Beyond The Lead

In Australia, footballers are represented by Professional Footballers Australia -- the PFA -- who, thanks to its tradition of competence since its founding, has taken on a significant role in the direction of the sport.

These days, the PFA has recently butted heads with Football Australia and its CEO, James Johnson, over a mooted Domestic Transfer System in Australian football, with duelling statements made to ESPN in the wake of a Johnson interview in which he mooted imposing a system on certain segments of the Australian game. 

In the third of Beyond the Lead’s interviews with the major players in the Australian football scene, PFA co-chief executive Beau Busch spoke with ESPN’s Joey Lynch to provide a better insight into the union’s perspective on a domestic transfer system, as well as their views on a national second division, player development and the intertwining of football and human rights.

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It’s fair to say that the past few months haven’t gone the way that the Australian Professional Leagues (APL) would have envisioned. 

Properly taking control of Australia’s top footballing tier from Football Australia ahead of the 2021-22 campaign, the organisation has seen their grandiose plans dashed on the rocks of the Omicron wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and, instead, have been forced to scramble simply to deliver a full season in the face of mounting postponements and general chaos. 

But there have been some missteps that can’t be attributed to COVID. And as the honeymoon period has begun to end, fans have begun to ask questions surrounding the direction of the leagues under their new operators. 

To give some insight, APL Managing Director Danny Townsend joined ESPN’s Joey Lynch for the second of Beyond the Lead’s exclusive conversations with the major players in Australian football; providing an insight into why he is still optimistic about the direction of the game. 

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Since becoming CEO of Football Australia in January 2020, James Johnson has made the re-establishment of a transfer system his signature reform policy: pushing it in documents such as the XI Principles For The Future of Australian Football and delivering a white paper in January 2021. 

In an in-depth interview with ESPN’s Joey Lynch, Johnson discussed his proposed reforms of the Australian marketplace, as well as his push for changes to club licencing and the second division in Australia. This included his view on how the former two would affect the women’s game.

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Mike Mathetha, aka Blood Diamond, talks to Sam Bruce about his journey to a UFC debut. From first leaving Zimbabwe for New Zealand, his experiences with bullying, his friendship with Israel Adesanya and, of course, that nickname.

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After watching on from the sidelines in the opening week of the NFL playoffs, Aaron Jones and the Green Bay Packers finally get to commence their post-season push this Sunday (Australian time) when they take on the San Francisco 49ers at Lambeau Field in the NFC’s Divisional Round.

Part of an offence that propelled the Packers to 13 wins and the NFC’s number-one seed, Jones logged 799 yards on 171 carries in 2021 -- good for a 4.7-yard average -- for four touchdowns, while adding a further 52 receptions for 391 yards and a career-high six touchdowns. The 27-year-old back missed his team’s Week 18 contest against the Detroit Lions due to a knee injury but looms as a likely contributor against the ‘Niners this weekend. 

A former star at UTEP -- the University of Texas at El Paso -- Jones joined ESPN’s Patrick Djordjevic to discuss why he keeps returning to the American border city each offseason, his work with those with special needs, his upbringing in a military household as well as his continuing close relationship with his family, and how he coped with the death of his father – who died in 2021 from complications of COVID-19. 

Famously, Jones would lose a pendant he wore bearing the ashes of his father during a game against the Lions earlier this season -- a game in which he would score four touchdowns -- but it would mercifully be recovered by Packers' trainer Bryan Engel.

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This is it. At the conclusion of a historic, 17-game regular season there will be no more second-chances and no more opportunities to bounce back for the 14 NFL Franchises left standing: the glory and the pain of the NFL playoffs set to commence this weekend when the Cincinnati Bengals host the Las Vegas Raiders. 

For New England Patriots pass rusher Matt Judon and his teammates, their playoff push will begin in the hours that follow -- quarter-past noon on Sunday on the Australian East coast -- when they travel into the frozen and very, very hostile Highmark Stadium to take on the Buffalo Bills in what is the first playoff meeting between the two rivals for the first time since an AFL divisional-round game in 1963 – before the Super Bowl era even commenced. 

After signing a 4 years, $54.5 million contract with the Pats in the offseason (that’s almost 75 million in Australian dollarydoos) after starting his career with the Baltimore Ravens, Judon has certainly had a strong start to life at Gillette Stadium – recording a career-high 12.5 sacks and earning a third Pro Bowl honour as his side ended what was, no doubt an agonizing, one-year absence from the playoffs for its fans. 

In conversation with ESPN’s Patrick Djordjevic, the 29-year-old out of Grand Valley State, talked about his mindset surrounding putting in the work, what makes the Patriots a difficult schematic match-up on the offensive and defensive side of the ball and the little considered aspects of players moving from one city to another in free agency.

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Sydney born Aleksander Vukic is one of a number of Aussies eyeing off an elusive wildcard berth for the coming Australian Open – jostling with the likes of Alex Bolt, Thanasi Kokkinakis, Chris O’Connell, Max Purcell, and Marc Polmans for one of four slots likely to go to Australians.

The 25-year-old has taken an unusual path to get to where he is on the pro tour, having spent 2014 to 2018 not on the road but, instead, in the American collegiate system with the University of Illinois.

But now in 2021, having started his year by sending a scare through current world No. 29 ranked Karen Khachanov in the first round of his home Grand Slam, Vukic is set to end this year at a career-high ranking of 156 -- the second-highest of the Australians vying for a wildcard slot next month -- and eager to once again get to experience playing in the showpiece event in front of friends and family. This is despite a COVID diagnosis ahead of the US Open that he admits took longer to completely clear than he would have hoped. 

Joining ESPN’s Joey Lynch, the right-hander talked about his previous Grand Slam experiences, his mindset as a wildcard taking it to the big boys, the difference a Grand Slam appearance can make to a lower-ranked player battling away, his COVID experiences, and what keeps him occupied away from the court.

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Few cities on Earth can provide an athlete with the same kind of fishbowl effect as New York City – especially when you grew up in Alabama and went to a school at the FCS level. 

And in a media market hungry for blood and the clicks that come from negative headlines, that scrutiny only intensifies if your team is struggling like Pro-Bowl cornerback James Bradberry’s New York Foobtall Giants.

But in an extended conversation with ESPN’s Patrick Djordjevic, the 28-year-old Pleasant Grove, Alabama native discussed how he has dealt with the scrutiny of the New York media and the increasingly loud social media since signing with the Giants from the Carolina Panthers – opening up on how he maintains a clear head and focus on what’s important in life.

The second-round draft pick in the 2016 draft also talked about growing up in a small town, his family, playing for a small school, playing Santa for his teammates and much, much more.

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Things are going pretty well for the New England Patriots and tight end Hunter Henry right now. 

Under the guidance of rookie quarterback Mac Jones, he and the Pats have shrugged off a slow start to fire off a six-game winning streak across the past month and a half to sit first in the AFC East on eight wins and four losses – seemingly on the path for, at least, another run in the playoffs. 

For Henry, who signed with the Patriots during the offseason after five seasons with the Los Angeles Chargers, he has rapidly emerged as a key red-zone target for his rookie quarterback. 

Through his side’s opening 12 games, Henry has caught 35 passes for 394 yards to go along with seven touchdown passes – putting him well on track to surpass his career-high of eight set in his rookie year with the then-San Diego Chargers. 

And in the lead-in to his side’s massive Monday Night football meeting with the AFC East Rivals the Buffalo Bills, Henry sat down In conversation with ESPN’s Patrick Djordjevic, the tight end discussed working with Bill Belichick, the difference between the Charger and Patriot locker rooms, his life outside football, Mac Jones and Cam Newton, Philip Rivers' Hall of Fame case, and much more. 

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Who is Michael Dickson? 

Though largely unknown in his native Australia, Dickson has been making waves in the United States for a number of years now: consistently recognised as amongst the best punters in the nation at both collegiate and professional levels. 

Drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the 2018 NFL Draft, he would go on to make the Pro Bowl and be named All-Pro in his rookie season -- the first rookie punter since Dale Hatcher in 1985 to receive the former honour -- and he signed a four-year, $14.5 million contract extension with the Seahawks in June of 2021. 

Earlier this season, he earned headlines when he completed a 69-yard ‘double punt’ against the Los Angeles Rams -- retrieving his first blocked effort with a one-handed scoop before wheeling around onto his right boot and snapping the ball forward. 

Joining ESPN’s Patrick Djordjevic, he sat down to discuss the man behind the leg.

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