Michael Gardiner

[BlueFeaver]

My initial thoughts were no way!, but after thinking about it, the move does have sunbstance. Gardiner is a fantastic ruckman and would probably buy us a couple years to develope another. His troubles are in Perth, Melbourne is a long way away and I would hope for his career he would leave them behind. Of course we would have to place stipulations on his activities (drinking) but I think he would relish the opportunity and would toe the line.
Some of the WC supporters may be able to tell me what type of bloke he is, is he a good bloke that just needs a change and can't handle living in the "fish bowl".
His onfield aggression I have always loved and on this with his natural abilities he is worth a punt, for the right price! PSD or 50-70 ND.

 

[SurreyBlue]

Does Cousins come with him?

 

[jj1978]

Don't care how good this guy is!

Look at what he's done.

The team he plays for No.1 ruck man is still out injured for another month.

This team has a real chance to seal a top 2 spot almost guaranteeing them an easier opportunity to make the GF and now they have no creditable good ruck man, making a top 2 finish a lot harder.

The whole team must loathe what he has done, he's just made their last 15 weeks, pre-season etc etc worth of efforts made that much harder.

If a guy is that stupid to do that to himself and his team-mates, I do not want him around our boys as he's a major liability and moving state will not change that.

If we get him, then our PR, Team Management, Coaches have to babysit this imbecile and pay good money to ensure he keeps on the straight and narrow.

What if he f's up? Then the club will have to pay money to ensure he gets proper psych/medical treatment.

He's too much of potential risk on all facets of our club.

If he f's up again our club does not need more scandals or media scrutiny for the next few years.

 

[Blah Blah Blue]

1.
very interesting post, well done.
2.
initial thoughts are a big NO WAY however....
3.
the Pikey comparison was exactly what I was thinking.
4.
would need to come 'cheaply' a later round draft pick or, better, a swap for some of our underachievers [little chance]
5.
end of the day - do not think he will be at CFC but gee if he could knuckle down ???????????????????

1.
After reading the papers today think there is little chance of him 'turning the corner' with his personal life in the short to medium term.
2.
He is als older than I thought as he was.
3.
No way should we consider him.

 

[Stig O'Hara]

Just goes to show how much times have changed.
Used to be kept in-house.

20 years ago Sellars and the Slav sat in the whales pub and got so hammered, they missed training, they ended up with a plaque in the public bar.

We had a former captain who bingled on Greythorn road, after a late night celebration, and his blood test was 'lost'.

A former premiership b&f involved in a fatal head on at the front of the markets, with alcohol in his system.

Another premiership player interfering with himself,
in a public place,
A JP dealt with that at 12.01am in Prahran.

All these were dealt with inhouse,
and with no media.
And they are our legends.

Just making the point that it has gone on for years,
but we live in a different world where iconising sportsmen,
somehow involves bombastic moralising.

 

[HBF]

He's in strife again at West Coast (you would have to think that he's blown his last chance), would we entertain getting him to Carlton.

Pros - Quality ruckman (when fit), something we deperatly need, would come cheap.
Cons - Would cost us a draft pick in the "superdraft", might be bad influence on the young players, might never get back to his best.

Thoughts????

No way. Wouldn't go anywhere near him. Carlton do not any disruptive influences at the club now or in the future.

 

[Hu$$ey]

Hey gorgeous!!!
Never thought I would hear you say that you want an eagles player especially Michael!

BUT in saying that, IF Michael was lucky enough to have another opportunity to revive his AFL career, I think he would turn things around (or I hope he would). He has lost everything now and has totally hit rock bottom and sometimes you need to do that before you can start the steep climb back up.

I think he would fit in well with the blues and would provide some form of experience, stability (yeh sounds funny aye) & structure to your midfield.

Sorry after some thinking over it I've changed my mind - he's completely HOPELESS.

Wouldn't go near him now.

 

[irish_setanta]

Plenty of footy to talk about guys......Why don't you discuss the wooden spoon...LOL

Ive got a better idea, how about we talk about last years grand final? Or how fast your x captain can run from a booze bus? Or which gangland figure is wining and dining west coast players? So which one mikben dover.

 

[Fletchers Girl]

Sorry after some thinking over it I've changed my mind - he's completely HOPELESS.

Wouldn't go near him now.

Don't try to cover it up! lol
Your secret is out, I know you really love the Eagles deep down

 

[Stanton]

The bottom line is that we need a ruckman, Gardiner is a quality ruckman if not a quality person.

I agree with the sentiments of the earlier post that 20 years ago this would hardly have been a scandal. Darren Millane was drunk behind the wheel and was killed and was made a bit of a martyr. If Gardiner had of been killed everyone would have been feeling sorry for his family and for the waste of a career.

He made a silly decision to drive home ****ed (who hasn't?) obviously there are some previous indescretions as well, but imo we are only human and people deserve second chances. A change of environment may be just what he needs and we are in dire need of a half decent ruckman.

 

[pumped]

The bottom line is that we need a ruckman, Gardiner is a quality ruckman if not a quality person.

I agree with the sentiments of the earlier post that 20 years ago this would hardly have been a scandal. Darren Millane was drunk behind the wheel and was killed and was made a bit of a martyr. If Gardiner had of been killed everyone would have been feeling sorry for his family and for the waste of a career.

He made a silly decision to drive home ****ed (who hasn't?) obviously there are some previous indescretions as well, but imo we are only human and people deserve second chances. A change of environment may be just what he needs and we are in dire need of a half decent ruckman.

Gardiner is potentially still a top player. However his self control is similar to Norman and Angwin. There would be a chance that he could be reached but Carlton at the moment are one of the poorer clubs with regards to environment and culture. We have many on our present list whom our club is not getting the best from. It would be highly unlikely that Gardiner would reform in the present Carlton environment.

If I thought we could get the best out of him then I wouldn't care what he had done. I just don't think we have the expertise or more to the point the stability to reach him. Perhaps Craig and Adelaide could.

 

[Stanton]

Gardiner is potentially still a top player. However his self control is similar to Norman and Angwin. There would be a chance that he could be reached but Carlton at the moment are one of the poorer clubs with regards to environment and culture. We have many on our present list whom our club is not getting the best from. It would be highly unlikely that Gardiner would reform in the present Carlton environment.

If I thought we could get the best out of him then I wouldn't care what he had done. I just don't think we have the expertise or more to the point the stability to reach him. Perhaps Craig and Adelaide could.

Norman and Angwin never proved themselves at AFL level, IMO Angwin has a personality disorder, before we would consider taking Gardiner he would have to prove that he still wanted to play AFL footy and could reform. A bit like a job interview in which he would go through psyche tests as well. If he could show he was 100% committed then maybe we would look at trading a late round draft pick or no 2 preseason draft/

 

[Jeremias]

NO!

We do not want him at all-He may offer us something on the field, but recruiting him would set back our development as a club-the man is a head case, something we definitely do not want at the clun.

So no, no way in hell would I even enquire about Gardiner, and I hope that this is the exact same view as the club.

 

[pumped]

Norman and Angwin never proved themselves at AFL level, IMO Angwin has a personality disorder, before we would consider taking Gardiner he would have to prove that he still wanted to play AFL footy and could reform. A bit like a job interview in which he would go through psyche tests as well. If he could show he was 100% committed then maybe we would look at trading a late round draft pick or no 2 preseason draft/

From reports he is suffering from depression something that I believe Angwin and Norman could also have experienced. Carlton is not good at handling these sort of issues so to my mind Gardiner is a no go zone for Carlton.

 

[mediumsizered]

The bottom line is that we need a ruckman, Gardiner is a quality ruckman if not a quality person.

I agree with the sentiments of the earlier post that 20 years ago this would hardly have been a scandal. Darren Millane was drunk behind the wheel and was killed and was made a bit of a martyr. If Gardiner had of been killed everyone would have been feeling sorry for his family and for the waste of a career.

He made a silly decision to drive home ****ed (who hasn't?) obviously there are some previous indescretions as well, but imo we are only human and people deserve second chances. A change of environment may be just what he needs and we are in dire need of a half decent ruckman.

Gardner was a quality ruckman, but has struggled through injury and poor discipline for the last 2-3 years. He has nothing to offer the Carlton Football Club and I would think that sponsors and corporates would think twice about investing in the club if they saw a known problem child being recruited. Our club has a bit of negative recent history to overcome in the eyes of many and recruiting the wrong type of player will not assist the healing process.

 

[mushda]

No way! We don't need to take any more risks on guys like him.

 

[Effes]

Gardiner is not a good ruckman now, and it is highly doubtful that he ever will be again

He has the mobility of the queen mary.

 

[bluevegas]

Sorry after some thinking over it I've changed my mind - he's completely HOPELESS.

Wouldn't go near him now.

Hopeless are you for real he's an AA.

Sorry my mistake I read something about AA but it turned out to be about Alcoholics something or other!

 

[Dramoth]

Gardner is a WA born and breed boy.

That is his biggest problem I think. He is surrounded here by all his high school mates who appear to be a bunch of losers. They are the ones who are influencing his behaviour off the field.

I think that taking him out of Perth and making him leave his loser friends behind would be the best thing in the world for him.

He has 5-8 years left under the hood and if you can get him to knuckle down and concentrate on his football, then he would be a damned fine asset for a club.

Whether he would be an asset to the Blues is another question.

He is a damned fine footballer. He can read the game well and his movement off the ball is good. One possibility for us if we went for him is to use him in a ruck/rover type role in the backline.

I would be more concerned about his list of injuries more than his off-field antics these days. 95 weeks out injured is a hell of a lot of time in 10 years.

possibly use 2 of our lower picks if we do try and pick him up...

Mind you, he is also in the final year of his contract with the weagles and from what I have heard over here... there is a chance that he might get delisted so that could be all good and we pick up a quality ruckman for nothing

 

[Dramoth]

Don't care how good this guy is!

Look at what he's done.

The team he plays for No.1 ruck man is still out injured for another month.

This team has a real chance to seal a top 2 spot almost guaranteeing them an easier opportunity to make the GF and now they have no creditable good ruck man, making a top 2 finish a lot harder.

The whole team must loathe what he has done, he's just made their last 15 weeks, pre-season etc etc worth of efforts made that much harder.

If a guy is that stupid to do that to himself and his team-mates, I do not want him around our boys as he's a major liability and moving state will not change that.

If we get him, then our PR, Team Management, Coaches have to babysit this imbecile and pay good money to ensure he keeps on the straight and narrow.

What if he f's up? Then the club will have to pay money to ensure he gets proper psych/medical treatment.

He's too much of potential risk on all facets of our club.

If he f's up again our club does not need more scandals or media scrutiny for the next few years.

I think that he has been quoted as saying that he wants to continue playing on a performance based contract. I think that there would also be riders in there from the club he signs for that state that if he screws up at anytime off the field, then he is out the door...

That would be about the only way he would be taken at a new club.

 

[BlueFeaver]

Norman and Angwin never proved themselves at AFL level, IMO Angwin has a personality disorder, before we would consider taking Gardiner he would have to prove that he still wanted to play AFL footy and could reform. A bit like a job interview in which he would go through psyche tests as well. If he could show he was 100% committed then maybe we would look at trading a late round draft pick or no 2 preseason draft/

The big defference between Gardiner, Angwin and Norman is Gardiner would be leaving where all his bad influences are. There is also a possibility that he does't like the pressure of being in a 2 team town with a small population.
I agree with your comment on Angwin, the kid is a seriel criminal with a personality disorder. When he returned from Adleaide he returned back to where all his troubles began.
Norman is a demographic, the kid is just not all there and finds himself in bad situations. This will be the story for the rest of his life.
Gardinar has been at the top of the tree and has proved he can play the game, the pressures of AFL effect different players different ways. A move for Gardiner and a kick up the behind might be all thats needed.
He would be worth a punt at the right price.

One thing to consider, both WC and Freo have developed a culture over the years of off-field problems.

All things considered though, it's more likely either StKilda or Collingwood will get him. With a highlight to Stkilda.

 

[Jimthegreat]

In the PSD only. Not draft picks.

 

[SurreyBlue]

No doubt would take him through the PSD if he where the best option.
At 27, new surroundings/environment and class ruckman = chance at Carlton.
Give nothing for him though.

 

[jj1978]

Angwin around 20yo plenty of good football left in him..

CFC wont take him and would'nt think our new masters the AFL would allow us to waste money on him.

Would much rather pull Madden out of retirement.

 

[Snoozer]

Any Carlton supporter who would not consider picking up Gardiner is an ignoramus and does not have the best interests of the club at heart. The guy still have a handful of years left, and when right is a gun... lets not forget this guy kept Dean Cox out of the Eagles lineup for a long time.

Sometimes you have to take a risk and hope that a guy can pull his head in.... I think the risk may well be worth it, given the potential reward.

We have 2 second-stringers in the ruck, one of whom is about to retire. We'd be foolish not to look at him... of course you wouldn't give up an early draft pick. I reckon maybe a 3rd round draft pick might snare Gardiner. We picked up Barnaby French at the same age. Now Barn has never had issues with his character, has been serviceable and filled a gaping hole, but never done anything outstanding. Gardiner has the potential to be the premier ruckman in the comp.... something Barnaby never had the goods to do.

The other thing we need to consider is we will have a very good midfield in the coming years.... Imagine this guy giving Murphy, Gibbs, Stevens, Simpson etc an armchair ride. Murphy has already been super impressive with no support from his ruckmen... imagine when he's getting some decent supply!!!!!

ALL ABOARD THE GARDINER TRAIN!!!!!!