Port Adelaide forward Jay Schulz says his axing from Richmond was just what he needed Daryl Timms
Herald Sun
September 12, 2013 10:00PMJAY Schulz subscribes to the theory that every now and then some people deserve a good kick up the backside.
His was delivered swiftly and somewhat painfully by Damien Hardwick when he became Richmond’s new coach at the end of the 2009 season.
Hardwick sacked Schulz, telling him that he felt he needed a change, and after all it hadn’t hurt him during his playing career when he moved from Essendon to Port Adelaide, going on to become a premiership player in 2004.
After seven seasons at Punt Road that promised a lot but delivered little, Schulz found himself back in his home state after Port Adelaide claimed him in the trade period.
No one has to tell him of his shortcomings at Richmond.
“I think a lot of players would look back at their careers and can say maybe if I’d done something differently,” Schulz said.
“Definitely in my early years it took me a little bit longer to realise the work rate that I needed to play as a key forward with my training and those sorts of things.
“And definitely I wished that I’d realised earlier what I had to do and the consistency thing was always a big thing for me and I guess being traded was a big kick up the a*** for me as well.”
Schulz said when he was offered for trade he didn’t care where he went but realised the destination would be the last stop in his league career.
He knew he had to change.
“I probably realised that in my last year or 18 months at Richmond because a few of the older guys had given me a bit of a clip and told me to wake up to myself a bit and that’s where I probably started to change more so myself,” he said.
“I wish I had learnt those things earlier but I’ll always be grateful to Richmond for drafting me and the career I’ve now had.”
While Schulz played in his first final when Port beat Collingwood last Saturday, he was rapt to see some of his former Tigers teammates, especially veterans Chris Newman and Shane Tuck, also make it to their first final.
He describes it as abnormal but a fantastic feeling to be still playing.
“It’s been a little bit hard for me to get my head around still playing, but it’s fantastic to be still playing football in September and with the win last week it was fantastic for everyone,” Schulz said.
“I went into the game with an open mind but you hear everything about finals and how the game lifts 15 or 20 per cent and it certainly held up to that and it was just such a full on intense, brutal, hard contest.”
Schulz has become the type of key forward at Port Adelaide that he should have been at Richmond but this time around he’ll be happy to look back at his career.
Read more:
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/port-forward-jay-schulz-says-his-axing-from-richmond-was-just-what-he-needed/story-fndv8s6g-1226718036782#ixzz2eglADLcB
