Simply weeks after discovering out he would not be provided one other contract by GWS, Cooper Hamilton discovered himself in a ready room for a second surgical procedure on the foot damage that plagued, and was in the end the downfall of, his AFL profession.
“I bear in mind pointing to the shape. It stated occupation and I appeared and I used to be like, ‘f—, what do I write right here?’,” Hamilton stated.
“Do I write unemployed? Do I write scholar or AFL participant? I really did not know what to write down.”
He was in an unfamiliar spot of not-knowing what was subsequent.
Inside a fortnight of graduating highschool, Hamilton had been picked up by the Giants within the 2021 rookie draft.
Cooper Hamilton receives his Giants gurnsey from teammate Harry Perryman forward of his debut sport in spherical seven, 2022. (Getty Photos: Sarah Reed/AFL Images)
Whereas his friends had been figuring out the subsequent stage of their lives — college, jobs, whether or not to take a spot yr or what diploma to check — every part was principally laid out for him to fulfil his childhood dream.
“I had a construction, I had a routine. I used to be transferring to Sydney. I knew what I used to be doing day-to-day, after which even after I was away from the membership, on a Christmas break or one thing, I knew precisely what I used to be doing every day,” Hamilton stated.
“It was very structured and also you observe the construction to a tee. After which my first yr flew by. I beloved it. It was nice … we underperformed as a membership, however I used to be simply loving being in Sydney and type of experiencing the entire being an AFL participant.”
A stress damage of the navicular bone then sidelined him for almost all of his second and third years, which led him to not being provided a contract past 2024.
In reality, he wasn’t positive he would get one for the 2024 season. He needed to wait to the tip of that yr’s commerce interval to signal his new one-year deal.
After the nervousness of that have and the psychological toll it took, he requested GWS soccer supervisor Jason McCartney in spherical 22 this yr for a espresso.
“We had an amazing chat and he stated, ‘yeah, look, we’re not ready to supply a contract’, and I might type of already ready myself for that,” Hamilton stated.
“I understood that I hadn’t actually been in a position to present myself on discipline, and so they did not have a spot for me.”
The now 21-year-old stated it was a bizarre place to be in, albeit a standard one for many AFL gamers. You go from getting paid a superb sum of money to play the sport you like, to then having it “ripped away from you” and needing to seek out out what to do subsequent.
“It virtually feels if the rug’s pulled out from beneath you, or a little bit of a security internet faraway from you, and also you’re simply free falling and you have to work out easy methods to pull the pin on the parachute as rapidly as you may,” Hamilton stated.
“You type of go, ‘shit, now I’ve to enter the true world’. The final couple of weeks have been, particularly because the AFL completed, since after the grand ultimate, it has been actually powerful, type of attempting to get the phrases of that and realising that you simply actually have gotten to actively have a look at life after soccer.”
‘When you’re not at your greatest, you do not get one other gig’
120 males’s and 91 ladies’s gamers had been delisted on the finish of 2023. Whereas most large title AFL gamers make it to 150 video games and past, the typical profession size for an AFL participant is simply 5 years.
It is a place inaugural premiership participant Sarah Perkins has discovered herself in twice, first delisted from the Adelaide Crows in 2019, then from Hawthorn in 2023.
The now 31-year-old stated afterwards it was each a heartbreaking and daunting place to be in.
“Since you’re on this good little bubble, and then you definately’re, unexpectedly, you are out of it … each occasions I’ve form of been caught with, like, ‘holy shit, what’s subsequent?’,” Perkins stated.
Sarah Perkins confronted being delisted within the AFLW, which was a double blow given her involvement in group applications at her golf equipment. (AAP: Dan Peled)
“Probably for some boys, if they have been within the system a very very long time, and so they have not set themselves up for outdoor, or they seem to be a younger boy who will get delisted of their second or third season, that may be one thing that they might actually discover exhausting, since you form of put all of your eggs in a single basket, proper?
“You are like, ‘oh, I could make a profession of this’, or ‘that is the realm that I wish to work in’. However when it is all gone, you are form of like, ‘holy shit, what now?'”
This was particularly the case when she left the Crows, as like lots of AFLW gamers, she had a supplementary job on the membership locally house, that means she went from having two jobs, to out of the blue none.
Then whereas on the Hawks, she tragically had some shut relations go away back-to-back. She stated there “wasn’t actually that probability to type of grieve the loss in addition to attempting to be an elite athlete”, which made the strain to carry out exhausting.
“[It’s] simply unlucky, the best way that life works. When you’re not at your greatest, you do not get one other gig,” Perkins stated.
It is why so many previous gamers stick round golf equipment in some capability, or go into AFL media roles: “They will seize any alternative and provides a crack. As a result of I believe for lots of us, you wish to keep concerned within the sport.”
Richmond champions Jack Riewoldt and Trent Cotchin retired collectively in 2023, and each have since moved into media roles. (Getty Photos: Michael Willson/AFL Images)
Analysis performed by the AFL Gamers’ Affiliation discovered that 70 per cent of delisted gamers had larger ranges of profession self-doubt in comparison with retired gamers, who completed their AFL careers with better monetary functionality.
Furthermore, the dearth of autonomy gamers skilled throughout their careers promoted an unpreparedness for all times exterior, the AFLPA’s Insights and Impression Report (2023) discovered.
It is a large space of concern for the union, who cite participant transition as a big problem, notably in prioritising well-being of former gamers.
“The AFLPA works with golf equipment to supply a lot of applications and providers that help gamers’ profession exploration exterior of soccer,” Ben Smith, AFLPA normal supervisor of member applications and providers, stated.
“Our analysis tells us that this exploration is important to construct vocational confidence and broaden the gamers’ serious about their subsequent profession when the time for transition comes.
“Transition is greater than an occasion – it begins the minute gamers stroll by their golf equipment’ doorways and continues lengthy after they’ve left the system.”
To assist, all previous gamers have a participant retirement account, which has greater than $205 million invested on behalf of members, and arms out funds within the monetary yr following their exit from the system for as much as 10 years (dependent upon tenure).
There are a number of applications and providers additionally accessible to previous gamers, together with in wellbeing, finance and profession transition.
‘Rather a lot I needed to offer’
Not like Hamilton and Perkins, former Melbourne midfielder Jordie McKenzie has the reward of hindsight when reflecting on the exit assembly that took away the factor he needed to do most.
McKenzie, now 34, performed 79 video games for the Demons between 2009 and 2015 and was a mainstay for a number of of these center years, together with profitable the coach’s award in 2010.
He stated the primary 18 years of his life had been all about doing every part he might to turn out to be an AFL participant. Then as soon as he received there, it was all about attempting to squeeze the lemon as exhausting as he might to get probably the most out of his capability.
Jordie McKenzie performed 79 video games for the Demons and adopted the trail many different AFL gamers face of being delisted by the membership. (Getty Photos: Robert Prezioso)
“It is all consuming, however all consuming for me in a great way,” McKenzie stated.
“You are still a child at 18 … so, it positively does considerably type a part of your identification, of who you’re however in actuality, within the large image, it is solely going to be a small little a part of your life, however an infinite one at the moment, that is for positive.”
McKenzie now works in finance, and being in Melbourne, continues to be round loads of individuals who wish to discuss AFL on the water cooler. There will not be lots of people who’re fortunate sufficient to play AFL, McKenzie stated, so the privilege of having the ability to take action is not misplaced on him.
“Whenever you do get these phrases, [that] you are not getting one other contact and also you’re getting delisted, it does make it actually exhausting. [The] final seven years is a very long time. It is most likely all for that type of interval,” McKenzie stated.
“And it is one thing you like doing. So to get that taken away from you, although that’s the actuality of the trade and the career, it positively does make it actually powerful.
“As a lot as a lot because it was a dagger within the coronary heart, I used to be in a position to transfer on as a result of I wasn’t blindsided by it, and I nonetheless had lots I needed to offer, , on the earth basically … from exterior of footy with examine and work but in addition I used to be enthusiastic about nonetheless taking part in footy at a state league degree, and seeing how a lot I might proceed to get out of myself from a soccer perspective.”
Cooper Hamilton is documenting his life after footy by way of social media.
(Getty Photos: WIll Russell/AFL Images)
As for Cooper, he is documenting his newly unemployed, post-AFL life by way of his social media.
He desires to indicate that, regardless of what followers would possibly suppose when gamers are within the system, they do undergo an identification disaster like the vast majority of us.
“A big majority of them do not know what they’re doing subsequent, and it is a very daunting expertise,” he stated.
“And I simply wish to type of relay that it is relatable to, particularly folks my age, who’re popping out of uni and do not actually know what they wish to do. We’re not superhuman in any respect, particularly somebody who has been within the system for 3 years, so it’s extremely relatable.”
And if nothing else, it’s going to preserve him busy for some time.
