Hawks hit back over O'Keefe

[tommyk72]

http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/news/hawks-hit-back-over-okeefe/2008/10/21/1224351252036.html

IF THE recent trade week alone did not completely evince the level of simmering anger and upset between Sydney and Hawthorn, then the aftermath of the recent week of stalled negotiation certainly has.
The Hawks were seething yesterday at Swans coach Paul Roos' suggestion upon the re-signing of Ryan O'Keefe that Hawthorn had been a mischievous time-waster in the trade process.
Roos said Hawthorn had never been in the mix for O'Keefe, had never made him a contract offer and the club had been playing games.
Hawthorn chief executive Ian Robson took the unprecedented step — for Hawthorn — of posting a terse response to Roos' claims on the club website.
Robson insisted the club's interest in O'Keefe had been genuine and that a written offer had been put to O'Keefe during the trade week.
O'Keefe had rejected that offer but Robson said the player remained sufficiently interested in the Hawks to meet him and coach Alastair Clarkson in Sydney the following day.
Ultimately, another club — Carlton — made a superior financial offer for O'Keefe and the club had been knocked out of the running.
"The Hawthorn Football Club conducted itself with professionalism and integrity throughout the 2008 AFL trade period," Robson said.
The written response was restrained but it is believed the club was privately infuriated with the Swans coach's comments.
The Hawks had been upset during trade week at the suggestion they had put forward a list of untouchable players in haggling over a suitable exchange for O'Keefe. The club said at the time there was no such list but that Sydney had asked about a range of players.
Negotiations between the clubs have not gone well in recent years.

This sounds a bit more right to me. Lost a lot of respect for Paul Roos over the last couple of years. Obviously he considers his personal grudges against Hawthorn more important than his reputation.

 

[Leather Poisoning]

Can someone hold Sheehan accountable for his fabrication about the 'untouchable 8' story?

 

[Dixie Flatline]

A link to the official statement posted on the Hawthorn website:

http://www.hawthornfc.com.au/tabid/4742/Default.aspx?newsid=69148

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

Can someone please post this on the Main board to offset all the crap we've taken on there this week? Paul Roos has a big mouth.

 

[Brown Blood]

It is more a shame that some posters are happy to believe any story when the only direct quote in it from the club is "sources say".

There were even posters suggesting our club and pelchen hadn't shown our players respect and loyalty because of this list.

When a reporter does not contact the club or person involved to either confirm or deny a story there is usually a reason - the story is crap but they know if they contact the club, the club will deny the story and then the reporter has to look for another story.

This is why sheehan didn't contact the club regarding this story about the supposed list - if he had he would have had no back page story!

 

[Boyler_Room]

One upside of all this open argument is we get to see more about what actually went on. I didn't think we'd get as much of an insight into what happened behind the scenes.

It looks like we may not have made an offer in regards to O'Keefe because he had a better offer from Carlton but Sydney may have asked us about our players outside an O'Keefe trade.

Reading all the articles I think it gives an overall picture of what went on.

 

[Hawks1523]

I'd like to take back what I've said about Pelchen.

Poor form from Roos imo.

 

[Flukey!]

I blame O'Keefe.
He probably said yes to the Hawks before he shopped himself to Carlton after they offered more.
O'Keefe then had to convince Roos to take him back so of course he was going to say he was never interested in Hawthorn.

 

[Philhawk]

Really hope the Swans come last next year.

 

[Boyler_Room]

I blame O'Keefe.
He probably said yes to the Hawks before he shopped himself to Carlton after they offered more.
O'Keefe then had to convince Roos to take him back so of course he was going to say he was never interested in Hawthorn.

Player makes himself available to other teams for trade.

Other teams make offers to player.

Player rejects or accepts offers and tells original team his preferred destination/s.

Original team then works with new team/s to hammer out deal.


My, not based on fact assumption, is that he thought about but never accepted our offer and therefore it never made it as far as Roos. So from Roos point of view Hawthorn were never in the running for O'Keefe.

I think Roos might have made shown an interest in some of our players but not necessarily in an O'Keefe trade context.

We may have even made a hypothetical offer to Sydney with O'Keefe but we were never in the running as Roos would have waited for O'Keefe to tell him where he wanted to go.

By the time it got to Roos O'Keefe would have only told him Carlton and they simply didn't come to the table because they wanted Warnock more.

Stupid move by Carlton if you ask me, I would have been more worried about getting O'Keefe than some potentially over-rated nobody ruckman when they need forward support for Fevola and O'Keefe is A grade.

 

[Pessimistic]

If roos had shown half as much agression and bloody mindedness as a player he might have a premiership medallion by now.

Amazes me how all the journos present him as the 'good bloke' and never criticize yet hed have to be the least favourite at the other 15 clubs. Always right is paul.

hawks particularly seem to have history with him even though they did manage to deal over spider.

i would have thoght the "we didnt deal seriously with hawthorn" and " they told us they had an untouchables list of 8" over the ROK thing are logically mutually exclusive - only one of them can be true - Which is it Paul ?

or of you feel you have been misrepresented in the media - - have a go at them not us

I predict Roos will respond to this - he also never knows when to let something drop - like the "I never said don't kick a goal" debacle - was still harping back to ot halfway through the season.

Finish up by saying it was ROK, Roos and Sydney who were the time wasters

 

[HBF]

Really hope the Swans come last next year.

Given their list, it could happen. They have that many players who are well over 30, it is quite staggering.

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

I blame O'Keefe.
He probably said yes to the Hawks before he shopped himself to Carlton after they offered more.
O'Keefe then had to convince Roos to take him back so of course he was going to say he was never interested in Hawthorn.

Yep, Roos could be an innocent player here ... possibly giving the benefit of the doubt to his administrators and O'Keefe himself who may have fed him a pack of lies thinking the Hawks wouldn't fight back.

IMHO, there is enough BS in this story to almost force the AFL to investigate the whole affair. Players and clubs are manipulating what should be a fairly straight forward process, akin to tampering with the draft in terms of seriousness I would imagine.

I hate it when clubs throw names on the table without the players knowing anything about it. If a player hasn't requested a trade, his name should be kept well and truly out of it. They should only table a name wit hthe player's consent.

The other thing that annoys me is clubs making noises and then backing down at crunch time, thus preventing other clubs from closing a deal.

 

[Mystical Mac]

who cares. they hate us and we dodged a bullet in paying too much for an overrated 28 year old.

 

[Collins-Langford-Ayres]

Roos is a goose.

 

[timhawx]

I think this was a pretty big year for footy in general and a lot of journos were trying to keep the hype going post Grand Final.
There was a fair bit of mis-information floating around in trade week.

Clubs, players, player managers, journos, comentators and "sources" all did their little bit to stir the pot that is trade week gossip.

It all counts for naught till the deal is done and a deal isnt a good deal till you have the benifit of hindsight to judge it.

I think not dealing may have been a good deal - but then none of us will really know that for a couple of seasons.

Im pretty happy that in the wash up of this years trade week that the club has spoken up to quash those mis-quotes.

 

[Waverley Flyer]

Club statement

From the Hawthorn website:

The Hawthorn Football Club would like to clarify statements in the media over the past 24 hours relating to the 2008 AFL Trade period.

The Club can confirm to its members and supporters that the Hawks interest in Ryan O’Keefe was genuine and that preliminary talks between the Club and player were initiated by O’Keefe’s management, Stride Sports Management.

To clarify the events of AFL Trade week, the Club indicated its interest in Ryan O’Keefe at the start of that week. Subsequently a contract offer was presented in writing to O’Keefe’s manager, Tom Petroro.

Hawthorn Chief Executive Ian Robson and Senior Coach Alastair Clarkson met with O’Keefe in Sydney on Wednesday. A final trade offer was made to Sydney the following afternoon.

Hawthorn was informed by O’Keefe’s management on Friday that another AFL club had presented a superior contract offer to O’Keefe and that he would now prefer to continue negotiations with that club.

Robson clarified the Hawks trading intention via the Club’s website today.

“The Hawthorn Football Club conducted itself with professionalism and integrity throughout the 2008 AFL Trade Period,” said Robson.

The Hawthorn Football Club will have selections 16, 34, 50, 66 and 82 in the 2008 AFL National Draft.

 

[Gilbert_Hodge]

Re: Club statement

It was always going to be about the $$$$ for O'Keefe. As for Roos, what a w***er he is. Trying to bad mouth the Hawthorn Football Club and create a bad image for the club. Can not wait to smash these Swanettes next year.

Well done to the club for presenting their side of the story (and subsequently the right side) to the media and the general public.

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

Re: Club statement

Hawthorn was informed by O’Keefe’s management on Friday that another AFL club had presented a superior contract offer to O’Keefe and that he would now prefer to continue negotiations with that club.

This is the part I want answers to, and the AFL should as well. This club was making it well known prior to draft week it had "plenty of room in its salary cap", when it clearly did not.

They wait until the final day of draft week to start waving around draft pick 6 which they clearly had no intention of trading. Then after it is over, when 4 clubs say they would not be selecting O'Keefe, that club decides it no longer has room in its cap to entertain selecting the player.

They have clearly tampered with earnest negotiations between two clubs and prevented O'Keefe to play for the club of his choice in his home town.

Whether Hawks fans wanted O'Keefe or not, this process should not be tolerated, and questions should be asked.

 

[Noneedforaname]

DO we not expect just a little propaganda from Roos

Just shifting blame from their incompetent selves onto an enemy (any enemy, in this case the Hawks) south of the border. Its just typical Sydney media dribble. Simple enough that the fickle Sydney market can latch onto (and Im not surprised that a lamo like Sheehan has picked it up and run with).

I mean, how else would you expect some disgruntled Swine fans to get back on board and get behind ROK given the betrayal he attempted? He clearly cant't stand the place and was willing to leave for a lot less money, to play actual football (not under 7s style favoured by the Swans), and play in a winning team. I wasn't unhappy that all the Melbourne clubs passed on him. He's no doubt unhappy to be back in the Red and White, overpaid & soaking up their salary cap. They'll talk him up as their next Club Champion, while the rest of the footy world knows he'll be a cancer in that environment. This move has destined them for a lengthy stay at the wrong end of the ladder.

I dont know how long Roos will have to keep this little charade up of blaming others. He carries on like this enough that we know its only a distraction from the real issues. I have a feeling though, that the focus over the next couple of years will be applied a little harder given the situation they will to be finding themselves in. People just aren't going to be falling for his distractions too much longer. I see more murmurings and disgruntled players piping up.

Just wait till they play the reigning premiers this year and see if this invented spite isnt wheeled out and given a run to try and sell some tickets! 2 more years of this nonsense and it will be proclaimed in Sydney that the Swine and Hawks are traditional rivals, such is the attention span of the typical Swine fan, and the desperation of the AFL/ media up here to do anything it can to keep this sinking ship afloat.

 

[lethalselbow]

Roos likes to use his "Mr Nice Guy" image to have a crack at other clubs. But basically he's just a sniping scumbag.

 

[kimbopen]

Roos likes to use his "Mr Nice Guy" image to have a crack at other clubs. But basically he's just a sniping scumbag.

C'mon, be fair - he's more of a sniping, whinging scumbag!

 

[Hawks to fly]

Roos is also a coach who encourages his team to play a horrible brand of football. After seeing them play against Hawthorn last year I vowed never to go to a Sydney game again

 

[lethalselbow]

Wonder Roos will still be whistling as his side gets repeatedly thumped in 2009? Sniping scumbag...

 

[Off The Couch]

If anyone is to blame in the whole debacle it is the "club" that put forward at the very last minute a far more superior offer when it had already dished out a "superior" amount for a yet untried ruckman