Paul Williams

[Mars II]

Could somebody please tell me why he left.

 

[Peter Sidorkiewicz]

He was getting stale at Collingwood and needed a fresh start - per Nathan Buckley's book.

 

[Histrionics]

He was getting stale at Collingwood and needed a fresh start - per Nathan Buckley's book.

Correct.

 

[Optimax]

Was happy to leave for various reasons, not bitter at our club at all, nor bitter at buckley as was rumoured

I think it was his trade to sydney, thta include a draft pick sent to freo for holland and clement

 

[Bay Pie]

Was happy to leave for various reasons, not bitter at our club at all, nor bitter at buckley as was rumoured

I think it was his trade to sydney, thta include a draft pick sent to freo for holland and clement

Yep. At the time, both Holland & Clement were hardly household names. Clement actually showed a bit as a forward but showed very little of his sensational capabilities in the backline.

Perhaps we should have been bitter and not traded him only to see him picked up by the Swans in the draft

 

[goalpie]

Ego. It all became a little hard to handle when Buckley turned up.

 

[mattys123]

My understanding, and Buckley really reiterated this in his book, was that Williams had been with us for over 5 years, and was just looking for a fresh start.

I have never heard confirmation from anyone at the club, or from Williams himself that he was disgruntled or wanted to leave, it was merely one of those cases where a player seeks a fresh start for his own "football reasons".

Was beneficial for each club in the end, Sydney got a good player for several years, and we picked up 2 very good servants.

 

[mdc]

Was beneficial for each club in the end

Except Freo

 

[Passion8pie]

I Loved Willo.
give me a 100 reasons why he left, or was allowed to leave,
i will never come to grips with it or understand.

 

[mattys123]

Except Freo

Yeah, but they're Freo, everyone screws them when it comes to trading.

 

[BEEG]

Was really shatterd when he left

Could have been massive for us in those GF's

Buckley,Burns,Licuria,Williams,Woewodin,OBree,Freeborn,

Ohwell whats done is done

And i think we still would have got Holland and Clemnt anyway some how it is Freo we are talking about

 

[Spagger83]

Ego. It all became a little hard to handle when Buckley turned up.

not quite when he turned up!
they were teamates for 6 seasons, it became an ego problem when bucks became skipper!

 

[soreplums]

didn't he also have a few financial troubles? I heard that a couple of business ventures didn't work out and it cost him plenty. Part of the reason why he left melbourne for a fresh start.

 

[Cyclops]

He was an excellent footballer, a real fat-legged Tassie mudrunner and an absolute favourite of mine. He did have twangy hammies and I guess the club felt he was on the sldie and wanted bang for their trade buck before he became a bit of a hack. I wished him well, I wish we could have kept him.

To his credit he was far better than that and helped the Swans to a pretty against-the-odds flag.

Also the Swans could afford the extra bucks he rightly deserved whereas we were pinching pennies while Eddie got the ship patched up. We kept paying Bucks his due and the rest were low paid toilers and rising kids like Tarrant and Rocca.

 

[TradeDraft]

He was an excellent footballer, a real fat-legged Tassie mudrunner and an absolute favourite of mine. He did have twangy hammies and I guess the club felt he was on the sldie and wanted bang for their trade buck before he became a bit of a hack. I wished him well, I wish we could have kept him.

To his credit he was far better than that and helped the Swans to a pretty against-the-odds flag.

Also the Swans could afford the extra bucks he rightly deserved whereas we were pinching pennies while Eddie got the ship patched up. We kept paying Bucks his due and the rest were low paid toilers and rising kids like Tarrant and Rocca.

Weren't we still in Debt then and to Save Money we Traded him to keep Salary's Down.

 

[TheGreatGrundy]

Paul lacked consistency at the Pies and his possession tally was down. I seem to remember him complaining about being played out of position, not able to play through the middle as Sydney allowed him to do. I don't think the Pies knew how good he would become. We also got a palyer, Mark Kinnear, who retired injured before the season started.

 

[favourites]

There is actually vision of Bucks and Willo at the brownlow after party (2003) having a great time together. And before ya ask TD I don't have this vision

There was no ill blood between the two from what I could tell. As much as I loved Willo that trade was too good to refuse.

 

[whiteandred]

... a lot of conspiracy theories to consider here ... when I thought it was simple ... the bloke just wanted a flag!

 

[DWil6]

... a lot of conspiracy theories to consider here ... when I thought it was simple ... the bloke just wanted a flag!

And the AFL needed Sydney to win one??

 

[MarkT2]

We assessed his knee as degenerative and in worse condition than his output would suggest it was. In addittion the rumour (and I stress rumour) was that he needed a big payrise due to his sports store business in Tassie with Greame Wright being in trouble.

In the end it was a BIG mistake. The falacy that he got us Clement and Holland is an excuse for a mistake. Holland was just a run off the mill handy player. Clement was a star but we could have got him with picks we already had. I recall Malthouse saying they had their eye on him at WCE but Freo got him. Credit to MM for getting him to Collingwood but it should not have been by robbing Peter.

 

[THATSGOLD]

one of the few times i cried was when i left.. i remember the trades being put up on channel 10 news..( i didnt have the internet back in those days) and sitting there with a tear in my eye being pissed off.. also thinking i dont want clement

 

[kevind]

We assessed his knee as degenerative and in worse condition than his output would suggest it was. In addittion the rumour (and I stress rumour) was that he needed a big payrise due to his sports store business in Tassie with Greame Wright being in trouble.

In the end it was a BIG mistake. The falacy that he got us Clement and Holland is an excuse for a mistake. Holland was just a run off the mill handy player. Clement was a star but we could have got him with picks we already had. I recall Malthouse saying they had their eye on him at WCE but Freo got him. Credit to MM for getting him to Collingwood but it should not have been by robbing Peter.

Hallelujah!!! The only poster to get it right.

There was no tension between Williams and Buckley. Williams had knee problems and was badly undervalued by the club. It was major mistake. For mine, Williams would be in the best Collingwood team of the last 50 years. Super player with elite kicking skills.

I can still remember a Collingwood official in 1990 telling me, that as a 17 year old he would be a walk up start into our reigning premiership team of 1991. He was right on the money. I can also still remember Williams sharking the hit out at the centre bounce, sprinting away from several Bulldog players and drilling a goal from 50 metres at the old VFL Park in round 1, 1991.

 

[mdc]

Super player with elite kicking skills.

For someone who's usually a very hard marker on kicking, that's a crazy assessment. He could kick a lovely long running goal, and wouldn't shank too many, but come on.

 

[Kirby]

For someone who's usually a very hard marker on kicking, that's a crazy assessment. He could kick a lovely long running goal, and wouldn't shank too many, but come on.

I'm with you MDC. He was a lovely long kick at goal but I always thought that his major weakness was that he was a very average field kick. He continually kicked the ball over leading player's heads. It used to drive me insane!

He improved at Sydney for sure but I think that had a lot to do with their style of play.

 

[Jonnos Right Foot]

Willo would struggle to make the best players of the last 50 years team due to his tendancy to blow hot or very cold.

For each game he played such as v Essendon kicking 5 goals or North kicking 6 or 7, there would be the games where he wouldnt get a sniff and never looked interested.

He was OK but overrated.

Kink and Daicos would get the HFF positions ahead of Williams as would Des Tuddenham.