Sunday, January 31, 2016

Starting early

NOT LONG after two-year-old Ben Ainsworth started walking, he was sitting in a plastic go-kart, his hands wrapped around the wheel. Little Ben would steer the go-kart into walls, smash into chairs and leave mayhem behind. His next plaything was a set of plastic golf sticks he used to throw and swing around his family's loungeroom in Morwell, in eastern Victoria. Soon after, he was given his first football, a mini Sherrin.

A few years of dribbling that ball up and down the hallways prepared Ainsworth for Auskick, the natural starting place for youngsters with an interest in footy. He would practise in the front yard at home before heading to the local park, wearing his No. 12 Richmond jumper and pretending to be Matthew Richardson. Then came a stint at a local junior soccer club, but it was only a one-night stay. "I went to training once and hated it because I couldn't use my hands," Ainsworth said. "I never went back."

Pocket rocket Ben Ainsworth was a star from a young age. Pictures: supplied

Ainsworth's sure hands are the things that set him apart as a player heading towards this year's NAB AFL Draft. He's very good at the skills a dangerous small forward needs: he kicks and creates goals; he can tackle; can set others up, and he reads play better than most. If an opponent has sensed something is about to happen, chances are Ainsworth is already on the move.

But Ainsworth isn't the type of roving forward to stay under a pack all of the time. He likes to fly for marks, and he's good at it. Ainsworth is 179cm, but he has sticky hands that grip onto the ball, his marking giving his game an extra dimension.

"It's his trick," an AFL club recruiter says. "It's what makes him so special and dangerous in attack. His hands are just so clean and strong."

Right now, however, those special hands are out of action. Well, at least one of them is. Ainsworth has just returned from the NAB AFL Academy's training camp in the United States, and his left wrist is in a cast. He broke it on the first day of competitive training. Working in a group of four, he corralled a teammate, tackled him and fell, but planted his hand on the surface of a soccer field at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, where the players stayed for eight days.

Ainsworth winces in pain after breaking his wrist during the AFL Academy's first competitive training session. Picture: AFL Photos

He was sent for x-rays at a nearby scanning centre, sat for four hours in the waiting room and was eventually told he had a hairline fracture of his wrist, an injury likely to sideline him for four weeks. Ainsworth's wrist was put in a brace and he missed essentially all of the training camp. Instead, he stuck watching his peers or helping by setting up training cones.

"I'd never been in that position before because it was the first injury I'd had. It tested my maturity, and I probably didn't start off in the best fashion coping with it," he says.

"I was told my attitude was bad and rubbing off on a few of the physios and other staff. After that I tried to be more positive around the group and not be down. But I was really disappointed."

Ainsworth had shown excellent form prior to the American trip. In 2015, he was named All Australian as a 17-year-old, a rare achievement for a player who at the time was almost 18 months away from being drafted. The honour came after an impressive NAB AFL Under-18 Championships for Vic Country. He crumbed the ball at the feet of Josh Schache (who months later would head to the Brisbane Lions as the No.2 selection in the NAB AFL Draft), took marks on the lead, set up the forward half, played with aggression, and kicked 15 goals (second only to Schache for the carnival).

At the end of the season, he was named joint winner of Gippsland Power's best and fairest, despite playing only 13 TAC Cup games.

"He was electric," another AFL recruiter says. "Ben can light up a game in a number of ways. He showed last year he could already have been on an AFL list and playing top-level footy, despite his age."

A multi-sports star

Ainsworth has always been ready for challenges beyond his years. He was a junior state swimming star before the 4.30am starts on the same days he had footy training wore him out. He's the youngest ever debutant for Morwell Cricket Club's seniors, running out when he was 13 (he took a wicket bowling medium pacers), and he made his senior football debut for the Morwell Tigers as a 15-year-old.

His parents watched that game anxiously. "When he ran out I stood back and thought 'Oh jeez, what have we done? He's only a little kid.' He looked so small," his father Steve remembers.

"But there was a contest where there were a few guys trying to get the ball and he came running in, got it and fed it off, got it back and delivered it down the line. After that I didn't worry again. I knew then he was good enough."

Young fan Ainsworth meets his Tiger hero Nathan Brown. Picture: supplied

Ainsworth was already used to being one of the smallest on the ground by then. Apart from the under-12s – "I was about average height then," he says – he has always been one of the shortest players in his team.

At first that made him a little bit more reserved as a player. He was good, but his dad told him to stay down in packs. But when another Gippsland boy, Dale Thomas, emerged as a young, high-flying half-forward for Collingwood, Steve revised his advice. "Go for it," he told Ben. "Just because you're not tall, doesn't mean you can't go for the ball."

It was around this time Steve began to think it would be a waste of Ben's talent for him to sit back and be content playing for Morwell and becoming a local club legend. He knew his son was good enough to play at a much higher level.

However, Ainsworth's size was always going to make for interesting discussion among recruiters, who this season want to see him push into the midfield. He has received that feedback from every scout on the American tour (11 clubs sent representatives). But he knows improving his endurance won't be an easy task.

Ainsworth was diagnosed as an asthmatic when he was 12 months old, and in his first few years the condition played havoc with his health. He had several trips to hospital to get it under control, lying in bed for a few days at a time with a nebuliser hooked up to the wall. He had four major asthma attacks, including one in a swimming pool when he got to the end of the lane and was dragged out struggling to suck in oxygen.

But swimming, generally, was good for his asthma and with many years in the pool he managed to get the condition to a point where it doesn't impact his life any more. Ainsworth still carries a 'puffer' with him, and he takes a blow of it before a match – and then again five minutes into a game to open up his airways – but then he's usually fine for the rest of the game.

Ainsworth, left, meets Tiger champ Dale Weightman (centre). Picture: supplied

Ainsworth starts this year as a contender for the No.1 pick, and as a name people already are already talking about. There is a buzz around him, but the expectations don't weigh.

"I definitely want to live up to them. It would be great to be one of those high-profile players in the draft who come into the AFL with a level of expectation," he says.

"It makes me really want to come out in the first (TAC Cup) game of the year and make a statement. I think I'll be able to do that and it will give me the start I really want."

Thursday, May 5, 2016

A split-second call goes badly wrong

BEN Ainsworth was getting frustrated. It was his first game in three weeks after a knee injury, and he had started last Saturday's TAC Cup clash against the Calder Cannons in a scrappy manner. The Gippsland Power captain fumbled a couple of disposals, and was getting close attention from opponent James Peters.

The ball was at the other end of the ground when Ainsworth bumped Peters in the centre square, knocking him to the ground in a split-second. "Initially I thought I didn't get him high, so I was happy he was on the ground," Ainsworth says. "Then I realised it was a fair bit worse than that."

Ainsworth's elbow had lifted higher than he thought it would and he had struck Peters' face, the blow breaking his jaw. Peters left the field with the help of trainers, and was sent to hospital. At half-time, Gippsland coach Leigh Brown told Ainsworth he was disappointed with his actions.

Ainsworth in TAC Cup action for Gippsland Power. Picture: AFL Photos

In the third quarter, Calder opponents told Ainsworth he was going to be suspended for 10 weeks. And after the game, when he approached Cannons talent manager Ian Kyte to get Peters' number to send him a text message, he was told in no uncertain terms he had done the wrong thing. He has watched the Champion Data vision that captures the incident, admitting it looked like he meant to hit Peters.

"My intentions weren't to get him high. I was trying to prevent his run and make it known that I was there," Ainsworth says.

"I'm not by any means blaming it on him – I did the wrong thing – but his centre of gravity dropped, which led to my misconduct. It was more of a technique problem.

"During the game I was thinking about it a fair bit. I didn't mean it, but I know it looked pretty bad."

Ainsworth was disappointed with his efforts, as were others. When he got home, he locked himself in his bedroom for six hours and didn't speak to anyone. Eventually, he walked into the kitchen, where his parents were. They called him a dill for what he'd done. "Mum and dad eventually came around. They knew it was a stuff-up and not intentional," he says.

Ainsworth had to sit on it for a little longer, with the TAC Cup tribunal not sitting until Wednesday night. The hearing was held at AFL Victoria’s offices in Carlton, and Power talent manager Peter Francis and Vic Country talent manager Leon Harris were among the group who gave character witness accounts for him.

He was also up for another striking charge in the same game, and received a combined four-week ban. It meant he would miss the first of four games in the NAB AFL Under-18 Championships.

Another setback

The suspension is the latest setback in a season that has spluttered from the start. After gradually building up the strength in his wrist after the hairline fracture – his stress ball got a work out – Ainsworth returned for one TAC Cup practice match before round one of the home and away season. A few weeks earlier he had been named Gippsland's captain.

There's a buzz around Ainsworth as a potential No.1 draft pick. Picture: AFL Photos

He started quietly against the Dandenong Stingrays in the opening game, but had a scare in the second quarter when he flew for a mark and hyperextended his knee when he landed. Recruiters watching thought the highly rated player had torn his anterior cruciate ligament, which would have ruled him out for the season.

"I'm going to be out for the year," Ainsworth thought to himself. The pain was searing through his left leg as he hobbled from the ground, but after a light jog on the boundary line he felt better and returned to the field.

"I couldn't believe he didn't do his knee," says one recruiter who saw the incident. "When he left the field the first thing I thought was, 'What does this do to his draft position?' It would've been a massive blow."

Although Ainsworth had escaped major damage, the pain lingered and he would miss three matches. He was only just passed fit for the NAB AFL Academy team’s game against Werribee's VFL side at the MCG. He had set his sights on that match for a long time; the previous year, Darcy Parish, Jacob Weitering, Schache and Jacob Hopper had dominated against VFL opponents and they were already playing well at AFL level this season. He was desperate to follow the same path. After a couple of knocks early in the game, he limped off the ground in the third quarter and sat out the game on the bench. "Why did I play?" he thought to himself.

Days later it was discovered he had pre-patella bursitis (inflammation around the knee). He needed an injection and had the joint drained, but even that was complicated. Before the injection the doctor told Ainsworth he would get a brief 'hot flush' and his eyesight would go a bit blurry. "Then next moment I woke up with a bottle of water in my hand and a cup of apple juice," he says. "I passed out straight away and had no idea what was going on."

Ainsworth's handling of adversity is intriguing recruiters. Picture: AFL Photos

Recruiters are already interested to see how Ainsworth handles various setbacks. He was told after the American tour that some scouts perceived him as arrogant around his teammates. It annoyed him.

"I really don't like that tag," he says. "Sometimes you can ignore people by accident if they're joking around or whatever, but because of your stature or what you do, they might think you're arrogant. I hate when people call me that.

"None of them said it to me directly, which probably annoyed me the most. Don't be passive about it. I like to keep to myself a bit. I'm outgoing, but I don't like being the person making the most noise."

Ainsworth knows his suspension has given recruiters reasons to probe further into his attitude. He understands they will want to know why he was undisciplined, whether he can cope with a tight tag, and if he can control his frustrations. He will try to use his enforced lay-off positively. He aims to get as fit as possible, and has mapped out a weekly schedule to increase his running capacity, spend more time in the gym and emerge better for it. He feels he has plenty left to prove this year.

"I hurt my knee again on the weekend, so I'll have a couple of weeks off and then get into a pretty big training program. I see it as a chance to hit the second half of the season in real form and string together some good games," Ainsworth says.

"When I come back I want to show people I still have my competitive nature, but that I can do it within the limits of what's fair without going over the top.

"What happened will go through my mind, but I am not going to change the way I play."  

NEXT: "When I saw the trade, I thought 'that could be me' ..."