AFL: Players’ survival guide to hub life 2.0
All 18 AFL clubs woke up in Melbourne on Thursday and, while the league won’t call it a hub, many players face a long period away from home.
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What is the No.1 tip for surviving hub life?
“Get out of the hub as much as possible,” one player, who signed up for 32 days on the Gold Coast last year and ended up staying for more than three months, said.
“It’s a pretty grim place when you’re seeing the CEO and the coaches all the time.
“Try not to sit next to the coach or the CEO at dinner — that’s what I would say.”
All 18 clubs woke up in football heartland on Thursday, with the AFL telling the eight non-Victorian clubs to pack for two-three weeks, aware of the cold reality it was a one-way ticket with no return date.
On Wednesday morning, Adelaide instructed its players they were flying out that day and they had until 4.30pm to drop off their bags.
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Rory Laird took no chances. The ball magnet stuffed his entire wardrobe into a suitcase — including all of his training gear — for what ended up being a two-night stay, with the Crows given the green light to return home on Friday.
But the AFL tore through about $5m last week after more than 400 players, coaches and staff boarded chartered flights to Melbourne and checked into plush hotels.
This year the league is refusing to dub the mass Melbourne migration a “hub”, because there are discernible differences from 2020.
Last year’s relocated Victorian clubs were subject to lockdown-like restrictions when they set up camp on the Gold Coast.
It meant no catching Ubers or taxis, sunbaking on the beach was prohibited, and cafe visits were limited to takeaway coffees and meals.
Players bunking in Melbourne this year have their freedoms.
The visitors are free to live a normal Melbourne life, just as we are all enjoying in what is a precarious climate.
When Brisbane Lions hit the Tullamarine tarmac on Tuesday night, they only had to isolate at Melbourne’s Sofitel Hotel on Collins St until 11pm, when all of their arrival coronavirus swabs were confirmed as negative.
But life on the road can still be overwhelming. How do you switch off when football becomes 24/7?
Pack your university work … and an HDMI cable. Plus an AeroPress coffee machine if you had the time, and a favourite pillow.
“The stuff that was hard was just living with the whole club,” last year’s Gold Coast hubber said.
“You’re training four-five days a week, and you’ve got meetings, and you see the boys at dinner, and at brekky, and at lunch.
Was there a highlight?
“To be honest, a really good moment was when it ended and we got to leave,” he said.
Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge noted how things turned sour for their hub housemates as their seasons slipped away.
“We’ve seen the teams that we’ve hubbed with fall away,” Beveridge said.
“The Kangas early, and then Essendon, and then Carlton.”
It was challenging. Then-Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley said: “We all sweep it under the rug and some of our rugs are up here (points at head) at the moment”.
Gold Coast’s stirring win against Richmond on Thursday night showed it has made the perfect start to life on the road.
Similarly, the Tigers used their 18 days on the road recently to “reconnect” as a club, a message driven by club leaders including captain Trent Cotchin.
But as clubs fall out of finals contention, could that commitment start to waiver?
When the Bulldogs headed to Sydney and Perth for seven days last month, Beveridge strolled into Melbourne carrying his guitar, with the occasional strum on the road a therapeutic release for the premiership coach.
Grand finalists Geelong and Richmond clearly handled last year’s stint better than the rest.
Young Cat Oscar Brownless was lead singer in the Roman Sandals, a band Geelong put together to entertain the rest.
Assistant coach Nigel Lappin, head physiotherapist Hamish Macauley and strength and conditioning coach John Leydon supported Oscar when the Roman Sandals performed in front of a Geelong crew that reached 170 people at their Southport base.
Richmond players click-and-collected a bundle of PVC pipes and bird netting from Bunnings Warehouse, with handyman Kamdyn McIntosh erecting some homemade soccer goals.
“They’re 7.5m by 2.2m, so we’ve made full-sized goals,” McIntosh said.
“There’s a few holes in the bird’s net now from blokes just hoofing the ball in.
“Jase Castagna’s pretty tricky — him and Oleg Markov are the standouts.”
Tom Lynch’s Monopoly Deal cards proved a lifesaver as a bunch of Tigers spent countless hours playing game after game in their hub lobby.
Up in Noosa, St Kilda’s travelling crew would chew through 30kg of chicken every lunchtime.
Last year was largely madness. Carlton moved hotels about seven times last year.
With 18 clubs in Melbourne, the fight for facilities has been on.
Luckily for Greater Western Sydney, it had a favour it could cash in.
The Giants rolled into training to find two cartons of beer in their changerooms last month, a present left by the Tigers after they spent a few days training at Giants headquarters during their initial stay in western Sydney.
“In these times, clubs are very, very good at looking after each other with regards to training venues and helping each other out,” coach Damien Hardwick said.
“GWS were fantastic with us this week.”
So the Giants have hit up Punt Road for their training over the past two weeks while pumping weights at Virgin Active.
Tagger Matt de Boer told Footy Classified that the youngsters’ “mental wellbeing and sense of enjoyment” was exponentially better than last year’s sojourn.
He even said injured big boys Braydon Preuss and Lachie Keeffe were at times wishing they had come down.
Former Bulldog Billy Gowers enjoyed Gold Coast’s warmer climate so much last year he has since moved there, signing — and starring — for Southport Sharks in the VFL this season.
Gowers had never surfed before, but bought a board and grew into a healthy routine of rising early for some morning waves with the likes of Tom Liberatore, Ed Richards and Josh Bruce.
Will spending two weeks as a Melbourne-based footballer help Fremantle’s Adam Cerra decide whether he wants to re-sign or return home?
So many Victorians who were drafted interstate are getting a small window into life as a local where they can see friends and family as they wish.
The Giants and Swans, who are both fighting for a finals finish, are already up to 11 days in Melbourne with no finish line in sight.
Perhaps they should see if Oscar is around for an encore.
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Originally published as AFL: Players’ survival guide to hub life 2.0
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