ROK - Re signs with swans for 4 years. (Confirmed)

[CureTheSane]

I believe these things are worked out in advance so that doesn't happen.

This seems to be the biggest problem with the whole ROK saga.

In a nutshell, his actions were way too definitive without apparently having made solid arrangements with other clubs.
That's what bit him in the butt.
Unless a club had instructed him & his manager that they would cough up a first round draft pick and were happy to pay what he was asking, he should have been a LOT more subtle in the way he went about things.

[31 hard at it]

According to this mornings Herald Sun his manager is still talking to Essendon but needs to be sure that no club with an earlier pick would take hime.
Swans offer has been increased so I think a 75% chance he stays.
With the extra money he can travel to Melbourne whenever he wants
first class !

[NMWBloods]

It's ridiculous rewarding him with extra money when he's obviously asking for more than he's worth in the market.

[hammo]

It's ridiculous rewarding him with extra money when he's obviously asking for more than he's worth in the market.

I agree. The Swans' offer should be revised down accordingly.

However the precedent was set after Jude Bolton got a pay rise last year.

[Cheer Squad]

O'Keefe said he'd feel "bad" if he went in the PSD and we got nothing for him. Never mind him feeling bad - it he decides to enter the PSD, it will be a real smack in the mouth for us. We've just given him the honour of life membership! He's obviously decided to leave the club quite some time ago, and has been caught unprepared for the machinations of trade week. Now his true motives have been exposed.

If he's prepared to chance his arm in the PSD, it's obvious he's over the Swans.

[Matt79]

O'Keefe said he'd feel "bad" if he went in the PSD and we got nothing for him. Never mind him feeling bad - it he decides to enter the PSD, it will be a real smack in the mouth for us. We've just given him the honour of life membership! He's obviously decided to leave the club quite some time ago, and has been caught unprepared for the machinations of trade week. Now his true motives have been exposed.

If he's prepared to chance his arm in the PSD, it's obvious he's over the Swans.

I do not have a problem with Rok's motives. Surely everyone in their working careers has explored opportunites to change companies for more money...I have! Some people change, some people decide to stay for less money in their current job.

AFL footballers have a very short working life span in their industry and naturally getting as much money as possible is understandable.

Personally, I hope he stays as he is a great player, however, I will also understand if he wants more money to move South.

[swanage]

I agree. The Swans' offer should be revised down accordingly.

However the precedent was set after Jude Bolton got a pay rise last year.

Your avatar makes me thirsty.

[Cheer Squad]

I do not have a problem with Rok's motives. Surely everyone in their working careers has explored opportunites to change companies for more money...I have! Some people change, some people decide to stay for less money in their current job.

AFL footballers have a very short working life span in their industry and naturally getting as much money as possible is understandable.

Personally, I hope he stays as he is a great player, however, I will also understand if he wants more money to move South.

I don't have a problem with him wanting to go home, or wanting more money.

It's just the way things have gone, if he nominates for the PSD, it will be seen as a rejection of the Swans. I'm sure he knows that.

[Matt79]

I don't have a problem with him wanting to go home, or wanting more money.

It's just the way things have gone, if he nominates for the PSD, it will be seen as a rejection of the Swans. I'm sure he knows that.

But also it reflects on the inability to get a trade done during trade week.

[Cheer Squad]

But also it reflects on the inability to get a trade done during trade week.

Yes, he couldn't get a trade organised. But we upped our offer to him twice, and he's still undecided. He just wants to leave, and if he ends up in the PSD and we get nothing for him, it will show how much he's over us.

[swantastic]

He will stay at the swans for sure because he doesnt want to go to the Deamons,and as they say its better the devil you know.

[beaker]

Ball back in O'Keefe's court

Ball back in O'Keefe's court

Player personnel manager Stuart Maxfield says Ryan O'Keefe must now decide whether he wants to stay a Swan

[beaker]

Ball back in O'Keefe's court

Player personnel manager Stuart Maxfield says Ryan O'Keefe must now decide whether he wants to stay a Swan

all good - if they boys want him back. I wonder though, why we're not going for Cousins at all? Sydney would suit him well, he's a great footballer and god knows we need a few. Why not Ben? Come ON. Please????

[dimelb]

It's ridiculous rewarding him with extra money when he's obviously asking for more than he's worth in the market.

I suspect this is the essence of the problem. Vic clubs are happy enough to take him in the draft for nothing (to us) and whatever they can negotiate with him, but between the stalling of some and the downright dishonesty of others, Ryan's been left in no man's land, partly because he wants too much.
If he decides to stay with the Swans I don't think there will be a problem with the other players, nor with any of the more thoughtful supporters, on the basis that a bloke's got a right to test the market. Ryan's issue seems to be that he's not happy with the market but doesn't want to dud his old club. Awkward dilemma.

[SimonH]

It's ridiculous rewarding him with extra money when he's obviously asking for more than he's worth in the market.

No, he's not. (I base that on a belief that he's not said/saying to anyone 'the minimum I will accept is $600,000 a year'.)

Part of the hype about excessive salaries surely arises from the fact that the system is geared to make you demand an excessive salary to successfully go into the PSD and slide down the list: if it was an 'ordinary market' price and a good product, why wouldn't the first 4 or 5 buyers buy it?

The problem isn't, and never was, that he's asking for an excessive salary (i.e. a salary that none of his preferred Melbourne clubs are willing/able to pay). The problem is that they weren't also prepared to pay market value to the Swans in trade week (as well as ROK's salary in 2009), and so just played the Swans off against ROK during trade week. The Hinds article makes this clear. None of them had any intention of getting all 3 parties around the table talking plainly about what was required to do a deal; so the only way anything was going to get done by 2pm Friday October 8 was if the Swans panicked at the last minute and said 'anything's better than nothing-- we'll take whatever you've got'. Maybe they were thinking they were clever, I don't know: but in reality, it's just meant that everyone's woken up with a headache.

Unless ROK fancies himself as a very good high-stakes gambler, he'll be back. He's played the game hard for at least 6 weeks now, and the result has been a mess that hasn't advanced his position. In poker terms: time to fold.