The top 10 under the pump

[Rampaging_Richo]

Have no problem with the fact he is getting the money - had a great 2001 and was the best CHB in the league - BUT - thru the entire negotiation his manager Ron "Greedy" Joseph - the manager who had about 8 players still haggling over money a week after the national draft - was quoted as saying the Darren wanted to stay at Richmond, but this was clearly linked to Richmond paying same or more than Freo.

He held the club to ransom and should cop the appropriate scruntiny as a result.

As far as comparing to Richo, he drags people thru the gates and sells merchandise so from a return on investment POV his total value will always exceed Gas. But most importantly, Richo wins matches, Darren saves them.

Guys like Cogs and Rodan will get payed market value but with big incentive components. If Cogs wants to go home next year, let him (Would hate to lose him though). One of the WA clubs will have to pay thru the eye teeth for him and we will get a high draft pick or a good player in return.

Interesting note - If Richmond did call his bluff and let him go in the pre season draft to Freo he wouldn't have played in 2002 at all as Freo was a mile over the TPP.

 

[froars]

He held no-one to ransom - simply pay or i leave - the club should have just let him go for a decent trade to wherever he wanted to go to.

What the club should do is get all the players together and say, we are not going to pay any players over a certain amount. You either agree to this policy or at the end of the season you go and find another club.

Then come to an agreement with the players that should any of them believe they can get higher than this amount at the end of the season and they want to move on - let them - but in exchange say to them that they will help them find the club of their choice in exchange for players from that club that would benefit Richmond. Otherwise you can just go into the draft.

They've got to start learning how to deal with players pay as long as there's a salary cap otherwise we will end up like Carlton. That's what they should have said to *smile*, Richo and anyone else who was asking for more money than the club could afford.

A perfect example of why you shouldn't take risks with players like this who want the money is *smile* and Richo.

*smile* - had a bad year last year
Richo - is injury prone every year

Hardly worth jeopardising the club's future on two players.

 

[Koalalill]

Not only is every highly paid player accountable........every player should be accountable.

Exactly right Rosy but the problem is when you are earning $$ in one year that would take most of us 10-20 years you are under far greater scrutiny.

Tro-boy hit the nail on the head - with the $ he is earning you cannot afford 1 bad year.

But onto a positive thought - we don't need to worry about Cogs he is signed for 2003 & 2004.

 

[admin]

RR, I wasn't for one minute comparing Gas and Richo. I just used Richo as an example because he is on big money too. If you'd followed these boards the last few years you'd know I've argued the case of Richo's off field value to the team plenty of times, but here I specifically stated it was onfield value per dollar I meant. Really just to show how futile I think it is to judge Gas on his salary.

Whether we need to win or save matches comes back to the midfield to a large degree. Some games need winning and some need saving. As long as we succeed in getting the 4 points, it doesn't matter much either way and to me players like Richo and like Gas are equally important in a team.

When the club released a statement of Gas signing up they specifically said he'd accepted far less than he would have got from Freo.
Why do people ignore this fact and keep referring to what seems to me to be media speculation on his contract?

 

[admin]

And to publicly come out and say I don't think I have played that badly and my contract is not relevant to my performances is showing a distinct lake of accountability in my book.

I think we'll agree to disagree on this one.  To me Gas was spot on in the following interview.

He wasn't the best and he wasn't our worse.

He finished top 10 in the b&f.

He'd want to improve for sure, I'd be very disappointed if everyone connected with the team in any way didn't want to improve.  

Gaspar slams the critics
Matt Burgan
afl.com.au
6:17:28 PM Mon 29 July, 2002

Richmond defender Darren Gaspar has hit back at recent public and media criticism, claiming his performances havent been as bad as reported.

I know where my performances have been and they havent been as good as what Id like them to be, but they havent been dreadfully bad, Gaspar said.

Gaspar said he wasnt concerned about what the critics had to say, preferring to concentrate on what he could control.
I havent really noticed it to tell you the truth. I just try and focus on my own performance and work on what Ive got to work on. You cant control on what everyone else wants to say.

 

[Koalalill]

I think we'll agree to disagree on this one.  
He wasn't the best and he wasn't our worse.

He'd want to improve for sure, I'd be very disappointed if everyone connected with the team in any way didn't want to improve.  

I am happy to agree to disagree Rosy . And no he wasn't our worst.

I was actually refering to an interview in the Herald Sun when a reporter asked him about his contract and whether he felt any added pressure to perform.

And I am aware that he stayed at the Tigers for less money than was offered at Freo - how much we will never know.

And most definitely THE WHOLE team needs to improve for us to have a successful season

 

[mightytiges]

When the club released a statement of Gas signing up they specifically said he'd accepted far less than he would have got from Freo.
Why do people ignore this fact and keep referring to what seems to me to be media speculation on his contract?

'Cause it's simpler to lay blame on one or two scapegoats for a bad year than find out and solve the real problems which are most likely entwined and alot harder to fix. There were so many things that were and went wrong last year that it's probably easier to list what went right :-/. Our midfield was cr@p, we played cra@p, we were sloppy as a club on and off ??? field, our injuries exposed our defiencies more than ever, we sat on our laurels after 2001, weren't fit both mentally and physically, etc....
The simple ;D fact was we were no near good enough!

Hopefully the changes over the off-season plus hard work on the track and a good kick up the proverbial have addressed these deficiences.

BRING ON 2003!