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Former Sydney Swans star Brandon Jack has given footy fans a glimpse into the lives of what it’s like to be a player on the fringe of an AFL side’s first-grade team with his new fictional novel.
Jack, 31, is an Australian author, journalist, and a former professional footy player.
He played for the Swans between 2013 and 2017, making 28 appearances in footy’s top flight, before being delisted by the club.
Following the conclusion of his footy career, Jack turned to literature, winning an award after he published his memoirs, detailing what life is like playing pro footy back in 2021.
Now, he has published his first novel, entitled ‘Pissants’.
The fictional book delves into the lives of AFL players contracted to a fictional and unnamed club, but are stuck on the outskirts of the first team.
Former AFL player Brandon Jack has released a new novel entitled 'Pissants'. The book sheds a light on several fringe players at a professional footy club
It is a crude and confronting tale about the inner workings of a club, with Jack revealing that even he did not like some of the themes included in the book, but included them to keep the authenticity of what life is like at the top level.
‘There are things the characters say, and things that they do, that I disagree with. When I tried to change it, it felt really fake,’ he told The Guardian.
‘It felt like it lost energy. Because with my experience of the football world, I know that beneath what you see on the field and in the interviews, it’s all a little bit dark.’
Sport runs in the family for Jack, with his father, Garry, enjoying a distinguished career in rugby league’s top flight, winning 22 caps for the Kangaroos between 1984 and 1988. He also made 244 appearances for the Balmain Tigers.
The characters in ‘Pissants’ have nicknames like Fangs, Mud, Shaggers and Big Sexy. The book sheds a light on the extent these players will go to establish themselves as a key member of the squad, from lewd inside jokes, themes of loyalty and bizarre team rituals.
The group don’t play all that often, instead issuing their resentment to those playing in the first grade side.
The bitter players make their own rules. They kidnap a team-mates dog, abuse painkillers during sponsor events and get chucked out of nightclubs.
‘The Pissants group, that core group of players that we follow, are unknowingly staring out into the void searching for meaning,’ Jack explains.
Jack played 28 times for the Sydney Swans between 2013 and 2017, making 28 appearances in footy’s top flight, before being delisted by the club
‘They’re at their footy club, and they’re getting nothing back. They’re not wanted, they’re not needed. So they’re experiencing a kind of existential dread of: “What is my purpose?”, which they funnel through their rituals and drinking games.
‘They’re creating and cultivating their own meaning in the universe. That’s how a lot of us operate.’
The unique and innovative book explores themes of masculinity and fragility, with many of the characters putting up a front to mask emotions of loneliness and alienation.
Jack adds that the humour, which shines through the book, is something he is grateful for. He adds that the comedy elements in the book also ‘capture what was for me a pretty dark place at times.’
‘I'm at a point now where I realise there were things in [that experience] which were seriously funny,’ he told ABC.
‘The reason for all my searching was that I just wanted somebody else around, to be connected.
‘To be able to write this in a way that conveys both of those things was important.’
One other big theme he explores in the novel is the topic of bullying.
Jack (left) opened up on the themes in the fictional book, explaining that it delves into how some players put on a front to establish themselves
The ‘Pissants’ bond by the abuse they subject members of the group to. From Kangaroo Courts to cruel pranks, the group is ruthless when it comes to their team-mates.
Jack says that this is very strong in footy clubs, but adds that in-jokes are also a big deal.
‘Sometimes, you really want to be in on the joke, even if it's at your expense, because the alternative is loneliness, and that's almost a worse fate,’ he adds to ABC.
‘That's why, in my mind, these players are engaging the way they are. I think they're looking for some sort of meaning and connection to other people, and that's the way they get it.’
After hanging up his boots, Jack doesn’t miss playing at the top level. Instead, he revealed he’s moved on from the sport, revealing that it had taken him some time to get back into running.
‘It took me a while post-footy to just enjoy going for a run,” Jack said to The Guardian.
‘But I’ve found the joy in putting the runners on, putting headphones in and just going at a slow pace, far less intense than I used to.
‘Sometimes I find myself creeping up when it’s meant to be an easy 5km run, sometimes I end up flogging myself. There’s something I still like about knowing what my mind and body can do.’
