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Footy star turned TV presenter Tony Armstrong reveals leaving the AFL was his darkest hour – explaining why his mum kept him from pursuing his dream of playing rugby league
Not every wide-eyed kid with a little bit of talent can make it in the AFL, as television host and former player Tony Armstrong found out the hard way.
Now a sports host on ABC’s News Breakfast program, Armstrong appears regularly on The Project and Fox Footy, winning the Graham Kennedy Award for Most Popular New Talent at the 2022 Logies.
While he has certainly found his niche in the media, his first love was footy with his dream come true when he was drafted by Adelaide in 2007 with the 58th pick.
Armstrong can now laugh about his AFL playing days, but there were dark periods when he was eventually dropped from his final roster and wondered what to do next
Armstrong was primarily a defender, playing for Adelaide, Collingwood (left) and Sydney (right)
However, Armstrong would only play 14 games in two years for the Crows before being traded to Sydney and eventually landing on Collingwood’s roster.
After six years of racking up just 35 games and two goals, Armstrong was finally spat out by the AFL system and wondering what to do next.
Speaking on the Peking Duk Podcast on LiSTNR with Adam Hyde and Reuben Styles, Armstrong said it resulted in a serious soul search after throwing everything to make his footy dream come true.
The ABC News Breakfast sports host has won over fans with his big personality and love of a gimmick — like the time he randomly took over the program’s weather report (pictured)
“Coming out of footy it was probably the darkest time for me, just because I put so much into it, it took me a long time to reconcile with feeling like I was worth something,” he said.
“I went through a pretty dark time of similar self-esteem issues when I got out of footy and after that it probably took me a few years to get my groove back and I worked really hard on that.”
Although Armstrong couldn’t reach the level he wanted in the AFL, he was a promising teenager who originally wanted to play rugby league.
Hailing from Burrumbuttock in the central southern part of the Riverina region of New South Wales, Armstrong was a big fan of playing league until his mother set him on the right path.
“When I was in boarding school, I started getting letters from the AFL clubs and stuff, and then I went to service camps,” he said.
When asked if he also played rugby league, he replied: “I wanted to, but Mum said, ‘Ton, you’re just a little slut, it’s not for you.’
“I wouldn’t have done well in rugby union or league.”
Instead, Armstrong focused on AFL, admitting that entering the Adelaide Crows system was a huge shock to a young man fresh out of boarding school with no real skills.
“I finished boarding school on Friday, got accepted on Saturday, moved to Adelaide on Sunday and started Monday,” he said.
“I wasn’t the most mature 18-year-old, I was a pretty immature kid.
“It certainly didn’t go well in the beginning.
In addition to his role as an ABC sports host, Armstrong also appears regularly on The Project (pictured) and Fox Footy
“You’re expected to be this mature and make all these mature decisions, but so are they.” [the clubs] often treat you like a child, as if they are micromanaging everything.’
‘They often take your choice away from you. They tell you where to go, what to do, what to eat. All those decisions are kind of made for you.
“I was just an immature boy, it took me until I probably got to the end of football to understand what it took and then it was probably a bit too late.”