Sydney Swans star Lewis Jetta celebrates after the siren in the 2012 AFL grand final. Picture: Phil Hillyard. Source: Herald Sun
INDIGENOUS educator Gerard Neesham says AFL clubs should keep faith with talented Aboriginals, pointing to Sydney star Lewis Jetta as the poster boy for second chances.
The issue of indigenous recruitment has flared again, with a handful of talented players overlooked in recent drafts because of perceived problems with their character.
The Herald Sun revealed yesterday Essendon could not consider Perth teenager Dayle Garlett, because he went on a 4am bender in Perth only three days before the pre-season draft.
Garlett will return to play at WAFL club Swan Districts. That club's football manager, Phil Smart, criticised AFL clubs for being hypocritical.
He attacked AFL multicultural manager Jason Mifsud, saying his club had not received a phone call from the league official for two years, despite Garlett's problems.
Neesham, whose Clontarf Academies have helped 3000 indigenous boys across 54 schools, said AFL clubs should not back off.
"The classic is Lewis Jetta," Neesham said.
"We picked him up and put him in our program when he was turning 16 and he finished year 12 at 19.
"Lewis wasn't even at school . . . he was disconnected from mainstream society and then he came into our program and became a fantastic story."
Smart said Mifsud needed to spend more time at grass-roots level.
"We have had a couple of issues with a couple of boys who were in the AIS and we have had no contact from Mifsud," he said.
"We have had contact from (game development manager) Kevin Sheehan, who has been very helpful, but Mifsud is in charge of indigenous development and we have not had one phone call from him."
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