One-Eyed Richmond Forum

Football => Richmond Rant => Topic started by: yellowandback on December 09, 2009, 09:59:54 AM

Title: How would you feel if Cotchin was seen at GC HQ's?
Post by: yellowandback on December 09, 2009, 09:59:54 AM
With all the talk surrounding G Abletts meeting with Gold Coast and the ever reliable Hun survey revealing that 61% of readers believe he is within his rights to talk (I wonder what % of those are non Cats fans), I wonder how we would react if Trent Cotchin was seen in the same situation with a year to go on his contract?

Would you view it differently to the ablett situation?
Title: Re: How would you feel if Cotchin was seen at GC HQ's?
Post by: Tigermonk on December 09, 2009, 11:29:07 AM
football is pure buisness these days & loyalty means absolutely nothing.
The clubs treat it that way because they must to stay in buisness.
The players must get what they can when they can & if that means players leaving clubs to chase big money so be it
If l was Ablett,  l would take the huge offer as he has nothing left to prove in football.  He is one of the current best footballers because he is damaging & consistant each week & a bad game from him is 25 possies

Cotchin has not even made a name for himself or even dominated a single game so whats the big deal about him.
Simply & putting it blunt  ;D McMahon has done more on the field than Cotchin & they both been at the club the same time.
1 is a senior player with no skills & gets a game  ;D The other is broken & getting a game & getting more broken ;D


Start shooting  :lol  ;D
Title: Re: How would you feel if Cotchin was seen at GC HQ's?
Post by: Francois Jackson on December 09, 2009, 12:47:03 PM
football is pure buisness these days & loyalty means absolutely nothing.
The clubs treat it that way because they must to stay in buisness.
The players must get what they can when they can & if that means players leaving clubs to chase big money so be it
If l was Ablett,  l would take the huge offer as he has nothing left to prove in football.  He is one of the current best footballers because he is damaging & consistant each week & a bad game from him is 25 possies

Cotchin has not even made a name for himself or even dominated a single game so whats the big deal about him.
Simply & putting it blunt  ;D McMahon has done more on the field than Cotchin & they both been at the club the same time.
1 is a senior player with no skills & gets a game  ;D The other is broken & getting a game & getting more broken ;D


Start shooting  :lol  ;D


100% correct.

before we start putting Cotch in our best 22 let see the kid play consistent footy first.

We haven't seen anything from him yet, due largely to the tanned one and his coaching mates who dont have a clue.


Title: Re: How would you feel if Cotchin was seen at GC HQ's?
Post by: tigersalive on December 09, 2009, 03:20:08 PM
football is pure buisness these days & loyalty means absolutely nothing.
The clubs treat it that way because they must to stay in buisness.
The players must get what they can when they can & if that means players leaving clubs to chase big money so be it
If l was Ablett,  l would take the huge offer as he has nothing left to prove in football.  He is one of the current best footballers because he is damaging & consistant each week & a bad game from him is 25 possies


You would have stopped there and been very right until you had to go fishing like the attention-seeker you are.
Title: Re: How would you feel if Cotchin was seen at GC HQ's?
Post by: Ox on December 09, 2009, 03:57:08 PM
Rich
Title: Re: How would you feel if Cotchin was seen at GC HQ's?
Post by: the_boy_jake on December 09, 2009, 04:01:35 PM
I wouldn't want to see Cotch at the GC but I would love to see Gary Ablett Jnr at Punt Road.

This whole protectionist attitude is p!ssweak. Let things sort themselves out. The NRL doesn't have half the barriers facing player movement and is vastly more competitive on a week to week basis.
Title: Re: How would you feel if Cotchin was seen at GC HQ's?
Post by: Smokey on December 09, 2009, 04:41:41 PM

The NRL doesn't have half the barriers facing player movement and is vastly more competitive on a week to week basis.


And doesn't have a tenth of the support, esteem or rivalry driven by the history and loyalty of our code.  The NRL playing group has little 'connection' with it's supporter base because their players are employees in the true sense of the word, moving freely (and often) from job to job, both local or overseas whenever they like, with very public negotiations normally taking place during the course of the season.  The AFL, even though an elite and professional code, still maintains a strong link to it's roots through it's playing group and like it or not, the draft and salary cap go a long way to preserving that.  And I wouldn't have it any other way - if free agency means the NRL way then you can place it firmly where the sun don't shine.
Title: Re: How would you feel if Cotchin was seen at GC HQ's?
Post by: tiga on December 09, 2009, 05:40:18 PM

The NRL doesn't have half the barriers facing player movement and is vastly more competitive on a week to week basis.


And doesn't have a tenth of the support, esteem or rivalry driven by the history and loyalty of our code.  The NRL playing group has little 'connection' with it's supporter base because their players are employees in the true sense of the word, moving freely (and often) from job to job, both local or overseas whenever they like, with very public negotiations normally taking place during the course of the season.  The AFL, even though an elite and professional code, still maintains a strong link to it's roots through it's playing group and like it or not, the draft and salary cap go a long way to preserving that.  And I wouldn't have it any other way - if free agency means the NRL way then you can place it firmly where the sun don't shine.

Well said Smokey.  :clapping I love the AFL draft system and how players are not shopped around anywhere near as much as NRL players are. In the NRL, Jouneymen are commonplace and it is not unusual for players to play for up to 4 or 5 clubs during their careers.

Even though I support the Dragons in the NRL and go to many games, the difference between the two codes is chalk and cheese. I was given access to a corporate box for an Eels v Rabbitohs match at ANZ Stadium and the crowd was about 8000 in a 90,000 seat stadium. Mmmm now thats atmposphere...  ::) I am unaware of any AFL game drawing so few people even in the worst climatic conditions. Lucky I had the corporate box facilities to keep me happy. Apart from the Storm, no other clubs have banners, very few fans sing clubs songs or even know them for that matter. There are very few lengthy chats about footy at the water cooler and not much banter between staff who support opposing clubs and I am employed at a place you would call a Rugby League Nursery.

I have been to about 12 NRL Grand Finals and apart from the 99 Grand final, none of them are worth reminiscing about. When I was younger I went to 4 VFL Grand Finals including our victory in 74 and each one of them were events I will never forget, from the white crow sauce to standing in the change rooms behind the wire mesh gate watching boys warm up.
Title: Re: How would you feel if Cotchin was seen at GC HQ's?
Post by: the_boy_jake on December 09, 2009, 06:01:23 PM

And doesn't have a tenth of the support, esteem or rivalry driven by the history and loyalty of our code.  The NRL playing group has little 'connection' with it's supporter base because their players are employees in the true sense of the word, moving freely (and often) from job to job, both local or overseas whenever they like, with very public negotiations normally taking place during the course of the season.  The AFL, even though an elite and professional code, still maintains a strong link to it's roots through it's playing group and like it or not, the draft and salary cap go a long way to preserving that.  And I wouldn't have it any other way - if free agency means the NRL way then you can place it firmly where the sun don't shine.

The AFL is better supported because honestly it is a better product on the field. This does not mean that the AFL administration are doing everything right. Compare the standard deviation of wins or compare the number of close games and it becomes clear that all that the draft does is encourage teams to sit on their backside and wait for their time to come than to fight and win games. The AFL will never have a story like Wests Tigers in '05 because of this.

The point about moving overseas is a moot one when comparing with AFL. And the freedom of player movement at least lets you separate those who really love the club and are loyal from those who are bound to false loyalty by the system. Rather than letting players honour their contract and then go to e.g. their boyhood club you have a whole heap of cat-and-mouse games between club, agent, player, other clubs. Real threats, veiled threats, false threats. The Luke Ball episode was bad for footy IMHO. Free agency can't come soon enough.

But talking of history and tradition, the NRL have two things right -

1) Still using at surburban grounds.
2) Kids coming up through the ranks U17s/U19s/U21s/reserves/seniors. IMHO this is a more interesting story than kids going into a draft pool.
Title: Re: How would you feel if Cotchin was seen at GC HQ's?
Post by: Smokey on December 09, 2009, 07:14:12 PM

And doesn't have a tenth of the support, esteem or rivalry driven by the history and loyalty of our code.  The NRL playing group has little 'connection' with it's supporter base because their players are employees in the true sense of the word, moving freely (and often) from job to job, both local or overseas whenever they like, with very public negotiations normally taking place during the course of the season.  The AFL, even though an elite and professional code, still maintains a strong link to it's roots through it's playing group and like it or not, the draft and salary cap go a long way to preserving that.  And I wouldn't have it any other way - if free agency means the NRL way then you can place it firmly where the sun don't shine.

The AFL is better supported because honestly it is a better product on the field. This does not mean that the AFL administration are doing everything right. Compare the standard deviation of wins or compare the number of close games and it becomes clear that all that the draft does is encourage teams to sit on their backside and wait for their time to come than to fight and win games. The AFL will never have a story like Wests Tigers in '05 because of this.

The point about moving overseas is a moot one when comparing with AFL. And the freedom of player movement at least lets you separate those who really love the club and are loyal from those who are bound to false loyalty by the system. Rather than letting players honour their contract and then go to e.g. their boyhood club you have a whole heap of cat-and-mouse games between club, agent, player, other clubs. Real threats, veiled threats, false threats. The Luke Ball episode was bad for footy IMHO. Free agency can't come soon enough.

But talking of history and tradition, the NRL have two things right -

1) Still using at surburban grounds.
2) Kids coming up through the ranks U17s/U19s/U21s/reserves/seniors. IMHO this is a more interesting story than kids going into a draft pool.

A good debate Jake.  :thumbsup

I certainly agree that the AFL Administration are not doing everything right - I am a very vocal opponent of Demetriou's decision-making arrogance, especially with things like rule changes.  I don't know that the draft itself encourages clubs to "sit on their backside" - I would think that the main driver for doing that is the system of priority picks (an area the AFL are getting VERY wrong).  No club will remain viable in the long term of our code if they are seen by their supporters to be doing nothing to improve.  And those proponents of the tank among us will say that it has proved itself a panacea for improvement in recent years.

As far as overseas goes I think it is a very relevant point when discussing the 'connection' we AFL supporters feel we have with our clubs.  NRL Players disappear completely off the radar when they go overseas and put nothing back into the grass roots level of their sport by doing that.  Compare that to the AFL discards/retirees who return to the bush to play out their final years or even coach - they make it attractive to go to bush footy and they provide a real (I can touch it, I can feel it) link for the everyday supporter.  NRL players, by the very behaviour their code promotes, remain aloof in the public perception except for the handful that end up in high profile media positions.  I don't believe the Luke Ball episode was bad for footy at all - behind closed doors most of the key players would have known a long time ago what was the reality of the situation - we (the media-fed public) were just taken along for the ride and you can't say it wasn't good for keeping up a level of interest in the off-season.  What are the NRL doing at the moment on a daily basis?  And I genuinely ask while living in an NRL stronghold - I really don't know!

Still at suburban grounds?  Yep, emotionally I agree 100% but the reality is that if we (the nationalised competition) wanted to keep our attendance and support growth levels happening then we had to rationalise.  Did we go too far?  My opinion is yes - we could have kept improving another couple of grounds to a level commensurate with Skilled Stadium and kept a more 'suburban' identity but is our game at that level any more?  I think our clubs now identify with their supporter base rather than the suburb they originally represented - but our club is very lucky to have retained a strong link with Richmond the suburb and Punt Rd the ground.  We (Richmond) should move heaven and earth to continue nurturing this in the future - it will pay off in spades.

Kids coming through the ranks is a double-edged sword.  If a system drives the NRL approach then they also drive the approach of raping and pillaging the lower junior levels of any half reasonable talent into a couple of feeder clubs in order to tie up every potential senior player they can before said players appear on the radar of other clubs.  This has a potentially devastating effect on the growth of your code at the grass roots level.  Municipal boundaries play no part in segregating these kids fairly - money speaks all languages and the parents of these kids are as susceptible to funded arrangements as anyone else.  From an ego perspective, you might even mount a case for being more susceptible.  I listened to a former Wallaby test player (now doing a breakfast radio gig in Brisbane) laugh at the AFL televising the draft nationwide a few weeks ago.  I say to him - what was your code doing?  Which code was connecting with it's supporters in the middle of the off-season?  I know who the laugh was on!

I am a big fan of the draft and the salary cap Jake.  For all the shortcomings in our current system, I believe it is light years ahead of the alternatives as far as strengthening the position of our code in the very competitive environment in this country for support and the corporate dollar.
Title: Re: How would you feel if Cotchin was seen at GC HQ's?
Post by: mightytiges on December 09, 2009, 07:48:43 PM
All I know about NRL at the moment is they want to copy the AFL and have a independent commission but can they overcome the self-interests of clubs and traditional game authorities to set one up.

As for the thread question - you'd hope the club signs up Cotch early on next year to a new contract so it doesn't come to that. We should be hardly stretched for salary cap space given we've got a squad of 75% kids.
Title: Re: How would you feel if Cotchin was seen at GC HQ's?
Post by: torch on December 09, 2009, 08:34:14 PM
very very unhappy!

 :)
Title: Re: How would you feel if Cotchin was seen at GC HQ's?
Post by: the_boy_jake on December 09, 2009, 09:11:01 PM

I am a big fan of the draft and the salary cap Jake.  For all the shortcomings in our current system, I believe it is light years ahead of the alternatives as far as strengthening the position of our code in the very competitive environment in this country for support and the corporate dollar.

I got no problem with the salary cap, only the draft.

I really do think that if AFL players had the chance to go O/S at the end of their careers and secure their financial future, they would. Hell, those Gaelic footballers are pretty humble, down to earth blokes who give up so much to play for their county. If the AFL lures them, I got no doubt AFL players would be lured too (see Sav Rocca, Ben Graham). I do agree it is a blight on Rugby League, but don't see it as a relevant point in the argument for/against AFL player movement policy as

i) The option simply isn't there for AFL players
ii) If there was, the AFL would be powerless to stop players moving out of its jurisdiction anyway so their policy isn't relevant, just as they couldn't stop Graham or Rocca.

Happy to agree to disagree smokey, we have before and no doubt will again.
Title: Re: How would you feel if Cotchin was seen at GC HQ's?
Post by: Smokey on December 09, 2009, 09:16:53 PM

I am a big fan of the draft and the salary cap Jake.  For all the shortcomings in our current system, I believe it is light years ahead of the alternatives as far as strengthening the position of our code in the very competitive environment in this country for support and the corporate dollar.

I got no problem with the salary cap, only the draft.

I really do think that if AFL players had the chance to go O/S at the end of their careers and secure their financial future, they would. Hell, those Gaelic footballers are pretty humble, down to earth blokes who give up so much to play for their county. If the AFL lures them, I got no doubt AFL players would be lured too (see Sav Rocca, Ben Graham). I do agree it is a blight on Rugby League, but don't see it as a relevant point in the argument for/against AFL player movement policy as

i) The option simply isn't there for AFL players
ii) If there was, the AFL would be powerless to stop players moving out of its jurisdiction anyway so their policy isn't relevant, just as they couldn't stop Graham or Rocca.

Happy to agree to disagree smokey, we have before and no doubt will again.

 :thumbsup
Title: Re: How would you feel if Cotchin was seen at GC HQ's?
Post by: Penelope on December 09, 2009, 10:17:51 PM
There are very few lengthy chats about footy at the water cooler and not much banter between staff who support opposing clubs and I am employed at a place you would call a Rugby League Nursery.


Going back a while i spent 8 or nine months in Brisbane and this was something I noticed and had trouble understanding. One job i worked there was some discussion about rugby. this was in the off season but one bloke was a coach of a local side and another, a kiwi, ( what a surprise in QLD) was a keen union man had a nephew or cousin who was getting close to all black selection.

The other job was during the league season, we often played touch footy at lunch time but there was very little footy talk at smoko. A big contrast to when i was working in melbourne.

The exception was state of oranges games, but i that had more to do with NSW/Qld rivalry.


And doesn't have a tenth of the support, esteem or rivalry driven by the history and loyalty of our code.  The NRL playing group has little 'connection' with it's supporter base because their players are employees in the true sense of the word, moving freely (and often) from job to job, both local or overseas whenever they like, with very public negotiations normally taking place during the course of the season.  The AFL, even though an elite and professional code, still maintains a strong link to it's roots through it's playing group and like it or not, the draft and salary cap go a long way to preserving that.  And I wouldn't have it any other way - if free agency means the NRL way then you can place it firmly where the sun don't shine.

The AFL is better supported because honestly it is a better product on the field. This does not mean that the AFL administration are doing everything right. Compare the standard deviation of wins or compare the number of close games and it becomes clear that all that the draft does is encourage teams to sit on their backside and wait for their time to come than to fight and win games. The AFL will never have a story like Wests Tigers in '05 because of this.

The point about moving overseas is a moot one when comparing with AFL. And the freedom of player movement at least lets you separate those who really love the club and are loyal from those who are bound to false loyalty by the system. Rather than letting players honour their contract and then go to e.g. their boyhood club you have a whole heap of cat-and-mouse games between club, agent, player, other clubs. Real threats, veiled threats, false threats. The Luke Ball episode was bad for footy IMHO. Free agency can't come soon enough.

But talking of history and tradition, the NRL have two things right -

1) Still using at surburban grounds.
2) Kids coming up through the ranks U17s/U19s/U21s/reserves/seniors. IMHO this is a more interesting story than kids going into a draft pool.

A good debate Jake.  :thumbsup

I certainly agree that the AFL Administration are not doing everything right - I am a very vocal opponent of Demetriou's decision-making arrogance, especially with things like rule changes.  I don't know that the draft itself encourages clubs to "sit on their backside" - I would think that the main driver for doing that is the system of priority picks (an area the AFL are getting VERY wrong).  No club will remain viable in the long term of our code if they are seen by their supporters to be doing nothing to improve.  And those proponents of the tank among us will say that it has proved itself a panacea for improvement in recent years.

As far as overseas goes I think it is a very relevant point when discussing the 'connection' we AFL supporters feel we have with our clubs.  NRL Players disappear completely off the radar when they go overseas and put nothing back into the grass roots level of their sport by doing that.  Compare that to the AFL discards/retirees who return to the bush to play out their final years or even coach - they make it attractive to go to bush footy and they provide a real (I can touch it, I can feel it) link for the everyday supporter.  NRL players, by the very behaviour their code promotes, remain aloof in the public perception except for the handful that end up in high profile media positions.  I don't believe the Luke Ball episode was bad for footy at all - behind closed doors most of the key players would have known a long time ago what was the reality of the situation - we (the media-fed public) were just taken along for the ride and you can't say it wasn't good for keeping up a level of interest in the off-season.  What are the NRL doing at the moment on a daily basis?  And I genuinely ask while living in an NRL stronghold - I really don't know!

Still at suburban grounds?  Yep, emotionally I agree 100% but the reality is that if we (the nationalised competition) wanted to keep our attendance and support growth levels happening then we had to rationalise.  Did we go too far?  My opinion is yes - we could have kept improving another couple of grounds to a level commensurate with Skilled Stadium and kept a more 'suburban' identity but is our game at that level any more?  I think our clubs now identify with their supporter base rather than the suburb they originally represented - but our club is very lucky to have retained a strong link with Richmond the suburb and Punt Rd the ground.  We (Richmond) should move heaven and earth to continue nurturing this in the future - it will pay off in spades.

Kids coming through the ranks is a double-edged sword.  If a system drives the NRL approach then they also drive the approach of raping and pillaging the lower junior levels of any half reasonable talent into a couple of feeder clubs in order to tie up every potential senior player they can before said players appear on the radar of other clubs.  This has a potentially devastating effect on the growth of your code at the grass roots level.  Municipal boundaries play no part in segregating these kids fairly - money speaks all languages and the parents of these kids are as susceptible to funded arrangements as anyone else.  From an ego perspective, you might even mount a case for being more susceptible.  I listened to a former Wallaby test player (now doing a breakfast radio gig in Brisbane) laugh at the AFL televising the draft nationwide a few weeks ago.  I say to him - what was your code doing?  Which code was connecting with it's supporters in the middle of the off-season?  I know who the laugh was on!

I am a big fan of the draft and the salary cap Jake.  For all the shortcomings in our current system, I believe it is light years ahead of the alternatives as far as strengthening the position of our code in the very competitive environment in this country for support and the corporate dollar.

I think one of the reason NRL clubs have been able to keep their suburban grounds is they just dont need to accommodate the size crowds that the AFL clubs do. To have upgraded most of the grounds to a suitable standard would not have been cost effective, and like it or not, the dollar is the bottom line.

It's interesting that after the zone system was replaced by the draft system a large number of country clubs (and perhaps suburban clubs?) started to dissapear. I grew up in a Fitzroy zone, and even though they they were not a rich club, we always saw a presence. Once or twice  a year someone from the club would come and take a training session (juniors) and they would leave behind a bunch of new footys. They provided jumpers for the hampden school boys side and may have provided our jumpers too? I'm sure they propped up local footy in many other ways as they had a vested interest

Perhaps this system did favour the richer clubs, i dont know as i never experienced another zones development to compare it with but it was after the change that clubs started to disappear, whether this was causal, coincidence or perhaps the VFL saw it coming, again i dont know.

Kids pretty much knew and accepted who they would be playing for if they were good enough to make the VFL/AFL . Kids were not rushed in their development and didnt feel they had missed out if they were not on a clubs list by the time they were 18. If a kid was a standout at junior level because of his size he would be tried against the men. If he was good enough he would progress, if he struggled against those he couldn't just knock about... well every one knew where they stood rather the build up of expectations and disappointments we see with the current system. One thing I did not see as a junior, was the large number of 17-18 year olds needing corrective surgery that we are currently witnessing
Title: Re: How would you feel if Cotchin was seen at GC HQ's?
Post by: WilliamPowell on December 09, 2009, 10:25:20 PM
I would be very disappointed if a contracted player met with another team prior to the completion of the final season of the said contract.

Put simply Ablett Jnr is contracted to geelong for 2010, he is training with geelong and IMHO opinion he shouldn't be meeting with any club until season 2010 is completed. Jnr shouldn't have met with GC17 and the fact that his stupid manager (pickering) arranged it says alot about Liam I would think
Title: Re: How would you feel if Cotchin was seen at GC HQ's?
Post by: Rodgerramjet on December 09, 2009, 11:27:09 PM
The AFL would love ablett on the Gold Coast there is no doubt about that and i believe they will be a really good chance to get him if Ablett doesn't get the captaincy gig at the Cats.

As for comparing Cotchin with Ablett, it is a silly comparison, they would have to be for a start of comparitable magnitude that means that Cotchin would have to be a brownlow medalist a 2 time premiership player and that Richmond would have to be a club that has won the last 2 out of three premierships have 2 brownlow medalists in the side a team full of absolute stars and going for out third premiership in 4 years in 2010. If that was the case I wouldn't be loosing any sleep over cotchin going to the gold coast at the end of 2010 I'd say sure you can go, we just want GC'S FIRST 3 DRAFT PICKS. Vladimir Demetriou would jump at the chance.

Geelong are not a one trick pony they could survive quite comfortably without ablett if they had to and that means with all things being equal we could let cotchin go to, but for a price.
Title: Re: How would you feel if Cotchin was seen at GC HQ's?
Post by: yellowandback on December 10, 2009, 07:09:54 AM
The AFL would love ablett on the Gold Coast there is no doubt about that and i believe they will be a really good chance to get him if Ablett doesn't get the captaincy gig at the Cats.

As for comparing Cotchin with Ablett, it is a silly comparison, they would have to be for a start of comparitable magnitude that means that Cotchin would have to be a brownlow medalist a 2 time premiership player and that Richmond would have to be a club that has won the last 2 out of three premierships have 2 brownlow medalists in the side a team full of absolute stars and going for out third premiership in 4 years in 2010. If that was the case I wouldn't be loosing any sleep over cotchin going to the gold coast at the end of 2010 I'd say sure you can go, we just want GC'S FIRST 3 DRAFT PICKS. Vladimir Demetriou would jump at the chance

Geelong are not a one trick pony they could survive quite comfortably without ablett if they had to and that means with all things being equal we could let cotchin go to, but for a price.

of course you can't compare the 2 players, the principle was more based on a high profile player (relative to the club) that had 1 year left on their contract. Clearly Richmond has noone that even remotely compares to GAJ
Title: Re: How would you feel if Cotchin was seen at GC HQ's?
Post by: Tigermonk on December 10, 2009, 04:45:25 PM
football is pure buisness these days & loyalty means absolutely nothing.
The clubs treat it that way because they must to stay in buisness.
The players must get what they can when they can & if that means players leaving clubs to chase big money so be it
If l was Ablett,  l would take the huge offer as he has nothing left to prove in football.  He is one of the current best footballers because he is damaging & consistant each week & a bad game from him is 25 possies


You would have stopped there and been very right until you had to go fishing like the attention-seeker you are.

Simply pointing out a true fact TA
if you think there is more to my post than please yourself but your off the mark
If l wanted attention,  l wouldnot be on a forum doing it  :rollin l would be spending my $$ at Bar 20  ;D
Title: Re: How would you feel if Cotchin was seen at GC HQ's?
Post by: tdy on December 12, 2009, 07:45:41 PM

I am a big fan of the draft and the salary cap Jake.  For all the shortcomings in our current system, I believe it is light years ahead of the alternatives as far as strengthening the position of our code in the very competitive environment in this country for support and the corporate dollar.

I got no problem with the salary cap, only the draft.

I really do think that if AFL players had the chance to go O/S at the end of their careers and secure their financial future, they would. Hell, those Gaelic footballers are pretty humble, down to earth blokes who give up so much to play for their county. If the AFL lures them, I got no doubt AFL players would be lured too (see Sav Rocca, Ben Graham). I do agree it is a blight on Rugby League, but don't see it as a relevant point in the argument for/against AFL player movement policy as

i) The option simply isn't there for AFL players
ii) If there was, the AFL would be powerless to stop players moving out of its jurisdiction anyway so their policy isn't relevant, just as they couldn't stop Graham or Rocca.

Happy to agree to disagree smokey, we have before and no doubt will again.

I'm with smokey, We (the AFL) copied the Yanks with the draft and it has been the most significant factor in turning gridiron into the USA's number 1 sport.  To take over 100's years of baseball dominance economically and culturally has been an amazing effort.  And its all to do with the New York Jets owner getting together and deciding to make an even competition back in the 80's when he could have out spent every other team and won then next 20 premierships hands down (or so Ive heard second hand, not 100% on those fact there about the NFL).


I think its the fact that it is hard for players to move clubs that engenders more supporter loyalty.

The NRL has stuffed up with privately owned clubs and News Corp ownership of half the league.  Its poor crowds are evidence of that.  Even though the Storm is successful on field and has a good marketing arm and a great club name it has yet to really get into a lot of Melbourne peoples emotional lives. 

A similar story to the Sydney Swans who have only in the last 10 years started to do things right.  It says how hard it is to generate that loyalty.

Though the Storm guy that comes on SEN with Kevin Bartlett is a total twit and they really ought to get him off the radio and put in somebody else.

The AFL is now one more step ahead of the NRL by creating a cross town rivalry in Sydney and in Brisbane.

Sport is tribal in its emotional appeal and the NRL just don't get this, they think its about dollars and cents, players moving willy nilly kills that loyalty.



Rugby Union has gone down a similarly stupid path with once again that poisoned chalice News Corp and Pay TV.  And their ticket pricing for games in Melbourne has been ridiculous, who is gonna pay $100 to see a union game?  That aims them squarely in the rich class of people and that won't grow your game in Melbourne.  You have to aim for feral poor people, that's where your tribal loyalty comes from.

Not that I'm bagging either game, I like them both, just their incompetent administrations over the last 10 years.

And all three football codes have been run better than soccer and basketcase(ball) over the last 10 years.  Soccer at the moment looks like its rising but its still an ethnic sport and massively suffers in its local appeal because its an international sport dominated by European money and has no hope of ever truly being "Australian".  Personally I hope it fails dismally.
Title: Re: How would you feel if Cotchin was seen at GC HQ's?
Post by: bushranger on December 13, 2009, 11:22:17 AM
I wouldn't like it.
But I would understand that he has to make the best of his football life while he is fit and strong.
If that means he has to chases the dollar to make life easier latter on then so be it.