‘Most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard’: Greats divided over AFL’s new body image rules

Premiership manager Denis Pagan calls it “the astir ridiculous happening I person ever heard of”.

A subordinate helium coached to a flag, Wayne Schwass, says helium respects his erstwhile coach’s sentiment but doesn’t agree.

Former Blue Matthew Kreuzer has his tegument folds checked astatine a draught campy successful 2007.Credit: Pat Scala

Welcome to the statement astir whether subordinate weights should beryllium published oregon not and whether imaginable aboriginal AFL players should beryllium subjected to tegument fold testing. The AFL confirmed with clubs astatine a gathering past week that it won’t people the weights of players and that assemblage creation assessments, oregon skinfold testing, would besides beryllium banned successful elite inferior competitions.

The league had already removed skinfold tests for imaginable draftees astatine the draught harvester successful 2021. Lists of players representing their states successful the under-18 championships published connected the AFL website person not included weights this year.

Although nine recruiters volition inactive person entree to the weights of prospective antheral draftees, the determination (following connected from the telephone to not people AFL players’ weights successful this year’s AFL play guide) has go a flashpoint for the treatment astir however acold is excessively acold erstwhile it comes to protecting the intelligence wellness of young players.

The edicts person travel from recommendations made by a moving radical wrong the AFL, which has a absorption connected disordered eating. That radical was acceptable up wrong the AFL’s intelligence wellness and wellbeing portion led by Dr Kate Hall and their decisions person caused a substance of opinions.

“It’s the astir ridiculous happening I person ever heard of. If they are disquieted astir getting their value published however are they going to beryllium erstwhile a 95 kilogram centre half-back runs astatine them,” Pagan said. His presumption was akin to that of Essendon large Matthew Lloyd, who said connected Footy Classified that “the world’s gone mad” and questioned whether a subordinate would header with the crippled if they couldn’t grip weights being published.

Schwass, who has been a intelligence wellness advocator since finishing his 282-game vocation with North Melbourne and the Swans has a antithetic view.

“I respect their opinions but I don’t hold with it. What worked for america backmost successful our time doesn’t mean it works for the modern-day footballer,” Schwass said.

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“We person got a batch much science, we person got a batch much acquisition and I deliberation it is excessively casual to accidental we are making little resilient kids due to the fact that we are doing things antithetic [now] to the mode that we did it [then].

“Perhaps we recognize much broadly the interaction of definite decisions connected individuals some arsenic athletes and quality beings. I americium not an adept successful this tract but if that is the determination that the athletics made, and it is based connected grounds and it is based connected research, it is simply a determination the athletics should beryllium entitled to marque whether radical hold with it oregon not.”

Schwass said portion idiosyncratic stories were hard to tell, the AFL besides had a work to contiguous the grounds down specified decisions to assistance radical understand, adjacent if they don’t hold with, the logic.

Essendon’s erstwhile VFLW subordinate Eloise Gardner backed the AFL’s decision, saying her obsession with her value betwixt her archetypal and 2nd seasons astatine the nine pushed her to the verge of an eating disorder.

The AFL’s determination to de-emphasise assemblage value is successful enactment with a presumption connection the Australian Institute of Sport enactment retired successful 2020 called “disordered eating successful high-performance sport”.

Plenty of different erstwhile players person had their accidental connected societal media, including ex-Cat and Crow Josh Jenkins, who described the determination arsenic ludicrous.

However, erstwhile Eagle Will Schofield had nary occupation with the ban. “They aren’t paid a wage, whitethorn not person the resources to cognize what’s expected successful an elite environment,” helium said. “By each means trial them erstwhile successful the strategy – nary request arsenic kids though.”

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