AFL legend Leigh Matthews has recalled the time former Brisbane defender Adam Heuskes walked out on the Lions with a year to go on his contract.
Matthews, who was into his second year as Lions coach, revealed on Sportsday that Heuskes failed to report to training after a match against St Kilda late in season 2000.
Heuskes, an All-Australian in 1997, was traded to the Lions after playing 37 games over two years at Port Adelaide.
“Back in 2000, Adam Heuskes, who had played with Port and played with the Swans and came up and joined the Lions in 1999, my first year,” Matthews told Sportsday.
“He was a bloody good footballer, a good running half-back flanker, but he lost his concentration on being well prepared, really.
“He had a good year in 1999 but he was tailing off a bit towards the end of 2000, about Round 20 it was. We played St Kilda at the Gabba, and we won, and he was just on the fringe of the team all of a sudden, but he played that night.
“You wind up the game and all the players head off and will come to training Sunday morning, well, Sunday morning arrives, and Adam Heuskes is not there.
“So clearly you try and find out where he is and track him down … eventually we found out lunch time Monday he was back in Adelaide and didn’t want to play football anymore.
“I tried to ring him to see what he’s thinking was, didn’t return my calls, so can you believe I coached a player and have never seen him since that post-game because he didn’t return my calls.
“I think Adam Heuskes knew that he just couldn’t really apply himself to the preparation protocols necessary to be a top-line footballer and be a role model within the club.
By moving Heuskes on, Brisbane used that salary cap space to target key defender Mal Michael, who was playing for Collingwood at the time.
Michael joined the Lions at the end of 2000 went on to become a three-time premiership player in one of the greatest sides in the history of the game.
“He (Heuskes) had a year to go on his contract, so he walked out on the year to go on his contract, but that money we devoted to Mal Michael, who we recruited from Collingwood,” Matthews said.
“It’s one of those sliding doors moment situations, but that was a very unusual situation.”
Heuskes played a total of 125 games for the Swans, Power and Lions across seven years.