Big and strong, soft on inside
Tassie’s new coach with a Sylvester the Cat tatt
ADAM Griffith. The Biggest Man. The Hugest Man. BIG. When you stand 6’7 and can bench press an Econovan full of midgets, yet can’t carry a schoolbag of books through fear of toppling over as a result of bypassing leg day, the nickname BIG is clear cut.
This is a big-chested human, a handsome human, with aesthetic appeal to impose himself as having a mean streak. A once goatee-wearing fast bowler with a collection of tattoos that would suggest a wild side not to be messed with, unless you were searching for a genuine smackdown, because that’s what large lifting, goatee-wearing, tattoo-laden men do — they give cause for stitches should you look at them the wrong way.
And while the exterior of Griffith reeks of a wrestler, or a lumberjack, or any other DIY analogy that involves incredibly large, strong and tough men, Adam is actually none of those. He is a soft soul, with a soft touch.
Without overshading and having the ladies of Hobart Town in a frenzy, thinking about the chiselled rig of the new coach, there is one tattoo — to me — that represents a gentle-natured kid in an oversized man’s body and is a great reflection of Adam as a person.
Sylvester chasing Tweety Bird is a Warner Bros image that many of us grew up with and most of us would have hoped the smug bird would finally cop it from the no-good cat. Well, I did anyway.
Griffo loved the resilience of Sylvester the Cat so much — his never-say-die attitude and willingness to wear pain as a result of achieving his goals — that he got the iconic image of the cat chasing the bird tattooed on his back.
This is a beautiful thing. That a man so BIG can connect so deeply with a cartoon shows the level of deep thought and emotional intelligence that Adam will provide his players.
These are rare qualities from a cricket lifer. Those types of thoughts are normally beaten out of people in favour of a whiny approach of ego-fuelled rage for the stitching in the tracksuits, or the colour of the tracksuits, or the shape and make-up of the sandwiches in the pre-game offering that are only ever eaten by support
That a man so BIG can connect so deeply with a cartoon shows the level of deep thought and emotional intelligence that Adam will provide his players.
staff. And yet still the ego flows. What BIG also brings is an appropriate pathway to the role.
His five years under Justin Langer, and Mickey Arthur and, um, Lachy Stevens, would all serve as the perfect platform to apply for the position he has just won.
He is a degree qualified schoolteacher. Understanding personality types and delivering the best communication style to ensure development is in his knowledge bank. He also brings with him that connection to the state, the pride of representation that I have been banging on about all summer.
The only concern, for me, is how Griffo can positively affect the relationships of the players who he played with, and made strong friendships with, and will now coach.
With Griffo being away for such an extended period of time, his trusted friendship group has several current players attending his welcome home party (I don’t know if there is a party, it’s a metaphor for his close-knit social network), and being able to switch those relationships into professional and respected player/ coach relations will be the biggest challenge of all.
Let’s hope that this doesn’t end like the John Fogerty classic: Did you hear ’em talkin’ ’bout it on the radio Did you stop to read the writing on the wall Did that voice inside you say I’ve seen it all before It’s like deja vu all over again