The day Gasper quit the club he was told that Thursfield & McGuane were perfoming at the same standard as Gasper & that he wouldnot be getting another senior game while they were fit & playing.
Here is a comparison of the 3 players at that time:
21 year old Thursfield's last 5 full games before his knee injury he had 46 disposals, 12 marks and 5 tackles.
20 year old McGuane's last 5 games before Gaspar retired he had 47 disposals, 17 marks and 14 tackles.
31 year old Gaspar's last 5 games he had 58 disposals, 21 marks and 11 tackles.
Statistically he wasn't having any more impact on the game than the 2 rookies and in addition he had become very slow, unable to keep up with the leading forwards. I think it was very sound decision to drop him and give the kids a try - he had nothing more to add on the senior field but he could have been a valuable mentor at Coburg. Shame his ego didn't didn't see it that way.
Actually, thinking more about it - it probably speaks volumes about the difference in the type of person he was/is compared to Joel Bowden, Mark Chaffey and Greg Tivendale.