AFL Players Association president Paddy Dangerfield says he doesn’t like that draftees are telling clubs they don’t wish to move interstate.
This scenario entails a draftee telling an interstate club not to draft them as they don’t wish to leave home.
Dangerfield said leaving Victoria and going to the Crows was the best thing that could’ve happened for him career wise.
“I don’t love hearing stories around players potentially saying they’re not comfortable moving interstate without trying it,” the AFLPA president told SEN's Time On.
“Without doubt, the best thing for me as a 17-year-old at the time was to be drafted by an interstate club.
“You grow up so quickly and you’re just fully immersed in football because the people that you know, the people I knew in Adelaide were football people.
“So everything you do revolves around footy and that’s a really good way to fast-track yourself and to make sure you’re putting everything you possibly can into football and you don’t have those outside distractions.”
Dangerfield said living in Adelaide with a host family early in his career rather than other young players was the best way to recreate a feeling of home for him.
“The advice I give to young players is, as enticing as it may be to get with a group of draftees and live in a house together, when I moved over to Adelaide I lived with a host family and it was the best thing I could’ve done,” he said.
“It really narrows your focus around playing footy and it’s as close to home life as you can get because you’ve got dinner prepared for you, your washing is done for you and you’ve just got to focus on being a good footballer and playing well.
“You’ve got to nail your first couple of years of your career because if you don’t, you find yourself out of the system quite quickly.”