Melbourne co-captain Jack Viney has given some insight into his AFL initiation.
Viney debuted for the Demons as a teenager in 2013 in what was a very tough year for the club.
Speaking to Damian Barrett on the In The Game podcast, Viney opened up about his early days in the red and blue, which came with plenty of emotion and sadness.
“It was hard. At the time you are playing AFL football and as an 18-19 year old, that’s your dream,” Viney said.
“At the time we were really struggling and we were rocking up at the football club and being told we had to go back routes to get into training because there’s press out the front.
“You lose by 150 points and you are walking off and you’ve got supporters throwing scarves at you and yelling at you.
“Then you get into the change rooms and you’ve got grown men and teammates crying.
“It brought grown men to tears, that kind of treatment.
“This is when we played Essendon, my second game. We lost to Port (Adelaide) round one by 80-90 points, come up against Essendon and lose by 150 points.
“We were walking off the ground getting booed and I was like, ‘Oh, they are booing the umpires or something’. It didn’t even register in my head what was happening.
“Second game of footy and we were walking towards the race and I realised. I’m seeing a whole lot of angry Melbourne supporters leaning over the fence and hurling abuse.
“That was pretty terrifying.
“Then you get into the rooms and seeing grown men cry, I was like, ‘what the hell is happening?’
“This is obviously extremely bad. That’s where we were at and the next week we lose by 90 points and that was kind of the whole season.
“It was just a big year and I got to the end and thought, ‘whoa, this is AFL footy now’.
“But to see the transformation to where we are now, it’s been a long road and it’s been a gradual build.
“It’s been a slow progression and process which I’ve been thankful to be a part of.”
You can listen to Viney on In The Game HERE.
