He does not deserve to be pilloried because he was recruited by Neeld or because Collingwood 'abandoned' him. They made a mistake and we benefitted.

About sums up the Chris Dawes situation. Captain ? no..Leadership ? does that even require a question

Ok, I am late to this thread because the premise is an over reaction and not going to happen but can we just cool off some of the rhetoric when it comes to injured players, especially ones that were recently recruited - he played through that and looked just awful in a couple because he wanted to be out there as we needed the body and the leadership. If we had a bell curve at this club to measure who was worth their cheque: Chris Dawes would rate very highly.

He does not deserve to be pilloried because he was recruited by Neeld or because Collingwood 'abandoned' him. They made a mistake and we benefitted.

That should please you more than it apparently does.

The Pies let him leave to play a forward structure they abandoned (there's that word again) because Lynch could not do what Dawes did not want to do, and play second ruck. They then added Witts and then Grundy to help Jolly then Hudson rather than have Lynch do it, and as the season wore on Ben Reid was more useful than Lynch.

He won't be captain but he IS a good player with a good playing record for 4 seasons previous to this injury riddled one and I am very glad that Rd 1, 2014 will see him stand near Jesse Hogan as he begins his career.

Not denying he wasn't a good get, but it's just ridiculous to think that Dawes should be captain because he's a premiership player and walked into this rabble because we gave him a good offer over someone like Nathan Jones who's worked and worked, seen so many players come and go and has had his face in the mud for several years. Recruiting players from successful clubs and giving them leadership performances in poor ones just doesn't sit well with me. Byrnes was a disappointment and showed little value. Dawes struggled with injury and seemed at times disinterested right from his first game V Gold Coast when he realised that no one could kick it to him at his new club. Mitch Clark in comparison has been a big success in the way he's gone about his footy, shame about his injuries though, really enjoyed being the focal point inside 50 in 2012. I'd trust him with a position of leadership before Dawes