What if Geelong was caught cheating?

[Copernicus]

I'd get horribly drunk, probably have a bit of a cry, lose interest for a while, and I'd either drift back to the Cats or I'd never follow the game again except as a perfunctory "who won the flag?" type thing.

 

[mwt5150]

Would be absolutely shattered, struggle to retain passion for the club, and then no doubt regain it.
Interesting Gallop has said the losing clubs in those years won't be recognised as premiers, I'd be dirty if a Manly/Parra fan. Storm cheated, pure and simple; went outside the rules to gain advantage over other contestants. In the Olympics if a medal winner cheats, those behind move up a spot. Surely he same should apply here?

 

[maryjames]

Start a riot ..

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Re: What if... "Geelong breach Salary Cap"

I would be very close to topping "someone".

This.

Hope it never ever happens to us.

 

[SmothOperRaider]

Would demand 1995 be classified a year with no premiership team.

 

[Barabbas]

Go in to massive denial and then blame the AFL for the whole thing - I call it the Carlton reaction.

 

[BONG RIPS MKII]

murder suicide

 

[Nankervis brothers]

Would be absolutely shattered, struggle to retain passion for the club, and then no doubt regain it.
Interesting Gallop has said the losing clubs in those years won't be recognised as premiers, I'd be dirty if a Manly/Parra fan. Storm cheated, pure and simple; went outside the rules to gain advantage over other contestants. In the Olympics if a medal winner cheats, those behind move up a spot. Surely he same should apply here?

I disagree. Its obviously not ideal, but those years the Storm won the premiership are compromised and should be considered null and void. Another team may have beaten Parra or Manly in the GF (had the Storm not made it through cheating). Sadly we will never know, but that is how those years must be remembered - without a conclusion.

I understand Carlton were cheating the cap (though not as severly as the Storm, you would think) the year we lost to them in a GF. I don't want that premiership. It would be hollow.

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

Re: What if... "Geelong breach Salary Cap"

As if you'd even think about topping yourself.

40,000-odd Geelong members, a number of whom probably already have business/personal issues in their lives. I'd put it to you that the thought would cross the mind of plenty of them. I don't think I'd be one though, fortunately. I love the Cats, but they're not everything to me.

It's hard to say how you'd react in that situation. I'm no NRL fan, but to me it kind of feels like closing the barn gates after the horse has bolted. There's no way you can give back (or take away) the feeling when the final siren goes in the gf and your team has more points than the opposition. It tarnishes the memories, no doubt, but you can't just completely erase everything.

An interesting case study is in Major League Baseball in recent years, particularly the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox broke an 86 year championship drought in 2004, then won the championship again in 2007. It was later found that two of their best players were using PEDs. Due to the length of their championship drought and the "everyone else was doing it" defence, there is barely a whisper that these championships are tainted. And since the MLB doesn't operate with a salary cap, this is the closest example they have to a salary cap breach. I guess the difference is that criminal charges are imminent for the individuals responsible for the rorting at the Storm.

Maybe I'll actually start supporting the Storm a bit more seriously now. I don't mind an underdog.

 

[burto]

I don't think it would really bother me. Been lucky enough to see the team turn from a rabble in 2006 to become the best side of all time. Who cares if they were paying a few percent over the cap limit. Storm in a teacup imo.

Every club pays over the cap limit anyway with third-party agreements ie Judd. The clubs just need to be smart enough to do it "legally" and not get caught.

 

[Turkey Tom]

When I first heard the Storm stuff I immediately thought of how the Storm's and our 2007, 2008 and 2009 on-field seasons were so similar and I was hoping off-field we were in no way similar!

 

[TheMightyAchilles]

over reaction

what is real cheating, paying players what they are worth in a socialist system is difficult

where there was an issue with storm was they were continue to recruit big name despite their list

salary caps are over rated

compromised is drug cheats, but the afl is ok with that
when a club has 6+ players on strikes i would assume an investigation would have been done, but alas no, the afl injuncts that

 

[SJ]

over reaction

what is real cheating, paying players what they are worth in a socialist system is difficult

where there was an issue with storm was they were continue to recruit big name despite their list

salary caps are over rated

compromised is drug cheats, but the afl is ok with that
when a club has 6+ players on strikes i would assume an investigation would have been done, but alas no, the afl injuncts that

No AFL player has registered more than two strikes.

 

[vinum coupe]

I'd be completely gutted.

I'd feel robbed that all those great feelings I enjoyed were false.

I'd work my hardest to eliminate 35 years of memories of following them.
I'd tell my kids that they no longer follow Geelong, and then our memberships, my 35 year old scarves, Grand Final memorabilia etc would all be thrown out.

 

[cat in sydney]

Follow GWS

At least I'd be able to go to games every week... not like now.

 

[winty]

When I first heard the Storm stuff I immediately thought of how the Storm's and our 2007, 2008 and 2009 on-field seasons were so similar and I was hoping off-field we were in no way similar!

Difference between the Storm and us is the Storm also made the grand final in 2006 too. The Storm have only missed the finals twice in their history too (2001 and 2002). Well, before this year anyway.

 

[Shell]

over reaction

what is real cheating, paying players what they are worth in a socialist system is difficult

where there was an issue with storm was they were continue to recruit big name despite their list

salary caps are over rated

compromised is drug cheats, but the afl is ok with that
when a club has 6+ players on strikes i would assume an investigation would have been done, but alas no, the afl injuncts that

Not to defend Rugby League here (i absolutely hate the game) its interesting to note when Melbourne Storm joined the league apparently they got nothing. Nada, zil, zip concessions from the NRL to entice/recruit players down to Melbourne. Imo thats just a tad bit harsh, considering how it is with the AFL and new teams that join our comp?

Just an observation is all.

 

[Shell]

I'd be completely gutted.

I'd feel robbed that all those great feelings I enjoyed were false.

I'd work my hardest to eliminate 35 years of memories of following them.
I'd tell my kids that they no longer follow Geelong, and then our memberships, my 35 year old scarves, Grand Final memorabilia etc would all be thrown out.

That post makes me really sad.

And yeah memorabillia re. Storm. Do JB etc, take the DVDs of the Premierships off their shelves now or do they keep selling it?

These may become a collectors item down the track, lol.

 

[vinum coupe]

Don't worry Shell, I'd just spend more time in chit chat discussing subway lunches



My neighbour is right into the storm. Puts balloons and streamers up etc.

He owns a big business and has spent a fortune on storm stuff.
He's talking about giving away all of his premiership pictures etc.

He spend thousands on each of them. Poor guy is gutted.

 

[Shell]

Don't worry Shell, I'd just spend more time in chit chat discussing subway lunches



My neighbour is right into the storm. Puts balloons and streamers up etc.

He owns a big business and has spent a fortune on storm stuff.
He's talking about giving away all of his premiership pictures etc.

He spend thousands on each of them. Poor guy is gutted.

OI. Dont knock Subway.

And my neighbour is exactly the same!!! Previously from Qld, moved down here and jumped onto the Storm. Goes to all the games, flew up to Sydney to see all the GFs.


He is usually home from work before me, so I was a bit concerned when he wasnt home till late last night... think he needs to be on suicide watch or something.

Anyway, seriously tho I really do feel for the poor guy. It's like we both went thru our teams success at the same time.. now his means squat.

 

[Nasma]

I'd stop following footy closely.

 

[maryjames]

Don't worry Shell, I'd just spend more time in chit chat discussing subway lunches



My neighbour is right into the storm. Puts balloons and streamers up etc.

He owns a big business and has spent a fortune on storm stuff.
He's talking about giving away all of his premiership pictures etc.

He spend thousands on each of them. Poor guy is gutted.

You must live next door to DT's..lol

 

[Charlotte]

I dont know what Storm did but with us we recruited well, trained our players hard and got the rewards for it. We did not buy players to win a premiership. If it was found we paid our players over the cap I dont feel taking our cups would be justified.

Like i said i dont know what Storm did or whether they bought high-profile players, just saying that in our case it would be bs.

Promise I'm not a troll Storm did a similiar thing with most of their play list, they recurited them and built it up, however they were a new team and if they had been in the AFL they would have had concessions to go over the cap for x amount of years to ensure the players stayed there, however NFL does not work like that.
The fact that Storm was not using the money to recruit high profile players but keep their list is prob their only saving grace.

I know my husband and 2 of my children would be shattered by this news, as would I if it was found Saints did this (and associations does not prove guilty) As a Storm fan as well its the supporters and all the players who knew nothing was going on that you have to feel sorry for and you have to keep supporting them as it is the players that make the game not the admin

 

[YOTC]

Go in to massive denial and then blame the AFL for the whole thing - I call it the Carlton reaction.

underrated post.

 

[pinion]

it'd be humiliating. and you couldn't go to a game without opposition supporters reminding you of it every few minutes. i don't think i could watch a minute of a season full of dead-rubbers, and i think the club culture would take a battering and it might take 20 years to regain its mojo.

in the storm's case, they were already losing about $5 million a year and i think this will be enough to probably send them into extinction

my more immediate concern for geelong is whether this will result in more stringent AFL controls on third party deals which will obviously effect whether the offer we can make to keep ablett.