Lance Franklin tackles Amos Frank during an intra club mach at a Hawthorn Community Camp in Launceston. Picture: Michael Dodge Source: Herald Sun
HAWTHORN has re-committed to its indigenous project player Amos Frank, confident he is bucking the trend of homesick players from remote communities.
Frank's original one-season rookie contract was recently extended by a season and he will resume training with the Hawks' young group on Monday.
Although he returned post-season to the APY Lands, in far north South Australia, Frank is back in Melbourne and thriving.
"It's an amazing story. He's such a committed person. There's been zero issue," Hawthorn football manager Mark Evans said yesterday.
"Early on, a lot of work went into helping him understand lectures, but his English has improved enormously and he responded well to one-on-one coaching.
"We were always hopeful it would be more than a one-year trial and it would extend beyond that."
Frank's class began to shine at Box Hill in the second half of the season and the small forward would be one of the stories of next season if he could break into the Hawks' powerful line-up.
His success comes amid fresh concerns about indigenous players fitting into the demanding culture of AFL.
Another remote recruit, Zephaniah Skinner, quit the Western Bulldogs this week to return home after two years in the system.
AFL engagement and talent co-ordinator Chris Johnson yesterday indicated Skinner had found it tougher after another indigenous Bulldog Nathan Djerkurra left post-season to return to the Northern Territory.
"In Skinner's case it didn't help with Nathan realising he wanted to go back and build his family in Darwin," Johnson said.
"Nathan would have put him under his wing and helped him out a fair bit.
"The Bulldogs went to massive lengths, but when someone's made up their mind that they want to be back with their family and cultural belongings, it's a bit hard to change that."
Johnson said it was "always disappointing" to see indigenous players leave the game prematurely, but is adamant clubs will not see the Skinner scenario or even the high-profile Liam Jurrah case as roadblocks to future recruiting.
"We got up to 11.5 per cent (indigenous in AFL) a few years ago and we're falling away a little bit from that, but hopefully we can get that back up and we think we can," Johnson said.
"We think our boys deserve the opportunity."
Johnson is adamant the fears of the indigenous "go home" factor are overplayed, saying it was unfair to look at the issue as a whole.
"It's case by case. Certain guys can adapt to it, certain guys can't," Johnson said.
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