Inside the share house where Saints players learn to clean the bathroom and put the bins out

3 days ago 12

In a quiet pocket of Malvern East is a share house that has so far produced seven St Kilda debutants, where there is a whiteboard different from those familiar to most AFL players.

Instead of magnets showing positional moves, this whiteboard assigns chores to players. Last weekend’s debutant, Alix Tauru, is on bin duty (inside and out). Irish rookie Liam O’Connell has to clean the bathroom, and former Geelong Falcons prodigy Angus Hastie needs to tidy the kitchen and pantry.

St Kilda footballer Mason Wood with partner Mikaela Schreuder and housemates Alix Tauru (left), Angus Hastie (back), and Liam O’Connell.

The key tenants and house “parents” are St Kilda playmaker Mason Wood and his partner, Mikaela, and the hope is that Tauru, O’Connell and Hastie turn out to be just as promising as previous tenants Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, Mattaes Phillipou and Cooper Sharman.

It’s an ongoing joke at the Saints that if you live with Mason and Mikaela, you’re taught how to become an AFL player.

Mikaela is a performer by trade, including acting and dancing, who met Mason on the dating app Hinge during one of Melbourne’s COVID lockdowns in 2020.

When they started dating, they could only meet where their five-kilometre radiuses overlapped. Five years later they’re raising a family. Well, sort of.

“My friends think I’m crazy,” Mikaela laughed.

“But I actually enjoy it. It’s been quite interesting for me to understand what actually goes on in the AFL world, to be honest. I find it fascinating.

“I was saying to Liam, I actually think it’s really healthy for them to get to know someone that’s not living in their world, that’s not in the AFL bubble.

“I really don’t think it’s anywhere as bad as what people assume it would be – I’ve really enjoyed getting to know all of the guys and I genuinely like all of them. I think it would be different if you had a bad egg, but we don’t.

The whiteboard that sets out the St Kilda players’ house chores.

“We’re four years in, so at this point I guess I don’t know any different!”

Mason and Mikaela have rules. Every week, the chores whiteboard is updated and everyone’s tasks are laid out in black and white. It’s not just there for show, either. It’s punitive.

“There are fines for it,” Mikaela explained.

“So, if you don’t do your chores by the due date, it’s a $50 fine.”

The money goes towards having people over for dinner, which happens regularly. Hastie and Tauru both have girlfriends, while O’Connell is single but has no problem admitting that he’s ready to mingle (he’s 22, from County Cork in southern Ireland and is a professional athlete, for any girls who are interested).

Wood, who has come a long way since his days as a young, brash, North Melbourne forward, is nearing 32 and completing a masters in high performance.

“We actually call it the house of high performance,” O’Connell laughed as he rocked on his chair at the kitchen table.

Wood wants the young men who live with him to be more prepared for life as professional athletes – more prepared than he was.

Along with Mikaela, he mentors his three younger housemates.

Angus Hastie with his family before he made his AFL debut last year.

“It’s more modelling than anything else. Watching, observing and a little bit of supporting,” he said, leaning up against his kitchen bench.

“It’s not that you want to do it all again because, obviously, they were great times, but you reflect on it knowing that you weren’t doing everything that you should have been doing.

“But you just want to give guys the opportunity to make all of the hard decisions really easy. Whether that’s getting to bed slightly earlier or eating a little bit better – those sorts of things.

“And that’s what we’re doing here; supporting, modelling and trying to get everyone to bed before 9:30!”

The early bedtime has been easy enough to conquer; teaching the younger players how to cook has been an entirely different challenge.

Tauru, last year’s No.10 draft pick dubbed “the Flying Viking” for his aerial ability and Swedish heritage, has learned to make one meal –chicken, rice and broccoli, but it’s not without drama.

“We come out and the smoke alarm is raging, and it’s just like a fog – not sure if that’s Alix or the rangehood,” Wood said with a laugh.

Hastie is still trying to ween himself off pre-prepared Hello Fresh meals, but O’Connell is a “proficient cook”, according to Wood.

“I don’t expect guys coming in to be able to cook. I mean, I certainly couldn’t,” he joked.

There are plenty of jokes and even more laughter, but Wood believes there is a serious side to what he and Mikaela are doing.

“Parents are keen to get their kids in somewhere that is going to provide them with the best chance,” Wood said.

“When a kid is drafted … how many kids don’t have enough talent to make AFL footy? Basically, none. But the environment then plays a massive part – getting in good habits nice and early. Food, [and] sleep [are] the two biggest recovery modalities, and they are completely up to the individual to get right. Alcohol consumption is a big one as well.

“Even just talking through the four walls of a football club – it can be really difficult to navigate for young kids. People who are in and out of the team, what does that mean? Trying not to drop your bundle because that’s a lot of what I experienced at North.

“If I’m not going to use those experiences to help others, then what was the point?”

Wood hopes one day all four housemates will play in the seniors at once.

“It would certainly make transport situation easier.”

Such a Dad thing to say.

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