Tigers refuse to play ball with local mediaNick Ansell
Cairns Post
17 December 2015EVERY so often in this job you find reason to pause and quietly query the rationale of the media types that control the direct accessibility to the players that you, our most valued commodity, the reader, wants to know more about.
After establishing the Richmond Tigers AFL club would be in Cairns this week for a pre-season training camp I rustled down a number of story ideas I intended to pitch to the club’s media manager in the hopeful event of securing a few one-on-one interviews.
Sadly, the Tiges’ had other ideas.
Still hurting after Melbourne’s saturation coverage of the alleged recent chopstick affair involving star player Dustin Martin, a Richmond media staffer informed me on Tuesday they had no intentions of doing any official media while in FNQ and as such they had declined all requests, including mine, for any player interviews.
That’s despite me giving the club all assurances I had no intention of rehashing old news about Martin, news that in fact would hold little relevance to our readers in this part of the country.
So, as the Tigers’ went about their open training session yesterday morning at Cazalys I instead found myself on the boundary, thinking about all the wonderful stories I could have filed about the yellow and blacks had the club given me just five minutes access to players before or after the session – surely not too much to ask considering they are here for six days.
If given the green light to do so I could have provided you with words from emerging midfielder Anthony Miles and his aspirations for 2016, or, something about the arrival of former Blues ball magnet and off season recruit Chris Yarran on his new life at Punt Road under Damien Hardwick.
Cult hero Ivan Maric, now there is a story – once regarded as a middle of the road ruckman “big Ivan” has soared to new heights in recent years and is a very intriguing personality.
Let’s not forget Jack Riewoldt, we all know the two-time Coleman Medal winner has a mixed relationship with the media – but gee he’s interesting when he drops his guard a little and opens up.
His softer side was no better demonstrated yesterday just before joining his teammates for their warm-up.
Upon sighting a mother with her two young sons in the grandstand Riewoldt, standing in the players tunnel just below he asked them “where they were from?” and “how school was going?”
That’s an interaction money simply can’t buy. The reaction from the boys from Port Douglas after the two minute exchange was heart-warming. They each smiled at their mum, while she returned the emotion.
It was another “sigh” moment when I looked out at Jack minutes later on the training paddock in the knowledge that would be as close as I would get to having a chat with him for any story this week for The Cairns Post.
Then there is the pre-season training camp itself. The whole concept of the Tigers staging their camp in Far North Queensland fascinates me as I hope it does the reader.
What sort of training are they doing? How do they hope training in the intense heat and humidity of the region will benefit them? What personal fitness benchmarks do the players want to reach over the next few days?
I’m sure there are some very, very interesting answers to those questions; it’s just a shame those inside the club have been muzzled from providing the answers.
While I get the Tiges are under no obligation to provide media opportunities and offer up players for interviews at their own discretion, they do like all high-profile teams have a responsibility to promote the game.
AFL documentaries such as Peter Dickson’s The Chosen Few highlight the effectiveness of what good media access to players, captains and coaches actually does – it closes the gap with fans – the most important stakeholder of them all – and the game is better off because of it.
My lasting impression is that the Tigers might want to spend a bit of time with the media staff from the Brisbane Roar – now there’s a team that likes to engage with both the media and the game’s fans.
I was impressed at both the access the Roar gave the media to its players for interviews and how seriously it reached out to the local community in the three days they were here last week.
So what can I tell you about yesterday’s training session?
The club’s big guns Brett Deledio, skipper Trent Cotchin and Jack Riewoldt all trained well, while Yarran spent a stack of time doing some gut-busting sprints on the far side of the ground with a club fitness guru. Big Ty Vickery did a lot of marking stuff inside the forward 50 while Brandon Ellis looked sharp in some tackling and contact work.
The most interesting part of the session was the appearance of Mark Worthington. The Taipans forward, wearing an official Tigers training shirt spent time chatting with Tigers senior development coach and ex Port Adelaide premiership winning mentor Mark Williams – not a surprise given the NBL player’s previous aspirations of being an AFL footballer.
This piece was never about throwing the Tigers under the bus. That’s the easy view and far from the realms of why it has been written.
You get it. I get it, we all get it. Richmond has its brand and image to protect at all times. That might be the case but our readers and the game’s fans are the ones who are left the poorer this week because of their media blackout.
http://www.cairnspost.com.au/sport/tigers-refuse-to-play-ball-with-local-media/story-fnjpuwrj-1227656601452
