This thread might need to be moved to the Schadenfreude thread.

(http://realfooty.com.au/news/news/knee- ... 35377.html)

Agree with the idea of resting him......no use playing him if he is not 100% - he is not that vital to us given his form and where we are on the ladder.

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Wisdom tells me I am nothing
Love tells me I am everything
Between the two my life flows

For the good of your club and yourself, retire and go sit up in the coaches box Lance. It's over.

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There's so much I could say...

It's somewhere between his thigh and his calf.

OK, now we've sorted that out, do what budzy said.

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NOW YOU'RE JUST SOME CLUB THAT I USED TO KNOW.

Nice one!

Some time ago I posted (somewhere) that the only honorable way to 'drop' Lance was to 'find' an injury for him so the club could drop him and he wouldn't lose face. Well, I am not saying that he isn't injured but I am suggesting that maybe he isn't as injured as we are being led to believe or it is a convenient half-truth or a bloody outright lie.
The game has passed Lance by. There is only one place to play him and that is out of the goalsquare and not further than twenty metres from goal at any time. His man would then have to stick to him instead of running off him. Otherwise, if he can't keep up he has to go.
He is in contractual negotiations as we write but I think CFC would be mad to re-sign him. We are playing a man short when he plays. He has been great but no longer.
Thanks Lance. Please close the door with dignity on your way out.

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Let slip the Blues of war (with apologies to William Shakespeare) (and Sir Francis Bacon, just in case)

I never thought I’d see the day where an injury to a Carlton player would be celebrated but something tells me to stand by.

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"Whoever said you can't buy happiness forgot about puppies." - Gene Hill

Nice one!

Some time ago I posted (somewhere) that the only honorable way to 'drop' Lance was to 'find' an injury for him so the club could drop him and he wouldn't lose face. Well, I am not saying that he isn't injured but I am suggesting that maybe he isn't as injured as we are being led to believe or it is a convenient half-truth or a bloody outright lie.
The game has passed Lance by. There is only one place to play him and that is out of the goalsquare and not further than twenty metres from goal at any time. His man would then have to stick to him instead of running off him. Otherwise, if he can't keep up he has to go.
He is in contractual negotiations as we write but I think CFC would be mad to re-sign him. We are playing a man short when he plays. He has been great but no longer.
Thanks Lance. Please close the door with dignity on your way out.[/quote

Yep, he now has the chance to retire with dignity. Will go out as a current B&F winner and club captain. Ricky, are you hearing me? He has a legacy mate, don't ruin it.

Reality is that he is struggling to contribute to the team, we have options, very unlikely to get a contract next year and if another club picks him up they do it at great risk. What's his alternative?

The "smartest" footy decision he'll ever make.

i've gotta admit that i was happy when i saw the thread title, simply because if he is injured then in his current state and form, he'd be better off being rested and not coming back till he really is 100%.

it does him and the club no justice otherwise.

I thought he played pretty well against Port. 19 possessions and two goals.

If it's something that can be fixed we need to get him into surgery and see if it can be fixed for 2008. He is so important to this team fully fit. Even @ 90% the opposition need to find a pretty handy type to stand with him.

You all make some hilarious fat jokes, but losing Lance will set us back 2 years and I doubt there'd be a player on the list that thought otherwise.

We need at least 1 more year from him so I'd get him right now and offer him a 1 year deal. Obviously that wouldn't include the captaincy, but definatelt a leadership role.

for the sake of the club going forward lets hope that its career ending.

Very harsh Rhys,

To wish someone a career ending injury is pretty bad, I would rather the club recognise that the game has passed him by and either trade him or simply delist.

He should have been 'rested' quite a few weeks back. It was horrible watching him try to play as a loose backman last week, letting his opponent have space to work in.

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Between our dreams and actions lies this world

Not harsh at all.
By playing Whitnall at the moment it compromises the club.
Firstly he is a liability on the field (did you watch the first 15 minutes of the game when he was on Roughhead?? )and secondly it denies a youngster such as Hartlett or Kennedy an opportunity to get a game.
We need to move on, Whitnall cannot produce performances that he did regularly in 2000 and 2001.

Gotta love how some people can speculate rubbish then pass it off as gospel. Of course the game looks like it's passed him by if he has an injury and can't run.

Wll duh. If he has a bad knee and
exposed in the backline against a rampaging team when he can't run of course he's going to look like a liability. That's the fault of the coaching box.....as usual.

A couple of average posts.

Hey Jim,

Let me guess did you spent all weekend watching the 1995 Grand final and 1999 preliminary final???
you need to move with the times mate

Lance is obviously struggling to cover ground, he's training only once a week, has a history of problems with his knees and yet people think the "sore knee" is a ruse by the club to allow them to drop him?

A fit and healthy Lance can still play AFL footy. But to be fit Lance needs to be able to do every training session.

Will Lance ever be able to train in the way he needs to to play effective AFL footy? I'm not sure but the club needs to work that out asap. Playing him like he is at the moment is benefitting nobody.

Contracting Lance for next year needs to be handled very carefully. Give him a big contract and they may feel obligated to play him even if not fully fit. To end up in the same position next year as this year where he's an automatic selection regardless of performance would be a disaster. Likewise to pay him a lot of money to sit on the sidelines would be a waste too.

..Mordan is pretty much spot on..

....i admit i've got a soft spot for Lance.. ..perhaps watching him in good form is like indulging in nostaslgia.. ..i did prefer the one on one, contested footy that played to position, instead of the running game of modern footy that just reminds when of primary school footy with most of the players out there just kicking the ball and then en-masse chase after it.. ..i do regret the emphasis now placed on athletes over true footballers....

..the real shame of it however is you can't stubbornly persist in a style of play and/or type of player that is exploited week in and week out by the majority of teams you compete against.. ..i dig Lance, and it's dissappointing to see him this way, as it is with Kouta as well.. ..at their ages and with their injury woes they're both continually breaking down, and for either of them to play again earning more than a low wage isn't exactly financially viable.. ..just because we may have room in the salary cap doesnt mean we ought to spend it on just anyone.. ..and sure neither are just anyone, but they're not playing how they used to either and we have to separate the emotional from the logical..

..now, kouta is already being played as an impact player off the bench, and i like that kinda role for a veteran cos they're used in power bursts.. ..but there's only one spot on the bench for that kind of player, and kouta can play out of the goal square just like Lance, and can also help in the ruck work in the forward 50 as he has done before if required.. ..i understand Lance's on-field ability to lead and provide guidance,, but sure he can help in this capacity off-field as well now.. ..during draining, mentoring kennedy and hartlett etc etc.. ..as well as match-day in the coaches box.. ..we all know he reads the play well, he can help the younger kids in that regards.. ..he can still benefit the club i believe, we just really need to decide how best he can do that..

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..if you can't be good, be good at it..

Lance may need to consider his options...even if he regains fitness to his previous standard I would be surprised if the club offered him more than a one year deal. Looks like being another long saga....

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"When you have the attitude of a champion, you see adversity as your
training partner."
- Conor Gillen

Let's hope Lance can rest up and be fully fit for the remaining games. Agree with the general thought here that, if Lance is fully fit, he is still a dangerous player.

Sure, his form is on and off at the moment, but so is the rest of the playing group. If everyone is playing well, we would be further up the ladder (duh!). What Lance lacks in pure speed, he makes up with good disposals and decision making skills. Give the big guy a break.

Lance might be trying to do the honourable thing by being on the ground each week to show leadership and commitment while not being 100%. This may or may not be the right thing to do, but at least he is doing it for the love of the club.

Lance has shown this year that he can still be a dangerous player. I don't understand why there are so many here who can't wait to get rid of him. He's been made captain for 2007, live with it. It's not going to change.