New AFL Vernacular

[Sttew]

This AFL Trade Period a word has crept into the vernacular to describe a footballer wanting out of his club, and that is 'wantaway'. On AFL Trade Talk readers have been asked what they think of this term. When I first saw it last week I laughed, thinking it was a one-off, but it looks like wantaway is here to stay, replacing 'disillusioned'.

This got me thinking. What are some of the other words / terms used in football and on BF to describe footballers? I'll start the ball rolling:

'Spud' - a term used to describe a former wantaway footballer who has joined an opposition team. Whereas he was once a champion of your club he is now a rubbish footballer, i.e., a spud.

 

[keen campaigner]

'Flog' - a term used to describe footballers who are just all round knobs. Once a flog always a flog

 

[SBYM]

I won't be happy until someone on Trade Radio calls someone else a campaigner.

 

[Squibbs]

'Potential' - used to describe a certain player who has been in the AFL system for over a decade. Shows glimpses of stardom, but just can't quite put it all together.

 

[StillAtLarge]

'Currency' is the one that gives me the s#its come trade week

 

[demondavey]

Wantaway - It just is not a word and now becomes used in everyday language by bogans
Overs - Not a word, same principle re bogans
Unders - Not a word, same principle re bogans

 

[Lester Burnham]

Mercurial - reserved for Cyril when Bruce McAveney gets a boner.

Journeyman - a spud who plays 150 games for your team

List clogger - a spud who plays 5 to 10 games for your team

Steak knives - (the value of) a player who gets shifted off your list in return for late picks

Enforcer - someone in your team who goes round belting people

Sniper - someone on another team who goes round belting people

 

[coniglio_number1]

Dodo: an obstacle that is impossible to overcome

 

[Timewaster]

"wantaway" really pisses me off, and I hate whichever needanenglishclass journalist thought of it.

 

[Yippy Yi Yeo]

hack - someone who just can't hack it, especially someone who came with a lot of potential or high expectations

"Jack Watts is a hack"

 

[Watsclarkosmob]

Luke Hodge: A good bloke i.e. 'That guys a real Luke Hodge.'

 

[master bate]

Not to pick on Richmond or the kid but descriptions like:

Big bodied tough midfielder in reference to someone like Jacob Townsend makes me giggle. He's listed as 187cm and 89kg so he has some size that's for sure and would be a bit above average for height and weight for a midfielder. But the notion that it means he'll suddenly fix all of Richmond's ball winning problems due to a bit of extra size alone is crazy. If he becomes a good player then no doubt he will help, but if he can't run, kick and win the ball then it won't matter how big he is.

Talls, quick players, guys with good leadership, pretty much any objective or subjective criteria that a player excels in and a team needs will get reduced to that one criteria.

 

[Spongebob]

Elite -- someone who got a couple of kicks

 

[Dylan8]

'Flog' - a term used to describe footballers who are just all round knobs. Once a flog always a flog

Flog - The insult of choice from your average bogan flicking through the Fox Footy Facebook page on his or her mobile. Used to describe any and all players mentioned in a headline of an article, the word has the effect of slapping one's mobile with a wet lettuce and expecting the player in question to be hurt by it.

 

[Scotland]

Journeyman - a spud who plays 150 games for your team

List clogger - a spud who plays 5 to 10 games for your team

Steak knives - (the value of) a player who gets shifted off your list in return for late picks

Enforcer - someone in your team who goes round belting people

Sniper - someone on another team who goes round belting people

Journeyman is supposed to be a player who remains in the competition for some time and moves from club to club without ever really settling.

Steak knives is a reference to 1990s TV shopping. If you paid for whatever item they were selling, a set of steak knives was typically thrown in as a sweetener. If Jake Carlisle is traded for pick 5 and Essendon give pick 23 back the other way, pick 23 is the steak knives. Typically if the player drafted with pick 23 goes on to be a gun then he himself will be referred to as steak knives and St Kilda will 'win' the trade.

List clogger refers to any player over the age of about 23 who is not a star and is unlikely to get any better. A comparable player at Hawthorn or Fremantle might be considered valuable depth, but at a team in the bottom 6 if you're not 19 and definitely the next superstar of the competition you are earmarked for delisting.

Agree with enforcer, but I think it implies general physicality rather than just picking guys off behind the play. Likewise sniper should be reserved for players who go after the man but don't put their head over the ball. People called Beau Waters a sniper because he loved to line up a shirtfront, but if you could rely on anyone to put their head over the ball or back into an oncoming Jonathan Brown it would be him.

Quarterback
High half forward
Gorilla

 

[Underdog]

Plus One was known as the extra or spare man when I played footy.

 

[Timewaster]

Gorilla

Post-Goodes this word is now a hate crime.

 

[Augustine]

A Role Player - just an average player. eg "he's a great role player for us."

 

[Sttew]

Post-Goodes this word is now a hate crime.

"Boo" - was once a jibe directed at an opposition player generally to put him off his kick but sometimes with fleeting malice. Now racial abuse

 

[TheWoodenSlug]

Ridicolous - Ridiculous.

 

[DERIBERATE]

I'm surprised any trades get done, as clearly all players involved are the greatest of all time.

 

[Silent Alarm]

Journeyman - a spud who plays 150 games for your team

This is not a journeyman at all...

 

[Severe]

Journeyman.

My dictionary says.

a worker or sports player who is reliable but not outstanding.
"a solid journeyman professional"

 

[PunkyHawkster]

Fourthorn - When Hawthorn win four flags in a row

 

[YippeeYiYeo]

This AFL Trade Period a word has crept into the vernacular to describe a footballer wanting out of his club, and that is 'wantaway'. On AFL Trade Talk readers have been asked what they think of this term. When I first saw it last week I laughed, thinking it was a one-off, but it looks like wantaway is here to stay, replacing 'disillusioned'.

That expression is totally fetch!