It seems like a rather harsh judgement, particularly when you consider how few people ever make it to play in the AFL, but Tony Armstrong regards his football career as a failure.
Armstrong played 35 games across three clubs, the Adelaide Crows, Sydney Swans and Collingwood, from 2007 to 2015 before hanging up his boots with unfulfilled ambitions at the age of 25.
"I think 100 per cent that I failed," Armstrong says.
"What makes anyone who has played at an elite sporting level good is that you are never content but for me, success would have been playing 250 games of AFL, a premiership in there, being a dominant player for a long period of time and I wasn't that and that's OK. I am OK with having failed."
It was undoubtedly a bitter disappointment and many a delisted player for whom footy is everything has struggled to then change tracks, but Armstrong says it taught him a valuable life lesson.
Tony Armstrong on his first day taking over presenting sport on News Breakfast.(ABC News Breakfast)"It made me more willing to take risks, to put myself out there," he says.
"The job I'm in now [presenting sport on News Breakfast] could be quite a stressful job but I dot my 'i's and I cross my 't's', I work hard, I do my best and that's all I can do. If I fail, which at some point might happen, I know I'll be OK because I've failed before and I'm OK. I'm so grateful to have learned that lesson so young."
This relaxed, philosophical attitude has enabled Armstrong to laugh off the occasional on-air stumble, as he did last September when reading a story about Australian cricket captain Tim Paine needing neck surgery for a bulging disc and accidentally saying Paine had a "bulging dick".
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"Isn't that the funniest thing ever?", he laughs, recalling the moment.
"I think that's just hilarious. It just happened so quickly and before I knew it everyone was having a heart attack on the panel and that made it even funnier but you can't let something like that derail you."
From the world of sport to the world of dogs
It's been a meteoric rise for Armstrong who took over the News Breakfast sports presenter role a year after joining the ABC in June 2020. He'd started at the broadcaster as a sports news producer/presenter and commentator on Grandstand AFL and then hosted the summer series of Offsiders.
YouTube A Dog's World promoBeing prepared to 'put himself out there' has landed him a new gig, hosting an ABC TV show about dogs – A Dog's World with Tony Armstrong.
"I love dogs and it's nice to be able to do something outside sport so when the opportunity came up, I jumped at it," he says.
The three-part series features interviews with the world's top canine researchers on everything from a dog's super senses to practical tips for owners.
"I think the biggest thing I learnt from the series was how dogs manipulate us, how they give us the 'puppy dog eyes' and know how to get what they want out of us. It's really clever of them," says Armstrong.
Tony's dog is named Junior.(Supplied: Tony Armstrong)"There was a dog in my life called Junior, a labrador, that did that. He'd manipulate me with his body language and that absolute little legend got away with absolutely everything. It was a great relationship, though, he was such a beautiful, beautiful boy. Unfortunately, I had to put him down which was hard [because] you get so attached."
Sport gave me a sense of community
A proud Aboriginal man, Tony Armstrong grew up in rural NSW and inner Sydney, before finishing his education at a boarding school in country Victoria.
He was an only child, raised solely by his mother, Margaret, who has been a powerful guiding force in his life.
Tony and his mum, Margaret.(Supplied: Tony Armstrong)"She's everything to me," he says.
"Every opportunity I've gotten has been because of her."
While not Indigenous, she fostered pride in his heritage and culture.
From a young age, he was drawn to sport.
A young Tony Amstrong getting an autograph from his hero, Adam Goodes.(Supplied: Tony Armstrong)"Because I was an only child, playing sport was where I got to make friends, hang out with people, all of those kinds of experiences you don't necessarily get when you're an only child. I had an awesome upbringing, but sport was the place where I found my sense of community."
As a child, he idolised Swans champion Adam Goodes, but Armstrong could never have imagined that as an adult he'd end up playing alongside his hero.
"It was it was such a spin-out," he recalls.
"I was like, 'What's going on here?' If 10-year-old me could see this I would bloody implode!"
Goodes and other Indigenous players, Andrew McLeod, Michael O'Loughlin, Eddie Betts, Graham Johncock, became good friends and mentors. More recent influences have been academic Marcia Langton and activist and writer Nayuka Gorrie.
Living with racism every day
After retiring from footy, Armstrong set his sights on broadcasting and has blazed a trail in Australian media. He started out as a special comments broadcaster on the National Indigenous Radio Service and in 2019 became the first Indigenous play-by-play AFL caller on commercial radio, at Triple M in Melbourne. Then came TV appearances on the Marngrook Footy Show and an online panel show, The Colour of Your Jumper.
"To be the first Indigenous caller was massive for me and it was really humbling," he says.
"Obviously, it happened way too late, but I'm so proud of it and I love the opportunity now that News Breakfast is giving me to put an Indigenous face on mainstream telly. It's great. Whilst [the lack of diversity] is getting better, all media need to improve because I don't think we are where we need to be."
Armstrong decided to pursue a media career after retiring from playing football.(ABC News)Armstrong says he confronts racism personally on a regular basis. He's also spoken out publicly about high-profile incidents, such as the systemic racism uncovered at Collingwood football club, despite a nasty backlash he often cops.
"Racism is just part of life for me, it happens so much, from slurs to police profiling you, to people following you around in shops, it's so tiring," he says.
"But I can't sit idly by as these [public incidents] happen and say nothing, I have a responsibility to speak out. It's of the utmost importance. It does take a toll on me emotionally every time I do it – you get people writing to you not necessarily saying the nicest thing to you and that's not easy. But it's a price I'm happy to continue paying. The last couple of years have been really divisive and I think people are struggling to disagree with each other respectfully. So, while I'd like to think things are getting better my experience is that they aren't."
The reaction to a haircut and a shave
Armstrong manages to switch effortlessly between providing informed commentary on serious issues to clowning around in a comedy skit (Tony's Terrible News) on The Weekly with Charlie Pickering.
With appearances on Channel Ten's The Project to boot, he's developed a significant public profile.
He's been dubbed a sex symbol, there've been calls for him to go on The Bachelor and getting his curly locks cut and shaving the mo triggered a social media tizz.
Tony's mum told him to get a hair cut and have a shave but the new look made headlines and triggered debate on social media.(ABC News Breakfast)But Armstrong isn't getting carried away with all the attention.
"It's very uncomfortable really, I don't enjoy all that stuff, I find it a bit weird," he says.
"I like to work hard and I take pride in my work and it's always surprising to me when there's interest in what I do. I'm focused on properly establishing myself on News Brekkie and getting really good at my job. There are still a lot of things I need to work on."
And whether he succeeds or fails, Armstrong knows he'll be ok either way.
"I just continue to look for opportunities to find the joy in things."
A Dog's World with Tony Armstrong begins Tuesday, March 22 at 8:30pm on ABC TV and ABC iview.
Tony Armstrong presents sport on News Breakfast on ABC TV weekdays from 6am.