Player Watch #12 Hannah Ewings

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Very unfortunate news. I spent some time with Hannah and a few of the other ladies doing community stuff last year and it was clear there's a lot more than just gameday and training involved in the day to day lifestyle.
The expectations seemed quite overwhelming for a few of them.
This would apply to every team though. It makes me wonder what we're doing about it.

I mean Hannah was the Rising Star and most would say our best player in her debut season. We should be looking at her as solid gold and doing whatever it takes to get her the support she needs.
 
This would apply to every team though. It makes me wonder what we're doing about it.

I mean Hannah was the Rising Star and most would say our best player in her debut season. We should be looking at her as solid gold and doing whatever it takes to get her the support she needs.
I think by expectations, it’s also that we calling them full time professional athletes but on a wage that doesn’t reflect.

While they’re paid well for the in season, they’re still expecting full pre-seasons, community engagements etc.

Some that would go to unit, compete an apprenticeship or work full time would be earning enough for a living from that.
 
I think by expectations, it’s also that we calling them full time professional athletes but on a wage that doesn’t reflect.

While they’re paid well for the in season, they’re still expecting full pre-seasons, community engagements etc.

Some that would go to unit, compete an apprenticeship or work full time would be earning enough for a living from that.
I get that these are issues, but again they are issues that every team faces yet we haven't seen similar drop offs from other top young stars that I can think of.

Like what have we done to get her sponsorships or secure her work she wants, what have we done to give her a break from all that unimportant off-field stuff when she needs it?

I know every player is different and sometimes its not possible, but just feels like this should be top priority if we're taking this comp seriously.
 
It's an interesting discussion. Not everyone actually wants to be a professional athlete and live out everything that it involves. You wouldn't see this in the AFL but that's because literally everyone is getting paid somewhere between 3 and 20 times what they'd get paid in the real world. This isn't yet the case in AFLW so it really does come down to 'do I actually enjoy this?' for someone like Hannah. Hopefully she refocuses and sees the opportunity in front of her (including financial eventually) but I think there's a good chance she may not and that we've seen the last of her.
 
Sabrina Frederick had two AA jumpers by age 21, then quickly fell off. Georgia Patrikios was AA and 2x club B&F winner at 19, hasn't been near that level since. Sabreena Duffy and Caitlin Greiser were the league's leading goalkickers in 2020 at 19yo and 21yo... barely fired another shot.

It's harder to name young AFLW players in the opposite category, wherein clubs persevere through personal issues for great success. Abbey Dowrick (rejected by the WA clubs for being too much trouble) is probably the no.1 example, which might be reason enough to suspect Port Adelaide have done as much for Ewings as any club would've, if not more.
 
Sabrina Frederick had two AA jumpers by age 21, then quickly fell off. Georgia Patrikios was AA and 2x club B&F winner at 19, hasn't been near that level since. Sabreena Duffy and Caitlin Greiser were the league's leading goalkickers in 2020 at 19yo and 21yo... barely fired another shot.

It's harder to name young AFLW players in the opposite category, wherein clubs persevere through personal issues for great success. Abbey Dowrick (rejected by the WA clubs for being too much trouble) is probably the no.1 example, which might be reason enough to suspect Port Adelaide have done as much for Ewings as any club would've, if not more.
Can't really compare to Patrikios - we all know what caused that.

I feel like Frederick's size allowed her to dominate early on at Brisbane, especially with Harris drawing defenders too. The comp got faster and she went to a side that didn't suit her as well and didn't have the speed or agility to keep up.

But yeah I mean we don't fully know the personal issues aspect or how much we're doing - for all we know she could just be in a bit of a slump and come good in a big way next year. So I'm not trying to attack the club here.

All I'm saying is when something happens once you go meh it happens, if it happens twice you get a bit suspicious. If it happens a third time then you really ask questions.
 

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Player Watch #12 Hannah Ewings

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