JuzzCarlton wrote:
GWS wrote:
JuzzCarlton wrote:
Who cares?
I do.
The whole me me me bullshit has to stop if we're ever to get anywhere.
Do you think James Hird/Michael Voss/Nathan Buckley weren't ever offered serious money to leave their clubs?
Funnily enough it wasn't ever a major issue for any of them.
But it was for Kouta.
I thought Buckley walked out on Brisbane after one year to go to his club of choice!

How did we recruit Bradley, Kernahan, Williams, etc. if money wasn't a factor in their decisions?
Didn't a certain Carlton great leave the Cats for a measly $5000 grand?

Did Stevens walk?
Lets piss on his grave whilst it's still warm and call him a merc rather than a brilliant player who played footy for the club. Kouta took the money Elliott offered and you would demand it too if another employer offered you more after playing great footy.
I don't think he should play on or be on a million and he should show more leadership just like Stevens who isn't any different to Anthony. Except Nick's body isn't F@%&#! up beyond belief from a million knee ops and he won't be a cripple when he's older.
He couldn't even outmark a powderpuff like Brad Green in round 1!

See this is where you don't get it. I'm not suggesting that there aren't other players who hold out for more money. Hamill did it and I thought his request was reasonable - it was the club's offer that wasn't.
This is the point - Kouta's contract has been UNREASONABLE in anyone's terms except those who'd lick his nuts if he asked them.
Williams held out for $5K after winning a B&F in his first season. Geelong wanted to continue paying him base and he thought he was worth a little more than that. At $5K it obviously wasn't about the money - he wanted recognition that he'd arrived as a player and the club valued his contribution. They didn't and as a result they probably missed out on a couple of flags in the early 90s (imagine Diesel feeding Ablett...

).
Buckley never held the Bears to ransom. He told them from the beginning that he wanted to play for a big Melbourne club and Collingwood was his preference.
Bradley was a great player like Kouta (though for far longer) but it's fairly obvious where Kouta learnt his wage bargaining skills. The way Bradley stood out from training was a disgrace although it's mitigated slightly by the fact that he was never on anything like what Kouta was and he had to sit by watching a guy like Kouta come along and take some of what was probably rightfully his.
Stevens wanted to return to Melbourne. I don't have a problem with that either. In fact I don't have a problem with any player moving clubs and if they can get more money then fine.
What I do have a problem with is a player who takes a completely UNREASONABLE slice of a club's salary cap the way Kouta and no-one else has done.
Had he accepted $750K a year at the peak of his career I would have copped him choosing to take Sydney's offer. Greedy? Yes, but them's the breaks.
The difference between what Kouta did and what the others did is that it's very easily arguable that they moved clubs or negotiated deals that were within the bounds of what's reasonable. I have no problem with that.
I have a problem with one player who quite clearly negotiated a deal that was never in the best interests of his club, his team mates or the game itself. The only person that contract was in the best interests of was Kouta (although only on a purely financial level).
And as for Kouta "accepting the money Elliott offered" that's a crock. Elliott never offered it. Elliott caved in to Kouta's blackmail. That moment exposed Elliott as pathetic and Kouta as greedy and helped to set our club on a downward spiral.