Stafford and Graham

[mightytiges]

It was mentioned in one of the Cambo articles somewhere that his decision would have a bearing on Staff's and Graham's future.

Do you think both will also retire as well or is there one year left in them given our young list?

[letsgetiton!]

i have a feeling stafford will retire and graham will stay or vice versa.

[cub]

Heard a snippet of Wallace on SEN this morning, saying he wanted to have older heads around for a while to guide the youngsters.
That to me says they will stay or else we would be picking up simalar types anyway maybe just a couple of years younger.
I can still see a spot for them both, for another year at least. Stafford was good before his bad run and a few times Graham has used his experience to help us win games. (Old fox to cunning)

[julzqld]

I'd like Graham to stay another year.  He has shown he is of value to the club and would be handy to have him, whilst grooming someone else to take over.

[WilliamPowell]

It was mentioned in one of the Cambo articles somewhere that his decision would have a bearing on Staff's and Graham's future.

Do you think both will also retire as well or is there one year left in them given our young list?

I think Stafford will retire. We have Knobel, Simmonds (who plays better in the ruck ) and Pattison who pinch hit in the ruck

I reckon if Tezza wants Graham to continue he will  . Tezza has said he wants to keep a couple of "old heads" around to help with the development of the kids. Graham's being doing it this year I reckon he's worth keeping for that reason

[mightytiges]

Stafford was good before his bad run

He was good in the first 4-6 rounds until he injured his ankle. Seems to be the pattern with Staff. He gets through a full preseason and is right to go early on and plays a few good games. Then he cops an injury and/or suspension and struggles for the rest of the year. He's missed half a season in at least 3 of the 4 years he has been at Punt Road.

[JohnF]

Depends how many players they want to get rid of.

Cambo's already gone. Morrison is a certainty to depart. You'd think Tivendale would go close to being delisted or traded for a 4th round pick or so. Hilton's future hinges on the next 3 weeks imo. Stafford is probably more liekly than Graham to give it away.

I think 4 or 5 players should be sufficient for this year. We have a lot of young untried and untested players who have to face the music next year and I wouldn't be opposed to a ten player clean out at the end of 2006. I think it would be a little hasty to get rid of more than 5 this year.

[Captain__Blood]

Stafford should go, his body will struggle to pull of another season.

[mightytiges]

I think 4 or 5 players should be sufficient for this year. We have a lot of young untried and untested players who have to face the music next year and I wouldn't be opposed to a ten player clean out at the end of 2006. I think it would be a little hasty to get rid of more than 5 this year.

Agree John. Give the youngsters another year of experience under their belt and then clean out. The 2006 draft is meant to be a very strong one as well.

[Bulluss]

I am mates with Stafford's 3rd Cousin and my inside info is that he will be hanging up the boots at seasons end.

[JohnF]

ROFLMFAOOOOOOo Bull

[strav]

I think this could be Staffords last season. Graham could stil play on dur to his body being in good condition.

[one-eyed]

Wallace talks with veteran duo
2:50:28 PM Fri 12 August, 2005
Jennifer Witham
Sportal for afl.com.au

In the wake of Wayne Campbell's announcement that he will retire at the end of this season, Richmond coach Terry Wallace has revealed he has spoken to two other senior players about their intentions for next year.

Although Wallace reiterated that there are still three rounds left in the home-and-away season, he did admit to holding talks with both Greg Stafford and Mark Graham about where they think they are at in their respective careers.

"I've spoken with both guys, really just talks at this stage, you're still three weeks out. The talks are just on what are their thoughts, what do they want to do, do they believe they want to go on, or do they believe that time might be up for them?" Wallace said on Friday.

"We had that sort of conversation rather than me going to them and saying, this is the way that it is. I just really wanted to open it up to find out what their thoughts were."

When prompted about whether the two veterans were required for next season, Wallace couldn't give a definite answer.

"We haven't got that far. As I said, (we've got) three weeks to go and a bloke can play the best three weeks of his life in three games and that can change things," he said.

Wallace also said it was too early to elaborate on how many Tigers could be leaving the club once the season concludes.

"It's an interesting question, because of how many you don't know, that's the difficulty because of how many picks do we want in the draft, I don't know what's going to happen with trades," he said.

"You don't know who's out there on offer, what gets offered in that trade week, so are you going heavily into trades, or not heavily into trades? Well, until you sort of see who's in the market you don't know.

"You're looking at everyone, that's the answer. You're just looking at everyone, and making as much as an assessment as you possibly can."

http://richmondfc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=222133