Adelaide Crows 2017

[Jim05]

Walker reportedly gave Lever both barrels when he told the playing group he was on his way back to Melbourne.

Is it true Lever did it by phone, pretty weak if true

[woodublieve12]

Walker reportedly gave Lever both barrels when he told the playing group he was on his way back to Melbourne.

This has been poorly handled by all parties. Lever with a selfish money grab, the club stand off tactics for trading the player and club management taking pot shots at player management.

So you wouldn't take another job if it was offering more money and closer to home?

[Lightning McQueen]

So you wouldn't take another job if it was offering more money and closer to home?

I think Crow fans have a right to be pissed at Lever after he openly stated that he wanted to be a crow for life when he signed.

[Booney]

So you wouldn't take another job if it was offering more money and closer to home?

I think Crow fans have a right to be pissed at Lever after he openly stated that he wanted to be a crow for life when he signed.

Bright lights, draft day, young kid, can hardly read anything into those statements.

[heater31]

Walker reportedly gave Lever both barrels when he told the playing group he was on his way back to Melbourne.

This has been poorly handled by all parties. Lever with a selfish money grab, the club stand off tactics for trading the player and club management taking pot shots at player management.

So you wouldn't take another job if it was offering more money and closer to home?

It's professional sport you career ends in your 30's you can move home then.

[JK]

So you wouldn't take another job if it was offering more money and closer to home?

I think Crow fans have a right to be pissed at Lever after he openly stated that he wanted to be a crow for life when he signed.

Bright lights, draft day, young kid, can hardly read anything into those statements.

Yep agreed. The Crows can be pissed about a system that allows a 3rd year player to choose a new club, and the barrel they're held over as a result, but last I checked all 18 clubs were vulnerable to the same thing.

At the end of the day the club should be pissed with their own inability to yet again handle the situation. The rules aren't different for the Crows, all clubs face the same threat. It's the responsibility of each club to either lock down the players they want to keep, or trade them and get something worthwhile before they find themselves in a position of little to no leverage (pardon the pun).

[Magellan]

For those who haven't worked it out yet, welcome to the world of professional sport.

[Lightning McQueen]

Yep agreed. The Crows can be pissed about a system that allows a 3rd year player to choose a new club, and the barrel they're held over as a result, but last I checked all 18 clubs were vulnerable to the same thing.

At the end of the day the club should be pissed with their own inability to yet again handle the situation. The rules aren't different for the Crows, all clubs face the same threat. It's the responsibility of each club to either lock down the players they want to keep, or trade them and get something worthwhile before they find themselves in a position of little to no leverage (pardon the pun).

Sorry, I just wanted MW to like me.

[JK]

Yep agreed. The Crows can be pissed about a system that allows a 3rd year player to choose a new club, and the barrel they're held over as a result, but last I checked all 18 clubs were vulnerable to the same thing.

At the end of the day the club should be pissed with their own inability to yet again handle the situation. The rules aren't different for the Crows, all clubs face the same threat. It's the responsibility of each club to either lock down the players they want to keep, or trade them and get something worthwhile before they find themselves in a position of little to no leverage (pardon the pun).

Sorry, I just wanted MW to like me.

We all like you big fella, but if you keep running down Home Brand snags, well then ....

[MW]

Yep agreed. The Crows can be pissed about a system that allows a 3rd year player to choose a new club, and the barrel they're held over as a result, but last I checked all 18 clubs were vulnerable to the same thing.

At the end of the day the club should be pissed with their own inability to yet again handle the situation. The rules aren't different for the Crows, all clubs face the same threat. It's the responsibility of each club to either lock down the players they want to keep, or trade them and get something worthwhile before they find themselves in a position of little to no leverage (pardon the pun).

Sorry, I just wanted MW to like me.

try harder

[Lightning McQueen]

We all like you big fella, but if you keep running down Home Brand snags, well then ....

Yeah I know, I didn't realize how many posters on here like a bit of sausage.

[morell]

I'm with ya LM, hate shitty quality sausages.

[Dogwatcher]

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/garry- ... xSportsAus

Yowser. It's on.

Does it explain Saturday's listless performance? I dunno, but it can't help.

And, how will Adelaide fans view another favourite son, Simon Goodwin, after all of this?

[Magellan]

We all like you big fella, but if you keep running down Home Brand snags, well then ....

Yeah I know, I didn't realize how many posters on here like a bit of sausage.

Some are the wurst brats I've had to endure.

[bennymacca]

For those who haven't worked it out yet, welcome to the world of professional sport.

I wanna go home for family and money reasons. But mostly money reasons.

Ok we will trade you to Collingwood. They can satisfy both of those requirements

Nah I wanna go to Melbourne only.


That is straight up ridiculous. And you say “welcome to the world of professional sport” but in most other professional sports you are traded without your consent unless you are a free agent.

[morell]

From Alyx on BigFooty:

[mighty hounds]

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/garry-lyon-says-adelaide-captain-taylor-walker-was-furious-in-very-aggressive-conversation-with-jake-lever/news-story/f58ca65af83d24ed09605116784dc69d?utm_source=Social&utm_medium=Facebook&utm_campaign=FoxSportsAus

Yowser. It's on.

Does it explain Saturday's listless performance? I dunno, but it can't help.

And, how will Adelaide fans view another favourite son, Simon Goodwin, after all of this?

I've red that article and wondered the same DW, i thought surely not after the performances in the Qualifying and Preliminary Finals. Would have been an interesting convo between Roo and Goody i reckon.

[Booney]

ADELAIDE captain Taylor Walker was reportedly “furious” in a “very aggressive” conversation with defender Jake Lever, while other senior Crows figures are declaring his desired trade to Melbourne is really about money, not being closer to friends and family.

In another extraordinary twist, Lever’s manager has claimed that his player’s relationship with some Adelaide teammates got so bitter that they did not even want him playing finals with them.

The 21-year-old Victorian told the Crows he wanted to be dealt home on Tuesday, as first reported by Foxfooty.com.au, revealing his anticipated desire to become a Demon.

But that has angered the man who will likely soon be his ex-captain, Walker, as reported by Melbourne champion Garry Lyon.

“From what I am hearing ... Tex Walker as the captain of the footy club is furious and let him (Lever) know in no uncertain manner,” Lyon said on SEN Breakfast.

“I’m told it was very aggressive.

“We play in this system that allows you to make decisions. You’re not bound to play forever at one team. You’ve got options and you’ve got alternatives.

“When you’re a player who has travelled from interstate to play somewhere else, then obviously at some stage the pull to come home is going to be real or otherwise. For Jake it is real.

“I’m sure the Adelaide footy club are peed off about it.”

But Walker’s relationship with Lever may not be the only one to have soured, with the defender predicted not to attend the club’s best and fairest count on Friday.

“There have been senior players at the Adelaide football club who have been unhappy about this situation for several months now,” reporter Sam McClure said.

“It’s been going on at training and it’s been going on behind the scenes. It started off as banter — it increased to more than just that. In the last 48 hours it has got to the point where the pressure valve had to be released.

“When Jake Lever picked up the phone and decided to call every player on the list to explain what his decision was, and he was seeking a request home to the Melbourne footy club and to go home to Victoria to be closer to family, there were some players that accepted his phone call and were grateful for it.

“There were others, including the captain Taylor Walker who weren’t so happy, and the phone call was very short, and his intentions were made very clear.

“The exit meeting between the head of footy Brett Burton and (coach) Don Pyke didn’t go so amicably.

“My guess is you will not see Jake Lever at the best and fairest on Friday.”

Lever’s manager Ned Guy told AFL Trade Radio on Wednesday that some of his teammates didn’t want him playing finals with them. He also said it was Melbourne or bust for Lever.

“Jake will only be playing for Melbourne next year,” Guy told SEN Breakfast. “He won’t sign off with any other deal.

“It has been in motion for a fair while now. Melbourne was pretty fond of Jake all the way through, they contemplated taking him in the draft.

“Jake had his time at Adelaide and we worked through things with them, but we couldn’t get a point where we could reach an agreement, and that probably left the door ajar and Melbourne swooped in.”

The defender looks set to move to Melbourne on a deal worth around $750,000 a season over four years.

“I’ll be going back to Melbourne to be with my family and friends. I’ve nominated the Melbourne Football Club (as my preferred new home),” he said on Tuesday night.

“They’re young, they’re exciting, especially to watch and they’ve shown great interest in me.

“For myself and my partner, just being around our family and eventually in the near future I’d think I’d like to start my own family.”

Yet Crows chief executive Andrew Fagan declared on Wednesday that any suggestion Lever was moving for personal reasons was wrong and it was motivated by money, a claim already pushed on Tuesday by Burton.

“I’m super confident it was about money. His manager and Jake himself told us that,” Fagan told SEN Breakfast.

Melbourne GM of football operations Josh Mahoney told SEN Breakfast on Wednesday what he believes to be a fair trade for the defender.

“We’d expect a first and future second round draft pick would be a reasonable offer for Jake,” Mahoney said.

“About a month ago, we knew Jake was looking to return to Victoria but it was only on Monday that we got the phone call.”

Port Adelaide great Kane Cornes suggested that the Demons were unhappy with the way in which Adelaide has handled the negotiating process.

“What was put to Adelaide was a very reasonable offer from the Melbourne Footy Club in their mind,” he said on Sportsday SA.

“Just looking at the draft order now, Melbourne have pick 10. That was certainly on the table for the Crows and also their pick No. 2 in the Draft is pick No. 27. So both 10 and 27 and potentially a swap of picks involved there for Jake Lever.

“So this negotiation has been ongoing for a long time and that offer was slid across the table to the Crows official.

“He looked at it, shut his computer, didn’t say a word, got up and left the cafe. Just walked out. No dialogue whatsoever and it was quite a long walk to the exit of this cafe.

“They tried to call him back — both Lever’s manager and the Melbourne Footy Club. (He) didn’t want a bar of it and it is very, very testy between the Adelaide Footy Club and the Melbourne Footy Club.

“Some further emails were then sent the following day and clearly Melbourne were not happy with the way negotiations are going.”

[Booney]

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/garry-lyon-says-adelaide-captain-taylor-walker-was-furious-in-very-aggressive-conversation-with-jake-lever/news-story/f58ca65af83d24ed09605116784dc69d?utm_source=Social&utm_medium=Facebook&utm_campaign=FoxSportsAus

Yowser. It's on.

Does it explain Saturday's listless performance? I dunno, but it can't help.

And, how will Adelaide fans view another favourite son, Simon Goodwin, after all of this?

Certainly didn't have the "team" ethos running through the side on Saturday that they have prided themselves on all year. "Total team defence" etc.

[bennymacca]

From Alyx on BigFooty:

Danger Gunston Davis and lever would have been the only ones that made our side.

Griffin Kerridge Wright Henderson Lyons were all surplus to requirements and wouldn’t have been playing if they were still here

Vince trade got us Matt Crouch so more than happy with that too.

Jenkins lynch Jacobs Betts all cost us peanuts so we definitely need to be congratulated for that too