*coach
Midfielders above 189cm with size as a starting point that have great running capacity.
We have class mids developing, most of which are under.
Ryan Griffen talks about his switch from Western Bulldogs to Greater Western SydneyBy Jake Niall
Updated12 February 2015 â 8:38pmfirst published at 7:51pm
Ryan Griffen was unhappy in his final year with the Western Bulldogs. He had lost the enjoyment of âall partsâ of playing football. The captaincy he had reluctantly accepted for 2014 was an unwelcome burden, and when he went home, he couldnât stop thinking about âcertain stuffâ. Unhappiness at work was seeping into the rest of his life.
âI didnât stop thinking about certain stuff, especially last year, and that was affecting, like relationships because I wasnât there - I was thinking about other stuff.â
Griffenâs mother was concerned. âShe came up through the year and said Iâve changed, my personalityâs changed, youâre not happy, whatâs wrong, youâre not your normal self. Because your mother knows.â
Ultimately, Griffenâs mother, and especially eldest brother Travis, would be influential in encouraging him to leave the Dogs - setting off a sequence of drastic events that included the trading of Griffen and Tom Boyd.
Griffenâs request for a trade also was immediately followed by the sacking of Brendan McCartney as coach - an event that Griffen views as completely separate from his decision. âItâs not a good feeling and you know I wasnât sitting there with a smile on my face,â Griffen said of McCartneyâs axing in October.
âI was distraught and that was a horrible time in my life, that whole process. But I still feel they were separate issues. I donât feel that it was just me leaving, thatâs the reason why Macca had to go.â
He would not have reversed his decision had he known McCartney was to go, he said. âI wasnât going to change my mind, whether Macca was there or not. I just got to a point in my career where I felt I needed to have a change.â
Several weeks before his request for a trade detonated, Griffen was contacted by Leon Cameron, the coach of the Giants, who had coached Griffen in Cameronâs years as an assistant under Rodney Eade. Cameron listened to Griffenâs woes, but neither coach nor player then thought Griffen would end his Dog days and make the Giant leap north.
âLeon contacted me probably six weeks out, just to see how I was, how I was travelling. Thatâs all that discussion was,â said Griffen. To the question of whether a move to Greater Western Sydney was considered, he added: âNo he didnât think it was possible. I told him it wasnât possible then. I was like 'no, Iâm going to stick it out.ââ
But Griffen did not stay the course, even as the Dogs tried to talk him into remaining. Happiness came first. On a return from a post-season trip to Italy with his girlfriend Jasmine - and following conversations with family - he made what he refers to, throughout our interview, as âthe decision.â
Griffen doesnât blame the captaincy entirely for The Decision, but suggested that his captainâs attempts to make everyone happy - team mates clearly included - didnât help his own wellbeing.
âThere was me trying to make everyone happy, and thatâs probably what brought me down. I was trying to make everyone sort of happy, happy medium.â
Had he not left, Griffen believes would have retired later this year. "I needed to be refreshed. I was at a point where I wasnât enjoying footy and I wasnât enjoying going to training, I wasnât enjoying life outside, which was affecting things outside the club as well. I needed a change. I felt that getting out of Melbourne and getting up here - I have a great relationship with Leon ⌠to completely have a fresh start, I thought that would give me a spark to sort of finish my career in the right way. Otherwise, I was willing to walk away from the game.
âI think I probably would have played another year - obviously I had another year in my contract - seen that out and if I wasnât enjoying it, there was no point going on.â
âŚ
^^^
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How is it media fluff if itâs direct quotes from Griffen?
Another article indicated he had issues with aspects of how McCartney coached but also highly respected others and actually gained All Australian under him as coach.
There were certainly issues within the club and with McCartney but I doubt he is concocting stories about his happiness and parents noticing heâd changed in personality.
Because it is Griffin telling them what ever he wants to. Do you think he is going to tell them he fell out with McCartney (Who was sacked the next day but of course it was totally unrelated)âŚ
Once again why he left is irrelevant to the result his leaving gained them.
Opportunity was there to stay post sacking and he didnât. He was going regardless.
In any case ⌠the comments in here was about a suggestion Dogs looked to trade him/push him out as part of a rebuilding effort which it clearly wasnât.
Iâd argue North didnât do a full rebuildâŚI donât even know what a full rebuild is, but I reckon it at least involves trading away some of your senior players who probably have a couple of years left. They retired the old guys that were finished. They still rely heavily on 5 or 6 guys who are 29+. I reckon if theyâd done a full rebuild, all or most of those guys would have been moved on as well.
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One other thing to note with North is that most people probably thought if theyâd got Martin last year, then he would have been wasting the rest of his career.
As it turns out, if they had him this year, theyâd probably be a genuine contender.
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Iâd be trading our quality 28 year old for two quality 28 year olds.
I put the Bulldogs into the Geelong bucket - they accidentally did a full rebuild. Geelong in 1999 & 2001 had no plans to sell Colbert, Bizzell, Mansfield, Murphy etc., and finish low for a while. But their hand was forced, they did a full rebuild and did very well. The bulldogs only wanted to trade out Cooney from the Cooney/Griffen/Lake combo, but still they did trade all three out and finished low 3 years in a row (2 x 4th, once 5th last). Both teams did really well with (old) father-son rules as well.
In addition to the Bullies, the other recent teams to do full rebuilds were Melbourne and Carlton. Of those three, Carlton is perennially farked, but Doggies won a premiership and Melbourne is seeing the benefit of 3-4 bottom 4 finishes in a row right now.
I would not consider for a moment North as having done a full rebuild. They cut a little deadwood.
I think St Kilda tried to avoid a full rebuild, and weâre seeing some of the effects right now. Apart from Goddard and Dal Santo who both left for twiddlywinks, did they trade out anyone older?
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IN: Billings (contracted for 2019, but just dropped to their reserves) + ?
OUT: Laverde (out of contract) + GWS 2nd ROUND pick
Thoughts?
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How much would we actually have to pay Wines to come to us? i think someone here mentioned Port are willing to pay massive dollars and give him the captaincy. no brainer for port really. youd keep him at all costs
Thatâs a big ask, mate. Not that common, really. How many 190cm+ mids with big tanks are there? I can think of ⌠3 top of my head?
Ridley may get there I reckon.
Yeah it is.
I guess after Kennedy tearing us a new one in last years Elimination final, and by constantly playing Myers in that big bodied role when he was fit, the coaches know itâs what we need. Even Stringer going in there this year kind of points to it being a real need.
I feel that just ONE above average mid that size will really compliment the rest of the boys going through the middle.
But youâre right, finding one is the hard part!!
Stringer had 9 clearances on weekend vs Tigers. Cripps averages 8. Wines 6. IIRC
If we can get Stringer going heâs our man, even if we targeting others like Wines heavily now
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For me, I think one more maintains that âqualityâ for the duration of the game.
So if we have another quality big bodied/tall mid, Stringer rests forward but there
is still a big bodied presence.
I guess itâs just creating greater midfield depthâŚ
I think we are covered for small zippy mids (Merrett,Smith,Zaka,McGrath,Parish).
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Well itâs no fun if youâre going to be realistic about it!
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Thereâs no doubt that Billings is a talented footballer. But weâve got enough inconsistent blokes that spray the footy everywhere.
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A full rebuild is turning over half your list, not one or two players.