Bombertalk

AFL.com wrote:RICHMOND defender Bachar Houli says he quit Essendon because he believed he was being made a scapegoat for the club's poor performances during Matthew Knights' final year as coach.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with AFL multicultural round ambassador Leigh Montagna, Houli has revealed how frustrated he became with the Bombers' selection policy.

"I got my body to where I wanted it to be, and I was doing everything right in the VFL, and my performances in the VFL were showing that I was good enough to play at the highest level," Houli explained.

"Even (some Essendon) players were getting irritated about why I wasn't playing, and they were raising the question, 'Why isn't he playing?' (I still) don't know the reason."

The first practising Muslim to line up in an AFL match, Houli played only 26 games for Essendon during his four seasons at the club.

The 24-year-old says the final straw was when Knights dropped him back to the VFL after the Bombers lost to Carlton by 76 points in round 19, 2010.

Houli had gathered 18 possessions during the game.

"I guess I was one of the better players on the field, but I felt I was the scapegoat," he recalled.

"It was a real tough time, and I sat down with my manager and I said, 'Things aren't right here.'

"He knew, because he had a sense that things weren't right. He said, 'What do you want to do? I said, 'Let's seek another opportunity somewhere else."

Houli ended up joining the Tigers during the 2010 player trading period.

"I wanted to stay in Melbourne, and Richmond came up with the best offer … and Richmond were the best fit for the second part of my career," he said.

"Thankfully, they've provided me with a great opportunity. Last year I played 22 games and this year I've played every game so far."

little_ripper wrote: Headlines should read, "I was Matthew Knights scapegoat".

GoalSneak wrote:I'm afraid Bachar is a little delusional. I saw a few Bendigo games that year and he certainly didn't do "everything right in the VFL". As always with him during his time with us, he got plenty of it but wasted a lot of his possessions through bad decision making and rarely did the hard defensive work or one percenters. He was absolutely putrid in that game against Carlton, although I do agree he was unlucky to be dropped because he had played really well for once the week before against St Kilda.

Windy_Hill wrote:I hope this is the media putting words in his mouth otherwise very bad form from young Bacher.

James Hird went out of his way for this guy so there can be no hard feelings. Essendon got nothing for Bacher despite providing him with an apprenticeship and pay for 4 years.

I never saw him play at Bendigo but from what I saw at AFL level. He was an average sort of player. There was nothing about him that really made you think "wow, we have a beauty here"

bomberdonnie wrote:Couldn't get a game when we were shit and would have no chance now. As above too soft and shit skills

In all reality who cares?

DC2 wrote:

bomberdonnie wrote:Couldn't get a game when we were shit and would have no chance now. As above too soft and shit skills

In all reality who cares?

houli had "shit skills"? LOL...what were you watching? He is a very nice user of the footy. It would be his standout feature.

As BD said, imagine if you were Houli and Quinn was getting games ahead of you...I want to leave too. Quinn was garbage.

DC2 wrote:

bomberdonnie wrote:Couldn't get a game when we were shit and would have no chance now. As above too soft and shit skills

In all reality who cares?

houli had "shit skills"? LOL...what were you watching? He is a very nice user of the footy. It would be his standout feature.

As BD said, imagine if you were Houli and Quinn was getting games ahead of you...I want to leave too. Quinn was garbage.