No Oppo Supporters Sam Mitchell traded

[Arc1]

"At 34, with a young family and perhaps my best footy behind me, this all makes sense and it opens doors in terms of my next dream to be a coach."

Interesting to put it out there in black and white.

 

[11sjw]

Agree 100% so many people cant see it .Bulldogs are the benchmark atm our midfield was smashed by theirs in that final if we want to win or work towards winning flag no14 we have to be as good as them this is the beginning of the process ,not about just being competitive never has been got to be in with a chance .I see it as an exciting time for us end of an era and process beginning to build a new one TBH I don't even care if the JOM deal falls through because I know that the club never stands still and hope that things happen they will always have a plan .This is an ideal situation for Sam Mitchell and the club been handled very professionally IMO .

Not to mention the recent smashings at the hands of GWS.

 

[A Cut Above]

OK guys let's see you spin this. I feel like throwing up and all we have to show for it is pick 88.

 

[hk89]

I think this summarises how most fans feel about pick 88:


The previous scene is probably also a good depiction of Wright and Simpson, with Marsellus Wallace playing the role of Wright.

 

[Leather Poisoning]

You can't frontload contracts in the draft.

Teams only have to match the years and money and pay it evenly

So what if you do 1 year contract @ $1.5m? Or something like that

 

[kazzooka]

Mods, can we please amend the thread title to be:
"Sam Mitchell discarded" ?

Let's call it like it is.

I would have taken it better if we didn't resign him mid year and just said he needs to retire so we can rebuild the list and free up cap space. Then he either retires or we can support him going somewhere else. Not to say that we resigned him and want him, that we are coming again in 2017 (Clarko at PC medal) and then lose him for nothing.

 

[11sjw]

OK guys let's see you spin this. I feel like throwing up and all we have to show for it is pick 88.

It looks shit, no two ways about it. However there's a longer term focus here. OzJohnnie had a good post quoted above.

Sad in one way that the era is over but it is onto a new core going forward.

 

[Brishawk]

You can't frontload contracts in the draft.

Teams only have to match the years and money and pay it evenly

One year deal 1.5 million. Match that mother ****ers!

 

[benfranklin]

Pick 88 isn't worthless? Whatever you're smoking I want some.

Lakey was in the 70s so maybe all is not lost

 

[11sjw]

I would have taken it better if we didn't resign him mid year and just said he needs to retire so we can rebuild the list and free up cap space. Then he either retires or we can support him going somewhere else. Not to say that we resigned him and want him, that we are coming again in 2017 (Clarko at PC medal) and then lose him for nothing.

You realise how you or I take it means very little outside of "will they renew their membership?"

 

[Furn2]

So what if you do 1 year contract @ $1.5m? Or something like that

Got be at least 2 years also

 

[Flukey!]

**** me, traded for a bag of chips....

 

[Arc1]

OK guys let's see you spin this. I feel like throwing up and all we have to show for it is pick 88.

Shrug. Why not photoshop Dermott Brereton onto it? He still misses playing the game. 5 Premierships! 5 Night Premierships! 3 VFL Player of the Year! 1 Best & Fairest! 62 Brownlow Votes! Would still need the same disclaimer: "Not a single one of the above earned at Wet Toast. Further results not guaranteed".

But yes, I still want to puke.

 

[Manila_Hawk]

The Sammy decision is nothing about money or picks.....

It's about realisation.

We have (had) 5 players slowing down nearing the finish line (Hodgey, Sam, Burgers, Gibbo and Lewis).

We re-signed them all at a time during the year when we were winning excruciatingly close games without ever putting teams
away and without winning any contested possession. All of us supporters (and maybe the coaches) thought that we were building up to a crescendo.

Fast forward to end of the season, and it's obvious that the speed of the game has passed us by. Being inactive in trading last year didn't help.

Carrying these 5 (legends of our club) forward into next year is nostalgic, but does not set us up for a fast recovery.

So, a couple need to go. Hopefully they will find a spot somewhere for Lewis.

Bring in O'Meara and Rockliff, and go for gold.

 

[The Ghost Of Glenferrie]

That picture made me ill as well, but I can see the logic and business direction in our list regeneration strategy.

Because this is an emotive time, both the for's and the against's, I think it wise not to comment emotively.

The only thing I will say, is families argue, families hurt each, families make mistakes - but in the end they are still family. Everyone here has our clubs best interests at heart even though there may be disagreement with how it is undertaken.

This does hurt right now, but as a club we need to stay calm, watch closely and reserve final judgement until the entire strategy becomes more evident.

What's more, please try and be respectful and kind.

Because no matter what happens, good or bad "We are Hawthorn".

 

[TazHawk15]

The club has lost so much more than what it thinks.
They can't brainwash us to accept this propaganda that's been bandied about.
Now he's gone other players will follow, Sam changed the culture to the better.
Clarko and GW are to blame for getting this disgrace over the line.
Long term members like me have long term memories and this is a black spot in the history of the club.

As a long term member myself can I ask you how you felt when the Croad thing happened?

 

[hawker39]

Pick 88 Anthony Morabito

 

[kazzooka]

This is an absolute disgrace.
This in NOT what good clubs do. You can talk all you like about what they do in US sports, but they also know how to look after their champions. The LA Lakers gave Kobe Bryant a two year deal worth an absolute truck load when he should have retired. They knew he was past it and the team struggled. But they knew they owed it to him to be a one club player for all the success and joy he had given them. His farewell game was one of the greatest sporting events of the year and his fans got to farewell him and thank him. We will never get this chance with Sam Mitchell.

Exactly right about Kobe. That is what the club has traded away. One of the most beautiful and amazing moments in sport. To say good by after everything is what a family club does.

For Pick 88 we have lost our Kobe moment. We have given up on a flag in the next 2 years, while Sam still has a chance at the eagles. We have created an environment were big name recruits get fat cheques and loyal servants are told to play on scraps or leave. Few of our young players still on the list will be getting lower pay than O'Meara and Mitchell after delivering 3 flags and possibly out performing them.

The small positive is that in 5 years time, Mitchell will be retired and Hawthorn will hopefully be contending for a Flag with the players we were able to bring in this trade period. However all these recruits AND our current young mids (Langford, O'Rourke especially) must take on the mantle and take us to more premierships.

If it doesn't come off we will not even be able to say it was worth trying, It either succeeds or is a disaster.

 

[Max Powers]

Just looking at the email with the Sams letter to Hawk fans.
Sad sad day.

 

[A Cut Above]

It looks shit, no two ways about it. However there's a longer term focus here.

With respect mate, the focus must've done a 180 from earlier in the year when we extended Sam's contract. He and the club are putting a brave face on it and I'm sure there's a good deal of truth behind the spin but that doesn't necessarily mean we're being given the whole truth.

If I asked you a couple of weeks ago how you'd like to see the club free up 500k or so in our salary cap I'm pretty sure trading Sam Mitchell for pick 88 would've been about the last possible answer to pop into your head, and I don't see what else my club gets out of this deal.

 

[hk89]

Wright talking to press at 1:30pm. If JOM is doesn't by then, then I'm guessing it will not happen until next week, as he'd love to be able throw that out at the presser to deflect somewhat from the S.Mitchell deal.

 

[Jethro!]

Oh boy....
This is extremely hard to stomach. Not sure I'll be able to bear the eagles v hawks game next year. I do however feel that offering Lewis and Mitch up is a strange show of loyalty. They seem to be saying, 'we need to move on and get new blokes in. You guys have been warriors for us so lets see if we can fill your boots on longer term deals with other clubs.' It obviously didn't resonate with Lewis who isn't feeling he's that close to the end at only 30.

I also don't think that the $750k is offered to JOM is fabric tearing compared to Buddy at the Swans for example. Now that COLA is going I think there will be far more unsettled souls there. Though we better land the kid otherwise we've caused a significant amount of distress and lost our best player for nothing.

To me its definitely double the heartache of Franklin going.

 

[11sjw]

With respect mate, the focus must've done a 180 from earlier in the year when we extended Sam's contract. He and the club are putting a brave face on it and I'm sure there's a good deal of truth behind the spin but that doesn't necessarily mean we're being given the whole truth.

I agree that there would be an element of spin in the way this is presented and the Sam email that was sent out today. However the team as it was wasn't going to win a flag again. Something had to be done. Yes this seems drastic now and will smell next year. (Living in Perth I can tell you I freakin hate West Coast so seeing Sam in their kit will blow) I guess we're not lucky enough to have a "Go Home Mummy's boy" who happens to be one of the comp's premier players (ala Judd/Dingleberry) to immediately top us up so we needed to make the top up happen.

If I asked you a couple of weeks ago how you'd like to see the club free up 500k or so in our salary cap I'm pretty sure trading Sam Mitchell for pick 88 would've been about the last possible answer to pop into your head, and I don't see what else my club gets out of this deal.

Funnily enough I would've been more willing to part with Lewis ahead of Mitch but the way it panned out meant the club took advantage of an opportunity. Perhaps it means we'll have a dip at Heeney or Fyfe at the end of next season.

 

[flinchfree]

.....................The LA Lakers gave Kobe Bryant a two year deal worth an absolute truck load when he should have retired. They knew he was past it and the team struggled. But they knew they owed it to him to be a one club player for all the success and joy he had given them. His farewell game was one of the greatest sporting events of the year and his fans got to farewell him and thank him. We will never get this chance with Sam Mitchell.

The team didn't struggle, it had it's two worst years in it's history, consecutively.
Fans threw up in their mouths every game, for the last 3 years or so, as an incompetent, inept, scurrulously stupid management team has led them to bad hires, bad players both drafted and traded in, and the complete trashing of a franchise I thought untrashable.
Oh, and they paid stupid money to Kobe who many nights couldn't get off the bench with all the ice strapped to his shoulders and his knees.

Until Kobe's very last game, it was an unmitigated disaster as any Laker fan will tell you and no-one knows when it's effects might end.

Horrible, horrible comparison.
Try again if you must, but the Lakers franchise handling of Kobe's twilight is a testament to everything you don't want to do in professional sports.

 

[JustKickIt]

Although I share your confusion and sadness, no one is bigger than the club.
We support Hawthorn, remember this....

Hawthorn Pty Ltd