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Dylan Roberton

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I'm happy he got picked up by someone willing to take a chance, and hopefully he'll have good luck with the Saints. I didn't mind Roberton, and hoped he would become a solid player for us in the future, but oh well now.
 
caterina said:
Strictly speaking, if clubs want to play hard ball, they still can force a player to the draft if the player refuses to sign. But yeah, there's usually no reason for a club to do so. FA was meant to shift the balance of power more in favour of the players and I guess it's doing that.
I reckon we'll see Clarke doing exactly the same thing in 12 months.
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And if that happens he wont be going to a club as easy as Roberton has.
 
Aye, I'm not too fussed. The main issue here is how convoluted the AFL's system is. There's a free-agency period, the national draft, the PSD, and the rookie draft, and then this space where clubs can pick up delisted players. There are so many grey areas and loopholes. We've been dealt a harsh hand because of it: I don't blame McPhee an awful lot for basically making us lose Lower, it's just an unfair system.

If a guy who was a top three in the Doig can leave for pick 30, what were we going to get for Roberton? His reasons for leaving were legit. It wasn't some thinly veiled "um, can I go to, uh... yeah... I'm homesick." He is 21, his girlfriend would be no older, he has a kid, and he's away from his parents. This kind of situation only arises once every five or six years, at the least.

He was never going to be a consistent player, not at least for this season. I thought he was a decent footballer, and I wouldn't be surprised if he played 100 games for St Kilda. We have enough A-graders, plenty of B-graders, and a sleuth of players in the tier below. All of the guys we have would fit into 13/18 of other club's lists. Robbo wasn't essential.

He's very lucky in a footballing and lifestyle sense. Not many players get to slot nicely into a team and live in their hometown – especially not a fairly unproven, 37-gamer.
 
caterina said:
Strictly speaking, if clubs want to play hard ball, they still can force a player to the draft if the player refuses to sign. But yeah, there's usually no reason for a club to do so. FA was meant to shift the balance of power more in favour of the players and I guess it's doing that.
I reckon we'll see Clarke doing exactly the same thing in 12 months.
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Off topic, but I think Clarke will have some reasonable trade value, much more so than Roberton. Unless Clarke plays silly-buggers, IF he wants out I think we would get a trade out of him.

On topic: SA's got it about right ^^, except I feel he's more than a 'non-essential' player ... I mean he's not vital, but he would be very handy for us, doubly so with Skeletor out of the picture.
 

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If Scott Watters has half a brain, Roberton will be playing in Gilberts spot by the end of 2013. Good luck to him :thumbsu:
 
Freo_4eva said:
If Scott Watters has half a brain, Roberton will be playing in Gilberts spot by the end of 2013. Good luck to him :thumbsu:
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pro's and con's. gilbert is very good overhead and very quick for his size. his tackling is also an asset. his big weakness is his kicking. its shizen.

i'd be happier with taking robertons kick and giving it to gilbert.
 
Seriously, I can't believe all the good will to Roberton from people here, after he walked out on the club cos his girlfriend is pregnant and wants to be near her folks. What a friggen woos he is. She's pregnant FFS, not terminally ill. He walked out on the club, and onto St Kilda's list for a nett result of nothing to us. I hope St Kilda finish 9th for the next two years and he is delisted for being just not quite up to it at the end of his first and only contract with them. Stuff him...

Having said that, however, I wouldn't be surprised if the pregnancy thing is only a rumour. He was 18 when he came over here - did his chicky babe move over with him as a 17/18 year old, or is this supposed pregnant girlfriend actually a WA girl?? I reckon someone threw up the pregnancy thing and everyone has run with it.

If his 'family reasons' are actually something way more serious than a knocked up girlfriend, then I take it all back (the 'he's a woos, stuff him' line from paragraph one).
 
ImperialPurple said:
Seriously, I can't believe all the good will to Roberton from people here, after he walked out on the club cos his girlfriend is pregnant and wants to be near her folks. What a friggen woos he is. She's pregnant FFS, not terminally ill. He walked out on the club, and onto St Kilda's list for a nett result of nothing to us. I hope St Kilda finish 9th for the next two years and he is delisted for being just not quite up to it at the end of his first and only contract with them. Stuff him...

Having said that, however, I wouldn't be surprised if the pregnancy thing is only a rumour. He was 18 when he came over here - did his chicky babe move over with him as a 17/18 year old, or is this supposed pregnant girlfriend actually a WA girl?? I reckon someone threw up the pregnancy thing and everyone has run with it.

If his 'family reasons' are actually something way more serious than a knocked up girlfriend, then I take it all back (the 'he's a woos, stuff him' line from paragraph one).
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ross lyon/zac dawson/hell even our ****ing runner say hi

doesnt feel good does it?
 
ImperialPurple said:
Seriously, I can't believe all the good will to Roberton from people here, after he walked out on the club cos his girlfriend is pregnant and wants to be near her folks. What a friggen woos he is. She's pregnant FFS, not terminally ill. He walked out on the club, and onto St Kilda's list for a nett result of nothing to us. I hope St Kilda finish 9th for the next two years and he is delisted for being just not quite up to it at the end of his first and only contract with them. Stuff him...

Having said that, however, I wouldn't be surprised if the pregnancy thing is only a rumour. He was 18 when he came over here - did his chicky babe move over with him as a 17/18 year old, or is this supposed pregnant girlfriend actually a WA girl?? I reckon someone threw up the pregnancy thing and everyone has run with it.

If his 'family reasons' are actually something way more serious than a knocked up girlfriend, then I take it all back (the 'he's a woos, stuff him' line from paragraph one).
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So you think he should value a footy club over his child? :confused:
 
ImperialPurple said:
Seriously, I can't believe all the good will to Roberton from people here, after he walked out on the club cos his girlfriend is pregnant and wants to be near her folks. What a friggen woos he is. She's pregnant FFS, not terminally ill. He walked out on the club, and onto St Kilda's list for a nett result of nothing to us. I hope St Kilda finish 9th for the next two years and he is delisted for being just not quite up to it at the end of his first and only contract with them. Stuff him...

Having said that, however, I wouldn't be surprised if the pregnancy thing is only a rumour. He was 18 when he came over here - did his chicky babe move over with him as a 17/18 year old, or is this supposed pregnant girlfriend actually a WA girl?? I reckon someone threw up the pregnancy thing and everyone has run with it.

If his 'family reasons' are actually something way more serious than a knocked up girlfriend, then I take it all back (the 'he's a woos, stuff him' line from paragraph one).
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What's woosy about quitting your job to go and live in a city where you grew up?
 
ImperialPurple said:
Seriously, I can't believe all the good will to Roberton from people here, after he walked out on the club cos his girlfriend is pregnant and wants to be near her folks. What a friggen woos he is. She's pregnant FFS, not terminally ill. He walked out on the club, and onto St Kilda's list for a nett result of nothing to us. I hope St Kilda finish 9th for the next two years and he is delisted for being just not quite up to it at the end of his first and only contract with them. Stuff him...

Having said that, however, I wouldn't be surprised if the pregnancy thing is only a rumour. He was 18 when he came over here - did his chicky babe move over with him as a 17/18 year old, or is this supposed pregnant girlfriend actually a WA girl?? I reckon someone threw up the pregnancy thing and everyone has run with it.

If his 'family reasons' are actually something way more serious than a knocked up girlfriend, then I take it all back (the 'he's a woos, stuff him' line from paragraph one).
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Good luck to him, it sucks from the clubs perspective, but there are more important things than footy.

The only thing that bugs me is I really rated him, I think he will be one of the better third talls in the comp in a couple of years, maybe as good as Mackie.
Although I know a lot of the "Brownlow medal by your second year or gtfo" brigade didn't think much of him..

Ah well at least it will be nice to see Pitt make 90% of the Freo supporters on here eat their words.
 

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Jezzitizle said:
Good luck to him, it sucks from the clubs perspective, but there are more important things than footy.

The only thing that bugs me is I really rated him, I think he will be one of the better third talls in the comp in a couple of years, maybe as good as Mackie.
Although I know a lot of the "Brownlow medal by your second year or gtfo" brigade didn't think much of him..

Ah well at least it will be nice to see Pitt make 90% of the Freo supporters on here eat their words.
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I think Roberton will turn into a serviceable player but I think you've overrating him quite a bit. Doesn't have anywhere near the pace/line-breaking ability and footskills of Mackie, his much vaunted aerobic capacity was also as evident as Pitt's much vaunted footskills (ie: non-evident) so despite what many here think he will never make it as a mid.

What works against him most though is his size, another tweener Marcus Drum type which is a real shame as with another couple cm's I think he'd make a very good KPP.

I think best case scenario is probably a NIck Maxwell type which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
 
He's 20/21 and I assume his girlfriend is around 20/21 as well. That is incredibly young to be expecting a child (which I'm guessing was unplanned) and I completely understand wanting to be close to family to help support the child. I would do exactly the same thing and I'm the same age. Lucky for me my parents live in the same city as me.
 
pavsbootlace said:
Really? Quitting a job to take a better one is woosy?
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Fremantle is much closer to a premiership than the Saints who will likely be in the wilderness of the bottom 8 for the next few years, it's very possibile though that Dylan isn't interested in team success at this stage rather more interested in the financial security so I spose from that POV it's a better job yes.
 
He said he wanted to go east, afaik he would have been happy to accept whatever club Freo could have done a deal with. Freo couldn't do a deal (going to happen a lot with the new rules) can't blame Roberton for that.

Good luck to him, not sure Freo will miss him all that much.
 

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Tayl0r said:
He didn't choose to come to Fremantle to begin with, how many years of service are required before he is allowed to play at home?
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Whatever the duration of his contract is. There'll always be a double standard with this situation though, the great players that leave after their contract is up are 'disloyal money grubbing flogs', whereas the honest battlers or lesser rated are generally given the free pass.

Roberton was one of those kids I was always quietly confident about that his natural progression would see him become a reliable best 22 player in a few years time. An MJ type who quietly goes about his role. Sad to see him go but I can understand his predicament if he's gonna leave a young girlfriend to fend for herself every day and every 2nd weekend - it's nice to have the family close, and even if this isn't an accurate reflection of the situation It doesn't make me bitter about the way he left. He didn't deceive us or burn his bridges. He informed the club of his decision at the end of his contract and they did their best to accommodate him, que sera sera.
 
Good luck to Robbo - think he will become a very solid player for them. He is a very reliable player already and that will only improve with more games.

Re his move I think the thing that it is clear is the FA and ability to pick up delisted players outside of the PSD has resulted in us getting nothing for him. Previous years a trade would have been done even if it was just a slight pick upgrade or a paper trade of picks that would never be used. Now if a fringe player is out of contract and wants to go home why would another club really want to trade for them at all? Only have to wait until the original club is forced to delist them at list lodgement and them grab them as a delisted FA. Mostly only much more high profile players with definate offers from multiple clubs will be traded.
 
ImperialPurple said:
Seriously, I can't believe all the good will to Roberton from people here, after he walked out on the club cos his girlfriend is pregnant and wants to be near her folks. What a friggen woos he is. She's pregnant FFS, not terminally ill. He walked out on the club, and onto St Kilda's list for a nett result of nothing to us. I hope St Kilda finish 9th for the next two years and he is delisted for being just not quite up to it at the end of his first and only contract with them. Stuff him...

Having said that, however, I wouldn't be surprised if the pregnancy thing is only a rumour. He was 18 when he came over here - did his chicky babe move over with him as a 17/18 year old, or is this supposed pregnant girlfriend actually a WA girl?? I reckon someone threw up the pregnancy thing and everyone has run with it.
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Who really cares, though? St Kilda were probably in his ear, let's not be naive, and why should he try and do the righty? We would've gotten a pretty average offer from him as a trade. I reckon we've been fairly lucky in terms of homesickness.

He and his girlfriend have known each other since they were in primary school (I have a mate from Seaford who was telling me). So she did move over here with him, but I don't know when.

And the pregnancy thing wasn't a rumour. I follow Robbo on instagram and he uploaded a photo of himself with a kid in a hospital room. He has a little 'un.
 
riteo said:
I think Roberton will turn into a serviceable player but I think you've overrating him quite a bit. Doesn't have anywhere near the pace/line-breaking ability and footskills of Mackie, his much vaunted aerobic capacity was also as evident as Pitt's much vaunted footskills (ie: non-evident) so despite what many here think he will never make it as a mid.

What works against him most though is his size, another tweener Marcus Drum type which is a real shame as with another couple cm's I think he'd make a very good KPP.

I think best case scenario is probably a NIck Maxwell type which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
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Just to clarify I said maybe as good as Mackie, not that I think he surely will be. Isn't Maxwell all australian? Although I guess the Pies have a mandatory number of spots allocated each year.. anyway I think that Roberton will be a very good free hitter for the saints. Made some big steps in toughness and positioning last year.
 

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