Robbo: AFL players need compassion and support, not cheap shots from the outer
Jack Riewoldt received a heartless response from footy fans after his admission about moving into a hub. It is difficult to comprehend players copping constant criticism while making significant sacrifices for the game, writes Mark Robinson.
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Whacking AFL players is becoming an obsession and it’s wrong.
When Richmond’s Jack Riewoldt spoke his truth on AFL 360 on Tuesday night, about how he cried as he departed Melbourne for hub land, the response from some people was heartless.
One of them wrote on social media: “AFL players being hailed as heroes leaving Victoria for a month? These EXTREMELY well paid blokes who are ‘playing a game’ as Riewoldt put it last night are living the dream of millions and they want to cry poor me? Please.”
Another said: “Tool of the highest order.”
And another: “Suck it up princess.”
The outraged want to be outraged which is the nauseating go-to condition for many people in our complicated world.
Herald Sun columnist Susie O’Brien wrote on Tuesday, before Riewoldt’s on-air confession, that AFL players were privileged and that it was an “unfair and disgraceful” decision to let players exit Victoria.
The AFL Players Association accused O’Brien of writing “sensationalist garbage’’.
The nicest comment I can make is that I disagree with her. Vehemently.
It was a cheap shot at a group of players and the AFL and the TV networks, who employ thousands of people at a time when jobs are being scuppered by COVID-19.
Football is a game, but it is also a livelihood for many, of which I’m a beneficiary.
But it’s a game first and foremost.
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It exists for our entertainment. In this time of crisis, it’s a saviour, for two hours a week, from the hardship, confines and mesmerising weariness of simply living in shutdown.
Why the sport and its competitors are being verbally bashed is truly weird.
The players can’t win.
If they do play, they are privileged.
If they don‘t play, they are somehow weak and not committed to the cause,
Instead, the players should be commended for their sacrifice and the AFL for its resilience and inventiveness.
Please, life in lockdown is better for having football in it.
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Clearly, a number of players don’t want to be in hubs.
They want to be with their families, especially in Victoria, which is now in the red zone for the next six weeks.
In hindsight, West Coast and Fremantle, teams that have been on the Gold Coast for a month, deserved greater sympathy than what was offered when they first left home.
Because this hub life is not a holiday, as we have learnt.
They’re not sipping pina coladas in shorts and T-shirts, a la the prime minister in Hawaii when the country was being sizzled.
And they’re not sitting around the pool wondering if it’s an Indian, Thai or Italian restaurant that night for dinner.
Most of the players are in lockdown.
They train, meet, eat and go to their rooms. Rise, do it again tomorrow.
The players have given up half their salaries until October 31 and they are still doing their jobs, and they are saving hundreds, if not thousands of subsidiary jobs.
How that draws criticism is astounding.
Back to Jack Riewoldt.
Throughout his career he’s been the poster boy for everything — for petulance and immaturity as a young man and for leadership and responsibility as a veteran.
Part of his development stems from grief and perspective.
He has spoken of the impact of the death of his cousin Maddie and what followed — a perspective that helped Riewoldt grow and was part of a new direction at Richmond about what was important in life.
Words such as authentic, care and connection and the theme of love for each other and their families has underpinned Richmond’s success over recent years.
In essence, they weren’t just learning about football, they were learning about themselves.
At one time, the club had the players writing to their parents to tell them what they meant in their lives, and vice versa.
And now that Riewoldt is a parent, and with another child coming later in the year, clearly he has adopted authenticism in his own life.
He said he cried when he left Melbourne on Monday and, for that, he’s being called a sook.
It’s ridiculous.
Not for the first time, Riewoldt was too honest for some.
We ask the players to be truthful and giving, and then smack them down for what they say.
Riewoldt will be OK.
He will captain the Tigers in Trent Cotchin’s injury-induced absence and those close to him say, now that his initial emotion has been purged, he will knuckle down to the task at hand.
He needs to because the Tigers need him leading strongly in what looms as an extremely testing five weeks.
Originally published as Robbo: AFL players need compassion and support, not cheap shots from the outer