Do we give 'RECYCLED PLAYERS' a fair go??

[mjp]

Just a question.

As supporters, do we give players we recruit from other clubs a fair go? Or do we jump on them WAY quicker than we would if they had been drafted by the club?

I guess I'm talking about the current crop - Lobb, Bramble, Harmes et al - but you could also include Treloar, Hannan, Lloyd etc.

I mean, was I surprised we signed Bramble? Somewhat...but I don't think it's fair to say every time he does something you don't like that he is hopeless, that being delisted by Hawthorn somehow PROVES he is hopeless and that he needs to be replaced...

Likewise the others.

I know Lobb is a touch point right now - and he wasn't great vs Freo - but I'm not sure he's much different to the player we recruited. Everyone points at the 2022 season when he kicked a few goals, but over the rest of his career he's pretty much performed the way he is for us. I mean, I'm not sure he gave us too many sleepless nights back when he was playing for the orange and we beat them in the 2016 finals. He was recruited for depth, he gives us depth...do I wish he was better? Of course, but it's not personal...

Even Treloar - who I openly admit I was against trading for and have taken a while to warm to...he's dead set one of us now and has been playing some unbelievable footy...but it just feels that we don't really embrace him as our own. As far as I can tell, he's a well-liked team-mate who does everything right and tries hard to connect with members etc....

Thoughts?

[Happy Days]

Once guys get the stink of not being wanted by another club on them, it’s really hard to shake.

[Mofra]

In the past few years I'm not sure we give many of our players a fair go, really. Even Dunkley got death threats in his second year with us. People not just forced Ryan Gardner off social media, they tracked down his family and abused them too. It can get pretty savage out there.

TBH if we get a handful of half-decent games from any PSD pick, that a win. Zero draft cost and (presumably) base salary for a guy who is contributing should be celebrated.

I'm still not sold on Harmes but I think that's in some respect a 'coaching' issue because the second half on Saturday night seems the perfect time to unleash him into the defensive mid role we know he can do.

Treloar was damn near our BOG in the Grand Final which, because we want to wash that game from memory, he never gets credit for. He has actually stood up when it mattered.

[GVGjr]

In the past few years I'm not sure we give many of our players a fair go, really. Even Dunkley got death threats in his second year with us. People not just forced Ryan Gardner off social media, they tracked down his family and abused them too. It can get pretty savage out there.

TBH if we get a handful of half-decent games from any PSD pick, that a win. Zero draft cost and (presumably) base salary for a guy who is contributing should be celebrated.

I'm still not sold on Harmes but I think that's in some respect a 'coaching' issue because the second half on Saturday night seems the perfect time to unleash him into the defensive mid role we know he can do.

Treloar was damn near our BOG in the Grand Final which, because we want to wash that game from memory, he never gets credit for. He has actually stood up when it mattered.

Thanks for sharing. I hate reading about things like what you described with Gardner. I've talked to him a little bit at VFL games and at training and he's a nice bloke. No one should be subjected to that rubbish.

[Mofra]

Thanks for sharing. I hate reading about things like what you described with Gardner. I've talked to him a little bit at VFL games and at training and he's a nice bloke. No one should be subjected to that rubbish.

100%. Especially a bloke who had a shot, got delisted, and worked his arse off for a second chance.
Once upon a time we would have celebrated a guy who worked that hard.

[GVGjr]

100%. Especially a bloke who had a shot, got delisted, and worked his arse off for a second chance.
Once upon a time we would have celebrated a guy who worked that hard.

Our supporters used to rally around the battlers, the guys that worked a bit harder to be a part of our club. Not sure what motivates some people to believe it's their job to target our players.

[jeemak]

In the past few years I'm not sure we give many of our players a fair go, really. Even Dunkley got death threats in his second year with us. People not just forced Ryan Gardner off social media, they tracked down his family and abused them too. It can get pretty savage out there.

It's horrible, though this did make me laugh when I read it.

The lengths people will go to in order to let off steam amazes me.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

It's horrible, though this did make me laugh when I read it.

The lengths people will go to in order to let off steam amazes me.

Yeah, its reflection from stories like that that really changed my whole outlook on my relationship with football. There is no way I'm giving it that amount of agency. Its like betting your mood on the outcome of a bingo draw....you would'nt do it. You get one life, and to superglue your behaviour/emotions and justifications on something as capricious as a football match just doesn't seem a good investment from my perspective.

To think you'd go to the lengths' to find where a player's parents live and hurl abuse at them over a football game.. Wow..
Has anyone seen Buffalo 66. Please do. What an amazing movie that was. Vincent Gallo, Christina Ricci.... at a shallow level about a dude who decides that his life turned out so bad because of a Buffalo Bills kicker missing a field goal in a Super Bowl...
So when he happens to come across this now retired kicker, many years later when he grows up, he starts thinking about how unfair it is....
I'll leave it there.
It's actually underneath a charming, quirky movie and speaks to the issue we're covering here. Fantastic acting by both of the leads too.

[jeemak]

Yeah, its reflection from stories like that that really changed my whole outlook on my relationship with football. There is no way I'm giving it that amount of agency. Its like betting your mood on the outcome of a bingo draw....you would'nt do it. You get one life, and to superglue your behaviour/emotions and justifications on something as capricious as a football match just doesn't seem a good investment from my perspective.

To think you'd go to the lengths' to find where a player's parents live and hurl abuse at them over a football game.. Wow..
Has anyone seen Buffalo 66. Please do. What an amazing movie that was. Vincent Gallo, Christina Ricci.... at a shallow level about a dude who decides that his life turned out so bad because of a Buffalo Bills kicker missing a field goal in a Super Bowl...
So when he happens to come across this now retired kicker, many years later when he grows up, he starts thinking about how unfair it is....
I'll leave it there.
It's actually underneath a charming, quirky movie and speaks to the issue we're covering here. Fantastic acting by both of the leads too.

I am on the same bus as you. It's just football, and the controllable parts of your life are difficult enough to manage as it is without worrying about how a team winning or losing will impact you.

At a societal level I think we've all forgotten how hard stuff is to do, and that experts and professionals work ridiculously hard to be those things in highly competitive environments. And it turns us into pricks when assessing the lesser talented of those experts and professionals, or those who for whatever reason aren't getting the desired results.

[Sedat]

I am on the same bus as you. It's just football, and the controllable parts of your life are difficult enough to manage as it is without worrying about how a team winning or losing will impact you.

100% this, although it certainly helped that we won 2016 out of nowhere. "The journey" is a much easier sell these days than it was pre-2016.

I would have just about tapped out from the game had we snagged another flag from outside the top 4 in 2021 - while those of us based in Melbourne were locked in our homes like stray dogs during that finals series, the one outlet we had was watching our exhilarating run during that September - destroying Essendon and making them a laughing stock kicking 4 goal in a final, pipping Brisbane in a thriller up at the Gabba (amazing game of footy that has been underappreciated by the wider footy community) and then clinically obliterating Port on their home patch. After everything the club had to endure during that finals series from all those psychopath state premiers at the time, it would have been the best premiership in VFL/AFL history IMO.

I lost quite a bit of enthusiasm in the ensuing 2 years after our capitulation in that GF, but I've rediscovered interest for the team and game again this year - have really enjoyed more regularly going to live matches again this year.

[mighty_west]

As far as i'm concerned once they pull on the tri-colours, they're one of us and whoever they played with is irrelevant, yeah even if we snagged Toby, geez we hate him and i can't stand him too but if he came to us and played the way he does now we'd love him in no time, well i know i would, for me it's all about how a player impacts our team and not just as an individual, i'll judge Macrae, VDM, Scott, McNeal as much as Treloar, Baker, Bramble or Keath for instance.

[GVGjr]

Across the competition there appears to be quite a few players that don't get the chances they probably deserve at some clubs and are desperate for opportunities at others.

Lobb hasn't quite worked out as well as we would have hoped for but he was absolutely the right decision to try and bring in.
A couple of things have worked against him:
He went from being the #1 key forward at Fremantle kicking 36 goals to the #3 key forward with us which has proven to be a difficult transition for him. He probably played injured a bit last year as well
The other challenge has been the earlier than anticipated arrival of Sam Darcy as a forward/ruckman.

I said it at the time we recruited him that we really needed him more in 2022 knowing that Bruce wasn't going to play.

Are we using him the right way? Probably not but he didn't really grasp his chances.

With Harmes we seem to have changed our mind about how we might best use him in between the preseason and the start of the H&A season. That's probably due to his fitness and very much to do with his form over summer.
I see him very much as a spare parts player and I think that is okay.

I like the Bramble inclusion as he has a bit of a point of difference with his running ability. Well worth adding him to the squad but there is still some work to do with him.

Baker and Poulter can go from good performances to poor ones so quickly so you can understand why their clubs let them go and probably why we think we can get some improvement from them.

Treloar was an interesting inclusion to our list when it happened because we already had an impressive midfield and his inclusion meant we had to spread out the workload perhaps a bit further than what is ideal but once Dunkley left Treloar was a more vital player for us. I think he has ended up being a great addition for the club.

I like the way we identified Ryan Gardner and even though he's not necessarily a first string player he's a solid option for us.

Overall I think we have plans for the players we target from other clubs but it's not always going to work.

[Grantysghost]

Billy Gowers has entered the chat.

[hujsh]

I think the club gives recycled players a very fair go. I feel like we as fans, if they don't prove to be more than fringe players, are more harsh towards them because there's a perception their ceiling is limited. A 'list clogger' if you will. It's probably not fair. There's less talent to go around with the extra clubs so you probably do need the odd Ryan Gardner or similar fringe players on the list to fill gaps while the younger guys develop.

[ReLoad]

There is quite a few Bullgods that were recycles.

They will most certainly never be spoken of in anything other than the highest of high praises.