{"id":82856,"date":"2025-08-20T16:36:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T16:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/82856\/"},"modified":"2025-08-20T16:36:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T16:36:11","slug":"afl-star-reveals-one-of-the-leagues-top-clubs-was-so-broke-they-made-their-players-bring-their-own-footballs-to-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/82856\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL star reveals one of the league’s top clubs was so broke they made their players bring their own FOOTBALLS to training"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

Blease joined the club in the 2008 AFL<\/a> Draft and saw first-hand the turmoil the club had been in, with Melbourne also suffering from severe financial difficulties.<\/p>\n

The Demons were also accused of \u2018tanking\u2019, after the club won only four matches during the 2009 season under Dean Bailey, going on to win the club\u2019s 12th wooden spoon.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\"Footy <\/p>\n

Footy great Sam Blease has opened up on some of the dire measures Melbourne had asked players to take during their catastrophic 2009 season<\/p>\n

\"Blease <\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

During an episode of\u00a0Channel 7\u2019s What Could\u2019ve Been podcast<\/a>, 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?’<\/p>\n

‘It was pretty awful,\u2019 the former Melbourne player responded.<\/p>\n

\u2018I think in our first year we were paying for our own footys,\u2019 the two-time rising star nominee said.<\/p>\n

\u2018That’s how dire it was – the financial position of the footy club.’<\/p>\n

Co-hosts Doropoulos and Harrison Reid were both left stunned by the revelation, seemingly confused as to why a club of Melbourne\u2019s stature could find itself in such bother.<\/p>\n

Harrison Reid said: ‘You got the guys from Rebel sport and said: “Give us 10 footys?”‘<\/p>\n

Blease opened up on the situation further, stating that the players had to look after their own footy.<\/p>\n

‘It’s $150 out of your own pay. And you had to take them home,\u2019 he added.<\/p>\n

\"Blease <\/p>\n

Blease (left) revealed that the footy club had no money to buy its players footys to train with<\/p>\n

‘You were paying for them yourself?!’ Reid said, shocked<\/p>\n

‘Every player was,\u2019 Blease replied.<\/p>\n

\u2018And they had your number on. Not a lot of people probably know that…<\/p>\n

‘You had to bring it and that would be used in training.’<\/p>\n

He added: ‘One footy, and if you lost it you’d have to pay for another one.’<\/p>\n

Doropoulos quipped: \u2018This doesn’t even happen at local footy!’<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

He was released from the footy club at the end of the season after making just one appearance for the Cats.<\/p>\n

\"Instead, <\/p>\n

Instead, players were forced to buy their own footys and look after them themselves\u00a0<\/p>\n

He\u2019d announce his immediate retirement from footy after failing to recover from a serious head injury he suffered during a VFL match.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

‘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.<\/p>\n

‘I got drafted from Eastern Ranges with Liam Shiels; I think he played in three flags, I think I played in three wins.<\/p>\n

‘But it all happens for a reason, right? You can’t pick and choose. You go into that knowing that’s all you know.<\/p>\n

‘But going back to the draft, that was a really special thing.<\/p>\n

‘It’s just such a cool day. When you’re at the draft and waiting for your name to get called out.<\/p>\n

‘Typically you sort of know the top 20.<\/p>\n

‘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.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Footy great Sam Blease has revealed that Melbourne were forced to ask their players to sensationally bring their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82857,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,100,588,85],"class_list":["post-82856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-dailymail","tag-sport","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}