Liam Jurrah's attempt at a comeback

[robbiefrom13 892]

gotta keep our standards up, eh Hoges! Yassir, don't let up on the vigilance front..

An uncle of mine worked with a fella who served in the First World War, in the desert in North Africa at one stage. Walking along chatting to another digger who'd been a dentist before joining up, my uncle's mate Albert was complaining of terrible tooth ache he'd been having.

"Don't let the army dentists at you," advised the dentist, "wait till you get home; then get the whole lot out and get falsies like the rest of us." So Albert trudged on, and they walked through an old battle-field with skeletons poking up through the sand. One skull had a perfect set of teeth, and Albert remarked on this, and they stopped to admire them.

"Do you reckon I could take out those teeth, and get them made up into a set for meself?" Albert asked the dentist. The dentist thought this might be possible, so they set to work with bayonets and prised all the teeth out of the skull, and put them in a tobacco tin, and then resumed their march. Albert forgot all about them.

After the war was over, and Albert was back in peaceful Western Australia in a train going home to see his wife and two small children, his thoughts turned to the idea of wrapping his arms around his wife, who he hadn't seen for some years; and he thought about the children standing there too, and he hardly knew them and they'd be looking at him, and no doubt a bit unsure... and all he wanted was to get his arms round his wife. What to do? He pictured them all together on the platform, and all he could think of was his wife. As he thought about it, Albert hit upon the scheme of giving the children the presents he'd brought home for them, and while they were occupied opening them he could give his wife the hug he'd been dreaming of. That would surely work...

So Albert fished around in his kit-bag, to find the presents for the kids and put them at the top, and in doing so his hand closed on a tobacco tin. "What's this?" he thought, and opening it saw the dead man's teeth. Albert told my uncle that he almost vomited on the spot, and hurled them tin and all out the window and sat there shaking uncontrollably. What had seemed a perfectly reasonable and even clever idea in the context of the war, suddenly - in peaceful country Australia with a wife and children waiting for him, whom he would smile at and kiss, daily for the rest of his life - Albert wondered what sort of a monster he'd become while in that war zone.

Albert was a real nice bloke, according to my uncle.

Getting Liam back into Melbourne, surrounded with his other life, and supported by people who rate him and who reinforce his identity as a magician on the footy field, part of a team that is not divided and dangerous but rather supportive and focused on forming character and teamwork and achieving positive goals - it could close the door on what he did in a previous life. We who were not there as part of the other world he has lived in, we cannot have any idea - but surely we can recognise that not everyone who did terrible things in a war zone is an unredeemable monster.

Let him return to a place he apparently would prefer to be in! And shuttup pretending you have never strayed to the dumb side of the harmless little situations you've found yourself in!

[Little Goffy 14,639]

I suspect most would feel that way, and I thought for a minute before posting it.

As I said it's just me, it's just a weak act and I have a low tolerance for moronic Neanderthals. I'm loyal to a point.

Yeah, I'm with you on this. The thing about domestic violence is that it is a direct abuse of, an exploitation of, loyalty.

People only get away with it because of the 'loyalty' of their partner and the 'loyalty' of friends and family who stay quiet on it.

If someone takes advantage of loyalty and uses it as a pivot for abuse, then loyalty must evaporate.

If nothing else, as a signal to others - social deterrence works a lot better than penal system deterrance.

[Arrow 1,257]

If we draft him, I'll seriously reconsider my membership. Not just the assault, people forget he completely turned his back on us when we offered support, he's clearly addicted to drugs and still drink drives. The guy is a head case. If drinking a beer and having a smoke stops Garlett from getting drafted, I've got a better chance than Liam. Move on all, we gave the guy the chance of a lifetime and for a variety of reasons he let himself and us down. Move along.

[old dee 23,872]

If we draft him, I'll seriously reconsider my membership. Not just the assault, people forget he completely turned his back on us when we offered support, he's clearly addicted to drugs and still drink drives. The guy is a head case. If drinking a beer and having a smoke stops Garlett from getting drafted, I've got a better chance than Liam. Move on all, we gave the guy the chance of a lifetime and for a variety of reasons he let himself and us down. Move along.

Your membership is safe Arrow

Save your worrying for things that have a chance of happening!

Edited November 17, 2013 by old dee

[bing181 9,328]

The thing about domestic violence is that it is a direct abuse of, an exploitation of, loyalty.

None of the cases Jurrah has been involved in concern domestic violence.

[dazzledavey36 55,319]

Still cannot believe Jurrah is still brought as a possible recruit for us again...

Let it go

[Earl Hood 6,101]

If we draft him, I'll seriously reconsider my membership. Not just the assault, people forget he completely turned his back on us when we offered support, he's clearly addicted to drugs and still drink drives. The guy is a head case. If drinking a beer and having a smoke stops Garlett from getting drafted, I've got a better chance than Liam. Move on all, we gave the guy the chance of a lifetime and for a variety of reasons he let himself and us down. Move along.

Very understanding of you for his circumstances! But ultimately I agree let us move on. The jump from Yuendemu to the 21st century was too much but only because his own community disintegrated and dragged him in to their mess. Jimmy Stynes always said he was making a bigger jump than Jimmy did to make it in the AFL. It didn't work unfortunately but gee imagine if it had. Liam at his best was something we have rarely seen before. Breathtaking I say but it is gone. Time to move on.

[btdemon 482]

If we draft him, I'll seriously reconsider my membership. Not just the assault, people forget he completely turned his back on us when we offered support, he's clearly addicted to drugs and still drink drives. The guy is a head case. If drinking a beer and having a smoke stops Garlett from getting drafted, I've got a better chance than Liam. Move on all, we gave the guy the chance of a lifetime and for a variety of reasons he let himself and us down. Move along.

If we draft him I'd pay two memberships. With pleasure

Edited November 17, 2013 by btdemon

[Whispering_Jack 30,641]

gotta keep our standards up, eh Hoges! Yassir, don't let up on the vigilance front..

An uncle of mine worked with a fella who served in the First World War, in the desert in North Africa at one stage. Walking along chatting to another digger who'd been a dentist before joining up, my uncle's mate Albert was complaining of terrible tooth ache he'd been having.

"Don't let the army dentists at you," advised the dentist, "wait till you get home; then get the whole lot out and get falsies like the rest of us." So Albert trudged on, and they walked through an old battle-field with skeletons poking up through the sand. One skull had a perfect set of teeth, and Albert remarked on this, and they stopped to admire them.

"Do you reckon I could take out those teeth, and get them made up into a set for meself?" Albert asked the dentist. The dentist though this might be possible, so they set to work with bayonets and prised all the teeth out of the skull, and put them in a tobacco tin, and then resumed their march. Albert forgot all about them.

After the war was over, and Albert was back in peaceful Western Australia in a train going home to see his wife and two small children, his thoughts turned to the idea of wrapping his arms around his wife, who he hadn't seen for some years; and he thought about the children standing there too, and he hardly knew them and they'd be looking at him, and no doubt a bit unsure... and all he wanted was to get his arms round his wife. What to do? He pictured them all together on the platform, and all he could think of was his wife. As he thought about it, Albert hit upon the scheme of giving the children the presents he'd brought home for them, and while they were occupied opening them he could give his wife the hug he'd been dreaming of. That would surely work...

So Albert fished around in his kit-bag, to find the presents for the kids and put them at the top, and in doing so his hand closed on a tobacco tin. "What's this?" he thought, and opening it saw the dead man's teeth. Albert told my uncle that he almost vomited on the spot, and hurled them tin and all out the window and sat there shaking uncontrollably. What had seemed a perfectly reasonable and even clever idea in the context of the war, suddenly, in peaceful country Australia with a wife and children waiting for him, whom he would smile at and kiss daily for the rest of his life, Albert wondered what sort of a monster he'd become while in that war zone.

Albert was a real nice bloke, according to my uncle.

Getting Liam back into Melbourne, surrounded with his other life, and supported by people who rate him and who reinforce his identity as a magician on the footy field, part of a team that is not divided and dangerous but rather supportive and focused on forming character and teamwork and achieving positive goals - it could close the door on what he did in a previous life. We who were not there as part of the other world he has lived in, we cannot have any idea - but surely we can recognise that not everyone who did terrible things in a war zone is an unredeemable monster.

Let him return to a place he apparently would prefer to be in! And shuttup pretending you have never strayed to the dumb side of the harmless little situations you've found yourself in!

Nicely put but as we can observe from some of the posts here, there are those who will not see.

I don't post about Liam's performances and his glory on the footy field with his teammates to in any way diminish the dark events of the past year or two. There's been pain for both Liam and others including his shattered community. If however, he's trying to get his life back on track then why not support him? That said, I do believe that if he's ever given another chance to play at elite level it will probably be considered a miracle.

[Pitchy 196]

Andrew Demetriou wants him back playing AFL. Won't be a miracle to see him given a chance.

[Freddy Fuschia 747]

If Vlad wants it then there's a good chance he'll get it. He already owns one AFL Club (us) and with a number of others on the breadline because of the way the competition runs, he'll soon own half a dozen. Then he can simply direct who takes what players.

[daisycutter 29,738]

Andrew Demetriou wants him back playing AFL. Won't be a miracle to see him given a chance.

personally i think what he has said is not really sincere, just playing to the grandstands

[Bedraggled Dee 336]

Not a chance in hell Jurrah could get on an AFL list. I doubt he could find a VFL team to take the punt. That being said I recon he is a freakishly talented bloke who potentially could tear the competition apart and generate millions of dollars in exposure and sponsorship for the club.

The sad reality or me is that I believe it is highly unlikely that an AFL team will recruit talented indignous players from remote communities in the future. The low percentage that make it through the system to become consitent players means the risk is not worth it. You could name any number of players like Jurrah and Aussie as case studies. I actually think that Matt Rendell was correct in elements of the comments he got sacked for, ie his view that without some serious work by the AFL to better prepare young indignous players for the rigours of the AFL system they will be lost to it. Rendell was advocatting some intensive development and asistance for young indiginous players to try an close the gap between their existing cultural norms and attitudes and those demanded of a professional AFL athelete. I dont believe clubs will recruit indignious players because of this perceived sterotype and that should not be the case. Ironically I think the outcry and finger pointing that led to Rendells sacking has negatively impacted on opportunities for indiginous players rather than positively impacted on any racial stereotypes. It will intersting to look at the profiles of the next few years of trades, delistings and drafts and compare them with the ones through the late 2000's and see what proportion are indiginous and how many of those are from the outback.

As a club was very proud of the work and effort done by Jimmy and Co to try and understand and show respect to Jurra and his culture and it is a shame for all young player that try to follow Jurrah that he has let them down so badly.

[Chook 15,022]

I agree 100% with everything you just wrote, BD. I couldn't have said it better myself.

[robbiefrom13 892]

I agree 100% with everything you just wrote, BD. I couldn't have said it better myself.

I agree with most of what Bedraggled Dee wrote, too - it's true; but I think it is only the empty half of the glass.

The title of this thread remains a true statement too. It is not effectively rebutted by simply reiterating how Jurrah's glass was half emptied. Jurrah was Territorian of the Year (or whatever the title was), and shortlisted for something like Young Australian of the Year; he came to Melbourne with an extraordinary profile, not just talked up by the likes of Rudeboy but also people like Jimmy Stynes, Martin Flanagan, etc etc. There is real substance in the backstory. Maybe it would now take a miracle, or a chance in hell - but that's exactly the sort of player - and maybe person too - that Jurrah was when he was at Melbourne.

If Liam Jurrah really has set his eyes on something, anyone who remembers him on the footy field should know how dumb it is to suppose he isn't able to make it happen. No matter what might appear obvious. Me, I have no idea, but I hesitate to assume I know, when it's Liam Jurrah we are considering. He was not stock-standard. Why would we feel good about pigeon-holing a guy who conformed to nobody's mould, and who thrilled us as he brushed aside "can't"? What is your point in trying to hose down his aim here?

Edited November 21, 2013 by robbiefrom13

[Bedraggled Dee 336]

Robbie

Its not a case of hosing him down its just an opinion on why Jurrah will never be drafted in the AFL.

If Jimmy and Mclardy where still at the helm with their altruisitic outooks and backgrounds I would say he may have a glimmer of a chance, but with the iron pragmatism of PJ and Roos now steering the SS Demon there is absolutely positively nil null zero chance of Jurrah getting a gig.

I actually agree with your take on Jurrah, I think for all his faults and failings underneath it all he has the qualities of a great leader and the ability to be anything he sets his mnd to but playing AFL is now beyond even him. His last opportunity came via Port Adelaide and he blew it.

[robbiefrom13 892]

thanks BD.

[Dee Fan 3,247]

Absolutely blew it, he had the chance, he went to where he felt best served him and his family and then just walked away from the lifeline they offered. How could any club take him seriously in future; why would you waste a precious spot on the list in the hope he decided to get serious.

[Sir Why You Little 37,126]

I think the case is now closed.

It was a great thing to recruit him but it ultimately failed the night he went back to Alice.

His career was over that night he left.

[btdemon 482]

I, for one, would love to see him rookied. Are the rookie spots so precious that we couldn't have a speculative punt? Even with his difficult circumstances he is more of a chance to blossom than some of the guys we have recently rookied. He was a tremendously popular player with team mates and If he was living back in Melbourne it might be his best chance of living a stable life. Bring it on.

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,939]

I'd put him on the rookie list just so he stops drink driving, getting smashed and/or high and get him off the darts.

[DeeSpencer 26,081]

I'd put him on the rookie list just so he stops drink driving, getting smashed and/or high and get him off the darts.

And how would the rookie list achieve that?

The only way to achieve even some of that is to get him in Melbourne full time, with no return to Alice or Yeuendumu and as little contact with his family and community as possible. And that's just unfair. He was doing well but all it took was a couple of injuries and a few trips home and he fell apart.

I don't blame Liam. I just see the reality as being to make it to AFL from his position would be a miracle. Imagine realising that your choice is pretty much completely disowning you family and culture and playing AFL or not. Maybe that's achievable if your family is a wealthy set of parents and siblings who you dont really need to see and you don't have a culture but when your family is a wide collection of desperate people fighting each other and you have significant cultural obligations then it's pretty hard to stay away from that.

Edited November 23, 2013 by the master

[Moonshadow 17,677]

I'd put him on the rookie list just so he stops drink driving, getting smashed and/or high and get him off the darts.

Perhaps the dumbest post ever.

[dazzledavey36 55,319]

I'd put him on the rookie list just so he stops drink driving, getting smashed and/or high and get him off the darts.

So you think a rookie list spot would just totally turn him around as a person...

[jumbo returns 6,741]

Perhaps the dumbest post ever.

Like.