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IMPORTANT // Please look after your loved ones, yourself and be kind to others. If you are feeling that the world is too hard to handle there is always help - I implore you not to hesitate in contacting one of these wonderful organisations Lifeline and Beyond Blue ... and I'm sure reaching out to our PRE community we will find a way to help. T.
Ben Cousins a Tiger (Merged)
- Thread starter achillesjones
- Start date
ha its typical rfc speak the constant undervaluing of draft picks.skiptomystu said:
a list of players at the club that needs replacing plus old timers. old timers first.
cousins hes not even at the club yet but hes in delist calculations.
johnson say no more
richardson
brown
simmonds
bowden
tuck
pettifer
coughlan
mcmahon
polak
schulz
king
jackson
raines
polo
pattison
allowing the first 6 are gone over the next few yrs the players after them are all ordinary sheesh pettifer cogs and polak could all be gone already thru crippling injury.
what the hell are we doing chasing 31 yr olds with a list like this. if nothing else the rfc have totally abandoned a youth policy for a quick fix. they want to hope they make finals or some real questions will be asked of the rabble.
I don't understand why you support (or pretend to) this club. Without exception, every post I've ever read from you is negative. I've been following this club for over 30 years. I'm also a realist and have been extremely critical of the club in terms of recruitment, player development, coaching and off-field management (especially financial) over the last 10-15 years in particular. This club should be far greater now than what it is. We were in every sense key rivals with Collingwood and Carlton in the 70's and early 80's, but lost our way while Essendon and teh Interstate clubs went past us.the claw said:
However in a number of areas this club is now improving. For a start, the club is now profitable and hopefully the debt will be decreasing. With better finances come more resources to improve the key operational areas of the club (as mentioned above). Miller is gone and while I have some doubts about Cameron, at least the right types of players were recruited in the recent drafting period. My perception is that we now have an improved list, and it's incumbent on Wallace to get the best out of them. Our results will dictate his future and so be it.
Not every player on a list can be/is a champion - the salary cap alone sees to that. While Johnson has probably gone on one year too long and I'm also no fan of Pettifer and McMahon, by and large the player list has improved significantly. It does have youth and structured balance (see Phantom's recent post). The older players you list all still have on-field value, while many of the younger ones either haven't been given sufficient opportunity or have been set-back by injury. Polak's had an unfortunate accident while Coughlan is a super player badly affected by footy related injuries.
As members and supporters, it's our role to support the club financially and emotionally, and influence continued on and off-field improvement as much as we can so that we can gain maximum enjoyment for ourselves and have a better club to hand on to our kids and the next generation of Tiger supporters. We certainly have the right to criticise when the club is not pursuing the correct path and there's been many times when I've felt the need to do that. However at the end of the day, for this club to be successful and become what we all want it to be, we've got to get behind it.
Life is short. None of us can ever undo the mistakes that we've made today. We can only learn from them and do better tomorrow. This club has made many mistakes over the past 25 years, some because we followed the old, outdated model of the 70's when it was successful. I would hope that these lessons have been well and truly learnt and we can now re-build it bit by bit. Constant negativity, without any reasoned balance, will get this club nowhere.
Debate and constructively question all aspects of the club as much as you like. Done in the right way, that can be very valuable. Being negative just for the sake ot it is a waste of time.
glorydaysareback
Nice to have our glory days back at the Tigers!
Wasn't sure about this, but now that Ben is a Tiger I will get behind him and the club. Courageous move by all at Tigerland and they should be commended for it. I have been around young guys hooked on this crap, too many times and as a society we turn our backs on young lives and throw them in the too hard basket. If by drafting Cousins and giving him this opportunity to help him with his rehab and get his life back into order and normality, the RFC are already winners in my book no matter what happens on the field.
Very proud to be a supporter of the Tigers today.
PS: Memo Eddie McGuire, you sour prick, I hope BC absolutely tears the Pies apart next season. All your BS about helping this kid out when you were looking at him looks so hollow now. RFC deserved that extra pick for Polak on proper compassionate grounds and because the Tigers were prepared to take the chance your cowardly pricks were not prepared to take. If you are so concerned about players and their contacts with some less than model citizens, why is Alan Didak still on your list???? What double standards you have.
Very proud to be a supporter of the Tigers today.
PS: Memo Eddie McGuire, you sour prick, I hope BC absolutely tears the Pies apart next season. All your BS about helping this kid out when you were looking at him looks so hollow now. RFC deserved that extra pick for Polak on proper compassionate grounds and because the Tigers were prepared to take the chance your cowardly pricks were not prepared to take. If you are so concerned about players and their contacts with some less than model citizens, why is Alan Didak still on your list???? What double standards you have.
Just reading around the various forums and I've come to the following observations.
WCE Supporters - By and large all very very happy for RFC and Ben. Thankful we gave him a lifeline and hope he plays well for us. Nearly universal in their love for Cousins in the same way they are bitter about Judd
Carlton, Collingwood & Hawthorn Supporters - Hope for the worst. Sounding very petulant and McChins like. Not unlike claw.
St Kilda & Lions Supporters - Regret more than anything. Still questioning why we picked him when their clubs obviously did enough due diligence and rejected him.
Essendon Supporters - Surprised to see many are supportive. Expected them to be more like the other filth. I wonder if it's the perceived influence of Sheedy that's kept them onside and possibly the cammraderie of the Rama / Polak situation.
Didn't notice any outstanding trends in the other supporters.
WCE Supporters - By and large all very very happy for RFC and Ben. Thankful we gave him a lifeline and hope he plays well for us. Nearly universal in their love for Cousins in the same way they are bitter about Judd
Carlton, Collingwood & Hawthorn Supporters - Hope for the worst. Sounding very petulant and McChins like. Not unlike claw.
St Kilda & Lions Supporters - Regret more than anything. Still questioning why we picked him when their clubs obviously did enough due diligence and rejected him.
Essendon Supporters - Surprised to see many are supportive. Expected them to be more like the other filth. I wonder if it's the perceived influence of Sheedy that's kept them onside and possibly the cammraderie of the Rama / Polak situation.
Didn't notice any outstanding trends in the other supporters.
I'm still mixed on the Cuz issue.
But I will bring up one thing. Remember when WCE won the flag and Judd called Cuz onto the stage to take the cup, he knew who the real heart of the team was.
I so, so hope he is fit for round one.
But I will bring up one thing. Remember when WCE won the flag and Judd called Cuz onto the stage to take the cup, he knew who the real heart of the team was.
I so, so hope he is fit for round one.
Freezer said:
Was thinking the same Freezer. Reckon I'll slot round 1 in my diary for one of my Melbourne trips.
This situation is a risky one for sure, but not without a genuine chance to be successful. I have read quite a few posts on here spruiking the view that "once an addict, always an addict" is the obvious reason not to have Ben at our club. This is obviously a simplistic view, but not having known too many hardcore drug users (unless you count Pale Ale), it is hard for me to be objective. What I do know however, is that there is at least one case where I know a hard core drug addict of excellent sporting pedigree has made it all the way back to the top. As well as being a diehard Tiger and footy fan, I follow baseball very closely, having played it competitively for many years. I follow the majors closely, and can relate a story about a guy by the name of Josh Hamilton, who was a number one draft pick in 1999. He was considered a "can't miss" prospect, but somewhere between getting a 4 million dollar signing bonus and hopefully making it to the majors, he went off the rails. He became and alcoholic and a heavy drug user, and didn't look like ever fulfilling his promise because of it. He was pretty much out of the game for 5 years, only playing sporadically in the minors, and when he did play he was suspended for substance abuse. He eventually got help before it was too late, dried out, worked through the addiction and returned to baseball in 2006. He was drafted in the Rule V (kind of like a rookie draft) in 2006, moved again to another team, and started playing drug free in the majors in 2007 (8 years after being drafted, he finally made it). Not only did he start playing, he played extremely well, and in 2008 he made the American League All-Star team.
Obviously this is one guy who made it all the way back, but he has stated that playing baseball, and the support that came from his teammates and club, was a big part of getting back on track and believing in himself all over again. With the right support and a positive outlook, it IS possible to get clean and once again be at the top of your game. This is obviously my hope for Ben, who will have to do it even tougher at his advanced age for an elite footballer. To those that say "once an addict, always an addict", it doesn't have to be that way.
Obviously this is one guy who made it all the way back, but he has stated that playing baseball, and the support that came from his teammates and club, was a big part of getting back on track and believing in himself all over again. With the right support and a positive outlook, it IS possible to get clean and once again be at the top of your game. This is obviously my hope for Ben, who will have to do it even tougher at his advanced age for an elite footballer. To those that say "once an addict, always an addict", it doesn't have to be that way.
Freezer said:
The lad is 30, has bad hammies and is keen to prove himself at a new club. A training injury is not impossible. I'm just keeping expectations reasonable, that's all
