Nathan Eagleton Departs

Southee wrote:In other words.

I was dropped due to injury and form but did not want to apply myself to get better.....so then I cleaned out my locker.

mypaspectiv wrote:Well blow me. You could have knocked me over with a feather. Nathan is the third ex AFL player to reject a fair & reasonable offer to go back and help his original club in the past 2 yrs, especially when they really needed it.

Although the potential for a premiership was muted as the main reason I think the dollars also had a large bearing on Nathan's decision to go to Norwood as it was with Scott and Steven's decision to go to the Eagles. Only Steven can boast a premiership medal so I guess this justifies his decision.

I raise the question: Why do some of these ex AFL boys come back to the SANFL after being extremely well paid for many years in the AFL and demand big bucks when they should be assisting their original club (that gave them a start) not only as a player but a mentor and possible future coach.

Also: Why did they make two year commitments and then walk away after one??

Perhaps certain clubs may be a bit more cautious in the future after transferring $25K to the club of origin on top of whatever their contractural match payments have been. A costly exercise and lot of dough for one year with not much in return I would have thought.

Never the less, they are all good blokes and I'm sure West would welcome them back to a Past Players function at any time. Even though there is always a little anxt at the time they made their decsions, all is forgiven as the years tick by. Life's too short to bear grudges isn't it.

ca wrote:

mypaspectiv wrote:Well blow me. You could have knocked me over with a feather. Nathan is the third ex AFL player to reject a fair & reasonable offer to go back and help his original club in the past 2 yrs, especially when they really needed it.

Although the potential for a premiership was muted as the main reason I think the dollars also had a large bearing on Nathan's decision to go to Norwood as it was with Scott and Steven's decision to go to the Eagles. Only Steven can boast a premiership medal so I guess this justifies his decision.

I raise the question: Why do some of these ex AFL boys come back to the SANFL after being extremely well paid for many years in the AFL and demand big bucks when they should be assisting their original club (that gave them a start) not only as a player but a mentor and possible future coach.

Also: Why did they make two year commitments and then walk away after one??

Perhaps certain clubs may be a bit more cautious in the future after transferring $25K to the club of origin on top of whatever their contractural match payments have been. A costly exercise and lot of dough for one year with not much in return I would have thought.

Never the less, they are all good blokes and I'm sure West would welcome them back to a Past Players function at any time. Even though there is always a little anxt at the time they made their decsions, all is forgiven as the years tick by. Life's too short to bear grudges isn't it.

Way to much was made of him not going back to West in my opinion. It had been 10 years which is a long time. He didn't really know too many left there and probably felt no attchment. Plenty of SANFL players don't go back to their SAAFL or country club when there career us over.

Southee wrote:Tough one.

If i was with a good employer who looked after me well with great benefits and conditions...a really good trainer. I dont know if I would go on to bigger and better things....some people see the $$$'s in their eyes and go and work with another company to find "the grass is not always greener on the other side" Many have tried it...many have failed and tried to crawl back to their original employer "begging " for their job back.....

Flag No.9 wrote:Personally I don't think this analogy between footy clubs and employers (i.e. how much loyalty would you show to your first employer?) holds water. Firstly, when a player enters League ranks the footy club would not be his principal employer. He would be earning a pittance from the club.

Secondly, there are many differences between a footy club and a non-football employer, a major one being the passion of the people following the club and the emotional ties that that passion hopefully creates between the players and the club and its supporters. That's one reason why supporters expect and hope former players return to their original club, and why it feels like an insult when they don't. There is no equivalent to that that I can think of in the non-football employment world.

mypaspectiv wrote:Thanks Southee for your support. Although I respect Bobbafet's remarks I think he is missing the main points in his reply post that I was trying to make.

First Point: I don't think any of these players gave great value for money for their respective clubs as he has suggested. Each one of them cost their new club $25K Transfer fee plus their contractural match payments which were approx $25Kpa and in one case considerably more. If you reflect on how many games they played and how well they played in those games this may answer the question of "what is good value for money???".

Second Point: Some of these players were drafted from the SANFL after playing little or no league football. All the clubs put a lot of time, investment, energy & effort into their zones and junior programmes and it would be nice to get a bit back at the completion of their careers.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion and this is mine for what it's worth. Happy days!!!!!!

Flag No.9 wrote:Personally I don't think this analogy between footy clubs and employers (i.e. how much loyalty would you show to your first employer?) holds water. Firstly, when a player enters League ranks the footy club would not be his principal employer. He would be earning a pittance from the club.

Secondly, there are many differences between a footy club and a non-football employer, a major one being the passion of the people following the club and the emotional ties that that passion hopefully creates between the players and the club and its supporters. That's one reason why supporters expect and hope former players return to their original club, and why it feels like an insult when they don't. There is no equivalent to that that I can think of in the non-football employment world.