Simon Eastaugh - Never Finished! | OTM #029

You're not going to go through your football journey alone.

Not a

career.

Yeah.

Journey.

I like that, yeah.

Unscathed.

You're going to have form issues.

You're going to have injury issues.

You're going to have off-field issues that are going to distract you or going to cause you to change your focus.

I think that those experiences to keep players as level as they possibly could but at the same time realizing how good they can be, seeing the possibility in somebody… not the probability because the probability is that it's a three-year lifespan of a player on an AFL list.

The possibility is how good you can be, you know, aiming to be one of the most dominant ruckmen in the competition and having measures of success that are very clear and illustrated and, you know, give immediate feedback for players that they can see what they have the potential to become or to be.

Yeah.

I think your experience had to give you a lot of credibility with them as well, right? Like you've been through the furnace.

When you would say something, I think that there'd be a certain amount of gravity when you gave advice, feedback, your insights.

Would that be right?

Yeah, and I think that it's not trying to talk about your football past as though it's something that is your only piece of credibility.

You know, like it's the person you are.

It's the father you are.

It's the friend that you are.

You know, what you did in footy doesn't – necessarily define who you are you know and um you know you you come across a lot of guys that had a lot of success in their footy careers and then things off field fall apart fall apart and they don't have that mechanism to deal with because they haven't necessarily experienced a great deal of setback and a great great deal of challenge so yeah

Yeah, it's an interesting point, like what sort of – especially, you know, we spoke about Tim and Ben before, special forces soldiers, when they get out, one of the challenges they've got is kind of that potential for identity fusion, like – I am this, right? And I think footies players must be the same, right? Like I'm an AFL footballer.

You must see that.

Was that an issue for you when you got out?

Oh, that was my identity when I started.

You're not going to go through your football journey alone.

Not a

career.

Yeah.

Journey.

I like that, yeah.

Unscathed.

You're going to have form issues.

You're going to have injury issues.

You're going to have off-field issues that are going to distract you or going to cause you to change your focus.

I think that those experiences to keep players as level as they possibly could but at the same time realizing how good they can be, seeing the possibility in somebody… not the probability because the probability is that it's a three-year lifespan of a player on an AFL list.

The possibility is how good you can be, you know, aiming to be one of the most dominant ruckmen in the competition and having measures of success that are very clear and illustrated and, you know, give immediate feedback for players that they can see what they have the potential to become or to be.

Yeah.

I think your experience had to give you a lot of credibility with them as well, right? Like you've been through the furnace.

When you would say something, I think that there'd be a certain amount of gravity when you gave advice, feedback, your insights.

Would that be right?

Yeah, and I think that it's not trying to talk about your football past as though it's something that is your only piece of credibility.

You know, like it's the person you are.

It's the father you are.

It's the friend that you are.

You know, what you did in footy doesn't – necessarily define who you are you know and um you know you you come across a lot of guys that had a lot of success in their footy careers and then things off field fall apart fall apart and they don't have that mechanism to deal with because they haven't necessarily experienced a great deal of setback and a great great deal of challenge so yeah

Yeah, it's an interesting point, like what sort of – especially, you know, we spoke about Tim and Ben before, special forces soldiers, when they get out, one of the challenges they've got is kind of that potential for identity fusion, like – I am this, right? And I think footies players must be the same, right? Like I'm an AFL footballer.

You must see that.

Was that an issue for you when you got out?

Oh, that was my identity when I started.