Sam Gray

Oct 11, 2006
17,806
34,178
Sydney
AFL Club
Port Adelaide
Bit pissed we couldn't get a deal done to get something in return but not worried about him being moved on. I wish him all the best always gave his best good luck.

He kicked 4 goals in his last 7 games and is 27 years old.

His value is right, which is basically no value outside one of those good will trade to another club for a worthless late pick.
 
“We just had that conversation at the end of the year and he (Hinkley) said they’ve got some young forwards coming through and there’s probably not going to be a spot for me next year at half forward, so it is probably best that I look elsewhere,” Gray told SEN Breakfast.

“I was pretty surprised to be honest. I played the last 20 games in a row and thought I might have been okay, but that wasn’t the terms.

“It hit me as a bit of a surprise, but I took it on the chin.

“I guess you do (dig your heels in with the coach) at the time, but what’s said at the end of the year, they’ve probably already made their minds up. It was tough to take at the time, but I’ve tried to move on as quick as I can.”

https://www.sen.com.au/news/2019/11/03/sam-gray-disappointed-with-how-power-exit-played-out/
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Jun 19, 2005
39,428
150,674
Adelaide
AFL Club
Port Adelaide
Sydney makes sense. Their salary cap & list are rooted. Sam will get to play plenty of AFL.


Given the SCG has its 50 metre arc’s at about the 40 metre mark he might actually go close to hitting the top of the square with a long bomb from 50.
 

Tibbs

The Bearded ZERK!
Sep 9, 2013
7,580
18,842
Melbourne
AFL Club
Port Adelaide

JimmyBeerCans

Cancelled
30k Posts 10k Posts Bring Back the Bars
May 6, 2013
37,503
75,940
Hell
AFL Club
Port Adelaide
Someone is lying ...

Club says 'we were only prepared to offer one year, he wanted two'
Sam says, 'Ken pulled me in and said look elsewhere'

The facts that we do know says that Sam is not telling the full story. He def was offered a one year contract, and also told he might struggle to get games. His management did go looking for better elsewhere.
If that's what Ken said to him it's the best thing to come out of his mouth in years.
 

The Rubber Man

Club Legend
May 1, 2018
1,363
2,401
AFL Club
Port Adelaide
Someone is lying ...

Club says 'we were only prepared to offer one year, he wanted two'
Sam says, 'Ken pulled me in and said look elsewhere'

The facts that we do know says that Sam is not telling the full story. He def was offered a one year contract, and also told he might struggle to get games. His management did go looking for better elsewhere.

Not really, it was most likley

"we'll offer you one year on less money, but we think you should look elsewhere"
 

Nemisis

Norm Smith Medallist
Jul 27, 2012
5,600
7,132
AFL Club
Port Adelaide
Someone is lying ...

Club says 'we were only prepared to offer one year, he wanted two'
Sam says, 'Ken pulled me in and said look elsewhere'

The facts that we do know says that Sam is not telling the full story. He def was offered a one year contract, and also told he might struggle to get games. His management did go looking for better elsewhere.
Yes, he probably was given an option of a 1 year contract. But what would you do ... Former contract $250 ... offer $125?
 
Oct 11, 2006
17,806
34,178
Sydney
AFL Club
Port Adelaide
Well C4 did say his management tried to Polec playbook and his response is a bit of saving face especially when he could have taken the 1 year offer.

Even then, Hinkley is a man of narratives. Very clearly tried to get the side into the finals by playing old blokes when there was pressure on his job and when that didn't work, he needed to change the narrative that his focus was about the young guys the whole time
 

PowerLil

Norm Smith Medallist
Oct 8, 2012
5,911
23,120
Western Suburbs
AFL Club
Port Adelaide
Well C4 did say his management tried to Polec playbook and his response is a bit of saving face especially when he could have taken the 1 year offer.

Even then, Hinkley is a man of narratives. Very clearly tried to get the side into the finals by playing old blokes when there was pressure on his job and when that didn't work, he needed to change the narrative that his focus was about the young guys the whole time
Gee, imagine Hinkley changing the narrative to suit himself. Well, I never would've thought.
 
In the end, I think it's a good result for both parties. Sam was a good but not great player for us. And he was holding up the development of younger players with potentially higher ceilings. He gets a better contract at the Swans and hopefully he does well.
 

Tibbs

The Bearded ZERK!
Sep 9, 2013
7,580
18,842
Melbourne
AFL Club
Port Adelaide
If that's what Ken said to him it's the best thing to come out of his mouth in years.
Cant argue with that ... This surely didnt come as a revelation to Hinkley in the exit meeting though! It had to have been something foreseen through the season by the list management, which he is part of, so continuing to play him to the end, rather than give opportunities to others is unforgivable IMO!
 

Kiss from a Rozee

Goddess
Bring Back the Bars
Nov 23, 2018
2,755
4,503
AFL Club
Port Adelaide
Sam’s spot in the side definitely came into massive doubt once Marshall and Dixon were back.

Robbie, Rozee, Butters, Motlop, Ebert and Farrell should all be ahead of him in 2020. If Ebert hadn’t been injured most of the year then Sam definitely doesn’t finish the year in the side.

I understand why he’d have expected more after playing nearly every game, and probably being one of our better forwards for the year, but unfortunately that doesn’t matter when there are more talented players coming through who either had down years or were injured.

If Farrell, Marshall, Woodcock, and Patmore all have s**t years then we’ll absolutely miss Sam Gray, but only one or two of those players would be on better contracts than he was offered. Plus we are aiming to bring in even more forwards at the draft from what I gather.

I think the club at least did the right thing delisting him so he wouldn’t have to go to the draft, but I can definitely see how he’d be upset after “smashing his KPIs”.

FWIW this is why KPIs are awful and anyone who believes in them is extremely deluded, probably because it is their job to be.
 
Apr 10, 2014
20,052
54,732
AFL Club
Port Adelaide
Nice to see Sam thank Port for giving him his opportunity at AFL level for the past few years like Dougal did.

Oh, he hasn’t done that? How peculiar.


B828ED7C-B27E-4DA5-924B-7F6828B63DAC.jpeg
 
Janus is not Sam Gray confirmed

It just means I don't care about them enough to follow players on Instagram. If their account is public I'll give it a look though.
 
Back