You guys seem pretty quick to jump down the Rovers throat and down mine just for trying to inform people that the hawks won't be a walkover this year. My belief is that we have recruited well and as for money floating around then yes i wont lie that we do pay our players as does every other club in the league. My point is that we dont have large sums of money to offer the elite players around and that most come to the club because they enjoy playing there. Strack moved to Wang and chose to play at Rovers, Bell and Harries are locals and decided to step up the level they play at, Kneebone has returned after schooling to his original club, Hubble returned after a year away playing in Sydney, Christoforo and Nigel Hill both chose to stay at the club despite having to travel 5 hours a w.e to play and having had better offers from clubs much closer to home, and Peter Taylor who lived more than 6 hours away chose to mov to Wangaratta so h could be closer to the club and he was the O&M's best player in interleague in 2005. To top that off can the Panthers boast a player of Matt Allens dedication to their club? Fair enough Kerry Bahr has been a long servant but he falls behind Allen in games and seasons played. Unfortunately for us, we don't have a poking filled club like the Panthers to pump funds into our club or multi million dollar entertainment clubs like the RSL or Ski Club like Yarrawonga does.
And finally no club in country football has produced more 300 game players than the Rovers have which even included 2 seasons in the 90's where the players of the club played as amateurs without pay because of the 300,000 plus dollars we were in debt. Sounds like there are more important things than money for some.
So forgive me if i sense some promise in the club which hasnt had much for a while. And learn to have a bit of pride in your club instead of having a crack at the others!
Interesting you mention Kerry Bahr as he actually had less seasons at Raiders than Matt Allen did at Corowa Rutherglen but do the names;
Darryn McKimmie, Paul Sanson, Brett Sanson, Brandon Mathews, Peter Doherty, John Hunt, Graham Hart, Lachlan Boyd and Todd Brown mean anything to you.
All long term players of the Panthers who could get much, much more money elsewhere.
I love your passion for your club but get your facts right. The Panthers have long operated on possibbly the lowest budget in the competition, certainly since 1999 and yet have won 2 premierships and a copule of preliminary finals in that time.
The other name not mentioned on the list above is Timba who could have gone and recieved very big dollars a few years ago and chose to stay in the Panthers Den for much less than most non playing coaches.