Jude Bolton
April 26, 2016
BG: Hi Jude, thanks for your time.
JB: No worries.
BG: You grew up playing your junior football in Melbourne and participated in the Under 18’s Championship with the Calder Cannons. At what stage of your junior career did you realise AFL was a serious option for you?
JB: Probably when the interest of recruiters started, that is when they attended some of the games when I was 17. I made the VIC metro side the following year as a top age player in the TAC cup. The national championships & Draft combine start to solidify that it's an option but really until you are read out on Draft day do you know for sure.
BG: You were drafted to Sydney with pick 8 in the 1998 National Draft. How did you handle the move up to Sydney and how did you settle in to the club when first arriving?
JB: I handled it pretty well I think. I had only been to Sydney once in my life so it was daunting but as Sydney had had a number of draft picks leave to head home in previous seasons (Shannan Grant, Anthony Rocca) there was a big emphasis on welfare and helping us all settle in.
BG: Within your first season on the list, you made your AFL debut. What was the build up like for this game in round 12, 1999?
JB: I was just really excited to be realising a dream. All the family are pumped, I'd been in reasonable form for the reserves so I felt like I was close to pushing my way into the side. Was so rapt to get the nod from Rodney Eade and to play my first game against Carlton.
BG: You received a Rising Star nomination in 2000, and within the next year your career began to take shape. What were your future goals at this stage of your development?
JB: Early on you just want to get a spot in the senior side, then you start chasing consistency so you become a regular player not just on the fringe. Then finally there is the moment where you want to start having real influence on games and helping the team build toward a premiership. I guess that is what all players play for.
BG: Tackling was a major strength of your game, laying an impressive total of 1490 career tackles which is the second most in the history of the competition. How did you develop this skill, and was it a focus of yours to become the best tackler in the league?
JB: I felt tackling was always a big strength of mine as a junior. I was lucky that there became greater value put on the art of tackling from coaches and teammates. I loved the competitiveness, physicality and the fact that you didn't have to have the ball to still contribute to the outcome each week.
BG: In 2005 you achieved the ultimate glory in winning the premiership, and in 2012 you repeated this success. How do these days’ rank in importance to your life, and where do you currently keep your medallions?
JB: They are way up there. Obviously family first and foremost but to achieve the ultimate a couple of times with great bunch of guys, it means so much to me. We get to have reunions and always look back fondly of what we were able to achieve.
Realising any dream provides such personal satisfaction but it also makes you hungry for more.
BG: At the end of the 2012 season, the Free Agency system was introduced into the AFL allowing certain players more freedom to move to a club of choice. Would you have liked for this to have been available to you early in your career?
JB: Yes and no. I feel there always needs to be a level of market freedom so that players can choose to move without great hindrance. But also I am a firm believer that a player must give his all for the team that has chosen to give them a chance at the elite level. As much as there is some grumbling about player movement, it seems about right at the moment. The compensation for players moving is something that needs to be addressed.
BG: Do you think Free Agency is fair, with good players from poor teams such as Brian Lake and James Frawley, leaving their club to strengthen the top teams in order to win premierships?
JB: I think if a club creates a strong /winning culture it is always going to be attractive for someone to move to and be a part of. It is upon each club to make it an enjoyable place to play. To compete each week. Hawthorn have been able to keep their side together but also strengthen their list by losing a couple of players along the way.
Lance Franklin, Shane Savage, Matt Suckling, Jed Anderson have all departed the Hawks and allowed them to make plays for some of the free agents. Hawks have bolstered the list also through smart trading.
It's just good list management.
BG: Is Free Agency even necessary when the likes of Tom Boyd and James Aish simply leave their clubs early in their careers, regardless of contracts?
JB: I think it is necessary. They are both interesting cases however and it highlights the power struggle between clubs & the players/agents. It was always heavily in favour of the clubs prior to free agency with clubs being able to cull players or move them on when THEY wanted. Now the push has been the other way, with players almost holding the club to ransom and saying if you don't make a trade for me now - at the end of my contract I will search elsewhere or enter the pre-season draft where the club will miss out on utilising their value on the market.
BG: Reaching 300 games is one of the greatest AFL milestones, and you achieved just that. Did you have any traditions or superstitions throughout your career that kept you going, and any hobbies on the side to help balance your life?
JB: Just good consistent preparation - food, injury rehab, ice baths, train hard and regularly especially through pre-season. In terms of hobbies, I spent time with the family, eating out, I love golf (though I am no good at it!) and watching heaps of other sports.
BG: After 325 games, your 15 season career came to an end in 2013. Other than the premiership success, what were the highlights of playing AFL?
Carrying my oldest daughter though the banner in my 300th game. It was the prelim final vs Collingwood at ANZ.
Getting to play with legends of the game Lockett, Kelly, Goodes, O'Loughlin etc you sort of pinch yourself that you got to run out on the ground with those blokes and call them teammates.
BG: Since retiring, how have you stayed involved with game, and what are you looking to do in the future?
JB: I am national ambassador for AFL 9s the non-contact social version of AFL, I commentate each weekend for Ch7 or Triple M. And I provide analysis online for the game through ESPN.
Hopefully I can stay involved in the game I love for a long time.
BG: Jude, thanks very much for your responses, I really appreciate it.
JB: Cheers.