Blame Swans for COLA scrutiny: Giants

[chalbilto]

I'm happy with the signing but not the contract.

No -one predicted the success of Alistair Lynch's 10 year contract with Brisbane. Time will be the judge of the Buddy's contract. All we can do is have faith in the recruiting department and hope that the signing of Buddy will be a shrewd successful coup.

[Meg]

IS she a swans fan?

Yes she wears Swans' colours.

[DA_Swan]

The fact that it happened two months ago and has only now just been reported has at least confirmed why he was glad to get out Melbourne - this would have been front page news the day after it happened in Melbourne - our club Doctor has said " no drugs or alcohol involved" which is good enough for me - the fact that Buddy is playing for the swans is for me just amazing and i can't wait for the season to start - good to see Rohan re-sign with the club and confirms that the club does have a plan moving forward re COLA and the years ahead

[R-1]

http://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/hawk-champ-lance-buddy-franklin-may-play-after-battery-of-tests/story-fndv7pj3-1226455303570

Given it's seemingly happened twice that would suggest a form of epilepsy, I believe?

[Auntie.Gerald]

i am very relaxed about Buddy

im in his corner until proven otherwise

In fact bring on Buddy Franklin and bring on the next evolution of the Swans in 2014 !!!!

[cherub]

Strongly suggestive. Lots of different types of epilepsy. Epilepsy is usually not contraindicated in contact sports. Lots of "funny turns" are "possible epilepsy", determined mainly by a careful history and EEG. Lance is entitled to his privacy. If his doctors don't think playing footy is bad for him then it's none of my business.

[sharp9]

I really feel we're responsible for the COLA having become an issue.

It wasn't an issue when we won the 2012 premiership, but by then getting Tip and Buddy..

If I'm really objective about it, I'm sure I'd be complaining about it if I barracked for another team (irrespective of whether Sydney is the most expensive city).

For example: if Brisbane had a COLA and we didn't, and Brisi got Goodsey at the height of his powers by offering him a 9 years mega-bucks deal, I'd be pretty dirty and logically think that the COLA was being used to poach top players rather than give everyone on the list and extra 10%. I'd feel even stronger about this if Brisi had also gotten another star player from another team the year before.

Simply, I'm not sure the COLA is being used to give everyone on the list an extra 10%.

Ok, let me have it, I'm sure I'm about to be howled down!

IN that case you are calling Andrew Ireland, several player managers and every player on the list straight out liars. Ireland and the managers are ON RECORD as explaining that the 10% goes ON TOP of the negotiated rate. As Pickers said on SEN "We're not stupid, we know that there is 10% extra for every player and we make sure that happens."

[0918330512]

The fact that it happened two months ago and has only now just been reported has at least confirmed why he was glad to get out Melbourne - this would have been front page news the day after it happened in Melbourne -

Ummmm according to his manager, it DID happen in Melbourne a couple of years ago & I don't remember it being front page news (though maybe my memory fails me)

our club Doctor has said " no drugs or alcohol involved" which is good enough for me

Me too, BUT what are they supposed to say ... "Well it might be drug or alcohol related?" ... fact is, given Buddy's party reputation (earned/justified or not) there will always be speculation regarding the cause of seizures so the clubs' media management would be expected to make a negating announcement as to the cause, to put the minds of supporters, sponsors, the AFL & the football public in general at ease.

Given it's seemingly happened twice that would suggest a form of epilepsy, I believe?

Given that it's happened twice, ALL it suggests is that he's had 2 seizures. Apart from drugs, alcohol, and epilepsy, seizures can be multifactorial in their causes including, but not exclusive to: cardiac conditions (and elite athletes have been known to have arrhythmias), depressed blood glucose levels (pre-season training will deplete blood sugar as energy is burned, hypoglycemia is a potential effect if glucose intake is inadequate), stress (a new club, media scrutiny & the expectations associated with a $10M, 9 year contact plus whatever else is going on in the life of Buddy might contribute to that), sleep deprivation (probably plenty of undeserved speculation about that in his life), cerebral tumors, multiple bouts of concussion/head injuries (as might be sustained in a contact sport) .... the list goes on. Speculation is rather pointless really, without a definitive diagnosis, which the clubs' doctors clearly (and rightfully) won't publicize.
Epilepsy or not, if the medicos give him the ok, who has the right to question it? If he is playing against medical advice, then the club didn't do their due diligence with regard to a pre-recruiting medical assessment & we're $10M in trouble.

[bloodsbigot]

Colless launches broadside on ?mismanaged? clubs - AFL.com.au

Onya Colless.

Man... I really didn't appreciate this guy enough when he was the President.

[spiffy-dude]

"And yet other clubs, clubs that have squandered opportunities, that are now incurring millions of dollars of losses, are being propped up.

"Melbourne gets two-and-a-half million dollars a year, and has been getting it for quite some years, because it's incompetent.

Couldnt agree more Dick. But you know melbourne and all that being the real home of rules and yeah.

in fact the whole article resonates being an former sydneysider who lived in melbourne and had to put up with the "expert" fans all the time..thanks for giving melbourne footy identities and the stupid fans a big middle finger dick and saying what every swan fan has been thinking for a long time.

[Ludwig]

Strongly agree with RC's remarks.

The AFL should have sent one of the Melbourne teams to Tassie and merged another 2 and stuck with the 16 team competition. This would have strengthened the Melbourne market with 2 fewer clubs and given the AFL more resources to allocate to expansion into new markets. I know it would have upset the old Melbourne neighborhood club supporters, but it would be a better solution than what we've go now. The fans would have gone to the new clubs, like many of the South Melbourne fans continue support for the Swans. Once dust settled, it would have been fine.

Eddie McGuire is just about the most destructive person in the game. What you have is the biggest club working against the interests of the game and the league as a whole. And emboldens other big Melbourne clubs, like Essendon, to try to keep pace with the big bully on the block. At a time when the AFL has so many challenges, we really don't need this.

AD made plenty of mistakes, but at least he was a powerful figure who could stand up to the likes of EM. Who knows what the future holds after he leaves. AD's really a lame duck this year, which doesn't help vis a vis the COLA.

[ScottH]

Colless launches broadside on ?mismanaged? clubs - AFL.com.au

Onya Colless.

Man... I really didn't appreciate this guy enough when he was the President.

Colless said of the time when the likes of Saverio Rocca, Shannon Grant and Darren Gaspar left to return to Melbourne.

Oops. I hope that was the journo adding the firs names.

As for the article.

SLAP!!!!
Well done Richard.

Ireland has said this many times too...

"I can understand (criticism of COLA) if you don't know the rules, but the truth is this has been a very partisan exercise and I find it quite dispiriting.

[i'm-uninformed2]

And unfortunately, a little birdie tells me they are not just going to cut the COLA, but slice it hard, early and basically completely.

Not even a concession that the young guys need it (a la, to avoid part of what happened with Brisbane).

Pure Collins St mafia at play.

[jono2707]

Colless has thrown his hands up and given in to the overwhelming force of the misinformation about COLA thrown around by other clubs. Whether COLA was fair or not, it was seen by our competitors as an advantage to us and hence attacked. The Swans haven't been able to withstand these attacks on us as a club on this matter and we are (rightly or wrongly) now perceived as a cashed-up club benefiting from leg-ups from AFL head office. We'll now just have to get even more clever about how we put our list together and retain talent.

[Blood Tunnel]

The recruitment of Buddy happened with the knowledge that the CoLA would be scrapped. Our big boys aren't stupid.
We have signed up many of our youngsters until 2016. There will be some big retirements in the next few years & then there will be some great clubmen that would have no intention of leaving this club unless it is for more opportunity.
Players like LRt will stay & play for the bare minimum. Add to that the increases in the salary cap & you will get some sort of idea how we will accomadate any future increases to some of our stars of the future. Should they wish to go, it would be no different to when Jolly & Hall moved on & we all know we went on to win a p'ship after that.

We have good people in position to keep our club ahead of the pack no matter what obstacles we may have put in front of us.
If Hanners or Smith wish to move back home in the coming years then I wish them well. I believe Nick Smith may be the one that makes the move back to Victoria as I think he will get some big buck for doing so. But losing the CoLA wouldn't make a difference whether he stayed or went home.
Lets sit back & watch Collingwood self implode now that they have signed on Buckley for another few years. Watch the tears flow. Let's watch the Tigers & North Melbourne once again fall short of their expectations.
Let's watch & listen to them write us off........again. We've seen it for years prior to the first bounce of the season.
There's 18 teams. Only a few are going to be happy come round 8. Will we be one of them?
All of Collingwood, Carlton, Richmond, North, Geelong, Essendon, Hawthorn, Adelaide, West Coast can't be happy at some point during the season. There is going to be some serious failure & questions asked amongst that lot.
Perhaps we may be there too but I'll at least perhaps enjoy watching Eddie or Brayshaw having to face their supporters answering questions as to why they are so crap. At least one of the big four Vic teams are going to face the music.

Colless has been great for us. Hopefully the next guy can be half as good.