is this fella gonna play a game??
Any thoughts on why he hasnt been tried in the ones. Even Aylett and Van Unen got a gig this year
Has been in the system at least 3 years now
Over-hyped - Supposed to have special qualities but makes you wonder when he's played about 5 games in three years. Something is not right !
Impression i get is that we're reprogramming him after being pretty unimpressed about how GWS went about his development.
I saw him in a couple of VFL games this year and he looked talented but really really raw in some of the grittier and more complex skillsets required of an AFL footballer - running,patterns, positioning in a zone, stoppage work, etc. Reckon that's why we gave him the 3 year deal - we knew he'd take a while to get up to speed.
Far from worried about this guy yet.
Could be anything.
Agreed.
The few times I've seen him, he spends half the time running around like a headless chook and then conjures up a 5 minute patch of brilliance that makes him look like Stephen Hill on a good day.
The club knew he was gonna be a long term prospect.
Plenty there to work with.
Kouta esk
Neeld's special project?
Could be anything but if he doesn't play at least 4 or 5 games next season he should go onto the rookie list or be cut.
Have a look at the pinned contracts thread. There's quite a few guys (10 I think) up after next year, the 3 golden oldies and a lot of fringe kids - Hams Kav Browne NO'B etc etc. Will be next to no list pressure.Could be anything but if he doesn't play at least 4 or 5 games next season he should go onto the rookie list or be cut.
In the VFL I saw, Edwards seemed to have a good sense for the flow of the game. He knew when it was time to try something unpredictable, to spark a turnaround (we were losing in most games I saw).
But this was while playing him off HB a lot, which I can’t see suiting him in the long run. And I did see him butcher many a kick.
Seems a free spirit, may suffer from Jettaitis; naturally talented but doesn't quite get the whole "do what we tell you" thing.
Kouta esk
What- he makes dodgy souvlaki's too?
Seems a free spirit, may suffer from Jettaitis; naturally talented but doesn't quite get the whole "do what we tell you" thing.
He wants to , though.
In the VFL I saw, Edwards seemed to have a good sense for the flow of the game. He knew when it was time to try something unpredictable, to spark a turnaround (we were losing in most games I saw).
But this was while playing him off HB a lot, which I can't see suiting him in the long run. And I did see him butcher many a kick.
Agree with this.
Does seem to have a good attitude though. In the huddles he always looked switched on and focussed.
Agree with this.In the VFL I saw, Edwards seemed to have a good sense for the flow of the game. He knew when it was time to try something unpredictable, to spark a turnaround (we were losing in most games I saw).
But this was while playing him off HB a lot, which I can't see suiting him in the long run. And I did see him butcher many a kick.
Does seem to have a good attitude though. In the huddles he always looked switched on and focussed.
More confused than focussed!
Agree with this.In the VFL I saw, Edwards seemed to have a good sense for the flow of the game. He knew when it was time to try something unpredictable, to spark a turnaround (we were losing in most games I saw).
But this was while playing him off HB a lot, which I can't see suiting him in the long run. And I did see him butcher many a kick.
Does seem to have a good attitude though. In the huddles he always looked switched on and focussed.
More confused than focussed!
Intent though :)
He's a fantastic athlete and has some great patches, definitely worth putting some time into.
hope not, he is rubbish with indigenous playersNeeld's special project?
hope not, he is rubbish with indigenous playersNeeld's special project?
If you look at his work at Melbourne he's rubbish with players full stop, but at Collingwood they had a few successes.
He had good performances from dross like Shannon Cox and NEON in his backline, and later when he was looking after the midfield, made Sharrod Wellingham look pretty good.
Really good read…
Shaun Edwards - Contributor
They were probably pretty surprised. And I can’t blame them. It can’t be often that a 23-year-old turns down an AFL contract.
About halfway through the 2017 season, I sat down with the Swans’ welfare manager Dennis Carroll and told him what I was thinking. Dennis said, ‘Let’s chat again at the end of the month’. But nothing changed inside me.
At my end-of-year review, I met with John Longmire, Rhyce Shaw, John Blakey and Tom Harley at the club’s offices at the SCG. They said they were working on a fresh deal for me and I guess they were expecting me to be thrilled by that.
Then, I just said, ‘I love this club and everyone here, I love the Bloods culture – but I want to retire’.
Tom Harley, who’d been a mentor of mine at the AIS, said, ‘Look, this is the first time you’ve said this. Let’s give you a couple of days and see how you feel’.
A couple of days later, I rang John Longmire and said I’d slept well and thought more about it. I told him I felt there was more out there for me to do. I told him I was going to stick with my decision.
Dan Hannebery rang me later that day and asked what was going on. A few of the guys were genuinely surprised at the news. But, ultimately, I think everyone just wants you to be happy doing what you’re doing.
I was very young to finish up, but I’d already experienced some amazing things in the game. I was at the Giants when they were beginning to build their club, played for Essendon through the drugs saga and ended up at the Swans after that.
I was living what many would consider a dream. I bought myself a new house and the car I’d always wanted, was getting around in nice new clothes.
I’d taken a hanger on the ‘G, kicked a goal from 70 – everyone wants a photo with you after that – but I couldn’t help thinking, ‘What am I really doing?’
If I died tomorrow, what would I have achieved? Kicking goals in footy games? Getting a bigger contract? That stuff didn’t seem important to me.
I know sport does beautiful things, it does lift people up. But I wanted to make a difference doing other work. I was certain there were things beyond football that were going to make me happier – give me more meaning – in my life.
And, I’m one of those people who, once they make a decision, there’s no turning back.
A WHOLE DIFFERENT WORLD
I had a pretty unusual childhood and youth, which no doubt contributed to this drive in me to do things beyond football.
I grew up in Darwin, then another place called Gunbalanya in west Arnhem Land, and later back near Darwin, in Mandorah. Neither of my parents finished high school. We lived in housing commission homes, we were very working class, living in the Darwin suburbs.
I was a pretty average kid growing up in that environment, always running around kicking a ball or riding a pushie. By Year 8 I’d started wagging school and was on my way to dropping out.
Footy was just something you did, as it is for lots of kids up there, and once when I was playing for my club, some guy was hanging around asking who’s a good player. This guy then rocked up at my house, we had a meeting and he said he could organise for me to go to a school in Melbourne.
I thought, ‘Oh cool, that could be good’. I passed a test and was on my way to a whole different world, on a scholarship to Melbourne Grammar.
I don’t think I realised at first what a huge change it would be. But then this guy gave me a brochure and there were all these kids in the photos, drinking tea, wearing black shoes and high socks, and wearing ties. I’d never seen a tie or worn black shoes in my life.
I can laugh about it now because I’m still good friends with a number of Grammar boys, but at the time I thought it would be like one of those English TV shows, with people sipping tea and saying, ‘Hello, sir’ in snooty voices.
It wasn’t quite like that, of course, but it was a big change for a 13-year-old kid to go from the outskirts of Darwin to an elite high school at South Yarra.
WHO WAS I HELPING?
Within three years I was drafted by the Giants. They were building a club, basically, making it up as they went and, me being a young kid, was pretty much doing the same.
I was one of the first to join the club and was actually drafted via an email. They were able to pick up players through the concession laws that were in place for them and I was picked up alongside players like Adam Treloar and Jeremy Cameron.
I was halfway through Year 11 and signed a three-year deal, moved up to Sydney, played TAC Cup and in the NEAFL. It all happened really quickly, kind of before I could take in what was actually going on.
I was in the footy system before I knew it but I was still grappling with the massive change of having moved to Melbourne. I was in the AIS program as well.
All my school holidays were gone, I was being paid to play and there were big responsibilities compared to your average 16-year-old. I thought, ‘I’ve got no choice but to grow up’ and I tried to enjoy the opportunity.
I ended up playing 12 games for the Giants and then another 12 for Essendon, before spending a year at the Swans.
By the time I was 23, I’d been in the AFL system for seven years and it was all pretty crazy.
When I was 21 and had just signed a three-year deal with the Bombers, I walked into a car yard and decided I wanted a Holden Captiva.
I didn’t bother test-driving it, just walked in and said to the bloke, ‘I want that grey one over there’, and bought it. I bought a joint in Essendon, was flying around the world doing all these fun things in the off-season.
It was all great fun. But then I’d go home to the Territory and come back down to earth with a thud. Everything up there was the same as when I was a kid. All the store fronts were the same, the kids were doing the same things I’d been doing, all the same issues were there.
That’s when those thoughts started to come up for me. What was the real point of what I was doing? Who was I helping? What was I changing for people?
Sometimes athletes can start to think they’re the most important people in the world. They have that sort of system built around them and people give them everything they want. But, for me, it just didn’t feel right. I thought all that stuff meant nothing.
I started looking around, talking to people and thinking about what else I could do. I made the decision to finish up with footy, headed to Nepal and around South-East Asia, came back home and started a new life.
THE WORLD KEEPS SPINNING
It’s been a couple of years since I finished up and I feel like I’ve achieved some great things since leaving the game.
I work at AIME Mentoring, where our goal is to mentor marginalised kids around the world from high school into university. In Australia, we work specifically with Indigenous kids, trying to close the gap in education.
It’s important work. Everyone sees the close-the-gap campaign in the media but there’s still a 30 per cent gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous kids in terms of getting through school and therefore progressing on to jobs post-school.
Education is key to lifting kids out of inequality. Education equates to higher paying jobs, better health results, a better society.
My job is to look after international projects. I launched a campaign in America last year. We chartered a plane from LA to Sydney, about 340 people, to come to the world’s first festival of mentoring. It was a big project.
I also look after events and our apparel line. The funds we raise go back into the program. Every day is different and interesting and has a purpose.
I have no regrets. I’m lucky to have played seven years on a list, 24 games, it’s not bad. I got to live out my childhood dreams. But I felt it just became about money, how big my next contract was going to be.
That wasn’t what I wanted. It made me lose passion for the game and I’ve hardly played since.
If I did have any reservations about leaving footy, it was because I’d seen a lot of people, including some real superstars, talking about how difficult it is to transition out of the game.
Maybe it is for some. But for me it wasn’t. You wake up the next day and the world is still spinning. You can do whatever you want to do if you keep applying the same traits to life as you did to sport.
I think we need to start reframing this idea that leaving the game is tumultuous. It’s the same, you get up, work hard, turn up on time and be the best person you can.
To me, being the best person I can be means doing what I can to address the highest suicide rate among Indigenous people in the world, our massive health issues, the education gap.
Half my family’s dying 30 years before non-Indigenous people. To me, doing work around that is actually world-changing, not playing a couple of hundred footy games.
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Good work- all the best to him.
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