Luke Ball nominates essendon and collingwood as his prefered destination

[Bartram_Class]

Can I preface this by saying I'm not even that bothered by Ball anymore, no point drafting a player that so clearly doesn't want to be at the club.

However, how far would Ball's reputation plummet if he sits out of footy for 12 months in the mother of all dummy spits for not getting to the club he wants?

 

[phantom13]

If he loses Ball to Essendon, he has effectively lost Pick 16 & Ball for Lovett. I reckon most people here could do a better deal than that.

Yep he could've lost pick 16 and Ball to get pick 25 and Lovett. That would've been great trading.

You might be forgetting that Ball nominated Collingwood in trade week and for whatever reason a deal couldn't be done (probably both teams faults we will never know for sure). If you want your statement to be correct we would have lost Ball & 16 for Lovett & 30 which, when considering our current playing list, pick 30 is useless. Pick 30 wont play a game in our current premiership window unless we get a mature age player or a discard (Joel McDonald wouldn't be the worst option) so we played hardball with Collingwood tried to get a player and it didn't happen, good on Collingwood for having faith in their list and good on us for not just taking what we could get. In any event, i hope Luke gets where he wants to go, by and large he is a fantastic bloke and the events of the last few months aside, which again are not entirely his fault, a very good clubman.

 

[w00dy]

Intriguing stuff. Risk to Dees and Lions is that they spend a high draft pick and then he decides to sit it out for 12 months. Last thing Dees need. But if Dees finish last again he could be in same situation again although Dees probably won't risk another high pick and the relationship would be soured from losing previous year's pick.

If he sits out of footy for 12 months, he doesn't get to enter the draft again, he has to be traded by the club that drafted him. If he isn't, he would either have to play for that club or sit out for another year, before his contract is up and he can enter the draft again.

So if Melbourne do decide to draft Ball, he decides to sit out, if Melbourne can't get the right deal for him in trade week, he could sit out of footy for 2 years...

 

[Crusty Demon]

Yes, there are a few dees supporters who have been outspoken about their excitement about Luke Ball possibly coming to the club, but if you ask the majority of Dees supporters, they would be more happy with picking up 4 talented kids in the top 18 picks, as well as possibly Thorp and Macdonald who could add balance and x factor to our side going forward.

Personally, I wouldn't touch Luke Ball with a ten foot pole as his body isn't right and lets face it, he just isn't that good. $500,000 he is not worth and I'd rather overpay some of our younger talent - Grimes, Morton, Jurrah, Frawley, Garland, Watts to keep them happy.

Yes, Luke Ball would add leadership and experience to any midfield in the comp, and I think he would be a good fit at both Essendon and Collingwood, but with the price tag and possible body shutdowns, it's a risk too big for the Dees.

 

[Pykie]

Yes, but a MUCH STRONGER draft. This draft is compromised, and thus is a very poor draft after the first 15-20.

Draft strengths are made in hindsight 4+ years down the track, not weeks before the actual event.




It's going to be seriously funny in 3-4 years to see some of the good players plucked in the later rounds of this draft, and dig up the countless comments like this.


Also to laugh at the clubs that didn't "rate" the draft at all, and traded away all their picks.

 

[morebeer]

Don't want Ball near Essendon.

Hope Melbourne picks him at 18 and he rots away at that disgrace of a club for the rest of his 'prime'.

Who would actually choose to leave a club on the verge of winning a flag?

 

[Teak_Pies]

Don't want Ball near Essendon.

Hope Melbourne picks him at 18 and he rots away at that disgrace of a club for the rest of his 'prime'.

Who would actually choose to leave a club on the verge of winning a flag?

No idea why you would leave when your a chance for a flag but I think you will get Ball mate

 

[dave_27]

I cant believe how badly Collingwood fans are taking this news.

They are literally slitting there wrists over hutchy's article. Surely they arent that deluded into thinking Ball might be the difference in them winning a flag with that list?

 

[Palmer Stoat]

I cant believe how badly Collingwood fans are taking this news.

They are literally slitting there wrists over hutchy's article. Surely they arent that deluded into thinking Ball might be the difference in them winning a flag with that list?

Literally?

 

[Spikey]

Literally?

Yes. Admittedly some of them may of been slitting their wrists before the article was published for various reasons.

 

[TradeDraft]

You would think he will end up at Essendon now if Hutchy has even spoken to ball. Considering there isn't one comment from either Ball or Conners in the article it's hard to believe anything the media is saying on this point.

Imagine if he is taken with pick 18 and does sit out a year. The AFL will have a huge egg on their face. Free agency is what sport is about these days.

True the Herald Sun said we would get Welsh but we did not

 

[Palmer Stoat]

Yes. Admittedly some of them may of been slitting their wrists before the article was published for various reasons.

The trade and draft period is a sad time of year, I guess.

Still disappointing to hear people have been killing themselves over it.




(Better reserve seats for the rest of us, I suppose.)

 

[TradeDraft]

What great news!

I don't know who I want him to pick up more.

See Collingwood go all out for a flag by trading their first two picks on Jolly and Ball and inevitably fail....then having to pick some youth whilst GC17 and GWS are raping the draft.

Or Essendon, to pick him up with a mid-20 pick, pay him $500k a year and still have the shittest and slowest midfield of the top 10 ranked sides after realising how broken his body is

Oh choice choices

*Cue Essendon supporters exclaim "but our midfield beat yours!1!1!SHIFTONE!111"

You don't even have any good KPP Players

 

[paulcar]

Given that Vossy has indicated possibly drafting LB regardless of whether he wants to be at the club or not, I hope the dees have the balls (literally) to draft him. He'll either end up at Essendon or could well sit out the season and allow the players association to push for free agency. No chance of getting to Collingwood this season. As I've said before our best chance to secure him was in trade week and that failed to eventuate. I don't care who was at fault, I just stick with the facts. The saving grace is that we'll know his fate in less than 2 weeks and then hopefully there'll be no more LB threads. From a personal perspective, securing Fev at Collingwood should have been a higher priority cause we really need a key forward. Anthony will never be an A-grade FF and I have reservations about Travis Cloke. The cloke brothers seem to do well in their first seasons and then never really progress.

 

[Nickers]

He's not a superstar and will probably never reach his full potential, but I'd say that Ball still has it in him to significantly improve; to grab him at pick 26 (in such a weak draft) would be an absolute steal, IMO... I think with all the youtube clips and phantom drafts circulating at this time of year, people tend to start rating draft picks (particularly from the second round onwards) far too highly.

(Picking him up with pick 26) would perhaps be a different situation for us if we only had the one second rounder to work with, but with not much seperating picks 24 and 33, we'd still got a couple of opportunities to snap up a slider or potential gun whilst picking up a solid player to help rotate with Jobe in the clearances and feed the ball out to our runner. Having Ball in the side would also free up McVeigh or Welsh to play in other roles if needed too, so I think he could be a really good fit for us if we got him.

Hopefully McPhee stays, and if we come out of trade week/the draft basically having obtained Williams, Ball and 33 in return for Lovett, Nash and a couple of late picks, then I'll be rapt.

 

[Vader]

He holds a commerce degree & his old man Ray, is high up in Macquarie Bank. He could earn half of that if he chose to enter the private sector, whilst achieving a boyhood dream of playing at Old Xavs (with their offield networks) with his brother.

When they say "sit out of footy" they mean "sit out of footy". He wouldn't even be able to play for Old Xavs. Once he gets drafted by a club (eg Melbourne) he's bound to that club for 2 years. If he wants to play for another club in that time (eg Old Xavs) he'd have to seek a release from his AFL club. Do you honestly expect the club to do him any favours when he's refusing to play for them?

If he sits out of footy for 12 months, he doesn't get to enter the draft again, he has to be traded by the club that drafted him. If he isn't, he would either have to play for that club or sit out for another year, before his contract is up and he can enter the draft again.

So if Melbourne do decide to draft Ball, he decides to sit out, if Melbourne can't get the right deal for him in trade week, he could sit out of footy for 2 years...

Close.. He's bound to the AFL club for 2 years.

At the end of the first year the club has 3 choices - trade him, delist him, or hold onto him.

Trading him has some appeal, as they'd at least get some return on the draft pick used to select him in the first place. By sending him to a destination of his choosing they'd be likely to get his approval for the deal.

If they choose to delist him, then he would be able to nominate for the 2010 ND. This is a likely outcome, as I doubt the club would want to retain a non-playing player on their list for a 2nd year.

If they choose to retain him, then there's nothing he can do about it - except sit out of the game for a 2nd year and watch his career go down the gurgler. I can't see anyone being interested in picking up a 28yo player who hasn't played a game in 2 years.

 

[The Royal Sampler]

If you want your statement to be correct we would have lost Ball & 16 for Lovett & 30 which, when considering our current playing list, pick 30 is useless. Pick 30 wont play a game in our current premiership window unless we get a mature age player or a discard (Joel McDonald wouldn't be the worst option) so we played hardball with Collingwood tried to get a player and it didn't happen, good on Collingwood for having faith in their list and good on us for not just taking what we could get.

Your current premiership window? So I guess I should be taking this "2012" movie seriously, as it appears the Mayans were right and the world does come to an end in three football seasons.

You do realise that players aren't drafted to achieve their potential in their first three years on a club list, don't you?

Literally?

Gold! Reminds me of a joke on Frasier along similar lines, actually. (comes up early in opening credits, you don't have to watch all 6+ minutes, just about 1min 20s)

[YOUTUBE]cwCOLGlfMtM[/YOUTUBE]

 

[yaco55]

Given that Vossy has indicated possibly drafting LB regardless of whether he wants to be at the club or not, I hope the dees have the balls (literally) to draft him. He'll either end up at Essendon or could well sit out the season and allow the players association to push for free agency. No chance of getting to Collingwood this season. As I've said before our best chance to secure him was in trade week and that failed to eventuate. I don't care who was at fault, I just stick with the facts. The saving grace is that we'll know his fate in less than 2 weeks and then hopefully there'll be no more LB threads. From a personal perspective, securing Fev at Collingwood should have been a higher priority cause we really need a key forward. Anthony will never be an A-grade FF and I have reservations about Travis Cloke. The cloke brothers seem to do well in their first seasons and then never really progress.

How does Ball sitting out of football for 12 months after refusing to play for his drafted club = free agency?

 

[Bay Pie]

Collingwood are reknowned pricks to deal with in trade week so i hope Essendon snaffle him up.

Melbourne supporters seriously get the fk over it.

Really. And yet we have completed a trade every year since 2004.

2005- Richard Cole for pick 23
2006- Chris Tarrant for pick 8 & Medhurst
2007- Pick 14 for Cam Wood
2008- Rhyce Shaw for pick 44/45
2009- Pick 14 & pick 46 for Darren Jolly

We still get trades done though, granted not all. We've traded 2 1st round picks in widely regarded weak drafts.

Shame. Best of luck at Essendon, Luke.

My thoughts exactly

 

[Durham Hawks]

injury prone players will only ever want to go to clubs that can offer them every possible dollar to get them right.

one of the reasons judd chose carlton.
why jesse smith is walking to hawthorn.
why luke ball is nominating essendon and collingwood.

 

[McOrist]

injury prone players will only ever want to go to clubs that can offer them every possible dollar to get them right.

one of the reasons judd chose carlton.
why jesse smith is walking to hawthorn.
why luke ball is nominating essendon and collingwood.

If that's what Jesse Smith is thinking, maybe he should talk to Robert Campbell, Trent Croad and Rick Ladson. There are no medical miracle workers at any particular clubs.

 

[ICF89]

Ball is next to useless when the zone/ball spreads, kicking efficiency & pace are vital ingredients of Essendon's game plan, Ball doesn't aid them as much as you think.

You still have to win the ball, even if you do play a fast style like Essendon not everyone can be a receiver.

Go and have a look at the Bombers when Watson is tagged out of it. They just do not get enough footy. Ball would help this.

 

[Mrs Mercuri]

My biggest concern is if Watson and Ball are unable to function in tandem. We'd be giving up a lot of leg speed in the middle if we were to put them both in there.

I'd rather draft youngsters with our selections.

I completely agree... i dont want Luke Ball in red and black and i dont want the club wasting one of our high picks on him. We can get some quality 10 year youngsters instead.

 

[Cuz2Plugger]

Arrogant ****ing Prick

Bingo

 

[paulcar]

Yaco55, the AFL players association have already indicated they will be pushing for a form of free agency. I suspect they will closely watch the Luke Ball situation which could be the catalyst for the push for free agency. That's all I'm saying. My gut feel is he'll end up at Essendon and will not be unhappy with this selection. He is, afterall, good mates with Jobe Watson and while the bombers are in the rebuilding stage, he will play for a club with kudos and in front of large crowds, particularly against the blues, pies, hawks and even the tigers. But Melbourne can still make a stand and recruit him whether he likes it or not. Truth is most players don't play for the clubs they support or would prefer to play with.