Sam Newman's comments on Mitch Clark

[jackaub 1,402]

If ever we needed reminding of the dangers related to mental health issues what happened in the Walsh home last Friday was incomprehensibly tragic.

I am in no way comparing that to the Mitch situation. Simply saying mental issues take people to dark, dark places and no-one knows how those issues might play out.

Its possible that some/many of us would have a personal connection to a situation where a person's mental health issues resulted in tragic consequences for them or people close to them

So, I feel it is time we all found some compassion for Mitch and let him deal with his issues with privacy and dignity. We can't control what the media do or idiots like Sam say but we can control what we write in this forum.

I would like to see our moderators shut down this thread.

I thought most on here had already done that but he chose to come back, resume his career and put his body and emotions through it all again at Geelong. Should have retired!

[Uncle Fester 2,848]

If ever we needed reminding of the dangers related to mental health issues what happened in the Walsh home last Friday was incomprehensibly tragic.

I am in no way comparing that to the Mitch situation. Simply saying mental issues take people to dark, dark places and no-one knows how those issues might play out.

Its possible that some/many of us would have a personal connection to a situation where a person's mental health issues resulted in tragic consequences for them or people close to them

So, I feel it is time we all found some compassion for Mitch and let him deal with his issues with privacy and dignity. We can't control what the media do or idiots like Sam say but we can control what we write in this forum.

I would like to see our moderators shut down this thread.

That's pretty deep. It's also annoying. So what if some of the posters are [censored] off at the way Mitch left us? Do you really think he's going to read Demonland and burst into tears? Do you really think he even knows this place exists? Sheesh, this is just a bunch of people in a pub talking footy and all things related, and Mitch happens to be an interesting subject to some. We are not The HS or AFL 360.

I'd suggest that if you don't like the thread then you shouldn't read it, and let the mods weed out the truly offensive stuff, while letting the good, bad, and (tolerably) ugly stuff be hashed out by those interested until something more interesting is found.

[What 18,810]

Thats bad luck for him if his career is over

I stopped feeling any animosity toward him when he cried after the game earlier in the season... clearly hes got some mental issues that affect him a lot.

I wish him all the best

And I thank Roosy for getting us the great Prince Heritier in return

[Meggs 598]

Roosy marketing him as our best or equal best player was v clever.

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

Like a lot of people I stopped being angry at him a long time ago.

[The Chazz 4,077]

My anger eased after he got injured.

Since we beat them the other week, I now have the DILLIGAF attitude...

[Demon trucker 1,800]

They can try and hate him, but I seriously doubt that society will let them.

Blokes like Clark are the heroes of the world we live in, they are considered strong, brave and courageous.

Forget those that get burned along the way. I reckon he'd be a good fit pairing up with Belle Gibson.

no he no hero most don't respect mentally weak, that's why people sleage to see if they are mentally weak.

[Curry & Beer 5,444]

I'm not sure it's appropriate to suggest that CB would prefer Mitch Clark dead. Nor do I think it's appropriate to use the recent tragedy to further your own agenda. Regardless, my view is that if Mitch Clark wasn't 'mentally stable' (for lack of a better term) enough to continue at Melbourne, then he shouldn't have continued his AFL career at all. If Mitch Clark was willing to work in a high pressure environment like the AFL, and subject himself to the pressures of the media, then there is no doubt in my mind that he could have continued at Melbourne. If he had expressed even the slightest desire to repay the faith the Melbourne Football Club showed him, then he would have had the support of thousands of fans, including me. Instead, he chose to leave, and that is why I have zero respect for him.

Thank you Sir

[Curry & Beer 5,444]

That's pretty deep. It's also annoying. So what if some of the posters are [censored] off at the way Mitch left us? Do you really think he's going to read Demonland and burst into tears? Do you really think he even knows this place exists? Sheesh, this is just a bunch of people in a pub talking footy and all things related, and Mitch happens to be an interesting subject to some. We are not The HS or AFL 360.

I'd suggest that if you don't like the thread then you shouldn't read it, and let the mods weed out the truly offensive stuff, while letting the good, bad, and (tolerably) ugly stuff be hashed out by those interested until something more interesting is found.

Well said. The idea that poor old Mitch needs to be 'protected' from our opinions about the way he treated our club is frankly laughable.

[Curry & Beer 5,444]

Few points.

I wouldn't be on my pedastal because i always had the thought his body was always going to fail him. In late 2013 early 2014 pre season he had a string of soft tissue injuries that would just plague him for the rest of his career. He will never play 22 games in a year. I had the inkling back then he would battle soft tissue injuries but didn't want to really believe it because at the same time i was excited about the Hogan Clark combo.. turns out that never happened either.

Another point as i pointed out him leaving was a blessing in disguise. We got H Lumumba out of it and Clark is injury riddled.

Its completely irrelevant now that he did a number at the club because if he had stayed you would be carrying on and whinging like you are now on how he rarely gets on the park and what a waste pick 12 was.

End of the day we didn't lose anything out of Mitch Clark leaving so i don't understand the fuss.

Well you've ignored my whole point - which is that just because it has NOW turned out to be no big loss, it doesn't excuse what he did.... and it was still a loss anyway... of pick 12 and millions of coin... like I said.

[Moonshadow 17,678]

FMD. Nate Jones and the other players can get around him and not hold pathetic grudges. A lot of people here need to seriously grow up.

[Radar Detector 1,347]

Lucifer's Hero, this is not a comment directed at you in particular but I feel like the moral police on this site have been out in full voice more so than ever this year. Much of the tone frustrates me as the excessive PC I believe perpetuates a culture whereby people don't have to take responsibility for their own poor behaviour. This has permeated a number of threads recently and I find it particularly annoying.

[nutbean 8,838]

I am not in the game of second guessing medical advice ( so that's exactly what I am going to do).

I have never doubted that MC suffered depression and I understand the seriousness of the affliction

I understand the pressures that AFL can take on the mind and especially when the body failing exacerbates the mental health issue.

I understand the thinking behind the move in clubs but question it - MC removing himself from the club which has won a handful of games only in the last 5 years and moving to a more successful environment. Taking out of the equation that success may be fleeting and last years champions can become this years chumps, I challenge the thinking behind this.

To me you are mentally able to endure the rigors of AFL or you are not. The move to Geelong - they are now sliding ? How does that affect his mental health - they could end up with a prolonged period of failure as have the MFC. What about Geelong making the Grand Final and then getting towelled up ? How would affect the mind ? Was there any consideration that some fans are going to boo MC and even go out of their way to make there anger known about him jettisoning the club ? How would that affect his mental well being.

To repeat - I question the advice he was given. You are either mentally able to endure AFL or you are not.

[Little Richard 6,265]

They can try and hate him, but I seriously doubt that society will let them.

Blokes like Clark are the heroes of the world we live in, they are considered strong, brave and courageous.

Forget those that get burned along the way. I reckon he'd be a good fit pairing up with Belle Gibson.

[Uncle Fester 2,848]

FMD. Nate Jones and the other players can get around him and not hold pathetic grudges. A lot of people here need to seriously grow up.

For me it's not about that. I really don't care these days: he isn't superman leading Geelong to another flag; he didn't come out and kick ten against us a couple of weeks ago and rub our noses in it; we got a pretty fair deal out of the trading of horses we did. Now I'm not crying that he is injured and might never be the player that he should be, but I'm not gloating either. He is pretty 'meh' to me these days and I only opened the thread because I wondered what prompted a new bunch of posts in an old thread.

However (and this was the point of my original response) I am so sick and bloody tired of so many special petunias demanding threads be closed the moment they see an opinion or two they don't like. The mods delete without fear or favour offensive posts and close threads that turn into mindless bickering pretty quickly, yet barely a week goes by without some SJW making a stand and demanding the thread be closed because the subject hurt their widdle feelings.

I don't think I've ever been on a forum where so many stage for a free kick, and I think it's reasonable that they are occasionally told to drink a cup of cement and harden the [censored] up.

[Moonshadow 17,678]

For me it's not about that. I really don't care these days: he isn't superman leading Geelong to another flag; he didn't come out and kick ten against us a couple of weeks ago and rub our noses in it; we got a pretty fair deal out of the trading of horses we did. Now I'm not crying that he is injured and might never be the player that he should be, but I'm not gloating either. He is pretty 'meh' to me these days and I only opened the thread because I wondered what prompted a new bunch of posts in an old thread.

However (and this was the point of my original response) I am so sick and bloody tired of so many special petunias demanding threads be closed the moment they see an opinion or two they don't like. The mods delete without fear or favour offensive posts and close threads that turn into mindless bickering pretty quickly, yet barely a week goes by without some SJW making a stand and demanding the thread be closed because the subject hurt their widdle feelings.

I don't think I've ever been on a forum where so many stage for a free kick, and I think it's reasonable that they are occasionally told to drink a cup of cement and harden the [censored] up.

Please point out where I said the thread should be closed? Seems to me that you might just be the petunia grandstanding. My point was that there are still people posting who whinge and hold a grudge about MC. Time to get over it, maybe even drink a cup of cement, as you say.

[Uncle Fester 2,848]

Please point out where I said the thread should be closed? Seems to me that you might just be the petunia grandstanding. My point was that there are still people posting who whinge and hold a grudge about MC. Time to get over it, maybe even drink a cup of cement, as you say.

I didn't. My OP was to Lucifier's Hero. I was using your post to clarify something I should have done in an earlier post. Your post seemed a pretty good point to use to differentiate my self from the love MC/ hate MC camp, and sit somewhere in the middle, legs crossed and meditating, in the hate PC and SJW camp.

[Moonshadow 17,678]

I didn't. My OP was to Lucifier's Hero. I was using your post to clarify something I should have done in an earlier post. Your post seemed a pretty good point to use to differentiate my self from the love MC/ hate MC camp, and sit somewhere in the middle, legs crossed and meditating, in the hate PC and SJW camp.

That's a lot of camp posters Fester....

[Pipefitter 2,217]

Even if he was leading the coleman i'd still be happy he was gone, mainly due to his instagram photos.

[dazzledavey36 55,982]

I am not in the game of second guessing medical advice ( so that's exactly what I am going to do).

I have never doubted that MC suffered depression and I understand the seriousness of the affliction

I understand the pressures that AFL can take on the mind and especially when the body failing exacerbates the mental health issue.

I understand the thinking behind the move in clubs but question it - MC removing himself from the club which has won a handful of games only in the last 5 years and moving to a more successful environment. Taking out of the equation that success may be fleeting and last years champions can become this years chumps, I challenge the thinking behind this.

To me you are mentally able to endure the rigors of AFL or you are not. The move to Geelong - they are now sliding ? How does that affect his mental health - they could end up with a prolonged period of failure as have the MFC. What about Geelong making the Grand Final and then getting towelled up ? How would affect the mind ? Was there any consideration that some fans are going to boo MC and even go out of their way to make there anger known about him jettisoning the club ? How would that affect his mental well being.

To repeat - I question the advice he was given. You are either mentally able to endure AFL or you are not.

I am not in the game of second guessing medical advice ( so that's exactly what I am going to do).

I have never doubted that MC suffered depression and I understand the seriousness of the affliction

I understand the pressures that AFL can take on the mind and especially when the body failing exacerbates the mental health issue.

I understand the thinking behind the move in clubs but question it - MC removing himself from the club which has won a handful of games only in the last 5 years and moving to a more successful environment. Taking out of the equation that success may be fleeting and last years champions can become this years chumps, I challenge the thinking behind this.

To me you are mentally able to endure the rigors of AFL or you are not. The move to Geelong - they are now sliding ? How does that affect his mental health - they could end up with a prolonged period of failure as have the MFC. What about Geelong making the Grand Final and then getting towelled up ? How would affect the mind ? Was there any consideration that some fans are going to boo MC and even go out of their way to make there anger known about him jettisoning the club ? How would that affect his mental well being.

To repeat - I question the advice he was given. You are either mentally able to endure AFL or you are not.

This.

I honestly think Mitch tried to be the 'feel good story' out of all this. He wanted to come back to footy and prove that you can open up about depression and play good football aswell. I think the sledging against Hawthorn and crowd constant booing him caught him off guard. Surely he must question whether he has made the right choice coming back?

When your coming back into the high demanding pressure of AFL spotlight you gotta know what to expect in terms of media, supporters booing over the fence etc.. how he can say he is in the right mind set and be told to go to another environment where its just as intense as Geelong is seriously questionable from a medical point of view.

[Elusive Tunbridge 795]

Lucifer's Hero, this is not a comment directed at you in particular but I feel like the moral police on this site have been out in full voice more so than ever this year. Much of the tone frustrates me as the excessive PC I believe perpetuates a culture whereby people don't have to take responsibility for their own poor behaviour. This has permeated a number of threads recently and I find it particularly annoying.

Where you have moral crims you will have moral police. I've got my eye on you, RD.

[praha 11,253]

I stopped feeling any animosity toward him when he cried after the game earlier in the season... clearly hes got some mental issues that affect him a lot.

crying <=> mental issue

get off it!

[Little Goffy 14,785]

What is this?

People are STILL banging on about this?

Someone thought it was a good idea to bump the thread just to make a point about how we shouldn't be talking about it? And did so by suggesting that Mitch Clark's depression and related decisions are analogous to a guy apparently freaking out on drugs and stabbing his father to death?

Yeah, I had complex and uncertain feelings about this whole situation as it happened, particularly being anxious that depression was coming across like it was an excuse. the whole thing was very badly communicated from Mitch's end (I'd query his manager's role in all of this).

But seriously, anyone still hung up about this, years later, after it all turned out ok for us... take a deep breath and get back to living.

[picket fence 18,043]

Well said. The idea that poor old Mitch needs to be 'protected' from our opinions about the way he treated our club is frankly laughable.

Agree! got a truck load of money! Pulled the "I need a new Home" card and now seems like it could be the end!

Depression? Chezus not many of us haven't had it!

What I reckon is, surround yourself with good people, including family and friends and in a sporting sense the camaraderie gained being in a professional well resourced club should make a huge difference! We put every resource into him and still came up wanting!

This bloke Burned Brisbane, Freo, US and remains to be seen what will happen at Geelong!?

Frankly, we did superbly well getting a player Heritier that can play and seems to love the place!

Mitch who?

[The Song Formerly Known As 6,479]

Can you block threads from being seen?