List Mgmt. Simpson Delisted

[eastfreo75]

rookiedraftrookiedraftrookiedraft pls pls pls

That times 100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

 

[malpaso]

Never understood why he was dropped for the Swans game while unskilled plodders kept getting picked.

A loss for the AFL.

If it wasn't the Swans game it could have been the one after. The point is he would have reacted the same way eventually and from all accounts he's still doing it.

 

[clogged]

If it wasn't the Swans game it could have been the one after. The point is he would have reacted the same way eventually and from all accounts he's still doing it.

I would have preferred seeing a player with talent getting an extended run over a player without.

 

[Kram]

If he was silly enough to not even turn up for a flight was bound to do something eventually with an attitude like that.

 

[Midnite65]

Loved the Essendon game when he came on as the Sub. It was brilliant to watch how pumped he was.

On the televised coverage, Gerard Healy observed as he ran on to the ground that it was like he was running the Stawell Gift.

I recall Karl Langdon's call at the time and he was gobsmacked with the young bloke's energy.

Then, Ross's description of it on Monday night was very apt. https://audioboom.com/boos/2581171-josh-simpson-s-lap-of-honour.mp3?nojs=1

As a member, I was proud of the club in that moment but how disappointing was it when it all turned pear shaped not even a week later and has now deteriorated to his delisting. It looks unlikely and I know footy is big business now, but can't we just find a rookie spot for him while we continue to offer support? I hope the club at least offers to keep him down at Peel within the environment if he is keen (so selfishly us supporters down this way can also watch him do an encore lap of honour.....)

 

[malpaso]

I would have preferred seeing a player with talent getting an extended run over a player without.

Yeah that's another discussion though.

 

[PapaJ]

It's a damn shame the "system" can't accommodate someone like Simpson, while there are plenty of bogans, thugs, druggies, pissheads, etc. running around at various clubs. We've got a kid who just loves to play footy, but that's not good enough. He was so excited during/after the Essendon game, it really is sad to see what has happened.

If he was able to make the side in Rd 4, then he wasn't just some lost cause, as he presumably was doing the right things to gain selection. Then we axed him unfairly. Sure, you can say the kid shouldn't have dropped his bundle, but I wonder how this all would have turned out with a different selection policy. Could have been a different story.

Give him another game, he gets more excited, trains hard, plays hard, and continues on from there. The club should have known what could happen with the actions they chose. They shouldn't have selected him in the first place if they were going to drop him regardless of his performance. People will defend the club (and fair enough on many levels), but they still have to cop a fair share of the blame for instigating this, and then not being able to return things to the early season situation where he was doing the right things.

Yeah, this is doing the rounds, and I couldn't agree more that he should have staid in as sub for that Sydney game and Mayne should have been doing rehab - would have been a win win.

However, there is no way you can entirely blame the club (not that you're doing that necessarily), especially without knowing the full story. From all reports, rumoured and official, he was given special opportunity and liberties (for want of a better word) to fit his circumstances. Now I bemoan the fact that we can't get someone in Josh's position through the system, and if the club didn't bend over backwards to make this work, I'd be disappointed too, but it's too simple to say it's the clubs fault for having standards etc.

And while we're being hypothetical about 'what ifs', even if he did play that game, given the way things have turned out, it's highly likely IMHO that something along the same lines would have come up at some point, even if it had have delayed it a bit. Disappointment and adversity is part of becoming an accomplished elite sportsman (actually part of becoming accomplished anything). If he didn't deal with it well then who's to say he would have dealt with it well the next time it happened, and it would have

 

[Frigate]

You know the other thing he said there? As long as his kids are happy, he is. And those guys in the bush, with no infotainment on TV, no mortgages, no material and fabricated shit to worry about, they care about the right stuff. They're interested in their culture, their land, and their families – not drink cards at nightclubs, chicks knowing their names, and higher salaries. I know he's already an elder in his community and I hope his life in Yalgoo ends up being the one he enjoys living most. It doesn't matter if you play AFL footy, prance around all over the world in a band, or build houses no one but their owner's know about, the only thing in life that matters is enjoying yourself – if he does that, and I think he's in a better position than most delisted 20-year olds, he's done alright.

I still don't think this notion of ticking off boxes was ever appropriate for a person like Josh Simpson. He struggled to adapt for the same reasons he couldn't fulfil requirements and do what the club asked. He was always going to find rigid rules and absolute lines hard to follow and listen to and stick by, so I'm a little frustrated they did that. But hey, it's in the past now and everyone involved can go off and start something new.

As people have said, he slipped for the reasons that got him delisted. The risk wasn't worth it in the end, but hey, I suppose the club stuck fat and tried their luck, and maybe it's better he had two years at a club like Freo than ten weeks somewhere else.

People will continue to ignorantly lament the decision and say Simpson was lazy or undeserving of his privilege, but regardless of your stance and tolerance for vast cultural differences, Josh Simpson got to feel some pretty cool things: a home crowd get around him, Pav's approval, a player issue Fremantle jumper with his own number on the back, and that piss-poor song reverberating in his ears and Gatorade stinging in his eyes

Great post SA. This news has shattered me as I followed his career closely and I was genuinely excited to go to the footy to watch him in purple. Anyway I support your sentiments! Good luck Josh.

 

[Purple Suit]

If he was silly enough to not even turn up for a flight was bound to do something eventually with an attitude like that.

Exactly. Doesn't matter where you work or where you come from, you can't just not show up and not suffer consequences. His papers were stamped after that and it was going to take a near impossible attitude shift to come back.

The list situation doesn't help either.

 

[PapaJ]

1st rounders over time have shown to be around a 50% hit rate.

Our last 10 years:

2003: Dunn, Murphy
2004: Traded away (Josh Carr)
2005: Drum
2006: Traded away (Tarrant)
2007: Palmer (ACL)
2008: Hill
2009: Morabito (ACL x3)
2010: Pitt (career ending heart condition)
2011: Sheridan
2012: Simpson
2013: Apeness
A few comments, we are suffering the effects of the Carr/Tarrant trades now. You can't predict ACLs or heart conditions. Sheridan, Pitt come from two very compromised drafts. They were almost 2nd rounders as was Simpson & Apeness.

The hit ratio is poor, but is made to look worse by freak injuries/conditions.

Yeah, not great reading, and below the league average of where 40% of first round players go on to be at least serviceable players (play at least 100 games or track to that end). If Sherro and Apeness make it, we'll be back on track though.

But the Simpson one we've got to wear it as it was. No doubt it was high risk high reward, and when you take a pick like that you've got to be willing to wear the risk, and that's what we're doing now. I still think it was the right decision at the time, even the way it's turned out.

 

[Steinfreo]

Yeah, not great reading, and below the league average of where 40% of first round players go on to be at least serviceable players (play at least 100 games or track to that end). If Sherro and Apeness make it, we'll be back on track though.

But the Simpson one we've got to wear it as it was. No doubt it was high risk high reward, and when you take a pick like that you've got to be willing to wear the risk, and that's what we're doing now. I still think it was the right decision at the time, even the way it's turned out.

Agreed the only real dud picks that were 100% judgement calls were Dunn, Murphy, Drum, Simpson. Though Sheridan is looking shaky so far. We got a fair few good games out of J Carr and we couldnt predict that Tarrant would be such a lameo in the end. Also the Palmer situation isnt ideal and I feel like we should have held onto him. Did we get Crozier out of that trade?

Back to the Simpson situation. I think if we are going to re rookie him we should sound out our intentions straight away for the benefit of Josh, his manager and for PR sakes. The fact we had his manager last week publicly hoping he would be retained means we have to be open and honest about our intention in my opinion. In a way the club did take up two years of his time for basically naught, who knows what could have happened in those two years for him. could have been bad could have been good.

 

[Kram]

Yeah used the Palmer compo pick 20 to draft Crozier, should be a win.

 

[Eski3]

Palmer was awful in his final years for us. No awareness, continually turned the ball over. After doing his ACL he became prone to panicking and rushing his kicks too much. Plus he broke Barlow's leg!!

Pick 20 was the absolute maximum we were ever going to get for him, and probably overs. He has looked good this year as a physical half-forward/tagger, but that's not the type of player you want to draft with pick 7. His ACL ruined him imo

 

[Alfonz]

Pitt would have been a bust without the heart condition, not sure why that is being brought up to defend the pick.

Spin it however you want, but in our entire existence we've only nailed first rounders with Hase, Pav and Hill. I'd like to include J-Lo, but he only had half a career. And they were all top 4 picks, and Hill the only one since '99. Really is unfortunate. Hopefully Apeness bucks the trend.

 

[UFO Tatsu]

Pitt would have been a bust without the heart condition, not sure why that is being brought up to defend the pick.

Spin it however you want, but in our entire existence we've only nailed first rounders with Hase, Pav and Hill. I'd like to include J-Lo, but he only had half a career. And they were all top 4 picks, and Hill the only one since '99. Really is unfortunate. Hopefully Apeness bucks the trend.

you knew this in 2010 after the name was called?

 

[Frank J Moose]

Pitt would have been a bust without the heart condition, not sure why that is being brought up to defend the pick.

What a stupid statement. You have judged a player on his performance before he is 20. Emphatically. In most sports in the world players under 20 don't play first team. Most US players are in college till 21. Yet you know enough to write him off.

 

[UFO Tatsu]

What a stupid statement. You have judged a player on his performance before he is 20. Emphatically. In most sports in the world players under 20 don't play first team. Most US players are in college till 21. Yet you know enough to write him off.

another instance of hindsight being mistaken for knowledge

 

[Danny Cullen]

you knew this in 2010 after the name was called?

I did, especially when Darling was still on the table.

 

[pavsbootlace]

I did, especially when Darling was still on the table.

Wow, that's impressive. Can you PM me next week's lotto numbers, please?

 

[UFO Tatsu]

I did, especially when Darling was still on the table.

I think you are mistaking the "draft pick" with Pitt's career. Unless, you seriously was going to call Pitt's career in 2010 because there was some magical correlation between him and where Darling was going to play.

 

[Danny Cullen]

Wow, that's impressive. Can you PM me next week's lotto numbers, please?

Lotto and Darling are for a discussion in another thread

Suffice to say, i'm still pissed off that we passed on Darling.

 

[Danny Cullen]

I think you are mistaking the "draft pick" with Pitt's career. Unless, you seriously was going to call Pitt's career in 2010 because there was some magical correlation between him and where Darling was going to play.

No, I'm sorry that Pitt never got the chance to display what he was no doubt capable of. But we needed a Darling type.

 

[clogged]

you knew this in 2010 after the name was called?

I did.

 

[strobe00]

He does but doubt he was on the radar given Freo ruck stocks. Josh Simpson falling to 12 was a god send. Hindsight will tell you that there was a very good reason why he did.

Though Simpson fell a fair bit further than 12. Was 17. Was absolutely stoked that we managed to get him that late. Fitted our needs perfectly.

Hopefully we'll grab him in the rookie draft.

 

[Nickos66]

I did.

How?