What to do with Nathan Jones

[John Crow Batty 8,863]

1 hour ago, one_demon said:

Terry Wallace just gave his best twenty two on SEN.  No Jones.  Baker yes.

Swans looking likely to miss finals for first time since 2009 have dropped Kieren Jack for the first time. Getting games into the younger boys and changing of the guard so they say. Arguably a far better player and more credentialed than that Jones guy who just keeps slowly plodding along year after year and now just for sentimental reasons. Take the hint Goodwin.

Edited July 18, 2019 by america de cali

[Red and Blue realist 2,051]

15 hours ago, america de cali said:

Swans looking likely to miss finals for first time since 2009 have dropped Kieren Jack for the first time. Getting games into the younger boys and changing of the guard so they say. Arguably a far better player and more credentialed than that Jones guy who just keeps slowly plodding along year after year and now just for sentimental reasons. Take the hint Goodwin.

C'mon, he might have been officially dropped for the first time, but he wasn't in their round 1 team and when coming back from injury hasn't just been given the 1 reserves game, Jack is very much a fringe player for the Swans now. He's also lost most of his speed so plays predominately forward pocket, unlike Jones who's been moved back to make way for younger players in his position. Jones was very ordinary last week, but very good the 2 weeks before that, he'll rightfully get another year but shouldn't expect to play any significant time in the middle, and might be a fringe player next year but not at the moment. 

[demoniac 1,333]

On 6/11/2019 at 8:17 PM, Jaded said:

The lack of respect for a champion of this club who stuck around when we were an abomination on and off the field when he could have left, is frankly heartbreaking. I know fans who jumped ship while he stayed  and carried a pathetic group of players on his back .

Jones not only deserves another year, he also deserves to call time on his career the way he chooses to. He has bloody earnt that much, and frankly him playing 22 games in 2020 is not going to be the reason we don’t win a flag. 

when Nathan Jones retires he deserves to take his place with the greats of the Melbourne Football Club. His loyalty to the club and his extraordinary resilience in playing to a high standard through a period where the team he was running out with was barely AFL standard cannot be denied. If he had played in a better team he would be a much more highly regarded goal kicking inside mid. 

in 2019 its hard to find a spot for him. Not all great mids can successfully extend their career by moving to wing or half forward or half back. His lack of pace means the wing is out, and that also pretty much rules him out as a small forward or back.  But then again Goody has found space for Tyson, Lewis and Jones on the wing so maybe I don't know what I'm talking about.

I think club'll let him play on next year if he wants to, and he most likely does. For mine its not the best football decision but a forced retirement would be messy.  The question is will Goody tell him he might play VFL a la Lewis this year? We need more speed and ball carriers and Jones looms as an obvious primary casualty of that. Athletes are not always the best judge of when their time is up. 

[SPC 3,549]

Needs to work on ground ball gathers.. has been super fumbly this year. 

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,834]

19 minutes ago, SPC said:

Needs to work on ground ball gathers.. has been super fumbly this year. 

100% agreed.

Was terrible last week in tying to get a ground ball. Very unlike a highly skilled player in Jones. Age is obviously catching up with him.

However, should play another year if he wants.

[Little Goffy 14,547]

I've said before, but I'll throw it in again now that a few pages have passed; my main reason for thinking that Jones should kep going (aside from sentiment, or the fact that he is still putting in some pretty good games) is that he is a player who is capable of recognising his weaknesses and working on them, and adjusting his game.

Put another way, Nathan Jones is quite able to recognise that 'The 2019 version of me is unlikely to contribute much in 2020 with another year in my body' and then follow that up with meaningful thought on what the 2020 version of himself should be.

Could be interesting, for example, to see how much weight he is able to strip off in favour of better running and agility.

[Return to Glory 8,441]

The important thing with Nathan Jones, for mine, is that the club don't treat him in the manner which we treated another great servant, James McDonald. I always felt that set the club back. Regardless of what decision is made re next year, he simply should not be lost to the club but embraced as one of our greatest ever clubmen.

 

Edited July 20, 2019 by Return to Glory

[beelzebub 23,376]

Jones WILL get another year...I'll just leave it at that. Says it all.

[Supreme_Demon 3,853]

On 7/11/2019 at 4:53 AM, Fanatique Demon said:

Supreme Demon...  

"James McDonald could of played over 300 games for the Demons and certainly Adem Yze could of too. Cameron Bruce could of played well over 250 games for us and Brad Green could of played another season or two."

If you had written "could have" instead of "could of", you'd have made a really good point.

No offence. Just for credibility's sake. 

Understood.

 

My apologies for the grammatical error.

 

I will still reiterate that I believe Nathan Jones can easily play well over 300 games and beat David Neitz's games record.

The fact that the Melbourne Football Club has only ONE 300 games player in 160 years is a disgrace too. Although rectifying the Premiership drought since 1964 needs to be the priority for the time being.

[Supreme_Demon 3,853]

On 7/18/2019 at 6:11 PM, samcantstandya said:

Yze  didn't play well towards the end if he had of played 300 it would have been because the club gifted him games. 

 

That's true...Adem Yze did have some pretty poor last games. He was a bit too selfish at times.

Although I think he could of played one or two more seasons as forward.

As others have mentioned the treatment of James McDonald was incredibly disrespectful.

Which is why Nathan Jones needs to play over 300 games and retire on his terms. Ideally finishing with a Premiership like Shane Crawford did after over 300 games with the Hawks in 2008. But unfortunately fairytale finishes rarely happen in the AFL....

[Monocology 1,109]

On 7/10/2019 at 11:49 PM, Rodney (Balls) Grinter said:

Detouring a little, I really do think we could have used Bernie Vince on occations this year.  I know he lost some pace last year, but I think he really could have been used to very good effect in our forward line this season with his strength, footy smarts and good goal kicking.  It really does irritate me that the never really tried moving Bernie forward last season to se if it could have worked.  Perhaps we would have won a few more games by now and would still be chasing a remote chance of finals if he was still on our list this season. 

To me that highlights what a mistake it would be for Jones not to play next year.  Our list is pretty sparce of mature experienced players and if managed right, I think guys in this age bracket still have some significant things to conttibute.  Asides from half back, I think Jones could be used up forward (he's a pretty decient kick for goal) and would still be handy to use in bursts to keep another strong, big bodied midfeilder around the ball when necessary  (saw how handy Lewis was in that capacity).  Even Luke Hodge still seems to be able to keep a spot in a Brisbane side which is traveling pretty well this year and I think Hodge has a few years on Jones.

Agree - Lewis & Bern were our only vocal gameplay leaders pre May.

[Ted Lasso 19,518]

I think from this moment on he has to play as a midfield rotation/tagger coming off the bench, with no guarantees of a spot and he plays for as long as he can hold his best 22 position. i don't think he should be captain in 2020. he's been one of the greatest demons we've ever had but i think his time is nearly up and holding onto the past could hurt the club in the now. 

 

[beelzebub 23,376]

19 minutes ago, Patches O’houlihan said:

I think from this moment on he has to play as a midfield rotation/tagger coming off the bench, with no guarantees of a spot and he plays for as long as he can hold his best 22 position. i don't think he should be captain in 2020. he's been one of the greatest demons we've ever had but i think his time is nearly up and holding onto the past could hurt the club in the now. 

 

Careful....you'll  be ostracized  and become quite lonely reeling off such reasoning. 

Totally agree. 

This is a professional  sport.  Yes there's  much passion and emotion but its a level headed approach  that wins the day.

If our  list was actually  as good as we'd  supposed then Chunk wouldn't  get a look in next year but its obvious  the midfield really needs a bit of a makeover;  as much style as personel. So until that's  all gonky dory Jones is as good a fill in any....until someone  makes him redundant. 

Those that suppose he can run the wing or pinch hit in the back i can only say he has neither the real speed nor elite ball skill to be the real answer in running the lines and on what team sheet would he honestly be best six down back ?

He's  a seasoned  warrior a stellar stalwart of the club....but there comes a time....so goes the song.

[Red and Blue realist 2,051]

He's back for at least 1 more year.

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/more-news/afl-daily-rolling-footy-news-from-across-australia-for-monday-july-29-2019/live-coverage/6090ea8f90cda33abbc409c5399c9c23

[Red and Blue realist 2,051]

9 minutes ago, Red and Blue realist said:

He's back for at least 1 more year - https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/more-news/afl-daily-rolling-footy-news-from-across-australia-for-monday-july-29-2019/live-coverage/6090ea8f90cda33abbc409c5399c9c23

Now there's an article from Tom Morris saying he hasn't signed, that we've low balled him - https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-2019-melbourne-cocaptain-nathan-jones-yet-to-agree-to-new-contract-after-initial-lowball-offer/news-story/cb3e2d4d62dc0cc05ea9e9fe29c38773

Who do you believe Tom Morris or Mick Warner and Jon Ralph??? 

[Demon17 5,188]

3 minutes ago, Red and Blue realist said:

Now there's an article from Tom Morris saying he hasn't signed, that we've low balled him - https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-2019-melbourne-cocaptain-nathan-jones-yet-to-agree-to-new-contract-after-initial-lowball-offer/news-story/cb3e2d4d62dc0cc05ea9e9fe29c38773

Who do you believe Tom Morris or Mick Warner and Jon Ralph??? 

As I have mentioned previously this isn't the issue on .

The clubs position should be thank you for the service and retire gracefully in 2019.

The fact that the club have not had this conversation and have made an offer is an  alarmingly weak approach.

 

 

[Red and Blue realist 2,051]

4 minutes ago, Demon17 said:

As I have mentioned previously this isn't the issue on .

The clubs position should be thank you for the service and retire gracefully in 2019.

The fact that the club have not had this conversation and have made an offer is an  alarmingly weak approach.

 

 

He's still getting a game each week, and hasn't been our worst. We don't want another JMac decision by pushing out someone who will, like Lewis, be told he might not be in the seniors each week. Clearly if Morris is right and we've only offer $260k, which would be less than half of what he's on now, then it will be based on him not being automatic best 22. 

Edited July 29, 2019 by Red and Blue realist

[Demon17 5,188]

1 minute ago, Red and Blue realist said:

He's still getting a game each week, and hasn't been our worst. We don't want another JMac decision by pushing out someone who will, like Lewis, be told he might not be in the seniors each week. Clearly if Morris is right and we've only offer $260k, which would be less than half of what he's on now, then it will be based on him not being automatic best 22. 

Agreed the JMac decision was appalling.

But unfortunately many people don't know when to retire gracefully. The AFL is littered with them.  But on 6 figure sums I don't blame them for not wanting the party to end.

The club is paid to be professional and move forward. Ask the Hawks about sentimentality.

It still should be done with grace and respect of course.

Just that someone should be having the ' conversation'.

 

[Gorgoroth 12,954]

9 minutes ago, Red and Blue realist said:

He's still getting a game each week, and hasn't been our worst. We don't want another JMac decision by pushing out someone who will, like Lewis, be told he might not be in the seniors each week. Clearly if Morris is right and we've only offer $260k, which would be less than half of what he's on now, then it will be based on him not being automatic best 22. 

If 260k is right, and I doubt it would be that low, I bet it has bonuses all over it.

but 350k plus x for games played plus x for blah and x for blah etc etc

[At the break of Gawn 4,460]

I’d give him a performance based contract; every effective kick that hits a target he gets $1000. He’ll be lucky to get $100k next year.

[John Crow Batty 8,863]

Last round he started the game by burning off teammates then kicking the ball into an opponent and turnover resulted in Saints first goal. He disappeared in the last quarter as in the past three games. Another season at 260K with no game time guarantees is more than genourous. 

[Big Carl 333]

13 minutes ago, At the break of Gawn said:

I’d give him a performance based contract; every effective kick that hits a target he gets $1000. He’ll be lucky to get $100k next year.

It’s a pity Goodwin’s contract is not entirely performance based. We might then be having a different conversation about whether he is there in 2020.

[Demonland 72,197]

 

[Greendale 350]

$260k sounds pretty fair to me. Not sure what clubs would offer an old and slow midfielder more money. Gold Coast are the only club that I think could find some extra value in him.

[Ted Lasso 19,518]

If you're Nathan Jones i'm not sure why you wouldn't take the 260k and hope the extra money that is opened up can help bring a Brad Hill in so you get one last chance at a Premiership