AFL reality TV recruit slams Footy Show’s ‘worst draftees’ Facebook post
A former Port Adelaide Football Club player and Australian Rules reality television contestant has taken aim at the AFL Footy Show after a social media post which called for people to name their football club's worst recruits.
Key points:
- Johann 'Yoey' Wagner won the inaugural season of The Recruit in 2014
- He was drafted to the AFL with Port Adelaide but did not play a senior game
- He has slammed an AFL Footy Show social media post and its impact on mental health
The AFL Footy Show posted the question on its Facebook page on Sunday asking for people to comment.
The post — which has since been deleted — has been slammed by former AFL recruit Johann Wagner, who was introduced to the AFL world in a much more dramatic way than most.
Wagner was the winner of the inaugural season of Foxtel reality television series 'The Recruit' in 2014.
The show pitted 15 talented amateur footballers from around the country against each other for one contract as a rookie-listed AFL player.
He responded on Facebook to the post that it could affect the mental health of current and former AFL players.
"Why do they even post this shit, AFL players cop that much abuse and media scrutiny, thought we were fighting men's mental health, clearly why their TV show is failing and know one (sic) watches it," he wrote.
"I copped so much shit over social media and fans which messed with my head, all anyone is trying to do is have a crack, sad that people want to see people fail."
Wagner received plenty of support online, and some criticism, and told the ABC he thought the post was a step backwards in the AFL's campaign to highlight men's mental health.
"As we all know social media can be a great platform for conversation… I reacted to the post because they [The Footy Show] are meant to be a professional outfit," he told the ABC.
"I understand everyone is entitled to opinions but they should not be creating topics of conversation like this which can and will have an adverse effect on people's mental health.
"We are meant to be helping mental health collectively as a society. The Footy Show post does not help this in any way, it is a step in the wrong direction for mental health."
Wagner says people will be 'too scared to achieve their dreams'
Following his success on The Recruit, Wagner was drafted to Port Adelaide ahead of the 2015 AFL season but he did not play a senior game for the side and was delisted after one season.
He said whether or not he played at the highest level was not the issue — instead, it was how social media scrutiny could make people reluctant to follow their dreams in fear of the public backlash.
"The way I entered the system was difficult for me mentally but I wouldn't change it because it has given me a better understanding of mental health now, but at the time I never asked for help," he said.
"The players playing in the AFL are amazing athletes. What upsets me is the people that may be too scared to put themselves out there and try to achieve their dreams because of social media scrutiny that can come their way.
"The mind is so powerful that your thoughts will reflect your actions. Plenty of great footballers hit form slumps and get slammed and talked about. Travis Cloke [is a] perfect example."
Last year Cloke took an indefinite break from AFL due to his mental health.
The Adelaide Crows were the target of online trolls on social media in the wake of their AFL grand final defeat against Richmond in 2017.
Wagner went on to highlight how he believed the growth of social media was changing the way people were exposed to mental health issues.
"We will always have negative people in life and I do feel sorry for these people, they are like a disease and it spreads to the positive people," he said.
"So why the need for The Footy Show to feed these negative people with fuel? It's sad that as a society we want to see people fail, maybe because of jealousy, we should be celebrating achievements of people no matter their capabilities.
"Social media has not been around for long and this is probably why we are seeing more mental health issues these days."
While he said he was still upset over the post, Wagner said he was in a good place following his short AFL career.
He recently got married and won a grand final with the Tasman Football Club in Port Lincoln.
'Deplorable' and 'dangerous', psychologist warns
Leading registered sport psychologist Jeff Bond,who spent 22 years at the Australian Institute of Sport and time with the Richmond Football Club, said social media could be very damaging for AFL players.
He said they were often exposed to harsh judgements by anonymous trolls on a weekly basis.
"I think it's quite dangerous, social media is never going to go away but the challenges that young athletes face is how to manage it and how to filter out the rubbish," Mr Bond told the ABC.
While he did not see The Footy Show's post, he admitted it sounded like a "deplorable" thing to ask the public.
If you or anyone you know needs help:
"That would be like after every game in the season asking people to jump in and say who was the worst player on the field and then announcing that publicly," he said.
"That's potentially dangerous… we see our athletes as tough, resilient and confident people but that's not always the case.
"We don't know what we're messing with when we tweet nasty things or put posts up that are derogatory about somebody and I think the players need a lot of education around how to manage this better."
Mr Bond said when young players entered the AFL system it could be quite a difficult transition and to put so much pressure on their instant success was "cruel".
"The reality is that young players coming into a club are in a very tentative situation and it doesn't take much for the balance to swing towards the negative," he said.
"They may not have the AFL career that they've dreamed about and worked hard for… making judgements about young people at an early stage of their career is just cruel."
The Footy Show has been contacted by the ABC for comment.
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