final contenders – Page 2 – Michmutters

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North Melbourne should target David Mundy says Nick Riewoldt and Mark Robinson, age, contract

North Melbourne should target David Mundy says Nick Riewoldt and Mark Robinson, age, contract

Two Fox Footy pundits have urged North Melbourne to make a “Luke Hodge-style play” for outgoing Docker David Mundy to boost the bottom-placed club’s leadership prospects.

Mundy, Fremantle’s games record-holder, on Monday called time on his celebrated AFL career, three days after making his 371st appearance.

It places Mundy in the 10th spot on the all-time VFL/AFL games played table, with Scott Pendlebury (352), Joel Selwood (350) and Lance Franklin (335) the closest to him among active players.

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Speaking on Fox Footy’s On The Couch on Monday night, Mundy, 37, said he was pretty happy and content” with his decision after a pre-season ankle injury kickstarted retirement thoughts, but said there was “nothing set in concrete” for post-footy life.

Asked if he would’ve played on at Freo had his body allowed him to, Mundy told On The Couch: “No I don’t think so. I’m really proud to still be able to strongly contribute on gameday in the 22nd.

“I’ve been thinking for a long time that I’d feel really guilty if I hung on and battled my way through a year and ended as a broken, crippled old man. To go out on top I feel a great deal of pleasure in.”

But Herald Sun Journalist Jon Ralph reported Mundy “just wasn’t offered a new deal and he would’ve played on”.

“I asked his management … Two weeks ago, he said ‘I’ll keep playing at this club until they kick me out’ … He was hopeful with contract negotiations as recently as two weeks ago and it didn’t happen,” Ralph told On The Couch.

“That’s not a pot on Fremantle, they just decided to go another way and that’s fine.”

St Kilda champion Nick Riewoldt said it was a “surprising” call by Mundy, who was awarded AFL Coaches’ Association MVP votes for his 35-disposal, 15-contested possession and 10-clearance display against Melbourne last Friday night.

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It’s why Riewoldt encouraged the 18th-placed Kangaroos to target Mundy this off-season

“I understand his reasons because you want to go out maintaining that really strong level of performance, but he wasn’t showing any signs of slowing down,” Riewoldt told On The Couch.

“He sounded definitive then, but if you’re North Melbourne, would you say to him: ‘Dave, come play for two years, stick around and be an assistant because we need some leadership’ – would you make the phone call?”

Fellow Fox Footy panelist Garry Lyon added: “It’s not the silliest idea you’ve ever had.”

David Mundy of the Fremantle Dockers addressing the media after announcing he will be retiring. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images

Herald Sun chief football writer Mark Robinson echoed Riewoldt’s thoughts minutes later, saying the Kangaroos should look at what Brisbane did in late 2017 when it traded in four-time premiership Hawk Luke Hodge as its young group moved into finals contention.

“I think North Melbourne should go after him and offer him a one-year deal to come over to Victoria and help the young kids at North Melbourne,” Robinson told Fox Footy’s AFL 360. “Like (Luke) Hodge, like the first-year Giants in James McDonald and a few others (in 2012).

“I think if he wants to continue playing, North Melbourne should look at a Luke Hodge-style play for David Mundy.

“He’s playing good enough. He’s not ‘at the end’, so if he’s a really good footy club person, give him a deal that (includes a) coaching role as well.”

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GWS next coach, Mark McVeigh press conference, comments about players, interview for the job, candidates, latest

GWS next coach, Mark McVeigh press conference, comments about players, interview for the job, candidates, latest

AFL 360 co-hosts Gerard Whateley and Mark Robinson have defended Greater Western Sydney caretaker coach Mark McVeigh’s passionate post-match press conference.

McVeigh drew criticism from some within the AFL world for his withering take on many players’ performance during the 73-point Sydney derby loss, which he labeled “embarrassing” and accused players of “checking out”.

The interim coach interviewed for the position on Tuesday, but Whateley was puzzled by those who took issue with McVeigh’s post-match comments.

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“I’ve been really surprised by the reaction to his condemnation of a pitiful performance by a team in a big game,” he said.

“If you’re going to be the coach, if you’re going to live the role of the coach, you have to impose these standards and be prepared to tell these home truths.

“As I understand it, this was all said behind closed doors before it was said publicly and the real feedback was player-to-player; they drilled each other. Then he gave public voice to that.”

Robinson was of the view that, if anything, McVeigh’s honesty publicly could help him in his bid to become the side’s permanent senior coach, saying “I would’ve put that in my offering of ‘I want to coach, here it is, what have you got? I’ve got that.’”

McVeigh, 41, has been an assistant coach at the Giants since 2015.

His longevity at the club, Whateley said, meant his comments were within reason.

“He’s got long-term relationships with these players, I don’t think any of that would’ve been damaged,” he said.

“If he’d gone ‘Do you know what? This is the end of the season, I’m the interim coach, lets just leave that’, I’d be going ‘mate, you can’t be a coach’.”

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Tigers mid-season signings, Chairman Lee Hagipantelis, August 1 signing deadline scrapped, contracts, David Nofoaluma, Oliver Gildart, Storm Roosters, Peter V’landys

Tigers mid-season signings, Chairman Lee Hagipantelis, August 1 signing deadline scrapped, contracts, David Nofoaluma, Oliver Gildart, Storm Roosters, Peter V'landys

Tigers chairman Lee Hagipantelis has slammed rivals for “exploiting” the August 1 signing deadline after finals contenders raided the merger club’s outside back stocks.

Bellamy’s Storm signed flyer David Nofoaluma, while the Roosters acquired English import Oliver Gildart’s services for the remainder of 2022.

While Hagipantelis agrees there are some benefits of letting players go on short-term loans — he believes clubs should have to look within for recruits to replace injured or suspended squad members.

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“My personal view is I am not a fan of the transfer system this late in the season, I agree with Peter V’landys that it is there to be exploited,” Hagipantelis said on Fox Sports News.

“The intentions when it was introduced were all very altruistic to assist during the Covid pandemic, but it has gone further than that now.

“And if there is one thing that NRL clubs are good at doing, that is exploiting the rules.

“I think that this late in the season, clubs that are struggling for reasons of injury or suspension should look to themselves, it is a test of their own resilience and their depth.

“I am not in favor of the top four or top eight teams cherry-picking from the bottom eight to enhance their prospects of a premiership, they should be relying on their own assets.

“But as I say, the rules are there to be exploited.”

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Hagipantelis was also asked how he thinks the fans have reacted to the club allowing players to leave for the remainder of 2022 — revealing the overwhelming response was positive.

“I think it has been understanding, I think people understand that there is a forensic and financial advantage to an NRL club in this loan system,”

“There can be advantages to the player as well to experience an alternate reality and then come back, David Nofoaluma is a perfect example.

“I know David personally, I think it will be very good for him to get away from Sydney to play in Melbourne and in all likelihood play in the finals.

“He is very keen on coming back to the Wests Tigers with that experience under his belt, we see how David plays when he plays for Samoa when he has something to play for.”

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The Daily Telegraph’s Buzz Rothfield revealed on NRL360 ARLC chairman Peter V’landys was set to move to August 1 deadline back to its original June 30 date.

In 2020, the cut-off was moved to assist teams stuck in Queensland fill their squads without reserve grade competitions taking the field.

NRL360 co-host Paul Kent was “disappointed” the NRL didn’t have the foresight to shift the date back, labeling it an “oversight” from powerbrokers.

“The whole thing is a win for common sense, it needed to happen, I am disappointed it was allowed to happen this year, I think it was an oversight that they have allowed it to happen,” Kent said.

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“The fact is, this is wrong for so many reasons this August 1 deadline, it is allowing teams to troubleshoot their rosters.

“The part of the game’s appeal is your 30-man roster gets you through the season, and it is the attrition and the endurance to last the season and to get to the finals in a good state of fitness.

“If you can’t do that for whatever reason… so be it, but that is a part of the magic of this competition.”

Fox League’s James Hooper agreed, explaining clubs making late-season signings “cheapens” the values ​​that NRL clubs have stood for.

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It has long been the attitude of the rugby league fraternity that your roster is what you have to work with for that season, and if replacements are needed they came from reserve grade.

Now clubs are able to cast an eye across the competition and cherry pick the best players from teams who will not be playing football finals.

“For a game that has been founded on tribalism, it just cheapens that whole concept because for the weaker clubs, what does it say for their fans,” Hooper said.

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“They don’t get anything out of the fact that the strong clubs sit back and know the deadline is looming, know they have got time.

“Look at the Storm, how many players did they go after from Reece Walsh to Adam Doueihi… the list went on.

“That can’t be sitting well with the clubs down the bottom of the ladder.”

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“For those middle teams… they get no benefit out of it, and I actually believe they are harmed by it because they can’t troubleshoot,” Kent said.

“The middle teams are not attracting players and they aren’t loaning players because it is just too tight, they need all hands on deck.

“They were being impacted, it was basically strengthening the top four teams who have the ability to go and pick the eyes out, as has happened, of the bottom four teams and just target their better players.”

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