His entry into big-time AFL football was memorable, both on and off the field. Half-past five in the morning, 25 September 2009, is a moment I’m sure Hurley wishes he could change; his actions then will continue to haunt him for some time. The sentence he received for assaulting a taxi driver consisted of a two-year good-behaviour bond and an order to donate $1000 to charity.
No one can defend Michael Hurley on this, even though many of us can recall being young, getting drunk, staying out late and making some very bad choices.
That said the unanimous view is that Michael Hurley is an individual of incredible quality and his actions that night were completely out of character.
Travelling through South Africa with him in 2008 as part of the AFL’s academy program, he stood out as someone special. What impressed me was the constant respect he showed for everyone, even under the duress of travelling through a foreign country. He had a fantastic presence within a group of the best young players in the country and he carried himself in a way that suggested he belonged at the elite level.
Despite being the All-Australian full back in the TAC Cup Team of the Year in 2007 and 2008, plenty so-called experts still suggested that a lack of leg speed and ‘no real quality’ would limit his chances of being a top AFL player.
The Bombers surprised many when they selected him with pick five in the 2008 draft. They have been rewarded with an absolute gun. It is very rare to see a young key-position player adapt so well to playing against big-bodied men. Watching him dominate Justin Koschitzke last Friday (30 possessions, 13 marks), it was as though someone had forgotten to tell him that he’s no longer the big kid in the schoolyard running around as he pleases.
Hopefully the Bombers will allow him to settle into one position. The temptation to swing him from attack to defence will always be there, but I’m not sure it would benefit either Essendon or Hurley. He has all the attributes to become as important for the Bombers as Brian Lake and Matthew Scarlett are for their sides. Allowing him to play alongside Dustin Fletcher in his final years at Windy Hill has a great synergy about it.
In January 1999 Ricky Ponting’s world caved in around him: he was stood down from the national team by the Australian Cricket Board after a drunken fight in Kings Cross. Like Michael Hurley, Ponting drank too much, stayed out too late, got into trouble and suffered public humiliation. It’s a great thing in life to put all sorts of experiences down to ‘simply growing up’. As we know, Ricky Ponting has grown into one of the greatest cricketers in Australian history.
This week Michael Hurley was rewarded with the round 18 nomination for the NAB AFL Rising Star. A few months ago he had the weight of the world on his shoulders as he served a club-imposed sanction and awaited his time in court.
Michael Hurley is an outstanding young man. Perhaps with the benefit of hindsight we will look back, as we have done with Ricky Ponting, on the resilience that growing up in the public spotlight can produce. In Hurley, the Bombers have found themselves a future captain and star of the competition.
The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
