Mark Williams on the questions he asked young footballers and his biggest AFL draft regrets
AHEAD of Friday night’s AFL Draft, premiership coach MARK WILLIAMS reveals his interviews with potential draftees - and the young star with whom he ‘got off on the wrong foot’.
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OUTLIERS don’t go out of their way to be different. They just are.
They are a curiosity to some and easily dismissed by others.
But I know the importance of getting to know players. Of finding what makes them tick, and if you will be able to get along with them.
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I’m not like everyone else, and I’m not for everyone.
Maybe that’s why I love movies such as Trouble with the Curve and Money Ball — where working at a low spending franchise you need to adapt or die.
As senior coach of Port Adelaide, recruiting and drafting provided me an opportunity to take an oblique look on what was fairly standard, homogenised practice when it came to assessing potential AFL players.
I have heard all the reasons why coaches should keep their nose out of the list manager and recruiters’ way, but I think to do so is a cop out and being lazy.
Coaches will never have as much knowledge as recruiters, but I always believed I needed to be involved to a level where I could justifiably discuss, debate and even argue the pros and cons of each player — especially when it came to early picks.
After all, the coaches are the ones who have to coach them.
Some say ‘let the painters paint’, but the painters don’t get sacked often. Coaches do.
To coaches, I say do the work and at least have an informed opinion on recruitment.
I’ve been at clubs where the coach who hasn’t had much involvement in the draft then asks in that player’s first week on the track ‘what’s this guy going to bring? Who picked him?’ and was virtually washing his hands of the decision.
Here’s some of my thoughts and memories on the AFL draft.
DRAFT COMBINE: INTERVIEWING PLAYERS
Early picks make or break you in the AFL, but if you can pluck someone with a late pick and he goes on to become a star then the recruiter is worth his weight in gold.
We had some great success at Port doing that, especially at the 2006 draft with Robbie Gray (pick 55) and Justin Westhoff (pick 71). The pair are still excelling more than 10 years later.
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The interview may just be the tool to give you that insight to the gold.
No one gets them all right, it is just like spending 10-15 minutes to work out if your date is going to become your lifelong partner. That’s all you get at the draft interviews. It’s a tough gig, a longwinded one, one I enjoyed being a part of for over 15 years.
My interviewing technique at Draft Camp became folklore, but believe me it was just me, being me, refusing to just ask the same questions the player managers had prepared the draftees for ... blah blah blah.
I would challenge players to see how they were on their toes, if they could they handle the heat, wondering if they could work and excel in the highly competitive football environment that was well established at Port Adelaide at that time.
THE CURLY QUESTIONS I ASKED
One question I often liked to get an idea about was whether a player was a leader or a follower? Some have heard of these questions and asked me: “Did you tell the players to jump out a window?”
Well, no. After a few greetings and informal discussions regarding playing ability, I would actually ask players if they drank much? If they said yes, I’d ask them how much? What if their teammates were drinking? Would they join in? Would they tell them they had had enough? What if you won the premiership? Would you get a tattoo to celebrate?
If they said yes I would say ‘do you just do what everyone else does?’ If they said no, I would ask them if they were a team player or not.
It was to see how they reacted under pressure. There was no right or wrong answer. So eventually when they said they would do what everyone else was doing, I would say ‘what if I said to jump out of this window?’, pointing to one in the room. Would they just do it?
I’m not sure this will make sense to some — maybe you needed to be there! — but at the time it helped give me an understanding of the type of individual we were potentially going to draft.
THE MEMORABLE INTERVIEWS
Where you finish on the ladder determines your chance to select a player.
Half the time we all interviewed players out of reach, but each time you talked to these kids you form an idea of what they were like and where they may get to both in the short and long term.
Travis Boak went through the usual questions but then we tested him and his game knowledge by showing him five or so video clips from a game where he needed to answer what he saw or what would he would do in these very difficult game situations. He passed with flying colours and has turned out to be a wonderful player and leader.
Dawson Simpson, the big country guy, had spent time on the farm so to make him at ease, we spent time discussing our own experiences of trapping and shooting rabbits. I saw the big man at a Giants game this year and we reminisced about our first meeting and the rabbits.
We never had a chance to select Darren Glass but after 10 minutes with him I knew he would be a captain and said so. He was confident, all class and a standout leader in the waiting.
Only one player said he wouldn’t come to play if we picked him as he wanted to stay and finish school in his home state.
Note to all ... SA has schools! But I always thought Patrick Dangerfield may one day go home.
MY FAVOURITE INTERVIEWS
My absolute favourite interview was Jimmy Bartel.
I loved him as he gave me back as good as I gave him. We had some fun banter and laughed all the way through. I followed his career closely and he lived up to my expectations.
I also just loved Jude Bolton but we just got off on the wrong foot.
I said to him he was a good-looking guy (best looking footballer since Michael Roberts).
He thought I was questioning his courage. I was thinking how we could use him in our marketing campaigns — a tough hard nut who could really play with great public appeal — a real triple threat, but never would we have the opportunity to select him.
Every time we played the Swans after that it seemed he was best on ground — just to show me how tough he was. Who would have thought we would have bumped into each other pushing shopping trolleys around, years after in Lane Cove Shopping Centre, where I congratulated him on his wonderful career and said sorry for the misunderstanding.
He is still a good-looking rooster.
Nick Dal Santo was wearing bangles and beads, was softly spoken and just a really nice kid.
Hmmmm, we just weren’t looking for that sort of guy at that time.
I learnt as much from this interview as any — this type can play and play great — you need all types to win a premiership.
Recently Nick and I discussed his memories of that day and laughed as he recalled what an ordeal it was for him. But it didn’t seem to damage him too much!
At Port we wanted to select Jordan Lewis.
We loved his toughness but had a query on his running ability, so we had him do a private run of the Tan (Botanical Gardens) prior to draft day.
Unfortunately Clarko and (fitness boss) Andrew Russell, who had just left Port, knew of this and pinched him prior to us having the pick.
Clarko always finds a way!
Knowing of the new racial vilification laws in AFL, I saw an opportunity to quiz a real potential 1st-round pick on his knowledge of what was going on in the AFL.
In an attempt to educate and prepare him for what might happen I asked ‘what if in your first game someone on the opposition calls you a wog?’
The player just said he would brush it aside. I told him no, you are entering an AFL which now protects against this.
We will protect you and make sure this never happens again. That player was future Port Captain Dom Cassisi.
MY BIGGEST REGRET / DRAFT MISSES
I knew Jonathan Brown was going to be special, but I was talked out of selecting him.
I had spoken to his family and tried to get him to nominate for the draft when he was 17 - he may well have nominated if we could guarantee him we’d select him with our first pick.
It was suggested he was too slow, and unfortunately I wobbled a bit! Missing out on him is my biggest regret, as he decided not to enter the draft and went as a father-son the following year.
Imagine Chad Cornes, Warren Tredrea and big Browny all in the same side!
That was one of those sliding doors moments. All clubs would have similar stories to tell.
DRAFT DAY BLUES
On draft day one year I was told we may have a smoky, a player that would fly under the radar.
This was a kid I knew and, being the brother of one of our players, had kicked the footy with.
“He’ll get through to the rookie draft”, I’d been told.
When Geelong read out Steven Motlop with pick 39 in 2008, I couldn’t believe it.
“You’re f---ing kidding”, I muttered under my breath. Well, at least I thought I said it under my breath. Apparently not.
Footy fans will often hear clubs saying things like ‘we are so lucky that this guy fell through’ and ‘we couldn’t believe he was still there’.
That was the case in 2001 with Barry Brooks — our pick 15.
I had no idea who he was. I’d never seen a tape but I knew he was supposed to be a higher pick and after finishing up the top of the ladder we were not looking at this level of player.
After a five-minute extension — and some heated minutes working out what we could and should do — our recruiting team rightly had their say.
But the coach must make sure they are certain. This was a classic example of the coach and the recruiters not being on the same page.
As it turned out, we traded Barry the next year and used that pick to help get Byron Pickett — the Norm Smith Medallist in our 2004 premiership year.
TRY BEFORE BUY // PRE-SEASON DRAFTS
At 17, Matthew Pavlich was a trainee at Port Adelaide — his cousin Brian Cunningham was the CEO at the time — and could have been selected at any stage.
I actually had a kick with him but he couldn’t do much (he was suffering from osteitis pubis at the time) and back then that condition was somewhat of a death sentence.
So we, like all other clubs, passed on picking him. What idiots!
The following year everyone wanted him, and he went at pick 4.
Nick Maxwell trained with us too but he also had OP. So we sent him to back to Melbourne.
We just didn’t have the time to wait for rehab. I wish we had!
David Rodan came over from Richmond to resurrect his career.
We smashed him on the training track with contested footy drills, with one player after the other challenging him to compete.
He said afterwards he thought he was no chance, but we loved him and quickly placed him on our list.
Levi Greenwood was a half back, a hard man from Port Magpies in the SANFL.
Opposition knowledge is important, so we asked him if we were about to play Geelong who would might he match up?
No, he couldn’t help me — he’d never heard of any of them.
I didn’t think it was too hard during that time as they were all household names. He only had to just say one of Ablett, Chapman or Johnson and we would have picked him.
Levi has since learnt a lot about the opposition and is one of the game’s toughest taggers, playing over 100 games which is a credit to him.
* After playing 201 AFL matches for Collingwood and Brisbane, Mark Williams coached Port Adelaide to the 2004 AFL premiership. He was also an assistant coach with GWS and Richmond.
Originally published as Mark Williams on the questions he asked young footballers and his biggest AFL draft regrets
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