Macca

Just don't take the media seriously then. Ignore them if it's going to bother you You'll never beat them But there are some truths and lies and embellishment coming from the media How do you sort that out? A nose for BS? That can help but it's tricky Take the news that Clarrie might take a pay cut ... my immediate thought was that if he definitely wants out, then that could be true But who wants to give up hundreds of 1000's per season? Then there's Joe Daniher who has just turned his back on $1Million So you never know

But the media are intimating that we have treated him poorly But I can't see any evidence of mistreatment What we can all see is the player going rogue ... that is indisputable

Not sure if it's been said already but once a club shops a player around, then the club has to expect the player to look for greener pastures Just put yourself in Oliver's shoes ... what would you do if there was an opportunity elsewhere?

Ok, in my opinion, he hadn't been mistreated

If Clarrie goes this will all be on him We haven't mistreated him and we've been extremely patient And we've given the bloke any number of chances to mend his ways Sometimes people just go rogue and you have to part company It's really nothing personal unless you want to hang on to how great a player he has been. And that's hard to let go of I hope he stays and gets his best footy back but if not, I wish him well

Do share then

You don't know that for sure

For that to happen the Board might need some changes (it's doubtful that we'd get a whole new Board) Pert & the Board are intertwined or at least it seems that way The Pert phone calls would have to be backed by the Board mainly because there is so much money involved with Oliver's contact People need to remember that the Board has to ratify contracts or vice-versa And I'm not trying to let Pert off the hook either ... it's more of a procedural action with regards to chain of command But if it was Pert alone his position is untenable

Well his track record is abysmal and the info about the Brownlow & 2 missed appointments didn't come from the media (maybe afterwards?) As far as I'm concerned he was on notice so he should 100% be keeping his nose out of trouble. Be the Professional Again, I'm putting aside his football abilities because if he was an average player he'd be long gone Long after players are gone or retired the club will still be around. And what goes before sets the standard for tomorrow

Re the media on Oliver A few truths A few half-truths A number of mis-truths A number of lies Heaps of embellishment For instance ... I do not believe that Pert (and the Board) acted independently to the FD & Playing group. They all knew Why? Because the playing group would be P/O with Oliver so the FD can't side with Oliver. Pert & the Board know all that If the FD did side with Oliver then forget about the team playing as a team ongoing. A toxic situation would arise But the FD have given Oliver a number of 2nd chances. But after the Brownlow incident and the 2 missed appointments I reckon they've all had enough To me, the whole club wants him out but getting him out is darn near impossible because of the $10Million Contract Would Oliver take a paycut? Maybe but how much?

The opposition wasn't much but we played alright. The win puts the Aussies back in the picture at least Top 2 in the group is still attainable but we'll need to get at least 2 of 4 wins against the Saudi's & Japan (and that's a big ask) 3rd or 4th in the group advances the team to the next qualifying round. Top 2 straight to the WC

Yeah, a bit of a step up in quality over tonight's game! It's a bit of a pity it's not the Brazil of old with Socrates & Zico et al

And 2 x WC qualifiers on tomorrow (live) on SBS 8.00am Venezuela vs Argentina 11.00am Chile vs Brazil A chance to watch 2 of the best teams in the World on FTA

2-1 now after that scorcher!!! Need more goals to increase our For & Against

Socceroos vs China on 10HD right now World Cup Qualifier (Must Win)

I reckon a lot of media types are getting their info from a lot of player managers And the player managers would have a lot of info

'Well at least we don't have to blow everything up' (like 2013)

Ha ha! Don't worry, you and I are on the same page although I'm probably harder on players who become laws unto themselves There's red flags everywhere including just lately with the 2 missed appointments (Compulsory) and the D & D at the Brownlow It's any wonder that the other players are more than annoyed. Team rules apply to everyone

So I'm talking about 2023 & 2024 We won the flag in 2021 so what happened in 2022?

Yeah that's what I said Did you read my post?

Ignoring the media isn't that hard ... it pays not to take things personally But buying into their garbage is another matter. Effectively blaming the club because the media are blaming the club is weak The main 2 issues surrounds 2 players. And in either case, the club is not at fault But because they are our best 2 players many are blinded by their own adulation Lose the adulation I say. Team first wins Anything else loses And we need to get back to playing as a team again with or without the 2 problem players

Excellent post, Clint

The pile-on the club with regards to the Oliver & Petracca issues is not just coming from the media, it's coming from supporters of all the other clubs and our own supporters But there are a lot of very disappointed Demon supporters who are quite angry that we haven't won another flag in the last 3 years So does that anger extends to blaming the club because we have 2 renegade players on our hands? Looks that way to me Any excuse to pile on but any comparisons with the current situation to 2012/13 is quite ridiculous Back then we really were a basket case with no redeeming features The way I see it is that we are able to fix the Oliver/Petracca issues, we'll be fine The supporters got their pound of flesh with Kate gone. You want more? A feeding frenzy?

It certainly has but up until now, I've avoided this thread with regards to posting on the thread But numerous others here especially many veteran posters were earlier saying the same thing as what I'm saying now Has anything changed? All we're hearing is that Oliver wants to stay ... and I could give you $10Million reasons as to why he wants to stay

How do you internalise things in footy? It's virtually impossible when the issues are massive As for the leaks, look for the player managers as Roos pointed out a decade ago It's hard to see because there's not great visibility but the easy option is to blame the club I feel sorry for Kate Roffey because as far as I'm concerned she did nothing wrong. But the wolves wanted answers and she gave them nothing The sacrificial lamb