Why can't Adelaide retain players?

[JAlexG]

Blokes rather get a few extra bucks to play elsewhere than to sacrifice said few bucks to stay for the long haul and be 1 club players, it's fine.

 

[slugger01]

Nothing to do with culture. Except maybe it shows we have a good team first culture. OP go listen to Brett Burton speak. You wouldn't keep lever either after listening to Brett Burton. It's not that we can't retain them, it's the fact there's a salary cap and we can't pay a million dollars to every player that other clubs are willing to pay a million dollars.

What are we meant to do? Pay tippett a million? Pay Dangerfield a million? Pay lever a million? Pay Davis a million? Pay gunston a million? Pay bock a million? How do we retain the crouch brothers, talia, Sloane (out of contract next yr). It's not fair on the rest of the group as Burton said . And we aren't prepared to make lever our highest paid player. If Melbourne are and are willing to do a deal we are happy with then good luck to them .

But just cos Jake wants to go to Melbourne doesn't mean he will be. Button said we will be looking to deal with all 10 Vicco clubs as that as where lever wants to go, and we will walk with the club that offers the AFC the best deal.

If lever isn't happy with that he can go in to the draft and end up at Brisbane I'm guessing?

Whatevs. Seeya Jakey. Good luck getting to the club and the money you want.

Yep, the salary cap was meant to have the effect of clubs not being able to afford everyone.
Sending him to the draft is definitely an option, but clubs need to think long and hard before doing that. Sometimes, it is better to get something, however inadequate it is, than to be stubborn and vindictive and get nothing.
GCS is in the same boat with GAJ as AFC . Brisbane eventually relented with Aish after Lethal's word that they will send him to the draft.

Let's put it another way.. You will lose Lever. Would you like another potential Lever this draft, that you can get with a first round? Or would you like not to try that and get nothing?

I know the balance is not right between players and club needs, but very rarely do players work out if you force them to stay..

 

[MaddAdam]

This doesn't seem to afflict players from outside Melbourne to anywhere near the same degree. Guys like Ryder and Franklin are from WA, but leave Vic clubs to play for non-Vic ones. Country Victorian boys generally remain happy whoever they're with.

It's almost unheard of for Melbourne born players to leave the non-Vic club they're drafted to and go anywhere other than Melbourne.

People from Melbourne really love their rainy little overpriced shithole.

The world's most liveable rainy little overpriced shithole.

 

[MaddAdam]

Oh good, who'd have guessed this would immediately degrade into a Crows-Port shit fight with a handful of Vics pulling out the Adelaide's a shit hole argument.

1. We recruit too heavily out of Victoria, particularly Vic Metro. We've had significantly less luck retaining guys from there compared to Vic Country. Adelaide can be a pretty dull place compared to Melbourne and the Melbourne city kids don't like Adelaide's more subdued lifestyle.

2. We have too many young players who have become good enough to demand a high price, we simply can't afford to pay everyone the money they want and as much as it pains me to say it, my generation lacks the team spirit that previous ones had. There's a lot of selfishness and greed.

3. Adelaide have a reputation for having a rigid pay structure and won't pay someone too much more than what the club believes them to be worth, rarely do Adelaide pay big money based on potential, many believe this is a big factor in younger players walking away.

4. Adelaide can be a real media fishbowl, it gets pretty tiring I'd imagine having the media all over your every move. I can see how it'd appeal to some to escape to Melbourne where there are 10 clubs thus the media attention is much more divided compared to a 2 club town.

Excellent post. Thank you.

I have heard Brissy won't look at Vic Metro kids for pick 1.

Also worth considering Ben Cunnington was desperately homesick in his first few years ... and he's from Victoria.

 

[mick500]

Nah, f*** him, he's a mercenary and if he's underwhelming at his new club then he becomes a cautionary tale.

Like tippett?

 

[MaddAdam]

Unforuntately it is happening more and more these days. If a player does not want to be in a particular state they are just leaving after 2 years.

Hardly new. Shannon Grant and Anthony Rocca both did it to you.

 

[99cents]

You keep throwing around the word shame but I'm not sure you know what it means. Do you honestly think it's shameful for a player to chase a big contract?

I haven't heard many list managers publicly under cut a players claim they are going home for family reasons

 

[mick500]

Yep, the salary cap was meant to have the effect of clubs not being able to afford everyone.
Sending him to the draft is definitely an option, but clubs need to think long and hard before doing that. Sometimes, it is better to get something, however inadequate it is, than to be stubborn and vindictive and get nothing.
GCS is in the same boat with GAJ as AFC . Brisbane eventually relented with Aish after Lethal's word that they will send him to the draft.

Let's put it another way.. You will lose Lever. Would you like another potential Lever this draft, that you can get with a first round? Or would you like not to try that and get nothing?

I know the balance is not right between players and club needs, but very rarely do players work out if you force them to stay..

I don't thing the AFC or lever would want him going into the draft. No one wins. But I don't think its a case of us just being stubborn if that were to occur. Jake has his role to play. If say Collingwood are willing to offer us a much fairer deal than Melbourne but less money to Jake and he refuses, and he ends up going to the draft and ending up at Brisbane that's on him imo.

Basically, we still hold the cards imo. It's up to MelbourneFC to come up with a deal that matches the best deal any other vicco club is willing to pay. If not then he won't be going to Melbourne.

Pretty sure he won't get much coin as a draft pick either. So choosing between a decent contract and coin at collingwood vs low pay and playing for Brisbane.. I think he has more to lose by going the draft route.

 

[Komrade_Tiger]

Nice melt but no, he wouldn't

you're right. They'd have to move fatboy porkins out of the F50 before it'd be possible oh wait.......

 

[99cents]

School girls?

Meant business partners!

 

[chickentendies]

Ignoring all the bullshit shit fights here my theory has always been that Adelaide have a tendency to look at the calibre of the player over the calibre of personality/background and consequently get a lot of high quality, yet flakey players who tend to be a wee bit more selfish about their desires. Hence why players like Tex and Sloane are worth their weight in gold.
But realistically this is bullshit and its probs just chance.

 

[The King!]

Bit like north i guess

 

[Bernie L]

I accept that Burton told the truth- I think it's a questionable long term strategy to publicly 'shame' a player.

Shame

What has Lever done? Lever wanted to be paid more than Tex, Jacobs, Smith, Talia etc.

No shame on Burtons behalf mate

 

[MaddAdam]

Nah, f*** him, he's a mercenary and if he's underwhelming at his new club then he becomes a cautionary tale.

Dion Prestia?

 

[Mr_Moogle]

I haven't heard many list managers publicly under cut a players claim they are going home for family reasons

How is that shaming somebody though? Lever is attempting to play the sympathy card to the media when he told Adelaide he would stay if they matched Melbourne's offer. He is leaving for money reasons and Burton is right to point that out. He's just telling it how it is.

It's always been about the money. When he was asked earlier in the year if he wanted to stay he told the media "I just want to get a deal done as quickly as possible and focus on footy". When it started to drag out over the course of the year, it became clear that Adelaide hadn't offered him what he wanted and he would likely go elsewhere. I'm not harbouring a grudge over this. This is the world of modern footy.

I don't buy the argument that Burton shamed Lever. Nothing Jake said was technically a lie anyway. I'm sure family & friends was a factor but I doubt it actually governed his decision to leave as it's not consistent with what he's said in the past. That decision was actually hinged on what Adelaide would be willing to pay him. Do you really expect Lever to come out and admit "I wanted more money and those buggers won't pay". That would only make him look bad and more like a mercenary. Ofcourse he had to play the friends and family card. I'm not going to hold it against him and nor will I throw Burton under the bus for protecting the Crows.

 

[King Brown]

The world's most liveable rainy little overpriced shithole.

An award of sheer banality.

Imagine regarding 'liveable' as a point of pride. It's like being called 'nice'.

 

[JVseven]

 

[skittlebrew]

Tough to fit everyone in our salary cap when we're paying big bucks for jets like Jenkins and McKay.

 

[Starburns_]

it's just ruddy rich though that he is suddenly a Free Agent after 3 seasons

You can peddle this line all you want, but it doesn't make it fact.

Like tippett?

Pretty much.

It depends on the player, but I'm thinking it's possible that Burton wouldn't have said it if there wasn't a feeling at the Crows that he's more likely to struggle with the pressure of that than be motivated by it and thrive.

It could be that the Crows believe he's overrated or mentally weak, and this is a calculated comment.

Ignoring all the bullshit shit fights here my theory has always been that Adelaide have a tendency to look at the calibre of the player over the calibre of personality/background and consequently get a lot of high quality, yet flakey players who tend to be a wee bit more selfish about their desires. Hence why players like Tex and Sloane are worth their weight in gold.
But realistically this is bullshit and its probs just chance.

Reckon there's definitely something to this. Often 'character' of a draftee is referenced in relation to off-field behaviour and effort on the track, but there's probably more to it than that, conviction and selflessness would be huge considerations too.

Perhaps all clubs do ignore these traits in favour of outright talent (at least at the top of the draft) and the Crows are just unlucky that theirs left and other club's didn't, but I think it's fairly evident that they've drafted some poor calibre people in recent times.

Dion Prestia?

Don't think what we offered would've been any more than what GC was willing to part with. Plus Cochrane saving most of his vitriol for O'Meara suggests it was a different situation (us trading overs for him probably helped in that regard too) snd he simply wanted out.

That said, it doesn't always work out (see Buckley going to Collingwood "to win premierships").

 

[Rich]

I hate how he and Gunston have acted like free agents after three and two years at the club


Get ******

I hope Crows play Melbourne in Melbourne cos I will have a water balloon with urine with Jake's name on it

condoms with sunscreen provide the victim with a whole another level of wtf. There's no comeback from it.

 

[SgtSchulz]

1. Crows have a flat pay scheme where they don't overpay their top players.
2. #ShouldaBeenNorwood

 

[radiojake]

condoms with sunscreen provide the victim with a whole another level of wtf. There's no comeback from it.

Oh i like that

 

[Americanpies]

One thing that nobody has taken into account yet is what these guys partners get from moving to VIC. Most of the girlfriends/wives of these guys are so far up themselves you would need a rocket to reach their head. They all want to be models, TV presenters, own a fashion store or beauty salon, etc, etc, etc. There is no place better than Melbourne for these women to do these things and to be able to achieve the success they desire. Melbourne has a lot of money flying around, a large population, high end locations to set up yuppy businesses and gazillions of opportunity to get their faces on TV. I point out people like Bec Judd reading out weather... what on earth would Bec Judd know about the weather? But the exposure she gets from doing News in Melbourne as opposed to doing news in Perth is 5 times fold. Gian Rooney, although not a footballers wife. is also someone who is no educated in meteorology, yet somehow replaces David Brown as the channel anchoring meteorologist - These are two examples of what women can achieve by having some exposure in a large city. Then you have year round events that these women can pop their head up at - A month of spring racing is about to hit (including the Melbourne Cup), then you have all the Christmas and New Year stuff on TV, followed by the Australian Open, the F1 Grand Prix, Multiple AFL games here every weekend, a rugby league team here, boxing day cricket, food and wine festivals, The Good Friday Appeal.. it just goes on and on. Only Sydney can rival the exposure people can get from Melbourne, and it would not be a surprise to me as to why people like Buddy Franklin and Kurt Tippet went to Sydney - Because girlfriends wanted to go there!

I'm certain this is why Ablett is hell bent on coming back to Melbourne. How would his wife get any exposure up there at all? Nobody cares about AFL and would not give two hoots if she turned up on TV.

This is not derogatory towards these women at all. Good luck to them on wanting to go for the successes they crave. I'm simply pointing out a fact that most of these guys moving to home states always have a long term girlfriend or wife, and you can bet any money that in 90% of these cases the girl is pulling the strings!

 

[Blackas87]

Pretty sure he won't get much coin as a draft pick either. So choosing between a decent contract and coin at collingwood vs low pay and playing for Brisbane.. I think he has more to lose by going the draft route.

if Lever nominates for the draft he nominates a contract.

4 years at $800000 per year is what has been reported he has accepted st Melbourne, any club that selects him in the draft is selecting him with that contract.

That's how Luke Ball slipped all the way to Collingwoods pick 30ish as no one else was prepared to accept his contract terms

 

[slugger01]

I don't thing the AFC or lever would want him going into the draft. No one wins. But I don't think its a case of us just being stubborn if that were to occur. Jake has his role to play. If say Collingwood are willing to offer us a much fairer deal than Melbourne but less money to Jake and he refuses, and he ends up going to the draft and ending up at Brisbane that's on him imo.

Basically, we still hold the cards imo. It's up to MelbourneFC to come up with a deal that matches the best deal any other vicco club is willing to pay. If not then he won't be going to Melbourne.

Pretty sure he won't get much coin as a draft pick either. So choosing between a decent contract and coin at collingwood vs low pay and playing for Brisbane.. I think he has more to lose by going the draft route.

Perhaps, but again, no club wants to force a player to play for them. So, if Lever doesn't want to go to Brisbane or Pies, and Brisbane pick him in the draft regardless, they also need to consider picking a player that is forced to move there. That will end in tears for both. Again, Brisbane lose out with a wasted draft pick, when they could have picked another potential Lever instead of him.

Simply, the AFC, GCS, and every other club loses out in situations like these. Yes, the player might lose too, but common sense, calmness and clear thinking usually prevails, and clubs take the most scraps they can at the end of the day.
I know it seems that AFC is copping it most recently (Danger, Lever, and now Sloan), but most clubs have had to deal with similar situations.

(By the way, can you go over to Lever's place and "convince!" him that the Pies is the best place for him)