The GIANTS’ six new draftees have joined over 120 first-year players at a two-day induction camp in Melbourne this week.

Accompanied by Welfare Manager Craig Lambert, new GIANTS Jarrod Pickett, Caleb Marchbank, Paul Ahern, Jack Steele, Pat McKenna and Jeremy Finlayson were welcomed to the AFL by the AFL Players’ Association as part of the 2015 AFL Players’/AFL Induction Camp at Etihad Staduim.

The camp is in its 15th year and saw the new players at every AFL club spend two days together learning about a range of topics and hearing from those who have already experienced life at the top level.

The players learned about the importance of wellbeing, career development, financial education, personal brand, respectful relationships, illicit drugs and match fixing, anti-doping and had an education session about the AFL Players’ charity, Ladder, which helps tackle the issue of youth homelessness.

Monday saw the players hear from keynote speaker, Olympic Gold Medalist Steven Bradbury and listen to a panel discussion featuring retired player and AFLPA President Luke Ball, former St Kilda champion Lenny Hayes and Hawthorn premiership player Matt Spangher.

Hayes said: “Being here today takes you back to when you first got drafted – it’s such an exciting time. As these boys will find out – AFL football can be a bit of a roller coaster and these guys will need to be prepared for that.



“But like anything in life, things don’t always goes your way, but I was told if you do the work, you can expect the results at the end of the day – it’s important to always have faith in yourself. The boys need to maximise their time in the game and the best way to do this is getting involved in off-field development right from day one.”

AFL Players’ General Manager of Player Development Brett Johnson said having former players involved at the event definitely helped deliver key messages to the young draftees.

“There’s no doubt hearing the messages from guys like Luke Ball and Lenny Hayes carries extra weight with these young men,” Johnson said.

“They need to understand that footy isn’t forever, the average career is about six years and post football opportunities don't materialise overnight – the foundations need to be set early in playing careers.”

Tuesday’s session covered a range of topics run by the AFL including anti-doping and respectful relationships before the players headed back to their AFL clubs to recommence preparations for the 2015 season.