Brian Lake to Hawthorn

[Doc26]

Re: Brian Lake to Hawthorn

I think the coach put a few in the 'too hard basket' and is putting time into the ones who he thinks can take us forward... hopefully he is right.

But he is going to get a few off-side along the way... hopefully he is good at mending relationships.

Alternatively, and hopefully, Macca proves to be a good judge of the right character required and can weed out those not made of the right stuff. Still early days but I haven't heard or seen anything yet to suggest he's off the mark in this area.

[Maddog37]

Re: Brian Lake to Hawthorn

What would you like to hear?

That the coach didn't see eye to eye with the player and we have to chose to part company... I reckon that's it in a nutshell.

I think this is a big part of it. He wants our senior payers to lead by example etc etc. Not sure Brian fits the mould.

Macca will live and die by his decisions but at least he is prepared to crack in.

[AndrewP6]

Re: Brian Lake to Hawthorn

I think this is a big part of it. He wants our senior payers to lead by example etc etc. Not sure Brian fits the mould.

Macca will live and die by his decisions but at least he is prepared to crack in.

Nicely done

[Grantysghost]

Re: Brian Lake to Hawthorn

Whilst I'm struggling somewhat to rationalise why we needed to give up our pick 27 to make this deal happen can I at least share with you a snapshot of what our table, which did include some past greats of our Club, observed at the B&F last Saturday night from table Lake and Cooney who were sitting close by. I should preface this by stating that I'm questioning the cultural value rather than that of their football ability which is unquestionable.

Matthew Boyd, after being announced our three time Club Champion, was delivering his heartfelt acceptance speech whilst these two were totally engulfed in childlike behaviour playing iPhones.

This untimely, inappropriate behaviour did not go unnoticed from those around.

This from two of our supposed leaders who should be driving a culture that demands respect, ruthlessness and professionalism.

The observation was passed on the table that these two are just 'ferals'.

A small example maybe but gee it stood out as very disrespectful to someone who busts a gut like few others.

That does sound disrespectful and inappropriate as described. I guess culture can be viewed in a number of ways. Whilst we like to champion the "bloods" culture of the Swans as the ideal model we can sometimes forget Collingwood were premiers in 2010 with Heath Shaw, Alan Didak, Dane Swan in the side, all who have had their share of problems over the years. I guess you just need to balance to be in favour of players like Boyd and you can carry a few less responsible types.

[Scraggers]

Re: Brian Lake to Hawthorn

He had three surgeries, IIRC. Hard to fake that.

You misunderstand me Andrew. Its not the fact that I think he faked anything, quite the contrary ... it was his use of the media to downgrade Rocket and the coaching team. It very much reminded me of Brad Hardie waving his jumper at Malthouse.

I know Rocket (and assistant coaches) was/were just as much to blame ... just left a bad taste in my mouth.

[Topdog]

Re: Brian Lake to Hawthorn

I give up BAD. How do you respond to that? It's getting pretty hard to find any motivation to come to this site in the face of this unrelenting negativity.

It is a first round pick we gained. 21 is a first round pick. Play it down and shit on it all you like, but it is a real first round pick and not a second round pick.

Side with BAD on this one. For the past 2 years even when we weren't involved I have called the picks 1-17(now 18) as first round. The AFL has ruined that with their compo picks and what not but 21 for me is the 3rd pick in the 2nd round.

[SonofScray]

Re: Brian Lake to Hawthorn

Two parts to it for me:

1. Sad to see Brian go. A great player for us in very good years for our Club, possibly the best performed Bulldog I have seen in the past 15 years.

2. Not upset with the Club at all. I get the sense they wanted to move him on, have thought through the impact of Free Agency and made a tough call. It isn't water tight but I hope the Club is rewarded for making what is a reasonable decision here. I was critical of our inability to take risks and make a hard call n our 'champs' so I have to give credit here.

The only last point to put forward is, please steer clear of Dawes.

[stefoid]

Re: Brian Lake to Hawthorn

Did this deal have to be done on day 1?

[Scraggers]

Re: Brian Lake to Hawthorn

Two parts to it for me:

1. Sad to see Brian go. A great player for us in very good years for our Club, possibly the best performed Bulldog I have seen in the past 15 years.

2. Not upset with the Club at all. I get the sense they wanted to move him on, have thought through the impact of Free Agency and made a tough call. It isn't water tight but I hope the Club is rewarded for making what is a reasonable decision here. I was critical of our inability to take risks and make a hard call n our 'champs' so I have to give credit here.

The only last point to put forward is, please steer clear of Dawes.

If we picked up Dawes for a pick out of the top 50, I would not be disappointed. I think he is a better than average player. I would not want to use one of our top 50 picks for him though, and Collingwood would not let him go for anything less; therefore not at that price ... no thanks.

[whythelongface]

Re: Brian Lake to Hawthorn

Certainly didn't see this coming. I don't know what to think. I am bitterly disappointed that we are losing Brian as he was one of my favourite current players and, on his day, is the best fullback in the game (with the exception being Scarlett). However I can see why the club would decide to trade him if he wanted out to chase premiership glory. The trade would be much easier to accept if it was for pick 21 and 41 and not giving up pick 27 as well.

If he had of hung around next year no doubt he would have still given his all as he would of wanted to make sure he was still of value to another club as a free agent. As others have alluded to we would not have received any compensation for him if he left next year, thus in a way at least we have gained an upgrade and another pick in the top 50.

This trade period is really going to be a make or break trade for setting us up in the future. This decision (ie. the Lake trade) plus our current on-field plight means that short term we will suffer significantly (lack of membership etc.) but hopefully we will start seeing some success in 3 to 4 years time.

[Dogmatic]

Re: Brian Lake to Hawthorn

Lake has been a champion but im not critical of the trade because of his age and where we are at in our development. Although he has been as good (or better) than murphy, gia and cross. To me, he doesn't come across as the heart and soul of the team like those guys...so it doesn't feel like we have traded a club champion.

This year he seemed disinterested and he probably isn't the ideal role model for a developing team.

[LongWait]

Re: Brian Lake to Hawthorn

I'd love to put a positive spin on this deal and I can't find any. Sorry I can't cheer you up mate.

I'm not looking for a positive spin to be put on this. It's a shitty situation and I'm angry and disappointed that Lake put us in the situation where we were forced to trade him, or put up with him for a year until he walked.

The compensation we received is less than I'd have liked and maybe we could have done better - we'll never know. Some of us have different views about whether we could have gotten a better deal, and that's fine. We can disagree about whether we should have, or could have, held on to Lake until the end of his playing career.

I don't understand why we should pretend that we didn't get a first round pick in the deal - we had two first round picks before the deal and now we have three. It's not pick 10, but it's better than a poke in the eye and hopefully we'll get a 200-gamer from it and we'll look back in three or four years and think we did well.

[The Underdog]

Re: Brian Lake to Hawthorn

Does anyone think they'd have been happy with this deal post his 2011 season? Taking the emotional side out of it. His value was probably at its lowest then. His form and mental state seemed a mess. He did gain some of that value back this year but I wonder if the current market was slightly lower than is perceived worth among the media and supporters.

[G-Mo77]

Re: Brian Lake to Hawthorn

I don't understand why we should pretend that we didn't get a first round pick in the deal - we had two first round picks before the deal and now we have three. It's not pick 10, but it's better than a poke in the eye and hopefully we'll get a 200-gamer from it and we'll look back in three or four years and think we did well.

It's only a technicality though. We got pick #21 and #41 for Lake and #27. Take the round number out of it and it looks like crap.

[AndrewP6]

Re: Brian Lake to Hawthorn

I'm not looking for a positive spin to be put on this. It's a shitty situation and I'm angry and disappointed that Lake put us in the situation where we were forced to trade him, or put up with him for a year until he walked.

It's been speculated, but do we really know Brian "put us in the situation"?