sammywaslow wrote:
GWS wrote:
Murphy's Luke Power for mine.
Very good player and would have been a star as the fifth midfielder but just doesn't have the presence to be the gun leader/midfielder we need.
Ditto for Gibbs.
Murphy and Gibbs are a pox on this club. This is Gibbs' 10th year, and Murphy's 11th. Fair dinkum, ask yourself what have been the constants over this time.
We've had 5 coaches, refreshed the administration, and had a huge turnover of players. You don't have to be a genius to make the pronouncement that our next premiership team will be devoid of both these players but the really annoying thing is that the signs were there 5 years ago. And what has the club done? Nothing. Actually, worse than nothing - it has actively worked to keep them both there. Seriously - would the world have ended if we unloaded Gibbs last year? Who the hell talks a disgruntled employee into staying after they've made it clear they want out? Answer - an employer who is bereft of ideas and who is scared to make the difficult decisions. Apparently it's much easier to sack a coach than it is to drop Gibbs to the seconds.
Year and finishing position:
2006 - 16
2007 - 15
2008 - 11
2009 - 7
2010 - 8
2011 - 5
2012 - 10
2013 - 6
2014 - 13
2015 - 18
2016 - 14
2017 - position irrelevant as we're in a re-build / re-structure / re-brand / re-whatever bloody else they can spin
Lose to Essendon** next Sunday and our status as the laughing stock of the AFL will be official.
I hate to take your post as an opportunity to say, "I told you so", but it's not just the club. I was one of the minority during the trade period to suggest that the trade was a good idea for the very reasons you have highlighted in your post. My opinion was met with respect but mostly disagreement, which is fine of course. I really do love this forum for that. But I think that the point I'm making is that it's often a brave decision required at the time, but an obvious one in retrospect. The club thought it was a bad idea, but so did most of the supporters and members of the club and this forum.
We know that the benefit of not trading Gibbs is that we did send a message to the other clubs that we are willing to play hard-ball in the future. This could definately result in us securing better deals in the coming years as other clubs remember the Gibbs scenario, and that we were willing to retain the player, despite everyone in the media implying that we would buckle in the final moments. They may just pay overs to lock a deal away, rather than second guess us.
Conversely, I still think it was a mistake because I can't imagine Gibbs' value increasing or it remaining the same. His value will be worth less at the end of the year, and if we are seen as taking the deal for the same value, or less, we have undone any benefit that I described above, regarding our hard-ball trading reputation. We still blinked....we just waited 12 months.
If we are consigned to finish in the bottom 3, and we are rebuilding for sustained success, as I wrote during trade period last year, we needed to realise that Gibbs and Murphy won't be around for our next flag. Murph might not even see our return to top 8 if his body doesn't hold up. Yes, we can't just play kids. But if we're destined to bottom 3 anyway, we should have traded Gibbs at least, taken another highly touted youngster, and played one of those depth midfielders for the year (like Kerridge, Palmer, Boekhurst, Graham), while waiting for some of the kids to press their claim (Fisher, Cunners, the Gibbs replacement).
Alas, we can't dwell on what could have been. Gibbs is still a good Carlton player albeit worth less to trade at the end of this season. I am not a Gibbs hater. I am simply focused on what we need to do to create some sustained success. Maybe having Gibbs around for another 3 years is part of their plan if they have targeted a Free Agent like Fyfe. Its not a messiah complex. We simply have the salary cap space for at least 1 or 2 elite midfielders at the end of the year, and while we can bring in exciting youth, we have to explore all options, and can do both concurrently. I think we are definately short a couple of elite midfielders. While our forward line looks like it needs loads of attention, I think we'd all mostly agree that on paper, with elite delivery from silky midfielders, that our forward line would look dangerous in less than a couple of seasons with some tinkering.
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