Schwaby

[Sailor]

I went to a function yesterday where Demetriou and Schwabby were the main speakers.

I came away with a far greater appreciation of Demetriou and the work he has done. When you hear about the growth in the AFL brand it makes you realise how good a CEO he has been.

I've heard Schwab before and everytime I hear him speak I am more certain that we have the right man at the top.
As he says, being a leader is hard but you have to make the call. And he has shown the courage to do that.
Our club is progressing and he is a large part of that.
Interestingly he spoke of Polly's demise. Freo had just lost the semi that would have put them into the GF. He decided to take the whole team to the GF. Half of the players had never seen a GF so he got the last Melbourne premiership cup and gathered all the players in the middle of the MCG on the Thursday before the game.
A pretty powerful bonding force.
The next day Polly took the opportunity to speak with Wallace. As Schwabby said, at that moment he realised Polly had no part to play in the future of the Fremantle Football Club. A huge betrayal.
And I agree with that.
Tough call but the right one.
Polly, go rot in hell.
He also spoke about leadership.
Warnock pulled Pav over at training and told him he hadn't done a drill properly. Not the sort of thing you normall expect from a young player to the captain.
But Pav responded in the right manner.
Pav stopped training.
Called Harves over and explained that he hadn't completed the drill then went and did it in front of everyone.
Great stuff from Warnock and Pav.
I'm feeling better and better about where this club is heading.

 

[The Night Shift]

Great post sailor. If our team can play like a band of brothers, without the "I'm a star player" attitudes, where the juniors and captain can encourage wach other along with any bullshit, then we can acheive anything.

 

[inferno66]

Good Post Sailor

 

[Stronzo]

Good to hear, though actions will speak louder than words.

Despite the abomination which was 2007, I have had the general feeling that FFC has been moving in the right direction. I feel now we have better people at the club and we should reap the benefits of that in the coming season.

I really want to see us lose the perennial bad habbits we seem to be cursed with, you know those times when you are pulling your hair out saying to yourself "WTF are they doing?". I think Harvey can crack that and perhaps instill a bit of the hard team play football we witnessed in 2006.

Schawb has been decent enough, but there is only one thing that will make history judge him favourable.

BTW that is the first positive thing Re demitriou I think I've ever read.

 

[sabre_ac]

Polak still would be struggling to get a spot in our team, lets not forget he he is playing well in the second worst side in the competition and the side looking like taking home the spoon in '08'

My only issue is why we didn't trade him earlier, the writing was on the wall for some time, we could have gotten allot more for him.

Murphy is shaping up as another Polak IMHO (I whole heartedly hope not, but I am still worried).
Lets hope that if Murphy fails to make the side this season, we learn from Polak and trade him that one year earlier.

I think Scwabby was far as business and promotin the club goes (Even player morale) is excemptional, I just wish he would stay out of some of the football decisions (Less of a role in trade week for example).

 

[dockers_bengals]

Very interesting,thanks for that sailor.
I was a bit surprised murphy wasnt traded sabre and I thought kiwi deserved more games from what he has shown.To me Kiwi seemed faster and more aggressive at the ball than murphy so it will be interesting.
On Polly what do people expect?he was struggling to get a game so why would he stay if he can get a game somewhere else?I got no problem with it or am I missing something.

 

[Dyslexic Emo]

I've laways believed that if you have had a spot in your team and have lost it then you have to do everything in your power tyo get back intot he team for the team you play for, not go off and look for a second rate team so you can play some games. It does no one any favouers, you are not the player you once were for reasons on your own neck, your new team is getting a player who has given up at his old club becuase of poor attitude and your old club is loosing a player thjat was once in their best 22 but just had some problems that he could have worked out if he applied himself properly

 

[chook2734]

Spot on Emo. Polly took the easy option by going to Richmond - their lack of talls meant he was always going to get a game and as it turned out, Wallace didn't even bother giving him an opponent most weeks. If he'd stayed at Freo, there was spot there for him, it just meant he'd have to fight for it. I'd say we are probably better off without him.

 

[theGav56]

Polak is playing the loose man in defence; third man up in marking contests. Not only don't we need a player for that role as we have heaps already able to do it, but he should be disappointed in himself. He should be holding down a key position, or at least be able to go with a top-line forward and break even with him.

 

[dont bowl there]

Spot on Emo. Polly took the easy option by going to Richmond - their lack of talls meant he was always going to get a game and as it turned out, Wallace didn't even bother giving him an opponent most weeks. If he'd stayed at Freo, there was spot there for him, it just meant he'd have to fight for it. I'd say we are probably better off without him.

Don't agree with that, remember that AFL football is Polaks job so why wouldn't he go elsewhere to get a better chance at playing? It makes perfect bloody sense. Same applies to Medhurst.

 

[dominguez]

Thanks for the insight Sailor. Wish I had gone, a night with Schwab and Vlad sounds exciting. They should have had Akermanis and Peter Costello speak too.

 

[chook2734]

Don't agree with that, remember that AFL football is Polaks job so why wouldn't he go elsewhere to get a better chance at playing? It makes perfect bloody sense. Same applies to Medhurst.

I see the Polak and Medhurst moves differently. The team had moved on from Medhurst - he was probably going to struggle to get a game regardless. If Polak had stayed, yes he would have had to fight for a game, but in turn, wouldn't that be a plus for his development? As it is, he took the easy option of Richmond and hasn't improved as a player at all. So long as they don't ever get around to getting any decent talls, I'm sure he'll be able to rake in the big $$ and play 22 games a year while being the 3rd tall who can't take an opponent. If that's what he's after for his career, then he made the right decision.

 

[Warrior 89]

Polak like Medhurst, Murphy and Schammer is a victim of Chris Connolly and his inability to develop young players. They all started their careers showing promise and just as they were establishing themselves as AFL players Connelly changed their roles. Subsequently the players struggled, lost confidence and their careers have stalled.
It will be interesting to see what role Polak plays over the next couple of years. I think Richmond played him as the 3rd tall defender to help him find his confidence again and now he might be ready for bigger tasks.
The other thing you don't do to young players is pick them for 1 game then drop them. What Connolly did to Collard and Ibbotson last year was disgraceful and did more harm than good. I was always the same story keep giving chances to struggling senior players while dropping young players the minute they did something wrong.

 

[chook2734]

Polak like Medhurst, Murphy and Schammer is a victim of Chris Connolly and his inability to develop young players. They all started their careers showing promise and just as they were establishing themselves as AFL players Connelly changed their roles. Subsequently the players struggled, lost confidence and their careers have stalled.
It will be interesting to see what role Polak plays over the next couple of years. I think Richmond played him as the 3rd tall defender to help him find his confidence again and now he might be ready for bigger tasks.
The other thing you don't do to young players is pick them for 1 game then drop them. What Connolly did to Collard and Ibbotson last year was disgraceful and did more harm than good. I was always the same story keep giving chances to struggling senior players while dropping young players the minute they did something wrong.

Yes, it was lucky that we plucked players like Pavlich, Sandilands, Crowley, Dodd, Mundy and Johnson out of the cabbage patch fully developed - otherwise where we would have been

Some of the players you mentioned above need to take a bit of responsibility for their own development. An AFL career is not going to be handed to you on a silver platter. When you are given an opportunity, you need to have the desire and dedication to grasp it.

 

[FD369]

Polak like Medhurst, Murphy and Schammer is a victim of Chris Connolly and his inability to develop young players. They all started their careers showing promise and just as they were establishing themselves as AFL players Connelly changed their roles. Subsequently the players struggled, lost confidence and their careers have stalled.
It will be interesting to see what role Polak plays over the next couple of years. I think Richmond played him as the 3rd tall defender to help him find his confidence again and now he might be ready for bigger tasks.
The other thing you don't do to young players is pick them for 1 game then drop them. What Connolly did to Collard and Ibbotson last year was disgraceful and did more harm than good. I was always the same story keep giving chances to struggling senior players while dropping young players the minute they did something wrong.

Probably should have stopped reading after the opening sentence.

You cant be serious?

CC was the one backing Medhurst in, until his own poor form made it impossible for him to be selected. Probably should have been dropped two games earlier.

How many chances did Polak get?

Can you actually blame CC for Murphys' form and still keep a straight face?

Schammers appendix removal was obviously caused by CC'c lack of faith in his internal organs. Puts a whole new slant on "show me some guts will ya"

 

[Warrior 89]

CC was the one backing Medhurst in, until his own poor form made it impossible for him to be selected. Probably should have been dropped two games earlier.

How many chances did Polak get?

Can you actually blame CC for Murphys' form and still keep a straight face?

Schammers appendix removal was obviously caused by CC'c lack of faith in his internal organs. Puts a whole new slant on "show me some guts will ya"

Did you ever see Schammer play in defence, he has never been the same since. He didn't have his appendix removed during the 06 season and that is when his form dropped off.
Murphy was playing as the 2nd forward in 06 when we had our best year, then we got Tarrant when we really needed a midfielder and Murphy since has looked completely lost.
Medhurst was playing good football and then Connolly told him to change his role one preseason, again he was never the same player. Malthouse could fit him into a forward line that contained Davis and Didak only poor coaching from Connolly prevented Medhurst from working in tandem with Farmer.
I am tired of people having cheap shots at Polak and he didn't get many chances to hold down one spot.

 

[chook2734]

I thought Schammer was playing some pretty good football by the end of this year - but I guess you'll probably put that down to Connolly being gone rather than him being a little bit older and finally getting over his health issues.

I'm a Murphy fan, but I honestly don't know what more Connolly could have done for him this year. He was virtually handed a spot in the forward line and still got selected for round 1 even though he hadn't gone with 20m of the ball the entire pre-season. It was his poor attitude and Campbell's good form that forced him out of the team, not Tarrant. If his attitude doesn't improve this year, he will be no better under Harvey.

The argument of 'we should have got a midfielder, not Tarrant' is fine, but who was there to get? Tarrant was a good pick-up and took an enormous amount of pressure off Pavlich.

Medhurst was asked to play a more 'team' type game - not too much to ask I wouldn't think. He was old enough to give up on some of his selfish play, but apparently it was all a little too hard for him - he didn't understand beyond getting the ball and kicking at goal.

I was a Polak fan too and while he probably didn't get a single position to call his own, I'm not sure that that is entirely Connolly's fault. Who should have given up their spot for Polak? He wanted to play as a forward, but he can't kick and when he was sent back he struggled to be accountable for an opponent.

 

[bee dee]

Did you ever see Schammer play in defence, he has never been the same since. He didn't have his appendix removed during the 06 season and that is when his form dropped off.
Murphy was playing as the 2nd forward in 06 when we had our best year, then we got Tarrant when we really needed a midfielder and Murphy since has looked completely lost.
Medhurst was playing good football and then Connolly told him to change his role one preseason, again he was never the same player. Malthouse could fit him into a forward line that contained Davis and Didak only poor coaching from Connolly prevented Medhurst from working in tandem with Farmer.
I am tired of people having cheap shots at Polak and he didn't get many chances to hold down one spot.

Question is Polak worth $300k for 3yrs as a loose man in defence picking up no-one cause he cant keep up or defend a good player?
Simmonds got $2mill over 5 yrs, who wins out of that. Look where Richmond finished and will finish in 2008.
5 yr deals for everyone under Greg Miller ( himself, Wallace, Simmonds,Craig Cameron) Good luck if youcan get it. Where are they?

 

[dugrene]

I went to a function yesterday where Demetriou and Schwabby were the main speakers.

I came away with a far greater appreciation of Demetriou and the work he has done. When you hear about the growth in the AFL brand it makes you realise how good a CEO he has been.

I've heard Schwab before and everytime I hear him speak I am more certain that we have the right man at the top.
As he says, being a leader is hard but you have to make the call. And he has shown the courage to do that.
Our club is progressing and he is a large part of that.
Interestingly he spoke of Polly's demise. Freo had just lost the semi that would have put them into the GF. He decided to take the whole team to the GF. Half of the players had never seen a GF so he got the last Melbourne premiership cup and gathered all the players in the middle of the MCG on the Thursday before the game.
A pretty powerful bonding force.
The next day Polly took the opportunity to speak with Wallace. As Schwabby said, at that moment he realised Polly had no part to play in the future of the Fremantle Football Club.

Thanks for your post. It's good to hear about our Club.
Sorry to cut some of your post out but I was more interested in the fact that Schwab considered talking about Polak at a function, worthwhile. Makes no sense to me, but then, I wasn't there to get the context in perspective.

His reference to Polly might just be some sought of trigger to bring Wallace out of hibernation.

Like I say it makes no sense that Polly is now on the radar again.

 

[dockers_bengals]

Medhurst was push off to the maggies against his will and had to be talked into going to them,polak decided to move on to the tigers for a better chance to play more games.Yet polak is bad,what a joke
Polak took the easy option

 

[estibador]

Medhurst was push off to the maggies against his will and had to be talked into going to them,

Well who would want to play for Collingwood?

Especially with Eddie and Mick there. What a fun place it must be having to put up with Mick's black hole of a personality and an excited Eddie 'accidently' walking into the showers after every training session.

 

[dockers_bengals]

Well who would want to play for Collingwood?

Especially with Eddie and Mick there. What a fun place it must be having to put up with Mick's black hole of a personality and an excited Eddie 'accidently' walking into the showers after every training session.

Good points
Oh and don't forget the friendly cheer squad.

 

[estibador]

Oh and don't forget the friendly cheer squad.

I still remember Josh Fraser's answer when asked on the Footy Show whether he dated Collingwood supporters:

'With all due respect to our female members there's not many of them you'd take to.'

When even a prematurely balding, inbred heroin addict lookalike like Josh thinks he's out of your league then you know you've got problems.

 

[Cheetah]

Harsh words Esti, but very true!

 

[The Night Shift]

I still remember Josh Fraser's answer when asked on the Footy Show whether he dated Collingwood supporters:

'With all due respect to our female members there's not many of them you'd take to.'

When even a prematurely balding, inbred heroin addict lookalike like Josh thinks he's out of your league then you know you've got problems.

LoL