Drew Petrie

[scottywiper]

scottywiper is there any truth to the rumour that Drew accepted West Coast's contract, so that he can hand deliver you your framed guernsey?

Ha ha. I've had to take it down.

 

[Passmore]

If Drew wants to keep going then fair play to him. The part I can't understand is what WC actually see in him. He should have had a tap on the shoulder mid year.

Anyway, that's as far as my interest goes in the matter.

 

[The Nostradamus]

So question is when do we till Waite etc that next year is their final year?

I'd assume Waite already knows tho that 2017 is his last

Id expect our 3 30+year olds all out of contract to be playing their final year next year and would assume that gets communicated hopefully around middle of the year this time.

 

[Samsquanch]

So question is when do we till Waite etc that next year is their final year?

I'd assume Waite already knows tho that 2017 is his last

Id expect our 3 30+year olds all out of contract to be playing their final year next year and would assume that gets communicated hopefully around middle of the year this time.

You would think so 'eh.

Every player should be looking for a fresh career and setting themselves up by their late 20's at the latest so they don't find themselves in a situation where they have no options. Surely the club has welfare officers or others around who can assist with the transition from footballer to mere mortal.

It seems that at north, several, if not all recent retirees had never considered the possibility that their footy career would be finishing any time soon.

Good luck to Drew at the wiggles, and I hope he is rememembered better in a few years than John Mossop or Bradley Plane.

 

[gokangas]

Fox Sport last night had a grab from Drew Petrie re AFLPA - screen title said:

Drew Petrie
Eagles Forward

Sad.

 

[Route57]

Fox Sport last night had a grab from Drew Petrie re AFLPA - screen title said:

Drew Petrie
Eagles Forward

Sad.

I'll always love Petrie. I remember being a kid and working/helping in Eagle lightening with my mum and seeing him during school holidays, while he made light fittings and I helped - it will always leave fond memories in my heart...

But after the way he handled his set backs last year, IDGAF. If he is willing to put more work into another team, I'd feel more anger than sadness.

 

[Only Forwards]

If they play him forward I'm not sure he'll cut it.

If they play him in the ruck it's a big ask for his body to stand up when copping the battering it's gonna.

Don't care what he does after leaving us. Will be interesting to see who was more right the club or him.

Reckon he's cooked but that's just my opinion.

 

[shniko11]

The only thing that would make Drew move his family over for one more year is a 'wink wink nudge nudge' future coaching contract to follow from his old mate Simmo imo.

I think our surprise at West Coast giving him one more year is fair enough added with his own denial with his form at North which i also blame our coaching staff with.
And that's where i think alot of our responses in here are coming from, But as far as him taking the offer and wearing another teams jumper goes that doesn't bother me the slightest it never has.

And also some of us don't want to see a North 300 game player spend his last year in and out of the WAFL because we saw his 2016 form with our own eyes and it's only natural for us to question all these things.

But that's where my interest ends aswell....

 

[gokangas]

Has drew moved family and all to WA?

 

[shinboner magic]

I hope that Drew at least finishes his last couple of seasons with success. He gave so much to us but we need to consider that he was let go for a reason. The Roos coaching staff know exactly what his injury status is and they would have had a fair say in the Roos final decision to let him go.

Never wish that rabble of a club nothing but misery

 

[ferball]

I was disappointed in the equivocation and/or denial of Boomer, Dal and Drew for this reason. Geez, you've all had good runs and, in the case of Boomer, record-breaking runs. In the case of Drew and Dal, they went on a year too long as it was in my view and it could be argued it was their self-interest/delusion that has prevented the 'reset' from occuring earlier. Of course, the football department is culpable too, but I reckon these guys held on too long, to our detriment.

Bullshit.

Without injuries (specifically to younger players, LMac's tackle might have done it on its own) we would have won the flag. (Ok ... Probably. Prove me wrong. That's right you can't.) Excuses are worth sweet FA afterward sure, but do you you really think we would have finished 8th or worse without what happened? We beat the premiers once and only lost to them a second time because we didn't have an actual forward line. (Which wasn't Dish's fault at the time either.)

Age didn't cost us this year. Kicking at goal and basic skills under pressure and free of pressure did, and there are a series of games, including against the Swans (in hobart) and the Hawks. Same things that cost us the prelim last year. Against the Swans in Sydney our midfield weaknesses showed but we built a game where we relied on midfield pressure and two important parts of that were missing in BJ and SH. Pity Robbie Nahas and Brad Mckenzie weren't up to the job but such is life.

It was a fair gamble to make imo.

Ok it didn't work out but this time last year we were all on board. And with good reason. After last years prelim do you really think we should have packed it in and "reset"? No ****en way. (Especially with all the pressure on Scott to win a flag this year.) If we had done that reset this season just gone i for one would have been screaming "Sack Scotts and the entire friggin footy department."

The second half of the year exposed one other problem besides the skills issue - one which had to do with morale and self belief. But mental weakness has been an issue (but I wouldn't lay it at the feet of the players who have since gone, with one exception Bucks has to deal with - but if he comes good it really will point to an issue with the psychology of the club.)

When you consider how negatively we were portrayed all year, especially after a few losses, is it any wonder people started believing the media bullshit that we were no good? That sort of thing does happen. Its even infecting people on this site. There was nothing positive about the club after the Hawthorn game and very little leading up to it. You can't isolate players from this stuff in an environment like Melbourne, its too insular and self referential in footy season.

 

[ferball]

Not at all...he should have been dropped to find form and if he didn't shouldn't have been picked.
It will be interesting to see selection policy next year with these young guys vying for spots.

Yes he should have. But I guess with no Waite and then at times injuries to Wood and Brown it would have a difficult decision to drop him and leave our forward line even more depleted.

Let him do what he wants to. The club didn't offer him a contract - the club let him go. Begrudging him a chance to continue the only career he has ever known when the club didn't want him is a bit petty imo. personally I think he needs to let it go but its his decision. I'm more pissed off at Wells but even that decision is understandable and fair enough if you look at it unbiasedly.

How much effort does the club or any club or the AFL itself put into preparing players to leave footy and get a real job/life? It seems like not much. There are so many new players coming on, wanting a career and the next season to come. Once upon a time the VFL was important but players had lives, real jobs and the rest. A sense of perspective perhaps. these days the end of a playing career isn't just the end of playing, its the end of how you earn a living.

Plus

It was hard enough to stop playing footy in my mid 40s in some shit bush league when i could barely walk. If you really like the playing game stopping is incredibly difficult.

 

[Kimbo]

Bullshit.

Without injuries (specifically to younger players, LMac's tackle might have done it on its own) we would have won the flag. (Ok ... Probably. Prove me wrong. That's right you can't.) Excuses are worth sweet FA afterward sure, but do you you really think we would have finished 8th or worse without what happened? We beat the premiers once and only lost to them a second time because we didn't have an actual forward line. (Which wasn't Dish's fault at the time either.)

Age didn't cost us this year. Kicking at goal and basic skills under pressure and free of pressure did, and there are a series of games, including against the Swans (in hobart) and the Hawks. Same things that cost us the prelim last year. Against the Swans in Sydney our midfield weaknesses showed but we built a game where we relied on midfield pressure and two important parts of that were missing in BJ and SH. Pity Robbie Nahas and Brad Mckenzie weren't up to the job but such is life.

It was a fair gamble to make imo.

Ok it didn't work out but this time last year we were all on board. And with good reason. After last years prelim do you really think we should have packed it in and "reset"? No ****en way. (Especially with all the pressure on Scott to win a flag this year.) If we had done that reset this season just gone i for one would have been screaming "Sack Scotts and the entire friggin footy department."

The second half of the year exposed one other problem besides the skills issue - one which had to do with morale and self belief. But mental weakness has been an issue (but I wouldn't lay it at the feet of the players who have since gone, with one exception Bucks has to deal with - but if he comes good it really will point to an issue with the psychology of the club.)

When you consider how negatively we were portrayed all year, especially after a few losses, is it any wonder people started believing the media bullshit that we were no good? That sort of thing does happen. Its even infecting people on this site. There was nothing positive about the club after the Hawthorn game and very little leading up to it. You can't isolate players from this stuff in an environment like Melbourne, its too insular and self referential in footy season.

So, I take it you disagree with my post?

Okay, so I think it's fair enough to say that the club took a gamble and it didn't pay off. It's a stretch to say we'd have won the premiership if it wasn't for injuries. Yes, previous consecutive preliminary finals may have given some (false) hope and provided some grounding for keeping them on etc. but if the club narrative ("We all start from zero.") is right, then the unbiased view is to scrutinise the hell out of the list and to be ruthless at selection, regardless of the W/L ratio.

Yes, injuries were clearly a big issue, but Drew and Dal were under-performing all year, with Drew getting up for the Pies and second Saints games. Previously he would find form after a slow start, but that was pretty much all she wrote in 2016. Dal was embarrassing without the ball and less effective with it. I reckon it was a bit of an echo chamber with Brad and the senior players who, even after the 'delisting', suggested they were all right to go. Even Boomer's footy was showing cracks. The point I'll concede is that perhaps we didn't have the cattle to replace them at certain times.

While I wasn't on the "North are useless, wait till they play some decent sides." bandwagon at 9-0, neither was I overly happy with the form we'd shown to that point. I wasn't alone in that view either.

 

[Gasometer]

So, I take it you disagree with my post?

Okay, so I think it's fair enough to say that the club took a gamble and it didn't pay off. It's a stretch to say we'd have won the premiership is it wasn't for injuries. Yes, previous consecutive preliminary finals may have given some (false) hope and provided some grounding for keeping them on etc. but if the club narrative ("We all start from zero.") is right, then the unbiased view is to scrutinise the hell out of the list and to be ruthless at selection, regardless of the W/L ratio.

Yes, injuries were clearly a big issue, but Drew and Dal were under-performing all year, with Drew getting up for the Pies and second Saints games. Previously he would find form after a slow start, but that was pretty much all she wrote in 2016. Dal was embarrassing without the ball and less effective with it. I reckon it was a bit of an echo chamber with Brad and the senior players who, even after the 'delisting', suggested they were all right to go. Even Boomer's footy was showing cracks. The point I'll concede is that perhaps we didn't have the cattle to replace them at certain times.

While I wasn't on the "North are useless, wait till they play some decent sides." bandwagon at 9-0, neither was I overly happy with the form we'd shown to that point. I wasn't alone in that view either.

What Kimbo said.

And I am not being petty.

I just hope he doesn't embarass himself with delusions of where he thinks he is at because he is a top bloke.

 

[Roogal]

While I wasn't on the "North are useless, wait till they play some decent sides." bandwagon at 9-0, neither was I overly happy with the form we'd shown to that point. I wasn't alone in that view either.

100% concur with these sentiments.

 

[Saintly35]

If they play him forward I'm not sure he'll cut it.

If they play him in the ruck it's a big ask for his body to stand up when copping the battering it's gonna.

Don't care what he does after leaving us. Will be interesting to see who was more right the club or him.

Reckon he's cooked but that's just my opinion.

I'm very positive we were right regardless of what he does for West Coke.

 

[ferball]

So, I take it you disagree with my post?

Okay, so I think it's fair enough to say that the club took a gamble and it didn't pay off. It's a stretch to say we'd have won the premiership if it wasn't for injuries. Yes, previous consecutive preliminary finals may have given some (false) hope and provided some grounding for keeping them on etc. but if the club narrative ("We all start from zero.") is right, then the unbiased view is to scrutinise the hell out of the list and to be ruthless at selection, regardless of the W/L ratio.

Yes, injuries were clearly a big issue, but Drew and Dal were under-performing all year, with Drew getting up for the Pies and second Saints games. Previously he would find form after a slow start, but that was pretty much all she wrote in 2016. Dal was embarrassing without the ball and less effective with it. I reckon it was a bit of an echo chamber with Brad and the senior players who, even after the 'delisting', suggested they were all right to go. Even Boomer's footy was showing cracks. The point I'll concede is that perhaps we didn't have the cattle to replace them at certain times.

While I wasn't on the "North are useless, wait till they play some decent sides." bandwagon at 9-0, neither was I overly happy with the form we'd shown to that point. I wasn't alone in that view either.

I still lub ya tho.

At nine nil we were winning with shit form (and had beaten the eventual premiers.) It was only reasonable to expect after the previous 2 years that we'd get better as the season went on. What happened was a bit Black Swanish. Even allowing for not being as good as 9/0 would suggest. I think our season got a lot worse than it should have and I think it was due to mental issues not form ones. That (and the skills thing) raises really serious questions to me.

Not having the cattle was an issue, and I'm sure the club knew it all along, otherwise why would they have got in fay rarren? He played better than he got credit for but if ever there was the definition of a player to paper over cracks he was it. It was still worth a shot at a flag tho. If we didn't have injuries to Wood, Waite, McDonald, Jacobs, Wright, Higgins, Turner and Garner (as well as Brown for a little while and constant question marks over Wells) I don't think either Dish or Dal would have got a game in the second half of the year, and especially the last third of the season. But our crack at a premiership would have looked a lot more credible.

 

[ferball]

Is that filter still on?

 

[dus]

We should of won the flag in 2015. That was our time. Shafted by the Eagles ironically.

That Darling off the ball free still haunts me. Don't even think about the Jacobs non free, it's bad for my health.

We would of flogged the Hawks the next week.

 

[ferball]

Well then it would have been two in a row...

(Yeah I agree about 2015, with hindsight.)

 

[Saintly35]

Not having the cattle was an issue, and I'm sure the club knew it all along, otherwise why would they have got in fay rarren? He played better than he got credit for but if ever there was the definition of a player to paper over cracks he was it. It was still worth a shot at a flag tho. If we didn't have injuries to Wood, Waite, McDonald, Jacobs, Wright, Higgins, Turner and Garner (as well as Brown for a little while and constant question marks over Wells) I don't think either Dish or Dal would have got a game in the second half of the year, and especially the last third of the season.

Scott has admitted himself that for as long as they were on the list he would continue to pick them.

Always has backed his favourites in, which at times has been beneficial which our 2 prelims suggest, and it's also been detrimental with holding on to them too long.

Petrie and Dal would not have been dropped regardless of our list's health IMO. That is why I am excited not just for a fresh start as a club, but Scott hopefully stepping up as a better coach also.

 

[Only Forwards]

I'm very positive we were right regardless of what he does for West Coke.

Right for North Melbourne.

In terms of Drew Petrie though the jury is out on that.

Which is what I was talking about.

Clearly we believed he was done, he does not.

 

[shintemaster]

Petrie and Dal would not have been dropped regardless of our list's health IMO. That is why I am excited not just for a fresh start as a club, but Scott hopefully stepping up as a better coach also.

Agree with this. There were strong cases last season for doing so yet even "resting" them more to rotate them through wasn't considered realistic so no way in hell they were getting dropped.