View Full Version : Lucas believed to be retiring at season's end
Ludwig van Bertstare
5 Aug 2009, 00:36
AN end to the grand career of Scott Lucas is imminent.
It is a finish that will leave Essendon with only the bookends of its brilliant team of 2000 standing, Matthew Lloyd and Dustin Fletcher.
While Essendon coach Matthew Knights said as late as yesterday that he was prepared to wait until the season was "run and won" before asking all three veterans about their futures, it is understood Lucas has already decided to draw his 14-year career to a close.
To read the entire article, click here (http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25883549-2722,00.html)
Mad Bomber Sean
5 Aug 2009, 02:13
An obvious move. This is the right move for Lucas & the club. Now we need to' fairwell the champ with some victories!
sausageroll
5 Aug 2009, 02:51
It will be a very sad day. Lucas has been one of my favourites since he started.
But unfortunately last year's injury was too much to come back from at this stage of his career :(
Thanks for your contribution to the club Scotty!
DapperDon
5 Aug 2009, 10:10
Correct move by Scotty, hopefully we send him off with a few wins.
Paddywhackers
5 Aug 2009, 10:51
hmm interesting times for Essendon. Do you think Lloyd could and should retire too? And Fletcher imo would be doing very well in your best and fairest, top five imo, however is 34, could he retire too given the unlikelyhood of the bombers being anywhere near contenders next year?
Ludwig van Bertstare
5 Aug 2009, 11:04
hmm interesting times for Essendon. Do you think Lloyd could and should retire too? And Fletcher imo would be doing very well in your best and fairest, top five imo, however is 34, could he retire too given the unlikelyhood of the bombers being anywhere near contenders next year?
Lloyd can still play. He's forced to play CHF because of Lucas' inability to be able to now and Gumbleton is injured.
Jonesy1987
5 Aug 2009, 11:06
hmm interesting times for Essendon. Do you think Lloyd could and should retire too? And Fletcher imo would be doing very well in your best and fairest, top five imo, however is 34, could he retire too given the unlikelyhood of the bombers being anywhere near contenders next year?
http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/75777/default.aspx
High Ryder
5 Aug 2009, 11:10
Fletch and Lloyd will play on.
Fletch can play until he is 40 as far as im concerned.
High Ryder
5 Aug 2009, 12:02
Why do you say that dave?
Jonesy1987
5 Aug 2009, 12:04
Lloyd should join him.
and leave us with two 21 year old, injury prone KP forwards. No thanks.
kelvin_sheedy
5 Aug 2009, 12:13
Lloyd should join him.
I agree. Time to move forward and restructure.
Neagle and Gumbleton, whichever is fit. McPhee as a workhorse floater. Davey, Jetta, Reimers, Monfries mix. Rotate Hille, Ryder, Laycock through there? Daniher potentially, McVeigh maybe.
We have plenty of options and it's time to setup for the future.
bombermick
5 Aug 2009, 12:25
It is probably the right move for Lucas retire. What a fantastic servant of the club, he was one of my favourites. From laughing at him, when he would refuse to pass to anyone if he was within 65 m of goal, to his non-existent right boot. The only time I can remember him kicking on his right was when he set up Moorcroft's mark of the year. He won a B and F playing CHB and could have easily won a AA jumper that year. He was a lionheart in the 2001 PF when he helped us win the game in Lloyd's absence.
Great career Scotty! We all love you.
Mr Mosquito
5 Aug 2009, 15:12
Good call by scotty
Lloyd should play for 2 more years....we need to give gumbleton and neagle the time to learn from and play next to llyod before they take over the reigns
Why do you say that dave?
I agree.
Lloyd is at the stage of his career where he can't compete against the elite defenders in the competition.
It is better that we restructure the forward line - It may mean short term pain for long term gain.
Lucas was one of the unluckiest players never to have won an All Australian jumper.
could he retire too given the unlikelyhood of the bombers being anywhere near contenders next year?
The club does need mentors and Lloyd and Fletcher are 2 of our best. If they can still play then they should still play and our youngsters can learn as much as they can from them.
Ben the Gooner
5 Aug 2009, 16:46
Thanks for a great career Scotty.
You deserve to finish in a final, and the boys should be embarrassed if they don't pull their heads out of their arse and get you there.
Jonesy1987
5 Aug 2009, 16:53
Sad to see him go, was my favorite player for many years.
Interesting to see what the 2010 forward line looks like, hopefully something like this
HF: Lloyd, Gumbleton, Monfries
FF: Davey, Neagle, Jetta
I agree.
Lloyd is at the stage of his career where he can't compete against the elite defenders in the competition.
It is better that we restructure the forward line - It may mean short term pain for long term gain.
Seeing how the most ability Neagle and Gumby have shown so far is the ability to get injured it would be absolute madness to have Lloyd retire at seasons end....
Ben the Gooner
5 Aug 2009, 17:19
Sad to see him go, was my favorite player for many years.
Interesting to see what the 2010 forward line looks like, hopefully something like this
HF: Lloyd, Gumbleton, Monfries
FF: Davey, Neagle, Jetta
Switch Lloyd and Gumby.
Knighter has said that Gumbleton will be eased into AFL on the HFF/wing.
Jonesy1987
5 Aug 2009, 17:32
Switch Lloyd and Gumby.
Knighter has said that Gumbleton will be eased into AFL on the HFF/wing.
Yeah sounds good, I imagine they will have interchanging one playing lead up, one playing around the 50 arch. IMO it looks like a much more structured forward line than we have played all year.
Yeah sounds good, I imagine they will have interchanging one playing lead up, one playing around the 50 arch. IMO it looks like a much more structured forward line than we have played all year.
Hille and Ryder will need to play a part as well, if they ruck 50% of game time each next year, we could be very tall injury permitting.
BringBackCransberg
5 Aug 2009, 19:53
[...]
Neagle and Gumbleton, whichever is fit. McPhee as a workhorse floater. Davey, Jetta, Reimers, Monfries mix. Rotate Hille, Ryder, Laycock through there? Daniher potentially, McVeigh maybe.
[...]
Yes yes yes. Laycock should be considered a forward first, ruck second, from now on, I think. Awesome pack mark, awesome set shot (when the pressure's off - something he'll have to improve upon by the time Gumby's a true KPF if he wants to hang around for the premiership).
Darealrath
5 Aug 2009, 20:08
If true, which I suspect is true, thanks for a great career Scott. Absolute star in his prime, club champion (twice) and just loved the way he went about it - hardly ever getting the plaudits he deserved because Hird and Lloyd took most of the limelight.
Hopefully he plays his last game in a final.
Lloyd should join him.
Nuts
The transition is not right just yet; not even certain that there is a quality 'whom' on the end of these two vacancies offered by Dave. And we do still need quality at FF.
To make matters worse, 2009 has not seen the emergence of quality forward crumbers, opportunists to fill the holes left by our big blokes' inability to take clean grabs and convert.
We need better crumbing at the feet of foiled forward chances to compensate for our deficit at full forward and we need surer forward assertion in the vein of a 2000-2007 Matty Lloyd from a Neagle or Gumbleton or whoever it is. But whoever it is will not be ready R1 2010.
Lloyd, if Scotties retirement is truly imminent, is needed more so to provide flexibility in our line up and watch over Neagle's and Gumbleton's varied positional play 2010.
Matty can still play ff, off the bench or roam as needed. His presence is unassessable and versatility and leadership intrinsic. In any event, he will easily contribute to the benefit of the new forward structure whoever is preferred at FF. Not to mention a 40 odd goals in a canter.
Lloyd plays on.
An aside. My commiserations to Scotty if felled by circumstances, timing, injury or form, to perhaps abbreviate his career by at least a season.
He has been one of EFC's finest players in our great history, and finer still as a EFC clubman.
I wouldn't mind if HE chose a role which saw him play on 2010. Either way a stellar individual and footballer, he has a unique place with all supporters I am sure.
bombers_4_ever
5 Aug 2009, 21:18
Well i hope we win more games and have secured a place in the finals coz i'd hate to come to round 22 needing a win. Because so far this year we haven't won a milestone game.
BringBackCransberg
5 Aug 2009, 21:27
Except McPhee's 150th (ANZAC Day). But you're right - Lucas is a champion, perhaps underrated even in Essendon circles, and just for hanging around this long after that injury and giving what he could (including mentorship) justice would require he play in (at least) one more final. (I sure hope he's in form enough to really earn his spot, though.)
The Donners
5 Aug 2009, 21:51
Lucas has been a champion of the club. One of my all time favourite players.
Lloyd should relinquish the captaincy and play out of the square for his last season, 2010.
and leave us with two 21 year old, injury prone KP forwards. No thanks.
No way - he still has plenty to offer in the way of leadership and mentoring
!
The time had come.
A great player that probably didn't up being as good as he could have been, playing alongside Lloyd was probably a reason for that.
All the same, he won two B&Fs - his 2006 season probably being his finest considering the team around him that year.
An Essendon Champion.
As for Lloyd's time being up, that hasn't come yet. He does a lot of the hard work that Neagle and Gumbleton won't be doing next year, he's a required player and would be missed far more than you'd think.
Pevers-Legend
5 Aug 2009, 23:49
this is funny.
Everyone was potting Scotty all year - now he is pulling up stumps (unconfirmed) it is a sprog fest congratulating him.
:rolleyes:
Seeing how the most ability Neagle and Gumby have shown so far is the ability to get injured it would be absolute madness to have Lloyd retire at seasons end....
And it would be absolute madness to continue carrying lloyd in a dysfunctional forward line.
It is funny how one dimensional the discussion is about EFC's forward line.
Why do we need X amount of tall forwards.
We have enough players on the list that can play forward if the 2 L's retire and Gumbleton is still injured in 2010.
Daniher, Hurley, Still, Hooker are tall targets.
McPhee and Monfries hit up targets.
Ryder and Hille will spend some time resting up forward.
Midfield types winderlich, Reimers, Skipworth etc.
Plenty of options.
Posters are deluding themselves if they believe that Lucas will play finals - If EFC make the finals !
BringBackCransberg
6 Aug 2009, 01:14
this is funny.
Everyone was potting Scotty all year - now he is pulling up stumps (unconfirmed) it is a sprog fest congratulating him.
:rolleyes:
People aren't 'sprogging' over his 2009 form. Just like they weren't "potting" him for his career.
Plenty of options yes Yaco, none of them as good as Lloyd
and set back the development of the club one or two years.
You have the Sheedy mentality of a quick fix.
mustapha
7 Aug 2009, 13:24
Didn't Lucas miss most of the pre season? At the moment he doesn't have the speed to accelerate away from defenders when leading. He has never been a great mark of the ball in packs so he always relied on his work rate on leads and his strength in one on one contests. Without this speed he becomes a one dimensional player.
If he could regain some of the speed and fitness after a full pre season could he regain something close to his form in previous years?