14 minutes ago, Ollie fan said:

This thread, and the disrespect it shows to an absolute legend of the club, is shameful. Some absolute tripe gets written and now all the trolls come out of the woodwork to shaft one of the greatest MFC players ever. I don't believe for one second that he wants to leave or ever did, but if this is the support he gets, who would blame him?

Grown up mate. The discussions been respectful. We are allowed to discuss the future of all our players especially our highest paid who reportedly want out.

9 hours ago, manny100 said:

A drop off in performance can happen to any player but if a player is on a huge long term contract and $ but is not playing or training without intent to then a club would have to test it in court.

Not saying this will happen here with Clayton it's just a general observation.

More alike to JUH at the dogs - he is the player who is failing to attend training, removed himself from the club, etc

Difference is Clayton’s contract is significantly longer and for more $$

I can’t see any club offering us much for him, and we’ll have to carry a significant portion of the $$ owed to him for a long time to come

Trading him is a lose / lose situation for us

Edited May 4May 4 by whatwhat say what

16 minutes ago, Mouseymoo said:

Grown up mate. The discussions been respectful. We are allowed to discuss the future of all our players especially our highest paid who reportedly want out.

Grow up?? Grow up??

If you think the discussions have been respectful, you obviously haven't read them. It's a disgrace.

Clayton is likely only worth $800k per year to another club. A trade will only occur if dees are willing to compensate the difference until 2030.

1 hour ago, Ollie fan said:

Grow up?? Grow up??

If you think the discussions have been respectful, you obviously haven't read them. It's a disgrace.

The only lack of respect I see is by the player towards the Club & the supporters who provide his pay.

Pocketing $1million a year & delivering a $400,000 performance.

21 minutes ago, Cranky Franky said:

The only lack of respect I see is by the player towards the Club & the supporters who provide his pay.

Pocketing $1million a year & delivering a $400,000 performance.

Exactly the response I expect from you.

30 minutes ago, Cranky Franky said:

The only lack of respect I see is by the player towards the Club & the supporters who provide his pay.

Pocketing $1million a year & delivering a $400,000 performance.

Closer to $1.5 pa and rising.

I reckon it’s going to be up to player and manager working out how much he’s willing to see his salary cut to move

We are a good citizen but we also need to protect the club and list

His high salary now looks folly - and it’s a good lessons going forward - so we should take a (small) haircut by covering a small amount but given he wants out he needs to take a pay cut I reckon to ensure we get draft pick/s

we can be pragmatic but also protect the club to help player out of the club

I am a massive fan of #13 but club comes first

So many posters on here have been, in the past, so critical of McClure and Morris and the gutter trash they seem, somehow, to dredge up. Yet suddenly these same posters are ready to believe the latest scraps these “journalists” have spewed forth about Clarry. Give me a break.

So until proven otherwise, I’m prepared to back Clarry and the club to get him back to the champion he was and still can be. I doubt very much that Tracc would have gone out on a limb and say the things he did in supporting Clarry if the Morris / McClure Shiite was real. For one thing, it wouldn’t do his brand a lot of good.

As an absolute champion of this Club, he not only deserves our respect, but also our public support with his MH issues. Best wishes champ!

yes and the last thing morris said about the dees was how petracca gave a stirring speech...

3 hours ago, Ollie fan said:

Grow up?? Grow up??

If you think the discussions have been respectful, you obviously haven't read them. It's a disgrace.

Mate we all love Clarry. He will go down as one of the club's greatest ever footballers. But the club ALWAYS comes first.

He hasn't performed to anywhere near the value of his contract for a couple of years now, and if he wants a fresh start it might be the best thing for all parties as long as we're fairly compensated. Discussing this isn't disrespectful in the slightest.

It will sting seeing him in another team's colours but we're at a really important list management juncture at the moment. If we don't get these decisions right, with Tassie about to come into the comp and compromised drafts, we'll be destined for another long period in the wilderness.

Strong clubs make strong, considered, objective decisions.

12 minutes ago, Superunknown said:

I reckon it’s going to be up to player and manager working out how much he’s willing to see his salary cut to move

We are a good citizen but we also need to protect the club and list

His high salary now looks folly - and it’s a good lessons going forward - so we should take a (small) haircut by covering a small amount but given he wants out he needs to take a pay cut I reckon to ensure we get draft pick/s

we can be pragmatic but also protect the club to help player out of the club

I am a massive fan of #13 but club comes first

Firstly I’m inclined not to believe Tom Morris. But to play along with this for a moment. If a manager were to negotiate a much lower salary for Clayton that is also a big loss for personally for them isn’t it, in terms of the cut I believe they get? How many player managers would be willing to do that?

If Oliver's heart is to move on, then he has to take a salary dump not us to supplement his is income. Why should he get paid for not playing based on whatever , everyone playing AFL footy can do the same.

If we select him to play against the Hawks is he not going to play at his best ? Note: His best is not what it used to be. Whilst he has issues with the club whether it is mental health or not, I would give him a run in the reserves this week but knowing MFC that's probably not going to happen.

3 minutes ago, Wells 11 said:

Firstly I’m inclined not to believe Tom Morris. But to play along with this for a moment. If a manager were to negotiate a much lower salary for Clayton that is also a big loss for personally for them isn’t it, in terms of the cut I believe they get? How many player managers would be willing to do that?

Clarry needs to realise that if he wants to move on for a fresh start, he'll be the one that is squeezed because as far as i can see:

1. Dees shouldn't be expected to pay any of his salary given what we have already done for him to nurse him back to health. Granted some work still to be done, but we have not shied away from giving him everything he needs to recover. It arguably has costs us a lot over the past 2 years - not saying everything that has gone wrong is because of him but he had a lot to do with the cohesion and culture side of things.

2. We expect compensation for a multiple AA 2xALFCA and 4xB&F. minimum is 1 first round pick.

given clarry obviously has mh issues, i don't think he is in a fit state to sensibly know exactly what he wants.

it's very natural when things are tough to look for easy solutions, and clutch at straws, like a change of scenery.

if he can get himself into a healthier state of mind, he might well see things quite differently.

the football press needs to butt out and give him some space, and stop speculating

5 minutes ago, daisycutter said:

given clarry obviously has mh issues, i don't think he is in a fit state to sensibly know exactly what he wants.

it's very natural when things are tough to look for easy solutions, and clutch at straws, like a change of scenery.

if he can get himself into a healthier state of mind, he might well see things quite differently.

the football press needs to butt out and give him some space, and stop speculating

This is a very good point and hopefully something he is discussing with a mental health professional, such as a psychologist.

A change of scenery may improve things temporarily, but what happens when it gets hard again as it inevitably will.

1 minute ago, DistrACTION Jackson said:

This is a very good point and hopefully something he is discussing with a mental health professional, such as a psychologist.

A change of scenery may improve things temporarily, but what happens when it gets hard again as it inevitably will.

Also a very good point - yes it may be a different club, but it is still the AFL and the grind is the same. Like any job it is the grind that impacts.

36 minutes ago, Wells 11 said:

Firstly I’m inclined not to believe Tom Morris. But to play along with this for a moment. If a manager were to negotiate a much lower salary for Clayton that is also a big loss for personally for them isn’t it, in terms of the cut I believe they get? How many player managers would be willing to do that?

Tom Morris shouldn’t even be employed in the media. Just rumour and innuendo making something out of nothing.

1 hour ago, Oxdee said:

Clayton is likely only worth $800k per year to another club. A trade will only occur if dees are willing to compensate the difference until 2030.

I'm not so sure. The Cats have two billionaires as major sponsors - Nigel Austin (Cotton On) and the Costa group.

Player payments are not an issue ($millions under the table via land, houses, cars and jobs to family members). I know this because I've lived on the Surfcoast for 48 years, taught Dangers and worked with his dad. I'm mates with a former CEO mentored by Frank Costa and so on.

The Cats get whoever they want and whoever wants to go there.

Having said all that, I too believe Ghostwriter and what she said about Clarry not wanting to go.

Edited May 5May 5 by M_9

2 minutes ago, DiscoStu17 said:

Tom Morris shouldn’t even be employed in the media. Just rumour and innuendo making something out of nothing.

Welcome to modern-day sports media. These are the guys that are the most successful and sought-after these days within the media world. Its taken a while but the American Sports writer/pundit approach of stretching a story or fabricating has now fully reached AFL via the likes of Morris/McClure who don't care about integrity/reputation as long as they're getting the clicks and attention from the supporters and greater AFL landscape. Its been a smart, cunning move to have them on shows like SEN feeding these stories to the more respected ex AFL announcers who feed into the game of it without tarnishing their reputations within the AFL, this seems to be giving people a sense of validity within some of the nonsense stories being spread around by these muppets.

Sadly, we're going to have to get used to it as it's only going to increase. I've managed to build myself a filter of anything reported by Morris and the likes to simply block it out.

I thought the discussion around Clayton Oliver by Tom Morris, James Hird and Jimmy Bartel was actually really respectful. It was great that it was re-established that Clarry's got nothing against the dees, loves the club, but just feels like he might need a new start. I'm optimistic that he can get there. The comparison that others have made with JUH is way off. Clarry's still turning up to training and working hard. He's not taking the [censored], changing his IG profile pic to taunt the media.

One point that was made was about the quality of his disposal. So far this year, I've been really impressed with Bowey, Salem, even Langford use of the ball, but Clarry's is still a bit off. It'd be much better for him to focus on ensuring the handballs he gives are more effective, than simply trying to rack up as many disposals as possible. And tbh, if his disposals get better, the pressure on our players will reduce, and he will likely see himself collect the ball a second time in a lot of a stoppages.

Looks like someone nudged the bowl of miso soup again.

Be calm. Watch the soft vortex. All will become still and clear once more.

2 minutes ago, Little Goffy said:

Looks like someone nudged the bowl of miso soup again.

Be calm. Watch the soft vortex. All will become still and clear once more.

I come to Demonland for the footy goss. I stay for the poetry.

I wonder if this is coming from inside the Footy Department? there was some angst from players a couple of years ago, so maybe this is player driven, from inside…

10 minutes ago, Little Goffy said:

Looks like someone nudged the bowl of miso soup again.

Be calm. Watch the soft vortex. All will become still and clear once more.

...and a phoenix can fly, only when its feathers are grown.