Football can be a cruel game at times. There are plenty of highs, and they can reach euphoric heights, but the lows are incredibly tough to deal with and are always lurking around the next bend in the shape of injury, poor form or a lack of opportunity. Gold Coast SUNS livewire forward, Jarrod Garlett, experienced some of the ups and downs the game has to offer in his debut season. He rode the rollercoaster, and came off the ride - less than 12 months after crossing the Nullarbor to chase his dream – with an unforgettable experience in his first year in the AFL.
It wasn’t easy for the prodigious talent, but it never is for any teenager that is forced to pack their bags and their life up, and move away from everything they have ever known. The nature of our drafting system is unique in this country, with prospects having next to no say on the outcome of what club selects them at the draft table and essentially where they spend a chunk of their life living. It’s the nature of the beast, and something that makes our game so great ensuring that equalisation in the competition is still alive and well. But it can be tough to handle for some who have to move away from home, especially at the tender age of just 18.
For almost his entire life, Garlett has been raised by his grandparents in suburban Perth. He formed an extremely tight bond with his grandfather, Rev. Sealin Garlett, the man who nurtured him through his life up until the night the SUNS read his name out late in the first round of the draft at pick No. 15.
Under his grandfather’s watchful eye, Garlett prepared himself as best he could for the physical demands of AFL football by running up and down the sand of Coogee beach near their home as the sun rose each day. His strong family ties in Western Australia were a factor in the homesickness issues he battled throughout 2015, but those same links provided him with the strength to cope with the new chapter in his life. A new chapter that has taken him 4400km away from his former life.
Having landed in southern Queensland at the conclusion of November, Garlett got off to a strong start in the pre-season, impressing the football department with his athleticism, his polished foot skills and his clean, crisp hands. He could jump, he could change direction like not many others, find space in a phone box and he could hit targets at high pace and with penetration.
Despite his bright start to life in the system, it was tough coming back after the extended Christmas break. The dream had become a reality, finally, it was real. But he was living on the other side of the country, unable to see those closest to him whenever he liked. Although he was on the inside of an AFL club, a place he had always wanted to be, and he was firming for a spot in Rodney Eade’s round one side by the week. Nevertheless, it was a challenge adapting to change.
Garlett would eventually claim a berth for the first game of the season on the back of a couple of strong performances in the NAB Challenge series and an impressive summer on the track at Metricon Stadium. From there, he went on to produce some glimpses of brilliance in his first patch of senior football.
During a tumultuous start to the season, the performances of first-year players, Garlett, Adam Saad and Touk Miller, provided some spark to a poor start. Garlett’s phenomenal moment of individual brilliance against Geelong at Simonds Stadium was one of the highlights of the season. He won a contest against Mark Blicavs on the back of the centre square, took a cheeky glance inside and saw Mitch Clark pursuing him only metres away. With no one between him and the goals, except for a distant Corey Enright, Garlett tucked the ball under his arm and motored away from Clark, Blicavs and the trailing party. He took four bounces on the outer wing, gliding along at break neck pace, before composing himself and placing the ball through for an important goal at that stage of the game. It was a taste of the future, in a matter of seconds.
A fortnight later, after an eye-catching start to his life in the AFL, Garlett’s season appeared over. In the blink of an eye, the brutal reality of the game had wrapped its claws around the South Fremantle product. An awkward landing late in the opening quarter against Brisbane in round five appeared to end Garlett’s season. A date with an orthopaedic surgeon to perform an ankle reconstruction was his next point of call.
In the space of a handful of weeks, Garlett had gone from experiencing the exhilarating high of debuting on the grandest stage of all, the MCG, to sitting in the bowels of Metricon Stadium, staring down the barrel at a long rehabilitation process and potentially his season being over before it really got started.
For someone who had already struggled with the pitfalls of homesickness, a long stint in rehabilitation posed another challenge for Garlett. Playing again in 2015 appeared to be a long shot, especially given the prize at the end of the process looked liked only being a couple of games.
Whilst the odds were stacked against him returning in 2015, those mythical bookmakers didn’t take Garlett’s resolve into account. His ability to conquer adversity in his first season and return from serious injury - ahead of schedule and in great physical shape - saw the boy from Perth’s inner north return in late July. He spent two weeks in the NEAFL, regaining form and fitness as well as taking an unbelievable mark, and then spent the final month of the year back in the SUNS 22, building on his encouraging start to his career.
Jarrod’s uncle, Des Lawson, has ridden the wave of emotion associated with league football in the last 12 months. He was there when he was drafted, and when he set off from Perth on this new journey, and he was there the night he busted his ankle. He spent time with him when he returned to his native city after surgery and believes Jarrod’s determination and his faith helped him return to the field in 2015 and deal with an arduous first year at the highest level.
“For him to come back that quick and that soon, that was his commitment to coming back this year. We’re just counting our blessings. We just thank God for that, that’s just the many blessings that this young fella has and god’s a part of his journey,” Lawson told goldcoastfc.com.au.
“His determination, he put his head down and he came home for a few weeks. We were sitting in our yard back here and he said: ‘Look, I want to play again this year. I am going to get back out there.’
“Our church and our congregation prayed for him and the healing process happened. And then he came back, and for a bloke who had had an ankle reconstruction to go and take mark of the year in the NEAFL, well that’s just crazy.
“But with himself and his body, he was determined to play those games at the end of the season. He made a commitment and he did it.”
Football has always been a major part of Garlett’s life, although it has always been just one facet. Faith played an enormous role in his upbringing, and that hasn’t changed now he has departed the nest. It was fundamental in his return to the game and in his rehabilitation process, something that has been engrained in him through his grandfather from an early age.
Lawson attributes his nephew’s ability to rise again this season to the work done by those inside the football club. From the welfare team, to the coaching staff and the players, particularly captain, Gary Ablett, who took Garlett under his wing when he landed on the Gold Coast and took him to church with him, assisiting with his transition.
“He grew up in a church that his grandfather Sealin ran and had a real big impact and still has and always will, so that mentality of him and the faith is always going to be with Jarrod,” he said.
“Over there he struggled with it a little bit, but ‘Gazza’ really helped him, the boys got around him, the club got around him and it’s just those people that got around him and really helped him.
“You have to take your hat off to the people that are on the ground with him over there that helped him pull through the situations that he’s been put in, at such a young age having to move away, its pretty hard.
“We don’t understand what he was going through, but all we could do was be there for him whenever he called on us.”
The senior Garlett has always played a major role in his grandson’s life. He has been there all the way, from the beginning at South Fremantle and through the underage ranks for Western Australia. Illness earlier in the year prevented him from leaving Perth when Garlett played in the first part of the year. But when he returned in the final month, Sealin made the journey to Metricon Stadium to watch the boy he took in at three months of age do what he appears born to do.
Lawson revealed the immense pride Sealin felt when he watched his grandson play and saw the young man Jarrod is developing into. The bond between the pair is extremely tight, and with good reason given their journey through life together.
“Oh he loves his grandfather that boy. He’s more or less his rock and his world. His grandfather grew him up and looked after him and did make him the man he is today. So the relationship between them is a great bond,” he said.
“It’s unconditional love. It just brings tears to his eyes to see this young man form from all his junior football to where he is today and the commitment he made to Jarrod as well. To see him sprout into a young gentleman and a good footballer, he is stoked – he’s over the moon. He’s just so proud of him.”
It’s raw emotion, in a manner that this great game evokes and an intimate insight into the life of the highly talented Garlett. A young player who overcame genuine adversity in his first season to grind out a brave year in the AFL and demonstrate how crucial mental fortitude is in this caper. It will be intriguing to see where this evolving tale heads to next, but from a purely football perspective, one gets the sense we haven’t seen anywhere near the best of Garlett yet. What an exciting thought that is.
