No Oppo Supporters General AFL discussion and other club news

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Okay. Addiction isn’t as simple as you make out and it’s pointless debating anything with you if you think it is.
Who said it was simple ??
I’m guessing you are skim reading my posts.

Maybe read them in full, there’s no real debate that you speak of.

MFC should be doing everything in their power to help him. Everything.
So we agree ?

They just aren’t negligent for HIS choice
 
Are his issues addiction related, or purely mental health? Could be a combination of both I guess.

But if he's suffering from some kind of depression/ anxiety, then that's a widespread issue across the competition (society really). The clubs are really well set up to support that.

If it's addiction. Then I'd say his career is on borrowed time.
 
It’s a double edged sword
More than ever he needs the club and for the club to release him could be dire
BUT
It’s pointless “making him get help” if he doesn’t want it or is not ready for it

It’s easy to say the Eagles could have done more for cousins, when the reality is he had an entire “village” trying to help and nothing anybody did worked.

Oliver would have family, friends, club, afl, aflpa all supporting him but no matter what they have in place, it’s up to him. The village needs to support him without enabling him - it’s a tough road ahead if it’s addiction
 

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Oliver would have family, friends, club, afl, aflpa all supporting him but no matter what they have in place, it’s up to him. The village needs to support him without enabling him - it’s a tough road ahead if it’s addiction
I dare say the AFLPA and the AFL have to accept that, if it’s the case that Oliver is/has been playing for the past few years whilst he’s slowly been consumed by an ice addiction, they have a significant role to play here.

Oliver won’t be the exception that proves the rule. He may well be the tip of the iceberg.
 
I dare say the AFLPA and the AFL have to accept that, if it’s the case that Oliver is/has been playing for the past few years whilst he’s slowly been consumed by an ice addiction, they have a significant role to play here.

Oliver won’t be the exception that proves the rule. He may well be the tip of the iceberg.
How would that be proved though.
As for Oliver himself, as far as I can see, there is no suggestion that Melbourne aren’t doing everything they can to assist him through this.
I wish him well.
 
You raise a good point that someone on ice isn’t only a danger to themselves but others as well. And if people want a modern example of what happens when you don’t get help and just thrown to the wolves of ‘just help yourself’ just look at Andrew O’Keefe. If it’s ice then it’s seldom that easy. Here’s a constitutional lawyer by trade with a succesful entertainment career paying him a fair sum for easy work and the pipe has absolutely changed and ruined him.

Having listened a lot to John Mulaney’s battle with addiction and the intervention his closest friends underwent with him to get him to seek help, which he now credits for saving his life, I can’t buy into the ‘just help yourself’ mentality. For some people it’s beyond them. If you’re able to do that and also avoid addiction - consider yourself fortunate. Humans are fallible and quite often need the help of others. If, and again I stress IF, Oliver is battling a nasty addiction with something as serious as ice then his footy career should be taking a back seat until such time as he’s overcome it.
On top of the ice addiction Andrew O’Keefe is bipolar as well so you can only imagine what the meth would've done to him. Have to wonder if channel 7 knew anything that went on behind the scenes.

In regards to helping a player with things like addiction then one would think that the whole Hawthorn racism saga wouldn't help with clubs trying to help players prying into their downtime. Yes the idea is to help them but if they themselves cannot see that they have a problem then it will be a slippery slope. IMO the only way to fix the problem is to have a zero tolerance or at the very least cut it down to 1 strike and that's it and even then the 1 strike is announced publicly along with a large suspension. Since ASADA has been employed by the AFL it would be interesting to know how many players have accrued strikes but more importantly multiple strikes. No player would want something like drug usage aired publicly because it pretty much would ruin their brand and I'd say the majority wouldn't risk dabbling in it if the penalties we're harsher and less tolerant.
 
MFC should be doing everything in their power to help him. Everything.
So we agree ?

They just aren’t negligent for HIS choice

Semantics. Calling it complicit in lieu of negligence doesn't change the fact that MFC are partly responsible for the situation Oliver is in today.
 

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I don't think Roughy would warm to the likes of CEO Lethlean who is a good fit for the St Kilda "culture". Also my observations of SOS and Gubby at Coates League and the draft combine indicate they are thick as thieves. I think Roughy did well sticking it out for 4 years at the Aints.
 
I don't think Roughy would warm to the likes of CEO Lethlean who is a good fit for the St Kilda "culture". Also my observations of SOS and Gubby at Coates League and the draft combine indicate they are thick as thieves. I think Roughy did well sticking it out for 4 years at the Aints.
And Ross. Massive boys club. Mafia like.
 
Are his issues addiction related, or purely mental health? Could be a combination of both I guess.

But if he's suffering from some kind of depression/ anxiety, then that's a widespread issue across the competition (society really). The clubs are really well set up to support that.

If it's addiction. Then I'd say his career is on borrowed time.
I wonder what Dr. Grande would make of Oliver's predicament?
If Oliver is using ice then
Could he be put on a long term injury list?
And if so Mfc should be able to replace Oliver with another player.
My thinking is that if he is addicted to ice then it should come under mental health. His contract should be revised to suit the conditions & mfc should offer support but not bear the costs for a self inflicted injury such as ice addiction. Losing a valuable player is already big price to pay.
Mfc need to get on with football & Oliver needs to get on with life. I hope he makes good life choices & gets back to his best. How long that takes will ultimately be up to him.
 
I wonder what Dr. Grande would make of Oliver's predicament?
If Oliver is using ice then
Could he be put on a long term injury list?
And if so Mfc should be able to replace Oliver with another player.
My thinking is that if he is addicted to ice then it should come under mental health. His contract should be revised to suit the conditions & mfc should offer support but not bear the costs for a self inflicted injury such as ice addiction. Losing a valuable player is already big price to pay.
Mfc need to get on with football & Oliver needs to get on with life. I hope he makes good life choices & gets back to his best. How long that takes will ultimately be up to him.
If it's ice addiction, he's done under the illicit drugs AFL code.
You'd also struggle to play pro sport.
Would void his MFC contract.

He'd be better off retiring now.
 
If it's ice addiction, he's done under the illicit drugs AFL code.
You'd also struggle to play pro sport.
Would void his MFC contract.

He'd be better off retiring now.
It probably would void his contract, but there is ZERO chance a club walks away from a player in those circumstances.

And wouldn't self-reporting (or whatever it's termed) would constitute a '1st Strike', as far as we know?

Retiring under contract & walking away from the next 5+ years of salary & the support MFC** + AFL** could/can offer is utterly insane.



* & **: regardless our cynical opinion of the support MFC &/or AFL might provide, I promise you it's better than a cashed up mid-20's guy will do on his own. Especially one that's never held a real job or lived unsupported his whole life.
 
It probably would void his contract, but there is ZERO chance a club walks away from a player in those circumstances.

And wouldn't self-reporting (or whatever it's termed) would constitute a '1st Strike', as far as we know?

Retiring under contract & walking away from the next 5+ years of salary & the support MFC** + AFL** could/can offer is utterly insane.



* & **: regardless our cynical opinion of the support MFC &/or AFL might provide, I promise you it's better than a cashed up mid-20's guy will do on his own. Especially one that's never held a real job or lived unsupported his whole life.
If he's chained to the pipe it's over mate. Whichever way you skin it.

AFLPA would then takeover to ensure there are support mechanisms around him. But the bloke was on $1m a year for God knows how long, and his management would've made sure he'd invested a large chunk of that over the journey. I'd argue he's set up for life financially already.
 

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