A whole new ball game

Daley’s journey goes from Wallabies to St Kilda

IT’S only right that Ben Daley’s AFL ambitions would land him at St Kilda.

The former Wallaby is not swapping codes as he nears the end of a rugby career hampered recently by major injuries, but he has never been one to sit idle when sidelined.

Daley (pictured), 30, who joined the Melbourne Rebels in 2018, was injured in a preseason game this year and had a shoulder reconstruction.

Typically, he sought out experiences to satisfy his thirst for improvement.

He completed a law degree in 2015 and was admitted to the Supreme Court of Victoria this year, meaning he can practise law.

But Daley “couldn’t escape” the AFL’s domination of the Melbourne landscape and, via club connections, found himself working one day a week at the Saints this year.

Daley, who played three games for Australia and won a Super Rugby title with the Queensland Reds in 2011, conceded replicating the highs of singing the national anthem, arm in arm with his Wallaby teammates before a Test match, was unachievable as a working man.

But the cut and thrust of the behind the scenes action at a football club is as close as he’s going to get, and that’s where Daley sees himself spending his working life.

“Playing for the Wallabies, I don’t think anything will better that, and winning a Super Rugby title, they are two things not many people get to experience. I don’t see anything coming close to that,” Daley said.

“But you can use that drive for success and to be the best, you can take that in to a role after football, and in sport, to make people better.

“A general manager of a football club would be my dream role.”

Daley, also a board member of the Rugby Union Players Association, has been working closely with St Kilda’s general manager of football, Simon Lethlean, for nearly a year across a broad range of issues.

He’s also spent time working at AFL headquarters.

“You see a vastly different side to the game than when you are just a player,” he said.

“When I first started I sat in on a few meetings … as a player you think that just happens. But you see the amount of work people put in behind the scenes all to make the player the best they can be.”