Have we created, for our own gratification, an impossible living environment for young men, mentally only part-formed, who happen to be gifted at football? | By GregBaum agerealfooty
. The AFLPA wants it to be left as it is, sensitively weighting discipline and welfare. We agree. To his credit, Smith took his medicine neat.
Smith and Horne-Francis have in common that both are serving two-match suspensions for uncharacteristic acts of lashing out, Smith’s a headbutt, Horne-Francis a round-arm. It wasn’t hard to read into them pressure welling up until it overflowed. Andrews sees how every minute and aspect of a footballer’s life is regulated. This year, until recently that included a proscription on players throwing up arms in reaction to umpires’ decisions, suppressing a natural human reflex. As if to unscrew the valve on a pressure cooker, the AFL has relaxed this slightly.Andrews for years has run Life Again, a not-for-profit dedicated to improving men’s mental health.