Former teammate John Hastings reveals he warned Glenn Maxwell to get off social media five years ago
Crowd-pleaser Glenn Maxwell has always been one of the most popular athletes on Facebook and Twitter - and with that comes inherent dangers that, according to a former teammate, often left him crushed.
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Glenn Maxwell was urged to quit social media by a Melbourne Stars teammate five years ago after a barrage of abuse left the all-rounder shattered.
Former Stars captain John Hastings said “it was only a matter of time” until Maxwell took a break from cricket to deal with his mental health given what he has copped throughout his career.
“I remember sitting next to him up at the Gabba after a Stars game a few years ago and he said, ‘Have a look at this’,” Hastings said.
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“It was absolute abuse that he copped and I was like, ‘Mate you’ve got to get off social media, you’ve got to stop worrying about this stuff’.
“He takes things very personally and it’s a real shame this has happened, but he’s got a lot of good people around him.”
Maxwell charged down the Gabba wicket that night but left the ball and was bowled for a golden duck, with footage of a shocked Adam Gilchrist in the commentary box going viral.
Maxwell, 31, has 4.6 million fans on Facebook and 1.4 million fans on Twitter. He absorbs plenty of feedback on Twitter, with a lot of it unhealthy.
While Maxwell is a crowd-pleaser, his ultra-aggressive style has proved polarising at times.
Coach Justin Langer said Maxwell’s brilliant knock against Sri Lanka last week was played behind a “mask” and that he had flagged his struggles 24 hours earlier.
Cricket Australia doctors are due to assess Maxwell in Melbourne on Friday after he was replaced in the T20 squad by D’Arcy Short.
“In Glenn’s situation I’m talking thousands of people that are hopping into him after a game,” Hastings said.
“If he went out there and reverse-swept one and got out first ball it’d probably be tens of thousands.
“He’s one of the most followed athletes in Australia on social media. He’s engrossed in it, as are a lot of athletes as well, and it’s a big issue.”
Maxwell woke up at 3am last Monday and checked Twitter to discover he had been drafted by Shane Warne’s London Spirit to play in The Hundred competition in England next year.
While Maxwell will earn $235,000 for the six-week tournament, it will also further eat into a calendar year where he already has a Twenty20 World Cup and is likely to return to the Indian Premier League.
Hastings said the jammed schedule was an issue for global cricketers, with David Warner once telling the former allrounder that he spent just 20 nights at home in a whole year.
Steve Smith rarely sleeps during Test matches and said on Fox Cricket this week that some of “my best innings have come when I’ve had literally no sleep”.
Originally published as Former teammate John Hastings reveals he warned Glenn Maxwell to get off social media five years ago