A Study Guide by Robert Lewis

http://www.metromagazine.com.au https://theeducationshop.com.au A STUDY GUIDE BY © ATOM 2019 ISBN: 978-1-76061-318-1 ROBERT LEWIS OVERVIEW

CONTENT From the Inside Out (Josh Cable and Marcus Cobbledick, 2019) HYPERLINKS is a 60-minute documentary focusing on four individuals within the Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League.

3 CURRICULUM It is not a film that traces the history of the club, or analyses the LINKS 2018 season (when Collingwood fell agonisingly short of winning the premiership by one kick), but looks at the personal lives of three players, Jarryd Blair, Brodie Grundy and Adam Treloar, and 3 BEFORE the coach, Nathan Buckley. WATCHING At the start of the 2018 season not even the most loyal fan gave 4 EXPLORING the Magpies a chance of making the finals. After several years IDEAS AND of unacceptable results, frustrated supporters and media were calling for coach Nathan Buckley to be sacked. There had been ISSUES IN THE a major club review, and one of the recommendations was that FILM Buckley had to change his coaching style.

8 CREATING A Buckley responded to the need to change his own ways of DOCUMENTARY interacting with the team, and even encouraged his players FILM to open up to each other in a deeper, more meaningful way. It was challenging: these were young men who weren’t used to revealing painful stories from their past and embracing © ATOM 2019 vulnerability.

2 Gradually, a more connected, selfless group shifted the culture at the club which led to a surprise result – on-field results started to improve as the players began to believe in themselves and each other.

The film is a raw and honest portrayal of the impact that the pressures of being an elite sportsperson and being in the media spotlight has on a group of individuals. As NATHAN BUCKLEY bears the brunt of the pressure of being an AFL coach, how does he adopt the more nurturing qualities needed to be a leader of young men?

ADAM TRELOAR’S season is just as testing. Struggling with anxiety and feelings of unworthiness, just getting himself on the field is a battle. Adam talks openly about the impact this has on his game and his teammates around him. How can he improve as a player if he can’t conquer his own self-doubts? And then in a freak event, he tears both hamstrings. Sidelined for most of the season we follow Adam’s fight to get himself physically and mentally back in the team

BRODIE GRUNDY is not your average footy player. Sensitive, bright, a university student. He loves footy but he has passions outside of the game. As he grows into one of the team’s most valuable players, Brodie questions whether football is enough for him in life.

And the veteran JARRYD BLAIR, a mainstay of the club in former years. But with younger players coming through and hitting better form, can he prove himself BEFORE WATCHING worthy of a spot in the first team again? Having welcomed his first son he needs a stable income. But spending the What is your image of a successful young elite majority of the season in the club’s reserves side means sportsperson? Brainstorm as a class to list key everything rests on a tense and emotional end of year ideas about the images you have of their: meeting with Bucks. • ATTITUDES AND VALUES Filmed over the 2018 season with unprecedented access • BEHAVIOR to the inner workings of the club and its personnel, • QUALITIES we train, travel and live with the key characters of an • SUCCESSES AND FAILURES unbelievable season. We share their tears, their joy, their • RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES struggles, and their achievements and failures. • SOCIAL PRESSURES ON THEM • PLACE WITHIN A TEAM While the film is about four individuals in one team during • PLACE WITHIN A SOCIETY one year, it is universal in its messages and insights not • PUBLIC IMAGE only to other football teams, but to all young men and women who are placed under public pressures, and who As you watch the film you can test these ideas need to know how to be able deal with those pressures. as they relate to four individuals.

CURRICULUM LINKS

From the Inside Out is a suitable classroom • ENGLISH – exploring an individual life and resource for secondary students of: communicating findings to an audience • PSYCHOLOGY – behavior and mental processes © ATOM 2019 • HEALTH AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION – • CIVICS AND CITIZENSHIP – the place of individuals participation in sport and its impacts on an individual’s and communities in society sense of identity and belonging • MEDIA ARTS – analysing the documentary film form 3 were alienating members, and others. Identify the image of Collingwood as a team when Buckley took over and the one portrayed in 2018. What aspects does the film suggest the team needed to change?

3 The film traces the changes that were made, and how the people in the team tried to find improved connections with the other members of the club. What were these main changes in the way the coach treated the team, and the EXPLORING IDEAS AND way the team members treated each other?

ISSUES IN THE FILM 4 You are part of several communities – home, family, school, and others.

» MEET THE FOUR CHARACTERS What do you value in those communities? What do you value in your community? Biographical information and responses 5 A team is part of a community. If you were part of the The film focuses on these four members of the Collingwood Collingwood Football Club, what would you value in that football team, known as the Magpies, or the Pies. community?

Fill in TABLE 1 on page 9. Explain their position or 6 How could you improve your connections with your background in column B, and write any thoughts or community? responses you have to them in Column C as you learn more about them.

» ISSUES AND IDEAS RAISED IN THE FILM

COMMUNITY AND CONNECTION

1 The film is about the members of a team, the Collingwood Football Club. What qualities or characteristics do you think are desirable in a team? © ATOM 2019

2 The film starts by providing criticisms of some of the qualities or characteristics of the Collingwood team that 4 SPORT AS A PART OF LIFE Nathan Buckley 7 Football is an important part of the four individuals’ lives, but it is not the only part. What other aspects of the individuals’ lives do we see? How successfully do they balance the football aspects with the non-football aspects?

Brodie Grundy

Jarryd Blair

Adam Treloar © ATOM 2019

5 There are organisations that can provide help to people suffering some mental or emotional problems (including bullying). You could research the nature of the help available through a support organization such as: ANXIETY / DEPRESSION • Headspace National Youth Mental Health Foundation 1800 6750 890 https://headspace.org.au/ 8 Adam Treloar is a gifted athlete, yet he struggles with anxiety and depression: • Beyond Blue 1300 22 46 36 https://www. beyondblue.org.au/ and Youth Beyond Blue www. “I was just worried about everything, what was thought youthbeyondblue.com about us, and me and stuff like that where before… I • Lifeline 13 11 14 reckon every game I’d walk off satisfied that, if we lost, • Kids Help Line 1800 55 1800 I was disappointed we’d lost, but satisfied that I went • Alannah and Madelaine Foundation https://www. out there, I got through the game. I contributed. I played amf.org.au/ my role. When I was walking off this year, I wasn’t even thinking about any of that… I just want to feel like how I used to feel after games. I walk off, just borderline in tears”

At one stage he calls himself ‘a terrible person’. What are the causes of this anxiety? You can consider personal non-wearing of seatbelts. If reluctance to seek health for elements, elements associated with his position in mental issues is a cultural trait, how could the culture be the club, and wider social pressures (such as public changed? expectations). Which are the most significant for him? 12 Physical courage is demanded of all in the team, but 9 Why is his decision to seek help a difficult and there are other sorts of courage. What examples can you courageous one? think of in your life, by you or others around you, that show courage? 10 Mental health issues seem to have increased among young men. Why might young men be reluctant to admit 13 How does the change in attitudes and behaviour of problems and seek help? the coach and team members of the Collingwood club support Treloar in addressing his problems?

11 Part of the problem might be the prevailing culture 14 One of the messages of the film is that ‘we are all of or attitudes towards what being a real man is. Cultural broken’. To show this, Nathan Buckley talks about the © ATOM 2019 characteristics can be changed – two good examples Japanese art of kintsugi. Do you think this is a useful way from the past are the culture of drink driving, and the to look at success and failure? Explain your views. 6 HEROES IN PUBLIC LIFE

17 Sporting stars are often in the public view, and are seen as role models. They often enjoy wealth and privileges above those of others. Do you think that their position imposes an obligation on them to be role models, to behave in a way that is above what is expected others? Explain your views.

18 Sports stars sometimes deliberately reject this expectation. They accept the fame and fortune, but do not accept that they should behave as role models. Do you think they have that choice? Explain your views.

19 Another Collingwood player not featured in the film, Dayne Beams, is currently on leave for mental health recovery. He suffered depression after the death of his father. During this time, he received abusive social media messages, including one that taunted him: ‘At least my dad’s still alive’. This turned out to be from a 13-year-old who had never met Beams. Beams admitted in response: ‘I am a broken man at the moment and this is very, very real for myself and the people I love’. (Weekend Australian Magazine 7-8 September 2019 https://www.theaustralian. com.au/weekend-australian-magazine/breaking-point- afl-players-speak-out-on-mental-health/news-story/ d7e9af02b02d72dcb716c80a52087a48)

What responsibility do we have in the messages we post about other people?

20 How can you protect yourself against such social media bullying and hatred?

LEADERSHIP

15 One of the strong themes of the film is leadership. At one stage, after the devastating loss by one kick of the Grand Final, Buckley says to his team: ‘I don’t know how to lead your boys right now’. Why is leadership important in the team and in society? What leadership qualities does Buckley shown throughout the film?

16 Who are the leaders in your life? What is there about them that makes them good leaders? © ATOM 2019

7 CREATING A DOCUMENTARY FILM

From the Inside Out is a form of documentary film-making. 24 The film was originally going to be about Nathan Documentaries can be different types: Buckley only. How might it have been similar and different if it had this focus? • FLY-ON-THE-WALL • POINT-OF-VIEW 25 Do you think it was a good choice to expand it? • ARGUMENTATIVE/PERSUASIVE/ACTIVIST Explain your views. • NARRATIVE, STORY-TELLING, INFORMATIONAL 26 There are a number of personal scenes shown in the • DRAMATIC ENTERTAINMENT. film, including Treloar’s interview with a psychiatrist, and Jarryd Blair’s final interview with Nathan Buckley. What do 21 Which type is this one? Justify your answer. these very personal moments add to the film?

22 Does it have elements of the others in it? Explain your 27 If you had to very briefly explain what you think the reasons. main message of the film is, what would you say?

23 Any film uses a variety of elements and strategies to 28 If you could ask any questions of either the footballers have an impact. Fill in TABLE 2 on page 10. Consider or the filmmakers about the ideas and messages and the way the following elements are used in the program. making of the film, what would they be? Summarise your ideas in the Comments column. 29 Do you think that From the Inside Out is an effective and successful program? Explain your reasons. © ATOM 2019

8 TABLE 1

A. B. Background C. Your responses as Person information about them you learn about them Q:

Nathan Buckley

Jarryd Blair

Brodie Grundy

9 TABLE 2

Aspect Comments

Structure of the program

Role of the narrator

Tone or style of the program

Use of music, sound

The choice of people involved

The choice of locations or scenes

The choice of issues raised

Use of interviews

The use of editing to create effects

Use of camera location and angles

10 PRODUCED BY GOODTHING PRODUCTIONS PRODUCERS NICK BATZIAS & CHARLOTTE WHEATON DIRECTORS JOSH CABLE & MARCUS COBBLEDICK www.goodthingproductions.com.au

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