barass wrote:
Cazzesman wrote:
The departure of Whits is virtually the final statement in a long line of statements since King Richard came back on board.
This is perhaps the no.1 motivation for moving Lance on. Even IF his knee could maybe have stood the rigours of AFL, he had to go for the club to move to the next stage. Whilst we know he had had a bad knee for a number of years, I (and obviously the club) still can't reconcile how he turned up in such bad condition when he was appointed captain, then miraculously lost 6-7kgs with that same bad knee when he was effectively suspended. Perhaps it was the lack of accountability under Smorgon/Sticks/Pagan, but if Lance was a true professional he would have taken it upon himself to present in the best possible condition. Look at N.Buckley, even when Collingwood were much less professional in the 90's he presented in pristine condition - he has the right attitude. So I don't buy the argument that it was all due to his knees, because he proved he could slim down to a level that was required, albeit for a few months. And there are plenty of players in the league who have dodgy knees, shoulders, ankles that still look after themselves.
I wonder how many of the players would be lamenting the loss of Lance? Me thinks not many, particularly the young guys who do have a professional attitude and present themselves in the best condition they can.
As for Ricky Nixon, he still can't get over how we shipped him off to St.Kilda because he wasn't good enough as a player. I hope you read this forum Ricky, GET OVER IT!
It's pretty obvious, Carlton gave him a perfect scenario to retire and go out with honor. But he let himself and the club down too many times.
Having a dodgy knee didn't stop him from staying at a decent playing weight and being fit.
Some suggestions that any club doctor or physio would have told him a million times over are:
-Follow a stict diet.
-Do plenty of hydro therapy
-Lots of gym work
-Spend some time in the sauna
-Lots of low impact high resistance work (water and bike)
Sorry Lance, thanks for the good memories, but don't bite the hand that fed you for so long.