09/08/2026
At the start of this season, my son didn't want to play.
His heart just wasn't in it. He was convinced his team was going to get flogged. By North Hobart. By Clarence. By Kingborough. He wasn't wrong about the likelihood of that; these are well established teams and the thought of losing big to them was already disheartening
So we had a conversation in the car. A real one.
I told him he was probably right. That the scoreboard might not go their way. But I asked him what was within his game. What he could focus on. What he wanted to improve on that would help him grow and make a positive contribution to his team.
He pushed back immediately. As fourteen year olds do.
And then a couple of days later he came back to me and said he'd been thinking about it. That he wanted to work on his marking.
Friday night was his last game of the season. He took four marks. He tackled hard. He put pressure on every opposition player he could get near. And he walked away with player of the match.
His team was resoundingly defeated.
And I have never been more proud of him or his team.
What changed between the start of the season and last night wasn't talent. It was a conversation. A goal set quietly and chased consistently. A team environment that made him want to show up even when the result was unlikely to go their way.
That combination, the right conversation at the right time, and a culture that supports a young person to grow, is everything.
It's what we should be building in every sporting club. For every kid who's standing on the edge wondering if it's worth it.
Not just better footballers. Better humans.
The scoreboard tells us who won on the day. It rarely tells us who grew.