Oct 07, 2012

AFL

Free Agency Fan Barometer

Isn’t free agency great? It all comes down to who you support.

For some fans, the heady days of total indentured servitude worked just fine. Other fans see free agency as a golden opportunity to refresh the list or gain that key piece to win you the premiership.

Then there are those clubs that feel free agency is like being at the year ten social when you are a foot shorter than anyone else, your pimples look really angry and your orthodontist has just prescribed 24-hour wearing of headgear (not that i’m projecting here or anything).

So let’s look at the mood for each group of supporters after the first week.

Adelaide

Mood: Angry

Why: How the hell do you mistake Sydney for Brisbane? It looks like Kurt Tippett is a really bad homing pigeon. Bill Lawry would not be a fan. My theory is it’s got something to do with Apple Maps.

First, Adelaide fans experience the ‘will he/won’t he’ nonsense, then the players are sent a text by Tippett telling them he won’t be back, finally he doesn’t go home to Brisbane or the Gold Coast but goes to the reigning Premiers, Sydney.

One person has ruined Free Agency for the Crows fans.

Brisbane

Mood: Loss

Why: Under Michael Voss, Brisbane has been like the gambler that goes all in, then loses. The Ed Norton in Rounders of the AFL.

To begin, they get Fevola and several others in an attempt to turn the club’s fortunes around as quickly as possible.

When this is a bust, they then begin to slowly turn it around only to then put all their eggs in the Kurt Tippet basket this offseason.

Now the fans are left wondering what plan B is. Or are we up to plan F now?.

Carlton

Mood: Perplexed

Why: The Blues have been sending nothing but mixed messages. Mick says he happy with the current list then the club says they’re keen on securing a key forward.

To date they’ve failed on Cloke, Tippett and Lynch.

Then the Jack Watts rumour get shot down so forcefully that Watts probably had to choke back tears at just how much the Blues said they weren’t interested.

Greg Swann called the rumour, ‘absolute crap.’ At least we think he meant the rumour, not Watts.

Collingwood

Mood: Happily outraged

Why: Getting Quinten Lynch from the Eagles made Magpie fans very happy.

This has been tempered somewhat by the audacity of the Eagles trying sign Sharrod Wellingham due to Collingwood now needing to offload some salary to stay under the cap. How dare another club attempt to attract players. Sometimes life just isn’t fair. If only Brian Waldron could give them some accounting advice.

A ‘mega trade’ with Melbourne is also being touted in the media with Wellingham and Dawes going over for draft picks. Many Collingwood fans see Dawes going as a plus.

Essendon

Mood: Gleeful.

Why: How good is this Free Agency thing? I mean who’s not a fan? Brendon Goodard just walks on over. In the end they didn’t even need to get him another job. Not even Carlton managed to do that with Judd. Also they may be able to offload Monfires. How good is that?

Fremantle

Mood: Calm

Why: Nothing to get too worked up about. Danyle Pearce is a nice addition giving them some speed and experience in the midfield. As usual the Eastern media have forgotten the Dockers exist.

Geelong

Mood: Patient

Why: It’s really all about Josh Caddy. Trade week is where it will get interesting. Losing Shannon Byrnes to Melbourne is sad, especially since he just won the best clubman award but it’s hardly a problem on the field where he was struggling to crack the senior side. He won’t have that problem at Melbourne.

Gold Coast

Mood: Panicked

Why: Kurt Tippett turning out to be geographically challenged is disheartening but the real issue is that after pinching all the best players for the last few years, they are now starting to feel the pull of home.

Josh Caddy is the main loss with clubs in Melbourne lining up for his services. It will probably get worse before it gets better for Suns fans.

GWS

Mood: Oblivious (This isn’t really a mood but go with me)

Why: No free agents because everyone on their list is twelve. Most GWS fans, ok both GWS fans, are too excited about the Western Sydney Wanderers to be worrying about AFL at the moment.

Hawthorn

Mood: Despondent

Why: No Hawthorn fan has picked up the paper or turned on the TV since the Grand Final. You just don’t risk it. Fox Footy is an absolute no-go. A Hawthorn fan wouldn’t know if Buddy was traded and after his kicking, a few wouldn’t care.

Melbourne

Mood: Pessimistic

Why: Who wants to go to Melbourne? Almost nobody.Shannon Byrnes has come across but that hardly makes the average fan say ‘this is the moment we started to turn this around.’

Talk of Chris Dawes coming doesn’t feel that exciting although he is doing an MBA, which means chatting to him after a loss would be interesting for Dees fans. The one bit of hope for Demons supporters is that another club’s cast offs are upgrades for us.

North Melbourne

Mood: Disinterested

Why: No players looking to move in a major way and no real talk of them being linked to anyone else. Need to be careful in trade week not to find the whole team traded to Canberrra.

Port Adelaide

Mood: Deflated

Why: Last week I wrote this piece about David Koch becoming President, which resulted in a few Power supporters accusing me of kicking the club when it’s down.

In my defence its much harder to kick something when its up, I’ve tried and it did not go well. Also being a Melbourne fan, I no longer take any joy in other teams being down. That’s sad in itself because that’s about 73 per cent of the fun of footy.

Port have lost Pearce and Chaplin and with all the movement around the Chair and Coach, Free agency has been the last of a Port supporter’s worries. I personally hope Ken Hinkley is a great coach after being passed over so many times. It’s got a real feel of ‘I’ll show you.’

Richmond

Mood: Surprised

Why: A couple of decent signing and no major stuff ups. For Tigers fans this is a pleasant surprise after years of bad trades.

It certainly helped that they only had one unsigned free agent. I personally would be pretty scared to walk out on Damian Hardwick.

St Kilda

Mood: Mourning

Why: Not only do you lose a club champion in his prime, it’s to Essendon. Talk about pouring lemon juice into a cut. There is no upside in this for the Sainters.

Isn’t it great to see clubs like Essendon and Collingwood strengthened by free agency? Oh wait, no its not.

Sydney

Mood: Delirious

Why: Still recovering from Grand Final celebrations, Swans fans find out Kurt Tippett has got lost on his way home and decided to join the club. The following squealing from other clubs about Sydney’s extra cap room just makes this all the more fun for the Swans.

West Coast

Mood: Fine thanks

Why: Losing Lynch isn’t exactly awesome but Wellingham announcing he wants to sign with the Eagles on their website without Collingwood knowing is almost worth it. Eddie Maguire’s rage just adds a bit of icing on the cake.

Getting Wellingham would make this all the better for Eagles fans.

Western Bulldogs

Mood: Bored

Why: Nothing doing. Barely any movement and not any real talk of much going on. Its hard to emotionally invest in talk of getting Matthew Bate. Securing his services though does unlock a host of jokes for supporters.