Universal Love #2 Nathan Jones - Retired. Thank you Chunk

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Jones is still comfortably best 22 this yesr and unless something crazy happens, he will be next year as well.

One of our only decent ball users this year. The average salary is $350-$400k a season and Jones should be around that mark

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Cannon82

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take the captaincy of jones next year for sure but give him the chance to hit 300 games. it will be good for the club in the long run, even if they come to an agreement that he perhaps should retire mid season once he hits 300. just to have one other name in the record along side neita to have actually made it to the milestone will mean a lot to future supporters and melbourne (always) has to look to the future supporters. i'm 46 and have seen some good times, my kid is 15 and has maybe seen a positive win ratio twice in her life. little postive milestones do matter in the long run, not just to the player involved.

I certainly hope we don't ever carry someone through for the sake of them hitting a milestone and then pension them off mid-year. That'd pretty much be planning to finish in the bottom 4.
 

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indevelopment

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I certainly hope we don't ever carry someone through for the sake of them hitting a milestone and then pension them off mid-year. That'd pretty much be planning to finish in the bottom 4.
didn't say carry, said to give him the chance to hit the 300 and there's a big difference. he's still a solid contributor.
 

Cannon82

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didn't say carry, said to give him the chance to hit the 300 and there's a big difference. he's still a solid contributor.

"even if they come to an agreement that he perhaps should retire mid season once he hits 300"

If someone is going to retire mid-season, we're carrying that player. If they can't play out the year and be there for finals (lawl), then they shouldn't be on the list.
 

indevelopment

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"even if they come to an agreement that he perhaps should retire mid season once he hits 300"

If someone is going to retire mid-season, we're carrying that player. If they can't play out the year and be there for finals (lawl), then they shouldn't be on the list.
in the era of rookie list promotions and revitalised mid season drafts, i respectfully disagree
 

Cannon82

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in the era of rookie list promotions and revitalised mid season drafts, i respectfully disagree

Why have someone on the list you're not intending to play in the second half of the season? I'm sure we can enjoy enough fun and games with players' form and injury without handicapping ourselves with pension plans for retirees.
 

Topkent

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There isn't much dumber s**t you can read than saying a bloke didn't show enough on field leadership. Exactly how do you show that? Was Jones supposed to shove his entire fist up the ass of another player and force them to play? The bloke led by example for a decade. Jordan Lewis does plenty of pointing as did Chris Dawes? Were they fantastic leaders for us?

Is he the greatest captain ever? No but to say s**t like he drove the standards for a decade was ******* moronic. We wouldn't have a club if Nathan Jones didn't drive himself to be the best he could be.

Some of the s**t I read about Jones on this board makes me wanna vomit
 

HANDSOLO

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He was very good for 2-3 years can’t be denied

He stuck around and was loyal as well

He is a great clubman

He is slowing down now though

We should pay him a respectful wage, move the captaincy on and have him play when it makes sense and develop the kiddies

I’m going to summarize my feeling in a haiku

A great warrior
Many battles fought in vain
Honorable end

MODS can we have a Haiku thread in jones or just a general haiku thread for MELBOURNE? It will help us all process
 
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Looking at the side we fielded v Saints, I would drop the following before dropping Jones:
-C Wagner
-J Wagner
-J Lewis (played alright v eagles the other week but will never forgive him for that prelim)
-O Baker
-Brayshaw (if he is playing anywhere other than onball)
-ANB (based on this season's form)
-OMac (even tho he's a KPP)

Now looking at reserves. I don't see any of the following desperately pushing to take his role in the side:
-JKH (solid at vfl but can't replicate in seniore)
-Stretch
-Sparrow (inj admittedly)
-KK (forever concussion)
-Dunkley
-Spargo (can't win a contested ball or marking contest)

Jones may have declined a bit this year, which is to be expected when shifted role and getting older, but unless we secure 2 A-Grade outside runners I don't see him not in the best 22 next year.

We don't have much depth. Could even see him get a game in 2021 (tho think he'll retire end of 2020), albeit more sporadically with time in the VFL similar to Lewis this year and Vince last year
 

ABray10

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In all honesty, whether we are guaranteeing him a game each week or not is debatable to me. He has been a fair way below his best the last couple of years, but it isn't like we have a bunch of stars knocking the door down in the VFL. We struggle each week to choose the least s**t 22.
 

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Demon 16

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Nathan Jones is one of my favourite Demon players ever. Blue collar workhorse and loyal as hell. Did it tough in possibly the clubs weakest era.

That said, the context of him being extremely well paid under previous contracts shouldn’t be ignored here.

Also, I understand that the figure being floated around is a base figure and there are increases for performance and number of games played which bring the figure up to a (still) conservative but more sensible number.
 

saj_21

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There isn't much dumber s**t you can read than saying a bloke didn't show enough on field leadership. Exactly how do you show that? Was Jones supposed to shove his entire fist up the ass of another player and force them to play? The bloke led by example for a decade. Jordan Lewis does plenty of pointing as did Chris Dawes? Were they fantastic leaders for us?

Is he the greatest captain ever? No but to say s**t like he drove the standards for a decade was ******* moronic. We wouldn't have a club if Nathan Jones didn't drive himself to be the best he could be.

Some of the s**t I read about Jones on this board makes me wanna vomit

Well said.

During the 2015 season he played with a damaged disc in his neck that required surgery post season, played all 22 games and i don't recall a time when he didn't put his head over the footy.
 
Nathan Jones is one of my favourite Demon players ever. Blue collar workhorse and loyal as hell. Did it tough in possibly the clubs weakest era.

That said, the context of him being extremely well paid under previous contracts shouldn’t be ignored here.

Also, I understand that the figure being floated around is a base figure and there are increases for performance and number of games played which bring the figure up to a (still) conservative but more sensible number.

should Jones be penalized for potentially being overpaid because we were s**t?

Did he draft the donkeys? did he appoint Mark Neeld? did he delist Junior McDonald?

No, what he did was stay loyal when very few others players wouldhave done the same thing. And gave 100% for every game, heis the only player that never had his effort questioned.

His reward? being told to takeunders in the future and suprisingly have alot of supporters on here say that is what he deserves....******* lol

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The notion of Jones being overpaid when we were s**t is bullshit. He was paid the market value to stay at Melbourne. Similarly we didn’t pay overs for Lever and May, we paid what was required to prise them away from their original clubs and choose us over rival clubs. It wasn’t as though he was ever on Tom Boyd money.

As someone else pointed out, how could we tell what on-field leadership is - apart from finger pointing? Joel Selwood is lauded as a great on-field leader but it’d also be safe to say he’s had better back up than Jones has. It’s also well known that Jones took a number of young Melbourne players under his wing and got good results (see Brayshaw 2018).

The funniest part was when a poster attacked him on the basis of not being an all time great. That’s a bit like having an 8/10 missus but slamming her on the basis that she isn’t Miranda Kerr.

I also enjoyed the counter factuals of how Jones would be viewed as an ordinary player if he were at a great club like Sydney, Geelong or Hawthorn. Given the fact that he defied our slaughterhouse of player development for the best part of his career, isn’t it also possible he may have been a lot better at a club that knew what they were doing?

The fact Jones, banged up and beyond his prime, still has to play unfamiliar roles to cover for the deficiencies of his peers and coaches is an indictment on this club.

I’ll be pleased if he signs on for another year.
 
should Jones be penalized for potentially being overpaid because we were s**t?

Did he draft the donkeys? did he appoint Mark Neeld? did he delist Junior McDonald?

No, what he did was stay loyal when very few others players wouldhave done the same thing. And gave 100% for every game, heis the only player that never had his effort questioned.

His reward? being told to takeunders in the future and suprisingly have alot of supporters on here say that is what he deserves....******* lol

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How is he being penalised? Why is everyone so desperate to protect the financial interests of a multimillionaire bc he’s earning $300,000 instead of $400,000? It’s not like we aren’t offering him a contract. If he reckons he can get more elsewhere that’s great but we’re not obliged to pay someone a lot of money lol. It’s not like he’s being screwed over financially, he’s getting well compensated for the current value he provides the club after 8 years of being extremely well paid
 
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If Nathan Jones doesn't get another year I'm done with this club

Touch of hyperbole there mate, it isn’t like the club hasn’t put a contract on the table. I like the guy and have a lot of respect for him but reality is he’s been average for 18 months now and likely will see time at Casey next year. Call me a campaigner I don’t care it isn’t like he’s taken unders to stay with us, I can’t see what the club has done wrong here (Especially when you consider the 258k offer would likely come with plenty of bonuses and triggers depending on games played etc).
 
If I were in charge at GC, I'd be dangling 600k a year at Jones for the next two. His two kids are young, so it isn't like they'd be being pulled out of school. He'd be a huge cultural barometer up there. I'd be doing the same for Josh P Kennedy at 900k a year. They need strong leadership to make sure these kids, who seem to have better habits than the last lot but are just too young to run out games, eventually flourish.

Their gain would be our loss. Nathan Jones is a legend at this club. Nothing more that I can say that hasn't already been said by saj, Stinger, Johnny and topkent.
 

pjfairbairn

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Liked Blight's idea of GC going for the Crouch brothers, allowing Adelaide to reset. He said 1 & 2, but GC would want something in return (maybe pick 10(ish)
 

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