Iceman!
Brownlow Medallist
There is no issue here at all. An out of contract player went out in the market to find out his worth, he did and went back to his current employer and said match this/get close/beat it etc and they did. What is the issue?Except it is. What we understand is that Battle was in good faith negotiations with the HFC. As in he was serious about moving to Waverley. There was never any suggestion that Nash was seriously discussing moving to another club. This is what creates the issue. Going into deep discussions and offers being made and then doing a 180. Interestingly, it doesn't happen in many other sports that I am aware of because players and managers do tend to know their market value so once they make a decision to enter discussions it is like any professional commercial arrangement. Sure, some play a game of trying to inflate their contract by speaking to other clubs if they can but what happens within the AFL bubble seems a very amateur game and IMO, unprofessional. It like having to deal with a bunch of kids. I personally couldn't imagine having to deal with some of these people.
We chased a player and missed out, shit happens.