“I respect their opinions but I don’t agree with it. What worked for us back in our day doesn’t mean it works for the modern-day footballer,” Schwass said.
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“We have got a lot more science, we have got a lot more education and I think it is too easy to say we are making less resilient kids because we are doing things different 1713838067 to the way that we did it [then].
“Perhaps we understand more broadly the impact of certain decisions on individuals both as athletes and human beings. I am not an expert in this field but if that is the decision that the sport made, and it is based on evidence and it is based on research, it is a decision the sport should be entitled to make whether people agree with it or not.”
Schwass said while personal stories were hard to tell, the AFL also had a responsibility to present the evidence behind such decisions to help people understand, even if they don’t agree with, the logic.
Essendon’s former VFLW player Eloise Gardner backed the AFL’s decision, saying her obsession with her weight between her first and second seasons at the club pushed her to the verge of an eating disorder.
The AFL’s decision to de-emphasise body weight is in line with a position statement the Australian Institute of Sport put out in 2020 called “disordered eating in high-performance sport”.
Plenty of other former players have had their say on social media, including ex-Cat and Crow Josh Jenkins, who described the decision as ludicrous.
However, former Eagle Will Schofield had no problem with the ban. “They aren’t paid a wage, may not have the resources to know what’s expected in an elite environment,” he said. “By all means test them once in the system – no need as kids though.”
