How different would the floundering Greater Western Sydney Giants look with Gary Ablett in their side?
Granted, Ablett is comfortably the best player in the AFL and would dramatically improve any team. But GWS must be ruing their decision to spend a similar amount of money to secure the misfiring Tom Scully as their marquee.
The AFL’s newest club have invested an extraordinary $6 million over six years to pay a man who was meant to be a match winner but now has been reduced to playing the role of a tagger.
GWS obviously had no chance to secure Ablett given he was already signed up to Gold Coast. But with every 35-possession haul racked up by the prolific and dynamic midfielder, GWS surely curse their inability to secure a marquee even close to being as effective as Ablett.
GWS’ selection of Scully as their major signing was always questionable. He was an unproven, albeit tremendously gifted rookie. Many similar players have gone on to have mediocre careers which did not befit their talent.
In other words, he was a speculative investment by a club which desperately needed to nail its recruitment, particularly of those players on big money. They plumped for the 2009 number one draft pick Scully, with then chief executive Dale Holmes describing him as “the best young player available”.
Admittedly, Scully had made a very impressive start to his AFL career at Melbourne, averaging 22 touches a game in his two seasons with the Demons. But he has been a flop at GWS, never managing to equal that same level of statistical output despite entering his prime years.
Scully was meant to be the kind of midfielder who shaped games by winning the ball both on the inside and the outside and maiming the opposition with incisive ball use. He was meant to be a player that opponents formulated plans around.
In his 50 matches for the Giants, only twice has he registered more than 30 touches. He has also had minimal impact on the scoreboard, averaging just 0.38 goals per game. Neither his tackles nor clearances per game have been better at GWS than they were in his novice years at Melbourne.
Because Scully is tucked away up in Sydney playing for the competition’s lowest-profile side, he has flown under the radar to a large degree. Remarkably, his former Melbourne teammate and fellow number one draft pick Jack Watts is subjected to far greater scrutiny and criticism despite being on a comparatively minuscule wage at the Demons.
Once rugby league convert Karmichael Hunt expectedly ends his strange stint in Australian rules football at the end of this season, Scully will become comfortably the most overpaid player in the AFL.
It is an awful title to own and one that will haunt both the player and his labouring club.
Neil
Guest
Most people don't think properly or logically. Is it Scully's fault that he received 6 million over 6 years and his father? Would you decline an offer of 6 million over 6 years in a similar position when you were previously on only a fraction of that? Who wouldn't? I think well done to Scully. It's the AFL who have issues. I think GWS are going to be like Peel Thunder in WA for years to come, down the bottom of the ladder, and for the same reasons. It is an isolated area and hard to recruit, hardly an exciting area to be in is it? Sydney is a rugby state, one team is plenty, what is the AFL thinking? And all immigrants are mostly into soccer and other sports, rarely AFL, as they dont understand it ; hell, even we can't even understand it at times. The brainless AFL are greedy - Tasmania should have been before GWS, they are an aussie rules state. The AFL are so desperate to find new talent and new supporters that they seek in other countries or other codes, and these players take too long to develop. I am sure past players of the 60's, 70's, 80's must wonder about the game and how it has all changed - no wonder a lot of them don't even watch it, which tells you a lot. I don't know any other sport in the world that has changed it's rules and the overall game over the years. Shame on the AFL. Yes, it's still a great game, when it's great - but when it's awful, it's awful.
handles
Guest
Trengrove will come good. And I am glad we didn't pick Martin. He is walking a tightrope, and trouble is only a small slip away.
Tim Renowden
Expert
Also Howe, who is an absolute jet.
Tim Renowden
Expert
Well, there were two caveats in there: - "over the last two seasons" so you can take Dawes (hardly played in 2013), Tyson, JKH, Vince (all new in 2014), Pedersen (has improved hugely this year but spent most of last at Casey or underwhelming at the Demons) and Bail (poor in 2013) off that list. Frawley was also well below his best last year, and Viney showed promise but wasn't that influential. - "one of the best" so I would still put Jones, Garland and Dunn in that bracket as well, and there's still room for Watts. Watts is one of the only players on Melbourne's list who can get 25 touches and still get sledged by his own fans.
rob
Guest
Yes my grand children will talk about how a nobody is the greatest athlete ever lived. And how one suburb is better than the other. Let's be honest here afl knows they screwed up, and they came up with that excuse for two reasons 1 is that they don't want a backlash from Victoria, oh I ment the afl community and 2 they are two proud to admit their mistakes
handles
Guest
Ian's points 1 and 2 are the most valid things written below the line. And I would add that you also need to realise that GWS needed headlines. Just as GC signed Hunt and GWS signed Folau for headlines, Scully provided buzz and got the club into the paper more than another 18 year old with potential. Sure Ablett moved to the Gold Coast, but I think that was the exception rather than the rule. The Gold Coast is a great destination, Ablett loves the surf, and he was a superstar player who was looking for the next great challenge, and possibly also looking to get out from under the family history at Geelong. Too much love can sometimes be too much! If you pick Ablett as the ideal for a new club, you could say the ideal model is a leader, a ball winner, distributer, role model and teacher. Arguably you could have looked at Watson (wouldn't move), Swan (not a ball winner, and not a role model), Pendlebury (I think they tried hard, didn't they?), Dangerfield (says he won't move for money), Selwood (imagine the howls from Geelong if they lost 2 in a row!), and a few others. But the options were few and far between.
handles
Guest
Wow, that is a big call. On this season's form, I would rank him below Dawes, N. Jones, Frawley, Howe, Dunn, Tyson, JKH, Viney, Garland, Vince, Pedersen and probably Bail. SO in their best 15, for sure!
Jack Russell
Roar Guru
First time i've ever heard that slane, do you have a source?
Gyfox
Guest
Ping pong is bruise free football ;-) Unfortunately, Rob, the AFL is targeting your grandchildren, not you!
Footyfan
Guest
Do you have some inside mail on Karmichael Hunt this is not public knowledge? Bluey has been talking him up as to only now being fit enough for the Suns afte ran injury over the summer. His hard body stands out in a team that plays a lot of outside football but against elite teams does not have a hard engine room. The press loves to write a lot of words and hope that some of them eventuate, do we really think K Hunt is leaving AFL, or have we been fed that line by AFL pressmen with column inches to fill. Scully has been poor, but at least he ensured his Dad got a good income with GWS for an extended period.
Mark
Guest
I don't understand why people try to use that as an insult? Who doesn't like ping pong?
rob
Guest
Seriously pack up and leave Sydney.we have no interest in aerial ping pong here
slane
Guest
I actually think they rated him very highly and had to make him an offer too good to refuse in order to nab him. It's hard to believe they couldn't have snagged Daisy for the same amount.
Macca
Guest
Thanks Slane - So it was all about getting a big headline.
slane
Guest
GWS don't have to pay 95% of their salary cap. The expansion clubs were/are exempt.
TomC
Roar Guru
Probably right. GWS certainly thought they were in the box seat, though.
Steele
Guest
As a Dees fan, I can't believe the bullet they dodged! MFC got quite the compensation considering his output and cannot believe what GWS paid. I'm now praying they'll offer a similar offer to Trengrove, the number two pick! We couldn't of just picked Martin... Also agree that Watts cops an awful lot of bad press comparatively to those two superstars. He also has been repeatedly compared to Hurley and NicNat unkindly. Not much between them now.
Macca
Guest
Gene- On some level I think the AFL wanted to be able to announce a $6m deal - I think they thought this would encourage young kids to take up the sport - look how many millions I can earn playing AFL! What is your different background?
Cat
Roar Guru
Who knows what would have happened, the AFL has said in the past that they 'were surprised' how few players were willing to move. I could have told them it would happen. AFAIK AFL is unique in how much power players have regarding trades (perhaps rugby league is the same I don't know though). Every single player in the AFL essentially has a no trade clause regardless of their contract status. For me, because of my different background, this is astounding.
Macca
Guest
All that is true Gene, I think what many of us have an issue with is the point you raised earlier (not with you raising it but the logic of it) that GWS had to pay 95% of it salary cap and to do it they had to pay someone a million dollars a year for 6 years so that may as well of been Scully. Surely given all the other concessions the AFL could have granted them an exemption from this due to their list structure (ie a lot of new draftees) for the first 2 years and possibly even allowed the to carry forward the inpaid amount in order to assist in player retention or being able to recruit a player actually worth $1m a year when they came out of contract. I don't think too many people sit well with the concept that despite the lack of worth of the players available they were forced into spending the money on whoever they could get - what would of happenned had Scully truned them down? Would Setanta O'Hailpin or Bret Thornton have been offered $1m a year?