More ECE Recruits!

[Oscar]

No problems Shearer my friend.

Let's hope the St George footy club can maintain their proud heritage and tradition ...

[Sandwich Hand]

I hope so too.

St George have developed a number of fantastic young players over the last few seasons who deserve the opportunity to realise success.

"Leadership is not magnetic personality ? that can just as well be a glib tongue. It is not 'making friends and influencing people' -- that is flattery. Leadership is lifting a person's vision to high sights, the raising of a person's performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations." --Peter F. Drucker

[Scooped]

Gee wizz thats big news in sydney footy. 4 player movements.
3 going to ECE... They must be unbackable odds for a finals position - they virtually have a dozen recruits. Serious questions would have to be asked if they don't go deep into the finals this year.
Will be interesting to see how the players accept the new guys in... Garner will certainly be able to assist the ECE coach in the workings of Sydney footy.
HAve they been cleared to play Oscar...

[Batman]

Surley the players who are going to miss out on a Senior position, and then the on flow, which will see 3 players miss out on a spot in the reserves as a result of the new signings at ECE will be disgruntled??? If I had trained all off season, played in the first 8 rounds and then had my position taken by 3 players who simply show up after Rd 8, commenced training, and then play the following week I'd be pretty dissillusioned! Particiularly considering the only reason they appeared to have chosen the club is after $$$ have been thrown at them??? Garner was sacked due to a large amount of discontent among both the playing and non-playing groups at St George....the other 2 have simply followed him which has given them greater bargaining power.

It appears that ECE are simply attempting to buy their way into the finals. For what is essentially an ametuer competition this is quite sad. What ever happened to developing juniors??? Surely a premiership where you buy more than half of your players is not as satisfying as one that is the culmination of years of hard work among essentially the same group of players??? Time will tell i guess.

[Lensman]

Good to know you have popped your head of the cave for a while Batman. Unfortunately, things have changed in football since your last movie.

As far as players missing out, I'm not sure if you realise, but there are at least 22 players who miss out a first grade game every week... most clubs call them "the Reserves". Gone are the days that you have a group of guys called first graders and the rest you don't care about. It's what makes a successful club - Reserve grade players who are pushing for selection each week which keeps first grade players on their toes, working to get better at their game. If, as you say, a new player is good enough to play first grade, why dont we just replace the old guy and send him on his way... because a healthy and strong reserve grade side will always assist the first grade side

As far as the blokes you say are going to be disgruntled... by looking at the results, I wonder whther there are 3 blokes down there at the eagles that have played all 8 games so far this season. It seems that a lot of players have either been injured, dropped to ressies, brought up from ressies, playing for the rams, injured and coming back through ressies or (surprise, surprise) been promoted from the under 18 team (... but I thought you said the eagles aren't interested in developing junior players)

Consider this. Apart from the latest additions to the Eagles playing list, all of their recruits have been from outside the Sydney AFL. It seems to me that every club in the Sydney AFL competition wants to get stronger, and by bringing in players from outside our own, it is the perfect way to do it. But to you, my bat friend, this is not "recruiting" it is called "Buying a finals spot".

And since you say that the Eagles have bought themselves into the finals... why don't we just offer up the premiership to the highest bidding club? As you say, there will be no satisfaction for the players who train at least twice a week, all around sydney, in the freezing winter cold, anyway. It would save us a lot of time. We could spend more time making up @@@@ to write on this forum.

Wake up Batman - Sydney Footy is not amatuer ! Name me one club who does not pay its players (Not one that just says it doesn't - but one who really doesn't)

You are right... Time will tell. But I think we should look at a longer period of time than you think... Let's have a look at how many of each clubs "bought" players stick around for a couple of years in the sydney AFL. If what you are saying is true then surely the Eagles cannot sustain this flow of cash forever, and the players will simply be attracted to the light of the next chequebook....

Time will tell...

[shearer]

Lensman can you tell what interstate clubs Ben Macnamara & Keating come from?.

[trouble]

macnamara was a south fremantle guy from wa. Keating i am not to sure about

[shearer]

Im sure both were recruited from UNSW/ES.

[Jacks]

Shearer, you are starting to get petty again.
Macnamara and Keating were recruited last year from UNSW/ES but were actually from interstate prior to going to Uni, WA and Qld respectively.

Everyone on this forum talks about improving the game in Sydney and improving the standard of play but when clubs try to do it they get ridiculed. It was not 3 years ago that peolple where saying that East Coast couldn't win with there juniors and needed to recruit. Now they do recruit and they are getting told that they are abandoning there juniors and trying to buy a premiership.
Even Pennant Hills whoare undefeated and have some of the best junior talent in Sydney still feel the need to recruit other players from interstate and other clubs.

The feeling at ECE is good and the playing group is looking forward to the challenge of making the finals over the second half of the season. If we had not recruited the 3 players from saints they would have gone somewhere else and it would have made our job a lot harder.

Batman can you please point me to the website that has all the players listed and the amounts that they are receiving to play for their respective clubs. You seem to have intimate knowledge of what clubs are paying their players and I can't seem to find where all this information becomes public knowledge.

[shearer]

Jacks i wasnt petty, Lensman said that no recruit had come from the League and i merely queried it.

[Norris Lurker]

I thought Lensman was only referring to this year's recruits with his comments. MacNamara & Keating were both at the Eagles last year.

[Lensman]

Got it Norris...

[Deledio Fan]

I totally agree with you Jacks.

There is all this talk (on this board and around the football community) of improving the standards of the competition within NSW footy, but, as it seems, people are unable to accept that in order to improve, we must allow some interstate players to be recruited.

This is not 'buying a premiership/finals birth', it is merely done in order to lift the overall standard of footy and to attract other players from interstate in the future with the prospect of playing in a better league.

And, for the record, there aren't as many players getting paid around the parts as you might think. Sydney footy isn't exactly a money-making machine, and therefore clubs have strict budgets as to what they can pay players. I think you'll find that there may be only a select few that get paid, and, usually, this would not be a very significant amount...

Just my 2 cents...

[Coastal Boy]

I wont ever knock a side that has not been overly successful on the field who then decides to be active in the market. I doubt ECE went poaching players mid-season - they became available and ECE acted. Does anyone know otherwise??

I would have bagged Norths from last year if they fleeced the local clubs (but they didnt). Good luck to ECE and they should be commended for any success they attain.

[Tuesday]

Originally posted by Deledio Fan
And, for the record, there aren't as many players getting paid around the parts as you might think. Sydney footy isn't exactly a money-making machine, and therefore clubs have strict budgets as to what they can pay players. I think you'll find that there may be only a select few that get paid, and, usually, this would not be a very significant amount...

I am surprised to hear that they get paid at all. I realise that is very naive of me, but surely it doesn't go down well when some on the roster are getting paid to play and others not...

Does anyone have ideas as to actual amounts? Are we talking an obligatory pie and coke after the game, or enough to make it worth getting out of bed for?