Buddy the Game Changer

[dimelb]

I'm surprised no-one picked this up.

Buddy the game changer

A mixture of solid reportage and comment with inane bias and wild speculation. I dare say if Richmond had done what the Swans did she would hail it as a masterstroke.

[GongSwan]

Inflammatory rubbish, or, just the usual from Caro

[Primmy]

There is another dose of it today from Caro. Ignorant twitt. We stole Buddy from GWS because we hate them. Que??. The woman is a nightmare.

As I 'commented' - Buddy comes to Sydney Swans (we are top of the ladder), or Buddy goes to GWS (they are bottom of the ladder). Decisions decisions decisions.

Idiot woman

[ScottH]

I'm surprised no-one picked this up.

Buddy the game changer

A mixture of solid reportage and comment with inane bias and wild speculation. I dare say if Richmond had done what the Swans did she would hail it as a masterstroke.

Probably the reason I stop reading after the first few paragraphs.

I was looking for who she thinks should be sacked.

[CureTheSane]

I read it all.
More about pride and loyalty than wrongdoing.
Interesting that so many here applaud the Swans for being fair, when Caro does have a point.
What we did was legal, but is widely, and perhaps appropriately, being viewed as unfair and taking advantage of a flawed system.
I'm not complaining, I love what we have done.
Maybe the Swans don't like GWS or want them around, but by default, they have created a pretty big rivalry.
Add Shaw vs Shaw and it gets better. Good for football, good for Sydney, Good for GWS.

I may have missed it - has Kevin Sheedy commented on all the Buddy being snatched from them stuff.?

Would love to see this discussed on Footy Classified.
I'd suggest that Garry would be in the middle "seeing both sides, Caro would be calling for blood, Lloydy would be sticking up for the Swans and Hutchison really could go either way, but would be unlikely to put himself in the middle.

[bodgie]

I was pretty much laughing by the time I got to the end of that article.

[Legs Akimbo]

It's not really journalism is it? Speculation, opinion, pot stirring. She is a very bitter and negative person. Actually, not sure how
She keeps her position at Fairfax. Having said that, all for critical and well researched journalism. But that is not what she does.

[royboy42]

I feel Free Agency has changed the face of the game forever. The Swans administration, more than any club , or the A.L.P.A.,or the leadership of the AFL, realised the changes about to be wrought, and acted on them.
Even the Tippett move indicated that we scented the forthcoming changes.
Except for when North went out under Barassi and bought a team, I don't believe we've had a year where so many pretty good players went to other clubs (and more to come).
It will only be a couple of years till AFL is to become like baseball in the US.
The current generation of players wishing to be one club members will disappear as commercial realities overtake tribal feelings within clubs.
Players wanting to 'go home' or not to be drafted to clubs they don't like will be swamped by those same commercial issues.
Players will become products, and I fear for the future nature of Aussie rules.
Any thoughts?

[Matimbo]

Absolutely bizarre. Full of contradictions.

She criticises Buddy for approaching the Swans straight after the 2012 GF and in the same article says we only went after him to damage GWS?? He approached us first!

Also, what on earth does this line mean?? ... "No club can be expected to match an offer when that offer is not real in the first place". How was the Swans offer to Buddy not real when it resulted in a signed contract, closely scrutinised and approved by the AFL - the facts of which she mentions in the same article???

She is not a journalist, just a mouthpiece for the establishment Melb clubs.

[Bloods05]

I'm still mystified about what we have supposedly done wrong. This piece of opinionated, emotional garbage doesn't help me.

[Bloodthirsty]

Yep. Don't ask me what I think should happen to Caroline Wilson, a worthless degenerate puppet.

We have a long way to go before we are anything like the US. Check out this news article. Is Buddy close to being on the ASX? Don't think so.

Houston Texans Running Back Arian Foster Is Going Public - Businessweek

[royboy42]

Yep. Don't ask me what I think should happen to Caroline Wilson, a worthless degenerate puppet.

We have a long way to go before we are anything like the US. Check out this news article. Is Buddy close to being on the ASX? Don't think so.

Houston Texans Running Back Arian Foster Is Going Public - Businessweek

The difference between us and the US is how much we pay guys, and that's only a reflection of the size of markets We're heading the same way in everything else.

[Bloodthirsty]

The difference between us and the US is how much we pay guys, and that's only a reflection of the size of markets We're heading the same way in everything else.

I know, but the financial fanaticism will therefore never reach those heights.

On the market - it's a real shame that we have fragmented football codes here in an already small market. If we could get rid of NRL, union and soccer, it would be quite amazing.

NRL will die at the grass-roots (pun?) level because parents don't want their children smashed by polynesians 10 times their size, union is too corporate but somehow hangs around, and the 'growth' of soccer is attributable to a pretty obvious reason that has almost nothing to do with winning over genuine fans from another code. Surely AFL will continue to grow it's market share. The AFL are doing a pretty good job. But do better, Vlad!

[Bloody Hell]

I personally think everyone is overthinking this.

1. Buddy came to the Swans and said he wanted to play in Sydney.

2. The Swans looked at what they could achieve in terms of an offer considering the current state of their list

3. Swans put offer to Buddy

4. Buddy accepted

There isn't a club in the land that if Buddy Franklin came to them and said "I want to play for you" they wouldn't make him an offer... even if it was peanuts. It's up to Buddy to decide.

What were the Swans to say - "Sorry Buddy, we think it's fundamentally unfair to the league, but particularly GWS if you were to play for us." ....yeah right. What planet do these people live on?

[Ruck'n'Roll]

I was wrong

One of the things that I found most distasteful about the whole Bombers supplements scandal, was the behaviour of the one-eyed Essendon "faithful".

Their blind unthinking support of their club simply made them look stupid, their determination to "shoot the messenger" (in some cases literally) was insane. The personal vitriol directed at Caroline Wilson in particular was shameful.

At the time I thought how lucky I was I didn't support such a club, that the supporters of the Swans were far more intelligent, balanced and simply better people than the fanatics that supported Essendon. Swans supporters I was absolutely certain, could never ever behave in such a manner . . . . . . . . .