AFL veterans are going better than ever, writes Shane Crawford
THEY’RE no longer ‘the Dirty Thirties’. In fact Shane Crawford reckons a team of 30-somethings would not only make the top four this season but win the 2016 flag. SEE CRAWF’S TEAM
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MY “old” Hawthorn teammate Tony Woods hatched an elaborate plan as he moved towards his 30th birthday and it proved to be a masterstroke that gained him a few extra AFL years.
He simply changed his birthdate.
It was old lesson he had gleaned from his former Collingwood teammate Denis Banks and it served Woodsy well.
He had a chuckle about this week when I contacted him to find out how he managed to fool those around him and, for a time at least, change AFL records so that he turned 29 for a few years in a row.
“I just wish I thought about it earlier,” Woods confessed. “‘Banksy’ was smarter. He started doing it when he was about 22 years of age and he got it away with it for longer.”
Back when I played AFL football, you feared getting close to your 30th birthday, and what people used to term ‘the Dirty Thirties’. As soon as you reached that age, clubs began to take a different view of you.
You felt as if you were almost on borrowed time.
It didn’t matter how good you were, or how you were playing, you just sensed a difference. Clubs kept a closer eye on your form, the media watched every ordinary game with a more critical eye and you actually started to feel vulnerable.
Not anymore.
Welcome to 2016, the year of turning back time. I’m not talking about Cher here. I’m talking about one of the biggest changes to come over the competition in recent seasons — the resurgence of the over-30 player.
Back when I played AFL football, you feared getting close to your 30th birthday
We’ve always had a freaks who have been able to play on long after their biological AFL clock said it should. But in my time in the game I’ve never seen a better spread of 30-plus players as we have right now.
It’s meant to be a younger man’s game, and it isn’t. The veterans have had a sensational start to the season and clubs are finally realising the importance of keeping that experience on for as long as possible.
Just take a look at North Melbourne. They are one of the oldest teams we have seen in recent seasons, and they are yet to be beaten. That’s six-nil to start the season, the first time they have done that since 1979.
‘Boomer’ Harvey was a toddler the last time that happened for the Kangaroos, and now, as a rising 38-year-old, he is still taking the game by storm as he seems to have done for the past 20 years.
There’s Jarrad Waite, who kicked almost half the Kangaroos’ score on Friday night, and who is in rare form, as well as the dominant Daniel Wells, Drew Petrie and Nick Dal Santo.
Scott Thompson joins the 30-year-old bracket next month, and he took one of the game’s most exciting young players Jake Stinger apart on Friday night.
I am convinced that this (current) group of veterans would not only make the top four ... I reckon they would win the 2016 flag.
It got thinking about how a team of 30-somethings would go against the other teams in the competition right now.
I am convinced that this group of veterans would not only make the top four this season, I reckon they would win the 2016 flag.
Hawthorn’s quintet of 30-plus players (not counting Jarryd Roughead who turns 30 later in the year) have shown us their importance. Sam Mitchell, Luke Hodge, Josh Gibson, Shaun Burgoyne and Jordan Lewis are showing no sign of slowing up. In fact, it is quite the opposite.
Mitchell could win the Brownlow Medal this year — as a 33-year-old. Waite is a chance to win the Coleman Medal, and so many of these veteran players are in career-best form.
In my squad, I’ve included the injured Bob Murphy, whose knee issues have really hurt the Bulldogs, and Aaron Sandilands, who has left a gaping hole in Fremantle’s best team since going down hurt.
The Bulldogs showed how clubs today are so different to what they were like in the past when president Peter Gordon admitted on Friday night they will offer Murphy, who will be 34 next year, a contract for 2017 that will be impossible for him to dismiss.
So what’s brought about this change?
I reckon the Hawks changed it as much as anyone else, and I could see some of the signs when I was in the last few years of my career.
When I was edging towards 30, I used to try and smash myself in training because I felt like I had the need to keep up with the younger players. That mindset probably cost me, and it has changed so much, with Hawks fitness coach Andrew Russell pushing for a more individualised program for each veteran, giving them some time away from football and working on quality not quantity in terms of their efforts.
We’ve seen St Kilda’s Nick Riewoldt given time off overseas during the pre-season and it doesn’t seem to have hurt him. We’ll see more of that in the future because these 30-plus players know their bodies better than anyone else, and it might end up being the template for the future.
There used to be a stigma with older players, not now though, as clubs are embracing them.
Russell told me that it is not about getting footballers fitter, stronger and faster. It is about preparing them for match situations, but also keeping them mentally fresh and in a good space from outside football.
If they need a freshen up, clubs are more willing to give them a few hours off here and there.
The psychology of the players is understood better than ever, and that has been a key factor.
Another reason for the change, a few of the older players have told me, is the fact that zoning is so important in football these days.
No longer is it a combative one-on-one kind of game when you run yourself ragged.
You used to have an opponent, and you were responsible for that man. Now, with zoning, you are guarding space as much as you are guarding a player, so it is easier on your body and mind.
Thirty-three is already the new thirty, and if this trend keeps continuing, thirty-five might soon be the new thirty-three.
NO LONGER THE DIRTY THIRTIES:
Crawf’s best team of 30-plus players in the AFL this season.
B: Corey Enright (Geel, 34), Ted Richards (Syd, 33), Dale Morris (W Bulldogs, 33)
HB: Heath Shaw (GWS, 30), Josh Gibson (Haw, 32), Shaun Burgoyne (Haw, 33)
C: Leigh Montagna (StK, 32), Matt Priddis (WC, 31), Brendon Goddard (Ess, 30)
HF: Luke Hodge (Haw, 31), Nick Riewoldt (StK, 33), Daniel Wells (NM, 31)
F: Steve Johnson (GWS, 32), Jarrad Waite (NM, 33), Brent Harvey (NM 37)
Foll: Aaron Sandilands (Frem, 33), Gary Ablett (GC, 31), Sam Mitchell (Haw, 33)
Interchange: Jordan Lewis (Haw, 30), Bernie Vince (Melb, 30), Robert Murphy (W Bulldogs, 33), Scott Thompson (Adel, 33)
Others also in the over-30s squad: David Mundy (Frem, 30), Nick Dal Santo (32), Kade Simpson (Carl, 31), Ben McGlynn (Syd, 30), Matthew Boyd (W Bulldogs, 33), James Kelly (Ess 32), Jarrad McVeigh (Syd, 31), Jimmy Bartel (Geel, 32), Ivan Maric (Rich, 30), Drew Petrie (NM, 33), Nick Malceski (GC, 31), Andrew Mackie (Geel, 31), Adam Cooney (Ess, 30), Matthew Pavlich (Frem, 34), Sam Fisher (StK, 33).
Originally published as AFL veterans are going better than ever, writes Shane Crawford
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