My personal belief is that someone has to be a pretty special player to receive dispensation from the no cocks policy. What we see and what is produced on the playing field is only part of the employment equation, everything in the background [ultimately] has an effect on what we see up front. If he wasn't such a cock [and I don't know if he actually was] maybe the team would have performed better when the chips were down?
The guy topped our assists chart while not playing anywhere near the top of his game - that is special enough to warrant more effort being put in to get him happy, in my opinion. Most of the players of his type are difficult to deal with.
Being 'top 6-12' in the league is a moot point - he was our best creative player; that is a fact. He was the player that other teams were scared of. He could also create more on one leg than any other AM we've ever had.
Of course, if we did put the effort in and he's still not happy being here - then see ya later.
I'd rather have good players who strop about a bit than a team of Ross Aloisi's. We've got big holes to fill with Stein and Carlos' departures. But hey, moving on - maybe we will get a blue-collared playmaker who doesn't cause no ruckus.
Last year, One of our best players was Jeremy Brockie. Up there in the golden boot stakes in a miserable season. If he was being a complete cock, would you put up with it? In that year, he was one of our best. Lets not use the fact that we know he just came off a shit season either. You make the decision on what you know at the time. That's what you were just saying about Carlos so be careful what lines your draw. At the point in time, Carlos was one of the better players but a guy that spend a chunk of the season injured or warming the bench was voted ahead of him. What does that say about how good he was?
I think being one of the best in your team is not enough cause being the best in your team, you could still well be a shit footballer if your team is shit (and the season prior, we were). You need to be one of the best in the league to get away with a bit of crap and have some rope especially in a league where there are only 230 players. You shuffle that shit on and find another guy.