Tom Scully

[rumpole 480]

Sadly we can appeal all we want. However, I cant see us get any better compensation than Geelong.

.. lets not forget the rules are version 2 ... Should add as you say ... all clubs agreed to them last year.

I sincerely hope our Board doesn't have the same negative attitude as you have on this.

Every case is different and WJ has put a strong case as to why losing someone like Scully at such an early stage of his career would warrant more compensation than for someone at the end of his career.

Pick 15 or 16 is not adequate compensation for the #1 pick.

[Jordie_tackles 354]

People are still using $$$$ as the motivation for any TS movement,

This is not what motivates the kid in my opinion,

TS will play where he think TS will be successful, and the best player TS can be

This may be MFC, he is imo working this out as we speek, hence him wanting 2 months to make up his mind

also TS does refer to himself in third person, it is a proven strategy to drive up market price!!! oh O

[Clanger King 9]

People are still using $$$$ as the motivation for any TS movement,

This is not what motivates the kid in my opinion,

TS will play where he think TS will be successful, and the best player TS can be

This may be MFC, he is imo working this out as we speek, hence him wanting 2 months to make up his mind

also TS does refer to himself in third person, it is a proven strategy to drive up market price!!! oh O

Yes and these are Tom Scully's own words.

"I'd love to end my career and say that I was a one-club player and I anticipate that'll be the case," he said. "The Melbourne footy club has given me a great opportunity and I'm very thankful that I'm in the position that I am.

"I wake up in the morning and I come to work and I love what I do. I'm just really looking forward to playing footy this year as well."

Quizzed as to how he could resist a possible $5 million over five years, Scully indicated that money was not a driving motivation.

"Well, it goes back to your values," he said. "The Melbourne footy club gave me an opportunity and I do love the club and I do love playing here. You can see where we're going -- we're heading in the right direction both on and off the field. I want to be part of the future here."

So it looks like he's happy....

Edited June 24, 2011 by Clanger King

[Guest hangon007]

Its 1/4 time

I sincerely hope our Board doesn't have the same negative attitude as you have on this.

Sorry you have mis-read my comments as "negative"

Every case is different and WJ has put a strong case as to why losing someone like Scully at such an early stage of his career would warrant more compensation than for someone at the end of his career.

Pick 15 or 16 is not adequate compensation for the #1 pick.

I agree with your comments re WJ.

However, when the umpire makes a decision and you agree to the decision in the first place.

Its very hard after the game is completed to then go back and complain. Especially when the umpire is bank-rolling the game.

Lets all just hope it doesn't come to that. Footy has started again.

Edited June 24, 2011 by hangon007

[Guest hangon007]

Yes and these are Tom Scully's own words.

"I'd love to end my career and say that I was a one-club player and I anticipate that'll be the case," he said. "The Melbourne footy club has given me a great opportunity and I'm very thankful that I'm in the position that I am.

"I wake up in the morning and I come to work and I love what I do. I'm just really looking forward to playing footy this year as well."

Quizzed as to how he could resist a possible $5 million over five years, Scully indicated that money was not a driving motivation.

"Well, it goes back to your values," he said. "The Melbourne footy club gave me an opportunity and I do love the club and I do love playing here. You can see where we're going -- we're heading in the right direction both on and off the field. I want to be part of the future here."

So it looks like he's happy....

Beautiful post sounds like we are 40-50-60% of the way there. Lets just get him all the way there.

However, some people wont want to believe Toms own words. But I have faith in him.

Go Dees.

[Demonic Ascent 0]

You can believe what you like, I'm just telling you what he told me. He also mentioned it during the general panel discussion.

Scully doesen't have to sign anything yet. He may have just agreed to a HOA which is not legally binding.

He could well change his mind when a contract is put in front of him. He could just be weighing up all options.

The Ox believes he has been offered 5M for 4 years at GWS and 700K at MFC.

The panel suggested that Bate and Morton could be good trade bait.

Don't take this as having a go at you as you are only relaying info you've heard but didn't Schwarz say the same thing about Green and/or Davey when they were negotiating their last contracts? Pretty sure Schwarz was on SEN every day during trade week saying they were gone.

Scully has said he hasn't signed anything or even spoken to anyone as of March 2011. He is running out tomorrow in the red and blue. At this stage that is enough for me.

[mpc 100]

You can believe what you like, I'm just telling you what he told me. He also mentioned it during the general panel discussion.

Scully doesen't have to sign anything yet. He may have just agreed to a HOA which is not legally binding.

He could well change his mind when a contract is put in front of him. He could just be weighing up all options.

The Ox believes he has been offered 5M for 4 years at GWS and 700K at MFC.

The panel suggested that Bate and Morton could be good trade bait.

I don't often post here, but I am a Trident member and read here quite often, but this post tipped me over the edge. I would just like to point out how ridiculous this is. 5 million dollars for 4 years. 1.25 million per year. Wouldn't that make Tom the highest paid player in the AFL? So indirectly this is suggesting that Tom is worth more than Chris Judd, Jonathon Brown, Buddy Franklin, Brendan Goddard, Garry Ablett, Jimmy Bartel, Luke Hodge, Dane Swan, Matthew Scarlet, Aaron Sandilands, Matthew Pavlich.

He is not even the best player in his own team, let alone the AFL. I would be very interested to find out what Jack Trengove, Jack Watts, James Frawley, Jack Grimes, Jordie McKenzie, Jordan Gysberts (side note: gee we have alot of players starting with the letter J) think about this whole ordeal.

[Striker475 696]

I don't often post here, but I am a Trident member and read here quite often, but this post tipped me over the edge. I would just like to point out how ridiculous this is. 5 million dollars for 4 years. 1.25 million per year. Wouldn't that make Tom the highest paid player in the AFL? So indirectly this is suggesting that Tom is worth more than Chris Judd, Jonathon Brown, Buddy Franklin, Brendan Goddard, Garry Ablett, Jimmy Bartel, Luke Hodge, Dane Swan, Matthew Scarlet, Aaron Sandilands, Matthew Pavlich.

He is not even the best player in his own team, let alone the AFL. I would be very interested to find out what Jack Trengove, Jack Watts, James Frawley, Jack Grimes, Jordie McKenzie, Jordan Gysberts (side note: gee we have alot of players starting with the letter J) think about this whole ordeal.

Related side note: by 2013 we will have 5 Jacks (Fitz, Watts, Trengove, Viney, Grimes) and 2 Jordan's (Gysberts, McKenzie). Plus, assuming he's still there, a Jake.

It's a very good point. That's why I reckon MFC's offer should seriously front-load his contract, thus we actually use the space from Scully's contract reducing to re-sign Trenners, Tappy, Watts et al. It's the only way I can see it not causing us suffering serious cap pain end of next year.

Edited June 24, 2011 by Striker475

[Demonic Ascent 0]

Related side note: by 2013 we will have 5 Jacks (Fitz, Watts, Trengove, Viney, Grimes) and 2 Jordan's (Gysberts, McKenzie). Plus, assuming he's still there, a Jake.

It's a very good point. That's why I reckon MFC's offer should seriously front-load his contract, thus we actually use the space from Scully's contract reducing to re-sign Trenners, Tappy, Watts et al. It's the only way I can see it not causing us suffering serious cap pain end of next year.

No doubt we will have to work some manouvers like this out which is why it is smart for Scully's management to advise him to concentrate on playing footy this year and sort this stuff out in the post-season. Despite the other reasons being thrown around (increasing his value by playing more games) I reckon these will be some tricky negotiations which could distract Scully from just playing in only his second year coming back from injury. Yes his managers will be doing the negotiating but they will still have to come back to Scully to weigh up the offers, he would want to discuss this with his folks etc

When other guys do this we accept it as part and parcel of the game (Sylvia, Morton, Watts, Davey, Green at other clubs Pavlich, Cloke etc) but due to the circumstances with GWS this year we have the media and supporters basically calling this kid, who appears to have as much integrity as anyone, a liar, traitor and mercenary despite the fact he has held a press conference at the start of the year specifically to try and put these rumours to bed and do everything but sign a new contract. It's ramped up in the last couple of weeks as well with those ambulance chasers Jon Ralph and Hutchy coming out and labelling him a traitor and liar. We should be stronger than this and stick by one of our young guns and show him the faith we expect him to repay to the club.

[Beetle 4,317]

Don't take this as having a go at you as you are only relaying info you've heard but didn't Schwarz say the same thing about Green and/or Davey when they were negotiating their last contracts? Pretty sure Schwarz was on SEN every day during trade week saying they were gone.

Scully has said he hasn't signed anything or even spoken to anyone as of March 2011. He is running out tomorrow in the red and blue. At this stage that is enough for me.

Schwarz is lucky to even have a job in the media...if you can even put SEN in that category.

The bloke can barely put a sentence together let alone give expert opinions..

[H_T 2,941]

However, when the umpire makes a decision and you agree to the decision in the first place.

Its very hard after the game is completed to then go back and complain. Especially when the umpire is bank-rolling the game.

Well Geelong did it before hand and it worked. Actually it wasn't that "hard".

[Crompton's the man 635]

I don't often post here, but I am a Trident member and read here quite often, but this post tipped me over the edge. I would just like to point out how ridiculous this is. 5 million dollars for 4 years. 1.25 million per year. Wouldn't that make Tom the highest paid player in the AFL? So indirectly this is suggesting that Tom is worth more than Chris Judd, Jonathon Brown, Buddy Franklin, Brendan Goddard, Garry Ablett, Jimmy Bartel, Luke Hodge, Dane Swan, Matthew Scarlet, Aaron Sandilands, Matthew Pavlich.

He is not even the best player in his own team, let alone the AFL. I would be very interested to find out what Jack Trengove, Jack Watts, James Frawley, Jack Grimes, Jordie McKenzie, Jordan Gysberts (side note: gee we have alot of players starting with the letter J) think about this whole ordeal.

I heard he'd been offered $8 million over two years ( pretty sure)

[Guest hangon007]

No doubt we will have to work some manouvers like this out which is why it is smart for Scully's management to advise him to concentrate on playing footy this year and sort this stuff out in the post-season. Despite the other reasons being thrown around (increasing his value by playing more games) I reckon these will be some tricky negotiations which could distract Scully from just playing in only his second year coming back from injury. Yes his managers will be doing the negotiating but they will still have to come back to Scully to weigh up the offers, he would want to discuss this with his folks etc

When other guys do this we accept it as part and parcel of the game (Sylvia, Morton, Watts, Davey, Green at other clubs Pavlich, Cloke etc) but due to the circumstances with GWS this year we have the media and supporters basically calling this kid, who appears to have as much integrity as anyone, a liar, traitor and mercenary despite the fact he has held a press conference at the start of the year specifically to try and put these rumours to bed and do everything but sign a new contract. It's ramped up in the last couple of weeks as well with those ambulance chasers Jon Ralph and Hutchy coming out and labelling him a traitor and liar. We should be stronger than this and stick by one of our young guns and show him the faith we expect him to repay to the club.

Very nice post.

[Guest hangon007]

Well Geelong did it before hand and it worked. Actually it wasn't that "hard".

Oops what you are missing "Geelong" got the rules changed ... before the umpire started the game. And I should add got the rest of the players to agree.

Hence was far more open to listening. B)

If you are suggesting the rules for game 1 & game 2 should be different, and hence disadvantage some clubs. Good luck with your quest.

[H_T 2,941]

Oops what you are missing Geelong got the rules changed ... before the umpire started the game. And I should add got the rest of the players to agree.

That's exactly what I was referring to in my post. That Geelong were successful in lobbying to have the concession/rules changed.

You should take more in when reading, when on your crusade.

But by all means, spin away and side step others challenges. It suits you to a tee.

[Guest hangon007]

That's exactly what I was referring to in my post. That Geelong were successful in lobbying to have the concession/rules changed.

You should take more in when reading, when on your crusade.

But by all means, spin away and side step others challenges. It suits you to a tee.

I could say the same to you. Hello we are already into game 2. Plus all players agreed. Good luck getting all players to agree.

I've never side stepped one "challenge." Why because it not a "challenge" ... its a bullies threat. A bully that has no patience.

But dont let me talk you out of "lobbying" the AFL. Again good luck with your quest.

[ICU2 Jerry Jerry 257]

Yes and these are Tom Scully's own words.

"I'd love to end my career and say that I was a one-club player and I anticipate that'll be the case," he said. "The Melbourne footy club has given me a great opportunity and I'm very thankful that I'm in the position that I am.

"I wake up in the morning and I come to work and I love what I do. I'm just really looking forward to playing footy this year as well."

Quizzed as to how he could resist a possible $5 million over five years, Scully indicated that money was not a driving motivation.

"Well, it goes back to your values," he said. "The Melbourne footy club gave me an opportunity and I do love the club and I do love playing here. You can see where we're going -- we're heading in the right direction both on and off the field. I want to be part of the future here."

So it looks like he's happy....

Good morning all,

Although I don't post very often, I read this forum every day for my Demon fix.

This thread (now in it's thousandth full circle) has seen me laugh, curse, agree, disagree, relate, facepalm, roll my eyes and pull my hair out all in the space of a few speculative and uninformed posts. Yet in a somewhat confusing and self depricating way it has been tremendously entertaining!

It has reached the point now that I can no longer cage my inner monologue to the silence that this thread deserves, and my own 2 cents find their way (rather sheepishly) thrown into the cluster$@ that is the "Melbourne Football Club Sky Is Falling Syndrome" thread of the year!

"MFCSIFS" should now be added to the list of Demonland acronyms to best describe the mentality of long suffering supporters and their morbid expectations that anything good happening to this club is undeserved and any moment now surely the bubble will be burst as a result.

Back to Tom Scully.

I can clearly remember walking across to Visy park from my house on a beatuful autum day to watch the Dees in a practice match this year in which Tom was playing after an injury interrupted early pre-season. All the SEN talk I listened to on the way to the ground was about the press confrence held the day previous in which Tom clearly stated he wanted to be a Demon and that he hadn't spoken to GWS.

I remember clearly the feeling of ease and comfort he put me in with his words and also clearly remember how the media were all immediately swayed to the opinion that Tom Scully will be a long term MFC star. The media drew parallels with Ablett from the year Previous, and all agreed that Gary never made a statement as committed, honest or as welcomed as Tom did.

We all felt assured, relieved and excited about the year ahead.

So what changed?

Time passed is all.

And in a year of higher expectation for our club (and the mixed bag of results thus far) we as a supporter group have been sucked into the media driven speculation that is created purely to feed "MFCSIFS" and in doing so wee keep SEN with plenty of talkback, the papers with plenty of opinion pieces to write and Hutchy with plenty of ammo for Garry on Footy Classifed. That's how it works people and you have all been sucked in.

To quote Ben Cousins "idle hands are the devils tools".

We as a supporter group have known all along that Tom will talk contracts at seasons end yet the time doth pass and the hands remain idle.

Cue the Devil and his speculation!

I would love to encourage the Demon faithful to have the belief that we are worthy and deserving of the period of success we are about to enjoy, of which Tom will play a major part.

We have earned it people. Puff your chest and dismiss the Scully rumour mongering for what it is.

[censored].

You know it makes sense (in my mind)

I'm Clay Sampson

Edited June 24, 2011 by Clay Sampson

[Luck Lucy 0]

Its 1/4 time

Sorry you have mis-read my comments as "negative"

I agree with your comments re WJ.

However, when the umpire makes a decision and you agree to the decision in the first place.

Its very hard after the game is completed to then go back and complain. Especially when the umpire is bank-rolling the game.

Lets all just hope it doesn't come to that. Footy has started again.

I think you've missed the point which is that Scully hasn't announced a decision one way or another, the game is not completed and the Ablett "precedent" is not a precedent that the so called "umpire" has made and which must be used in the event that Scully or any other player goes to GWS.

We all bemoan the absence of a Plan B in case the team does badly in a game of football. What WJ has outlined is a possible Plan B in case we can't secure our players and which appears to be within existing AFL rules. It's also one that can get the sympathy of the media and the public if put properly.

We should be promoting it and not poo hooing the concept.

[Captain Jack Jordan 32]

Just read the story about Dustin Martin living at Gary March's house . Sounds like he is doing an apprenticeship in mediocrity .Failing unfortunately .

[Theo 263]

I hope you are right. As I said all along I have faith in Tom & as I said above I'm sure the MFC ie CC & CS and anyone else involved there will do everything in there powers to keep him. I cant ask for anything more than that.

Go Dees

Regardless of what he media say, I've always felt that Tom will stay.

He is very close to his family.

GWS would be a souless club in the heart of Rugby League. It's a long way from home for Tom.

MFC are more likely to win a premiership before GWS.

Teammates at MFC when questioned don't have any hesitation in saying that he is staying.

He has good mates at MFC that played alongside him at Vic Metro.

Loyalty would definately be a factor weighing on his mind.

I wouldn't be surprised if D. Schwarz informants are just "playing with him" because he is Melb. and somewhat gullible.

If Tom stays I only hope MFC don't get sucked in and pay over the odds. He is not worth $700K. It would cause us heartache down the track when Watts, Trengove, Frawley and Co. are up for negotiations.

I would rather he go and we do what WJ says and go for the best compensation available.

[bush demon 1,899]

31 Reasons for Tom to stay. (thanks demonwiki)

Ron Barassi Sr.

1936-1940

Les Gibbs

1941-1942 Number 28 in 1939

Harry New

1944 Number 20 in 1945

Frank Hughes

1945

Stan Rule

1946-1950

Ron Barassi Jr.

1953-1964

Ray Groom

1965-1968 Number 15 from 1963-1964

Billy Barham

1974-1975

Paul Goss

1976

Peter Garratt

1978

Phil Carman

1979

Kelvin Templeton

1983-1985

Rod Keogh

1990-1992

Donald Cockatoo-Collins

1996-1998

Paul Wheatley

2000-2009

Tom Scully

2010-

[Whispering_Jack 28,009]

Regardless of what he media say, I've always felt that Tom will stay.

He is very close to his family.

GWS would be a souless club in the heart of Rugby League. It's a long way from home for Tom.

MFC are more likely to win a premiership before GWS.

Teammates at MFC when questioned don't have any hesitation in saying that he is staying.

He has good mates at MFC that played alongside him at Vic Metro.

Loyalty would definately be a factor weighing on his mind.

I wouldn't be surprised if D. Schwarz informants are just "playing with him" because he is Melb. and somewhat gullible.

If Tom stays I only hope MFC don't get sucked in and pay over the odds. He is not worth $700K. It would cause us heartache down the track when Watts, Trengove, Frawley and Co. are up for negotiations.

I would rather he go and we do what WJ says and go for the best compensation available.

Please don't get me wrong. I want us to keep Tom Scully. I think he will be very  good for us and us for him. A marquee player of the highest order and therefore worth paying over the odds to keep him at the club. Similarly, I've always believed it would be a tragedy for Tom Scully to go to GWS for a number of reasons even allowing for the fact that they will inevitably be in a position to pay him more dollars in the short term. We're looking at a player with years in front of him and certainly more than one contract in which he can maximize his ultimate worth.

However, I am advocating the club adopts what has been called "Plan B". Firstly, because if GWS knows that by pursuing second year players who were picked high in the draft it might jeopardise their hold on players like Patton or Coniglio then they might think twice.

Secondly, the MFC was once the competition's leading club with a profile higher than that of Collingwood. Unfortunately, it has over almost fifty years meekly conceded this position by accepting its fate over exactly such matters as the one facing it now with Tom Scully.  We lost Barassi and Alves for nothing. We gave away Wells and Spalding and got little . Jeff Farmer ... the list goes on and the compensation was always inadequate and we always copped it sweet. In many ways, we've been the AFL's  dishrag and the result is ... mediocrity. 

We've not tasted ultimate success because we've accepted that our fate has been proscribed: the umpire's made his decision. It's time to stand up and fight for our player this time.

[Guest hangon007]

I think you've missed the point which is that Scully hasn't announced a decision one way or another,

Ok. I hear what you are saying. If I'm guilty of anything I made the underling assumption that some people around here think that Scully had signed with GWS.

Which I've said from day 1 I dont believe.

the game is not completed and the Ablett "precedent" is not a precedent that the so called "umpire" has made and which must be used in the event that Scully or any other player goes to GWS.

Ok. Game 1 for me is over ie the GC17 draft. I accept the Ablett "precedent" is not exactly the same. Mainly based on my belief that many in Geelong had knowledge of the un-repairable internal struggle between coach and player. Which I should add we do not suffer from ... instead we suffer from the struggle here on Demonland.

Again as I've said all along I have faith in Tom & All internally at the MFC to get the best outcome for all.

We all bemoan the absence of a Plan B in case the team does badly in a game of football. What WJ has outlined is a possible Plan B in case we can't secure our players and which appears to be within existing AFL rules. It's also one that can get the sympathy of the media and the public if put properly.

We should be promoting it and not poo hooing the concept.

I was not "poo hooing" the concept. More I felt their was tooooo much water under the bridge to get the "umpire" to change his mind in the horrible event that we were to lose a player. As I said to High Tower dont let me talk you out of having a crack at Plan B.

[Guest hangon007]

Good morning all,

Although I don't post very often, I read this forum every day for my Demon fix.

This thread (now in it's thousandth full circle) has seen me laugh, curse, agree, disagree, relate, facepalm, roll my eyes and pull my hair out all in the space of a few speculative and uninformed posts. Yet in a somewhat confusing and self depricating way it has been tremendously entertaining!

It has reached the point now that I can no longer cage my inner monologue to the silence that this thread deserves, and my own 2 cents find their way (rather sheepishly) thrown into the cluster$@ that is the "Melbourne Football Club Sky Is Falling Syndrome" thread of the year!

"MFCSIFS" should now be added to the list of Demonland acronyms to best describe the mentality of long suffering supporters and their morbid expectations that anything good happening to this club is undeserved and any moment now surely the bubble will be burst as a result.

Back to Tom Scully.

I can clearly remember walking across to Visy park from my house on a beatuful autum day to watch the Dees in a practice match this year in which Tom was playing after an injury interrupted early pre-season. All the SEN talk I listened to on the way to the ground was about the press confrence held the day previous in which Tom clearly stated he wanted to be a Demon and that he hadn't spoken to GWS.

I remember clearly the feeling of ease and comfort he put me in with his words and also clearly remember how the media were all immediately swayed to the opinion that Tom Scully will be a long term MFC star. The media drew parallels with Ablett from the year Previous, and all agreed that Gary never made a statement as committed, honest or as welcomed as Tom did.

We all felt assured, relieved and excited about the year ahead.

So what changed?

Time passed is all.

And in a year of higher expectation for our club (and the mixed bag of results thus far) we as a supporter group have been sucked into the media driven speculation that is created purely to feed "MFCSIFS" and in doing so wee keep SEN with plenty of talkback, the papers with plenty of opinion pieces to write and Hutchy with plenty of ammo for Garry on Footy Classifed. That's how it works people and you have all been sucked in.

To quote Ben Cousins "idle hands are the devils tools".

We as a supporter group have known all along that Tom will talk contracts at seasons end yet the time doth pass and the hands remain idle.

Cue the Devil and his speculation!

I would love to encourage the Demon faithful to have the belief that we are worthy and deserving of the period of success we are about to enjoy, of which Tom will play a major part.

We have earned it people. Puff your chest and dismiss the Scully rumour mongering for what it is.

[censored].

You know it makes sense (in my mind)

I'm Clay Sampson

I'm with you all the way Clay. Look I dont want to get stuck into Hutchy toooo much, I understand he has a job to do. But from day 1 I felt he was wrong.

When people around here want to attack our players based on "idle media" speculation based on the self belief that TS would be lured to GWS because of the money I cant sit around and let that happen.

Many can insult me, bully me, challenge me, scream they want the damn answers today and dismiss me out of frustration. I hear them.

However, I'm a patient man ... But like you I will puff my chest out till the day I die to defend our players & my beloved Demons.

Go Dees

[Diablo Deemon 220]

I have advocated that Tom is gone and I must say I change my mind nearly every second day but I read the following article from today and oh how it warmed my heart.

Jordan Gysberts key to Melbourne's engine room

Scully said the Dees' '09 draft class shared a tight-knit friendship - brought closer during fortnightly dinners together.

"Hopefully over the next couple of years, you'll see all those guys playing in the same team and we will have a really special bond," he said.

"There is a real nucleus there in that group that can really go forward together.

"It is a pretty exciting group, with where we are at. Hopefully, over the next couple of years, we can draft some good quality players to add to that mix as well."