likely to be the first in line to fly out.
Richmond spearhead Jack Riewoldt doubled-down on his skipper’s remarks, saying he could not guarantee he would be on the plane.
“You don’t want to concrete with an answer but it’s something that obviously has to be weighed up by every player in every team about whether their current situation allows them to be away from family - that is the biggest issue,” Riewoldt said on Fox Footy.
“And personal issues as well that players find themselves in.
“The club is not going to hold a gun to any player’s head to say you have to play if there is a personal reason.
“No organisation is going to tell someone to go away from their family if they have got an impending birth.
“We are all around that time where guys are starting families and things bob up here and there. For us, family comes first and players’ welfare comes first and then football is after that.”
Collingwood and Geelong players will also depart in less than a fortnight for their three-game stint in Perth and potentially a second leg in Adelaide, Sydney or on the Gold Coast.
AFLPA chief Paul Marsh said: “We know that the intent from all players is to play, as a collective they want to do all they can to continue the season.
“However we understand that there may be some players who are unable to go into a hub due to their personal circumstances, and in these instances our expectation is that the industry would support them and any such player would continue to be paid.”
The loss of 29-year-old Astbury further weakens the Tigers.
He was felled in a marking contest in Richmond’s loss to St Kilda on Saturday with scans revealing floating cartilage in his knee.
Astbury had surgery on Tuesday and he will miss at least a month.
“David had an incident in the game where he came down from a marking contest and had a little bit of a subluxation of the patella, which is an unusual injury,” club fitness boss Peter Burge said.
“So he’s going into surgery today (Tuesday) and will probably miss around 4-5 weeks.”
PIES ZERO IN ON RESORT STAY FOR WA HUB STINT
Collingwood is investigating whether it could base up to 80 players and staff at a golf resort north of Perth for its three-week stay in the west.
Joondalup Resort has emerged as a potential new home for the Magpies with up to 70 rooms available for the club’s travelling group.
It has been closed to the public between July 10 and August 22, making it available for AFL use.
Geelong is looking at basing itself at Crown Hotel, directly opposite Perth Stadium.
Both facilities have pools which the clubs would like to use as part of their training and recovery programs.
Joondalup Resort is situated on a 27-hole championship golf course and is only five minutes’ drive from a picturesque beach and 30 minutes drive from Perth Stadium.
But players, staff and their families may be confined to the hotel grounds when they are not either training or playing, and prohibited from using the golf course and beach.
While the players have the option to bring their families, it may not be practical for the bulk of the Magpies’ and Cats’ lists to bring their partners and young children.
Richmond, Carlton and St Kilda have also not yet played an interstate team over the first four rounds and are among the next in line to fly out to an interstate hub.
The Cats and Magpies are scheduled to play games against each other and West Coast and Fremantle between rounds 7-9 before undertaking a second leg of the road trip in a different state.
The AFL has confirmed the two clubs may have to return home to Melbourne via either South Australia, New South Wales or Queensland for more games.
Collingwood and Geelong would then be set for a series of home games in Victoria on the run home to the finals as Melbourne attempts to get on top of its COVID-19 spike.
West Coast has lost its first four games in a Queensland hub and are scheduled to play two more against Sydney Swans and Adelaide before returning home.
Eagles’ football manager Craig Vozzo said the hub had been “a really interesting experience”.
“It is just very different and trying to establish a routine for the staff and for then for the players is challenging,” Vozzo said.
“We train on three different ovals and in two different gyms and we use separate recovery facilities.
“It is an interesting logistic issue.”
IS IT WORTH IT? THE QUESTION STARS WILL ASK ON HUBS
– JAY CLARK
It is the year of the young bloke in the AFL.
The fixture chaos which has engulfed the football world has become a rolling snowball of stress for all of the players with families and kids.
Melbourne tough nut Jack Viney has a newborn daughter, Mila Grace. Only a few days old.
For him, these are incredibly precious and challenging times where all you want to do is be there for your sleep-deprived partner and child.
Most people have the benefit of paternity leave.
Viney, however, would have no idea whether he is about to head to an interstate hub for goodness knows how long. Perth, Sydney or the Northern Territory are all cards on the table.
That uncertainty, as impossible as it is to avoid right now for AFL HQ, is the enemy of every player with a family.
And so the question around the players’ dinner table and in WhatsApp groups will be asked, is it worth it?
The young players out there at clubs such as Gold Coast and Port Adelaide could indeed be loving the life on the road with less commitments.
It certainly looked nice in the photo of the Power players dangling their legs in the pool last week with a nice cold drink.
That’s why in a footy sense it is the year of the young bloke.
Not even a semi trailer could wipe the smile off Matt Rowell’s face right now, and we love him for it.
But for some of the older guys, we are getting closer to the tipping point in this crazy year.
For Collingwood’s Jordan Roughead, whose partner has had a significant health scare recently, the WA trip may not be worth it if, say, his partner can’t come too.
Or maybe it just doesn’t suit them. He canvassed it himself. And we all understand.
But now that Jeremy Howe has gone down in defence, and the Pies could not afford to lose Roughead as well, that stressful snowball gets bigger again.
What an unenviable situation.
And what if the Collingwood and Geelong players have to swing through Sydney or Queensland on an extended road trip to play more games on their way back from Perth?
It’s certainly an option as fixture boss Travis Auld attempts to work miracles with a 17-sided Rubix Cube.
The players certainly wanted to roll up the sleeves because they feel a significant responsibility to get this season away. They also have financial responsibilities. Bills to pay and mouths to feed, albeit on half wages.
But once we got past the Queensland Government bombshell on Monday, key people in the industry were thinking of the players, who are essentially back in the dark.
Collingwood and Geelong players can bring (a limited number) of families across to the Perth hub.
But would you do it if you all had to pile into the same hotel room? Or be in different hotel rooms for that matter. By the way, you also can’t leave the hotel grounds for up to three weeks.
It is hardly practical.
The results are absolutely undeniable for West Coast and it was Richmond pair Trent Cotchin and Jack Riewoldt who were most unhappy (among a group of senior players) when the prospect of a 20-week hub was raised on the AFL Players’ Association call months ago.
Is it any surprise the two sides, whose clash on Thursday night was scrapped as part of the collateral fixture damage yesterday, are languishing in this compromised season?
Then there is Nat Fyfe who did his hamstring. Was his preparation for the clash in the hub as per normal? It’s food for thought at least.
It is true this year’s premiership cup will be an extraordinary achievement for the eventual victor. A win for the ages if they can climb the steep mountain.
But for the 17 sides that stumble and trip, missing out on the flag, or even finals for that matter, won’t burn like it normally would.
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Originally published as Brian Taylor’s plea to AFL players to travel to interstate hubs