David Armitage rewarded for staying power

[magnifisaint]

THERE have been at least two times in David Armitage's career when he could have been forgiven for taking the easy option of bailing out.

The first came at age 16 when he was living in Brisbane, nearly 1000km away from his home town of Mackay in North Queensland, trying to get a kick for QAFL team Morningside in an attempt to attract interest from AFL clubs.

The lure of home was strong, but the lure of a potential professional footy career was stronger.

He stayed.

The second came in his early 20s when he was frustrated by a lack of opportunities in St Kilda's senior side.

For all he knew there could have been other offers on the table, but there was only one team he wanted to play for.

He stayed.

Now Armitage is thriving, and nine games into his best season yet, new Saints coach Scott Watters is even using words such as "barometer" to describe the 23-year-old's influence on the team.

But just how different could things have been?

MACKAY is not your typical AFL town. In fact, the only reason Armitage picked up a Sherrin in rugby league heartland was because his dad, Greg, was an avid Aussie rules fan from Tasmania.

The town had never produced an AFL player, and it was never going to unless Armitage made the move south to further his career.

Knowing that you're good enough to play, but just not having that confidence and not playing well week to week, that's a downer
So on the advice of Mark Browning, a junior development officer for AFL Queensland, Armitage packed his bags, leaving his dad, mum Annette, elder brother Dylan and younger sister Sarah behind.

"It was a pretty hard decision - I had to go home and talk to my dad and sum it all up and we decided that if I want to go somewhere with this then the best thing to do would be to move down to Brisbane," Armitage said this week.

"My mates sort of said to me, 'We'll see you back here in two or three weeks'. They didn't think I'd stay down there."

Armitage admits he got a "little bit" homesick.

"First off I did. I'm a bit of a mamma's boy," he said.

"I missed Mum and Dad dearly, and also my friends, but I just stuck at it.

"They had a great culture at Morningside. I got on really well with all the older blokes, but I was also there with Gavin Urquhart (now North Melbourne), Courtenay Dempsey (Essendon) and Lee Spurr (Fremantle).

"It sort of went from, in my first year, 'You're a chance to get drafted', to, in my second year, 'You're a massive chance to go in the first round', which I still didn't really believe."

TO THE end of the 2009 season Armitage had played only 19 games.

The No.9 pick in the 2006 national draft knew he was good enough to play, but was forced to bide his time in the VFL as fellow draftees from that year Joel Selwood (70 games, two premierships), Bryce Gibbs (66 games), Jack Riewoldt (46 games, 57 goals) and Travis Boak (49 games) thrived on their senior experiences.

"I'd had really good form in the VFL and then I'd step up to the AFL and it'd maybe be a (good) quarter or a half," he said.

"I couldn't get any continuity. I didn't really have any confidence to play at that level, even though I'd shown a few glimpses, kicked a couple of goals. It was just about consistency."

He describes that period, and time spent injured, as the toughest he's dealt with in footy.

"Knowing that you're good enough to play, but just not having that confidence and not playing well week to week, that's a downer."

As frustrated as he was, Armitage said he never considered leaving St Kilda.

"I'd forged some great relationships with the boys here and to this day they've been really supportive of me.

"Even when I was right down, not playing good footy and under pressure from coaches and stuff, they were still really supportive.

"So I never really looked out anywhere. I sort of just said to my manager, 'If anyone had asked, just don't tell me'. St Kilda had been pretty good with contracts and that sort of thing. "I never really had to go to them and ask - they'd come to me, which was good."

GREG Armitage, like all fathers of AFL players, is proud. "Obviously myself and my wife and his brother and sister are very proud of him," Greg said.

"There's a very small, but dedicated, Aussie rules football community here and they're also very proud of him. I go to the local footy still sometimes and he's all people want to talk about, and I'm sure the TV ratings go up in this part of the world when St Kilda play.

"He seemed to have a little bit of bad luck with injuries at crucial times and then with the nature of the St Kilda side, they were up and running and weren't turning over many players.

"But he's stuck to his guns and he's starting to reap the benefits."

Greg is also a thankful father - to two Brisbane families who gave his son a place to live for a year each after he moved south.

"The Urquharts - their son Gavin is on North Melbourne's list - and Jack Barry and his young family, who was the football manager at Morningside.

"Without those families it would have been a lot more difficult transition, I guess, to being drafted. It may never have happened without them. I am eternally grateful to those families." Barry said Armitage was never any trouble.

"He really became part of the family," Barry said.

"We've had other players come in over the years, but he was a gem.

"He really made the most of his time down here. He never put massive expectations on himself, he took life in his stride, but I think in himself he was very determined inside and that's obviously helped him get to where he is."

[SuperSaint66]

Great article! Hope David plays a super role in a St Kilda win tonight.

[Dr Spaceman]

As one of many who have stuck by Armo over the years, his continued development as a senior player has been one of the highlights of 2012 so far.


Once again, well done Dave

[meher baba]

Great article indeed! In the past few weeks Armo has been playing out of his skin. Tonight's game should suit him and I'm hoping for another top effort from him.

[ShanghaiSaint]

he's sure coming of age.... very impressed with his development.

[plugger66]

As silly as it sounds tonights game will be won or lost depending on the form of Armo and jackie boy. If they are in our best 6 we win. If they struggle I think we lose. We know what our stars in the mid will do but these 2 need to have a good consistant 4 quarter game.

[Beekay]

I think we can take an average performance from one of those players as long as Riewoldt and Kosi take charge up forward.


On a side note. Who'd do people think will poll better in the Brownlow, Lenny or Jack? And are both on track for AA selection ?

[plugger66]

I think we can take an average performance from one of those players as long as Riewoldt and Kosi take charge up forward.


On a side note. Who'd do people think will poll better in the Brownlow, Lenny or Jack? And are both on track for AA selection ?

Lenny will poll better. Has a very good record over the last few years. Lenny would be in the mix for AA and Jack would not be even slightly close for AA.

[Beekay]

haven't seen much footy this year, but the games i've caught he's been blistering (Jack).

i hope like hell Lenny goes around again next year. quite clearly our best player.

still not 100% convinced on armo. love watching him play. haven't seen a player so thirsty to break bones since hammer.

[shmic_s]

I think we can take an average performance from one of those players as long as Riewoldt and Kosi take charge up forward.


On a side note. Who'd do people think will poll better in the Brownlow, Lenny or Jack? And are both on track for AA selection ?

Lenny will poll better. Has a very good record over the last few years. Lenny would be in the mix for AA and Jack would not be even slightly close for AA.

Need a couple of good years to be up for AA going by recent history.

[Beekay]

I think we can take an average performance from one of those players as long as Riewoldt and Kosi take charge up forward.


On a side note. Who'd do people think will poll better in the Brownlow, Lenny or Jack? And are both on track for AA selection ?

Lenny will poll better. Has a very good record over the last few years. Lenny would be in the mix for AA and Jack would not be even slightly close for AA.

Need a couple of good years to be up for AA going by recent history.

Milne needed about 6.

Leon Davis needed about half a season.

[Old Mate]

Will need all of our midfield at their best tonight, that's clearly where it will be won. We've become less reliable on our power forwards with a more even goal scoring spread across the park. Our small forwards and midfielders have found the big sticks more often this year. Win in the middle, the ball rarely goes into our backline and we continually put forward pressure on the opposition. Nothing new there however I think our backline will cope better under pressure than theirs. I also think our forward line structure is far more unpredictable. The midfield is fairly even.

[elizabethr]

I think we can take an average performance from one of those players as long as Riewoldt and Kosi take charge up forward.


On a side note. Who'd do people think will poll better in the Brownlow, Lenny or Jack? And are both on track for AA selection ?

Armitage will poll more Brownlow votes tham Steven but likely less than Hayes.

[ozrulestrace]

I think we can take an average performance from one of those players as long as Riewoldt and Kosi take charge up forward.


On a side note. Who'd do people think will poll better in the Brownlow, Lenny or Jack? And are both on track for AA selection ?

Jack Steven a smokey for the Brownlow?

[elizabethr]

Steven fades badly towards the end of most games.

[dragit]

I think we can take an average performance from one of those players as long as Riewoldt and Kosi take charge up forward.


On a side note. Who'd do people think will poll better in the Brownlow, Lenny or Jack? And are both on track for AA selection ?

Jack Steven a smokey for the Brownlow?

no

[BigMart]

Do we think jacks season has been on par with

Pendlebury, Hayes, Thompson, Watson, Selwood, Ablett, Mitchell, Priddis, Boyd, Cotchin, Dangerfield.
Who would be the 2012 big guns in contention for AA

Not sure

Maybe Swallow, Rockliff, Simpson, Beams, Zaharakis, Boak, Jack, S.Selwood are around the Jack Steven mark

On Armo
I love him, have done since I saw him for the first time playing for Casey vs Northern Bullants... He attack the ball with the ferocity of a bull, at 18yo and genuinely hurt opponents.... And could really play to boot....