We all know of the importance of a football coach. And a football manager. The head of fitness. The chief executive officer. The players.

But what about the recruiters?

The football public generally only turns its attention to the talent scouts on draft night, when we hear new names called out for the first time on national television.

What we don’t consider, though, is the volume of time, effort and dedication required from a recruiter.

This year, Collingwood is recognising two of its longest serving scouts with Special Service Awards.

Michael Armfield and Frank Johnson have both been involved in the search for the next Magpie superstar for more than two decades.

“With all of our recruiters, and in this case Mick and Frank in particular, they’ve had really long association with the club,” General Manager of List Management Derek Hine told Collingwood Media.

“Through all my time and having had an association with them, nothing is ever too much trouble. The amount of work they do in terms of watching games and sourcing their networks and everything else is over and above the call of duty.

“When we go to Adelaide from Melbourne, Mick will be there at the airport to pick us up and drop us off. It’s all these sorts of little things that make our job a little bit easier.

“It’s the same with Frank. It’s nothing for Frank to jump in the car and drive to Albury to watch a game, then turn around and come back.

“They are thankless tasks and require hours and hours put in behind the scenes and are always reflective of the selection we make at end, be it Sean Rusling, Alan Didak, Dane Swan, Tom Hunter, or whoever it might be.

“It’s just not a matter of rolling up to a game and looking at a player. There are so may more pieces involved, and it’s these guys who help put the jigsaw together.”

Frank Johnson
After a playing career at Port Melbourne in the VFA that included a premiership in 1980, Johnson took up a position as a part time Victorian-based recruiter with Collingwood in 1999. For more than 19 years, he has attended thousands of games, all the while working full time as a branch manager at the Commonwealth Bank. During this time, Johnson has been heavily involved in the recruitment of almost every Victorian-based player to represent the Magpies. Indeed, it was Johnson’s personal recommendation that saw Dane Swan plucked at pick No. 58 in the 2001 National Draft. Now, in 2017, Johnson remains a pivotal part of the club’s recruiting network, acting as its Victorian Futures Scout.

Hine’s story
“I’ve been in association with Frank from when I was employed as a part-time recruiter in my early days and then ever since I took over from Noel Judkins. Frank has enormous experience in the game and he just has that uncanny knack of actually finding little traits in players that has a real correlation to AFL footy.

“He played the game for many years, and his father, Frank, is in the VFL/ AFL Hall of Fame for his time at Port Melbourne and South Melbourne. He only passed away quite recently.

“He looks after the under-17 program for us, watching those who are one year out from being drafted, but he has had a really strong association with our program at all levels for 20 years.

“Before my time, he had a really strong slant towards and really pushed hard for Dane Swan. He was really strongly involved in that selection. Frank predominantly works with the northern region, with teams like the Northern Knights and the Calder Cannons, and has helped bring through those players for 20 years.”


Michael Armfield
Armfield enjoyed a playing career with Glenelg and North Adelaide in the SANFL, and later went on to coach throughout South Australia. He joined Collingwood as a South Australian recruiter in 1999, and remains in the position as the club’s South Australian Recruiting Manager. Across 19 years, Armfield has combined his work as a fireman with more than 1500 games of football. During his time, Armfield has been heavily involved in the recruitment of native Croweaters such as Alan Didak, Matthew Lokan, Sean Rusling, Brodie Grundy, Tim Broomhead, Matthew Scharenberg and James Aish.

Hine’s story
“Mick worked as a part-time recruiter, and when we restructured the program he actually started managing our state program. He oversees all recruiters for our game allocations with other part-time staff interstate. He has had really strong association with James Aish, Alan Didak and Sean Rusling just some of the players to have come out of South Australia.

“With Rusling, there is quite an interesting story behind it all. For Mick and myself, it was quite a clandestine operation. In 2004, Sean was playing school football with Westminster College, and with draftees from South Australia and Western Australia, they needed to have played a minimum of one SANFL or WAFL game to quality for the National Draft, and Sean hadn’t played one.

“We sat down with Sean and his parents and made a strong commitment that we would take him, but at that point in time, he hadn’t played that SANFL game. Fortunately, Mick and his contacts at the time had him sit on the bench for West Adelaide’s reserves and play the second half. We took Sean at pick No. 23 in that draft (editor’s note: Rusling went on to play 17 senior games across six years (including four finals), and would have played many more had it not been for a series of shoulder and collarbone injuries. Tall, robust and lightning quick, Rusling was touted to feature alongside Travis Cloke and Chris Dawes in the Collingwood teams of the past decade before retiring at the end of the 2010 season).