Ryan Griffen talks about his switch from Western Bulldogs to GWS

[Remi Moses]

I don't like that Griff is now in Sydney playing for the Giants but I can understand why he did it and bear him no ill will. Wouldn't all of you denigrators do the same if you were unhappy in your employment and had the opportunity to go elsewhere?

I take your point, but the lines are continually blurred when comparing a civilian to a highly paid adored Sporting figure.
Majority of sportsmen are a completely different beast to the average 9 to 5 worker.
I agree with Sedat that it's going to be a blessing in disguise eventually.

[soupman]

For me my anger is not so much directed towards the decision, but to the way he conducted himself throughout that horrible period.

I am happy to concede that he likely had a good reason, and that he has every right to do what he thinks is best for his health and happiness.

However I would expect that a man of his quality would sit down with the club in mid-September, and have a discussion with them why he has decided to leave and the reasons for this decision, as well as serving his 2 weeks notice as such to give the club time to absorb and plan for his departure.

What I am unhappy about is that he has left the decision so late that we were almost a week into trade week with less than a week remaining before he decided to bother telling anyone. And then he basically blackmailed the club into trading him to his preferred destination, threatening to retire if we didn't. Oh yeah, and he couldn't even do this himself. His manager had to do it, and Griffen, freshly back in the country just ran away as far as he could looking forward to returning a few days later when everyone else had done all the hard work for him.

The manner in which he did it showed no respect to the club he "loves", or the people involved with that club, both from an off field, on field and supporting perspective.

Yes he may have done us a favour as we got to trade him when his value is high and get Tom Boyd from the deal, but I don't like reading how he is happy we did well out of the trade, because to me that says he feels like he is relieved of his guilt and might even feel like he helped us achieve something. Which is bullshit because any benefits we got from him leaving were in spite of his decision and the manner he conducted himself in.

He can get stuffed.

[bornadog]

For me my anger is not so much directed towards the decision, but to the way he conducted himself throughout that horrible period.

I am happy to concede that he likely had a good reason, and that he has every right to do what he thinks is best for his health and happiness.

However I would expect that a man of his quality would sit down with the club in mid-September, and have a discussion with them why he has decided to leave and the reasons for this decision, as well as serving his 2 weeks notice as such to give the club time to absorb and plan for his departure.

What I am unhappy about is that he has left the decision so late that we were almost a week into trade week with less than a week remaining before he decided to bother telling anyone. And then he basically blackmailed the club into trading him to his preferred destination, threatening to retire if we didn't. Oh yeah, and he couldn't even do this himself. His manager had to do it, and Griffen, freshly back in the country just ran away as far as he could looking forward to returning a few days later when everyone else had done all the hard work for him.

The manner in which he did it showed no respect to the club he "loves", or the people involved with that club, both from an off field, on field and supporting perspective.

Yes he may have done us a favour as we got to trade him when his value is high and get Tom Boyd from the deal, but I don't like reading how he is happy we did well out of the trade, because to me that says he feels like he is relieved of his guilt and might even feel like he helped us achieve something. Which is bullshit because any benefits we got from him leaving were in spite of his decision and the manner he conducted himself in.

He can get stuffed.

At the end of the Season he went to Peter Gordon and told him his issues. Peter told him the club would address all those issues. He then went on a holiday and probably did some more thinking and decided he couldn't see how things would change so he he decided to leave.

That is pretty much it without knowing what his issues were. We are all hurt because we know what a fantastic player he has been for the club, and we are all pissed off with what happened and with him leaving.

In my opinion the footy department should have addressed things earlier and perhaps he would still be at the club, but then again maybe it would have been the same outcome.

[josie]

Great posts by Sedat, Daughter of the West and Soupaman.

I'd like to think Dogs Supporter's will not boo him. Rather we should turn our backs whenever he touches the ball. Just like he turned his back on us.

I'm guessing he was suffering depression and that likely he still is. I'll always remember he was a wonderful player for us. However those memories will always be tainted by the manner he left. If Boyd had not wanted to join us we would likely have been right royally stuffed.

I think this sentence from the article says a lot - he actually proves himself self deluding or at worst deceitful in five sentences. The first two contradicting the last three.

"Leon contacted me probably six weeks out, just to see how I was, how I was travelling. That's all that discussion was," said Griffen. To the question of whether a move to Greater Western Sydney was considered, he added: "No he didn't think it was possible. I told him it wasn't possible then. I was like 'no, I'm going to stick it out."'

Four final rants - The last club I ever want to see win a premiership in my lifetime is GWS, I do hope Griffen recovers from his mental demons, and lastly I hope he and Jasmine have lots of lovely children including some young lads who will one day play for us as well as their Dad did.

[G-Mo77]

I don't like that Griff is now in Sydney playing for the Giants but I can understand why he did it and bear him no ill will. Wouldn't all of you denigrators do the same if you were unhappy in your employment and had the opportunity to go elsewhere?

It's not even comparable to a normal everyday job. When i go to work i don't get fans applauding me when i arrive and when I leave. I don't have the joy of victory or disappointment of defeat. I don't understand why it can be compared, the only similarity is we all get paid in the end.

[GVGjr]

I have some empathy for the predicament he found himself in. I can't however forgive him for the way he handled the situation in the end, the shit he dropped the club in, and how he disappeared off the radar leaving the club in disarray.

I'm probably close to this view, I don't believe we have the facts on why he wasn't able to cope with things well last year.

I can recall the Scott West speech from a few season ago and it explained a lot about him and the struggles he faced and while I'm not comparing Griffen's condition last season to what West faced I also can't bring myself to go in all boots and all at him.

[hujsh]

It's not even comparable to a normal everyday job. When i go to work i don't get fans applauding me when i arrive and when I leave. I don't have the joy of victory or disappointment of defeat. I don't understand why it can be compared, the only similarity is we all get paid in the end.

There also aren't many jobs that people would love to do for no money, that also pays you in one year more than most people would make in half a decade

[always right]

Before we managed to extricate Boyd out of GWS I was genuinely fearful for our club's future. With all that happened it was very possible that up to 5000 members may have walked in dismay......we may never have recovered. In that respect what Griffen did was indefensible.....particularly as he would have known the impact his decision would have.

Not sure I will be booing him but the whole stadium will hear me any time he loses a contest to one of our players. And I would be more than a little delighted to see Liam Picken make his life miserable by picking him up at the start of play. Wouldn't mind the new pin up boy Jakey Stringer dish out some tough love either.

[HOSE B ROMERO]

Life's too short to be filled with hate. Don't let the mob mentality take over.

[LostDoggy]

Life's too short to be filled with hate. Don't let the mob mentality take over.

Lead the mob instead! Quick, son, hand me ma pitchfork!

[SonofScray]

I am not upset with Griffen for leaving, hell, I actually suggested we should trade him halfway through season. It was an aggressive call at the time to try get ahead of the curve and in a US sports style move, off load high end talent to either secure a key prospect or buy back into the draft. So I didn't show Griff much loyalty and can never really have expected it from him.

HOWEVER!

He lied to our Club. We bent over backwards to support him and accommodate his position and he squibbed it. Is he a prick of a bloke? Probably not. Did he behave incredibly cowardly? In my opinion, yes. For that, he will be booed and heckled until he cries himself off the field. Everything in life comes at a cost. For Ryan, his behaviour around the move has cost him our love and respect.

It'll swing in our favour with Boyd. I'm certain of it. But that silver lining was our Club making good, moreso than any heroic sacrifice by Griffen like some people I spoken to are clinging on to.

[Maddog37]

Of course the fact he knew his back was on the way out and GWS offered him a long term deal on big money had no bearing at all on his decision.......

[KT31]

Life's too short to be filled with hate. Don't let the mob mentality take over.

So you are ok with Essendon, Collins and Oakley ?

[jeemak]

Having had a couple of days to reflect on my previous post in this thread, and some of the other contributions towards the Griffen situation I've had a moderate change in my views on him and his behaviour.

I'm surprised that anyone - from the information provided - can diagnose depression over the internet. However, I'm prepared to leave the door open to him suffering from the illness, which can of course point to some of the reasons why he was unhappy during a year in which he had serious physical impediments affecting his performance on top of the added responsibility of leading the club as captain (and the added pressures associated with that), and other factors within the club he has vaguely touched on since his departure.

If I was an expert in the field perhaps I would be able to say that his underhanded behaviour is a typical response to such pressures and the resulting illness. Unfortunately I'm not, so I have to rely on my experiences which tell me deceit and avoidance of issues is a trait shared by the mentally fit and those otherwise, when they know they have not held themselves to the level of integrity expected of them (by themselves, and by others), and the level of integrity displayed by them previously.

Anyway, you're not going to get any further negative rantings about this particular player from me. Having re-read 1984 this past fortnight I've found a lovely word to use for him and think about him. He's now an Unperson for the remainder of his football career as far as I'm concerned.

His contribution to our club over ten years shouldn't be underestimated, nor should the manner in which he left.

Apologies for the late night posting, I'm buzzed up from a 12 hour flight/transit with delays and can't sleep.

[SonofScray]

I don't like that Griff is now in Sydney playing for the Giants but I can understand why he did it and bear him no ill will. Wouldn't all of you denigrators do the same if you were unhappy in your employment and had the opportunity to go elsewhere?

Just for what its worth, no. When I was faced with a desperately unhappy workplace driven by an unethical and incompetent boss, I had an opportunity to go to another agency and take a pay rise in the process. I had recently started a program which I loved working in and felt I was doing excellent work with the community, so I went through appropriate channels for feedback and sought a resolution. During the 6 months the behaviors in my workplace were occurring and investigations etc were taking place, there were days I was physically ill from the stress. I stuck it out because I said I would and I had openly expressed my desire to see the program succeed. The organisation made some changes and we got through it, eventually some staff including the boss left, I was able to stick it out and reap the benefits of doing so.

So no, I wouldn't do the same as Griff and haven't. I have no issues with holding him account to a standard I set for myself and expect from organisations I am associated with.