Predicted number 1 pick reportedly tells West Coast he doesn't want to play for them

[GC2015]

I still honestly don't get the doom and gloom about playing for the Eagles. Have people seriously not followed this league for any longer than 3 years?

History suggests that the Eagles will win their next flag before at least a dozen other teams. And as I've posted earlier, maybe in some other thread, there has not ever been a 10-year Eagles player who has missed playing in a premiership team (barring injury eg. Nic Nat).

Reid would be mad to think he's got a higher chance of success long term elsewhere. If that is truly what drives him.

West Coast seem to be the best example of a team that follows the cyclical nature of the league that's intended with the draft. Premiers in the mid-90s, bottom 4 in the early 2000s, premiers in 2006, wooden spooners in 2010, Grand Finalists in 2015 and Premiers in 2018, wooden spooners in 2023. Give them another 3-5 years and they'll probably win another flag.

As for Reid, I'm sure in a perfect world he'd rather stay in Victoria but that's not to say he's going to hate it in WA. West Coast are as well resourced as any club in the AFL and their players are treating like rockstars over in the Perth who regularly play in front of 60k sell out crowds. So it's not as if he'd feel like he's massively missing out in that sense. The biggest factor IMO will be if West Coast can achieve enough on field success while he's with them to convince him to re-sign. That seems to be the biggest challenge for rebuilding teams and mandatory three year contracts should help in that regard.

Not true, just recently Dunkley was held to his contract by the Dogs and Tim Kelly was held to his by Geelong just to name a couple

Joe Daniher was also held to his contract by Essendon when he wanted to go to Sydney and left a year later when he became a free agent. I think it's something we're going to see more often with teams that are in a rebuilding phase because they know if they can just hold on a little longer then it might click and usually on field success convinces young players to stick around because they tend to want a shot at premiership glory. Ridiculous money can obviously trump that though.

The "pressure"

if Reid is the best player available at West Coast's pick I think they will draft him.

You're right. The Eagles should draft him if they think he's the best available player, but that doesn't mean they aren't thinking about possible retention issues later down the track. Is JHF a better player than Sheezel or Wardlaw? If the answer is yes then North should have kept him going by your logic. North also decided to trade away pick 1 (Cadman) in the same trade so consider that when you're answering the question. The Roos were clearly concerned about keep JHF long term and just decided to rip the band aid off a year early instead of going through a painful 12 months of constant rumour/innuendo.

 

[bzparkes]

He'll put a price on his head, and we will pick him up at any pick we have.

Nah, any club before you would make room.

Only chance is being a Spooner.

Besides, he already said he'd pick Collingwood over Geelong anyway.

 

[eaglespremiers]

Bendigo is a bloody damn good and livable city. I am thinking about moving up there at some point.

You never been there have you ?

Do it.
I moved here from Melbourne 10 years ago and it was much better fit for me and my family for a number of reasons.

 

[eaglespremiers]

Great.

He'll be free for us then.

Unless you're winning the wooden spoon that year there is almost zero chance he'd end up at Geelong.

 

[bzparkes]

Do it.
I moved here from Melbourne 10 years ago and it was much better for me and my family for a number of reasons.

Old mate was probably confused with Ballarat, tbh.

 

[CharacterFirst]

Nah, any club before you would make room.

Only chance is being a Spooner.

Besides, he already said he'd pick Collingwood over Geelong anyway.

We take him at pick 40 in the National Draft then.

You don't get to choose which draft he goes in, Harley and Geelong would make those decisions.

And even if he was in the Pre-season draft, your bloody mindedness in not trading would have Geelong and Harley making it crystal clear he ain't playing for anyone but the hoops. We would simply get him anyway you cut it.

You would be massive losers anyway it went down. We would be massive winners.

 

[The 747]

You're right. The Eagles should draft him if they think he's the best available player, but that doesn't mean they aren't thinking about possible retention issues later down the track. Is JHF a better player than Sheezel or Wardlaw? If the answer is yes then North should have kept him going by your logic. North also decided to trade away pick 1 (Cadman) in the same trade so consider that when you're answering the question. The Roos were clearly concerned about keep JHF long term and just decided to rip the band aid off a year early instead of going through a painful 12 months of constant rumour/innuendo.

What retention issues? What players have the Eagles drafted that walked out on them? Judd the only significant one I can think of and there were reasons.

If I were the Eagles I would have no concerns about that. Much more often players have left their clubs to go the Eagles.

 

[bzparkes]

We take him at pick 40 in the National Draft then.

You don't get to choose which draft he goes in, Harley and Geelong would make those decisions.

And even if he was in the Pre-season draft, your bloody mindedness in not trading would have Geelong and Harley making it crystal clear he ain't playing for anyone but the hoops. We would simply get him anyway you cut it.

You would be massive losers anyway it went down. We would be massive winners.

Lol, no he doesn't.

Geelong have no power here, especially for a kid who'd rather play for a big club in Melbourne than the club he grew up supporting.

Irrelevant anyway, WCE don't lose players to Geelong, other than Selwood

The ones who come from country to Perth end up staying after they retire, because it's far better than going back for them.

 

[bzparkes]

What retention issues? What players have the Eagles drafted that walked out on them? Judd the only significant one I can think of and there were reasons.

If I were the Eagles I would have no concerns about that. Much more often players have left their clubs to go the Eagles.

A busted Scott Selwood and Brad Ebert are the only notable ones that left, and both were free agents that we chose not to match, as I recall, other than Judd's obviously.

Retaining Reid would probably be the least thing in the list management team's mind, tbh.

 

[GC2015]

What retention issues? What players have the Eagles drafted that walked out on them? Judd the only significant one I can think of and there were reasons.

If I were the Eagles I would have no concerns about that. Much more often players have left their clubs to go the Eagles.

Well if you want to look at bringing elite talent into your club during a rebuilding phase then it probably helps that almost all their high end draft picks have been West Aussies:

1992 ND pick 1 - Drew Banfield (Subiaco)
1995 ND pick 3 - Brendon Fewster (West Perth)
1996 ND pick 1 - Michael Gardiner (Claremont)
2001 ND pick 3 - Chris Judd (Sandingham)
2007 ND pick 3 - Chris Masten (East Fremantle)
2008 ND pick 2 - Nic Naitanui (Swan Districts)

Hard to have retention issues when almost all of your elite draft talent are locals. It would also be accurate to say that the only interstate top 3 pick West Coast has ever drafted walked out on them so their retention rate is actually terrible in that sense. Depends on how you want to look at it and how much data you choose to include.

 

[bzparkes]

Well if you want to look at bringing elite talent into your club during a rebuilding phase then it probably helps that almost all their high end draft picks have been West Aussies:

1992 ND pick 1 - Drew Banfield (Subiaco)
1995 ND pick 3 - Brendon Fewster (West Perth)
1996 ND pick 1 - Michael Gardiner (Claremont)
2001 ND pick 3 - Chris Judd (Sandingham)
2007 ND pick 3 - Chris Masten (East Fremantle)
2008 ND pick 2 - Nic Naitanui (Swan Districts)

Hard to have retention issues when almost all of your elite draft talent are locals. It would also be accurate to say that the only interstate top 3 pick West Coast has ever drafted walked out on them so their retention rate is actually terrible in that sense. Depends on how you want to look at it and how much data you choose to include.

Well, it's rare for WCE to have top 5 picks.

WCE also wanted pick 1 I'm the Judd trade so they could land Cotchin, from memory.

You also left out Gaff, unless your cutoff was pick 3...

Shuey wanted to stay in Vic and is still at the club. Reckon he'd have gotten a few fairly decent offers to go back to Vic.

Not particularly concerned about Reid. History says WCE will retain him.

 

[The 747]

Well if you want to look at bringing elite talent into your club during a rebuilding phase then it probably helps that almost all their high end draft picks have been West Aussies:

1992 ND pick 1 - Drew Banfield (Subiaco)
1995 ND pick 3 - Brendon Fewster (West Perth)
1996 ND pick 1 - Michael Gardiner (Claremont)
2001 ND pick 3 - Chris Judd (Sandingham)
2007 ND pick 3 - Chris Masten (East Fremantle)
2008 ND pick 2 - Nic Naitanui (Swan Districts)

Hard to have retention issues when almost all of your elite draft talent are locals. It would also be accurate to say that the only interstate top 3 pick West Coast has ever drafted walked out on them so their retention rate is actually terrible in that sense. Depends on how you want to look at it and how much data you choose to include.

Who are the players of significance that have walked out on West Coast?

 

[Gavin Excell]

Well if you want to look at bringing elite talent into your club during a rebuilding phase then it probably helps that almost all their high end draft picks have been West Aussies:

1992 ND pick 1 - Drew Banfield (Subiaco)
1995 ND pick 3 - Brendon Fewster (West Perth)
1996 ND pick 1 - Michael Gardiner (Claremont)
2001 ND pick 3 - Chris Judd (Sandingham)
2007 ND pick 3 - Chris Masten (East Fremantle)
2008 ND pick 2 - Nic Naitanui (Swan Districts)

Hard to have retention issues when almost all of your elite draft talent are locals. It would also be accurate to say that the only interstate top 3 pick West Coast has ever drafted walked out on them so their retention rate is actually terrible in that sense. Depends on how you want to look at it and how much data you choose to include.

Saw M Gardiner at Caulfield races Saturday
Looked to have trimmed down and healthy

 

[FreoFan85]

How has 32 people voted no in this poll? Surely they can’t be serious.

 

[bzparkes]

How has 32 people voted no in this poll? Surely they can’t be serious.

Sam McLure on a VPN.

 

[Shoei]

*facepalm
It really is not this simple lol.

Also, a player can be open to moving but have a preference to stay if they were asked their view and they're not mutually exclusive.

That's probably the case in the majority of these situations but that doesn't sell stories so the media hypes it up as Player X tells Eagles he doesn't want to move.

You can facepalm all you want.

Nearly every single major professional sport around the world requires people to move around their country. Hell, in soccer alone there are thousands of 15-18 year olds that move from Africa, South America etc to Europe just for a chance to even make a living as a semi-professional let alone a professional.

Only in Australia do we make it some kind of issue for this "Go Home" factor.

I'm all for full free agency, If a player completes their contract then they should be able to sign with whatever team they want.

If a player wants to move during their contract then it should be open to both ways, a club can move them at their discretion too.

 

[TheUnicorn]

How has 32 people voted no in this poll? Surely they can’t be serious.

I read the question wrong and voted No but can't change my vote aha.

 

[WillHayward]

Bendigo is a bloody damn good and livable city. I am thinking about moving up there at some point.

You never been there have you ?

Sure I have. quite recently actually. Went to a decent bar in the main drag. I don't mind bendigo.

I've also lived in Perth. Have you?

 

[greatwhiteshark]

You can facepalm all you want.

Nearly every single major professional sport around the world requires people to move around their country. Hell, in soccer alone there are thousands of 15-18 year olds that move from Africa, South America etc to Europe just for a chance to even make a living as a semi-professional let alone a professional.

Only in Australia do we make it some kind of issue for this "Go Home" factor.

I'm all for full free agency, If a player completes their contract then they should be able to sign with whatever team they want.

If a player wants to move during their contract then it should be open to both ways, a club can move them at their discretion too.

So why do t we give them that freedom at 18 and let them play for who they wa t immediately?

 

[bzparkes]

So why do t we give them that freedom at 18 and let them play for who they wa t immediately?

Because the Vics would never win a flag ever again.

 

[Clark G]

Not true, just recently Dunkley was held to his contract by the Dogs and Tim Kelly was held to his by Geelong just to name a couple

I never said that every trade request goes through. But a lot of them do, such as with Tom Boyd and more recently Horne-Francis.

 

[Alesana]

I never said that every trade request goes through. But a lot of them do, such as with Tom Boyd and more recently Horne-Francis.

You implied that any time a player requests a trade it goes through. It doesn't happen "all the time".

And with JHF, North had a disgruntled player who could've walked out on them the following year having only served one year at the club. At least if the same happened with Reid which is incredibly highly unlikely, they'll have another full year for water to go under the bridge. Players have changed their minds in the past after being denied a trade and re-signed with their club.

 

[Altum Volantes]

Do you think the Eagles should deal Harley at the mid season trades or risk him leaving 2 and half years later?

I hear insert team has put a big a year for long contract in front of him and his Uncle Steve went to school with List Manager and it’s all a done deal.

 

[Engimal v3]

You implied that any time a player requests a trade it goes through. It doesn't happen "all the time".

And with JHF, North had a disgruntled player who could've walked out on them the following year having only served one year at the club. At least if the same happened with Reid which is incredibly highly unlikely, they'll have another full year for water to go under the bridge. Players have changed their minds in the past after being denied a trade and re-signed with their club.

Reid also has a few hairs on his peaches unlike JHF, so he'll be able to touch it out

 

[Farang83150]

Reid will have family in Perth, unlike the horn.