Mark Williams retires.

[little_ripper]

http://www.essendonfc.com.au/news/a/Wil ... boots/8406

Knee is buggered.

[Rossoneri]

Thought he was coaching GWS under Sheeds?

Think Robbie just blew another load

[Ossie]

What an absolute f****** waste of a trade, and two years of $300,000 salary (if you believe the reports).
Still this should give us a bit of room in the salary cap for next season to go hard after a decent player in trade week.

[billyduckworth]

Has to go down in our history (alongside Phil Carman, Rene Kink etc) as one of our least successful trading moves!!

At least the guy has the decency to retire and not clog the list.

[jimmyc1985]

Good riddance, although i hadn't taken him into consideration when thinking about list changes at the end of this year as he was contracted until the end of next year. Would be nice if McVeigh and Davey had the decency to retire a year early, too.

Guessing our remaining senior list changes will come from Dyson, Welsh, NLM, Daniher and Fletcher (only if he voluntarily retires).

[little_ripper]

geez c'mon gents, he had a bad knee. might explain a few things.

[bomberdonnie]

Sad day

Will we have to pay him for next year?

Retiring due to a football injury kinda makes me think we will have to

[Jazz_84]

surely we wont have to pay him for next year?

not that i don't like the guy, i wish him well and after meeting him a few months back he's a pretty each going guy who loved a laugh

[s'dreams]

geez c'mon gents, he had a bad knee. might explain a few things.

Yeah, but it was known at the time that his knee was more than suspect. And the Hawks got Burgoyne as part of the deal!

[j-mac31]

Best thing he's done since the trade.

What an absolute f****** waste of a trade, and two years of $300,000 salary (if you believe the reports).

3 years. $1 mil all up.

[little_ripper]

geez c'mon gents, he had a bad knee. might explain a few things.

Yeah, but it was known at the time that his knee was more than suspect. And the Hawks got Burgoyne as part of the deal!

True. and from that 09 draft(a good un) I don't know if Fyfe was on our radar, but if we had of held onto pick #16 he could have been in red and black.
Given colyer was from Claremont(who we got at 26 instead), our recruiters must have known a good deal about their list, so I am guessing he was.

If we had Nathan Fyfe, damn.

[filthy2]

We haven't heard from Robbie.

Mrs Robbie is probably getting a real pounding in celebration like after the G-Long game.

[bombercol]

I think it's a shame.

He was a very good player and I don't blame the club for trading for him.

He could've been a good player for us - sometimes these things don't work out.

Now there will be an opportunity for someone else.

[Mrs Mercuri]

geez c'mon gents, he had a bad knee. might explain a few things.

I agree, it was Willo's body that let him down. I still think he could have been handy in our forward line if he was 100% fit, luckily for us and unluckily for Willo Crameri has emerged to take that role now.

Ends his career as a premiership player (not many can say that) and was the Hawks most dangerous forward before Buddy and Roughie came along...

Good luck to him!! =D>

[robbie67]

f****** finally!! It's Gnome - a - Geddon!!

And please, all you lot that are going poor Willo....oh his body let him down, what a load of shit. Even Lloyd said the players think he is lazy.

We gave a 1 Million dollar, 3 year contract to a 5 foot 10 Full Forward who had a suspect body, had attitude problems, and had never chased and made a tackle in his f****** life, even when fit!!

I take no joy from this at all. I said at the time it was a massive mistake, I didnt need hindsight to figure it out.

This happened on Ray's watch. I hope if some of you see the stupid prick at the footy, you give him the mouthful he deserves.

I hope the club have left this sorry chapter behind. The dimwits who were in charge out there have tried to turn us into Melbourne. It plays out like a scene from the movie "The Club".

[swoodley]

I hope the club have left this sorry chapter behind. The dimwits who were in charge out there have tried to turn us into Melbourne. It plays out like a scene from the movie "The Club".

Wasn't "The Club" about Collingwood

[robbie67]

Yes, and that's how f****** stupid our administration had become.

[Megan]

Just wonder what Hawthorn already knew when they traded him to us... and more importantly what we were told?

[s'dreams]

I hope the club have left this sorry chapter behind. The dimwits who were in charge out there have tried to turn us into Melbourne. It plays out like a scene from the movie "The Club".

No Robbie - the whole case history should be turned into pictures, framed and put on prominent display on the EFC recruiter's door, walls and the back of the loo door ... with a caption at the bottom of the fram "NEVER MAKE THIS SORT OF MISTAKE AGAIN"

Options that could have been ... but weren't cos we gave up pick 16 for this deal:
17. Daniel Menzel (Geelong)
18. Luke Tapscott (Melbourne)
20. Nat Fyfe (Fremantle)
21. Ryan Bastinac (North Melbourne)
23. Koby Stevens (West Coast)

Sure we got Carlisle at 24 (the pick we gained) and Colyer at 26 ... both with huge upside (and at the same time we offloaded Nash)

While North may have picked Carsile over Black (Pick 25) he may well have spilled to us anyway. Colyer was a bit of a suprise pick at 26 given his size and skill level.

While the above five "missed opportunities" are certainly guns, we had Zacha and Reimers to do the Menzel role. However, Fyfe, Bastinac and Stevens will be/are guns and would have been very welcome in the red and black

Lesson - don't give up early draft picks in a shallow draft (look at the number of rookie upgrades and out of contract pickups in 2009 - except for BAll these start at pick 58) ...

[BenDoolan]

Goes down in elite company with Richard Cole, Scott Camporeale, Justin Murphy, Ty Zantuck, Mark Alvey.....