Heard it's homesickness.
Source is usually about 6/10 so grain of salt.
Source is usually about 6/10 so grain of salt.
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Balic granted indefinite leave [Traded to Melbourne for pick 66]
- Thread starter go_the_dockers
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- #152
This thread is turning to s**t. Just posters turning on each other.
- Jul 2, 2013
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So just a general hypothetical ... if in the scenario that a non WA recruited player like Balic wants to go home at the end of the season and the club is made aware of it so early in the season, what do people think is the smartest strategy for game selection for the rest of the season?
Does Freo give preference to other players at the selection table, or do they pick players still on their merits each week to select the best current 22, or do they give preference to play the going player in order to try to raise that players trade worth?
Does Freo give preference to other players at the selection table, or do they pick players still on their merits each week to select the best current 22, or do they give preference to play the going player in order to try to raise that players trade worth?
- Mar 2, 2007
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I'd still be picking him if he was earning his spot, but I wouldn't be going to the extent of trying to pump games into him if he was only performing at the level of, say, Logue, or even maybe Tucker.
In the latter situation his value probably wouldn't be much different than if he was just chopping up in the WAFL anyway.
Like it or not, Barrett doesn't make things up for the sake of a headline. What he says now is what he hears from sources. More than one.
But that doesn't mean that is the way it plays out. People change their mind, circumstances change. Hope Harley and his family weather whatever storm they face at the moment.
But that doesn't mean that is the way it plays out. People change their mind, circumstances change. Hope Harley and his family weather whatever storm they face at the moment.
- May 3, 2007
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seems like a Jesse hogan situation. Balics gone back to his home state to see a sick relative. That would be my guess.
I rate him very well as player, I will be gutted if he leaves. But if he needs to head back home, Fine then do it and get something back. Don't do a GWS. Don't do what GWS did with cam McCarthy.
The Cam McCarthy situation was dragged out last year. Again, I hope we stays with us. I don't want thisto drag out the whole season.
I rate him very well as player, I will be gutted if he leaves. But if he needs to head back home, Fine then do it and get something back. Don't do a GWS. Don't do what GWS did with cam McCarthy.
The Cam McCarthy situation was dragged out last year. Again, I hope we stays with us. I don't want thisto drag out the whole season.
It occurred to me that Balic would incredibly ungrateful if he did choose to leave. After being touted as a high draft pick he slid big time due to his injury. I remember reading an article where he described worrying he was going to go undrafted as the picks got higher and he was still on the board.
We carried him for the time it took to get him back to playing footy and obviously paid for all his medical and rehab (par for the course), he won a premiership with Peel with the 3 amigos and other Freo players. Surely there are some friendships and bonds of loyalty there?
Neale talks about the loyalty he feels to Freo for taking a chance on him and showing faith, Hogan resigned with the Dees and of course we have the great example of Pav so to walk after your first contract after only playing a handful of games after the huge investment from the club would seem very selfish to me.
Yes I know its all speculation at this point, that there can be extenuating circumstances and that we were the beneficiary of Cam Mac's wanting to come home but I believe he owes us a couple more years of footy at least.
We carried him for the time it took to get him back to playing footy and obviously paid for all his medical and rehab (par for the course), he won a premiership with Peel with the 3 amigos and other Freo players. Surely there are some friendships and bonds of loyalty there?
Neale talks about the loyalty he feels to Freo for taking a chance on him and showing faith, Hogan resigned with the Dees and of course we have the great example of Pav so to walk after your first contract after only playing a handful of games after the huge investment from the club would seem very selfish to me.
Yes I know its all speculation at this point, that there can be extenuating circumstances and that we were the beneficiary of Cam Mac's wanting to come home but I believe he owes us a couple more years of footy at least.
SHill Shall
Club Legend
As bad as this situation may be, think about how Brisbane are feeling about their number two pick from the same draft wanting to pull up stumps. The system needs tweaking - two years is not enough.
ydraw
Norm Smith Medallist
- Apr 27, 2015
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We didn't do him any favours and he doesn't owe us anything. That is professional sport. Athletes have a right to choose where and who they work for like anyone else does.
WeaselWJ
All Australian
- May 1, 2016
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Well said.
Agree , If he doesn't want to be here then trade him for someone that does.
- Jun 18, 2010
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If it was homesickness they would have given him a defined week or two. Surely.
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If it was homesickness then why didn't he play at the mcg infront of his parents? It is most likely more than that.
- Aug 20, 2014
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our club is pretty professional now. I dont feel like its the old days where players may have slipped through our fingers due to mismanagement ala Medhurst, so if he wants to go its probably for the best for us as well.
- Jun 30, 2011
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That's not really true. He's mailbox for agents. Sometimes, often even, he has something real as they have leaked to him for their own ends. Presumably the clubs leak to him sometimes for the opposite reasons. But he has to go on tv and into print several times a week, there is absolutely no way he is getting enough real info to fill all that 'content' so he would have to make it up. I would expect just by having an educated guess. No different to how 99% of bigfooty people with 'inside info' act.
Of course there is no way to determine what is a real leak and what is just him till after the fact.
- Jul 15, 2007
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Yeah this. Barrett clearly has some good contacts, but that doesn't mean he's always right. He's got it wrong plenty of times or his 'source' has been just that enough removed so that what he hears isn't quite right. I agree that he's better than some out there, but I'd still take what he says with a healthy dose of salt at this stage of things. Unless he's talked directly to his manager or Balic himself, I reckon he's just having an 'educated guess' like the rest of us.
EFA
True - but the mention of 'pills mixed with sleeping pills' for Bennell is just bizarre; especially with him being Eastern-based. It would be the WA media that would have jumped all over that if they had the chance, and clearly it hasn't come from anyone here.
Based on that the 'trade-request' theory also loses some merit; it feels almost like a reason to justify standing up in front of a Victorian crowd and talking about a little-heard-of Dockers player at prime-time. Attaching the story to 'likely to a request a trade to Victoria' generates at least a little bit of interest over there.
So yeah, I'm calling him a hack
- Apr 21, 2014
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Eh if he wants to go I assume we'll make every attempt to trade him ala Roberton. Whether it's homesickness or family issues it doesn't really matter. If he needs to go he needs to go.
If he comes back great. If he doesn't well it cuts both ways and we can't sit here decrying him when we've very much been the beneficiary of it. Good luck to him, seems like a decent kid.
If he comes back great. If he doesn't well it cuts both ways and we can't sit here decrying him when we've very much been the beneficiary of it. Good luck to him, seems like a decent kid.
Balic is managed by Stride. The same company that manages Fyfe, Neale, Stephen Hill and so on. If you really think Barrett and the rest of the media have inside information you are kidding yourselves - Balic, his family, his management and the club clearly all respect his privacy with whatever is going on. This talk of homesickness and wanting to be traded is all just speculation, imagined by media people to peak some interest - that's it. There is a risk he may want to return back to Victoria but that was always there, just like it is with any player who moves away from home. Just because the media are running with a narrative doesn't make it true (in fact looking at the past I think it makes it less likely to be true). I thought those on BF would be more aware of the scattergun strategy used by football writers and commentators - a broken clock is right twice a day but wrong every other moment.
