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http://www.theage.com.au/news/features/the-distant-seconds/2005/07/22/11... [quote]A full house under the Telstra Dome roof one weekend, sleet in Ballarat the next. Dan Oakes reports on how a demoted AFL player handles the drop to the VFL. It is 1.30pm on a Saturday at Box Hill. The rain is falling horizontally, and with the wind-chill factor the temperature is not much more than 8 degrees. Small children are in danger of being lifted by the howling wind and deposited on Whitehorse Road. Nick Holland has taken a big grab about 30 metres out and is lining up to slot his first goal of the day. Through the gale, a travelling Port Melbourne fan's taunting voice can be heard. "They're playing at Docklands tomorrow, 'Dutchy', and you're not going to be there!" Welcome to the VFL. Since the reserves competition was overhauled six years ago, the lot of the out-offavour AFL player has become a very different one. Where once they kicked off the dew in the senior curtain-raiser, the alignment between AFL and VFL clubs dictates they might now spend Sunday surrounded by tea-tree at Sandringham's Trevor Barker Oval, a balmy mid-winter Friday night at Launceston's Aurora Stadium, or a Saturday afternoon at Williamstown's Burbank Oval, which perches on a windswept promontory jutting into Port Phillip Bay. Advertisement AdvertisementAs well as the exotic locations, there is a chance that, unlike in the old reserves competition, they will be wearing an entirely different set of colours and, should their new side win, they will stumble through the words of an unfamiliar song. Towards the end of the week, rather than training alongside their AFL clubmates as they might have done six or seven years ago, they may be going through their paces at a suburban oval as new teammates moan about what a bad week they had at work. And when they run out on the weekend, they will be told all about their newfound circumstances by the comedians on the boundary line, as out-ofsorts Western Bulldog and former Hawk Jade Rawlings knows all too well. "I was playing down at Frankston one day and I think Hawthorn had beaten Brisbane the day before and this guy wore a Hawthorn jumper down at Frankston," Rawlings said. "I was playing centre half-back and he followed me from end to end all day just giving it to me. You can certainly hear the abuse from the crowd much more clearly than AFL matches." Melbourne's Guy Rigoni, a country boy and premiership winner with Sandringham last year, has had similar experiences. He says it is all part and parcel of being closer to grassroots footy. "I get a few, 'go back to Myrtleford Rigoni', and stuff like that, but the other week they followed Nathan Carroll from one end of the ground to the other, just bagging him," Rigoni said. "I think his haircut's got a bit to do with it." Both Rigoni and Rawlings think it essential that AFL players who find themselves in the VFL remain positive, as the quickest way to make your demotion permanent is to sulk. Inevitably, though, there is tension when players such as Jason Cloke and Nick Holland express their displeasure at being dropped. There is no suggestion that their outbursts were a reflection on the particular VFL clubs they are playing for, but it is an issue the clubs have to deal with. Springvale veteran and vice-captain Nigel Carmody says any player arriving from the Scorpions' AFL partner club St Kilda with attitude problems is swiftly shown the error of their ways. "I'd be lying if I said there weren't times when guys came back and they're probably disappointed to be playing VFL and it's probably how they then go and handle it on the ground," Carmody said. "You always get a mix of attitudes, I think, and if an AFL guy was to come back with a lessthan- perfect attitude and there was evidence that they were going to go and play for themselves, probably the rest of the group would come down on them." The flip side of the demotion of AFL players is the lack of opportunity for VFL players. When the affiliation system was introduced, players at the VFL clubs "started to do the numbers", Carmody said. "All of a sudden what was 22 spots was 12 or less at most clubs. "In terms of the opportunity to play senior football at a VFL level, they halved overnight, and that meant a lot of players ... left the club and went back to local football, because they weren't willing to spend time in the reserves. "(But) there's no shame giving your spot up to a guy on an AFL list. It's just one of the givens of this system." All drawbacks aside, the affiliation system has its attractions. The most obvious is the logistical support the VFL clubs could only dream of if they were not hitched to the AFL outfits. Carmody said the relationship between Springvale and St Kilda is not as close as between other partner clubs, and that he would like it to be closer, but there are benefits such as access to staff and the more professional atmosphere that comes with AFL players training with Springvale. When clubs really click, the benefits are there for all to see. The symbiotic relationship between Sandringham and Melbourne is one Sandy secretary and former Footscray chief executive Dennis Galimberti believes other clubs have tried to emulate, with varying degrees of success. According to Galimberti, a shared history (with many former Demons having also played in the yellow, black and blue of the Zebras) was the foundation for the affiliation. But the fruitful relationship is also partly thanks to the attitude of the Melbourne players who find themselves in the VFL side. "There have been blokes at Melbourne, like Peter Walsh, Troy Broadbridge and Guy Rigoni, who have been fantastic for us, because they engendered a belief among Melbourne players that it was an honour to play for Sandringham," Galimberti said. "Whilst they might be disappointed that they've been demoted from the seniors, they've really rallied the Melbourne players to be teamoriented, and to play for Sandy when they're there." Galimberti said that Broadbridge, when injured playing for Melbourne, would come to watch Sandringham even if the fixture clashed with a Melbourne game. Peter Walsh, now at Port Adelaide, convinced the Demons to postpone "Mad Monday" last year in order to make Sandringham's bid for an eighth premiership run smoother. "They often say to me, (general manager) John Mennie and all the board ... 'good luck, I hope you get a game in the AFL, but we'd rather have you here'," Rigoni said. "I always say I'm playing footy to play AFL but at least it's enjoyable while you're down there at Sandy. "I think if you talk to any Melbourne guys who have played a fair bit down there, they all feel pretty much the same, always go up and have a beer after the game, mingle with the guys and put something back into footy. "I really miss that part of it, with the AFL these days you don't get to mix with the players from the other teams after the game, whereas even if we're away we go into the other rooms and have a beer before you go home, have a chat with the opposition."[/quote]