Firstly, thank you to our three retiring players for their time as servants of this great club. I'll especially miss the toughness of Wheels.
With regard to the deletion of posts and criticism of retiring players. It seems a little precious to me that posters can't criticise a retiring footballer without having their post deleted. (I'm not talking about those who choose to be distasteful in their criticism- these posts should always be deleted) Many of you singing the praises of these guys have in the past called for their delisting or offered stern criticism. We are not a funeral, just 3 rounds short of seeing 3 well paid sportsmen retire. They all had their strengths and weaknesses and talking about them is surely what this forum is about. I know we can say that theirs a time and place for everything but this will likely be the last time we talk in depth about these three so surely we can talk about their weaknesses as well.
I'll leave you with the remarks below made by posters who have not seen their posts deleted.
“I've always enjoyed his long booming kicks, but unfortunately his kicking efficiency isn't anywhere near as good as some would have u believe, and too often last year his disposals consisted of mainly "short and wide" kicks. He seems to be constantly injured or in the rehab group during preseasons, he's not the strongest one-on-one player or even a particularly good overhead mark given his height”
“Wheatley has played 2, maybe 3 ok seasons. He has never been anything more than serviceable. The only reason they kept him on through his lean patches was because he has a booming 60 metre kick. He's no leader, no presence on match day, no presence in the media...
IMO, if we are to move forward, Wheatley is in the gun to be shown the door. If he were to be a part of our rise up the ladder it wouldn't be because he's a leader in the way Green is. It'd be because he's a mature-bodied player and because we have no accurate kicks. Is that cause enough to keep him, and lose, say, Whelan or Robbo instead as part of our 5-6 names we'll be losing?
I'd rather a 29 year old Whelan (as rough as he's been this year) or a 30 year old Robbo than Wheatley.”
“Too late for that. He wont change. He can wax all he likes in the media and on the Footy Show but he just does not understand or get the playing for the best interests of the team thing with AFL. This could be his final year.”
“No. Goal or not it just a show pony act that puts the team effort at the very risk that actually happened especially when we were battling to get back in the game.
Any responsible coach would have dragged him anyway regardless.
The biggest issue is that Robbo wont learn now. He has not learned in the past. Its too late now for him. Its a very bad example of what he does too often."
Anyway just thought I'd add this to the discussion. I'm just very anti censorship and hope the moderators use it sparingly and without prejudice.