Episode Details

A tip from Mick Turner. A quietly confident kid from Geelong. Thirty years of player management from the inside.

Peter Lenton has been inside AFL player management for long enough to have watched it transform entirely and to have formed very clear views about what's been gained and what's been lost in that transformation. His current stable includes Zak Butters and Jack Ginnivan. His career started with a referral to a kid nobody else was chasing: Nick Maxwell.

IN THIS EPISODE

How a tip from the late Mick Turner started a three-decade relationship with Nick Maxwell and the humble family that made it straightforward Why an accounting background became his point of difference attracting the players who could think past the bright lights The shift over 20 years in parental influence over player decisions Gambling, mental health and social media as the defining challenges for today's AFL players and knowing when to refer rather than fix The 'street fighters' versus the top-10 draft picks why players who've had to earn it tend to handle both the career and the end of it better The industry problem nobody wants to fix: agents signing kids too early, giving them everything, and leaving them with nothing when the dream doesn't arrive