Footy great Sam Blease has revealed that Melbourne were forced to ask their players to sensationally bring their own footys to training during their catastrophic 2009 season.
Blease joined the club in the 2008 AFL Draft and saw first-hand the turmoil the club had been in, with Melbourne also suffering from severe financial difficulties.
The Demons were also accused of ‘tanking’, after the club won only four matches during the 2009 season under Dean Bailey, going on to win the club’s 12th wooden spoon.
The former midfielder, meanwhile, endured a torrid few months after joining the club. He suffered a broken leg while at school, which ruled him out of action for his first full year at the footy club.
Despite the difficult start to life at Casey Fields, Blease would go on to make 33 appearances, making his debut two years later in 2011.
And reflecting on his time at the footy club, Blease explained that cash was so tight, that players had to buy their own Sherrins and bring the balls to training.
Footy great Sam Blease has opened up on some of the dire measures Melbourne had asked players to take during their catastrophic 2009 season
Blease joined the club in the 2008 AFL Draft and saw first-hand the turmoil the club had been in, with Melbourne also suffering with severe financial difficulties
During an episode of Channel 7’s What Could’ve Been podcast, Blease was asked by Theo Doropoulos: ‘You go to the Dees in what has to be one of the worst times in the history of the Melbourne Football Club?’
‘It was pretty awful,’ the former Melbourne player responded.
‘I think in our first year we were paying for our own footys,’ the two-time rising star nominee said.
‘That’s how dire it was – the financial position of the footy club.’
Co-hosts Doropoulos and Harrison Reid were both left stunned by the revelation, seemingly confused as to why a club of Melbourne’s stature could find itself in such bother.
Harrison Reid said: ‘You got the guys from Rebel sport and said: “Give us 10 footys?”‘
Blease opened up on the situation further, stating that the players had to look after their own footy.
‘It’s $150 out of your own pay. And you had to take them home,’ he added.
Blease (left) revealed that the footy club had no money to buy its players footys to train with
‘You were paying for them yourself?!’ Reid said, shocked
‘Every player was,’ Blease replied.
‘And they had your number on. Not a lot of people probably know that…
‘You had to bring it and that would be used in training.’
He added: ‘One footy, and if you lost it you’d have to pay for another one.’
Doropoulos quipped: ‘This doesn’t even happen at local footy!’
Blease would later leave the club in 2014, joining up with Geelong where he would play for a season, but struggled to get a regular run of games in the first grade side.
He was released from the footy club at the end of the season after making just one appearance for the Cats.
Instead, players were forced to buy their own footys and look after them themselvesÂ
He’d announce his immediate retirement from footy after failing to recover from a serious head injury he suffered during a VFL match.
Despite the difficulties he experienced at Melbourne and the way his career was cut short prematurely, he still looks back on life in footy with fond memories.
‘The thing is, we go into this not knowing (anything different); that’s what we know. You don’t know what it’s like to be somewhere else,’ he said.
‘I got drafted from Eastern Ranges with Liam Shiels; I think he played in three flags, I think I played in three wins.
‘But it all happens for a reason, right? You can’t pick and choose. You go into that knowing that’s all you know.
‘But going back to the draft, that was a really special thing.
‘It’s just such a cool day. When you’re at the draft and waiting for your name to get called out.
‘Typically you sort of know the top 20.
‘I think I met with every club but Essendon and Carlton leading into the draft, so I sort of had a bit of an idea where I was going.’