So were Ellard, AJ and Davies, all fringe players, given contracts until the end of next year because the club anticipated they would play well enough to meet our expectations or hopes? I certainly don't believe their performances warranted contract extensions until the end of next year. Instead of offering contracts for the year/s they are expected to have, or we hope they have, I think we should have offered contracts based solely on their current performances.
It seems our club is pretty generous when offering contracts to players and coaches. Greg Swann, when questioned about Ratten's extra year, couldn't offer a good explanation on why it was offered and he seemed to indicate that it was just a ($500,000) mistake. Why did we lock ourselves into these contracts? It was not like Ratten, Ellard, AJ and Davies were wanting to go elsewhere or being swamped with offers from other clubs. So I believe these were/are costly mistakes that have affected our finances and our ability to participate in this draft and I personally think our club deserves better than this.