Rumour Tales from the Henley Beach Cafe 2: Crows 2021 Rumours

[GROTTO]

Until we win a flag, so hopefully 3-5 years.

We wont be playing Finals for another 3 years, being conservative here.

Mind you this trade period and the next, really is the caveat to that call with the potential of Luko and Rankine out there to compliment our team. Not missing pieces like Port, but rather improving our starting 18 team strength.

 

[Sanders]

If Neil Balme comes into the club in whatever role we end up calling it, do you think he'll be given "carte blanche" and have unanimous support or is there any likely resistance pockets for him to confront? I'm hoping for the former but what do you think?

you think weve Been chasing him for years, finally persuade him to take the job but we’re really actually a bit on the fence about him?

he’ll have all the authority his role needs and probably more due to his gravitas and record

 

[Murray2503]

We wont be playing Finals for another 3 years, being conservative here.

Mind you this trade period and the next, really is the caveat to that call with the potential of Luko and Rankine out there to compliment our team. Not missing pieces like Port, but rather improving our starting 18 team strength.

I think things can turn around pretty quickly. A coach worth their salt should be able to win a flag in 5 years. Not completely sold on Luko and Rankine but if we could get Dawson, Hopper, Maynard we could make the finals next year imo.

 

[BunjiMac]

Kelly has already been appointed, he’s in post. You don’t just demote or impose a succession plan into a job you already hold

No you don't usually, but I think in the wash up Kelly will end up reporting to Balme, or he will be exited.

They may play around with the titles but I think that's how it will end up.

 

[Enviable Tradition]

It seems to be a (generally) unsaid rule in AFL circles. I remember Caro saying some thing like “Dusty will earn a lot more long term staying with Richmond than taking more money to go to North Melbourne”.

Im not saying these are not club facilitated deals but there are plenty of people associated with clubs that are happy to facilitate them at arms length. Plus I wouldn’t trust the AFL to fairly police a pass-the-parcel.

That one was actually a direct quote from his manager. It is 100% true.

On SM-G975F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[feenix67]

Roo is a ******* volunteer he doesn’t have a day to day role

Director of Football.

John Olsen is a volunteer as well, do you think he's doing nothing? Come on mate, clearly you've never been on an active board before.

 

[Peter Doherty]

Director of Football.

John Olsen is a volunteer as well, do you think he's doing nothing? Come on mate, clearly you've never been on an active board before.

Volunteer work, I wouldn't do it if you paid me.

 

[arrowman]

Director of Football.

Football Director, not Director of Football. That doesn't give him a line role, just a special focus/role on the Board.

Of course that might not stop him from interfering too much in day to day / line management roles. But a new Head of Football appointment does not, on the face of it, change anything about Roo's role.

But someone of Balme's calibre may (will!) be more able to push back on that.

 

[Jirkago75]

no, there’s not.

Is there a 3rd party Cap?? How much is it and is it every published??
The AFL is corrupt and make rules up as they go.

 

[Jirkago75]

I'm happy to agree with you as I think we all suspect this happens.
However, is there any proper evidence? I can't remember the AFL saying anything or charging anyone recently for cap breaches.
Is Tippett the most recent?

No evidence at all like Essendon doing doping?? Or Collingwoods salary cap, it’s all hush hush

 

[beartoo]

Possible that he may be part time as his health is not good. He took a back seat at Richmond the last couple of years.

On SM-A115F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[1970crow]

Football Director, not Director of Football. That doesn't give him a line role, just a special focus/role on the Board.

Of course that might not stop him from interfering too much in day to day / line management roles. But a new Head of Football appointment does not, on the face of it, change anything about Roo's role.

But someone of Balme's calibre may (will!) be more able to push back on that.

Roo influences at a minimum with his vote at list management and football strategy committees. I'd say he's fairly influential at that level, unknown how influential the footy strategy committee is in day to day footy ops decisions.

 

[Bay62]

Possible that he may be part time as his health is not good. He took a back seat at Richmond the last couple of years.

On SM-A115F using BigFooty.com mobile app

Yes I think reading that he trained other people under him to do what he does so well

Happy for him to do that for us!

 

[jenny61_99]

Head of Football is the name of Adam Kelly's role.

Is he replacing him, or above him? What would even be above him aside from a board role like Roo's "Director of Football"?

According to Caro the announcement is wrong. Kelly is still head of football. Balme is coming but money and terms haven’t yet been discussed.

 

[1970crow]

According to Caro the announcement is wrong. Kelly is still head of football. Balme is coming but money and terms haven’t yet been discussed.

In reality, there can be only 1 head of footy. It will be Balme regardless of how they wrangle the titles.

 

[Iron]

an active board before.

Oxymoron!

 

[Gtowncrow]

No evidence at all like Essendon doing doping?? Or Collingwoods salary cap, it’s all hush hush

The AFL is a highly competitive environment. It would surprise me if these deals are being done without industry insiders knowing something about them.

So hypothetically...if club A strongly suspects (or knows) that club B is breaking the cap rules, why would they not report it? It is after all, cheating. I would be staggered if any club allowed another to cheat to gain an unfair advantage. Thoughts?

Once reported, the AFL surely, is duty bound to provide a rigorous and unbiased process. Even if the investigation and outcome was not made public, the number of stakeholders who would scrutinise the outcome would be large. Keeping things quiet is difficult once various diverse stakeholders are involved. Additionally, if a breach or near breach has taken place, rival clubs for example would not allow a "nothing to see here" attitude. They are after all, victims of the cheating.

Like you, I still feel these sneaky deals take place but I'm confident the AFL system is robust enough for anything serious to be called out.
IMO

 

[Scorpus]

The AFL is a highly competitive environment. It would surprise me if these deals are being done without industry insiders knowing something about them.

So hypothetically...if club A strongly suspects (or knows) that club B is breaking the cap rules, why would they not report it? It is after all, cheating. I would be staggered if any club allowed another to cheat to gain an unfair advantage. Thoughts?

Once reported, the AFL surely, is duty bound to provide a rigorous and unbiased process. Even if the investigation and outcome was not made public, the number of stakeholders who would scrutinise the outcome would be large. Keeping things quiet is difficult once various diverse stakeholders are involved. Additionally, if a breach or near breach has taken place, rival clubs for example would not allow a "nothing to see here" attitude. They are after all, victims of the cheating.

Like you, I still feel these sneaky deals take place but I'm confident the AFL system is robust enough for anything serious to be called out.
IMO

Nah. The AFL would sweep it under the rug and tell other clubs to mind their own business, or just straight up lie

 

[Gtowncrow]

Nah. The AFL would sweep it under the rug and tell other clubs to mind their own business, or just straight up lie

Are you saying the AFL are endorsing cheating? Serious question.

 

[Scorpus]

Are you saying the AFL are endorsing cheating? Serious question.

I'm saying the AFL would rather not deal with the PR fallout of a club being accused of cheating and will do everything possible to stop that from happening, especially if that club has close links to the AFL boys club

 

[Murray2503]

Are you saying the AFL are endorsing cheating? Serious question.

The AFL has different rules for Victorian clubs. Look at how the mcg grand final agreement was rushed through without any input from non Victorian clubs. Pretty disgusting.

 

[1970crow]

The AFL is a highly competitive environment. It would surprise me if these deals are being done without industry insiders knowing something about them.

So hypothetically...if club A strongly suspects (or knows) that club B is breaking the cap rules, why would they not report it? It is after all, cheating. I would be staggered if any club allowed another to cheat to gain an unfair advantage. Thoughts?

Once reported, the AFL surely, is duty bound to provide a rigorous and unbiased process. Even if the investigation and outcome was not made public, the number of stakeholders who would scrutinise the outcome would be large. Keeping things quiet is difficult once various diverse stakeholders are involved. Additionally, if a breach or near breach has taken place, rival clubs for example would not allow a "nothing to see here" attitude. They are after all, victims of the cheating.

Like you, I still feel these sneaky deals take place but I'm confident the AFL system is robust enough for anything serious to be called out.
IMO

Doutful. Mega wealthy President A funnels money to mate's unrelated company B to employ player C in a promo role. AFL no hope unless A or B comes clean to the AFL. It only gets troublesome if company B enjoys club benefits for their 'independent' sponsorship of player C. Even then, if Balfour's had added Kurt's pie deal on top of their existing sponsorship and there was no club email trail proving our involvement, then that deal wouldn't have been contrary to the rules.

 

[Gtowncrow]

Doutful. Mega wealthy President A funnels money to mate's unrelated company B to employ player C in a promo role. AFL no hope unless A or B comes clean to the AFL. It only gets troublesome if company B enjoys club benefits for their 'independent' sponsorship of player C. Even then, if Balfour's had added Kurt's pie deal on top of their existing sponsorship and there was no club email trail proving our involvement, then that deal wouldn't have been contrary to the rules.

I understand how easily it might be done. I'm perhaps naively hopeful enough that cheating is dishonourable enough to call it out.

 

[GrommoT]

I'm happy to agree with you as I think we all suspect this happens.
However, is there any proper evidence? I can't remember the AFL saying anything or charging anyone recently for cap breaches.
Is Tippett the most recent?

I think the idea is to make sure there's no proper evidence.

 

[jenny61_99]

In reality, there can be only 1 head of footy. It will be Balme regardless of how they wrangle the titles.

Disagree. He will be there mentoring/advising and more than likely in a part time basis.