Following our exes...................

[Twodogs]

Re: Following our ex's...................

Sometimes there just isn't a better deal to be made.

So you retain the contracted player. He signed a contract when he was wanting to have his career saved so he holds to that contract when things improve. If his dad was crook then we could have flown him over as often as he liked to be at his side.

[jeemak]

Re: Following our ex's...................

So you retain the contracted player. He signed a contract when he was wanting to have his career saved so he holds to that contract when things improve. If his dad was crook then we could have flown him over as often as he liked to be at his side.

We've been through this, his Dad wasn't living in Perth, and flying for three hours and spending another however every many (5+ hours) in transit isn't something you can do whenever you like when you're a professional footballer.

Sometimes losing out on a situation is still the right thing to do, however unpalatable it might seem at the time. Holding Hamling to his contract wouldn't have been a good look for the club, particularly if his Dad's health went downhill quickly and severely. Unfortunately letting him go for what we did was the least worst outcome, not the best.

[Axe Man]

Re: Following our ex's...................

Katie Brennan’s reputation does not match her performance, writes Mark Robinson

What to do with a problem like Katie Brennan?

The one-time face of AFLW and still a poster girl for TV promotion, Brennan’s standing as one of the competition’s best players is under siege.

Arguably, she’s not in the competition’s best 30 players.

In fact, if you want to examine the acceleration in fitness, skill and athleticism in the women’s competition this season, Brennan is a symbolic case study.

Small sample, but 275 players have played in the two matches this season.

Brennan, the one-time Bulldog who is now the captain of Richmond, is ranked No.100. Her kicking efficiency is 37 per cent; the league average is 52 per cent.

Bluntly, her reputation does not match her performance.

Brennan captained the Bulldogs from 2017-19 before being enticed to the Tigers.

A commitment from the Tigers to play her in the midfield — one the Bulldogs coaches would not make — is said to be a major reason Brennan switched clubs.

In Richmond’s two losses, Brennan has played in the middle, albeit in a first-year team.

At the weekend, with the Tigers trailing a motivated Gold Coast by two goals at three-quarter time, Brennan managed just two disposals in the final quarter.

She is remembered from that match for swiping at the injured arm of opponent Jamie Stanton.

Stanton was crunched running back with the flight of the ball and left the field cradling her injured arm.

She returned after halftime, only to have Brennan target her injured shoulder.

Stanton’s courage to fly for the ball and her commitment to the team to return to the field was countered by a spiritless and pathetic show of “toughness” by Brennan.

Stanton is a 166cm inside midfielder and slight. Brennan is 174cm and has a powerful physique.

Brennan’s leadership, which has helped enable her to receive a high-end contract, was poor.

The more pressing issue is where to play Brennan.

A wannabe Erin Phillips, Brennan endured ankle injuries at the Bulldogs but at the same time believed she had the capacity, like the brilliant Phillips, to play as an explosive midfielder and impact forward. It’s not working.

A league best-and-fairest winner at Darebin in the VFLW as a midfielder, Brennan arrived for the first season of AFLW in 2017 as a crafty, classy powerhouse forward and one of the fittest players in the competition.

She could lead strongly, mark and kick a goal, and given space she was electric — and the AFL PR machine loved her.Four seasons on, a swag of other players can lead, mark and kick goals.

And in the midfield, Brennan looks slow and sometimes lost compared to the new generation of quick, fit and skilled mids.

There are still “veteran” stars such as Daisy Pearce, Karen Paxman, Kate Lutkins, Jasmine Garner, Kara and Ebony Antonio, Emma Kearney, Ellie Blackburn, Jaimee Lambert and Kiara Bowers.

But the young ones are also showstoppers.

Like St Kilda’s Georgia Patrikios, Carlton’s Maddy Prespakis and Grace Egan, Collingwood’s Chloe Molloy, Fremantle’s Roxy Roux and Brisbane’s Sophie Conway, Lily Postlethwaite and Orla O’Dwyer. There’s Tyla Hanks at Melbourne, Jacqui Yorston and Serene Watson at the Gold Coast, Nina Morrison, Millie Brown and Olivia Purcell and half the powerful Fremantle team.

And let’s not forget Adelaide’s Ebony Marinoff, still 22.

Good judges say season 2017 is almost unrecognisable now compared to season 2020, and having watched nine and a half games of the 14 played this season, it’s not an absurd assessment.

Back in 2017, Brennan was a big fish in a small pond, and so was her new teammate Sabrina Frederick, formerly of the Lions.

Today the pond is a lake and the fish are plentiful.

Even Darcy Vescio, the livewire small forward at Carlton, is finding footy tough among this new generation.

Maybe Vescio needs to get out of attack and Brennan needs to get back there.

[ledge]

Re: Following our ex's...................

She played a couple of good games with us but sadly was injury prone, seems she can’t get back to where she was .. injury, attitude, position, all could be in partly the reason but I think it was a good she moved on for us.
It’s a good article and shows how younger players are getting better each year as the competition strengthens.

[Twodogs]

Re: Following our ex's...................

We've been through this, his Dad wasn't living in Perth, and flying for three hours and spending another however every many (5+ hours) in transit isn't something you can do whenever you like when you're a professional footballer.

Sometimes losing out on a situation is still the right thing to do, however unpalatable it might seem at the time. Holding Hamling to his contract wouldn't have been a good look for the club, particularly if his Dad's health went downhill quickly and severely. Unfortunately letting him go for what we did was the least worst outcome, not the best.

So we look like scumbags-it's not a popularity contest. At least we keep our player.

[hujsh]

Re: Following our ex's...................

Saw Hamling injured. Big loss for Freo in the early season.

[azabob]

Re: Following our ex's...................

Didn’t a WOOF poster reference Brennan’s lack of output last week?

[Bornadog]

Re: Following our ex's...................

Don’t a WOOF poster reference Brennan’s lack of output last week?

I haven't rated her at all.

[jeemak]

Re: Following our ex's...................

So we look like scumbags-it's not a popularity contest. At least we keep our player.

It's not a popularity contest, but keeping a player who really doesn't want to be at your club - particularly for family reasons like those stated in Hamling's case - isn't just a bad look, it's a signal to other players that the footy club values itself over player wellbeing.

No footy club wants to send that message to its playing group.

[ledge]

Re: Following our ex's...................

It's not a popularity contest, but keeping a player who really doesn't want to be at your club - particularly for family reasons like those stated in Hamling's case - isn't just a bad look, it's a signal to other players that the footy club values itself over player wellbeing.

No footy club wants to send that message to its playing group.

Especially a player who just helped break a premiership drought of 62 years .

[Happy Days]

Re: Following our ex's...................

Don’t a WOOF poster reference Brennan’s lack of output last week?

Yessir. Hi Robbo if you're reading.

[GVGjr]

Re: Following our ex's...................

Lukas Webb has a hamstring injury. Not ideal for his chances to be promoted to the senior list.

[Twodogs]

Re: Following our ex's...................

Lukas Webb has a hamstring injury. Not ideal for his chances to be promoted to the senior list.

Shocking timing for the poor kid.

Geez he's brave to keep getting up.

It's simple to say that when life knocks you down that you will get up and take it on again but walking that talk is bloody hard. I hope that he gets a list spot.

[Mofra]

Re: Following our ex's...................

Poor Lukas, sounds like a pretty serious one from media reports.

[bulldogtragic]

Re: Following our ex's...................

I wonder if he signs at Northern Blues hoping for a shot next year. Or comes home to Footscray and plays with mates.