Have you ever wondered what happens once a club reads out a player’s name at the NAB AFL Draft?

If, like St Kilda’s newest recruits, Hunter Clark and Nick Coffield, you are picked in the top ten, you are quickly directed onto stage to be presented with a guernsey and a handshake with your new coach, before being whisked backstage.

From there, you are wheeled out for different media outlets. There are photo shoots, interviews with the club and with written journalists. Some appear on Fox Footy, others on SEN or 3AW. In a matter of minutes, you transform into an AFL player.

One person who is constantly present with you and your family is the Player Welfare Manager. They are responsible for your transition from anonymity to a member of the football club, dealing with everything from relocation to administration. 

At St Kilda, the man in charge of this area of the football department is former Saints rover Tony Brown, who is a beloved figure inside Linen House Centre.

“I don’t have anything to do with the recruiting of the players, my role starts once their names are read out,” Brown told the Inside St Kilda Podcast this week.

“Hunter Clark and Nick Coffield were at the draft, so we were really fortunate that we could meet them and their families soon after their names were read out.

“For Oscar Clavarino and Ben Paton, I got on the phone as soon as I could to introduce myself to those boys and their families.

“Then we put some things in place to get them to the club on the Monday to start training.

“We start talking about living arrangements; if the boys have got cars; host families are usually post-Christmas so they go in with one of the boys before then; their private health insurance and medical history; their passports and licenses and all their administration. Everything they need to make the transition.”

While St Kilda’s first three players won’t be forced to move away from home, the Saints’ final pick on Friday night, Ben Paton, and only live pick in Monday’s Rookie Draft, Doulton Langlands, have had to pack up their lives and relocate to the big smoke.

Although there is a slight catch. The two softly spoken boys from in and around Albury will move in with two of St Kilda’s brightest stars. Langlands has landed at David Armitage’s house, while Paton has moved in with Jack Billings.

Talk about a change in circumstances for two kids from the country.

“It’s really exciting for Doulton going in with David Armitage and Ben going in with Jack Billings,” Brown said.

“They are a couple of players who have played a lot of footy for the club who have got high profiles, so for these young boys who are just starting out their careers to learn how some of our best players go about their everyday lives; how they prepare; how they eat; how they get to training; they are priceless life lessons.”