Players have to think about the money being offered as they only have a short time in the game to hopefully set them up for life. Crows offer for McGovern is supposedly $370k for two years whereas Freo's supposed offer is $750k for 5 years, that is a massive gulf. Fans of course only see club loyalty as the key factor as they are emotionally tied to the club. But there are balancing factors against more moderate bigger $ offers that worked for Brisbane, Geelong & Hawthorn's golden eras and it's working for us now.
Sam's post signing presser told of several reasons why he resisted offers from Melbourne and really only looked to re-sign with us.
We are in a very good position when it comes to retaining players and attracting players. We are a club with strong values and culture, we have off field personnel as good as any club, we are a perennial genuine contender, we have a strong fan base but at the same time we don't have a fishbowl they have to live in, the weather is so much better than Melbourne or Adelaide through winter. The weather factor always comes to mind when you see Vic clubs at training rugged up or freezing doing their sea walks. What player would want to play for a team in Tassie??
So for all the doom expressed about Jones and Reid, they both probably took less money to stay here for all of the reasons above, long may these factors continue for us!
Bookmarks