i’m sick of the ■■■ 0-6 start bullshit.
FFS they had 10 odd players out injured for the first chunk of those games, they were a gf team last year, not a team that didn’t win a game.
It’s not rocket science, they didn’t have a big chunk of their best 22, they lost games. now they have them back, they are winning.
There’s nothing special about the 0-6 bullshit.
Cue Diggers…
Life’s too short.
COLA was put in place because no one wanted to go to Sydney. Apart from a brief moment of almost glory around 1987, they were shyte. So shyte that, iirc, they lost 27 games in a row over the 92-93 seasons. It and other measures were put in place to prop the club up in the most important market outside Victoria. WA and SA take care of themselves but in order to get the television revenue that all clubs, repeat all clubs rely on, the AFL had to help Sydney get into a position where it could a) draft players and b) keep them. As for the academies, they’re a brilliant idea. A program that funnels the best northern junior talent into AFL is a great idea. Again, these things need space to become established but once the concept has matured, those talented players that can’t find a spot on the list of a northern club will filter back to the other clubs via the draft. We should all want the best players playing AFL. The northern states don’t have the infrastructure that you or I take for granted. AFL is a niche sport in NSW and Qld but both states need viable AFL clubs if the AFL as a whole is to prosper.
The academies concept is good if it were to take kids from league heartlands, not areas that are strong AFL areas.
That’s the idea and they will. The concept is in it’s infancy. Kids don’t play AFL up there. They don’t have a school system to draw players from and hardly any grounds to play on. A lot of work is going into progressing junior football up there but it takes time but regardless, they can only draft so many academy players at a time. The rest filter through.
The COLA should of been there for kids only. Not to pay for Buddy’s coke habit or doing dodgey dealings to lure Tippett up there
So you’re arguing Sydney should be punished because they drafted two players whilst following the rules at the time? Also, produce evidence to support your claim about L Franklin or withdraw it. You’d think that after all the crap that has been spoken about Essendon over the past several years would condition an Essendon fan into not peddling rumours and hearsay.
Should be? Arguing?
It happened, they were punished.
Exactly. Banned from drafting a player on a wage over $300k??? Something must have gone on behind the scenes over that because if I was in charge I would have taken the AFL to the court of arbitration over that.
The COLA should have been a flat percentage added to each player’s contract, and outside the TPS.
Understatement of the fortnight
Didn’t that punishment only come about because Mike Fitzpatrick cracked the ■■■■■ with the Swans for stealing Buddy away from GWS?
You do make a lot of valid points Diggers in regards to the VFL being on the bones of their a.r.s.e and in trouble of folding had it not started the National competition with the Eagles and Bears license fees propping the League up in the eighties.
And don’t forget how the VFL clubs and the League came to this position. By taking out massive bank loans to buy houses, cars and to pay massive transfer fees to help attract and relocate interstate players, and their families sometimes, from the WAFL and SANFL to help prop up their waning competition. That’s right folks, with money that the Victorian clubs did not have but actually had to borrow from the banks.
The Swans were a little bit different with the good Dr Geoffrey and his (ie. not his) money buying out their license. That all turned south quite quickly until they almost folded in that 92-93 period that you mentioned above.
You are correct though, without a successful Sydney, the League would really be struggling financially.
COLA was only stripped from them because of Fitzpatrick’s sheer vindictiveness towards them over the Buddy deal. Had Buddy had gone to the Giants, the COLA would’ve remained at the Swans.
COLA wouldn’t have survived McGuire’s moaning for much longer anyway but the draft exclusions were particularly punitive and unfair. Again, I would have gone to arbitration over it. Not sure what stopped Sydney from going down that path. Even the usually biased Melbourne media were surprised by the nastiness of the penalty.
And don’t forget how the VFL clubs and the League came to this position. By taking out massive bank loans to buy houses, cars and to pay massive transfer fees to help attract and relocate interstate players, and their families sometimes, from the WAFL and SANFL to help prop up their waning competition. That’s right folks, with money that the Victorian clubs did not have but actually had to borrow from the banks.
That’s spot on. I like Victorians but this ability to ignore its role in nearly destroying itself and totally wrecking the integrity of the Western Australian and South Australian competitions and in the process maintaining an attitude that the rest of us should be thrilled to have the privilege to play in the AFL all the whilst missing the point of why it became the AFL and is no longer the VFL is amazing.
Reeks of there being much left unsaid.
But it’s just so easy to play on the big ole’ chip on your shoulder.
What chip? WA just gets on with it. Not that you have noticed. You’re a Victorian after all.
How can anyone defend COLA ? - You are compensating players for increased CPI costs for living in Sydney - Reckon if you get on average 300K you don’t need COLA - So out of touch with society its not funny.
If COLA were legit and not a complete rort to give Sydney an advantage to prevent them bottoming out and dying (again) then Adelaide, Port and Geelong would have a lower salary cap than the Melbourne clubs.
That’s exactly what is was. COLA was just the cover. People need to accept that nationalising the VFL was the only way it was going to survive and that concessions to clubs outside Melbourne had to and will continue to be made in order for the competition to continue. Television pays the bills. The VFL wouldn’t be worth 2 cents if it wasn’t for the expansion sides. Why would Fox, C9 or even the ABC pay billions to broadcast a pissy regional competition like the VFL in 2017? There has to be national interest or it’s worth F.A.