News Sam Blease retires

[Boxhead_31]

Hope Sam has a healthy retirement and doesn't suffer any ongoing issues from the concussion.
Say what you want about the bloke but he has done something most if not all of us have done and that is pull the hoops on in an AFL game and you have to give him credit for that.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

So that's already four senior list spots vacant - McIntosh, Rivers, Hartman, Blease - as well as least 3 more senior guys, you'd think.

Sheesh. I hope the club is certain of recruiting a handful from other clubs because this isn't the draft to be taking 4+ picks into.

Simpson getting another year if we miss targets?

 

[fpm84]

Simpson getting another year if we miss targets?

I sure hope not. The writing has been on the wall for Dawson all season - never a good sign when he's our only fit ruckman but still can't get a game.

 

[BlakeyNoFlakey]

Sorry to hear he has to retire due something as serious as a head injury. I wish him well for his life outside footy. Footy is a cruel sport for some.

 

[Biggy_Boy]

So that's already four senior list spots vacant - McIntosh, Rivers, Hartman, Blease - as well as least 3 more senior guys, you'd think.

Sheesh. I hope the club is certain of recruiting a handful from other clubs because this isn't the draft to be taking 4+ picks into.

If they don't get the trade/FA targets they want, they could always fill holes with rejects from other clubs, which is what Blease was.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

I sure hope not. The writing has been on the wall for Dawson all season - never a good sign when he's our only fit ruckman but still can't get a game.

I agree but what's the lesser of two evils keeping Dawson for another year (especially if we don't get a FA or trade ruck) or taking an additional pick in a weak draft, possibly 100+....

Conundrum. Probably would see a cooked vet like Stokes or Kelly retained for another year though I guess.

 

[Catman]

We might use the free spots to elevate rookies to the senior list - Read, Delaney, Luxford. The first two are highly rated while the latter has tasted senior footy this year.

 

[Biggy_Boy]

We might use the free spots to elevate rookies to the senior list - Read, Delaney, Luxford. The first two are highly rated while the latter has tasted senior footy this year.

What about Bates?

 

[BlakeyNoFlakey]

I like this (probably unintentional) tease from the club. No offence meant to Sam here, but we're all waiting on tenterhooks for retirement news from any of the six veterans, and they give us Sam Blease.

 

[Cattergirl]

Sad to hear that the concussion forced him to retire. A shame that he won't be able to play at any level at all

 

[Partridge]

The comments regarding we would/could 'de-melbourne' him were quite arrogant, I thought.

Very sad to hear he has not been able to play since the headknock. A strange pick up in my opinion, but footy is not everything and happy to hear he has other interests.

All the best!

I thought they were extremely arrogant, to be honest. We somehow didn't feel the need to disparage Rivers or Clark, and they came from the same club. At least Blease was still playing, Clark had retired, which didn't seem to bother us at all (and still doesn't for most).

A workmate knows his family very well, so I was hoping he'd be able to provide something this year. Not to be unfortunately.

 

[Strangled Cat]

I was hoping that Blease could have played the role that Port's Matt White has played since leaving Richmond. Obviously that wasn't to be. It's a shame for the young fella that his career has ended the way it has. I wish him all the best for the future.

 

[JUBJUB]

We might use the free spots to elevate rookies to the senior list - Read, Delaney, Luxford. The first two are highly rated while the latter has tasted senior footy this year.

Read & Delaney don't need to be promoted.
Do Luxford or Bates have to be promoted,otherwise delisted ? Both have been on the Rookie list 2 years.

 

[Partridge]

In other news, one of Bartel, Johnson and Cowan (and possibly all three) have just looked skyward and said "thank you".

 

[dazbroncos]

Never good to see players retire early. Best of luck to him and hope his life after footy is good to him.

Go Catters

 

[dazbroncos]

Read & Delaney don't need to be promoted.
Do Luxford or Bates have to be promoted,otherwise delisted ? Both have been on the Rookie list 2 years.

IMO, both have 1 more year of eligibility to go on the rookie list. They might need a 1 yr deal to do so however..

Think the original deals are 2 years…

GO Catters

 

[Catman]

What about Bates?

Forgot about him. He could be a possibility, who knows what they have in mind.

 

[Seeds]

None of them had done enough to stay, I include Hamling and Hunt in that.

We were right to take a punt on a different player rather than keeping deadwood regardless.

hunt and hamling have prooved this year they are not dead wood.

 

[cats2rise]

Hamling has, Hunt from what I have seen has done no more or no less than what he was going at Geelong.

 

[Turbocat]

He was worth a try.. but at his age if it was going to happen , it should have been when we had injuries...and he was pass over several times. In the end a low cost failure , he was a spare tyre player if the kids we picked up were not ready... and when Gregson and Cockatoo played early... when Gore was pressing for games , when Lang came in and stayed in ..it was probably little chance for him.

 

[Whit3y]

In other news, one of Bartel, Johnson and Cowan (and possibly all three) have just looked skyward and said "thank you".

i bet its cowan

 

[Seeds]

Hamling has, Hunt from what I have seen has done no more or no less than what he was going at Geelong.

If he was doing that at geelong it would be light years ahead of what Blease did for us. We have an ordinary midfield and he is a walk up start in a much better midfield.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

We agree on this one. I think the argument here was that Blease would have cost considerably less than Hunt, though, and the club was perhaps trying to clear space for all the players they're targeting now.

Very naive to think that a player who couldn't crack a game at Melbourne of all players after so many years in the system would be able to do better at Geelong. Paul Roos is no idiot. Makes you think about the club's assessment of other players.

Possibly their thinking behind it but if you're going to not play him when we had * all to choose from (and play a raw rookie former basketballer) then maybe picking an additional player in last years draft might have been a better alternative.

 

[iameviljez]

hunt and hamling have prooved this year they are not dead wood.

Hunt has been serviceable but I would honestly have rather given game time to Murdoch. We need to be thinking four years into the future, not this year - and, after 80 games, Hunt wasn't going to get that much better.

Hamling hasn't really set the world on fire either - time will tell whether we made the right call there.

I would have preferred us to draft some raw Hartmannesque rookie and hope it pays off than Blease, but oh well.

 

[CatsDoItBetter]

Shame it didn't work out good luck to him was worth a shot. Probably was hunts position on the list. But he has flaws just like hunt have rarely seen hunt ever actually intentionally hit a target.