dee man wrote:with all the players leaving the port,i hope the club gets behind ricky and give their kids ago.for too many years tthey,like other clubs have bought coaches and players to maintain the status quo,with the only real results being the waisting of money and letting the kids down who have basically moved onto clubs willing to give them ago.the sooner these clubs forget about the mercanieries and look in their own back yard the better the club will be.
How about looking at this with a bit of perspective?
Smart, Smitham, Maddern and Perry have all played over 100 A Grade games for PDFC and served our club with distiction, with all except Smart winning a B&F (Smart was robbed in 2008, by Gates).
They are hardly fly-by-night types of players, but there comes a time when you have to look at whats best for yourself and family.
To call these guys mercineries is just plain wrong. They were all at the club when we lost a Grand Final in 2003 and also when we were relegated in 2006. Hanging around at a club during the rough times proves to all what loyal people they have been.
There is no doubt they enjoyed the Tredrea / Delaney eras better than now, but if you aren't happy with what is around you at a footy club, it is a hardly going to be an enjoying time and condusive for playing well.
All four played in our last premiership in 2007 (Maddern was Captain), and they deserved the spoils of that win.
Unfortunately Port District have a bad habit of ignoring these type of players and IMHO believe that "Oh, those guys will be with us forever" type of attitude. It's not always like that!
As for not promoting the kids, Perry is a PDFC junior, and Maddern has only played for Districts when the Port Magpies said No Thanks from about the age of 18.
At the end of the day, PDFC is really, only a very good A2 club, hence our best recent years in 2003 and 2007.
Its a tough comp in A1 and the committee and coaches need to realise this. Unfortunately 2010 will reflect their attitude. It will be a long winter!!