FOUR weeks' notice.
That's what Fergus Greene had to serve. He had to hand back his laptop, return his phone and car. He spoke to clients who were aware of his next move and confused why he was still on the other end of the phone. Then he had to send out an email on his final day explaining that his time as an account manager at ACCO Brands was coming to an end. He was exploring a new opportunity.
That new opportunity, which he did not detail in that email, is an opportunity with the Hawthorn Football Club. An opportunity he didn't think would come again. After 24 months out of the AFL system, Greene is now back in business, back in the business he thought had closed for him.
Everyone hopes for a second chance after being delisted, but not many bang the door down the way Greene has since being cut by the Western Bulldogs at the end of 2020.
The medium-sized forward booted 53 goals in the VFL this season to finish second in the Jim ‘Frosty’ Miller Medal behind Gold Coast key forward Chris Burgess, earning team of the year selection in the process, and taking him to 83 goals from 26 appearances for Box Hill.
The 24-year-old worked closely with Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell during the Brownlow Medallist’s season in charge at Box Hill City Oval. They kept in contact when Mitchell succeeded Alastair Clarkson.
Greene trained occasionally with the Hawks last pre-season, along with a handful of Box Hill players. He spoke to Hawthorn list manager Mark McKenzie before the Mid-Season Rookie Draft but they passed over him in favour of another Box Hill option in James Blanck.
He tried not to dare to dream at the end of the season. But then Mitchell called. Two other clubs expressed interest through his manager, Peter Rohde. But once the prospect of being signed by Hawthorn as a delisted free agent emerged, Waverley Park was the only place for Greene.
“Sam called me and said: What do you think? Do you still want to play at the highest level? I said I thought still I have a bit to offer. He couldn’t give me any promises, but he said there was a bit in the works. That was a really positive conversation, but I took it with a grain of salt because things can flip in footy things,” Greene told AFL.com.au.
“We had a really nice relationship at Box Hill in 2021 and we would still speak, so it wasn’t like it was completely out of the blue. It was a really exciting conversation. From there, there was silence for a week and I thought: this is awful, I hate this.
“I got my manager to chase it up. He did and found out there was another club that was interested. I didn’t know I could just sign; I thought I had to go through the draft. But Sam told me they could just sign me on the 3rd of November. Then everything got doing from there.
“When I found out in the video, it was a genuine surprise because Hawthorn told Peter that they would take me as long as he was committed to us. It was quite a nice surprise in the end because it had been a stressful couple of weeks leading up to that.”
Now Greene is back on an AFL list two years after the Western Bulldogs chose not to offer him another deal, following five games – all in 2018 – across four seasons at the Whitten Oval – and following months living in a hub.
The Bendigo product didn’t feel aggrieved when Bulldogs list manager Sam Power sat him down and told him his time was up. He was disappointed, but the writing was on the wall for some time, even though Greene could have been forgiven for feeling hard done by given the fact 2020 was a wipe out for state league football. It is hard to impress in 12 v 12 games where the property steward is making up the numbers.
“I tell people that I lost my job because of COVID, but I’m reminded frequently that I was the first one gone regardless of list cuts. We were in the hub, I wasn’t playing, I thought I was going reasonably well in the match sims. What could you really take from that form? I was doing the maths in my head; I like to think I’ve got good self-awareness. I wasn’t playing and knew I was in a bit of strife,” he said.
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“It was always the goal (to get back on a list). I think the end of last year – not being picked up – I think there is a window when you get delisted where you want to get picked up instantly or get a train-on and that didn’t happen. Then a year out and come straight back. That’s probably the longest the window can last.
“I think the end of last year, I felt like it might be done and that was a really difficult conversation to have with myself. My partner was tremendous in supporting me with that, but I thought it was over. I had to weigh up whether it was worth continuing at VFL level or was the dream now too distant? I wanted to go again. I also shifted my focus to trying to win a flag at VFL level and the form looked after itself to a degree. It did feel like a really distant dream and unrealistic for much of this year.”
Greene officially returned to an AFL list on November 3, but returned to training on Monday, joining Hawthorn’s first-to-fourth-year players for day one of pre-season in Mulgrave.
He isn’t thinking about round one just yet. He knows he will be wearing brown and gold. The only question is will it be for Box Hill or for Hawthorn?
“Round one is on everyone’s radar, and you want to impress to get to that point, but if there is one thing that I’ve learned is footy will take care of itself,” he said.
“I just want to take it day by day, rather than looking at a long goal. If you pencil in round one as your focus it can turn into a long pre-season. If you have smaller goals and build to that then hopefully my form and training puts me in that conversation.”
It turns out Greene's manager at ACCO Brands is a big footy fan. The diehard North Melbourne supporter would have preferred to see the sharpshooter join Clarkson at Arden Street, instead of Mitchell at Waverley Park.
Like a lot of people inside the Western Bulldogs and Box Hill Hawks, he was thrilled to see Greene land a second chance. Now he needs to find a new sales rep in the eastern region.
