Former AFL midfielder Nick Dal Santo is not surprised to hear of Jy Simpkin’s alcohol-fuelled injury on the weekend, believing AFL players should not be exempt from making “stupid mistakes”.
The 19-year-old youngster stepped in to the path of a motorcyclist on Sunday in West Melbourne after a night of drinking, handing him ankle ligament damage that could see him miss the first four weeks of the AFL season.
Dal Santo says that such stories will continue to be a reality for years to come, believing that these players are young adults that are just as likely to make similar poor choices to people their age that are not professional footballers.
“You are not exempt from society’s issues or from making stupid mistakes,” the former North Melbourne and St Kilda on-baller told SEN Afternoons.
“They’re young men. Young men make mistakes. Old men make mistakes.
“Just because you play football and this is your job and profession, doesn’t mean that you don’t drink alcohol. In the past, it doesn’t mean that players aren’t doing social drugs.
“All the things that are going on in society, gambling, mental health, it happens in football clubs because you’re a part of the community in Melbourne in Australia.”
Dal Santo says it is not uncommon for players to drink on their nights off, even during the middle of the home-and-away season.
“This will go on for the whole year,” he said.
“You won’t know about all of them, maybe they all don’t get injured, but on every weekend, depending on what day a team plays, they’ll have a seven or eight day break and depending on what their policies are, players will be out drinking.”
Dal Santo however believes that drinking responsibly on occasion may actually be a positive thing for player in the modern game.
“I was a big believer, in the right time and place, to have a beer or a dinner with some drinks was an actual opportunity to relax. In the footy world there is becoming less and less of them,” he said.
“I actually felt it made me play better the following week because I was able to get out of the bubble and just be a part of it. Have a wine, have a beer, get home at a reasonable hour and relax.
“It also made me know that I couldn’t stuff up that next week, that I had to turn up to training as hard as I could for the week knowing that my performance could never be questioned.”
Listen to Nick Dal Santo chatting with Andy Maher on SEN Afternoons below: