Opinion How should the club proceed with Kane Lambert?

[richoplzbreed]

I wrote this last week prior to the game against WCE:
"He's now played 1 game in 7 rounds where he hasn't broken down. Add to that he missed the first 6 weeks. Time to hang them up unfortunately. The blokes gonna walk like a gimp regardless so might as well do the honorable thing and force his hand so he can have some quality of life and maybe chase our future father sons around grooming them for the 2040 odd drafts".

His game on the weekend achieved no benefit for the club other than denying a kid a chance at a senior game, he was completely ineffective and will cost us big time against quality opposition, so I say give him a Mebourne fairwell game against crap opposition and get him into development ASAP.

 

[Muddiemoose]

Just let him play until the end of the year and go out on his own terms
His contract is up at the end of this year anyway

 

["The Roar Is Back"]

Pretty sure all medical intervention / surgery has already been explored. Nothing to be gained by axing him prior to the end of the season , very unlikely he is on our list next season .

 

[Sir_Loin]

Totally up to him. Class guy and will make the right decision. He’s earned that right.

You must respect your champions.

 

[tiger_tough]

Cant keep him on next year if he's only going to be fit every 2nd or 3rd game. Happy to play it week by week this season though. We're better with him in the team.

 

[Sir_Loin]

Cant keep him on next year if he's only going to be fit every 2nd or 3rd game. Happy to play it week by week this season though. We're better with him in the team.

The guy is going to be a future coach IMO

He’s not taking up a spot. Up to him. He’ll make the right call.

**** he was good

 

[Tackle Bag]

The bloke walks into an assistant coaching/ player development role with us when his playing days are done I reckon. Definitely suited to it.

Im a little concerned about selection continuity if he continues with the one week in two weeks out.
At some point it will impact his playing form and it prevents the side from settling in the run to finals.

Hopefully we can find a balance that gets him on the field week in week out for the majority of the remaining season. If not, we need to settle another player into his role sooner rather than later.

Could we use him as a permanent “break glass when needed” medical sub?

 

[tiger_tough]

The guy is going to be a future coach IMO

He’s not taking up a spot. Up to him. He’ll make the right call.

* he was good

Has still played well at time this season. Surgery in the off season might be an option.

 

[STRUGGLETOWN EST1885]

Lambo will most likely do the Richmond man thing and call it a day at the end of the season. I'm thinking the club already has a midfield coaching development role on the table ready for him to sign. Great bloke, very smart and well respected and loved by all. A natural born leader in his own quiet way.

 

[GastevsBeard]

What a bloody shame

Hugely underrated, and played a critical team role to facilitate Dusty’s beast mode. Not to mention was always dangerous and creative in the forward 50

The one game he was able to run out this year he was more than handy too. Reckon with a fully fit lambert this year we would be sitting in the top 4 given some of the close losses and his reliability hitting the scoreboard

 

[richoplzbreed]

The bloke walks into an assistant coaching/ player development role with us when his playing days are done I reckon. Definitely suited to it.

Im a little concerned about selection continuity if he continues with the one week in two weeks out.
At some point it will impact his playing form and it prevents the side from settling in the run to finals.

Hopefully we can find a balance that gets him on the field week in week out for the majority of the remaining season. If not, we need to settle another player into his role sooner rather than later.

Could we use him as a permanent “break glass when needed” medical sub?

He missed the first 6 weeks. Played a few and since then has played 1 game in 7 weeks. Permanent medi-sub, not likely. Was the medi-sub on the weekend and got 3 measly touches and offered nil in half a game. He's deteriorating by the week. It's not like he's getting smashed in the magoos, he's in cotton wool for a month and then fresh as a daisy provides less than Soldo like medi sub return. Sub's need to come on fresh and tear the opposition a new arseh*le. If Aarts or nearly every other player who's not loved put in his medi sub performance people would be saying stamp their papers. Edwards, Soldo, Castagna, Lambert???? How many can we carry when we've got kids dying for opportunity.

 

[Tackle Bag]

He missed the first 6 weeks. Played a few and since then has played 1 game in 7 weeks. Permanent medi-sub, not likely. Was the medi-sub on the weekend and got 3 measly touches and offered nil in half a game. He's deteriorating by the week. It's not like he's getting smashed in the magoos, he's in cotton wool for a month and then fresh as a daisy provides less than Soldo like medi sub return. Sub's need to come on fresh and tear the opposition a new a-hole. If Aarts or nearly every other player who's not loved put in his medi sub performance people would be saying stamp their papers. Edwards, Soldo, Castagna, Lambert???? How many can we carry when we've got kids dying for opportunity.

He’s played in 3 of the last 7 and was named unused sub in another one.
He had 23 touches and was a solid contributor against Carlton 3 weeks ago.
Last week was the first time he’s had absolutely zero impact.
8 touches in just over a half against the bombers was his other pretty quiet game.

In and out of the side each week is not sustainable though and his form is bound to decline without continuity.

 

[BringOn2017]

Make him a part time coach next year for a few seasons, then he can move into assistant coaching.

 

[Rioli2Rioli]

Cooked unfortunately

Give the man a goodbye game and transition into coaching/development role and take over our VFL coach position

 

[richoplzbreed]

He’s played in 3 of the last 7 and was named unused sub in another one.
He had 23 touches and was a solid contributor against Carlton 3 weeks ago.
Last week was the first time he’s had absolutely zero impact.
8 touches in just over a half against the bombers was his other pretty quiet game.

In and out of the side each week is not sustainable though and his form is bound to decline without continuity.

Playing in 3 of the last 7 sounds acceptable until you break it down.
Those 7 games had a bye also, so in 8 calendar weeks he has played:

• 1 full game against Carlton (played well but pulled up lame then rested)
• 1 partial game where he broke down against bombers (miniscule output)
• 1 game as sub (WCE) where the runner almost matched his output in half a game.
• 5 weeks completely rested.

Add to that no preseason practice matches and missed the first 6 weeks as wasn't up to it.
Anyway to slice it he's played "1" full game in 2 months. Hardwick foolishly took 3 injured players into the preliminary final against North in 2015 and 2 broke down and we coughed up a decent lead to be overrun as our rotations were kaputski. Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Also i'd be staggered if they take him on a flight to QLD, so I assume he's rested "potentially" plays the sh!tful Roos, plays reasonably cos even Kate Sheahan could get a kick against them. No player is bigger than the club.

 

[Tackle Bag]

Playing in 3 of the last 7 sounds acceptable until you break it down.
Those 7 games had a bye also, so in 8 calendar weeks he has played:

• 1 full game against Carlton (played well but pulled up lame then rested)
• 1 partial game where he broke down against bombers (miniscule output)
• 1 game as sub (WCE) where the runner almost matched his output in half a game.
• 5 weeks completely rested.

Add to that no preseason practice matches and missed the first 6 weeks as wasn't up to it.
Anyway to slice it he's played "1" full game in 2 months. Hardwick foolishly took 3 injured players into the preliminary final against North in 2015 and 2 broke down and we coughed up a decent lead to be overrun as our rotations were kaputski. Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Also i'd be staggered if they take him on a flight to QLD, so I assume he's rested "potentially" plays the sh!tful Roos, plays reasonably cos even Kate Sheahan could get a kick against them. No player is bigger than the club.

I agree. I said in my original post that if he can’t now show that he can play and back up week after week then we need to settle one of our young guys into his position well before finals.

We are already carrying a couple that I’d have out of the side on exposed form.

Let’s hope we’ve learnt from previous team selection errors.

 

[banzai]

I think hes done. Its further compounded when you have Edwards and Jack in the same forward line. All 3 can get by with footy smarts individually, but in a contest they are now too easily beaten.

Also hes not good enough to just play the occasional game, he clearly wouldnt be training at full speed either so has no chance of getting any continuity in his game.

 

[SDMTiger4]

As I've said previously, we need consistency, and unfortunately his situation can't provide this. We can't head into a finals series and have him as a week to week proposition. If you can't rely on, or reasonably expect, him playing the next game, you can't afford to take him into a final. If we are fair dinkum in challenging this year, (and we have seen that at our best we can seriously challenge) we can't continue with this approach. Sad, but true.

 

[Truetiger]

Regardless of what happens. Surely we keep him on as an Assistant coach. Would have so much to offer.

 

[banana_bus]

Edwards, Soldo, Castagna, Lambert???? How many can we carry when we've got kids dying for opportunity.

Except theyre not "dying for opportunity". Name one who is consistently, week in week out banging the door down at VFL level that deserves to push out the 4 that you mentioned? We aren't Norf, we're not gifting kids games unless they earn them.

 

[Daka]

He is gone, the club knows it they just going squeeze everything out of him this year, if your 30+ and can't play reliably it's over.

 

[Daka]

Has still played well at time this season. Surgery in the off season might be an option.

He needs a hip replacement, their is no coming back from that at the highest level.

 

[Alio_89]

I wonder if the following would be allowed/within the rules. If it is I’m sure it would only be for a year before the AFL clamped down.

Offer Lambo a playing contract for next year, with the intention of getting him in for any surgery he requires for life after footy. Lambo then remains on the list as a player, who can be placed on the LTI list (we did all we could to get him right to play, but alas his body wasn’t up to it) allowing us a list spot to pick someone up in the SSP/Mid Season draft.

Lambo essentially performs the functions of a coach whilst still listed as a player, allowing us to pay him under the salary cap instead of the football department soft cap. I’m not sure what the going rate would be for a first year assistant coach, but I think we should be able to squeeze this in with some of the upcoming retirements. This helps alleviate the football department budget issues bought on by the COVID cuts and the higher salary committed to Dimma relative to many other clubs. This allows us to bolster our coaching/development capabilities with our young cubs coming through and keeps vital football department funds available to be allocated where appropriate.

 

[Hank Heavenly]

I guess we are getting him close enough to finals with enough fitness to then hit him with pain killers to get him through a game.

The body builds up a tolerance to pain killers, so timing is critical, that they are effective for long enough to get him though a finals series.

Depending on injury and pain meds, I reckon 4-6 weeks is the timeframe where they are most effective.

Then gone at seasons end from a playing capacity

 

[fargothegreat]

Just gotta treat Lambo like a bit of a bonus when he's available. Shorty successfully moving into his role has helped us a lot.