Does Geelong's 'lifestyle' factor give them an unfair advantage for free agency signings?

Ricketz

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Disingenuous.

Dangerfield wasn't a free agent signing, but he was a free agent who leveraged that into a forced trade.
Similar for other players like Jeremy Cameron who had 1 year to run on their contracts and were traded before they walked away for nothing as free agents

The point made by the OP isn't strictly limited to "free agents". He is talking about Geelong's acquisition of senior players from other clubs.


2012
Josh Caddy
Hamish McIntosh
Jared Rivers

2014
Mitch Clark
Rhys Stanley

2015
Patrick Dangerfield
Lachie Henderson

2016
Zak Tuohy

2017
Gary Ablett
Stewart Crameri

2018
Gary Rohan
Luke Dahlhaus

2019
Josh Jenkins
Jack Steven

2020
Jeremy Cameron
Shaun Higgins
Isaac Smith

2021
Jonathon Ceglar
Tyson Stengle


There is no doubt in the world that Geelong is advantaged by being Victoria's regional AFL club, an hour away from the big smoke and close to the surf coast. Especially when you consider that most AFL players were born and raised in the country (many of those from the Western districts!)

People with young families often prefer to live out of the big city if they have a choice and don't need to be here every day for their work.
However, this doesn't mean it's an unfair advantage for Geelong. Good luck to the Cats. They should milk every advantage they can
You seriously think they all came for unders because of the lifestyle?

Jesus.
 

Jackington

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Which big name player has requested a trade to WC? Tim Kelly, that's it in the clubs history, now compare that to Geelong - Dangerfield, Ablett, Jeremy Cameron etc.

Ablett was from Geelong originally so that hardly counts.

Elliot Yeo? Jack Redden? (before you say anything about Redden not being a star, he was highly rated in his last season at Brisbane). Daniel Chick? Tyson Stenglein?
 

SuperMal

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Rightly or wrongly, Geelong give the impression of stability and wealth.

The fact that several high profile personnel have gotten away with ‘blue murder’ over the last 15 years is probably comforting as well.
 
Mar 2, 2015
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You seriously think they all came for unders because of the lifestyle?

Jesus.
No. That was simply a list of every player who has switched clubs to Geelong over the past 10 years.

One or two of them (e.g, Crameri, Stengle) were probably happy to be thrown a lifeline and continue their AFL careers
A couple of others probably saw it as a chance to snag a premiership medal.

But I'm fairly sure most of those guys preferred to sign with Geelong instead of another well-run club because of the lifestyle.

Ablett went "home", but it's also a homecoming for many other players who grew up down that way. eg. Dangerfield, Rohan, Henderson... These are all lifestyle based decisions. It's not the same as a WA player going "home". Geelong is only an hour's drive away from Melbourne (closer than many of my family and friends.) They chose to go back there for the lifestyle.

Do we really need to argue about this? Isn't it something that EVERY Geelong player acknowledges when they're interviewed and it comes up for discussion?

Jesus Christ.
 
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SuperMal

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No. That was simply a list of every player who has switched clubs to Geelong over the past 10 years.

One or two of them (e.g, Crameri, Stengle) were probably happy to be thrown a lifeline and continue their AFL careers
A couple of others probably saw it as a chance to snag a premiership medal.

But I'm fairly sure most of those guys preferred to sign with Geelong instead of another well-run club because of the lifestyle.

Ablett went "home", but it's also a homecoming for many other players who grew up down that way. eg. Dangerfield, Rohan, Henderson
These are all lifestyle based decisions.

Do we really need to argue about this? Isn't it something that EVERY Geelong player acknowledges when they're interviewed and it comes up in the discussion?

Jesus Christ.

No, be clear....Rohan came so he could diddle one of the physios.

Ablett came for the nose beers

As did Thompson.

Henderson was a Carlton dud.

Touhy was a Carlton clusterf@#$
 
Mar 2, 2015
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With respect, all those threads come across as a pointed attempt to try and find a discrediting reason as to why we haven’t bottomed out.

Invariably the majority of opposition posts on the issue look for a non football reason.
Everything from ground shape to salary cap to the draw to umpire conspiracies, rule changes, whatever.

In a game where the biggest influences is simply the players that contest it, and to a lesser extent the coaches that oversee them, I and others find it staggering that a large percentage of footy fans don’t just come to the conclusion ‘these guys have a great culture, a good recruiting team, good staff and a generally very good group of players that without dominating have at least given their club a chance to compete each year.’ There doesn’t HAVE to be a caveat that comes with that. Every team that has any level of success be that simply making the top 8, making top 4, making grand finals or winning a comp, there are things that work for them and against them and invariably there will be luck that impacts that. Injuries, injuries to the opposition - even now there’s a possibility albeit only a small one, that whoever draws us in week one of the finals has a stroke of luck if Cameron doesn’t play. That’s just part of footy.

At the end of it all, it is just 18 blokes against another 18 blokes and whoever performs best will decide the outcome. The other stuff has a minimal impact at best.

A graphic I saw on Twitter the other day showed the amount of teams who’ve won 10+ games in a row this millenium. The cats have done it 6 times.

The next best? 1. The surf coast lifestyle, salary caps, home grounds and ground dimensions, free agency, father sons - they can only impact that so much.
Obviously the PEDs have played a huge part too in Geelong's dominance

You conveniently skipped over that.
 

MF

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I and others find it staggering that a large percentage of footy fans don’t just come to the conclusion ‘these guys have a great culture, a good recruiting team, good staff and a generally very good group of players that without dominating have at least given their club a chance to compete each year.’

It's much easier to find a reason why someone else has an unfair edge in life than it is to have an honest look at yourself and why you don't measure up.
 
May 5, 2016
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It's much easier to find a reason why someone else has an unfair edge in life than it is to have an honest look at yourself and why you don't measure up.


Every fan base has them, there are a handful of cats fans who will blame not playing finals at home or whatever but it’s been that way for over a century, who cares, if we are good enough we will win wherever so it’s pretty irrelevant. Some of our recruiting hasn’t been good, I can absolutely cop that, equally we’ve picked up players like Stewart and Kelly who provided unbelievable bang for buck, Henderson was very underrated, Tuohy has been great, so has Smith. Guys like Mitch Clark, Aaron Black, Josh Jenkins were a bust - but hey, at the time we NEEDED to find some support for Hawkins so we can only find that support from who is available. It didn’t work. Big deal.
 

Ricketz

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No. That was simply a list of every player who has switched clubs to Geelong over the past 10 years.

One or two of them (e.g, Crameri, Stengle) were probably happy to be thrown a lifeline and continue their AFL careers
A couple of others probably saw it as a chance to snag a premiership medal.

But I'm fairly sure most of those guys preferred to sign with Geelong instead of another well-run club because of the lifestyle.

Ablett went "home", but it's also a homecoming for many other players who grew up down that way. eg. Dangerfield, Rohan, Henderson... These are all lifestyle based decisions. It's not the same as a WA player going "home". Geelong is only an hour's drive away from Melbourne (closer than many of my family and friends.) They chose to go back there for the lifestyle.

Do we really need to argue about this? Isn't it something that EVERY Geelong player acknowledges when they're interviewed and it comes up for discussion?

Jesus Christ.
There are two people in that list that stated they were keen on the lifestyle.

The rest is bullshit you're shoe-horning to fit the narrative. But nice try.
 
Mar 2, 2015
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There are two people in that list that stated they were keen on the lifestyle.

The rest is bullshit you're shoe-horning to fit the narrative. But nice try.
Big Footy... The forum where someone will say the sun will rise in the east tomorrow morning and 10 people will argue that it won't.
 
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PerthBoy86

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Yes that’s definitely the main reason we are so strong in the home and away season.
Crowd support.

Gameplay, skill, coaching, effort, fitness - they’re all more or less irrelevant.

It’s crowd support.

No one's saying those are irrelevant, but you can't deny you get a significant advantage for the reasons I mentioned.
 
Aug 13, 2006
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What's Geelong like? Seems really nice based on my brief google maps exploring
A bigger, colder, Bunbury with worse beaches.

In all seriousness: The place took a significant hit with the decline of cars and other industry. It’s got some rough neighbourhoods. But it’s always had some nice areas and 2 very fancy private schools that attract wealthy kids from all over the state. And government investment and Melbourne getting way too big and crowded has seen the region bounce back. The Geelong town centre isn’t making too many tourism must see lists but parts of the town and region are very nice.

The surf coast - whilst cold and awful weather wise for a lot of the time - has always been a draw card and Geelong is the gateway to that area and the Bellarine peninsula. Cafes, wineries, restaurants, beaches, national parks etc.

Most afl players settle down quickly and then are pretty happy to train, hit the surf, hit up a local cafe and go about their business fairly quietly. The Geelong region offers that.
 
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Farms are big tax breaks for wealthy people. Expect to see others follow the lead of Hawkins and Cameron there.

But the Bombers are just about based in farm land too, so you can’t say other clubs aren’t a chance to do similar.

The Saints saw Seaford as a huge disadvantage. I’d argue they didn’t move far enough or stick it out long enough. Had they moved to Mornington and even got a game or two in that region they’d put themselves in with a chance of being the go home team for the Mornington Peninsula talent.

Tom Lynch and Max Gawn have done the sea change down to the peninsula. I could see others doing the same. The biggest issue there is the house and land prices are astronomical. But lifestyle wise it’s the same advantages the Cats get.

I’d love to know more about the Cats and 3rd party deals. Selwood’s the Auskick ambassador. Danger’s everywhere. Rumours of cats past players in housing development have been around for a while. Geelong aren’t the biggest club but they’re a big fish in a small pond and have been so successful for so long that they’re a sound investment. Not saying it’s not all above board but it’s a way to keep an advantage rolling
 
May 5, 2016
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Farms are big tax breaks for wealthy people. Expect to see others follow the lead of Hawkins and Cameron there.

But the Bombers are just about based in farm land too, so you can’t say other clubs aren’t a chance to do similar.

The Saints saw Seaford as a huge disadvantage. I’d argue they didn’t move far enough or stick it out long enough. Had they moved to Mornington and even got a game or two in that region they’d put themselves in with a chance of being the go home team for the Mornington Peninsula talent.

Tom Lynch and Max Gawn have done the sea change down to the peninsula. I could see others doing the same. The biggest issue there is the house and land prices are astronomical. But lifestyle wise it’s the same advantages the Cats get.

I’d love to know more about the Cats and 3rd party deals. Selwood’s the Auskick ambassador. Danger’s everywhere. Rumours of cats past players in housing development have been around for a while. Geelong aren’t the biggest club but they’re a big fish in a small pond and have been so successful for so long that they’re a sound investment. Not saying it’s not all above board but it’s a way to keep an advantage rolling

That’s all pretty fair, it doesn’t offer the sort of media and post footy opportunities that come via that avenue that Melbourne does though and if you’re an ex footballer in Melbourne there’s really nothing at all to stop you getting some sort of role with one of the clubs there given how many there are
 

Coach_Required

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Its probably when Richmond supporters started hating Geelong. Ottens went on to become a triple premiership player and still proudly identifies himself a 'Geelong' man, almost as though Richmond never happened

Not true, we werent happy Ottens wanted to leave full stop, had nothing to do with Geelong. Would have been the same if he went to St Kilda.

Geelong supporters were the ones who started this Geelong - Richmond dislike. I can even pin point when it happened. The 2017 qualifying final. We celebrated the win a little too hard, we finally beat your mob unfortunately and you all got your noses out of place over it and its been that way ever since.

Probably the same way the Hawthorn - Geelong dislike started. Seems like a common theme there.

This thread is actually stupid, Geelong has finally found something for their benefit, good luck to them. Its no different to other teams in the competition using things to their advantage, Sydney have a great academy, Perth teams have 2 teams in a whole footy mad state, Collingwood & Richmond have huge supporter bases and play home games at the G. We all have something that works in our favour that only comes out when people want to whinge and have a sook because their teams have turned to s**t.
 
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