Prediction Future of Josh has gone to the Dogs.

[M Malice]

So what do our recruiters do now to stop the bleeding? What is to say young guys won’t continue to just use and abuse us so they can use the pathetic excuse of homesickness yet again? I wish these kids would be honest in the interview stage and just flat out say they won’t stay.

I'm pretty sure that Schache was very keen to come to the Lions, IIRC he mentioned his family connection to the club in pre draft interviews. IMO Josh was very sincere in his enthusiasm to come to us but when he arrived in Brisbane he just couldn't settle. He did as much as he could for us and desperately wanted it to work evidenced by him signing a 2 year extension and then ultimately not nominating a club to go to as nearly all go home players in the league do, in the end he chose his heart over a strong sense of obligation. No hard feelings towards Josh from me.

 

[Squizz89]

Nah I to am surprised by all the well wishes here.

I know to his credit he tried to not bend us over by publicly nominating a club for us to deal with but at the end of the day this guy was another top 10 draft pick that we wasted a pick on, only to have turn around two years later and walk out the door.

Now some may say we did okay turning the situation in to a top 15 pick but I'd also ask that if we continue to burn top 5 draft picks into top 15 picks two years later and we somehow see that as a win, then how the **** do we ever expect to climb up the ladder?

I know I keep harping on about it but the fact is that even since the GH5 the retention of our top draftees has been nothing short of abysmal.

We keep saying we just have to 'fix the culture', 'win games and it'll turn' etc etc but how is that ever going to be possible when we keep playing with a team full of kids every year only to have to develop them to then ship them out two years later for effectively, peanuts.

 

[MacMum]

All valid points....but we have to stay positive and work through it all.

We are only one year into a whole new structure and professionalism coaching wise at the club...and at this stage all is looking good, even with this hiccup in the proceedings.

Hang in there, it might get bumpy at times....but the road is getting smoother as we go along..

(..or so I keep telling myself)

 

[MacMum]

View attachment 430329

That absolutely creeps me out!! Ugh!

 

[jasonrampage2010]

To be fair he wouldn't get a game in 2018

 

[Lace Out]

Didn't nominate a club because no club had said they wanted him.Think that's how it works.

 

[irish]

look facts are , josh was well worth pick 2 or even 1 at that time , he was from strong bears stock thru his dad and he gave every indication he wanted the lions or bust ! so yes we drafted him. his first season was good and showed much promise , but perhaps his problems were on show then and we missed them becauce of the romance of the father/son link

second season was a nightmare for everyone , I saw josh play in tassie and it was apparent this kid either was not up to it or simply didn't want to be there
the club went well above its normal lengths to make josh happy in life and footy but it would appear that was not enough

he did re sign mid season and perhaps that was agreed to give us better negotiation power , if so credit to josh , I think the kid wanted us badly and so wanted it to work but even he could not control the pull home

in the end do we make josh stay and he gives us 50% we bank on turning him around takes heaps of resourses and is flogging a dead horse

or do we do the bigger thing for the boys health and send him home , it is interesting the lack of interest for a young key forward especialy the tigers who invested much time and effort to steal him from under our noses then ran away like little girls. does that say that the majority of clubs think josh just cannot make it as an AFL player ?

we got the best deal we could to send josh to the dogs and full credit to noble and his crew , we will never know what relationship was with the playing group did he fit in or did he cause distraction . would appear it was dogs or nothing we have shown compassion and good will to josh and I am sure he appreciates it. is the home sickness his real problem ? guess time will tell , I know if I see him bust open packs and take great marks and kick bags of goals for the dogs I will be pissed off as that says he gave only a yelp for us. but also it could be more of the same and a case of buyer beware.

so move forward we will , good luck josh I hope you appreciate the 110% we gave you

 

[13Beast]

I guess the big question is whether Picks 1, 12, 18, 20, 43 + Schache better than Picks 1, 15, 18, 40, 44, 52 + Cameron + Hodge?

Reserving all judgment yet, as simply none of us know do we? Only time will tell. A scary thought is if Schache reaches his potential...its going to be hard to watch (for Lions supporters).

 

[Crusha]

Just on SEN:
How does that W*nker Gleeson get away with suggesting (among other things) that one of Schache's issues with being away from family in Brisbane was "the not so good House he was living in" ..... WTF.

If Bartlett was fair dinkum, he would have pulled him up and questioned as to what he was referring.

I should know better ...... Gleeson (like most of them) is a Fantasy Writer and not a Journalist.

Anyway .... now switched off .....

 

[davemc_lions]

I think some of this angst is we have not had good luck with low draft picks.
Polec, Aish, Longer etc We swapped Hendersen for Fev. Leuenberger never really worked and at Bombers now. Then Clark, Hedland.
We really messed up on our first draft pick over and over.

I think Josh wanted to come to the Lions as his dad played for us. It was a fairytale.
He just found it hard away from his family
top 10 picks can be a duds as well.. Or get bad injuries #2 2012 Jonathan O'Rourke anyone.
And hindsight always great ask Tigers supporters about Tambling/Deleido over Roughhead and Franklin..
Although 04 we picked Wood, Garner, Sherman, Attard, Forsyth.. All still playing for us not.

 

[Roylion]

Reserving all judgment yet, as simply none of us know do we? Only time will tell. A scary thought is if Schache reaches his potential...its going to be hard to watch (for Lions supporters).

Schache has all the physical attributes to make it. Tall (199 cm), a good mark on the lead and he's has an excellent tank, so can run all day. He's barely out of his teens so still needs to put on weight and muscle. He had a good season last year, but even this year in the game against Richmond (which I attended), he moved up the ground well, picked up a few possessions, presented well as a moving target and kicked a couple of goals. On that day he was certainly on a par with Hipwood, although Hipwood certainly had the far better season overall. For a 19 year old key forward, (as he was at the time) there was no real reason to suggest he wouldn't get better in the coming years.

I still see no real physical reason why he shouldn't continue to improve in a key forward role next season and beyond. If there's doubts about his mental capacity to play good football at an AFL level, then he's been given every opportunity to address that aspect by being traded back to Victoria.

 

[Lacesout]

I’m all for empathy and understanding, but I’m not going to feel sorry or make excuses for a grown man who misses his Mum and is in reality a short plane trip away. I miss mine too and have a close relationship with her and I work in another city but also am working for a fraction of what he gets and doing something I’m sure I don’t enjoy as much as he should footy.

I know plenty of kids who went to boarding school at really young ages (12 and 13) and did it hard but then worked through it and made a go of it, and I can’t recall any that quit to be honest.

Maybe he isn’t cut out for it and it’s genuine but like the old saying goes “our comfort zone is a nice place but nothing grows there.” Sometimes I think we run the risk of enabling issues at the risk of looking like we aren’t compassionate.

If this kid was clinically depressed, then I apologise profusely as I have seen and lived with a member of my immediate family who have suffered this and it’s evil, and I know it’s a dangerous assumption to make, but I don’t think it’s of that magnitude in this case. Let’s not forget he didn’t stop playing footy, he just moved where he played, so it’s not the rigours or pressure of AFL that are the issue here. It’s that he prefers to do it elsewhere.

He seems like a good kid and I wish him well and hope he succeeds and if he got his preference then good luck to him, because we all should strive for what’s best for ourselves. However to me this all adds up a bloke who didn’t have the resolve to stay and he preferred elsewhere. Good luck to you Josh and I honestly wish you the best, but you did us no favours I’m afraid to say.

 

[Pacman82]

Not to mention he lied to the members only months ago by saying how committed he was to playing for our club...

 

[lioninthesand]

Just on SEN:
How does that W*nker Gleeson get away with suggesting (among other things) that one of Schache's issues with being away from family in Brisbane was "the not so good House he was living in" ..... WTF.

If Bartlett was fair dinkum, he would have pulled him up and questioned as to what he was referring.

I should know better ...... Gleeson (like most of them) is a Fantasy Writer and not a Journalist.

Anyway .... now switched off .....

To be fair, his living situation was said to be an an issue. He didn't gel well with his first house by all reports, he moved - then I believe the second house didn't work out for him either. Had he stayed, they were looking to move him into his 4th house in 2 years pretty much.

No suggestion that he was a bad housey or disruptive, but (and I wrote this here in January) I heard second hand from a current player that he was a 'different sort of cat', 'hard to get a long with' and... 'doesn't get around the boys or fit in'.. this said player was one which had lived with him too and he didn't want to continue to share with him after a period of time.

Speculation around him not fitting into his house situations or not being happy with his living arrangements has been rumored throughout.

 

[mpal6]

A different spin on it -

Our pick 2 decision was between Schache and Francis from memory.
Schache had a good first year and then went downhill.
Francis didn't do anything so far.

We should just trade off first rounders in future. Might have a better strike rate this way

 

[Crusha]

To be fair, his living situation was said to be an an issue. He didn't gel well with his first house by all reports, he moved - then I believe the second house didn't work out for him either. Had he stayed, they were looking to move him into his 4th house in 2 years pretty much.

No suggestion that he was hard to get along with or disruptive, but (and I wrote this here in January) I heard second hand from a current player that he was a 'different sort of cat', 'hard to get a long with' and... 'doesn't get around the boys or fit in'.. this said player was one which had lived with him too and he didn't want to continue to share with him after a period of time.

Speculation around him not fitting into his house situations or not being happy with his living arrangements has been rumored throughout.

Which "House" above was the Merritt family ?

 

[Gadzorks]

A different spin on it -

Our pick 2 decision was between Schache and Francis from memory.
Schache had a good first year and then went downhill.
Francis didn't do anything so far.

We should just trade off first rounders in future. Might have a better strike rate this way

I actually agree- give me the late first early second round 18yo non star with attituide, stubbornness and determination over the precocious talent every time. Of course we'd be howled down if it ever happened. Major major melt down territory I reckon.

 

[SizeMatters]

To be fair, his living situation was said to be an an issue. He didn't gel well with his first house by all reports, he moved - then I believe the second house didn't work out for him either. Had he stayed, they were looking to move him into his 4th house in 2 years pretty much.

No suggestion that he was hard to get along with or disruptive, but (and I wrote this here in January) I heard second hand from a current player that he was a 'different sort of cat', 'hard to get a long with' and... 'doesn't get around the boys or fit in'.. this said player was one which had lived with him too and he didn't want to continue to share with him after a period of time.

Speculation around him not fitting into his house situations or not being happy with his living arrangements has been rumored throughout.

heard the exact same thing. He just needs to mature a bit more... from everything I have heard his mother coddled him and when you are 19 years old I think it gets to the point where it's damaging for the person own development.

Well he's not our problem anymore.

 

[lioninthesand]

Which "House" above was the Merritt family ?

He was fine with the Merrits. Moved out of there into 2 share houses over the last year and half. That's why I said 4 houses, Dans, 2 share houses and had he stayed he was going to be moving again.

 

[Gadzorks]

If he isn't a big fan of football playing boofheads he might not find the dogs any easier. I hear they have them there too.

 

[13Beast]

I'm pretty sure that Schache was very keen to come to the Lions, IIRC he mentioned his family connection to the club in pre draft interviews. IMO Josh was very sincere in his enthusiasm to come to us but when he arrived in Brisbane he just couldn't settle. He did as much as he could for us and desperately wanted it to work evidenced by him signing a 2 year extension and then ultimately not nominating a club to go to as nearly all go home players in the league do, in the end he chose his heart over a strong sense of obligation. No hard feelings towards Josh from me.

So what changed? Watching that Bulldogs clip of Schache, sounds like he had thrown in the towel at the Lions a LONG LONG time ago. Bizarre watching him thank the Lions (seemed genuine), but staring at the ground as he said it the whole time. Then smiling and discussing how one of the biggest drawcards with being at the Doggies is to play in a young group - strange comments putting into perspective the young group at the Lions.

Sad that the club didn't pick up on the massive flight risk that he was when drafting him. Perhaps they did, but hedged their bets that he'd come good. I guess we will never know.

 

[13Beast]

Schache has all the physical attributes to make it. Tall (199 cm), a good mark on the lead and he's has an excellent tank, so can run all day. He's barely out of his teens so still needs to put on weight and muscle. He had a good season last year, but even this year in the game against Richmond (which I attended), he moved up the ground well, picked up a few possessions, presented well as a moving target and kicked a couple of goals. On that day he was certainly on a par with Hipwood that day, although Hipwood certainly had the far better season overall. For a 19 year old key forward, (as he was at the time) there was no real reason to suggest he wouldn't get better in the coming years.

I still see no real physical reason why he shouldn't continue to improve in a key forward role next season and beyond. If there's doubts about his mental capacity to play good football at an AFL level, then he's been given every opportunity to address that aspect by being traded back to Victoria.

I agree 100%. That's why it's hard seeing him leave. If he comes good and develops into that premier forward we all thought possible, it's going to be tough to watch for us Lions fans

 

[13Beast]

I’m all for empathy and understanding, but I’m not going to feel sorry or make excuses for a grown man who misses his Mum and is in reality a short plane trip away. I miss mine too and have a close relationship with her and I work in another city but also am working for a fraction of what he gets and doing something I’m sure I don’t enjoy as much as he should footy.

I know plenty of kids who went to boarding school at really young ages (12 and 13) and did it hard but then worked through it and made a go of it, and I can’t recall any that quit to be honest.

Maybe he isn’t cut out for it and it’s genuine but like the old saying goes “our comfort zone is a nice place but nothing grows there.” Sometimes I think we run the risk of enabling issues at the risk of looking like we aren’t compassionate.

If this kid was clinically depressed, then I apologise profusely as I have seen and lived with a member of my immediate family who have suffered this and it’s evil, and I know it’s a dangerous assumption to make, but I don’t think it’s of that magnitude in this case. Let’s not forget he didn’t stop playing footy, he just moved where he played, so it’s not the rigours or pressure of AFL that are the issue here. It’s that he prefers to do it elsewhere.

He seems like a good kid and I wish him well and hope he succeeds and if he got his preference then good luck to him, because we all should strive for what’s best for ourselves. However to me this all adds up a bloke who didn’t have the resolve to stay and he preferred elsewhere. Good luck to you Josh and I honestly wish you the best, but you did us no favours I’m afraid to say.

Brilliant post

 

[Back2Back2Back]

To be fair, his living situation was said to be an an issue. He didn't gel well with his first house by all reports, he moved - then I believe the second house didn't work out for him either. Had he stayed, they were looking to move him into his 4th house in 2 years pretty much.

No suggestion that he was a bad housey or disruptive, but (and I wrote this here in January) I heard second hand from a current player that he was a 'different sort of cat', 'hard to get a long with' and... 'doesn't get around the boys or fit in'.. this said player was one which had lived with him too and he didn't want to continue to share with him after a period of time.

Speculation around him not fitting into his house situations or not being happy with his living arrangements has been rumored throughout.

It will be interesting to hear if this trait follows him to Melbourne. 4 houses in two years sounds like they really tried to resolve it. But if the problem keeps getting coming up in each new location he goes to you can't really blame the houses and housemates for it, can you?

 

[Albi_Mangler]

Chalk up another fail for the Lions recruitment/drafting team. Spin it anyway you like but the highest draft pick we have had in over a decade was a massive bust. Schache was the KPF we so desperately needed at the time I think this clouded their judgement on his overall risk. Unfortunately most of the time we cant just select best available, its an uneven process and the club needs to realise that now. Cant be here again with Pick 1 in two years time.