Why can't Adelaide retain players?

[slugger01]

How many were in the goal square though.. I'd say at least 100

Hey, there's nothing wrong with that. We had a big bloke not long ago that wasn't able to kick any from there. 100??? In our dreams !!!

 

[Mr_Moogle]

He's a front runner, yeah players don't get as many touches or goals in losing teams but **** me he's been horrific when you guys are losing.

In losses he averages:

9.8 touches and 3.5 marks per game.

For a front runner he does okay. Had no issues kicking 4 goals on your mob in the last Showdown.

Jenkins is hardly the first forward in the history of the game to look bad in a losing team. Nobody is saying he's Gary Ablett Snr. but he gets the job done more often than not.

Jake just mentioned in an interview he will happily go into the PSD .. go figure (not sure that part was scripted)

Guess he doesn't want to play for Melbourne afterall. Fickle.

 

[sjohns12]

Lost Davis and Bock to new teams for money.
Lost Gunston as he was a mummy's boy.
Kept Danger for 7 years.
Lever another mummy's boy.
So I think we are just drafting the wrong players. Need to draft more Sa players and players with good character.

In theory this is great, but there simply isn’t enough SA talent for this strategy to work, every year I think only about 10 players are drafted, the ones of elite quality are already snapped up by lower ranked clubs. Our option is usually to have a sub par list that will stay forever, or take the punt and try and bring in talent. I don’t mind the direction we’ve chosen.

 

[MaddAdam]

if Lever nominates for the draft he nominates a contract.

4 years at $800000 per year is what has been reported he has accepted st Melbourne, any club that selects him in the draft is selecting him with that contract.

That's how Luke Ball slipped all the way to Collingwoods pick 30ish as no one else was prepared to accept his contract terms

Welcome to the North Melbourne Football Club Jake Lever.

 

[skittlebrew]

if Lever nominates for the draft he nominates a contract.

4 years at $800000 per year is what has been reported he has accepted st Melbourne, any club that selects him in the draft is selecting him with that contract.

That's how Luke Ball slipped all the way to Collingwoods pick 30ish as no one else was prepared to accept his contract terms

Brisbane would be crazy not to take him, given their trouble with attracting and retaining players.
4 years would be amazing for them, or cash him in after a year for top dollar.
If we were only going to get a first and junk I would let it happen just for the lols.

 

[Dank Academy]

I'm not one to obsess around 'Vic bias', but unfortunately I think one of the contributing factors is the unhealthy media campaign regarding Victorian players situated interstate. This happened with both Danger and Lever. Already the narrative around Sloane is starting up...
BT beat the 'Lever come home' drum all year.

 

[Deep]

I hate how he and Gunston have acted like free agents after three and two years at the club


Get ******

I hope Crows play Melbourne in Melbourne cos I will have a water balloon with urine with Jake's name on it

At least you didn't wish an ACL on him like multiple of your supporters on your board have.

Kudos.

 

[PCORF]

Oh many factors why Adelaide cannot maintain players.

- Drafting players from outside SA, although some SA-based players have also departed (Vince, Bock, Mattner). Some players leave for family reasons (Gunston for example). So guys from VIC like the Crouch brothers, Sloane, etc there is no guarantee they'll be at the team all their careers.
- Victorian media pressure, for example when Sloane becomes a FA next year the same thing may possibly happen, all the excitement about going back to VIC. It is the same situation as Dangerfield. So for example if Sloane is a strong-minded person he will re-sign.
- Other teams can offer more making me consider if Adelaide has a bit of corruption and selfishness in their salary cap. I really don't know.
- Adelaide is not a bad city, I grew up there and followed the team from the very start. The city centre is pretty good place to visit although for sure there is much more to see and do in Melbourne and Sydney.
- Adelaide Crows fans are brutal towards past players, no matter how good they achieved with the Crows. For sure they are frustrated because their team cannot maintain certain players. Us fans strive for success every year. Adelaide is a tough place to play in if you are a visiting team. Martin Mattner was probably the only one not booed and Dangerfield and Tippett (understandably) top of the booing list. Maybe they are also frustrated because many trades they have made have been for players who didn't play much.
- Finals failures can possibly drive players away.
- Many many more.

 

[master bate]

It's not about preventing it. I'm fine with Lever going back to Victoria. The problem is that the current system in place makes it difficult for the Crows to get fair value. Lever is easily worth two first rounders when you consider the team he's going to is going to pay him $900 000+ and likely has him as a future captain.

You also have to ask what's the point of having a Free Agency system when any player who's coming out of contract after 2 or 3 years basically has the same rights as a FA. Guys like Dangerfield who stuck it out for 6 or 7 years earned the right to an easy trade back home. Lever on the other hand is not a FA and shouldn't be given the same benefits. He can still go home ofcourse, but it shouldn't be cheap.

You really think it's 900? 750-800 max. Front loaded to get him cash to invest. The Crows wouldn't have any player on that much and the 600k they offered is fair but not fair enough if another club thinks he's a young star. Not sure he'll captain the Dees any time soon when Jack Viney is 23.

2 first rounders is an ambit claim. Pick 10 is a nice start for any player, it gets you a really good shot of a class replacement. Adding another first to that is a mega offer.

I do agree things are too easy for a 3rd year player. I'd have 4 year deals for any first round pick and it's an area for the AFL to collective bargain if they had any teeth, but instead they bow under pressure from managers. 4 years is a decent investment from any person, after which you can say they really wanted to move.

One area the Crows should look into is why wasn't Lever signed for 4 years early on in his first year. A lot of young players will lock in to 4 years to get financial security should things go wrong. If there was a spot where Adelaide were cheap or conservative it might've been when he got a 3rd year but not a 4th.

 

[ashep]

Can someone give me a link or summary for the BT interference business?

 

[Ian Dunross]

Nice melt but no, he wouldn't

Jenkins is only marginally worse a player as Hawkins.

He'd walk right into your forward line and be it's second best player.

 

[Blackas87]

Brisbane would be crazy not to take him, given their trouble with attracting and retaining players.
4 years would be amazing for them, or cash him in after a year for top dollar.
If we were only going to get a first and junk I would let it happen just for the lols.

Lucky you have professional list managers that won't be doing that just for the lols

 

[sjohns12]

The system is broken, free agency is there for a reason, so players like Danger, Buddy, Frawley and Betts who have played 150+ games and have earned the right to seek greener pastures can. Players like Lever and McCarthy have not earned that right, yet are more or less becoming restricted free agents. Club's need to somehow be given more power in these situations because at the moment it is making a mockery of the draft process.

 

[twiggy4PM]

One thing that nobody has taken into account yet is what these guys partners get from moving to VIC. Most of the girlfriends/wives of these guys are so far up themselves you would need a rocket to reach their head. They all want to be models, TV presenters, own a fashion store or beauty salon, etc, etc, etc. There is no place better than Melbourne for these women to do these things and to be able to achieve the success they desire. Melbourne has a lot of money flying around, a large population, high end locations to set up yuppy businesses and gazillions of opportunity to get their faces on TV. I point out people like Bec Judd reading out weather... what on earth would Bec Judd know about the weather? But the exposure she gets from doing News in Melbourne as opposed to doing news in Perth is 5 times fold. Gian Rooney, although not a footballers wife. is also someone who is no educated in meteorology, yet somehow replaces David Brown as the channel anchoring meteorologist - These are two examples of what women can achieve by having some exposure in a large city. Then you have year round events that these women can pop their head up at - A month of spring racing is about to hit (including the Melbourne Cup), then you have all the Christmas and New Year stuff on TV, followed by the Australian Open, the F1 Grand Prix, Multiple AFL games here every weekend, a rugby league team here, boxing day cricket, food and wine festivals, The Good Friday Appeal.. it just goes on and on. Only Sydney can rival the exposure people can get from Melbourne, and it would not be a surprise to me as to why people like Buddy Franklin and Kurt Tippet went to Sydney - Because girlfriends wanted to go there!

I'm certain this is why Ablett is hell bent on coming back to Melbourne. How would his wife get any exposure up there at all? Nobody cares about AFL and would not give two hoots if she turned up on TV.

This is not derogatory towards these women at all. Good luck to them on wanting to go for the successes they crave. I'm simply pointing out a fact that most of these guys moving to home states always have a long term girlfriend or wife, and you can bet any money that in 90% of these cases the girl is pulling the strings!

I think this is a big reason why players leave. If you can get big dollars from a Melbourne club and it stops the WAG whinging at how she can't spend your money because Adelaide doesn't have all the big name shops, why wouldn't you leave.

A lot of it is greed. On one hand I can accept that, you have a short earning window so you have to maximise you income. On the other hand, a footy club invests a lot of time and money in turning rookies into AFL level players. Jumping ship at the first opportunity because some other club offers you more more money just as the original club is going to get a return on its investment says a lot about someone's character.

Bock, Tippet, Davis all left to chase the dollar. Gunstan went all sooky about going home while chasing dollars, didn't have the balls to be upfront about it.

Danger I don't begrudge at all, he went for family reasons, gave the club quality years and owed Adelaide nothing.

Lever is just chasing the dollars. It reflects on his generation, self-centred, indulged and believing that the world should cater to their whims.

 

[skittlebrew]

Lucky you have professional list managers that won't be doing that just for the lols

Are you sure that haven't been doing exactly that? Because we've been throwing our first rounders in the bin the last couple of years.

Furthermore nothing we got for the Danger trade contributed to our current success, burnt that too.

So yes, fk it lets do it for the lols.

 

[Bokonon_]

I just wish we could trade players at whim the way they do in MLB. The fact we can't start a bidding war for Lever and are forced to deal with the club he nominates totally undermines the Free Agency system. It's a total rort and AFL won't do s**t about it because it gives an advantage to Victorian teams.

I love the Port supporters trolling us thinking they are immune to this s**t. When they actually develop some talent other clubs want, we will see what their "culture" worth.

Bit of that. Clear your club is going to talk with ither Melbourne clubs though. It's a difficult negotiation when he can refuse but he cant go anywhere without the Crows signing it off, except to the draft either.

It's a risk and people will say the draft almost never happens, which is true. It's a lever in negotiations though.

For example we got 2 first rounders from Collingwood for Treloar because Richmond bid. The deal was done on the last day and was undoubtedly a tough negotiation but it can be done.

 

[Bound For Rory]

You can see the difference in approach between Adelaide and Port. Has nothing to do with culture or location.

Port overpay players which is why they have great retention. As a result, their depth is weak and they haven't been particularly successful recently. They also have inferior development so their picks don't become stars as readily, and therefore don't get targeted as often. On top if this, Port have spent big on recruits.

Adelaide generally don't over pay, so we don't pay overs to retain players. We also have decent development so our players tend to 'come good' reasonably often. As a result we have more players in demand and we don't want to spend to retain them. But due to this, we have been able to distribute our funds more sensibly, only paying fair prices, so we have better depth and a more even squad. We've become a quality side because of this.

Money talks. But Port supporters like to think it's down to their SANFL history

So you mean to tell me that the reason port players are staying at the power isn't so they could possibly have beers in the clubrooms of a 140+ year old club, after playing a reserves game against semi-professionals (in a state league competition)?

On SM-G935F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Papa G]

Is that meant to be a compliment or an insult? I see it as a compliment?

Communism doesn't work mate.

 

[sjohns12]

So you mean to tell me that the reason port players are staying at the power isn't so they could possibly have beers in the clubrooms of a 140+ year old club, after playing a reserves game against semi-professionals (in a state league competition)?

On SM-G935F using BigFooty.com mobile app

Oh yes Port fans tell me more about how your club has a better culture despite having:
Less members
Less premierships
Won less games
Lower attendances
Won less Showdowns
Made finals less
Played less Grand Finals
The list could go on, since both clubs existence Adelaide has been consistently better, in almost every measurable category, the only thing Port fans have to cling to is that they have been around since 1870 which somehow makes them a club and us a franchise?

 

[Blue1980]

Considering they had more vic players than Richmond in their gf team therein lies the answer.

I know SA players have left, but if the core was more south Australian the issue wouldn’t be as great.

Mind you we lost Betts cos he wanted to be with his dad in SA, Scott Thompson became a club legend leaving melb, and other such as Greg Anderson, Tony hall and Toby mcguinness moved over in the early days.

Do Port have the same issues? I can think of many leaving them

 

[raman]

Oh yes Port fans tell me more about how your club has a better culture despite having:
Less members
Less premierships
Won less games
Lower attendances
Won less Showdowns
Made finals less
Played less Grand Finals
The list could go on, since both clubs existence Adelaide has been consistently better, in almost every measurable category, the only thing Port fans have to cling to is that they have been around since 1870 which somehow makes them a club and us a franchise?

Hurts, doesn't it?

 

[Blue1980]

I'm not one to obsess around 'Vic bias', but unfortunately I think one of the contributing factors is the unhealthy media campaign regarding Victorian players situated interstate. This happened with both Danger and Lever. Already the narrative around Sloane is starting up...
BT beat the 'Lever come home' drum all year.

I really don’t think the media influence players to move

 

[Deep]

Oh yes Port fans tell me more about how your club has a better culture despite having:
Less members
Less premierships
Won less games
Lower attendances
Won less Showdowns
Made finals less
Played less Grand Finals
The list could go on, since both clubs existence Adelaide has been consistently better, in almost every measurable category, the only thing Port fans have to cling to is that they have been around since 1870 which somehow makes them a club and us a franchise?

How aren't you a franchise? Port are a genuine club whereas you were formed to spite them

 

[BTs Nana]

How aren't you a franchise? Port are a genuine club whereas you were formed to spite them

Who will you support when Geelong are folded/merged/relocated following the economic collapse of your city?

 

[PerthBoy86]

I don't really think the geography or nature of Adelaide is a factor for most who leave. Adelaide is smaller and has less than Melbourne, and I find it a bit boring myself, but there's still plenty of bawdy nightlife (probably more feral) to keep any red blooded young bloke entertained in the off season. And the amenities of any large city. It's a city of 1.4 million, not 140,000. As others pointed out Port don't have the same 'problem.' Don't know much about how it is at the AFC, but I suspect the main reasons lie within.