- Apr 13, 2004
- 602
- 2
- AFL Club
- Richmond
No, I didn't mention the Van Shajik or the 2004 premiership side because I don't know about them, so it's wrong of me to comment on what I don't know, whilst pretty sure you weren't part of the club so you wouldn't have a clue either, only what you perceive on the outside, so really, it's an opinion. Opinions are like rrrsoles. Also, I didn't say every club does it, I said it happens in country footy all the time which makes clubs that achieve reserves and senior flags in the same year so very special, particularly outside of metro.
I can only comment on what I know, and that's for the three years I was at the club, during which we made a 2's grand final in 2010, there was none of that stuff going on, which is why I think what you said was bollocks. In your comments you taint what was an amazing season by the 2010 reserves boys. lost the first 4 or 5 games badly, then won away at Hampton and only lost a handful of games after that on the way to the finals, then to be down at 3/4 time in the prelim and 3 blokes playing the best quarters of footy seen meant we won to make the GF, and losing the GF to an undefeated fantastic Mt Waverly team that would have gone alright in the seniors all things being equal.
in that team, 2 blokes over 40, a couple of first year players, some new players particularly kids under 20, and a fringe senior player, but the whole group being the group that played together all year (albeit losing some good players mid-season). One of the best groups I've ever been involved in and I'm sure the year before or the year after, the same group wouldn't have got as far, but the boys extracted everything out of themselves they possibly could at the right time. A lot of that team is still there, some have moved on, some took on committee posts, but all in all that group became a strong nucleus of friends that still hold the same club values today.
That's why I take issue with opinion posts like yours. I don't care who you're involved with, I don't care who you are, but applying a broadbrush approach to a club and it's "culture" is just poor. There's clubs I've dealt with in all my years who I can lob into different categories and I'm sure if you took enough time, you could have something bad to say about every single club in every single league - even yours. The volunteers in a club don't appreciate your comments because they're not getting paid, they're attending a club and helping out a community they believe in for nix. The players don't appreciate it. These are blokes that pay to play footy and you're taking pot shots at what they achieve.
And all you have to go on is one reserves premiership from 11 years ago, and you're correlating that to one bloke playing reserves last year as your basis to slag a clubs culture.
