5 players already signed by GWS

[The Big Steele]

Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Thanks for the laugh! What a classic! I have no idea why that poster has been carrying on like that either. It's funny though! In the first post of this thread, this poster said it was Dane Swan that will go, but now Scott Pendlebury is the perfect player. That poster is delusional. There is no way that they will pay $1.5 million. A house in the coast? Ha ha ha! Where is there a coast near western Sydney? The Indian Ocean maybe? That's a fair drive. Future coach to a 23 year old midfielder? Lifetime contract? A job in the media? Who is going to watch in western Sydney where they only care about rugby league? Crazy crap indeed. Collingwood could offer most of those things too, but are not that stupid, and for anybody to even suggest that GWS could do that too is just ridiculous.

Look at how much money and whose money are behind the GWS. It is in the AFL's advantage to have GC and GWS in the top 4/6 within 3 years from a marketing and national game perspective.

Gary Ablett got $1.5 million dollars a year. Whatever reason he left. He was well remunerated. One player will get that type of money from GWS. To be the face of GWS. The player that GWS decides is it's franchise player.

Why not a 23 year old Norm Smith medalist, All Australian coming out of contract.

The house doesn't need to be near West Sydney. Just because you play for West Sydney doesn't mean you can't buy a house somewhere near the coast. Look at how Clinton Casey got Nathan Brown to Richmond. He got him into real estate. So this type of thing can and does happen.

Because they have no tradition, whomever is GWS first captain will be actively involved in the Club for it's first 30 years and paid accordingly. Look at the examples of start up franchises like Brisbane and Port Adelaide. Naturally as first captain, you would get a fair crack at being a coach at a later date, look at Voss and Buckley etc, etc. That is being paid for a career as a player and as a coach for 20 years.

Collingwood can offer Scott a good deal as well. And we have the fact we have more tradition and a great supporter base and a likelihood of more premierships as huge positives in our favour of retaining him.

I hope Scott stays as he is by far my favourite player. As I said Collingwood made Kris captain of the VFL team and lets hope the pull of Scott's heart outweighs the pull of the $$$$$$.

 

[cos789]

What would the life style be like in West Sydney, Havnt been there myself?

Gold Coast has nice beaches, surfing etc, What has West Sydney got to offer?

The spine of the WS is the Parramatta river that travels from Parramatta to Sydney .There is a lot of quality out there ranging to the usual mundane which is common to most places .

.

 

[Demonheart]

I can think of an excellent reason.
Scully will be an absolute gun, and IMO he is going to become a very established midfielder very quickly. It's very possible that he could double his worth this season. Whilst there is an extremely small possibility his value will decrease.
Not to mention the pressure that will put on Melbourne. Scully is the face of the Demons rebuild, if they start to believe he might go, they'll fork out more coin.
When you think about it, Scully would be an idiot to sign anything until at least July. That's why IMO it's nothing to worry about just yet.

It might sound cold, but that's footy these days.

Spot on Naught. I have no idea if Scully will stay or go but if he does decide to stay then the later he signs the contract the better he will be.
I'm not expecting a result untill towards the end of the season, unless he picks up a long term injury.

At the moment Scully isn't worth an 'Ablett type' deal, at this point it's all based on potential, can GWS risk spending so much of their salary cap on Potential? It's not like signing Ablett or even someone like Pendlebury who has already consistently performed. It's a huge gamble that could easily backfire. The max that GWS would spend on him would be about $800k, even that's a huge risk on a 1st year player. Melbourne has cleared up future space by front ending contracts, we could easily pay him $500k plus to keep him, which means the difference isn't going to be that great.

Also, it's extremely rare that a young kid decides to leave after their first contract, GCS weren't able to get any and they had more pulling power imo because of Ablett and McKenna.

If we lose him I'll be upset but life goes on. I'd expect the club to fight to get the best possible compensation though, no other team will lose a recent number 1 pick to these new franchises.

 

[LifeSpan-Void]

I wouldn't be too surprise either but I don't have the negative conotation you have .I would say the AFL pushed the fact the GC was a secure option .
The bonusses would have been self evident .

.

Geelong was also a secure option, either way he was earning big money. Just that GC was throwing big, BIG money. The point is, He didn't decide to leave Geelong 48 hours before signing with GC - the (now defunct) garyablett.com merchandise firesale website was proof of that. He didn't leave because of a rift with Thompson. He didn't leave because he wanted to play with Nathan (Nathan had all of 2008 to change his mind and play with Gary again at Geelong, chose to become a "builder" ...on the Gold Coast of course!). He didn't leave because he wanted to be captain. He wanted to leave so that he could be known as the game's highest-paid player, because he wants to be bigger than dad. Paint my post negatively, but it really would have been less damaging to his standing with Geelong supporters if he'd a) said he was leaving sooner so Geelong weren't left unprepared for other contract negotiations, and b) cut the bullshit regarding his reasons for leaving. The truth is harsh, but holds up better in the long term.

 

[lewigie]

As I've said, there are a minority of players that won't say no to that, but the majority will definitely need other reasons to shift. Gary Ablett needed other reasons, and I don't think it will be any different for the biggest name player that GWS gets. That said, I doubt that they will be paying that figure to any player that I can think of.

You're joking right?

A 20 year old would knock back $1.5 mil a year, setting them up for life? ****, he could retire after that one year if he wanted.

 

[Rummy]

Geelong was also a secure option, either way he was earning big money. Just that GC was throwing big, BIG money. The point is, He didn't decide to leave Geelong 48 hours before signing with GC - the (now defunct) garyablett.com merchandise firesale website was proof of that. He didn't leave because of a rift with Thompson. He didn't leave because he wanted to play with Nathan (Nathan had all of 2008 to change his mind and play with Gary again at Geelong, chose to become a "builder" ...on the Gold Coast of course!). He didn't leave because he wanted to be captain. He wanted to leave so that he could be known as the game's highest-paid player, because he wants to be bigger than dad. Paint my post negatively, but it really would have been less damaging to his standing with Geelong supporters if he'd a) said he was leaving sooner so Geelong weren't left unprepared for other contract negotiations, and b) cut the bullshit regarding his reasons for leaving. The truth is harsh, but holds up better in the long term.

Spot on, he left for the money, and not any other reason despite how disillusioned supporters try to convince themselves. Obviously not everyone is like him, but given the volumes of money being thrown around, surely others will also become mercenary's and supporters just need to realise that even though it may hurt, would you really want someone like that at your club anyway?

 

[muttonchops]

I’d just like to say that all of these comments about Ablett leaving because he didn’t get along with Thompson is just naivety. At the end of the previous premiership winning season he was offered as much money as Geelong could possibly muster for him, yet he asked that contract talks be put on hold until the end of the next season. Why would he do that when knowing full well that they couldn’t possibly offer him anymore than what they were trying to, no matter how well he played. The simple answer is that Gold Coast had thrown him a bucket load of money and he accepted, and continued to give his club a backhand by refusing to answer any questions about him staying on.

Thompson is a smart bloke and obviously realised that if he hadn’t already accepted Geelong’s best offer, then he was off to the Gold Coast, but became angry when Ablett wouldn’t be honest and admit it, even if only to the coaching/management board so that they could plan other player contracts for the next year.

So really he signed an agreement to sign a contract before the season had even began, and any thoughts of it only being decided at the end of the season is not only nonsense for the above reason, but also because Gold Coast also would have demanded an answer before the season had begun, so that they know how much money they have left to throw around for other players, or what type of other footballers are needed for team structure. I just simply cant imagine Gold Coast waiting until the end of the Geelongs season (expected to be in the grand final, with only 3-4 weeks from trade/draft day) and find out that Gary has decided to stay at Geelong, and they would be in a hopeless mad rush to spend $1.5 million a year on the scraps of who ever was left/hadn’t signed up throughout the year. The whole thing about Abletts manager going to the papers and saying that he was now weighing up both offers at the end of the season was nothing short of an embarrassing sham, and just spin doctoring to make people think he hadn’t been so dishonest to the Geelong football club by lying to them throughout the entire year.

As for suggesting it was because Geelong was on the downward spiral, I also find that very hard to believe, as by the middle of the season Geelong were still the premiership favourites (finished 2nd on the ladder), and it was only their loss in the preliminary final to Collingwood, that people all of a sudden thought, oh the Cats are over the hill… and I think we all realise now that he had already made the decision well before this occurred, hence it could also not have factored into his decision making. As for captaincy, well if he had of committed to the cats, it would of been given to him if he wanted, simple as that.

Also wasn’t his brother offered a heap of life lines at Geelong, and they gave him all the time in the world to decide if he wants to play for them, and yet he begrudged them. Was it because he knew his brother was going to the Gold Coast, and hence he said nah I don’t want to play footy with my brother at Geelong, but I will take a long punt that I may be picked up by the Gold Coast, who just happens to be targeting my brother…. So in the end all reasonable circumstances say that he left for the money and nothing else!

Fantastic post.

 

[sherb]

Spot on, he left for the money, and not any other reason despite how disillusioned supporters try to convince themselves. Obviously not everyone is like him, but given the volumes of money being thrown around, surely others will also become mercenary's and supporters just need to realise that even though it may hurt, would you really want someone like that at your club anyway?

If you were offered substantially more money (let's say enough to set you up for life) to move from your employer to their opposition would you stay put out of loyalty?

It's nice to think players will remain loyal to their clubs, but I don't blame them for making what is, in effect, a career choice.

 

[zero]

Rich.

He isn't going anywhere. Mitch Clark is the big worry.

lol, this thread is hilarious

people quoting a line from the player saying they are "very happy at the club" then declaring without equivocation that they are staying

take it from eagles and cats fans, people. what the player says means nothing in the end.

what matters is their contract negotiations.

if they say "want to be a one club player" or "they are looking forward to a premiership tilt" and they they delay contract negotiations, then start the get worried.

because, and heres the rub, players that genuinely "want to be a one club player" or really are "looking forward to a premiership tilt" sign contract extensions so they can concentrate on their football

exactly as nick naitanui and other GWS targets have done this off season

 

[TerryWallet]

Is it not the case that Dane Swan and Nathan Buckley do not get along?

I'm sure they have been professional to each other but......

 

[Patch Adams]

The only fans who have a right to feel safe are the Dees fans as Scully has actual reasons for not signing... zero had a fantastic post

if Rich is so happy at Brisbane why hasn't he signed

 

[MightyHawks]

If GWS signed Scully, Murphy and either Thomas/Pendlebury then they'd be taking the proceeds of tanking...

Collingwood tanked a match against Carlton to get that priority pick.

The Blues were a few goals up in the third quarter and their entire coaching box realised that the pies weren't trying to win the game.

It's pretty obvious to the opposition coaching box if you put all your best players on the bench and in the forward line and keep them there until you fall 7 goals behind...

 

[Gibbo_88]

The only fans who have a right to feel safe are the Dees fans as Scully has actual reasons for not signing... zero had a fantastic post

if Rich is so happy at Brisbane why hasn't he signed

They aren't starting new contract offers till the Fevola situation is sorted which looks like it's going to continue for some time.

 

[HFF]

If GWS signed Scully, Murphy and either Thomas/Pendlebury then they'd be taking the proceeds of tanking...

Collingwood tanked a match against Carlton to get that priority pick.

The Blues were a few goals up in the third quarter and their entire coaching box realised that the pies weren't trying to win the game.

It's pretty obvious to the opposition coaching box if you put all your best players on the bench and in the forward line and keep them there until you fall 7 goals behind...

Didn't your club get back-to-back priority picks?

 

[Professor Knowall]

It is not the case that Dane Swan and Nathan Buckley do not get along...

Corrected.

 

[ThePuppetMaster]

hopefully tom doesn't go, he does have legitimate and logical reasons for not signing, simply to get the best possible contract from melbourne... and while i don't like to see a player **** with the club... it really is shrewd tactics from scully's management

i hope he will stay, and if he leaves, the blame will lay with the club... because obviously they would be doing something wrong

 

[Daytripper]

I’d just like to say that all of these comments about Ablett leaving because he didn’t get along with Thompson is just naivety. At the end of the previous premiership winning season he was offered as much money as Geelong could possibly muster for him, yet he asked that contract talks be put on hold until the end of the next season. Why would he do that when knowing full well that they couldn’t possibly offer him anymore than what they were trying to, no matter how well he played. The simple answer is that Gold Coast had thrown him a bucket load of money and he accepted, and continued to give his club a backhand by refusing to answer any questions about him staying on.

Thompson is a smart bloke and obviously realised that if he hadn’t already accepted Geelong’s best offer, then he was off to the Gold Coast, but became angry when Ablett wouldn’t be honest and admit it, even if only to the coaching/management board so that they could plan other player contracts for the next year.

So really he signed an agreement to sign a contract before the season had even began, and any thoughts of it only being decided at the end of the season is not only nonsense for the above reason, but also because Gold Coast also would have demanded an answer before the season had begun, so that they know how much money they have left to throw around for other players, or what type of other footballers are needed for team structure. I just simply cant imagine Gold Coast waiting until the end of the Geelongs season (expected to be in the grand final, with only 3-4 weeks from trade/draft day) and find out that Gary has decided to stay at Geelong, and they would be in a hopeless mad rush to spend $1.5 million a year on the scraps of who ever was left/hadn’t signed up throughout the year. The whole thing about Abletts manager going to the papers and saying that he was now weighing up both offers at the end of the season was nothing short of an embarrassing sham, and just spin doctoring to make people think he hadn’t been so dishonest to the Geelong football club by lying to them throughout the entire year.

As for suggesting it was because Geelong was on the downward spiral, I also find that very hard to believe, as by the middle of the season Geelong were still the premiership favourites (finished 2nd on the ladder), and it was only their loss in the preliminary final to Collingwood, that people all of a sudden thought, oh the Cats are over the hill… and I think we all realise now that he had already made the decision well before this occurred, hence it could also not have factored into his decision making. As for captaincy, well if he had of committed to the cats, it would of been given to him if he wanted, simple as that.

Also wasn’t his brother offered a heap of life lines at Geelong, and they gave him all the time in the world to decide if he wants to play for them, and yet he begrudged them. Was it because he knew his brother was going to the Gold Coast, and hence he said nah I don’t want to play footy with my brother at Geelong, but I will take a long punt that I may be picked up by the Gold Coast, who just happens to be targeting my brother…. So in the end all reasonable circumstances say that he left for the money and nothing else!

Fantastic post but unfortunately the sense of it will fall mainly on deaf ears here.

 

[MightyHawks]

Didn't your club get back-to-back priority picks?

Yes we did.

Certainly weren't tanking in 2004.

Agreed we "accidentally" lost a couple in 2005 and got wait for it "Beau Dowler".

In 2006 however, we could've tanked as we'd been on the bottom all year, but we unfortunately won 5 games at the end of the year, missed a priority and got Mitch Thorp!

With those two we've already been punished enough...

My comment regarding the Pies stands. You tanked the Carlton game late in the year. No question. Pendles and Daisy the reward...

 

[reggie]

It's pretty obvious to the opposition coaching box if you put all your best players on the bench and in the forward line

Yeah, you must be tanking if you put your best players in the forward line! I mean that will never win you a game

 

[FAIRANDBALANCED]

Yes we did.

Certainly weren't tanking in 2004.

Agreed we "accidentally" lost a couple in 2005 and got wait for it "Beau Dowler".

In 2006 however, we could've tanked as we'd been on the bottom all year, but we unfortunately won 5 games at the end of the year, missed a priority and got Mitch Thorp!

With those two we've already been punished enough...

My comment regarding the Pies stands. You tanked the Carlton game late in the year. No question. Pendles and Daisy the reward...

Clever boy, but how can two players be the reward for one priority pick? Quite simply we would have gotten one or the other from our 1st round pick. A little like Roughead OR Franklin. If it's the only way you can feel good about a Pies premiership then keep spouting this crap, but I seem to remember a very tight COllingwood v Kangaroos match that year that went the Roos way, which Collingwood did a poor job of tanking in, it was less than a kick in it.

 

[ThePuppetMaster]

Clever boy, but how can two players be the reward for one priority pick? Quite simply we would have gotten one or the other from our 1st round pick. A little like Roughead OR Franklin. If it's the only way you can feel good about a Pies premiership then keep spouting this crap, but I seem to remember a very tight COllingwood v Kangaroos match that year that went the Roos way, which Collingwood did a poor job of tanking in, it was less than a kick in it.

were melbourne tanking when we lost by a kick after the siren???

you can't have it both ways bro

 

[Freomaniac]

Pick the odd one out.

Christ, Silvagni would be lucky if he didn't have 20 goals kicked on him per game these days with the amount of scragging he used to do.

Most overrated player of all time, in any sport, bar none.

You know, I've always defended Sheeds, but if he's looking to clone Silvagni, then he truly has lost the plot.

Your kidding me right? anyone that plays more than 300 games in any position is a legend at best and a good player at the worst.

 

[Freomaniac]

Whispers strike rate has been off a bit I've noticed since late last season, and I certainly don't think Dane Swan is one of them. He is very close with his Collingwood teammates, as he said many times, and Chris Tarrant is one of his best mates and has returned to the club. He is out of the age range of GWS, and he will be eligible for Collingwood's veteran list soon, so he will earn plenty then.

The players that GWS may have signed already are most likely 25 years of age and younger, and I don't think that includes any important Collingwood players. There are not many players that would sign with a new club straight after just winning a premiership, and most of Collingwood's players want to stay to experience playing under Nathan Buckley in 2012.

Scott Pendlebury knows he is the next captain of Collingwood so he will stay, and Dale Thomas has stated a number of times that he wants to be a one club player, so he will too. Collingwood's total player payments is also pretty low due to the very timely retirement of a number of experienced and well paid players after last season.The GWS does not have the same hope at all of getting a big name player like Gold Coast has. The two biggest names that Gold Coast got were Gary Ablett, and it was easy for him to leave because his brother and father live there. They also got Michael Rischetelli who was already living on the Gold Coast I think, and Jarred Harbrow is also a Queenslander, yet I can't think of any big name player that has ties to the western suburbs of Sydney.

Nathan Bock probably wanted to leave Adelaide for anonymity reasons because he is known as wife basher there, and to earn more money at his age. A deal was done to trade Campbell Brown to Port Adelaide by Hawthorn twelve months earlier, before pressure from members ended that, so he was always likely to leave. Finally, Gold Coast is a much more desirable living environment than the western suburbs of Sydney, so I think they will struggle to get a big name player.You obviously haven't thought about it deeply enough, because I think that is very, very, very unlikely. I can't imagine any Collingwood player choosing to leave before experiencing playing under Nathan Buckley and with the prospects of more team success.

I can't see any young player leaving Melbourne, Richmond, or even Carlton either when these teams have hopes of future success, although I can understand how Marc Murphy was been mentioned. If GWS has already signed five players, then I suspect it is from a club that is still a fair way from a premiership, or on the downward trend. The biggest name I can think of is possibly Jimmy Bartel, then maybe a player like Daniel Rich or Taylor Walker.

Good post.

Now you mentioned that Some of the established gold coast players that got taken were from gold coast. yeah that was true. I can only think of one AFL player that has links to western Sydney. He plays for the saints. His name is Lenny Hayes. Sadly for GWS hes contracted until the end of 2012 so to get him in the original squad GWS need to trade a pick or player or both to get him. Keep in mind hes 31 as well. He would be Perfect Captain for the GWS in the clubs 1st 2-3 years.

I mentioned Earlier of other AFL players recruited from NSW: Walker from Adelaide, Hawkins from geelong and Mitch Hahn from the dogs.

I reckon GWS will get Hahn since hes from NSW. Since hes 29 next season they could give him 2 or 3 years. Also because of his age, the compensation pick wont be a good one. More like a pick 40 or 50.

Walker would be a good addition but im tipping he will do a Kurt tippet and stay.

As I said GWS will get at least 4-6 established players and all will be on around $500,000 a year.

I also got a gut feeling a Sydney Swans player will go. Everytime a new team is established ans the 2nd team in the state, one player they usuallly pinch early is from the cross town rival.

Freo got Brett Heady from west coast, Port Got David Brown from the crows, Gold coast got brennan and rischitelli

 

[MightyHawks]

Yeah, you must be tanking if you put your best players in the forward line! I mean that will never win you a game

Ah but if all your best players are either on the bench or in the forward line then you'll get destroyed.

Trust me, the Carlton coaching box knew the Pies were tanking...

 

[Sttew]

I Spent two days in Western Sydney recently. It is the PITS. At least Gold Coast is appealing on the eye