Sydney Swans defender Robbie Fox is in career-best form with teaching to fall back on

This was no routine school visit from a footballer, because Robbie Fox is a qualified teacher and was legitimately taking some classes as a casual.

Much like Fox the footballer, substitute teacher Mr Fox was a long time in the making and has career origins in Melbourne.

From Burnie in Tasmania, Fox’s footy didn’t really take off until he arrived in Victoria to study education at RMIT. He joined VFL club Coburg, a breeding ground that has in recent years also produced Adam Saad, and under the guidance of Lions coach and former North Melbourne player Peter German became one of the VFL’s best emerging players, culminating in him being rookie listed by Sydney at the age of 23 at the end of 2016.

While footy was by that point the clear priority, Fox kept chipping away at his teaching.

So when Fox suffered a hamstring injury in round one of the VFL season this year playing for the Swans reserves against Footscray, teaching became a handy way to take his mind off a road back that proved longer than first hoped.

“When I was injured I had a couple of days here and there at Paddington Primary. It was a good change up to get your mind off footy, especially when things weren’t going your way.” Fox says.

He isn’t convinced that teaching is for him in the long-run, but it’s good to have the option.

“Not sure if I want to go down that path. It’s always there if I want to, but I’ve just started my MBA, so hopefully I’ll go down that track a bit more after footy.”

When you play your first AFL game a couple of weeks before your 24th birthday, live off one-year contracts, and are regularly fighting for a spot in a club that rarely misses the top eight, “after footy” never looks that far away.

But against the odds, Fox appears to be pushing that inevitability towards the medium-term at the earliest.

Bypassed for senior selection in the early rounds of the season despite playing an AFL final last year, Fox spent six weeks on the sidelines following that injury but forced his way back into the senior frame to be sub in round 11. Back out following round 12, Fox was recalled for the round 15 win against St Kilda and has played five games straight.

Having never had more than 21 disposals across his first 55 AFL games, he has bettered that tally in four of his last five since the return, becoming an unlikely rebounding weapon in the Swans’ surge towards what they hope will end in a top four berth.

An outstanding runner, Fox’s versatility has also been a strength. He attributes his recent form on a renewed focus to not only negate, but also attack as a medium-sized defender.

“Play a more overall game, don’t just worry about defence or offence, make sure I’m doing both,” he explains.

“I was actually in good form and playing good VFL footy as well but hadn’t played an AFL game.”

That Fox is playing career-best footy at 29 is remarkable on many fronts, not least that for a while at the end of 2020 there was a bit of doubt as to whether he’d continue on an AFL list at all.

With list sizes shrinking due to the financial hit of the pandemic, Fox’s existence on the fringe was amplified when he was surprisingly delisted despite playing 14 of the last 15 AFL matches for the season. Eventually he got the green light to be picked up again as a rookie, but it was an unpleasant chapter.

“I was just unlucky enough that I was one of the guys who were unsigned and in limbo a bit,” Fox says.

“It was tough at the time because I thought I’d had a good year and I thought I’d warranted a contract. Clubs didn’t know exactly what they were going to do with list sizes, so at the last minute I got delisted, but the plan was to always get picked up [as a rookie]. But it still hurt a little bit.”

He remains out-of-contract beyond 2022, but knows that playing well is the best way to ensure the dream lives on for at least another year.

“No talks yet … I’m sure everything will take care of itself,” he says.

A narrow defeat to Greater Western Sydney – the Swans’ opponents this week – in an elimination final last year has fuelled a burning desire to go deep in September this time around.

“It was pretty horrible the way we finished last year, losing by a point to the Giants. We’re building as a team at the moment. We’ve got such a diverse group of players.”

With an AFL team in the Apple Isle on the agenda, Fox says he supports the idea, half-jokingly saying that he could have a chat to Swans chairman Andrew Pridham about helping ensure it eventuates.

“If a Tassie team could come in and be a local influence on local footy then that would be great.”

But while it is Tasmania where his story starts, it is German to whom Fox credits much of his rise. Fox quips that he had “no idea” how to compete against AFL players when he arrived at Coburg and that German helped chisel Fox’s body to the point it was ready for the big time.

More Coverage

Sam Reid’s relentless rise from the ashes

Neil Cordy

“He taught me a lot, how to be a professional.”

It has been a circuitous route, but Fox is glad with how it has panned out, noting how he managed to enjoy the type of college life in Melbourne experienced by very few AFL players.

“You do look back on it sometimes and think it’s a pretty cool journey. When I was 20, 21, 22, playing local footy and going to uni and not even thinking about playing AFL. ”