Melbourne Tigers show lack of class in Corletto dispute

 
Michael DiFabrizio Columnist

By , 21 Oct 2011 Michael DiFabrizio is a Roar Expert

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NBL CorlettoSomething had to give when Patrick Mills joined the Melbourne Tigers and unfortunately for Daryl Corletto, he was it. The 10-year Tiger veteran was sensationally cut so that Mills could be accommodated within the NBL points cap.

Now, two months later, he returns to Melbourne as a member of the New Zealand Breakers – and the simmering tensions surrounding his departure have finally boiled over.

Tigers coach Trevor Gleeson kicked things off with comments in The Age on Wednesday.

“We were hoping he would stay for the rest of his career but he decided to take the money and go,” he said.

Corletto, who had been asked to stay with the team despite no longer being on the roster, hit back.

“They expected me to sit there and wait on the sidelines until Patty Mills heads back to the NBA,” he told SEN. “At the end of the day, I was 29 when it happened. I wanted to play basketball, I wasn’t going to train every day just to watch guys play on the weekend.”

An amicable split, this was not. But for all the back-and-forth comments this week, it’s clear one side comes out looking a lot better than the other.

Put simply, the Tigers were trying to have their cake and eat it too by signing Mills and expecting Corletto to stick around. Of course, it would’ve been great for them if they managed to pull it off, but they have no right to complain after it didn’t work out.

They were, after all, asking for loyalty from a man they’d just cut after ten years of service.

As if that wasn’t enough of a bad look, we were then treated to Gleeson’s comments this week, which came across as childish. The suggestion that money was the reason Corletto walked out – when the Breakers were offering him the opportunity to actually, you know, play basketball – was nothing short of absurd.

You see players change teams because they’re not starting or getting enough minutes and no one bats an eyelid. Yet Corletto wasn’t going to be getting any minutes at all – surely that alone should be enough justification for moving clubs.

Secondary to that, he would have every right to feel aggrieved given his treatment by the Tigers after being there for so long.

Without knowing went on inside Corletto’s mind, right there are two pretty huge non-monetary factors that would’ve surely had a major influence on his decision to join the Breakers. That’s not to say money wasn’t a factor, but it definitely wouldn’t have been Corletto’s sole motivation.

Perhaps Gleeson was just trying to drum up interest in Saturday’s game – someone has to fill Homicide’s void, after all – but even if that were the case, Corletto’s clearly taken offence to the comments and supporters across the league have been outraged by them. There was just no real need to make any negative comments.

It’s at this point where I’d normally write something like, “All this sets up a hostile game at The Cage on Saturday night.” However, apparently even the Tiger fans are with Corletto on this one – some are planning a “blackout” in support of him at the game this weekend.

Doesn’t that just speak volumes?

Follow Michael on twitter @mdifabrizio
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