I know there are a number of posts discussing Scully and Morton. I am not intending a forum discussion here to analyse whether either of them will leave. Rather this is a discussion about the possibility of a team that has languished at the bottom of the ladder for 4 years having pick #1 and pick #4 leaving the club within 2 and 4 years respectively. Is this what the AFL envisaged when they set up the draft, then compensation, then two new teams? I would argue that the AFL should do everything in their power to avoid this situation as it goes against all intentions of the draft.

It's our own fault if either leave. Create the culture they will stay.

By the way I think Morton's more likely to leave than Scully.

Question? our A grade stocks are down, Morton can't get a game in the senior side. We could have dafted Rioli. Will Cale step up to the plate?

It's our own fault if either leave. Create the culture they will stay.

By the way I think Morton's more likely to leave than Scully.

By what way do you determine that?

By what way do you determine that?

Unsettled, maybe doesnt see his spot in the starting line up, doesnt want to be the whipping boy, take an easier offer form a club making promises we wont, money

Scully will get what he wants essentially at any club he goes to, money, starting 23, leader

in answer to the poll.. I marked C...the AFL doesn t give a rats...it probably didnt think all sceanrios through in the first place and doesnt really care now its happened etc. They are all about franchising.. Its business to them. They want to broaden the horizons and collateral damage to established clubs is just too bad for them.

Vlad just wants to win the p!ssing contest !!

It's our own fault if either leave. Create the culture they will stay.

By the way I think Morton's more likely to leave than Scully.

You're right - Geelong has a terrible culture of losing.

My first preference would be to hold onto our players, however, if they choose to go then i would be happy to trade both for the first pick in this draft - Stephen Coniglio or Johnathon patton would be great to pick ups.

You're right - Geelong has a terrible culture of losing.

If your point is Ablett you are a goose.

He had achieved everything he could at the Cats and was offered the pot of gold. He also had a serious falling out with the coach and if word is correct may well have stayed had he known Thompson would leave.

Morton leaving, at this stage of his development, is not a terrible loss to us. Nothing to whinge about on that front.

Scully leaving is quite obviously an enormous loss, but there is merit to the argument that it will be our fault. All GWS has to offer that we don't is money. And loads of it. We, on the other hand, have tradition, the city of Melbourne, players he's been with for the last two years, a more even side that won't put him on a pedestal as a marketing tool nor as a captain nor as a focal leader of the midfield, and a kind of somewhat brightish future.

If we can't sell this club over a soulless creation that has nothing but money, then there is some fault here.

Player comings and goings isn't an the AFL's issue, this will happen at all clubs. In any event (maybe I've missed something) but am unaware that there is any confirmed evidence of either of the players mentioned leaving.

I would expect however that when our recruiting folks together with our list management people, have been put in a position of great advantage in securing a high first round draft picks, they are, at worst, partially accountable for the use and eventual outcome.

If and its a big if, if Moreton and Scully walked it wouldn't be a good outcome.

it's painful to listen to some of you guys. You know nothing about football. 'Its our fault for not creating a culture that wants players to stay'...wtf...When Scully is being offered 3 times his normal pay packet then culture schmulture there is nothing we can do!!!

Secondly, if we lose Scully (i hope not) or Morton (i hope so) we are not going to get anything decent for them. We will get maybe a top 10 pick for scully around pick 7, 8 or 9 and next to nothing for Morton.

If your point is Ablett you are a goose.

He had achieved everything he could at the Cats and was offered the pot of gold. He also had a serious falling out with the coach and if word is correct may well have stayed had he known Thompson would leave.

Oh, so what you're saying is that players CAN leave clubs for reasons OTHER than a poor club culture, but only when it isn't the exact instance you are talking about because it disproves your point.

Gotcha.

You're right - Geelong has a terrible culture of losing.

You don't have to be losing to have a bad culture.

But that's not even the point. Roost It expressed himself wrongly. Ablett left because he, in part, had fallen out with the coach, but also because he had done everything he could at Geelong. The Gold Coast offered a new phase for his career. The money was a part of that, but so too was the challenge of playing for a club without the super midfield support, leading the club, being with a club from its inception, and being at an interstate club, away from Victorian press.

Scully's situation is almost entirely different. Scully has achieved none of what Ablett did. And the lure to GWS is quite different to GC's bait for Ablett. Coupled together, Scully's situation is fundamentally down to whether, at his age, he can resist the truckload of money he will get from GWS. In order for us to make him do that, we need to present our club as being rich in other things (use the word 'culture' if you want). If he goes, then we won't have done that well enough.

I completely agree with that, I've said the same thing many times myself.

But bleating about the club having a terrible culture, and that is the sole excuse for us losing any players, is not correct.

That isn't exactly what he said, but not far from it.

It's the incessant whining that annoys me.

I completely agree with that, I've said the same thing many times myself.

But bleating about the club having a terrible culture, and that is the sole excuse for us losing any players, is not correct.

That isn't exactly what he said, but not far from it.

It's the incessant whining that annoys me.

You can't handle the truth.

Our culture is our weakest element both on and off the field. Do you think a club with a strong culture would have one of their most senior and well paid players squib a relatively soft contest during such a crucial game. Worse still he'll probably play next week.

Out of Moloney and Davey I know who I'd cut from the leadership group.

You can hark on all you like but the fact remains we have a poor culture and it hampers us all the time.

That's the excuse people use when they are at a loss to explain something using more tangible reasons.

Culture's an easy scapegoat for you.

It let's you pretend you actually have a clue.

As for Davey, it was pathetic to watch, but one incident is not indicative of culture.