Latest news with #WhatCould'veBeen
7NEWS
6 days ago
- Sport
- 7NEWS
What Could've Been: Jaidyn Stephenson opens up on trail of thoughts that led to early AFL retirement
Former Collingwood and North Melbourne forward Jaidyn Stephenson has opened up on the trail of thoughts that led to his early AFL retirement. The 2018 AFL Rising Star winner had an electric start to his career, kicking 38 goals in all 26 games for the Magpies, including their grand final loss to West Coast. WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Jaidyn Stephenson opens up on decision to retire early. He was part of a largely successful team that won 34 of his 54 games at the club, before being squeezed out at the end of 2020 in a salary cap dump that also saw Adam Treloar, Tom Phillips and Atu Bosenavulagi effectively forced out the door. Stephenson went to North Melbourne, where he was a part of just eight wins across 68 games, including only one win in 2022. It became a constant struggle that started to eat away at his love for the game, as he tells What Could've Been, and ultimately led to his retirement at just 25 last year. 'I had games where I had 24 (disposals) and kicked three, and then you come out of your game review, and I felt pretty flat,' Stephenson told the podcast. 'It was like, 'I've done this wrong and I've done that wrong' — is it because we lost or is it actually what it is? I don't know, everything just seemed to be amplified, and I obviously didn't deal with it well enough, and it did just start to weigh and weigh and weigh. 'Eventually I just didn't want to be there — fell out of love with it, was over it. It was tough.' The former No.6 draft pick, who spent four seasons at the Kangaroos after his three at the Pies, says he started to consider his future in the game at the end of his second year at Arden Street. 'I had that off-season to think about things, and we'd won like four games in the two years I'd been there, I'd played every game, and I just thought, 'Geez, this is a real drag',' he said. 'I didn't want to go back. '(But) I was like, I don't really have a choice, I'm signed for two more years, we'll try make the most of it. 'And you know what, pre-seasons I actually always enjoyed and always was fully invested and did well. 'But then five losses come in the first five rounds and it's back to the old, 'Do better, do this, do that'. And if it was ground balls one week, you focus on that, you get them good that week, then it's like, 'Oh, what about your marking?' 'It just felt like that for me, and it obviously was just deflating. I sort of realised that my time, certainly at North, was done.' Stephenson, who was a key contributor to what was one kick away from being a premiership team in 2018, started to find himself in and out of Alastair Clarkson's team at North Melbourne. But he says he actually found some solace playing in the VFL. 'I think I played maybe 10 or eight VFL games last year, so sort of was in-out, was getting in the VFL playing some really good games — I actually really enjoyed playing in the VFL,' he said. 'When the chips were down and I wasn't enjoying being in that AFL high stress, playing in the VFL was a delight. I had (former Adelaide and North Melbourne forward) Tom Lynch there as my coach, he's one of the better blokes I've met in football. 'Tom Lynch was just really friendly, he was one of those people that made you feel good, and I was able to do that in the VFL, and my footy was a lot better in the VFL. But that was the end for me. Now working as an apprentice refrigerator mechanic and playing local footy for his junior club Ferntree Gully in the Eastern Football Netball League, Stephenson says he did consider looking for a third club before pulling the pin completely last year. 'I did look into it, but it was hard, I don't know — at the time I thought maybe is it just football in general? Is it really going to help going somewhere else?' he said. 'And I decided that it mightn't help anyway, so I'm better off just getting out of the AFL bubble completely and just seeing how life is outside of that. 'Now I look back — it probably may have helped had I gone somewhere else.'
7NEWS
30-07-2025
- Sport
- 7NEWS
What Could've Been: Iconic Shane Biggs play pinpointed as moment AFL fan ‘legally died'
The unique legacy that Western Bulldogs premiership player Shane Biggs left on the AFL has taken on a whole new level of meaning — certainly at least for one fan, who 'legally died' during Biggs's most famous moment, before later being revived. To most, Biggs is remembered as a hard-nosed utility who played six games for Sydney and 57 for the Bulldogs, including every game of their drought-breaking 2016 premiership year. Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today To others, amongst a niche section of footy fans, he is remembered best for starting the play that led to one of Liam Picken's goals during the last quarter of the premiership victory against Sydney. It was a sequence of efforts — for which he didn't register anything more than a tackle on the stats sheet — that summed Biggs up as a player and has become the stuff of online footy folklore. He smothered Tom Papley on the wing before following up, knocking the ball on and pressuring the opposition in a series of efforts that kept the play alive and ultimately led to Picken's goal. In aftermath of the game, the play was celebrated by online footy creator Brad Hollis, who coined the moniker 'Shane Biggs never forget' when reminiscing on it. As was reported in the aftermath of the 2016 grand final, a Bulldogs fan suffered cardiac arrest and was taken to hospital, where he had to be revived after spending time in a coma. Speaking to What Could've Been, Biggs said he was recently contacted by someone who explained just how significant his 'never forget' moment was for that lucky fan who 'died' at the game. 'I only got told about this recently,' Biggs said. 'The game was on and all the fans were cheering and stuff, and a fan went down — he actually officially died, he legally died, hit the deck. 'He's still with us now, I'm going to contact him to get around him about it, because I just literally found out about it. 'And yeah, so the siren went and that's when they were sort of getting him back with us, and he goes, 'Who won?' and they go, 'Doggies', and (he said), 'Oh grouse'. 'And then he went into a coma for three days, and then came to, and goes, 'I've got to try and find out when this happened' — and he pinpointed the start of the 'never forget' bit. 'That brings the play to a whole new level, doesn't it?' Biggs says it still blows him away how many people come up to him in public places just to say 'never forget'. 'It's surprising how much it happens, and it's actually happened more and more,' he said. 'It's probably plateaued a little bit now, but even after I finished, it happened heaps. 'My wife's always like, 'Do you know this person?' and all that. It's crazy. 'I remember saying I was once out with 'Lib' (Tom Liberatore) and Caleb Daniel and a few others, and people come up to me to say 'never forget' first, which is mind-blowing, because you walk past Libba and guys like that — what are you doing talking to me? 'But it's just that thing where something goes a little bit viral and people love it. 'It was lucky that 'Picko' kicked the goal.'
7NEWS
24-07-2025
- Sport
- 7NEWS
What Could've Been: Hilarious moment former Richmond player Pat Naish was woken up by Damien Hardwick in the gym
Walking into work on the Monday of the biggest week of your life, 2019 AFL grand final week for then-Richmond coach Damien Hardwick, you probably don't expect to see a player fast asleep in the middle of the gym. That's exactly what happened when former Tigers winger Pat Naish was the one unlucky VFL premiership player to miss out on a sleeping spot at the club when celebrations were finished. WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Pat Naish woken up by Damien Hardwick in Richmond gym. The Tigers reserves had just beat Williamstown by three points to win an epic VFL flag and had agreed they'd all stick together, at the club, in the post-match. 'That night we ended up having beers back at the club and we were just having a good time, as you do — (I was a) young 20-year-old at the time,' Naish recalled on What Could've Been. ''Fly' (then-VFL coach Craig McRae) had made a rule that we can have as many beers as we want, go to bed at whatever time we want — just don't leave the venue. 'We all brought a change of clothes to the game — we might have been a bit confident that we were going to win it. 'And then from there, we all went back to the club and just had beers and celebrated as you do after a flag — knowing that we still had the AFL grand final that week. 'But we were all under the impression that we were all allowed to stay at the club and the coaches were across it.' Naish recounted the hilarious story with a laugh, but said he wasn't laughing at the time. 'Anyway, fast-forward to about 6.30am, everyone's asleep,' he went on. 'I made the mistake of not sussing out the bed situation before. 'At Richmond, the clubrooms are out the back, you walk through and there are changerooms and you've got massage tables and all that, so everyone took the massage tables, they were done. 'I was like, far out, what am I going to do, I actually don't have a bed, my car was there but it wasn't big enough to sleep in. 'So then I've been the smart one to go into the middle of the gym and sleep smack bang in the middle of it, on one of those gymnastic mats. It was one of the best sleeps I've had! It was that comfy, I just sunk right into it, had the hoodie on. 'And I just wake up, it was about 6.30, and Dimma used to always do a workout with all the staff members, and he woke me up, and he goes, 'What the F are you?' And I was like, 'Hey Dimma, how are ya mate? How good's this, we just won a flag!' And Dimma's like, 'Mate, go have an f'n shower'. 'I literally was the most sheepish bloke. Walked straight down the hall. 'I remember one of the coaches came down and he goes, 'What's just happened? Dimma's going to send all these VFL boys home because you've slept on the mat'. 'And I was like, 'We've just got told to sleep at the club, like what's going on here?' I thought I was doing the right thing. 'It wasn't like we were all still going, it was just literally the wrong spot to sleep. 'The true story is we were going to get sent home for the week, and then 'Rancey' (Alex Rance) got up and said, 'Nah, it's my fault', Fly said 'It's my fault'. 'Lucky I signed a two-year deal at the start of that,' he joked.
7NEWS
23-07-2025
- Sport
- 7NEWS
Adam Simpson ‘was in tears' after infamous 2022 nightclub incident involving Patrick Naish and six others
Former West Coast coach Adam Simpson was brought to tears in the aftermath of the club's infamous COVID nightclub incident in 2022. Seven Eagles players were fined $5000 after being spotted at a Perth nightclub during the late stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, at which point AFL players were living under strict parameters to ensure the competition could run with limited disruption during what was an unprecedented time. WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Pat Naish explains story behind infamous nightclub incident. Pat Naish, Hugh Dixon, Jackson Nelson, Josh Rotham, Jake Waterman, Rhett Bazzo and Campbell Chesser were all sanctioned by the club. At the time, Simpson called it an 'error in judgement'. 'Decisions have been made, sanctions have been laid and now we need to get on with it,' Simpson told 7NEWS Perth after it happened. 'They're very remorseful, obviously it's an error in judgement and we'll move on. 'With the current environment and where we're at, it's just really poor judgement from those boys. 'They've got a bit of trust to earn back from the playing group and the club.' Speaking to new podcast What Could've Been about the incident for the first time, Naish — who moved to West Coast after being delisted by Richmond in 2021 — says he had even let then-Eagles captain Luke Shuey know about the night out in advance. 'It was (Richmond defender) Nathan Broad's engagement party, because he's from WA and so is his partner,' Naish said. 'I got invited to that, and we played Richmond that Friday night, and I reckon it was on a Saturday (the engagement). 'What I thought is that I was just catching up with a couple of Richmond mates for dinner and a couple of beers, and I ended up leaving there at like 10.30pm. It was a harmless night. 'But yeah, got out, left there early, went home, and thought nothing of it. 'And I ran it by 'Boots' (Shuey) before. I was like, 'Mate, don't know if this is all good but I've got a couple of the Richmond boys over, they're over for Broady's, and I've been invited to his engagement party'.' Simpson — who incidentally contracted COVID days later, along with several others at the club — was distraught when he spoke to Naish the next Monday. 'The photo that got leaked was a photo that Hip-E Club actually posted on their Instagram, and it was Jackson Nelson with Liam Baker, Josh Rotham and a couple other boys, and that's how the club found out,' Naish said. 'From there, in WA, it was literally like the biggest news ever. 'I remember we played Brisbane the next week and I was good mates with Cam Rayner, and Cam goes, 'Why are you blokes in trouble?' and I was like, 'Mate, I actually have no idea'. 'I remember we had to go in on the Monday and I walked into Simmo's office, and Simmo was in tears — in tears. 'Because he goes, 'Mate, we found you, we gave you a second life and you've repaid us like this'. 'I reckon I had four beers, like I wasn't even (doing anything bad).' A club statement at the time said the players had disobeyed 'guidelines', but didn't specify that any rules were broken. Naish, who had been given a lifeline by the Eagles earlier that year as a pre-season supplemental selection period (SSP) addition to the list, was delisted at season's end. 'Did it ruin my career? I don't know,' the 26-year-old said. 'I don't think about it much, to be completely honest. 'I enjoyed the first half of the year (in the AFL side) and then enjoyed playing WAFL. 'I went out of my comfort zone moving to WA for a year and lived in Wembley which is a good part of the world. 'But I wouldn't change it to be honest; it was unreal, I met some lifelong friends there, and had some fun along the way.' Naish, the son of former Tigers great Chris Naish was originally drafted as a father-son selection to the Tigers in 2017. He played nine games at Tigerland before being delisted at the end of 2021. He played another 11 games at West Coast in 2022.
