Otto a man in demand

[RonBranton]

Eat our own Alive

yep

[JohnF]

Hear hear fellow Nottens baggers!

Fact is he has produced 1 good year in 7 and has become a millionaire as a result. You just know he's the type of player who will produce 3 good years in his whole career and milk any club he belongs to.

Personally I couldn't care whether he wants to stay or leave. He deserves to be treated like a red-headed stepchild.

Trade him and the mum he rode in on!

[Tiger Spirit]

Ottens set to quit the Tigers and head north to Sydney
Greg Denham
September 22, 2004

Ottens is believed to have had a change of heart since he declared in June that he wanted to play out his career with Richmond.

His management group, ESP, yesterday did not want to buy into Ottens' future, only to say he was "undecided". He is scheduled to return from holiday next week.

Fair enough RonBranton.  Your quotes are from Otto, whereas The Australian states things like, “Ottens is believed …”, etc.  Just the same, there are a few more twists and turns to this than just a regulation re-signing.

And you have to wonder about these things when it didn’t seem to take Andrew Krakouer too long to re-sign.

Might be a different set of circumstances, but I can never work out why some players re-sign without so much as a murmur and others seem to need a major rumble before they sign.

More trouble than they're worth sometimes.

[froars]

Ronnie, i think most Richmond supporters would see the damage already done in signing guys on big contracts - remember Daffy - and then getting no return.  Isn't it time we changed our policy?  No use wishing and hoping Ottens will come good any more - he's had time enough to repay the "faith" the RFC has put in him.  He has to his own admission admitted he has not come up to expectations and said he has a lot to do in a lot of areas.  Doesn't this warrant him reviewing his own salary downwards?  If he wants to stay at the Tiges, he has to take a cut or is performance based.  If the club get sucked in by another player bleeding us dry, heaven help them.

[mightytiges]

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.

I don't disagree with anything you're saying TS and if he's just after money then I agree it's better that he goes. However, a player or more likely in Otto's case his manager checking out other offers doesn't necessarily mean Otto doesn't want to play for us or doesn't have some connection or loyalty to Richmond. For example Dean Solomon had one foot in Punt Road Oval last year before changing his mind at the last minute out of loyalty towards his teammates and Essendon. Some like Cogs have no hesistation in re-signing while others look at more security, money, a better lifestyle, a life after footy, less media attention, etc...

Given to stay he needs to take a base pay cut (he can still earn roughly the same as now if he performs to the level we expect of him), if Otto comes out in the next week or so and says something like "I gave my future much thought but in the end playing for the Tigers with my teammates and wanting to be a one-team player was the overriding factor" then I don't think he would shown any disloyalty or contradiction nor bent the Club over a barrel.  

[Jackstar]

At the end of the day. Ottens has under achieved big time. The man they call BIG  SEXY is nothing than a BIG DUD.
Can anyone tell me when this $400,000 player won a game of his own boot. ?Ahhhhhh The silence is deafening. I thought it was the case , really
His management spoke to possible deal with the pies as early as July/ August.
Any player comimg out of contract is usually contacted at least 3 months before.
John F is 100 % correct, 1 good year in 7. Enough said and dont forget where on the bottom. I wonder why !

[Disco]

Lets turn the tables and milk him for all his worth or should that be worthlessness!?

If we can snare another first round draft pick and some recycled hacks rather than pay Nottens $400,000 i think we can turn this club around.

Enough with paying on potential! Lets get everyone on performance based earning.

[om21]

The man they call BIG  SEXY is nothing than a BIG DUD.

I tend to disagree......Big Sexy to me is Kevin Nash....one of the most overrated wrestlers in the industry. He demands everything but is a disgrace of a performer......

Ring any bells? Maybe thats why he got the nickname and he didnt even know it......

[JohnF]

lmfaoooo@Big Sexy, another thing he is being overrated on, his looks!

Agree with Disco about putting everyone on performance based contracts. We'd quickly fix our problems with debt.

Ottens if he stays should be put on a 50k base salary with the potential to earn up to 600k if he performs up to scratch. Would be surprised if he earns over 100k - and that's over a two year period!

[froars]

If we can snare another first round draft pick and some recycled hacks rather than pay Nottens $400,000 i think we can turn this club around.

I agree Disco - get the club using it's bargaining power in times like this.  Miller's not gonna let this guy play hardballl with us surely - i see a good result out of this one hopefully, as long as the club hold their ground.  Pay cut for Ottens or nothing at all!

[JohnF]

ROFLFMAOOo om21, when you look at it that way he does deserve the title.

Or maybe its becuase he likes to rest his nutbag on guys heads before he slams them.

[om21]

ROFLFMAOOo om21, when you look at it that way he does deserve the title.

Or maybe its becuase he likes to rest his nutbag on guys heads before he slams them.

HAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH

LMAO @ Otto doing the 'square up' hand motion before he goes for a nothing hitout in the ruck....

[JohnF]

    ROFLMFAOOOOOooo!!

[WilliamPowell]

Until he actually gets back from holidays (perhaps he's cruising down the Nile with Clinton ) and makes his decision and then announcement it is all speculation.

We still hold the aces if it comes to a trade situation - Greg Miller said as much this morning. Remember back in '95 when Lockett original said I wanna go to Richmond and we couldn't do a trade - same thing can happen here

But I have to hand it to these Player Managers - they are the pits sometimes. I really do wonder if they do concern themselves with their clients futures or just worry about their own 10%

[Harry]

We really can't lose from this situation.  Either -

a) he decides to stay at a significantly lower amount; or

b) he is traded to the highest bidder of which there seems to be plenty of interested parties willing to offer quite a bit; or

Miller must now stand his ground and wait till October 4-8.  If Ottens doesn't sign then it's auction time.