Jaded No More

His stats pre injury Round 1: 37 and a goal Round 2: 25 and 2 goals Round 3: 34 Round 4: 41 in that shocking loss to Essendon Round 5: 31 and a goal Round 6: 37 Round 7: 28 Round 8: 34 and a goal Round 9: 30 against Port playing the last quarter with an injured hamstring. He was on 38 votes in the coaches award by round 10 I understand stats don’t always tell the whole story, but he was consistently our top 1-2 players every game. As for Brownlow votes, Neale won it so we know how much that says.

You don’t think Selwood, Danger, Duncan and Guthrie are elite? They were old as balls, but they were still elite. How do you rate a starting midfield of Gawn, Trac, Viney and Sparrow? Because that’s probably the 2024 midfield we are looking at. Now let’s factor in an injury to say Viney, then how does that midfield look?

They’re a statistical anomaly Are we going to plan our future around a club that has just won a flag by winning finals by a combined total of 12 points and a lot of luck? I hope not An elite midfield is and always has been the most important element of being successful. It’s why we started our build with the midfield. I hope like hell that we don’t bend over and that we get a seriously good deal and at least one established player out of this disastrous turn of events. Draft picks that may or may not come good won’t cut it for mine. If we don’t win another flag with this current list in front of our home crowd at our home ground, this entire era will be a wasted opportunity. Supporting this club is exhausting

There is also no doubt that any further head knocks will see him walk away. So it’s definitely not guaranteed that he will play out his career as we hope.

You didn’t complain in 2021 when he won a flag and our B&F and the coaches award. A lot of revisionism on this board based off this season where he missed 10 weeks, and has also carried a knee injury heading into finals. He was brilliant prior to his injury. Short memories.

I’ve heard that despite medical reports he’s seriously contemplating retirement. A lot of family pressure to not play on.

It doesn’t sound like most supporters are happy or on board. And it won’t get any easier if we don’t go on to have serious success next year. He is also very close with many of our most important players. And if he’s living with Gawny now as reported, then it doesn’t sound like the players are keen to get him out the door either. There are many unknowns in this scenario, but the club would want to get this one right. Letting one of the best players we’ve had in decades go and not experiencing serious success shortly after (regardless of whether the two are related or not), will cause major supporter unrest. Rightly or wrongly. To be clear I am a massive Clarry fan and I don’t want to lose him. But I also care most about us being successful. I just cannot equate how trading Clarry makes us better. But if it does then so be it. The risk is definitely there that it won’t.

I don’t disagree, but Clarry isn’t the reason we aren’t winning another flag.

Ben Brown to FB 😂

And we have no idea if Gus is going to play on or not. A midfield sans Clarry and Gus is no more than a middle of the road midfield. It isn’t winning you flags.

He also drafted Weid He is a great recruiter but drafting is an imperfect science.

No doubt Jason Taylor is a gun recruiter. I don’t doubt for a minute he will do well with any picks he’s given. But it’s still all a lottery. History has shown us that many highly rated juniors go on to have average careers. You absolutely cannot guarantee that any player drafted this year will be as good or better than Clarry. Very few first round picks since his draft have achieved what he has in terms of accolades.

He might turn out alright. Would you trade him for Clarry tho?

Well actually the last early pick we had got us Luke Jackson 😭

How often have we been seduced by early picks and they’ve amounted to nothing more than good ordinary players. To trade the best contested midfielder in the game for speculative picks is a hard sell for me. Would need an established player involved.

I understand this is your point of view, but I’m asking if your information is that it’s likely that we will trade him if we are being offered pick 2+3 as you suggested?

So you actually think the club will trade Clarry?

Not overs. For every good pick 2 and 3, there are dozens very ordinary ones who will never come close to being as good as Clarry.

Fair enough. The standard of the surface there isn’t great. It’s also not great at Marvel. Glad we don’t play at those grounds often.

He was involved in 3 flags at Richmond. Hardwick left a sinking ship. What did you expect him to do with a list as old as time?

Excellent get. He is a very experienced and highly loved coach with plenty of premiership success under his belt.

The point about nowhere near as good as what is important. Clarry has never shown any signs of being lazy, unwilling to work hard on his game or fitness, or go hard on the field. Goody awarded him 4 B&Fs including in a premiership year. I don’t think those 3 are on the same level in any way.

True. I suppose for a year he could commute to Geelong, but interstate was probably not on his radar.

Tom Lynch is definitely not recovering as well as expected from his foot issue. Take that to the bank.

Port or Geelong, but neither must be interested.