Trading Otto isn't going to solve our problems when he is just another case of our Club's inability to develop and get the best out of our players.
I understand your point MT, but I think it well help our cause. And the reason why I think we should let him go, if he wants out, has nothing to do with what he is capable of. We know that, at another Club with a better system in place, any play could do better.
But you have to question Otto’s change of heart, since saying that he wanted to stay at RFC a few months ago to now having himself ‘shopped around’ for a better deal. Why does he play the game, where’s his motivation?
If he has valid reasons for wanting to go then so be it. What I can’t get my head around is that Otto’s first season at Richmond was in 1998. You would think that, in that time, he would have developed some sort of relationship with the Club and teammates.
For whatever reason, whenever these contract renewals come around, some players just seem to forget all about those things that some of us see as important and relevant and chase the money. If that’s what his motivation for playing footy is then someone else can have him.
And because these players aren’t motivated by the things that drive competitive players and the best players, in a big game, or crunch situation, these sorts of players become of little value to a team.
If he can go to another Club and play better then good luck to him, but from what this situation tells us about Otto, it doesn’t seem to me that he will be of any more value to us than he has been to now.
So, unless Terry Wallace can work some magic with him, we are better off to bring in some more youth into the side. As cold as it may sound, he can be a bigger help to us by leaving than staying. Because Miller has shown that, if you know what you are doing, you can draft players who already have the desire and commitment to play and also have a competitive edge to them.
I wanted to believe that Otto could be turned around, but his contract re-negotiation shows that it could be a hard task to do that when he’s driven by money, rather than playing the game and the challenge ahead.