Should Matty Rogers now be allowed to go on and play 200?

[mightytiges]

Now that Rory and Cambo joining Stafford on the sidelines, should the Club and Matty Rogers have a rethink and allow him to go on and reach 200 games? Rex and Gerald Healy on 3aw after the game said we should.

[Jackstar]

YES, play him on and off the bench for the next 3 weeks. he was ok today

[Ox]

You'd think that a club keen on setting a new tone would gladly let the guy get there,if not for the same moral reasoning we honoerd Spud.

Yes.

[froars]

Yes - no wonder we have no spirit at the club when decisions like this are made.
Same as Knighta - be glad to see the end of Danny!

[JohnF]

Now that he is this close to playing 200 games it seems a little pointless to cut him short of the 200 game mark. However, having said that, I don't think he deserves to play 200 games.

Rogers should not have been on the list this year and probably not even the last, so I don't see it as necessarily doing the ethical thing to drag him over the line for 200 games.

[Struggletown]

Hes not really fit enough to run out a full game,but hey,he was better than 12 odd blokes today.
No doubting his attack on the ball either.YES.

[Rodgerramjet]

Our season is shot to bits so playing him isn't going to create any real damage, If the club decided to let him play to get to 200 I wouldn't have any real problem with it, If anything it would probably boost the morale of the side, why not.

[Fwoy3]

I'm happy for small hands to play on to 200

[Jackstar]

I wonder if ""mini hands "" has trouble ...............
Ok WP, Please dont delete, I kept it clean, lol
Roger is a hell of a nice bloke who deserves better !

[WilliamPowell]

I wonder if ""mini hands "" has trouble ...............
Ok WP, Please dont delete, I kept it clean, lol

Your safe this time Jackstar - seeing you kept your "hands" clean 

I would have no problem with him playing for the next 3 weeks or even the rest of the season - he was far better than a number of others against the Bombers

[mightytiges]

No recall for Tiger Rogers
By Nabila Ahmed
realfooty.theage.com.au
July 12, 2004

Richmond veteran Matthew Rogers, who retired after the Tigers' 78-point loss to Essendon at the MCG on Saturday, will not be recalled to help out the injury-riddled club, according to football director Greg Miller.

The Tigers lost two more to injury at the weekend, with captain Wayne Campbell hurting his shoulder and Rory Hilton receiving a season-ending knee injury.

"He has had his farewell, he has done all his press conferences and everything else. It's not something that we've even discussed, but it's highly unlikely," Miller said.

Rogers ended his career after 197 games with the Tigers.

http://realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2004/07/11/1089484245344.html?oneclick=true

[mightytiges]

Buck stops here and Rogers is content
12 July 2004   
Herald Sun
Michael Horan

MATTHEW Rogers and Richmond agree that there is no case for him playing three more games to reach 200 before retiring.

Rogers, 30, bade a sad farewell at the MCG when he retired after the Tigers' 13-goal surrender to Essendon in front a 48,286 fans.

After battling soft tissue injuries early in the year and struggling to find form with Coburg, Rogers was given his only senior game for the season on Saturday so he could say goodbye in style before the Tigers fans.

He had 15 possessions despite spending a lot of time on the bench and was among the Tigers good players, giving rise to many feeling he should be allowed three more matches now that skipper Wayne Campbell (shoulder) and Rory Hilton (knee) have gone down with injuries.

The Tigers' football manager Greg Hutchison said yesterday neither the club nor Rogers had notions of delaying retirement.

"For all the arguments you could put up I don't think its something Matt or the club see as appropriate," Hutchison said.

"Honestly, I doubt Matt would feel comfortable about getting to 200 that way, it would be a pretty shallow way to reach the mark. With all due respect to his career, he was fortunate to get one game to say goodbye."

Rogers agreed and with dignity said the club had to start looking ahead and he didn't think it was appropriate to continue.

"No. Reaching 200 games would have been great, but 197 is still a great achievement," he said. "The time is right now, the club has to move ahead and start playing the young players."

Hutchison said with State-of-Origin and Wizard Cup games, Rogers would be in the 200 club anyway and there were half a dozen youngsters the club was keen to elevate and test.

Former Bulldog Brian Royal, now an assistant coach with the Kangaroos, finished his career on 199 games and said just missing 200 was no big deal.

"It's a personal milestone but I don't think people remember you for how many games you played, they remember you for how you played," Royal said.

"If your time is up, then it's up.

"Some people said they (the Bulldogs) should have put me on the bench to get my 200th. I had a snapped achilles and would have just sat there to get the game. There's no way I'd do that to keep a young bloke out of the side. I don't think Matt or any other player would like to get to a milestone like that"

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,10109548%255E19771,00.html

[2JD]

Personally I dont think it would have hurt the team to play him off the bench for the rest of the season, he has certainly been no worse that a lot of others. But now, having retired I doubt he would want to continue and be seen to be nursed to his 200. I agree Froars, another terrific club man shafted by our good bloke coach

[Fwoy3]

With all due respect to his career, he was fortunate to get one game to say goodbye."

With all due respect, Mr Hustchison, you are a tool. The sooner you pack your bags and get the fack out of my club, the happier I'll be. Now hurry up, and take that oxygen bandit Wayne Brittain with ya!

[mightytiges]

Negativity takes shine from Matt finish . . .
2:47:48 PM Mon 12 July, 2004
Tony Greenberg
richmondfc.com.au

Richmond’s Director of Football, Greg Miller, has moved to clarify the reasons behind the mid-year retirement of Club stalwart Matthew Rogers.

The 30-year-old veteran of 197 games with Richmond announced his retirement from league football last week, along with another fine Tigerland playing servant in Duncan Kellaway, who was forced to bow out of the game immediately due to a kidney injury.

Since Rogers’ farewell appearance, against Essendon at the MCG last Saturday, the Tigers has received correspondence from supporters urging the Club to allow him to play on, so he could reach the 200-game milestone.

Miller is concerned that the public debate over whether Rogers should have continued playing has detracted from his dignified exit from the game’s highest level.

“It infuriates me to read emails or hear (radio talkback) from Richmond supporters caught up in unknowledgeable media hysteria, that we’ve treated Matthew Rogers poorly,” Miller said.

“I am very proud of the respectful way the Club handled the retirements of Matty and Duncan last week.

“We had a number of events throughout the course of the week that paid due tribute to both players.

“People suggesting that we’ve done the wrong thing by Matty simply are doing a disservice to not only this football club, but to Matty Rogers himself.

“Last week was a celebration of Matty’s 197 games with the Richmond Football Club . . . We’re not looking at it in a negative light of the three that he didn’t get.

“Let’s put it into perspective – Matty has struggled over the past couple of years. A pre-season injury this year meant he didn’t start playing until Round 5 or 6 with the Coburg Tigers.

“His form simply didn’t warrant him being selected so, in a mutually agreeable decision with Matty, we worked on a retirement plan.

“For people to suggest that we’ve let Matty down, simply is looking at the negative connotations . . . and it really disappoints me.

“Matty being the quality calibre of person that he is, earned every single game that he got – and he wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.”

Miller also was keen to point out that there were no shortage of candidates pressing to replace Matthew Rogers and injured pair Wayne Campbell (dislocated shoulder) and Rory Hilton (torn Anterior Cruciate Ligament) in this Saturday’s Round 16 clash with St Kilda at Telstra Dome.

He said he was buoyed by the performances of several Richmond youngsters playing for the Coburg Tigers against Box Hill last Sunday.

“Rodan, Gilmour, Jackson, Raines, Roach . . . they were just fantastic,” Miller said.

“They ran and carried the ball, they showed pace, they showed confidence, they showed enthusiasm for each and they helped Coburg win the game by more than 10 goals.

“It was exciting to watch . . .”

http://richmondfc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=159815