Mofra
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- Dec 6, 2005
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- Footscray, Coney Island Warriors
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- #1,101
Player #5 - Ryan Griffen
Pictured: Ryan was honoured to play in the traditional AFL 'cyclops round'
Ryan Griffen is a GWS player from country SA with eyes so close together that there just has to be some sort of family tree convergence in his recent family history.
Tired of playing in losing preliminary finals, Ryan famously requested a trade to the GWS Giants where he has since played in two more losing preliminary finals while his departure led the Bulldogs to snap a 7-game losing preliminary finals streak, ironically against the GWS Giants. The football gods are either vindictive bastards or divine poets - perhaps both.
Anyway Ryan was a former pick #3 who left the Melbourne football bubble and just never quite lived up to expectations. This year he continued the slide from team champion to 'icing on the cake' to 'symptomatic of GWS' list management blunders' as they now face the prospect of of annually losing their developed guns like Adams, Treloar and Shiel and replacing them with 'past their best' players such as Delideo, Stevie J and of course good ol' Ryan. The gaping chasm between the hope in which he arrived at GWS and what actually occurred is so great that if his teammates were smart enough they'd nickname him Aung San Suu Kyi.
Ryan spent far more time forward this year as he just can't run like he used to so was down in almost every statistical measure, although he did manage a goal per game. He saved arguably his worst performance for the year in his one final which GWS lost (they played without him the week beforehand and won, although that was against a depleted Swans unit). He looked rusty and reactive and was soundly beaten by Collingwood's third string defence. Collingwood actually had some injuries towards the back of last year - you'd think the media or Collingwood fans here would have mentioned it but it seemed to fly completely under he radar.
All in all he had 8 disposals, kicked one goal and was largely unsighted in a sad end to a career that burned so brightly for many, many years. His years at GWS are, in retrospect, a bigger waste of time than every single second spent on 'revamping' AFLX.
He will of course be more known for cutting and running and going pig-hunting when things got a bit hard at his former club which I can assure you in 2014 meant he didn't actually have to leave the (pre-gentrified) suburb of Footscray.
GWS have taken in so many ex-Bulldogs it's amazing they haven't replicated Footscray's decades of stunning VFL success:
Pictured: Poor Sam Reid didn't even make it to the photo despite being a feel-good story of perseverance and persistence
This year they at least re-gain Shane Mumford who adds aggression around the ball and much needed white line fever.
GWS of course lost some high-draft pick kids who performed well last year for the3rd 4th 5th year in a row. They should probably hire some ex-Guantanamo Bay guards as people with experience in keeping young men wearing orange in an barely hospitable shithole (but it's near a beach!)
Ryan plans to live the quiet life upon retirement on a property an hour away from Melbourne which is a pretty good place for him - a guy who never liked to attention associated with football and was always a country boy at heart.
Good luck with retirement Ryan, welcome to the Bottom 50 for 2018.
Pictured: Ryan was honoured to play in the traditional AFL 'cyclops round'
Ryan Griffen is a GWS player from country SA with eyes so close together that there just has to be some sort of family tree convergence in his recent family history.
Tired of playing in losing preliminary finals, Ryan famously requested a trade to the GWS Giants where he has since played in two more losing preliminary finals while his departure led the Bulldogs to snap a 7-game losing preliminary finals streak, ironically against the GWS Giants. The football gods are either vindictive bastards or divine poets - perhaps both.
Anyway Ryan was a former pick #3 who left the Melbourne football bubble and just never quite lived up to expectations. This year he continued the slide from team champion to 'icing on the cake' to 'symptomatic of GWS' list management blunders' as they now face the prospect of of annually losing their developed guns like Adams, Treloar and Shiel and replacing them with 'past their best' players such as Delideo, Stevie J and of course good ol' Ryan. The gaping chasm between the hope in which he arrived at GWS and what actually occurred is so great that if his teammates were smart enough they'd nickname him Aung San Suu Kyi.
Ryan spent far more time forward this year as he just can't run like he used to so was down in almost every statistical measure, although he did manage a goal per game. He saved arguably his worst performance for the year in his one final which GWS lost (they played without him the week beforehand and won, although that was against a depleted Swans unit). He looked rusty and reactive and was soundly beaten by Collingwood's third string defence. Collingwood actually had some injuries towards the back of last year - you'd think the media or Collingwood fans here would have mentioned it but it seemed to fly completely under he radar.
All in all he had 8 disposals, kicked one goal and was largely unsighted in a sad end to a career that burned so brightly for many, many years. His years at GWS are, in retrospect, a bigger waste of time than every single second spent on 'revamping' AFLX.
He will of course be more known for cutting and running and going pig-hunting when things got a bit hard at his former club which I can assure you in 2014 meant he didn't actually have to leave the (pre-gentrified) suburb of Footscray.
GWS have taken in so many ex-Bulldogs it's amazing they haven't replicated Footscray's decades of stunning VFL success:
Pictured: Poor Sam Reid didn't even make it to the photo despite being a feel-good story of perseverance and persistence
This year they at least re-gain Shane Mumford who adds aggression around the ball and much needed white line fever.
GWS of course lost some high-draft pick kids who performed well last year for the
Ryan plans to live the quiet life upon retirement on a property an hour away from Melbourne which is a pretty good place for him - a guy who never liked to attention associated with football and was always a country boy at heart.
Good luck with retirement Ryan, welcome to the Bottom 50 for 2018.
