If Tony Free didn't get injured?

[JohnF]

Would things have turned out different for our club if our captain wasn't put out of commission so early in his career?

lmfaoooooo@all we are left with being hypotheticals.

lmfaooooooo@trying to pin point where failure came from, though being deficient in near every department.

[WilliamPowell]

The one thing that stands out to me was we lost a natural leader and isn't that the one thing we seem so desperately lacking.

He was courageous, tough, a hardnut and he wasn't afraid to fly the flag for his team mates. But above everything else he was a natural leader.

I doubt that it would made much difference to our results but it would've been nice to have a courageous player with OK skills running around for us the last 10 years.

lmfaoooooo@all we are left with being hypotheticals.

What else do we have from the last 20+ years 

[Tiger Spirit]

Would things have turned out different for our club if our captain wasn't put out of commission so early in his career?

Losing Tony Free left a big hole to fill, as far as on and off the field leadership goes.  Would things have been any different?  Hard to say, but, hypothetically of course, you have to think that his leadership style would have had some impact on his teammates and so would have been missed once he was injured.

He seems to have been really big on getting the players together off the field and was an inspirational leader on the field.  How cruel that one of the few, true leaders we have had in recent years gets cut down in his prime.

lmfaoooooo@all we are left with being hypotheticals.

  @ Hypothecticals ‘R’ Us.

lmfaooooooo@trying to pin point where failure came from, though being deficient in near every department.

   @ Philosophicals ‘R’ Us too.

[om21]

Please lets not do this thread......I have htought this that many times I am going insane.

[mightytiges]

Agree with WP and TS about losing a natural leader both on and off field when Freezer went down  . He stood out as the obvious choice after the Flea retired and would lead from the front to fly the flag. As much as Knighter and Cambo were/are very good footballers they won't be remembered in years to come for each their spells as captain.

His loss also meant that every other midfielder moved up a spot in terms of attention from the opposition which mainly meant Knighter became the main target. Also resulted in Daffy moving into the midfield with his blind kicks over his shoulder  .

[blaisee]

hw would have been much better than Nthan Burke

[1980]

Freezer left a massive leadership hole. He led by example, hrew his body in even when the cause was lost, something later day captains sorely lack(sorry JF, couldnt resist).

Knighter was a great captain, but Freezer was the very model of what the RFC capatain should be. Tough, uncompromising and a big heart for the club. Not too many play for the jumper like Freezer did. They play footy so they can buy pubs on Swan st and juice bars these days.

And how about if we didnt let Lambert go to the Bears for nothing as well.

[Fwoy3]

And how about if we didnt let Lambert go to the Bears for nothing as well.

What's that? You mean not knock back the offer of Brett Ratten in a straight swap? You mean not demand it be a 28 year old Mil Hanna, or nothing?

 

[mightytiges]

And how about if we didnt let Lambert go to the Bears for nothing as well.

What's that? You mean not knock back the offer of Brett Ratten in a straight swap? You mean not demand it be a 28 year old Mil Hanna, or nothing?

 

Sheesh fwoy ...I had completely forgotten about us rejecting Ratten and demanding Hanna instead. Another RFC recruiting brainwave .

I think it was KB who mentioned Lambert leaving the other day. Lambert was expecting to be picked up by North but the Bears just jumped in on draft day and grabbed him first.

[JohnF]

Freezer left a massive leadership hole. He led by example, hrew his body in even when the cause was lost, something later day captains sorely lack(sorry JF, couldnt resist).

Knighter was a great captain, but Freezer was the very model of what the RFC capatain should be. Tough, uncompromising and a big heart for the club. Not too many play for the jumper like Freezer did. They play footy so they can buy pubs on Swan st and juice bars these days.

And how about if we didnt let Lambert go to the Bears for nothing as well.

lmfaooo 1980!

If Free didn't get injured, if Richo didn't get injured and if we had either Lambert or Ratten we could have been a threat for a Premiership around the years 1995-7 i think. Probably still would have fallen a bit short but we may have played off in a grand final.

It would have allowed blokes like Knights and Campbell to play on the wings, which is where they really should have been playing throughout their careers. Free, Broderick, Ratten, Knights and Campbell would have been a formidable midfield.

Just on Campbell with his captaincy qualities, prior to 2004 I thought he was doing well as captain. People talk about Free as being a great captain but when he had the chance to captain the side in 1994 we only finished 9th, and in 1995, with Free being absent, it was Campbell who became our best player. Also in 2001 when we made the finals Campbell had IMO his best year, coming top 5 in the comp for clearances, possessions, committing his body more than he ever had and using the ball better than he ever had. If we had anything resembling a decent side i'm sure Campbell wouldn't be remembered as bad as he will be now for his captaining qualities.

Having said that, he was disgraceful this year.

[Tiger Spirit]

Just on Campbell with his captaincy qualities, prior to 2004 I thought he was doing well as captain. People talk about Free as being a great captain but when he had the chance to captain the side in 1994 we only finished 9th, and in 1995, with Free being absent, it was Campbell who became our best player.

When Tony Free was Captain, we were just coming off one of the worst periods in the Club’s history.  1994 was the most competitive we’d been for a few years and we made inroads into becoming a good team that season.  Yes, we “only” finished 9th, but that was the best season we’d had for some years and we won six games in a row, which was nearly like winning a premiership for us.  So I think it’s selling Tony Free a bit short to say our finish had something to do with Freeza being Captain.

I’m not trying to undermine Cambo here, but give Tony Free the credit he deserves.  Let’s also remember that Cambo had the opportunity Freeza never got.

Cambo might have become our best player during the time you’ve stated, but I think the difference between a good player and a good leader is that a leader influences those around him and has an impact on the team’s results.  Tony Free did that, both on and off the field.

But you have to think that any RFC captain of recent times, especially Wayne Campbell, would have been between a rock and a hard place trying to influence or have an impact on a team that hasn’t really been a team, through little or no fault of their own.

All things being equal though, I’d have my money on Tony Free.