For majority of us footy fans, we assume that football is all our strapping young players know.
Well my friends, I think you will be pleasantly surprised to know that players of today are not only elite athletes, but a large majority of them are also studying in their limited time off the field. A lot of the players are already juggling full-time footy commitments and raising a family, so hand ball in some study on top of that and it makes for a fairly hectic schedule!
The AFL Players Association introduced a program that encourages all AFL players to take part in some form of study, work placement or off-field development to give the boys some options when they hang up their boots.
Life after footy can often be a question mark and unless the players are planning on taking on a coaching/leadership role within a football club, they are going to need to get some work experience or study behind them.
Below is a list of some of the Dockers and Eagles players who are busy little bees outside of footy.
Fremantle Dockers Players
Fremantle’s hero Nat Fyfe is training to be a Helicopter Pilot. I’m jealous.
Defender Luke McPharlin is studying Pharmacy at Curtain University. He is also a talented musician and has released an album- you can purchase his single ‘Leaders’ on iTunes.
Gun midfielder David Mundy is studying Marine Science at Murdoch University. Quite a fitting degree for someone who’s nick name is ‘Barra’… (Fishing lingo)
Lachie Neale and Hayden Crozier are both studying a Bachelor of Commerce at Notre Dame.
Skipper Matthew Pavlich and Michael Barlow are both completing a Masters of Business Administration.
Lee Spurr is currently doing work placement at a Law firm as part of his Commercial Law degree and Matt de Boer is also studying Commerce and Law.
West Coast Eagles Players
Star WCE midfielders Andrew Gaff and Scott Selwood, along with defenders Sam Butler and Brad Sheppard are all studying Commerce.
Midfielder Mark Hutchings is studying Sports Science and injured defender Eric Mackenzie is studying Health and Exercise Science. I’m sure Eric has been able to get a lot more study done while he has been sidelined with a torn anterior cruciate ligament, which he suffered in a preseason game.
Brant Colledge is studying Law and young Tom Barrass is completing a degree in Engineering and Science.
This is just a few of the names that I could rustle up, but I’m quite sure that majority, if not all, of the players are taking part in some form of off-field development.
I don’t know about you, but I’m impressed. Keep up the good work boys!
