Chris Anstey: AFL players should embrace hubs and enjoy the experience

Basketball star Chris Anstey reckons AFL footballers should embrace the idea of spending weeks away in a quarantine hub.

Former Boomer and NBA player Chris Anstey. Picture: Alan Barber

Dual Olympian and NBA veteran Chris Anstey has urged the AFL’s footballers to embrace quarantine hubs despite the prospect of spending up to six weeks away from family.

Anstey said on Monday that while it was hard to spend months away from family and friends, the Olympic village-style environment was a perfect chance for athletes and players to hone their craft away from external excuses.

The AFL’s footballers are broadly supportive of a hub-style environment but some believe it would be tough to leave partners with their young children.

Anstey was regularly away for months at a time to compete for the Boomers at the Olympics and World Championships, and also a stint in the Russian league in the mid-2000s when he couldn’t fly back to Australia.

“I was playing in Russia but didn’t see them (his family) for six months,” Anstey said.

“That wasn’t my plan. But the SARS virus meant I couldn’t travel back and it was the hardest thing not seeing my one-year-old daughter grow up.

“Of course it’s hard being away from your family, but most professional basketballers who play overseas in Europe would be away from family and friends for nine months and they aren’t even around friends, they are thrown into team environments where you don’t know anyone.

“You sink or you swim so you learn to swim very quickly. I am not across all the details but four to six weeks sounds really do-able.

“I don’t want to criticise AFL players or whack them because it might sound daunting or tough but they might surprise themselves.

“They might get in there and enjoy it and look back on it and say ‘That was really cool’.”

On Monday, St Kilda coach Brett Ratten became the most recent AFL figure to suggest if players did not want to go into hubs they would not be forced.

The league might grant special exemptions for players with infants or other circumstances to allow their families into hubs.

Anstey says the Olympic hub-style training formats mean athletes can concentrate purely on maximising their talent rather than dealing with distractions.

“You develop relationships, you get to know your roommate really well, you become adaptable, you problem solve,” he said.

“And you eliminate all the external excuses. Being away from family is the toughest part but at the same time you are able to commit more time to your craft.

“You don’t have the pressure of being a father or mother as part of your day-to-day routine and the ones with loved ones might not say it, but on a short road trip you love getting a good night’s sleep and watching the TV you want to watch and getting some time on your own.

“If a hub is the way to get sport going again it’s not a great imposition if you can restart your livelihood.

“The other thing with AFL footballers is that they will say it’s a job but I can’t wait to watch it again with mates through these isolation times and having footy to enjoy, I am not saying it’s a responsibility for them to do it but at the same time it will make a really significant difference for the broader community.”

HERALD SUN