Damian Cupido

[Nandoz]

I'd like to seek the general opinion of the Brisbane fans here.

Were you generally dissapointed in losing Cupido?
Did you acknowledge his talent and future at the club?
Were you at all surprised in the season Damian had?
Did he over-ride expectations?

Just wondering...

...Cheers.

 

[cjwalkley]

Cupido is an immensely talented footballer who is yet to understand it is a team game. He is selfish and lazy, but with his sublime skills can cover that aspect of his game to a certain extent.

He did very well this year, and probably played up to his talent level, but I am definitely happy he is no longer at the Lions. He didn't work hard enough during a game and during training, was undisciplined and would have been a weak link in a formidable team.

Maybe Sheedy can keep him producing the goods, hopefully so for Essendon fans, but it will be interesting if the arrogance and bad habits hit back after one good year.

 

[BrainOfMorbius]

I think it would be fair to say that opinion amongst Lions supporters on Cupido is very mixed.

Personally I was a little sad to see him leave as it was clear that the guy had a great deal of talent, however he had a propensity for injury and lack of team play. I wasn't too disappointed with the trade that gained us Caracella.

If he can gain a little bit of maturity he'll do well for the Bombers with a long career, and good luck to him.

 

[NathanD]

The loss of Cupido certainly resulted in many heated debates here, so I expec that this thread will be no different.

Were you generally dissapointed in losing Cupido?

Yes and no - to lose players that were picks 1 and 6 and gain Caracella and Pick 3 seemed as if we were dudded.

He was unlucky with shoulder injuries, and seemed a tad selfish and not fully team oriented. An ego to rival Akermanis. Was never going to well under Matthews one suspects. Not even sure if the old trick of sending him into the backhalf would've made him a better (read team) player?

Did you acknowledge his talent and future at the club?

He had talent to burn, but his attitude stifled his future at the Lions.

Were you at all surprised in the season Damian had?

Not really. If he could be injury free and get plenty of game time he was always going to kick goals. In many of the games I saw he often went missing when the team needed to lift, and sometimes kicked a bag in junk time.

I wasn't surprised at all by the number of free kicks and 50 m penalties he gave a way.

Did he over-ride expectations?

Well he was a No 6 pick who took a few years to get going. I wish him well because he certainly wasn't going to flourish at the Lions under Matthews and was better off where he wanted to be.

If he can pull his head in as well as getting it over the ball, he'll do well for the Dons in the years to come.

 

[BrainOfMorbius]

Originally posted by NathanD
I wasn't surprised at all by the number of free kicks and 50 m penalties he gave a way.

Not to mention the numerous clangers...

 

[Hosko]

Originally posted by BrainOfMorbius
Not to mention the numerous clangers...

not to mention leading the goal assists tally at essendon
and
second only to matt lloyd in the goalkicking!

Thankyou very much Brisbane . .

 

[cjwalkley]

Originally posted by Hosko
not to mention leading the goal assists tally at essendon
and
second only to matt lloyd in the goalkicking!

Thankyou very much Brisbane . .

Very happy to pass off Cupido to a middle of the road organisation and have Caracella play a part in a Premiership side.

 

[diesel]

not disappointed at all. the boy can play but, only speculating here, he was probably the kid who won all the b & f`s throughout his junior career & expected to do the same against the big boys. has the odd flash of brilliance which will excite the fans but is too easily shut out to be a truly valuable contributor to a successful team.
all the best to sheeds though if anyone can get a kid back on track its surely him
cheers!

 

[marcuz]

Very happy to pass off Cupido to a middle of the road organisation and have Caracella play a part in a Premiership side.

And what a huge part it was.

You can teach players a lot of things. Two things you cant is spped and ability and Damian has plenty of that. I spoke to him at a club function and from what i heard i was expecting him to be a tool but he was far from it. He was more than happy to have a laugh and a chat and seemed genuinly honoured to be at the club he had supported as a kid. Was a really nice young bloke. Arrogant on the field yes. But if you want to be a good footballer you need a bit of arrogance.

 

[cjwalkley]

Originally posted by marcuz
And what a huge part it was.

You can teach players a lot of things. Two things you cant is spped and ability and Damian has plenty of that. I spoke to him at a club function and from what i heard i was expecting him to be a tool but he was far from it. He was more than happy to have a laugh and a chat and seemed genuinly honoured to be at the club he had supported as a kid. Was a really nice young bloke. Arrogant on the field yes. But if you want to be a good footballer you need a bit of arrogance.

If you want to be a good footballer you have to have discipline and play as part of a team, something Cupido has yet to do.

I'd have no idea what he was like off the field, only know that at this stage of his career, I wouldn't want him on my team.

 

[OldLion]

Originally posted by Hosko
Thankyou very much Brisbane . .

Scoreboard, troll.

 

[irel]

Originally posted by Nandoz
I'd like to seek the general opinion of the Brisbane fans here.

Were you generally dissapointed in losing Cupido?
Did you acknowledge his talent and future at the club?
Were you at all surprised in the season Damian had?
Did he over-ride expectations?

Just wondering...

...Cheers.

The general consensus amongst Lion supporters is that we were not disappointed to lose him and we all wished him well at his new club.

My disappointment was with the administrators who let go of effectively draft no 1 ( Headland) and no 6 (Cupido) for draft no 3 (Brennan) and Caracella. They totally stuffed it up. Fremantle at one point offered draft no's 3 and 5 (they got from North for Brown) for Headland alone. We didn’t even have to give up Cupido as he had one year of his contract to run. Instead somehow we got duped into including Cupido for Cracella.
The only reason this has not been a major issue is because we are still Premiers. However with pick 5 we could also have had at our club Steven Salopec. Beatson staffed it up.

 

[Stocka]

Originally posted by marcuz
And what a huge part it was.

Which is better?

a) Being a team player in a Premiership side.
b) Being a shirt-lifting front-runner in an average side.

Originally posted by marcuz
You can teach players a lot of things. Two things you cant is spped and ability and Damian has plenty of that.

And at the moment, that is probably just about it, I'd say.

Originally posted by marcuz
Arrogant on the field yes. But if you want to be a good footballer you need a bit of arrogance.

I'd say that COURAGE is a bigger factor, actually. Someone like S.Hart is not arrogant, yet, he exhibits courage and a team ethos every time he goes out on the park. I'd wager that's why Hart's career will be historically better than Cupido's.

 

[Stocka]

Originally posted by Hosko
not to mention leading the goal assists tally at essendon
and
second only to matt lloyd in the goalkicking!

Thankyou very much Brisbane . .

From memory, there was only one game this season where Cupido actually influenced the result of the match off his own efforts, as opposed to merely being a benefactor of the hard work of other players.

 

[Nandoz]

So overall i take it that Brisbane fans werent all that dis-pleased to lose him. Was just wondering.

Thanks.

 

[luthor]

Re: Re: Damian Cupido

Originally posted by irel
The general consensus amongst Lion supporters is that we were not disappointed to lose him and we all wished him well at his new club.

My disappointment was with the administrators who let go of effectively draft no 1 ( Headland) and no 6 (Cupido) for draft no 3 (Brennan) and Caracella. They totally stuffed it up. Fremantle at one point offered draft no's 3 and 5 (they got from North for Brown) for Headland alone. We didn’t even have to give up Cupido as he had one year of his contract to run. Instead somehow we got duped into including Cupido for Cracella.
The only reason this has not been a major issue is because we are still Premiers. However with pick 5 we could also have had at our club Steven Salopec. Beatson staffed it up.

Irel, I think you are using dodgy mathematics in your comparison of what we gained to what we lost.

In the first place, we didn't actually "let" Headland go.

Headland was going whether we liked it or not. He was so determined to get back to WA, he was even making statements that he would be prepared to be delisted and if not picked up by WCE or Freo in the draft, he would retire and play in the WAFL for free !!

Secondly, I don't believe it's valid to compare "positions" in drafts from PREVIOUS years (Headland and Cupido) to an established PREMIERSHIP player(Caracella) and an untried kid (Brennan)

Nor is it valid to compare draft positions from previous years(1 and 6) to "picks" 3 and 5 in an upcoming draft, ESPECIALLY WHEN THERE IS NO GUARANTEE THAT WHO YOU WANT, WON"T EVEN BE AROUND BY THE TIME YOU GET TO PICK 5, OR EVEN PICK 3.

You say we could have had Salopek at pick 5, but that's all with the benefit of hindsight.

Unless they had a crystal ball, how could the Lions have possibly have known Salopek was going to be available when pick 5 came around????

The way I see it, the Lions got Caracella and a high draft pick(#3)in exchange for Cupido and potentally nothing (Headland).

If you want to use hindsight as your primary method of analysis, I'd say that, with the benefit of hindsight, we did a couple of pretty smart trades.

 

[SpecialBruce]

I know 2 supporters who were ****ed off about trading Cupido.

Maverick and the one and only SpecialBruce.

 

[luthor]

How often did you watch Cupido play in the Lions reserves SB?

 

[Denno]

I still spew Cupido left.

I reckon he'll make us look silly in few years.

 

[irel]

Re: Re: Re: Damian Cupido

Originally posted by luthor
Irel, I think you are using dodgy mathematics in your comparison of what we gained to what we lost.

In the first place, we didn't actually "let" Headland go.

Headland was going whether we liked it or not. He was so determined to get back to WA, he was even making statements that he would be prepared to be delisted and if not picked up by WCE or Freo in the draft, he would retire and play in the WAFL for free !!

Secondly, I don't believe it's valid to compare "positions" in drafts from PREVIOUS years (Headland and Cupido) to an established PREMIERSHIP player(Caracella) and an untried kid (Brennan)

Nor is it valid to compare draft positions from previous years(1 and 6) to "picks" 3 and 5 in an upcoming draft, ESPECIALLY WHEN THERE IS NO GUARANTEE THAT WHO YOU WANT, WON"T EVEN BE AROUND BY THE TIME YOU GET TO PICK 5, OR EVEN PICK 3.

You say we could have had Salopek at pick 5, but that's all with the benefit of hindsight.

Unless they had a crystal ball, how could the Lions have possibly have known Salopek was going to be available when pick 5 came around????

If not Salopek it would have been some other talented player.

The way I see it, the Lions got Caracella and a high draft pick(#3)in exchange for Cupido and potentally nothing (Headland).

If you want to use hindsight as your primary method of analysis, I'd say that, with the benefit of hindsight, we did a couple of pretty smart trades.

No hindsight used at all. I was very ****ed off last year with the deal that the club generated. (I was not posting on BF last year)
It may sound like hindsight, but my contention last year prior to trading Cupido was, “ let him finish his contract and trade him possibly this year”. Headland may have been going anyway but to get only draft no. 3 for him and nothing else was extremely poor whichever way you look at it.
All I know, at one stage Fremantle offered draft 3 and draft no 5 which they got from North in exchange for Brown. Somehow we ended in a deal involving Cupido with Essendon. What I am saying, we should not have recruited Caracella. We did not require him. We already had Cupido to slot in Headland's position.
Anyhow no use crying over spilt milk we should look forward to the future. My only concern is that this year we have repeated the same mistake. We released Gram at 19 years of age. As far as I can ascertain there is no logical reason to do so. And losing two talented young players in consecutive years as a result of bad management is reason to speak out.
Gram asked to go home to Victoria. When Chris Johnson asked, we did not let him and look how things turned around. I remember reading an article, where Cupido said that he wanted to stay but somehow felt that he was not wanted and under those circumstances it was best to leave.
I know people will say what are you complaining about you've just won three in a row. Just because we won three in a row it does not mean we can relax and not be constructive in our assessment when the club makes decisions that I feel are to the detriment of the future of our club.

 

[SpecialBruce]

Originally posted by luthor
How often did you watch Cupido play in the Lions reserves SB?

I don't care if Bubba happened to be a one person player in the reserves.

Fact! He did a shoulder putting his body hard on the line. He went in hard for the ball, got the injury. Bubba was one of our best players in the lead up to that game. When he was playing he wasn't doing the one person stuff. He put his body on the line for his team mates. Is that not team play?

We then got a stronger team so Bubba tried to get into the team. I don't blame him for being a one person player. He tried his best to get back into the team.

The fact is that Leigh never liked Bubba. Leigh had a choice, to develop Bubba into a player, or to let him go. He didn't bother to develop Bubba into a player. He let him go. I know that might be a big statement but think about it. Bubba had talent. Why didn't Leigh and the other coach's try to fix his attitude up? If they did, he would have played and wouldn't have been traded. Leigh said Bubba wouldn't play unless he changed. The role of a coach and assistants is to get the best out of their players they can and to try and fix up players ability, tell them where they are going wrong, how to improve, what they can do to improve etc. Why didn't Leigh try and change Bubba? Reason, because he didn't like him.

I hope Bubba terrorises us next year and kicks a bag against us or kicks a winning goal against us. Then you will all be thinking "Why did we let this guy go?"

Against Collingwood in the anzac day clash, Bubba had a brilliant game. That was probably his best game for the year.

I'm sure I have back-up on what I just said.

 

[marcuz]

Origianally posted by Stocka
Which is better?

a) Being a team player in a Premiership side.
b) Being a shirt-lifting front-runner in an average side.

Brisbane didnt make the GF on the back of caracella's year thats for sure. Get a tape of round 1 and watch cupido take chris johnson to the cleaners in a side that got belted. We have seen the best of caracella. We havent even scratched the surface of what cupido can do.

And at the moment, that is probably just about it, I'd say.

Speed and ability...what else would you want...we cant all be in and under types. There needs to be someone to finish off the hard work.

I'd say that COURAGE is a bigger factor, actually. Someone like S.Hart is not arrogant, yet, he exhibits courage and a team ethos every time he goes out on the park. I'd wager that's why Hart's career will be historically better than Cupido's.

18 Shaun Harts in your side wont win you a flag. As i said b4 you need a mixture of brilliant players and hard ball winners. Ramanuaskas is very much in the cupido mould, He mashed shaun Hart when they meet at the dome. S.Hart is an honest goer nothing more. He has his limitations, cupido does not. Cupido doesnt work nearly as hard as shaun hart. But he has more talent in his left nut than hart has in his whole body. If sheeds gets this kid focused..look out!

 

[SpecialBruce]

Originally posted by Denno
I still spew Cupido left.

I reckon he'll make us look silly in few years.

I agree. I hope he does make us look silly in a few years. We should never have let him go. He has rare talent.

 

[irel]

Originally posted by SpecialBruce
I don't care if Bubba happened to be a one person player in the reserves.



I hope Bubba terrorises us next year and kicks a bag against us or kicks a winning goal against us. Then you will all be thinking "Why did we let this guy go?"

Why would you make such an immature statement?
No matter how much I think the club made a wrong decision I would never wish ill on MY CLUB
I would expect a retraction SB

 

[luthor]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Damian Cupido

Originally posted by irel

I know people will say what are you complaining about you've just won three in a row. Just because we won three in a row it does not mean we can relax and not be constructive in our assessment when the club makes decisions that I feel are to the detriment of the future of our club.

Fully agree.

If you don't agree with trades, selections or anything else the club does, that's your right.

However, I think you sometimes have to look at the bigger picture, rather than trying to disect the pros and cons.


As for your assertion that we didn't need Caracella because Cupido was "ready" to slot in for Headland, I just can't fathom how you could possibly argue that.

Cupido is and always was a low-possession half-forward, forward pocket type player who could do the brilliant as well as the totally absurd.

Headland WAS (in his time with the Lions) a half forward flanker type who regularly rotated through the midfield and REGULARLY got his 15-20 possessions and 2 or 3 goals in the process.

Caracella?

Well he's his own player ......but certainly plays the role of a "Headland" type player more than Cupido ever did or is ever likely to.