A captain walking out on his club is a magnificent headline for a media outfit, but is obviously the worst outcome possible for a football club.
It’s even worse when it’s one of the AFL’S perennial stragglers in recent years, the Western Bulldogs.
Their skipper, best player and the team’s heartbeat, Ryan Griffen, has decided to leave the Dogs with time still to run on his current contract and play with the Greater Western Sydney Giants.
Rumours and trade whispers had been flowing during the past 24 hours of this first week of the trade period that the Giants were positioning themselves to pounce again.
Mind you, I don’t think anyone thought they would pounce like this, with the Bulldogs completely sideswiped after Griffen had met with coach Brendan McCartney before going overseas to iron out some issues that existed between the two.
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Griffen said after the meeting he would be willing to work with McCartney, but obviously he’s changed his mind. The Dogs got on the front foot after a board meeting and released a stinging statement condemning Griffen’s actions and saying he wasn’t up for trade.
But how can they stop it?
Even if Griffen is their best player and skipper, it is fraught with danger to try and change someone’s mind. It seems his relationship with the coach can’t be mended.
The club could sack the coach, but it’s still tough for Griffen to stay. Anyway, president Peter Gordon has said the Dogs are committed to McCartney, who has two years left on his current contract despite having won just 20 games.
There seems to be a major breakdown in the relationbship between the senior players and McCartney, with Shaun Higgins off to North Melbourne and Liam Jones, bordering on being an experienced senior player, wanting to play with Carlton.
There’s also Adam Cooney, one of the Bulldogs’ best outside midfielders, who is on borrowed time at the Whitten Oval. The Dogs are apparently not against moving the Brownlow medallist on, if the right deal comes their way.
With Griffen keen on the Giants, the Dogs have to move on and get the best deal possible. They already have pick six, and they should be targeting the Giants’ first selection and hopefully one of their many young tall forwards.
There are plenty to choose from in Jeremy Cameron, Tom Boyd, James Stewart and Adam Tomlinson. The Bulldogs have to play hard ball here and make sure they get a good deal.
With those top five picks they are more than likely to take two more talls, and as they continue to try and finalise a trade to get Geelong fullback Tom Lonergan, their key defensive and forward posts would start to look imposing.
Their midfield will lack pace, but McCartney will have mainly his own recruits, with the exception of Bob Murphy, Matthew Boyd and Will Minson.
He has picked his own coaching and support staff mainly from Geelong, but with so many more young players coming in, next year could be another tough one as part of this long rebuild. But at the end it will be the house that Brendan built.
Scott Davern
Guest
Agree they will never win anything other than a chook raffle
Sharon Kirk
Guest
So who runs the cub the players or the coach so we have players now sacking coaches as they don't get on sorry this is a joke coaches have been around a lot longer than some players never heard of this back in the old days when they had some really hostile coaches players didn't have the guts to sack coaches then or they would of been shown the door now we have players spitting there dummy's because they get told of by the coach they would never of lasted under hafey or blight and sheedy or witten what going on with our game it's going back wards with all this crap with players holding clubs at ransom to go to other clubs why sack a coach over one player or two I'm over this game it's getting boring to watch a game now didn't watch many this yr be less next yr
Shouts Chen
Guest
Losing Ryan Griffen had a huge impact on Western Bulldogs when Brendan McCartney resigned today. This isn't good news for Dogs fans.
Jack Smith
Roar Guru
I understand the harsh reality at the Bulldogs and can't comment on how you must feel, but shouldn't we stand by our clubs in periods of pain. Like I said, I don't know how you feel other than devastated. I was not old enough for the Swans moving up here so I ca only guess at what you are feeling.
paul merritt
Roar Rookie
I've been a Bulldogs supporter all my 48 years, well no more. The club have given me more than enough reasons to change to another team before, but this time i am. Certain players have been told the hard truth over the past 6 mths and have taken easy way out by saying they cant communicate with the coach, when in actual fact the truth about their own ability as players and people was questioned they failed. Ryan Griffen must go as he wants to leave he is not a club man as we all thought as for all the other players in jones and tutt you to can f*** off you were only mediocre anyway.
Lazza
Guest
Keep the coach and get rid of all the players? Man management is a crucial part of modern coaching in all sports. If you lose the dressing room then you're out.
langou
Roar Guru
The other thing is that they have admitted that they haven't spoken to Griff The coach going may not change his decision at all, in which case they will have lost their captain and their coach at the same time. I know he is under contract but do they really want a bloke who doesn't want to play for the club, taking the field, knowing he will leave next year as a free agent.
Franko
Guest
Brilliant rant Paul, you've hit the nail on the head. I couldn't believe the comment from their boss: "My own judgement about this was the situation emerged because of Macca's work ethic." He pushed others too hard. Huh..? Too hard...?
Balthazar
Guest
How could you keep him as captain? Surely everyone would be holding their breath when the next set of circumstances came around that he didn't like, assuming that he would bail. He didn't try and stick around to fix things. That's not leadership
Jack Smith
Roar Guru
Gordon is two faced. Says a contract is a contract in regards to Griffen. Then talks about Bulldogs actively pursuing contracted Tom Lonergan. HA! What a joke Bulldogs. Serious issues down there still.
langou
Roar Guru
End of conference Still many questions left unanswered Will Griffen want to now be part of this club? If so will be captain? How will this decision effect the ability to draw players to their club i.e Tom Lonergan How divided are the players about this sacking? Who will coach the club?
Paul D
Roar Guru
This is going to be a rant without much evidence, more on gut feel, because it’s impossible to know what was said between players and coaches at the various clubs that have had messy executions take place in the coaches office this post-season. But there’s something very unseemly about the way players are increasingly able to collect together and remove a coach if they don’t like the way he’s going about his job. Players aren’t stupid – they know if a group of 3-4 senior players gather together, it’s a collective that the board can’t ignore, which makes it inevitable that they’re going to wind up sacking the coach, rather than clean out the playing list. In all of the clubs – Bulldogs, Adelaide, Gold Coast – they experienced very underwhelming seasons, where there were real questions raised about player commitment, effort levels and desire at various stages throughout the season. In that sort of situation, the coach, with his job on the line, is bound to crack the whip at some point, and get stuck into players he doesn’t feel are pulling their weight. Will Minson at the Dogs was pulled up bigtime at his post-season review by McCartney, by all accounts – I have heard Bob Murphy speak also, at various stages (without malice) about McCartney not pulling his punches when he’s telling his players what they need to do better. It’s becoming a very difficult juggling act for a new coach these days. They have to impose their structure and ideals on the playing group, and strike the right balance between nurturing and disciplining the players. Oh, and try and win as many games as you can in the meantime. If I was a bulldogs fan, I would be demanding a lot from this playing group next season. They got their wish, McCartney is gone. Now it’s on you. No more excuses.
langou
Roar Guru
"This is not a crisis, just a bad day at the office" if anyone wants an opportunity to play finals "year after year" they should come to the Bulldogs McCartney will be releasing a statement shortly
langou
Roar Guru
Gordon unhappy with free agency, saying that pick 3 for Frawley and pick 26 for Higgens is an example of this
langou
Roar Guru
By the sounds of it, he was told to resign or he would be sacked
langou
Roar Guru
Interesting that Gordon is now implying that players should be consulted and involved in the decision surrounding the coach Had a 1 hour conversation with Jake Stringer of all people
Paul D
Roar Guru
Wow, I read that one wrong! At least he resigned, they didn't sack him. Good luck Bulldogs, you're going to need it. Next stop, increasing irrelevance and more wilderness years.
Franko
Guest
Looks to me as if the board weren't happy about the Griffen fall-out, asked McCartney what he wanted, McCartney said ask the players and they said "out". Craziness from the Dogs, if the players don't want to work for the coach they should leave, join a club like Richmond or StKilda, all this does is keep the Dogs in the Melbourne, StKilda, Richmond bracket. Interesting that Hinkley and McCartney both coached in the Geelong league and both were assistants at the same time as Geelong, there are a lot of similarities. I've never once hear any murmur from Koch that the coach "pushed others too hard"
langou
Roar Guru
-Bulldogs expecting Griffen to stay, however no one at the club has spoken to him -Currently Griffen is "pig shooting" so can't get a hold of him, (serious)
langou
Roar Guru
"Griffen has shown great courage and I am grateful to him". "I want to thank the players for their honesty yesterday". "The players don't run this club"