The Western Bulldogs look every bit an AFL club in crisis as they grapple with Ryan Griffen’s bombshell decision to seek a trade to GWS Giants.
The club captain and two-time club champion’s trade missive sent Whitten Oval into a spin on Thursday – with Griffen’s misgivings of coach Brendan McCartney at the heart of the conflict.
While the Bulldogs have so far refused to consider a trade for their on-field leader, they must now deal with the fall-out of a feud between captain and coach laid bare.
In a statement addressing the conflict, club president Peter Gordon details Griffen raising “concerns” about McCartney at season’s end, with the pair sent for mediation with football director Chris Grant.
“Brendan acknowledged some faults and agreed to work on them,” Gordon’s statement reads.
“At the conclusion of the meeting, Chris asked Ryan if he was happy with the meeting and agreeable to working with Macca on an ongoing basis.
“Ryan answered yes to both questions and added that while he was on leave he wanted to reflect upon whether he was best suited to captain the club in the future.
“Having returned to Australia on Tuesday night and without any further discussion with us after giving that agreement, Ryan informed us that he had changed his mind.
“We were also informed that he was seeking a trade to GWS – with whom we now understand he was in communication during this time.
“We are extremely disappointed at his approach and have no intention of indulging it.”
For their part, GWS chief executive David Matthews hoped the Bulldogs would come to the table.
“We will now work with the Bulldogs to do a fair deal in the interests of all parties during the trade period,” he said.
Grant’s role as an intermediary between captain and coach comes 18 years after his own `do I stay or do I go’ moment.
Courted by Port Adelaide for their debut AFL season, Grant turned down a huge pay day to sign for the Power – a decision famously assisted by an offering of 20 cents from a young Bulldogs fan.
While Grant nominates that decision as the best one of his football career, how the Bulldogs deal with Griffen’s decision could impact the club for seasons to come.
No AFL captain has switched clubs since Chris Judd swapped West Coast for Carlton in more amicable circumstances in 2007.
After taking the ulimate step of asking for a trade away from the club, it remains to be seen how Griffen can remain at the Bulldogs under McCartney – particularly as captain.
His decision returns white-hot scrutiny to Brendan McCartney’s tenure as senior coach.
In a post-season review, McCartney was spared the brutality of other AFL clubs who chose to dismiss coaches after underperfoming years but might yet wear the axe.
“We weren’t happy with our year,” McCartney frankly told Melbourne radio station 3AW last month.
In his third year as an AFL coach, McCartney coached the Bulldogs to just seven wins, which he said lead to some tough post-season reviews.
“Some of the interviews were pretty direct,” he said.
“Not just individual players, we were pretty direct with how we performed as a club.
“How we coach, I coached.. how we trained, how we prepared.”
If Griffen does force through his trade to GWS, his last match will be remembered with all the more regret.
Griffen’s round 23 effort came in a narrow loss to the Giants, when the captain gathered 38 disposals and a career-high 13 clearances to win three Brownlow votes.
For the Bulldogs, it could come down to a simple choice.
Coach? Or captain?
Aransan
Guest
Well Port aren't in the market are they? Ryder should be looking for a club that can do a reasonable deal.
Franko
Guest
What can Port do..? Nobody wants to go to Essendon, the best they can offer is their best pick. They're even struggling to get any fringe players to go to other clubs in order to get a pick to give to Essendon.
Aransan
Guest
The thinking of senior players like Griffen are a good part of the Bulldogs problem, get rid of him for the best trade you can get and lay down the law to the club's other so called leaders. When a player breaks a contract they should have no say in which club they go to, they should just be told where they are going and if they are not happy with that then they should be banned from the competition. Clubs that entice players to break contracts should also be penalised and there has been an increasing tendency for clubs to do this. Ryder's case is different, but Essendon should receive reasonable compensation which is not on offer from Port Adelaide at present. The baiting that Essendon players, their families and supporters have been receiving from some other Victorian based so called supporters over the last two years has been quite awful and I can understand Ryder and his family's desire to leave Victoria. If Port can't offer compensation better than draft pick 17 then they don't value him as much as most other clubs do and he should consider other non-Victorian clubs.
joe
Guest
With the coach leaving not sure if i want him to stay
Aransan
Guest
I think the AFL needs to explain to players what a contract means. The Bulldogs seem to have a problem with their culture, especially among their senior group. Sacking the coach is always the easy option and one destined for the long term failure of a club if it doesn't actually address the problems that they have. Peter Gordon should be congratulated for not taking the easy option.
Kev
Guest
As bad as it is for your captain to go back on his word and walk on out on the club in this manner, you are doing yourselves no favours by forcing him to stay especially given that he is in an influential position. If he stays on and is disgruntled, it will filter through and impact the rest of the playing group. I say suck it up, let him leave and get the best deal for him.