Tom Lynch [merged]

[one-eyed]

Good to see Dimma sticking up for his player today.

Dimma certainly didn't hold back [see video link below] .

It's started a war of words with Mark Robinson.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Robbo's original Herald-Sun article:

As Gold Coast captain, how can Tom Lynch be holding meetings with Collingwood and Richmond?

INTEGRITY in the AFL is under siege.

Tom Lynch is captain of Gold Coast and is having meetings with Collingwood and Richmond and presumably Hawthorn at some stage.

Imagine if Scott Pendlebury met Essendon last week. Or Joel Selwood met North Melbourne. Or Sydney’s Josh Kennedy with Melbourne. And then returned to their clubs and pushed core values and principles, which is what captains do and it’s why they are captains in the first place.

They are leaders. They set standards and demand respect. They look people in the eye.

But Lynch, a free agent at the end of the year, is shopping himself around.

The captain of one club is meeting coaches of another.

Free agency, in part, is encouraging Lynch to scamper around under the cloak of darkness and live a lie with his club and teammates. How he looks Suns coach Stuart Dew in the eye after his meetings with opposition coaches is an interesting thought.

...

Is free agency working when/or if Lynch goes to best team in the competition, which is the Tigers?

Do we want the equivalent of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets with super teams via free agency? Or a situation similar to the English Premier League, where four clubs dominate?

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/expert-opinion/mark-robinson/as-gold-coast-captain-how-can-tom-lynch-be-holding-meetings-with-collingwood-and-richmond/news-story/fd963d457fd5d49f4e07c0c2060afb89

------------------------------------------------

Here's the vision of Dimma having a go at Robbo's article on Lynch: https://au.sports.yahoo.com/hardwick-fires-back-critics-lynch-003748367.html

------------------------------------------------

Robbo then had a hissy fit about Dimma's comments on AFL360 last night ...

Gerard: The battle for Tom Lynch is intense:

Robbo: That's real. That's been real for ages. That's been real for 12 months. This Free Agency, Gerard, I write about it occassionally, I find it staggering that the best team in the competition and now the third best team in the competition Collingwood, and the best team Richmond are two of the front runners For Tom Lynch.

Tom Lynch is the hottest free agent out there and when the AFL Players Association demanded Free Agency, and the AFL agreed, SURELY THEY WEREN'T THINKING THAT THE BEST FREE AGENT IN THE GAME WILL GO TO THE BEST TEAM IN THE GAME. That is not right. We are in real danger, Gerard, of creating what is happening in the NBA now, which is just a disgrace. All of the- A lot of the good players are going to the Warriors, the Rockets are just signing Carmelo Anthony. We are putting together this two-tiered system and you do know that Tony Cochrane has spoken this afternoon or earlier tonight, reported by Fairfax how he is disgusted in Free Agency. I'm not disgusted in it, I'm just mesmerised by- Surely, the Players Association didn't think this is right.

Back to the question, IT is INTENSE because he is a really good footballer, and he can help your football team get better. But why can't he go to the Dogs? Why can't he go to Essendon? Why can't he go to Carlton? He's not. HE'S GOING TO THE BEST TEAM IN THE COMPETITION. THAT IS NOT FREE AGENCY IN THE AFL.

Gerard: It will be an interesting moment in the sport if the Tigers go back to back and Lynch does go there as a Free Agent.

Robbo: Interesting, and I suspect the AFL, Gillon McLachlan will come out and say "Well, they're the rules." Well, I think, and I was only made aware of this this week and I know we have gotta move on, I was only made aware of it this week that, in the NFL, there's a top group of teams that can't, that are not allowed to take Free Agents. If this is going to continue, WE MUST BAN the top groups of teams, 2, 4, 6, whatever it is, from getting free agents, because we will have a lopsided competition, just like the rubbish that goes on in the Premier League.

https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/tom-lynch-best-player-in-the-league-cotchin-says-we%E2%80%99d-be-mad-not-to-look-at-him.1186086/page-266#post-56984734

[Diocletian]

Yes Slobbo it will end up being just like the Premier League - which has no salary cap or draft....

[dwaino]

The best free agents have been going to the top clubs since inception. Only an issue now?

[WilliamPowell]

Suck it up Robbo

This is what Free Agency is about how it works, always has, always will

Said it when they bought it in, it will disadvantage the bad sides, weak teams

And to suggest the AFLPA thinking is it's "not right"? Please. They wanted it, demanded it. I am reasonable sure they think it is working a treat

 

[MintOnLamb]

So what?, Danger went to Geelong for unders

[Jackstar is back!!!]

Actually agree with Robbo to a certain extent
Why ?
Turn back the clock 2-3 years and longer and no free agent wanted to come to Richmond
Hawthorn , Geeling and Collingwood were the destination clubs
This will be the first agent we get by memory ( Lynch )
Reckon the system is wrong , and happy to take Lynch , but it is a bad look when a club captain is shopping himself around
Common knowledge he met with Collingwood last November when he was holidaying in Melbourne
Don’t think that’s fair on the Gold Coast
And where is Toms manager ???

[wayne]

Lynch can go to the Dogs, Bombers or Carlton, but he wants success.

[Slipper]

Actually agree with Robbo to a certain extent
Why ?
Turn back the clock 2-3 years and longer and no free agent wanted to come to Richmond
Hawthorn , Geeling and Collingwood were the destination clubs
This will be the first agent we get by memory ( Lynch )
Reckon the system is wrong , and happy to take Lynch , but it is a bad look when a club captain is shopping himself around
Common knowledge he met with Collingwood last November when he was holidaying in Melbourne
Don’t think that’s fair on the Gold Coast
And where is Toms manager ???

I agree. The system is flawed although not a lot of players move clubs via free agency.

The issue I really have is how these issues distract from the game. Take the NRL for instance. As an outsider to the game, it seems that the issue of players swapping clubs has transcended the actual game itself. In terms of media representation, I think it actually has.

I don't want to see that with footy.

[Dougeytherichmondfan]

The disgusting two faced nature of this commentary is baffling. We get this player movement talk forced down our gullets for 10 months of the year, actually sometimes more like 15-18 months. Players criticised for wanting to leave, clubs for holding meetings with players contracted to other clubs. Horrible cycle - but when someone offers the solution of clubs and players not being allowed to comment on player moments (a la NFL) it’s a firm NO, we’re not that far gone!

Let’s call a spade a spade here, the media generates so much interest and money off this crap; innuendo and hearsay. This player hasn’t signed, might be heading there?. FA has seen a rift of players wanting to move for success and not necessarily money and we sit here and call out their integrity?? Like, really?

Got this one epically wrong Robbo.

Would it be so far fetched to suggest FA has the potential to counter tanking? Ie teams that just clearly want to sit at the bottom of the table to earn draft picks are far less desirable destinations for a FA than a club that goes out and shows a bit of heart every other week?

If you were Tom Lynch, would you rather go to Carl or Bris right now? I know where I’d rather be...

[JP Tiger]

I always thought that free agency was about the player & not the club.  The AFLPA wanted free agency so that a great player in a bottom side could move to a better club to get a shot at a premiership.  It was originally conceived as a way of putting champion players into a grand final as a reward for the player ... until Blobbo now wants to move the goalposts!     

[Hard Roar Tiger]

Actually agree with Robbo to a certain extent
Why ?
Turn back the clock 2-3 years and longer and no free agent wanted to come to Richmond
Hawthorn , Geeling and Collingwood were the destination clubs
This will be the first agent we get by memory ( Lynch )
Reckon the system is wrong , and happy to take Lynch , but it is a bad look when a club captain is shopping himself around
Common knowledge he met with Collingwood last November when he was holidaying in Melbourne
Don’t think that’s fair on the Gold Coast
And where is Toms manager ???

Troy Chaplain
clubs these days are lazy. In the 70’s, the Roos build a team on the back of the 10 year rule and an incredibly persuasive Ron Joseph, Carlton raided interstate clubs in the 80’s and I’d argue that the % of free agents who have gone to the reigning premier is less than 5%. Complaining is for the lazy

[Jackstar is back!!!]

Yes Troy was a restricted free agent which Port didn’t want to match offer

[Chopstix]

And Chris Knights.

We started FA with a bang then fizzled out !!

[Owl]

It's only an issue now that Richmond is somewhere good players want to go?  We spent years as nuclear wasteland and now we finally are an attractive proposition and these pricks are sooking it up LOL  stuff OFF!

[🏅Dooks]

It's only an issue now that Richmond is somewhere good players want to go?  We spent years as nuclear wasteland and now we finally are an attractive proposition and these pricks are sooking it up LOL  stuff OFF!

exactly this