Very, very stupid AFL people, past or present

[Dry Rot]

Example #1 - Max Gawn

I'd be a 'very, very stupid person to leave': Gawn rejects free agency

https://www.afl.com.au/news/556157/i-d-be-a-very-very-stupid-person-to-leave-gawn-rejects-free-agency

Max Gawn signs a four-year contract extension with the Demons.

No Max, you are a very, very stupid person to stay at that pea hearted, poorly coached, badly cultured club.

Who is your nomination of a very, very stupid AFL person, past or present?

[bornadog]

Steve Hocking.

Thinks he can change the game back to the 80s and 90s through rule changes (Sorry you lot must be sick of me on this) No rule change will ever make the game look like what you think it should look like. The game is continually evolving due to smarter coaching, use of technology, players are fitter stronger bigger and faster than ever.

Steve Hocking, ruining football, ruining the goose that laid the golden egg.

[jeemak]

Steve Hocking.

Thinks he can change the game back to the 80s and 90s through rule changes (Sorry you lot must be sick of me on this) No rule change will ever make the game look like what you think it should look like. The game is continually evolving due to smarter coaching, use of technology, players are fitter stronger bigger and faster than ever.

Steve Hocking, ruining football, ruining the goose that laid the golden egg.

Don't sell yourself short mate, it's not just this! :)

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

Steve Hocking.

Thinks he can change the game back to the 80s and 90s through rule changes (Sorry you lot must be sick of me on this) No rule change will ever make the game look like what you think it should look like. The game is continually evolving due to smarter coaching, use of technology, players are fitter stronger bigger and faster than ever.

Steve Hocking, ruining football, ruining the goose that laid the golden egg.

John Brown and Nick Riewoldt fawning over him last night, calling him a genius, based on a sample size of 1 high scoring pre-season game.... despite both acknowledging that the first half was very low pressure footy.....

[bornadog]

John Brown and Nick Riewoldt fawning over him last night, calling him a genius, based on a sample size of 1 high scoring pre-season game.... despite both acknowledging that the first half was very low pressure footy.....

Preseason games are notorious for lack of defence

[Mofra]

Brayden Preuss.

Stuck behind Goldstein at North so he moves to... Melbourne. Behind Gawn.

[Mofra]

Example #1 - Max Gawn

I'd be a 'very, very stupid person to leave': Gawn rejects free agency

https://www.afl.com.au/news/556157/i-d-be-a-very-very-stupid-person-to-leave-gawn-rejects-free-agency

Max Gawn signs a four-year contract extension with the Demons.

No Max, you are a very, very stupid person to stay at that pea hearted, poorly coached, badly cultured club.

Who is your nomination of a very, very stupid AFL person, past or present?
Harsh - and the players that stuck with us in October 2014?
No captain, coach or CEO.

I still like a little bit of loyalty in football.

[comrade]

Brayden Preuss.

Stuck behind Goldstein at North so he moves to... Melbourne. Behind Gawn.

Guaranteed to get paid hundreds of thousands to schlump around the VFL for a few years. I would say that's big brain stuff.

[Happy Days]

Yeah Preuss is stupid like a fox.

My nomination is the Dees red pill JBP gang. Those guys are *actually* stupid not just footy stupid.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

Preseason games are notorious for lack of defence

I know right! And yet these morons were salivating as if this was proof of a seismic shift in football.

[Mofra]

Guaranteed to get paid hundreds of thousands to schlump around the VFL for a few years. I would say that's big brain stuff.
Take into account match payments and you get more playing seniors. Far more if you are a best 22 player come contract time.

[comrade]

Take into account match payments and you get more playing seniors. Far more if you are a best 22 player come contract time.

If he had more exposed form at AFL, I doubt he would have picked up another juicy contract. He's better off playing on the fringes and living the pro athlete lifestyle, making his 100-200k a year.

[Axe Man]

Rory Laird has just signed a 5 year extension with the Crows. I guess by 2026 they might have come good. Is he stupid for re-signing rather than exploring his free agency options, or are the Crows stupid for signing an ok player like Laird to a 5 year deal (he will be 32, turning 33 in late 2026.

[comrade]

Rory Laird has just signed a 5 year extension with the Crows. I guess by 2026 they might have come good. Is he stupid for re-signing rather than exploring his free agency options, or are the Crows stupid for signing an ok player like Laird to a 5 year deal (he will be 32, turning 33 in late 2026.

He's pretty good but 5 years for a bloke in his late 20s seems like too long for a player of his type. Probably shows how hard it is for the Crows to retain players, though.

[Bulldog4life]

Ross Oakley.....enough said.

[Bulldog4life]

Ian Collins

[Grantysghost]

Ian Collins

Seconded. Still dirty on him for Grant's suspension in 97.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

Ryan Griffen sprang to mind initially, but without him going, we more than likely don't end up with Tom Boyd .Without Tom, we probably don't end up with a premiership.
So I'm settling on Nathan Brown.

Leaves us to go to Richmond for 'success'.
He stays, the sliding doors means he not only doesn't break his leg, but he also adds a point of difference to our 2008 team and who knows what happens, but it would be a damn sight better than what did eventuste...for both him and us.

[jeemak]

Ryan Griffen sprang to mind initially, but without him going, we more than likely don't end up with Tom Boyd .Without Tom, we probably don't end up with a premiership.
So I'm settling on Nathan Brown.

Leaves us to go to Richmond for 'success'.
He stays, the sliding doors means he not only doesn't break his leg, but he also adds a point of difference to our 2008 team and who knows what happens, but it would be a damn sight better than what did eventuste...for both him and us.

I was up to my armpits in party party at the time Brown left, was playing footy at a reasonable level and seriously nobody really was interested in AFL at the club I played for week by week, so I missed a lot of the drama surrounding Rhode and the associated shenanigans that led to him leaving.

From what I've been told or can gather, he wasn't completely stupid for leaving, and he was pretty much the best player in the comp in the season in which his leg was broken.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

I was up to my armpits in party party at the time Brown left, was playing footy at a reasonable level and seriously nobody really was interested in AFL at the club I played for week by week, so I missed a lot of the drama surrounding Rhode and the associated shenanigans that led to him leaving.

From what I've been told or can gather, he wasn't completely stupid for leaving, and he was pretty much the best player in the comp in the season in which his leg was broken.

Not entirely dissimilar to my circumstances Jeemak.
I was blindsided by his departure. Especially as through my fugue state mind at the time I was confident he'd stay given the 'if Darcy re-signs so will I' narrative that was doing the media rounds.
I recall he was offered significant financial inducements to go there, and he probably made out like gangbusters financially, but from a football point of view it turned out dismally.
I dare say, had he stayed, his football resume would've ended up significantly better.
I'd wager, had he stayed, he would've flourished in our rebirth under Eade's reign. If so, he also would've featured very prominently in the Top 5 bulldogs thread.

[jeemak]

Not entirely dissimilar to my circumstances Jeemak.
I was blindsided by his departure. Especially as through my fugue state mind at the time I was confident he'd stay given the 'if Darcy re-signs so will I' narrative that was doing the media rounds.
I recall he was offered significant financial inducements to go there, and he probably made out like gangbusters financially, but from a football point of view it turned out dismally.
I dare say, had he stayed, his football resume would've ended up significantly better.
I'd wager, had he stayed, he would've flourished in our rebirth under Eade's reign. If so, he also would've featured very prominently in the Top 5 bulldogs thread.

Sliding Doors moment without Jeanne Tripplehorn to make it completely amazing.

His first year was 1997, and it went to shit for him in 2005 when he was averaging twenty touches a game and 3.4 goals. Twenty touches and 3.4 goals. What could he have been under Eade? He could have been someone that put Gia into the middle of the ground where he should have been his entire career because he'd have been so amazing at it, and given us some actual class outside of Cooney and on top of Cross and Boyd.

[hujsh]

Would it be too literal to say Justin Sherman?

[soupman]

Would it be too literal to say Justin Sherman?

Well if we are gonna go down that path then Stewart Cameri.

Firstly he was a dumb footballer who continually made low percentage plays and frustrated the hell out of me.

Mainly though it's for the booking of his wedding on Grand Final eve like an idiot, compounded by the fact he managed to do it in the one year where the Bulldogs made it.

He gets points for being the one guy to leave Essendon but even then morals and ethics aside he probably cost himself an even juicier contract and longer career by doing so.

[Mofra]

Ryan Griffen sprang to mind initially, but without him going, we more than likely don't end up with Tom Boyd .Without Tom, we probably don't end up with a premiership.
So I'm settling on Nathan Brown.

Leaves us to go to Richmond for 'success'.
He stays, the sliding doors means he not only doesn't break his leg, but he also adds a point of difference to our 2008 team and who knows what happens, but it would be a damn sight better than what did eventuste...for both him and us.
We low-balled him. The club didn't have the money to pay all it's stars properly so basically had to low-ball one star out of the place, and Brown was it.

If you want stupid - Jayden Schofield. Went back to WA for his girlfriend and turned his back on an AFL career. IIRC he nominated for the draft a couple of years later but no club was interested. He had his one chance and he blew it with a poor decision.

[comrade]

We low-balled him. The club didn't have the money to pay all it's stars properly so basically had to low-ball one star out of the place, and Brown was it.

If you want stupid - Jayden Schofield. Went back to WA for his girlfriend and turned his back on an AFL career. IIRC he nominated for the draft a couple of years later but no club was interested. He had his one chance and he blew it with a poor decision.

Based on his IG, still mates with a few Bulldogs players such as JJ. Don't think he has many fond feelings for the place.