Fevola a serious option?

[msb]

Actually in a strange sort of a way I think Fev is a sort of a nice person. I find him an interesting and strangely magnetic character. At least I wouldn't class him as not a nice person, just someone with some serious issues that I hope for his sake he manages to deal with in the longer term. I just think it's too big a risk in terms of the disruptive influence that he might be, combined with the fact that at his age he is most likely past his best.

Is he the final piece of the puzzle we'd need in terms of a premiership anyway? I would rather we spend a couple of years developing our list and possibly picking up a younger key forward in the Dawes mould as well as a class midfielder. I think those pieces would take 2 or 3 years to build, but we're heading in the right direction already. I dont think the signing of Fev would move us too far up the ladder even if he does have a reasonably productive season or two left in him.

Us and about 5 other clubs are in this category aswell. We dont have the trade power via draft picks to trade for a dawes type and unless we were prepared to give someone like reid up (which wouldnt be in a million years) then we could never do a satisfying trade either. I think the option is to continue to develop the forwards now in reid, TDL, white etc OR take a punt on fev, who could be the difference in making top 4 or just making up the numbers in the 8. If we had of had a committed and behaved fev this season we would of easily made top 4 IMO.

[Triple B]

I want to support a club that I'm proud to be a member of. Without supporters there is no club. I would not be proud to support a club with Brendan Fevola in any capacity. So while winning games is of paramount importance I think there are other issues nearly as important to the continuing success of the Swans.

If, and I concede it's a huge IF, the Swans did give him his final chance and he grabbed it and knuckled down and turned his life around and all those feel good fluffy stories which are more Hollywood than reality, would that also not make you proud of your club? Proud that they took a huge risk on a man and helped him beat his personal demons and come good?

[Big Al]

I want to support a club that I'm proud to be a member of. Without supporters there is no club. I would not be proud to support a club with Brendan Fevola in any capacity. So while winning games is of paramount importance I think there are other issues nearly as important to the continuing success of the Swans.

As long as this club strives at all times to be the best footy side they can be I'll be proud of them. We have a strong culture that is the envy of the competition and the recruitment of 1 player doesn't change that. If it did then the culture wasn't strong in the first place.

We have recruited over the years two high profile guys who acted like dickheads and they turned to be okay. Thankfully the so called no DH policy wasn't in place when Barassi went after a certain big bloke from St Kilda.

Having said all that I don't want Fevola here at the club because I don't think he'll improve the list at his age and his time out of the game.

[ScottH]

If, and I concede it's a huge IF, the Swans did give him his final chance and he grabbed it and knuckled down and turned his life around and all those feel good fluffy stories which are more Hollywood than reality, would that also not make you proud of your club? Proud that they took a huge risk on a man and helped him beat his personal demons and come good?

Exactly, I keep going back to Plugger. He was the most hated player by swans fans at the time.
If there was an RWO or other, back in 1994, it would have gone into melt down.
He then became one of the most loved swans of all time.
It was a different time, and he brought huge publicity, and crowds to a club in need.
He hadn't been booted out of 2 clubs, but given the clubs were a different climate back then, he may have been. Who knows.

If the Club sees fit to recruit him, I'll be cheering him on as long as he's wearing a R&W jumper.
It's about the club, not the player.

[top40]

Isn't there an elephant in the room here?The focus of this thread is the Swans 'no dickhead' policy, as was all the attention given to the recent Fairfax newspaper article. But what about a much more potent potential problem? By 2012 Fev would not have played AFL at the highest level for nearly two years. (A few recent VFL games don't count). He will be on the wrong side of 30. Has any given a moment's thought to his likely propensity to suffer injuries.? Remember Plugger in 02 came back after 2 1/2 years, got a corky (!!) early in the season and was out for 9 weeks.

[Nico]

Heard on the radio the other day that his family would not let him leave Melbourne. Story goes that he is too fragile and they want him close to his kids.

[aardvark]

Proud that they took a huge risk on a man and helped him beat his personal demons and come good?

Yes. BUT I stopped believing in Santa at about 7 years of age and in Fevs case there are too many issues to overcome in the short term for the club to benefit.

[aardvark]

Lockett only really had one problem and he was ready to change IMO. Fev has a whole collection of issues that won't be solved quickly if ever. For me it comes back to what I said earlier about levels of Dickheadedness.

[cos789]

IMO Fev is a double risk .The first risk is of non performance .The second risk is hanging your hat on a spearhead to the detriment of a more articulated attack .We've seen the results when good players like Brown and Bradshaw are unavailable .IMO the Swans have been too spearhead conscious at times ,even with Tony Lockett (early in the game) and Barry Hall (later in his career) .I go back to the Warrick Capper days when the focus(by other teams) was on him allowing the likes of Morwood to plunder . Always have a plan 'B' (even for plan "B'))

[ShockOfHair]

The bloke who backed Reg at 1000/1 to win the Brownlow has a better chance of collecting than Fev has of joining the Swans.

[aardvark]

Fev has now been endorsed by Wayne Carey !!!! Does that inspire confidence or what ??

[Cardinal]

Horse copped a mass of criticism and we made the finals and won an elimination. I can't wait to hear the hoo ha when we actually start losing for some hypothetical long term good of the team. I'm sure Mark Harvey is happy with all the kids he got to play this year

I reckon Fev would contribute to the team winning next year. I might be right, I might be wrong - whether we had a crack for him or not, I hope it's not because the club reckons 10 games into some youngster is worth losing 3 or 4 extra games.

[Lucky Knickers]

We should move heaven and earth for Cloke. He can have Old Macdonald's farm as well. Whatever he likes. Rename Taronga Zoo "Travis".

[Untamed Snark]

It's not being a dickhead that matters, It's whether the said dickhead can play for the team rather than themselves.
I'm not sold on fev, however if our team does recruit him I can only assume they know what they are doing.
And being the Swans I have to assume it is not a
short term fix. We smarter than that.





I've had a bad week, thank you for listening