Tough Conversation
It was over a beer in the wake of last season when Paul Seedsman and Matthew Nicks had the tough conversation that had been brewing for over a month. Left out of the senior side since Round 12 when he was dropped, by his own admission Seedsman had withdrawn from any meaningful conversation with his Senior Coach. But what that led to was not one but a series of conversations which provided a turning point in the classy wingman’s career. “He (Nicks) wanted to know whether I wanted to be here and I wanted to know whether he wanted me here,” Seedsman said. “We were on different pages for a large part of last year and because of my frustration with what was going on I withdrew more from those discussions and communication and it was going nowhere.
Mindset
“So we sat down and had a chat over a couple of beers at the end of the season and I told him where I was at and that I did want to be here. “It was in the week after the season at a few of those events and then we had a more formal chat at our end-of-season review meeting. “We worked out that it was through a breakdown in communication to where we got to. “I asked him exactly what he wanted from me, and went out and worked on it and worked on myself. “Off the field in terms of the way I handle things, the way I go about things, and what drives me. “I did a mindset program and now I have a mindset coach who I’ve been working with for the past eight months and that’s been unreal.
Small things
“And on the back of that, one thing Nicksy and I do is catch up weekly to talk small things and then every month, not just for me but for the team, we talk more footy and things about his life and my life. “We don’t touch base in depth about football weekly but after a month we go over that portion and see if there are any trends we need to keep doing or need addressing. It’s just a stronger form of communication. “But it was good to have those chats over a couple of beers late last year where we were open and honest and frank with where we were both at, and that set the tone for the end of season review, and without having those chats prior who knows how that would have gone. “But I’d made up my mind before that review that this is where I want to be.”
Fast forward
Fast forward to June, 2021, and Seedsman has played all 13 games this season in a hybrid role of wingman and onballer. Along with Brodie Smith they sit 1-2 in the competition for metres gained and Seedsman feels as though he is playing as well as he has in his 10-year career which now spans 123 games at Collingwood and the Crows. “I’d say so, in terms of consistency yes,” the 29-year-old said. “In the first half of 2018 I was playing similar footy to this but I had a couple of quieter games leading into the bye. “But I go back to pre-season and the trial games and I feel like I’ve been able to maintain a consistent or high standard.”
On the ball
While his weapons are obvious to supporters – taking territory, kicking long goals and creativity on the wing – Seedsman has added spurts on the ball to his game this year. “One area I tried to add this year was being able to play inside and around the contest, and I really enjoy getting in there,” he said. “So I’ve done a bit more stoppage craft and that’s something I’ll continue to work on throughout this year and next pre-season. “And defensive transition, being sharper when the ball turns over going both ways, then the communication and being an on-field leader they are the sort of things I focus on and feel like I’ve made in-roads and will look to continue on those.”
Pilates
Now on his days off, golf has taken a back seat to Pilates which he does twice a week. “I did it (Pilates) a couple of years ago and then through Covid last season we couldn’t. “I never did it during the season but this year the Club has been great allowing off-site things like that so doing that twice a week has been really beneficial.” He has also found working with new coaches like Scott Burns, Nathan van Berlo and James Rahilly has given him a new way of looking at the game.
Coaching
“I had Scotty Burns at Collingwood so I was really excited to have him come here, and I played with VB for a year before he hung the boots up, so there were pre-existing relationships but in a different sense,” Seedsman said. “Then someone like James Rahilly who I had never had anything to do with but he’s been around 20 year of success at Geelong and those three have been unreal since coming across. “That’s no disrespect to the guys we had last year, last season was bloody tough and only being able to train in small groups, so this year I’ve just found things a lot easier obviously.”
Bedridden
Last year as the competition was paused and Australia entered a national lockdown due to Covid-19, Seedsman was bedridden with a neck injury. “We played Sydney (in Round 1) and it was only a couple of days after that I woke up one morning and couldn’t move and was stuck in bed,” he said. “I remember the night before I was playing darts at my mate’s place and I thought ‘my neck and back are a bit sore’. “Then I woke up the next morning and could hardly get out of bed, I’d slipped a disc in my neck and from a pure pain point of view it was one of the worst injuries I’ve had, even though it was only short-term, I could hardly move.
Ramping up
“For the first week I was laying down and able to do a bit of walking in the third week, then I started to ramp it up and get going from there. “I didn’t quite realise it at the time but the affect that had afterwards in not being able to do anything like weights or running because they didn’t want me to put any vibrations through the disc, was significant. “It was a slow build up and for the rest of the year I was on a different weights program and monitored it with a lot of neck strengthening, and I still do that in particular over the pre-season.”
Consistency
This season he is also enjoying a run of consistency after being hampered by setbacks since arriving at the Club in 2015 when he suffered from the shingles in 2016, a groin injury in 2017 and hyperextended his knee in 2019. “One thing I’ve managed to do the last three years is have really solid pre-seasons and each year I feel like I handle them better and each time I’m stronger and fitter,” he said. “Then the only thing I was missing was a bit of continuity during the season. “Last year was a bit of a shocker for me and the team but I’ve learnt the most from last year and been able to change that going into this year.”
Opportunity
So what was behind his motivation for wanting to stay at Adelaide when he and Nicks broke bread at the end of a season in which he played just nine games and the team won only three? “I sort of found myself in this situation at Collingwood in 2015 and I changed clubs then,” he said. “I had a conversation with Craig Kelly, Jake’s old man, about everything and in the end (last year) I looked at it as an opportunity, because at some stage I was going to work in an environment where I needed to work on relationships because you can’t just get a trade or swap jobs willy-nilly. “So I saw it as an opportunity for personal growth to stay around in that sense, but I also love the place, I love Adelaide, I love the football Club and I have so many close mates here that I wanted to make it work.
Home
“The challenge of getting back to where I wanted and playing the footy I knew I was capable of and building on those relationships with people at the club. “It’s an exciting young group, I get along with so many of them and I’d love to look back when I retire and know I played a part on helping them at the beginning of their career.” While both he and his fiancée Alice are from Melbourne, Seedsman says Adelaide very much feels like home for now. “We both love it, we get scared thinking about the move home whenever that may be,” he said. “We’ll probably go back there one day because our family and friends are there, but at the same time with every year that goes past we fall more and more in love with the place and what it has to offer.”
