A couple of points that I would like to make. When Bartel was drafted from the Geelong Falcons I found it strange that he said he was "ok" with being drafted by the cats but was half looking forward to moving to another city to live and play his footy. You would think a young boy from Geelong would have been over the moon about staying in Geelong with his friends and family,but that didn't seem to be the case. When his first contract expired at the end of 2003 he was the last guy to sign up and held out as long as he could (wether that was manager driven, I don't know). Having said that he was on the outer for the best part of 2003 after struggling to come to terms with his role in the cats midfield. Apparently Bomber wasn't happy about his defencive skills. 2004 started off with Bartel in the vfl team, then everything turned for the better about 6 games into the season and he has been a star ever since. Is there trouble between player and coach?? Does Bartel want to link up with his best mate Darren Creswell and the lions (how can it be his best mate having known each other for 10 months?)??. It just seems strange that given the youth of the side and the fact that he is a local boy, that he hangs out when contracts negotiations start.