What went wrong is that hes a foreign player, and just not good enough to take up an import spot.
yup, for mine and I'm sure many here an import player has to be good enough to command a starting spot every game.
Queenslander 3x a year.
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yup, for mine and I'm sure many here an import player has to be good enough to command a starting spot every game.
Exactly... A number of times last year we only had 1 of 5 imports starting. A really nice guy and a handy enough player but just cursed by his 'Merican ness!!!!
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"What went wrong is that hes a foreign player, and just not good enough to take up an import spot."
That's not the point, smart ass. What does not make sense is that he was one of the better players through the first 9 or 10 games (see this forum for opinions and mom polls, not rigged by family members incidentally) and then was singled out to be dropped when many others were not playing well. RH was under pressure to do something, anything and dropping Alex was the least controversial thing to do with him only being on a one-year deal anyway. He voiced his displeasure with RH because he felt rightly that he did not deserve to be dropped and the rest is history. Had done everything RH asked of him for a year and that was his reward. I know it's a business, I run one myself, and tough decisions have to be made sometimes. But Phoenix sure did great the rest of the season without him didn't they? And the coach went on to greater things!
Y'all could not afford 5 ADP's for your import slots. Alex gave his all for the club on a modest salary. Obviously our grandson's name does not contain R or H.
I wish y'all a better season in 13-14 and hope the forum can return to the witty levels of the 11-12 season. I know last season was not fun for anyone.
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"What went wrong is that hes a foreign player, and just not good enough to take up an import spot."
That's not the point, smart ass. What does not make sense is that he was one of the better players through the first 9 or 10 games (see this forum for opinions and mom polls, not rigged by family members incidentally) and then was singled out to be dropped when many others were not playing well. RH was under pressure to do something, anything and dropping Alex was the least controversial thing to do with him only being on a one-year deal anyway. He voiced his displeasure with RH because he felt rightly that he did not deserve to be dropped and the rest is history. Had done everything RH asked of him for a year and that was his reward. I know it's a business, I run one myself, and tough decisions have to be made sometimes. But Phoenix sure did great the rest of the season without him didn't they? And the coach went on to greater things!
Y'all could not afford 5 ADP's for your import slots. Alex gave his all for the club on a modest salary. Obviously our grandson's name does not contain R or H.
I wish y'all a better season in 13-14 and hope the forum can return to the witty levels of the 11-12 season. I know last season was not fun for anyone.
Supporter For Ever - Keep The Faith - Foundation Member - Never Lets FAX Get In The Way Of A Good Yarn
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The club's/league's situation with squad size/import limits still worked against him though, you can't deny that.
Fuck this stupid game
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"What went wrong is that hes a foreign player, and just not good enough to take up an import spot."
That's not the point, smart ass. What does not make sense is that he was one of the better players through the first 9 or 10 games (see this forum for opinions and mom polls, not rigged by family members incidentally) and then was singled out to be dropped when many others were not playing well. RH was under pressure to do something, anything and dropping Alex was the least controversial thing to do with him only being on a one-year deal anyway. He voiced his displeasure with RH because he felt rightly that he did not deserve to be dropped and the rest is history. Had done everything RH asked of him for a year and that was his reward. I know it's a business, I run one myself, and tough decisions have to be made sometimes. But Phoenix sure did great the rest of the season without him didn't they? And the coach went on to greater things!
Y'all could not afford 5 ADP's for your import slots. Alex gave his all for the club on a modest salary. Obviously our grandson's name does not contain R or H.
I wish y'all a better season in 13-14 and hope the forum can return to the witty levels of the 11-12 season. I know last season was not fun for anyone.
No the point was that he held an import spot, thats why it was so hard to retain him.
Also there hasnt been any official release from the club about him, so sounds like Alex saw the writing on the wall and left before having a chance to speak to Ernie
Agree that he was hard done by being dropped during the season.
But I'm not sure the season would have gone much different had he been playing instead of Lia tbh
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Also curious to hear why you think Ricardo Clarke was dropped, we were doing so well when he was here and when he made the bench, but after he left, the club sure did great didnt they? And the coach as well?
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have to agree, Alex may well have been ahrd done by thorughout the season, but as you can clearly see our opinion coiunts for very little at the moment - read the fixtures thread.....whilst Alex has played well in parts he never really set the world on fire and his import status was always going to count against him.
Queenslander 3x a year.
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If Alex didn't take up an import spot he probably would've been re-signed. So yes that is the point.
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Sad to see him go. I think a lot did think it would happen though, its probably not so much that he wasnt good enough for the spot as much as the club probably want to see what else is out there in terms of imports. He was unlucky. I remember a similar thing happening last time he was out of contract, the club stalled for a long time before eventually offering him a deal.
I kind of hoped he'd get his Aussie citizenship during this offseason, but guess that's not the case. Do you know when he gets it Alex's dad?
Allegedly
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What went wrong is that hes a foreign player, and just not good enough to take up an import spot.
Despite what Alex's dad said being mostly true, the above statement is still correct.
Smith may have been hard done by when dropped but his foreign status still meant he was never going to get a new contract. A League squad level? Yes. A League starting-eleven level? A scratchy maybe. Worthy of import spot? No.
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Sad to see him go. I think a lot did think it would happen though, its probably not so much that he wasnt good enough for the spot as much as the club probably want to see what else is out there in terms of imports. He was unlucky. I remember a similar thing happening last time he was out of contract, the club stalled for a long time before eventually offering him a deal.
I kind of hoped he'd get his Aussie citizenship during this offseason, but guess that's not the case. Do you know when he gets it Alex's dad?
Hopefully he does well with Oakleigh and get him a trial with Heart. I do think he had more to offer than we saw of him.
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That's incredibly unlucky then. I think he's been hard done by. But also from the clubs point of view, you can't really blame them. They see a guy taking up an import slot who didnt feature at all for most of the season.
Blame Totori.
Allegedly
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That's incredibly unlucky then. I think he's been hard done by. But also from the clubs point of view, you can't really blame them. They see a guy taking up an import slot who didnt feature at all for most of the season.
Blame Totori.
We were 1 game away from the GF when Ifill was the 2nd best player in the league. WSW won the Premiership on the back of Ono & Hersi. No Broich, no Brisbane. Fred & Carlos were the key to Victory's doubles.
If Smith was an Aussie, I think he would be good value for the squad but that is still another season away.
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True. No Totori and the nix crumble. That was RHs mistake last season.
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Blame Totori.
This. Smith >>>> Benji, and if we didn't stupidly sign Benji on for another year, I would have been happy for Merrick to choose to keep Smith here.
Yellow Fever - Misery loves company
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Also curious to hear why you think Ricardo Clarke was dropped, we were doing so well when he was here and when he made the bench, but after he left, the club sure did great didnt they? And the coach as well?
I thought Clarke was injury cover. Rumour had it - RH tried to get him to stay on - TW, academy type of situation to allow him to develop more. As he was professional at his Club they may not of let him out of his contract.
Supporter For Ever - Keep The Faith - Foundation Member - Never Lets FAX Get In The Way Of A Good Yarn
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If Alex didn't take up an import spot he probably would've been re-signed. So yes that is the point.
No it's not. As I read it, he's not feeling hard done by for not picking up a new contract, I'm sure he understands the reasoning there just as much as anyone else. He's feeling hard done by for being dropped mid-season, and then booted to touch for the rest of the season, despite not being the worst performer. And many on here can agree that was pretty harsh, and he has a right to feeling aggrieved. Being an import player has nothing at all to do with whether he gets picked or not during the season. And if he had been given the chance to play a bit more, he may of impressed and picked up a better contract elsewhere, if not with us.
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Blame Totori.
Blame Ricki actually.
Who would have worked out that deal?
A fan is a fan.
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"What went wrong is that hes a foreign player, and just not good enough to take up an import spot."
That's not the point, smart ass. What does not make sense is that he was one of the better players through the first 9 or 10 games (see this forum for opinions and mom polls, not rigged by family members incidentally) and then was singled out to be dropped when many others were not playing well. RH was under pressure to do something, anything and dropping Alex was the least controversial thing to do with him only being on a one-year deal anyway. He voiced his displeasure with RH because he felt rightly that he did not deserve to be dropped and the rest is history. Had done everything RH asked of him for a year and that was his reward. I know it's a business, I run one myself, and tough decisions have to be made sometimes. But Phoenix sure did great the rest of the season without him didn't they? And the coach went on to greater things!
Y'all could not afford 5 ADP's for your import slots. Alex gave his all for the club on a modest salary. Obviously our grandson's name does not contain R or H.
I wish y'all a better season in 13-14 and hope the forum can return to the witty levels of the 11-12 season. I know last season was not fun for anyone.
Not being a smart ass, just saying. Theres lots of players who if they werent Aussie (or kiwi in our case) would not be playing in the league at all. If he gets his citizenship hes back in the frame, if not for us then for another club. I never said he wasnt good enough to play full stop, just the whole import thing. The only reason he didnt make it at GCU was for the same reason, the late addition of Macio Rigters saw them want to make 'better' use of the quota. The irony in this though is that we trialled both Macio and Alex, and chose Alex.
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't we offer Rigters a contract which he turned down? And then we got Smith when Rigters replaced him at GC?
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't we offer Rigters a contract which he turned down? And then we got Smith when Rigters replaced him at GC?
I think that we did but gold coast offered him more
" If you only have a hammer you tend to see every problem as a nail" - maslow
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He wanted more than what we had to offer. Sorry i got a bit confused for a second, it was Billy Mehmet who we outright didnt want after trialing with us.
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Blame Totori.
Blame Ricki actually.
Don't forget that Greenacre didn't have him in the squad for the last five games either. Although I think he had left to trial somewhere else at some point?
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i am a smith fan, bought his long sleeved black out the heart shirt, i will reserve judgement on if he should of stayed or gone until after we see how good the import who takes his place is, if it is an upgrade on alex i will be happy if not i will be a little dissapointed he has gone. good squad player who can play play more than one position just a shame he was an import.
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Ricki's selections last year were at times questionable and at other times laughable.
How bad did Lochead and Siggy play last year only to get selected week in week out and the same with Lia in the middle and Manny to a lesser extent.
I can't imagine how frustrating it must of been for Smith / Boxall / Lindsey and everyone else in the squad watching the dribble served last year knowing no matter how bad it would get you just knew you wouldn't get a decent crack.
If there is one thing i hope Merrick brings in with him is its an open slate on players and their ability.
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Ricki's selections last year were at times questionable and at other times laughable.
How bad did Lochead and Siggy play last year only to get selected week in week out and the same with Lia in the middle and Manny to a lesser extent.
I can't imagine how frustrating it must of been for Smith / Boxall / Lindsey and everyone else in the squad watching the dribble served last year knowing no matter how bad it would get you just knew you wouldn't get a decent crack.
If there is one thing i hope Merrick brings in with him is its an open slate on players and their ability.
Umm sorry, but Smith had 12 starts and 6 substitute appearances in the first 18 games so he played a big part in most of that dribble. Putting him in the same category as Boxall or Lindsay in terms of not getting a crack isn't justified.
Smith is an OK player but putting his non-selection in the category of "laughable" is also a bit rich. As I just pointed out he was also not in the squad with Greenacre in charge.
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Hmmmm come to think of it.....last season as bad as it was, I don't recall any major changes in formation/personal.
Ernie, come on down !
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I think MLNZ was referring to other selections as laughable, not Smith on the bench. Just to clarify.
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Ricki's selections last year were at times questionable and at other times laughable.
How bad did Lochead and Siggy play last year only to get selected week in week out and the same with Lia in the middle and Manny to a lesser extent.
I can't imagine how frustrating it must of been for Smith / Boxall / Lindsey and everyone else in the squad watching the dribble served last year knowing no matter how bad it would get you just knew you wouldn't get a decent crack.
If there is one thing i hope Merrick brings in with him is its an open slate on players and their ability.
Umm sorry, but Smith had 12 starts and 6 substitute appearances in the first 18 games so he played a big part in most of that dribble. Putting him in the same category as Boxall or Lindsay in terms of not getting a crack isn't justified.
Smith is an OK player but putting his non-selection in the category of "laughable" is also a bit rich. As I just pointed out he was also not in the squad with Greenacre in charge.
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Signed for Oakleigh Cannons
Only posted 4 days and 2 pages ago...
Yellow Fever - Misery loves company
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Just been subbed on by Oakleigh. They are losing 2-0 to SMFC at HT.
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