The AFL reality of life on the edge — and why Jack Fitzpatrick would do it all again
From the outside, footy is often seen as a life of luxury. But what happens when you go years without playing games and bounce between rookie lists? Get the inside story on the other side of the game.
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Jack Fitzpatrick’s career had echoes of US golfer Michael Thompson, who broke down in tears on Monday after his PGA Tour win gave him financial security for two more seasons.
Fitzpatrick played 26 games in eight years at Melbourne and Hawthorn as a popular but unfulfilled key position player who never made any AFL rich list.
In his fourth season in 2013 he believed his career was done, already researching a trip to the 2014 Brazil World Cup the following year until he hit form with 11 games from Rounds 10-21.
Suddenly his career was alive again.
Fitzpatrick, now working as a journalist at Punters.com.au, has always been blessed with a cracking sense of humour and a healthy dose of perspective.
The 29-year-old says he loved his AFL career and knows there is little sympathy for AFL players who have lived their dream.
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But he said the experience of so many players quickly out of the system with few university or trade qualifications is more reflective than the players earning $1 million a season.
“It’s a very privileged position and you are quite lucky in that at the age of 19 and 20 you are on more money than pretty much anyone your age, but the job security part of it is a factor. The contract can end pretty quickly,” he said.
“No job is safe and we have seen what is happening around the world but you can go from being on $80,000 and potential match payments to nothing.
“Guys have got a semester of uni under their belt or six months of trade school. It is so great to play AFL footy but what happens when that falls through?”
Fitzpatrick’s first contract as a fourth-round selection was $49,000, with good mate Majak Daw securing a rookie contract for $30,000 in the same year.
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Most of his three subsequent contracts were for $80,000-$100,000 as a base with extra match payments that came in a dribble instead of a flood given those 26 AFL games.
“I signed contracts of two, two and two years at Melbourne,” he said.
“I signed the first one quickly when I hadn’t played a game and before I signed the next one I thought I would be out and I have said a few times that me and mate were looking at tickets for the Brazil World Cup and then Neil Craig gave me a few games and I went from thinking I was done to having a two-year contract in front of me.
“It can turn like that, but even things like buying a house can be difficult, relationships you can’t commit to because you don’t know where you will or what state you might be in within six months.
“There are a lot of guys who leave high school and they go from earning $80,000 or $10,000 to quite literally nothing and they don’t have a uni degree or trade.”
Originally published as The AFL reality of life on the edge — and why Jack Fitzpatrick would do it all again