They know what they’re doing, I have total faith for what’s next, which I expect may include some of the below:
Systematically get more out of our talent than other clubs get from theirs. Look to the US for ideas. Continue tapping into what fulfils people holistically.
People are always tempted to focus on physical means of improvement, but don’t. It’s all about the mind and how minds work together. It’s a sport with 36 players on the ground at once in flexible roles, recruited from a small population. Pharmacological advantages won’t offer much. Culture, mindfulness and human connection still make sense to continue prioritising when talking about large teams of similarly talented people.
This is different to a field of finely-tuned Olympians separated by a hundredth of a second looking for an edge. They’re genetically absolute standouts. AFL players are closer to the wider population. And talent is spread fairly evenly across the AFL, so any strategy based around “having the best talent” will always be doomed to failure.
We should proudly view this as a low-talent sport because it means success comes from understanding people, which is something genuine that applies to life outside of sport. Success here means you’ve tapped into something that makes humans better people. The same is not true for an Olympic sprinter and the meaning behind winning a Gold Medal in an Olympic sprint. I think the AFL culture in general thinks the exact opposite, and they’re all wrong, and that our recent success was an example of this.
So keep doing what we’re doing. Especially mindfulness.
We’re only just scratching the surface of what’s possible when people support each other in pursuit of shared and meaningful life goals together as a team.
