Million Dollar Smiles: AFL Superstars Soar High Above The Pack
Sporting Those Smiles Amid Successful AFL Seasons
Sport is good for elite sportspeople in Australia. Australians love their sport and Australian Rules footy is the pinnacle of that audience appreciation “down-under”. Companies like Colgate want to have their product associated with the Heeneys and Petraccas of the AFL universe. Star power rubs off big time in the Great Southern Land. Kids want to be like Isaac Heeney. They want to be celebrated for their sporting prowess and star power. Isaac has a natural smile and you’d be hard pressed to find a better fit than toothpaste in the marketing catalogue. Heeney has plenty to grin about these days. As long as he keeps that mouthguard in, protecting his pearly whites, there will be plenty of sponsorship deals coming his way for a goodly time yet.
AFL Player Role Models Flying High & Inspiring Our Kids
Australia is fast becoming a place where those celebrated reap rich rewards and benefit from a myriad of juicy deals. In contrast, the rest of us slum it on struggle street in a cost of living crisis with no end in sight. Dentistry is at the pointy end of this 2 speed economy, where the ‘haves’ have perfect white teeth and the ‘have nots’ keep their gob shut. You don’t want to frighten the children after all. Colgate splurges the big bucks on sporting superstars like Petracca and Heeney. Kids dream of charging across the MCG, as they brush their teeth with the white stuff hoping that something might rub off apart from plaque. Mum and dad drive their beloved offspring to ovals and sporting grounds across the country facilitating their junior forays into AFL. Charlie Cameron and Lachie Neal feature in another AFL approved ad on our screens. The theme is once again dabbling in time travel and dangles that message of generational transformation under the auspices of role models inspiring our kids.
Game Face Smiles & Infinite Endorsments
Isaac Heeney launched himself higher than an AFL player had done in a very longtime to pull down a screamer at the SCG. He was so high dentists wonder if his teeth hurt from altitude pressure? Heeney was still smiling, however, when picked up off the ground following his landing. Gee that guy smiles a lot! Is it fair that someone looks that good and still plays the game so hard? Dental companies must be lining up to stuff money in the pockets of this superstar and not just the folk at Colgate. I imagine clear aligners would be doing their due diligence on him. Mouthwash manufacturers would be gargling to get Heeney to hold up a bottle of their disinfectant. Flossing firms would be hard pressed to find a better exponent to flog their product.
Aussies Ogling Heeney & Petracca
Lauding sporting superstars and celebrities is something we have indulged in via the American example. Yes, we have long had our love of Don Bradman and Phar Lap but this thing has taken off exponentially. Marketing has fed it like an addiction. Big money has taken over professional sports like footy. AFL players are earning 1.5 million dollars per season at the upper end of things. Guys like Petracca and Heeney are in this league. TV networks pay the code billions for the rights to televise the game. Corporate bookmakers have infiltrated the footy codes like nobody’s business. The game is flush with funds. You gotta keep brushing your teeth to combat those sports drinks. Isaac Heeney and Christian Petracca seem like really nice young guys from what you can glean from their media appearances. I suppose never having to worry about how you are going to afford to pay the rent or buy enough food to live probably keeps you pretty happy. These guys have worked hard to achieve their success however, the plaudits and rewards are not just handed out to anyone.
The Brisbane Lions superstar Charlie Cameron has had his challenges with teeth via an on-field head clash.
“The rollercoaster really began halfway through 2023 when a head clash with Richmond’s three-time premiership skipper Trent Cotchin knocked out Cameron’s front teeth. One aspect of the lively small forward’s career that is often overlooked is his resilience. Not only did he return to the Gabba that night and kick two goals in a huge win, he played the next week, the week after and the remainder of the season with false teeth in place of the missing ones.”
– AFL.com.au
Clean Living Sporting Superstars
The AFL promotes a cohort of clean living superstars as their wunderkinds playing the game at the highest level. Eddy McGuire bangs on about bringing in a name and shame regime to weed out the recreational drug users from the AFL. The club docs and players do not support such a thing. Old people always want to give the wildness of youth a hard time, just watch those Channel 7 News videos on YouTube if you don’t believe me. They are like outrage fodder for uptight oldies to get their jaundiced eyeballs on screen. Youth crime is a political and media beat up. Young blokes are going to do stupid things from time to time, it is part of being young for heaven’s sake. Footballers are not machines or robots. We used to celebrate their feats on weekends, but now the social media cycle is 24/7.
AFL Elite Footballers Living The Good Life
AFL superstars and their million dollar smiles are Australia’s mirror to its best vesrion of national self. There is an air of innocence about Heeney and Petracca, as if they have been unsullied by the grind of real life. Perhaps, this is true to some extent. A life concentrated upon a game and everything else is taken care of by managers and the club you play for. Heeney started young in the Swan’s Academy, so he has been operating within this cosseted realm for many years. They are akin to those old Hollywood stars from the first half of the 20C, however, without the sleaze, mostly. Perfect white teeth, Colgate smiles and multiple investment properties in the kick bag. It is a good life when things are going according to plan. Christian Petracca has tasted the alternative, this year, when he nearly died from injury – it must have come as a nasty shock to his system. This is probably why he suddenly wanted out of the Melbourne Demons despite his long contract already in place.
“Research from the Australian Dental Association (ADA) found two-thirds of Australians don’t visit the dentist yearly, due to affordability concerns. Up to 63 per cent cited high cost as the reason for delays.”
The ADA’s 2024 annual oral health survey of 25,000 people also found that only one-third of Australians went to the dentist for a regular check-up.
Many relied on public dental services, which have extensive waiting lists.”
– ABC.net.au
Dentistry and your ability to afford it is the litmus test in Australia, as to what side of the wealth measure you reside. Smiling is easier when your teeth are not yellow and rotting. Gaps in your smile are like permanent holes in your self-esteem on display for the world to see. AFL footballers risk their teeth every game they play but most of them can afford the first class remedial work if required. Just ask Charlie Cameron. Colgate has Heeney as a soaring ambassador for being at the top of your game. All well and good if poverty and failure are not your regular companions on and off the field.
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