Kyle Coney not coming back

[RW]

We went with a small Rookie List for a reason that had NOTHING to do with Coney coming to the club. Can't blame him for that.

I'm not...that's why I said it wasn't his fault

Thanks to rebelcounty for bringing an Irish perspective, I guess when he went home he discovered he really loved Gaelic footy.

 

[BarneyBent]

But RebelCounty, the point is that he has breached his contract. He went back on his written word, a seriously dog act. Yes, it was a massive decision. But it was a decision he has had since JULY to make. The five week training session wasn't the first time he'd been to Australia, and the return home wasn't the first time he'd been to Ireland since.

Sometimes, even if you think you may have made a mistake, you have to stick with your choice. What he has done is simply selfish and self-serving. What he should have done is come back to Australia, play out the season (and take advantage of the fantastic training facilities and brutal fitness regimes of AFL football), and if by the end of it, he still wanted to go back to Ireland, inform the club that he wished for his contract to be terminated. The Swans could then do that, and use the money they would have spent on his second year to invest in another rookie for 2010.

That way, everybody is at least sort of happy. Coney might not get back to Ireland straight away, but the experience of playing with a professional sports club would benefit his Gaelic football to no end. He'd be fitter, stronger, have greater knowledge about game preparation, nutrition, etc, and quite possibly be more motivated to bring innovations to Gaelic football training, thus breeding leadership. The Swans still have an active player on their list, and would have a chance of convincing the young man to stay and convert to AFL, and if they fail, they can then prepare their rookie list in advance the next year.

Instead, Coney has just given a big "**** you" to the Swans. Once again, I'm not complaining that he changed his mind, I'm complaining that he did it after he had signed a contract and the Swans had committed to him.

 

[RW]

But RebelCounty, the point is that he has breached his contract. He went back on his written word, a seriously dog act. Yes, it was a massive decision. But it was a decision he has had since JULY to make. The five week training session wasn't the first time he'd been to Australia, and the return home wasn't the first time he'd been to Ireland since.

I see what you are saying, but I just think that there is so much more to this story than Coney changing his mind after he'd signed the contract.

I know it's hard to understand the pressure on these kids to stay in Ireland without having lived there myself, but there are many influential figures that are very much opposed to Irish players coming here to play aussie rules AT ALL, like Tyrone manager Mickey Harte, who's been quoted as saying he wanted the GAA to cut ties with the AFL completely - see here.

Carlton even tried to entice Seán Cavanagh from Tyrone earlier this year and he declined, basically saying there's no point in going to play a game you don't enjoy just for the sake of it, even with all the benefits that come with playing professionally. I think this article gives a much clearer picture of what the AFL clubs are up against and how they are perceived in Ireland.

"The first contract was fired on table after a club championship game a few years back and I was going to have a look at it," he told the Sunday Independent.

"But I ended up giving it to Dad, he ripped it up and threw it in fire so I actually never saw that contract."

 

[eastlakes rule]

Im in accordance with you mate, this is bollox, im thinking we send him the bill and see how he likes that. Flights, food, accommodation, training, and everything else included.
I dont want any of my membership being spent on a peenut like him!

all your membership does is go on piss to the players mad monday and functions haha

 

[BarneyBent]

I see what you are saying, but I just think that there is so much more to this story than Coney changing his mind after he'd signed the contract.

I know it's hard to understand the pressure on these kids to stay in Ireland without having lived there myself, but there are many influential figures that are very much opposed to Irish players coming here to play aussie rules AT ALL, like Tyrone manager Mickey Harte, who's been quoted as saying he wanted the GAA to cut ties with the AFL completely - see here.

Carlton even tried to entice Seán Cavanagh from Tyrone earlier this year and he declined, basically saying there's no point in going to play a game you don't enjoy just for the sake of it, even with all the benefits that come with playing professionally. I think this article gives a much clearer picture of what the AFL clubs are up against and how they are perceived in Ireland.

That's all absolutely fine, but then Coney shouldn't have signed the contract. Once he'd signed the contract, it should have been set in stone. Even if he decided that he would have preferred to be in Ireland, he should have sucked it up and fulfilled his commitment, and re-assessed at the end of the year. That's all I'm saying.

 

[eastlakes rule]

That's all absolutely fine, but then Coney shouldn't have signed the contract. Once he'd signed the contract, it should have been set in stone. Even if he decided that he would have preferred to be in Ireland, he should have sucked it up and fulfilled his commitment, and re-assessed at the end of the year. That's all I'm saying.

haha thats so easy for you to say, you wouldnt know the first thing about life in an AFL club or moving 20,000kms+ from home and the sacrifices attached.

in the scheme of things its very minor and stuart maxfield and kin beatson were taking a risk and the risk didnt pay off. in selecting an irish player to begin with is a risk in itself rather then selecting a local or more credentialed player but that is another story in itself.

 

[RW]

in the scheme of things its very minor and stuart maxfield and kin beatson were taking a risk and the risk didnt pay off.

Yup. After all it is only a rookie contract, though I do understand why people are a little disappointed with his decision.

A bit's been said about who else could have taken Coney's spot if he'd come to his decision earlier but the club obviously didn't rate any of the other rookies as highly, and neither he nor any of the others on our rookie list are guaranteed to even make it on to our senior list! That's just the nature of the beast.

I've noticed these sorts of things always seem to attract more attention than they probably deserve when they happen in the off-season because there's no other footy news to talk about. It's interesting because it gives us a better idea of the risks involved in recruiting young players from Ireland, particularly hearing the Irish perspectives in this thread, but trust me, there are a lot more important things in life to worry about

 

[BarneyBent]

haha thats so easy for you to say, you wouldnt know the first thing about life in an AFL club or moving 20,000kms+ from home and the sacrifices attached.

in the scheme of things its very minor and stuart maxfield and kin beatson were taking a risk and the risk didnt pay off. in selecting an irish player to begin with is a risk in itself rather then selecting a local or more credentialed player but that is another story in itself.

It's not a matter of knowing about that. It's about the fact that he had since July to make his decision. He made it, and then he flip-flopped. If he wasn't sure, he shouldn't have signed a bloody contract. These things come with commitment, and he was fully aware of that, but he changed his bloody mind. If I was given an opportunity to play a sport I wasn't 100% sure about in a foreign country, completely separated from friends and relatives, I'd think long and hard about it. A couple of DVDs and a trip back home wouldn't be enough to change my mind if I decided to do it. If he was uncertain enough that something as little as a trip back home and reliving some sporting achievements were enough to sway him, he shouldn't have bloody signed in the first place.

It's not going to affect us that much, but it's the principle of the thing that gets me. It was a pretty pathetic act. Not to mention the way he handled it (just not turning up to the airport, rather than talking about it long and hard with the Swans staff, and coming back to Sydney to tell them in person, etc). It just shows a real lack of respect. Maybe you can get away with it in an amateur sport's underage league, but he was signed as a professional, and should act as such.

 

[bedford]

Kennelly reckons Coney could come back as it is always hard when you go home at Xmas and family are trying to keep you at home, he has been through it.
He also says Murphy is flying, having put on 12 to 13 k's but says he still has his speed.

 

[vonn]

Yer i read that article too.

But how would kennelly know all this?

 

[bedford]

Because he would being Irish

 

[vonn]

Cant argue with that logic.