‘Took me five years to learn’: Former Demon Luke Tapscott opens up on his lively footy career
Former top Melbourne draft pick Luke Tapscott opens up on his AFL career, his time at local level, the future and his relationship with alcohol in a candid tell-all interview.
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A fresh-faced teenager was on debut in the Mornington Peninsula league.
Ahead of his first match, his coach assigned him the task of following Sorrento’s Luke Tapscott around for the afternoon.
Tapscott made note of the newcomer at the first bounce: “On debut, young fella?,” he asked.
To which the debutant nodded nervously.
“Get your notepad out,” Tapscott encouraged.
A shove to create space, a clean gather from the tap and a pinpoint kick to a leading forward later, Tapscott followed up his swagger with action.
Backing it up is something the former AFL-Demon has done whole local career.
But while he played through that period at Sorrento with such liberty, Tapscott conceded he was trapped by a burning frustration that took years to overcome.
Walking into Melbourne in 2009, the kid from country South Australia felt achieving premiership and Brownlow success was the benchmark.
Restricted by injury and in a dark time of Melbourne’s history, Tapscott’s relationship with football quickly changed.
“Easiest way to sum it up, looking back on it now, footy went from fun and everything I loved doing to really feeling like a job,” he said.
“I think because we were no good, everyone was walking around on egg shells and everything we did was judged.
“I kind of sum it up with, I learned everything I wouldn’t put in place at a footy club now if I was to run one.
“Speaking to other mates that got drafted at the same time the difference was the development program was missing.
“We got rid of a lot of leaders and the losing culture was just embedded in the joint.”
Tapscott, who was delisted at the end of 2014 after 48 games, described his exit from the system as “horrible”.
“The last six months at the club, I was injured, I had two bulged discs in my back that they couldn’t diagnose so I kept doing my hammy,” he said.
“It was frustrating because I couldn’t do what I wanted to do and I knew I was out of contract.
“The pressure of that, and seeing my career slowly slip away, it was a horrible time.”
Tapscott, 32, can remember his exit meeting with list manager Josh Mahoney and how he dealt with its impact the wrong way.
“I was expecting to take my own pen in and sign my contract and he said ‘nah, it’s all over’ – I just remember it being a complete blur,” he said.
“Going home, grabbing some cold ones out of the fridge and trying to deal with it that way – which is not the right way to do it.
“I probably tried to deal with it like that for a while to tell you the truth and I didn’t have the ability to train, I needed back surgery and was out of action for six months.
“It was a shitty time that I don’t like looking back on but there were some lessons that probably took me five years to learn … I was just so devastated.
“It’s only taken me the last few years to really get over that, leave it and move on.
“I have come back to local footy, found a love for footy again, absolutely frothed it down at Sorrento and came here to Chelsea Heights and it’s the same thing.”
When Tapscott joined Sorrento through his relationship with Ben and Troy Schwarze, he immediately took command of the competition.
Having “a grand-old time” with the Sharks, Tapscott claimed multiple premierships, best and fairests and was a supreme on-field leader.
That leadership inspired the Sharks to prematurely push him into a coaching position.
Despite steering Sorrento to two successive grand finals, Tapscott was eventually sacked by the Sharks in 2021.
Still keen on coaching at some stage, Tapscott will reflect on that period once he steps off the field as a player.
“I almost coached as a captain and looking back on it, it was a big downfall,” he said.
“I knew that in a way so I tried to put more into coaching so I went 50 per cent coaching, 50 per cent playing and I wasn’t doing a great job at both.
“As a player I am always one like ‘alright, jump on my back, let’s go’, but the biggest lesson with coaching is you have to delegate, have to give responsibility to others, you can’t shoulder it all.
“Everything I tried to do was by action but as a coach you can go with words and decisions, which I have only learnt reflecting on it all.
“I will probably go into coaching again once I am done playing but I wouldn’t do it to myself with a young family at the moment and I have fallen back in love with playing.”
Despite being better for the experience as a coach, the departure from the Sharks, simultaneous with Covid, pushed Tapscott to another turning point.
Tapscott decided to disconnect from his relationship with alcohol and start running with neighbour – and then Chelsea Heights coach – Josh Bull.
The 5am runs led Tapscott to the Demons while the separation from alcohol led him to the happiest and most fulfilled he’s ever been.
“There were just a couple of decisions while I was on the grog where the next day I would say ‘I am not proud of that’,” he said.
“I wasn’t so much relying on it but I was drinking too much and I’m just an all-or-nothing person so I thought ‘stuff it, I will give it up for 12 months’, then I just thought ‘life is great, life is going well so let’s keep going’.
“The missus is happy, kids are awesome; I love the family side of it where you don’t waste a day.
“When I was drinking I was trying to impress other people, this is who they want me to be, there’s none of that now, I am me, if you like me, you like me.
“I have found people are drawn to that and people are inspired by it, ‘why aren’t you drinking? ‘Because I don’t drink anymore’, ‘Oh shit, I wish I could do that’.
“It was tough to start with but I would get the pep up from going and getting through an event without having a beer.”
While he has learnt to be fulfilled with what he has achieved on the football field, Tapscott answered promptly when asked what he is most proud of.
“My kids,” he said.
The MPFNL debutant came away with a lesson from Tapscott at the peak of his powers but it’s he who has learnt the most from his football experience.
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