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

I know hes very close to 300 but it does make me feel a bit weird if we were to literally carry him into next year to play his 300th then he doesn't play at AFL level again.

Yea i want him to be remembered as the ultimate team man, and going on for a another year to make a milestone doesn't fit the character I think he has.

Would seriously disappoint me.
 
Sep 20, 2005
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What if he was cool with the last year transition/spud role on 270 or 310 games? Maybe it means a lot to him, maybe he'd also be cool with the Bernie Vince/Daniel Cross last year regardless of games? I dunno, he's not very good any more and wouldn't want him taking a spot from a promising player but we have enough potatoes where I don't care if he wants to hang in another year. Did anyone care that Cross hung on?
 

Topkent

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Aug 29, 2010
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Honestly the moment Jones walks out for his 300 in hopefully a side that's got positive win loss record next year's would be on of the great moments in the last 50 years for the club.
I'll completely understand if he retires but that bloke was an absoloute warrior for our club
 
Honestly the moment Jones walks out for his 300 in hopefully a side that's got positive win loss record next year's would be on of the great moments in the last 50 years for the club.
I'll completely understand if he retires but that bloke was an absoloute warrior for our club

How but we just win some finals this year instead and make everyone happy?
 

pjfairbairn

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Feb 21, 2011
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Deserves to play in front of a packed MCG one more time. More than happy for him to stay along - I rank him ahead of (in no particular order) KK, Nietschke, Bedford, CWags, Dunkley, Baker, Chandler at the bare minimum. That's 7 list changes for starters (though I think Baker might be contracted, and know KK is)
 
Yeah offer one more year on a modest wage. But that's as far as the charity goes. It's up to him to decide if it's worth it to keep a younger guy off the list with shrinking list sizes, and he doesn't get picked unless he's best 22.
 
Apr 18, 2005
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He's well past it and we all know it, but the guy stuck around and led us through some ridiculously bleak times when there's little doubt he could've moved elsewhere and experienced success.

He and his family genuinely love the club and there's an opportunity to reward that loyalty by helping him to 300. I'll be really disappointed if we don't get him there.

As for the "success over sentiment" argument...you can't seriously think that retaining an experienced veteran on a low salary so that he can play a game or two will be the difference between us winning and losing a premiership.
Yeah maybe I was wrong on that front. But if we are flying and he can’t get a game, why just get him there? It doesn’t diminish as a champion, just means I’d rather not drop a bloke to get him in if we are winning and he isn’t best 22.
 
Not as funny as you think it is. Less than 100 players have hit 300 games, someone's gotta be the worst.
Like bagging BT for being the worst 100 goal in a year forward

Its like who gives a *? not many ever get to the level, being the worst is still pretty ******* good
 

Russian Demon

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Mar 26, 2015
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Stick him on min wage, have him train and train, with vfl enough to be match fit. Stick him on HFF with a mission to tackle everything that moves.

There is nothing that says every bloke is expected to be fit to be selected for 20 games. A fit Jones for 5-10 rotated in when needed is better than our bottom enders, and gives the man who single handedly carried us for years the respect and milestone he deserves.
 

King Kunta

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Jun 30, 2015
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Yeah maybe I was wrong on that front. But if we are flying and he can’t get a game, why just get him there? It doesn’t diminish as a champion, just means I’d rather not drop a bloke to get him in if we are winning and he isn’t best 22.

I agree - If we're flying and he's clearly not best 22, you don't pick him. As it stands, however, I think he's on par with the bottom 4-6 players getting a game. It would take a fair amount of improvement from those guys around him for Jones not to get opportunities next year.
 
May 3, 2014
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I agree - If we're flying and he's clearly not best 22, you don't pick him. As it stands, however, I think he's on par with the bottom 4-6 players getting a game. It would take a fair amount of improvement from those guys around him for Jones not to get opportunities next year.
The thing is those players have the capacity to improve. Best case scenario is Jones carries on his current output and doesn't regress further.
 

Dancing Potato

Premiership Player
Jul 7, 2015
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I want him to reach 300 but there's no doubt he's just about cooked as well.

That said, there's a handful of others that would be in the delist category before him. So I have no issue with him playing 2-3 games early next year to reach the milestone and then basically putting him on the sidelines as a 'break glass in case of 12+ injuries' option.

Less than 24 hours later and I probably have to respectfully withdraw this post.

He's done.
 
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