AJ Watch
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Yes I agree the changed rookie rules probably are an important part of the decision. Swans only run with a 38-man list anyway, these rules allow them the chance to choose senior team every week on best available basis. Including when one of the top players out with a short-term injury. To give a contract to a player out for the year with no certainty of making it back would be choosing to start the season at a competitive disadvantage.Comment
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Yes I agree the changed rookie rules probably are an important part of the decision. Swans only run with a 38-man list anyway, these rules allow them the chance to choose senior team every week on best available basis. Including when one of the top players out with a short-term injury. To give a contract to a player out for the year with no certainty of making it back would be choosing to start the season at a competitive disadvantage.Comment
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The whole thing is an awful business. It was a massive moment for the club and Alex. Galvanising. Inspiring. A month later he's done another ACL, the club has an impossible decision, and he's cut and seems a bit bitter. That can't help but knock spirits a bit.
I agree with those above that this is an explicable pragmatic decision. There was already a slight absurdity to keeping a person on a list for six years without playing. Given his late return next year, he wouldn't play until 2020.
Incidentally, i thought this incident reflected a concerning naivety from Harley. In his first interview after Alex's injury, Harley said something like that 'if I know Alex, he'll seek to get back'. It seemed a rash thing to say before they'd worked it out. Longmire's response was as you'd expect, something along the lines of 'we'll wait until Alex recovers, discuss it and work thorough it with him then'. I have a reasonably strong reservation Harley doesn't have the instincts or gumption required of the CEO of an AFL club. Very happy to be wrong.Comment
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I thought Harley’s comments were fine - he is an excellent communicator. That line was also just one of many that explained the process that both parties would go through.
I am not sure how he will go as CEO, that is a very different role to take on. But good luck to him.
The club made the only choice it could with AJ. 2020 is a long time to wait and see - again. He has shown incredible resilience and patience. The club has also been very loyal and patient. I wish him all the best.Comment
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Tonight on Footy Classified, Caroline Wilson was of the opinion that Alex Johnson should retire questioning how many more knee reconstructions his body can endure. She also expressed disappointment that Alex knocked back a job offer at the Swans & being slightly bitter to a club that has supported him for so long. Don't agree with the "slightly bitter" bit. More like disappointment which is understandable. Would like to think Alex will be welcomed back to the club with open arms if he changes ihis mind in the future to take up a position.Comment
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I agree with her if he is indeed slightly bitter.
But heat of the moment and all that....The difference between insanity and genius is measured only in success.Comment
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Very interesting article about AJ hoping to play in 2019:
Why Alex Johnson is confident he can continue AFL career
Luckless defender Alex Johnson is confident he can continue his AFL career, revealing the advice he was given by surgeon Julian Feller after his sixth knee reconstruction.
Last edited by liz; 20 September 2018, 01:15 PM. Reason: Please don't repost in full content from another site. Just a paragraph or two, plus a link, is fineComment
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Very interesting article about AJ hoping to play in 2019:
Why Alex Johnson is confident he can continue AFL career
Luckless defender Alex Johnson is confident he can continue his AFL career, revealing the advice he was given by surgeon Julian Feller after his sixth knee reconstruction.
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Yes. It happens all the time, but don't ask me to provide examples because I'm too lazy to do the research.
On your point, we should have 4 spots on our rookie list if we cut Styles and Pink, which I think we should. We don't have great academy players screaming to be drafted. I wouldn't mind giving him 1 more year if we don't have a need for that last spot on our list, if he's not taken before by another club.
After learning that Tyson Goldsack, who uses the same surgeon as AJ, came back after 6 months, I've had a rethink on the possibility of AJ making a comeback by mid season. For some reason, AFL players have had typically much longer rehabs than other football codes. Julian Feller is trying to close the gap, and he has 1 success case in Goldsack.
I can understand the Swans point of view as well. We have 3 KPDs in Melican, Aliir and Maibaum, who are younger and should be given priority to AJ, who would have a tough time pushing his way past these guys to win a spot in the side.Comment
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That’s exactly what we did with AJ last year. We had carried him on the senior list ever since his original injury in 2013. Then we delisted him end 2017 season and redrafted as a rookie. I’m confident the changed rules re rookies playing in senior team facilitated that decision.
The big difference this time is that (I think) Swans told AJ that was the intent when he was delisted. I recall Alex saying he was nervous during the draft that another club might take him before the rookie draft.
This time it seems the Swans have given no such assurance. In fact rather the opposite.Comment
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