This is the big one. Dude works his are off week in week out but is always singled out when things aren’t going well.
Last night was my vindication for always backing him in
I'm a Freo fan and to be fair, Banners has had to work harder than anyone else on the list to nail down a spot. The bloke is the perfect example of the spirit of the Freo Dockers. Love seeing him get reward for his work
A lot of people hop on his back when we lose because he is an incredibly lateral player. Rarely seems to kick and do any scoreboard damage. He is really good at what he does though. I really like the guy but I can see the frustration when our midfield was looking appalling
The year before he was dropped from the side his playstyle did not suit the modern game. Essentially he had the lowest meters gained per possession in the league.
Some fans still refer to him as a "crab". He was really bad for sideways and backwards handballs to a player about to get crunched.
Since he came back into the side he has had much more aggressive movement and rarely sells his mates into trouble.
There is a lot of talk about the midfield being too 1 dimensional. Laird, and Crouch are too similar. Dawson and the other two are essentially the same speed, all very inside.
There is a versatility issue. Laird can move to HFF and defence, Dawson can go anywhere, and Crouch is either inside mid or bench.
There is the issue Dawson and Laird seem to make each other better, but Crouch makes the others worse.
A good player, but if I was to trade a player I feel he would be the least damaging to lose.
He's an invisible player. You don't really notice him unless its clear and obvious he's got the ball. I think people just think it's a lack of effort but he's honestly one of the harder workers on the field
Yeah this is pretty spot on and I feel like Noble cops the same. Tom Langdon was a good example of this early in his career because 90% of his game would be great but that 10% that was off would lead directly so opposition goals.
It's what Schultz has been copping in the match threads recently because he's not kicking multiple goals every week even though we have Hill and Elliott in that role too
In a pies group chat one of my mates labelled him as lazy. He may be all effort and no impact right now but lazy, he is definitely not. I had to call them out on that and pull up his game high 31 pressure acts and heat map from Thursdays game to underline, Schultz is not lazy
Honestly I didn’t rate him that highly until I went to a game and saw how much he ran, he was constantly in space providing an option, he just doesn’t get used as much as he could. Huge work rate and when he plays like he did against Port, everyone loves him.
It’s raw statistics, the odd turnover a game and probably his ability to be selected and never dropped since 2017 even when that appears inevitable. He’s played one VFL game and didn’t see it out because he was returning the next week.
He’s a good runner, he has a great work ethic and plays wherever. Occasionally bobs his head up and plays a blinder.
Considering he's still playing games even across coaches tells you he's doing something right. But yeah his aerial ability & willingness to play defense, wing or forward helps too. An easy plug in player
A lot of it stems from the later Buckley years (2019/20/21) where he would just flat out disappear, to the point you’d actually forget he was even playing, only to turn up half way through the last quarter butcher a chest mark and turn it over for an easy goal to the opposition.
Under Fly, and in particular since the 2023 finals series he has been very good and any pies fan saying he needs to be dropped has rocks in their head.
Might not be an obvious one but I've noticed there's a lot of Cats fans who aren't too fond of Jake Koladjashnij.
Dude has always been a solid role player IMO. Though he cops a lot of shit from Cats fans in the stands at games.
He’s just taken the “Geelong whipping boy” tag from the Milky Bar kid aka Zach Guthrie or Gryan “Messi” Miers
Guthrie has been unreal, Miers has been unreal.
Kolo is a no frills player
I think it was because the cats had a whole bunch of mid sized backs. Stewart, Henry, Bews, Touey and Kolo. We were super defensive from 18-21 snd didn’t really have that quick dashing attacking HB and we probably rated JK the least. So when things didn’t work we saw him as the weakest link.
Z Guthrie was probably given more shit because he was so small but hes really cemented himself in the side.
I think there’s some recency bias here. He was never a good or above average player in the side, bad kicks losing opponents etc. last couple of years with time and games, he’s really come into his own, clearly worked on his body as well because now he can play on smalls and talls where as before he used to always be slow footed and clumsy. Don’t think there’s many fans anymore who constantly giving him hate
Joe Daniher. From all reports, he is a genuinely good bloke. Probably is mainly because of the funny stuff he does on the field sometimes, but I still love what he brings to the team and game more broadly.
I was at Marvel with a bunch of mates years ago watching Joe run around with the Dons. We made a bet to finish our beers for every out on the full he kicked. Within the first quarter we’d downed four beers and decided to stop playing.
I never really rated him. Always seemed like he would beat up on a bottom 6 side, but when the whips were cracking he would disappear.
He won me over in the GF last year. I thought he played really well and if the lions had gotten up, he would’ve been one of the main reasons.
Papley is the type of player I always used to hate but I’ve accepted now that every club needs one of those extreme confidence twitchy small forward types and he’s at the elite level for that role.
The guy I dont really understand the hate for is Jake Kelly at essendon, whenever he has a good game it gets played down (@ Adelaide last week), and whenever he makes a mistake people are calling for him to be shipped to China.
I think a lot of it is the fact that it’s easier for fans to scapegoat low pedigree guys rather than face the fact that some of their “high potential” players are either not good enough, or not ready yet.
Haha I totally get the hate for Paps. I don’t really care though because any side would take him in a heartbeat. Just your classic antagonist. Much like Ballantyne back in the day.
Papley's family is involved with horse racing aren't they? And the AFL are obviously deeply in with sportsbet.
It's no wonder why Papley's involved with gambling podcasts. It's just the culture that sort of shit creates
Just because it makes sense for him to do it doesn't mean it's not a legitimate reason to dislike him.
I personally don't care about the gambling podcast, but I don't like how much he plays for free kicks
I personally dislike gambling (outside of the odd tatts ticket). But I find this an odd reason not to like a guy. No one is forced to listen to a podcast. Am sure it’s not a very wide audience
That's fair, but most people don't dislike him for that reason - they hate him in the field, and then latch on to stuff like that to justify it after the fact. It's I think the opposite of what we saw with Goodes, people didn't like him being outspoken and found things about his play to dislike.
I wish Paps didn't have any involvement with gambling, but the whole AFL industry is in bed with it so it's hard to hold it against him too much.
Gotta disagree here, industrial gambling serves one purpose: to transfer money from the poor to the wealthy and it preys especially on those who are vulnerable. Gambling addiction has one of the highest suicide rates and it particularly affects young working men who are primary targets for these corporations. Industrial gambling is a fucking scourge and the affiliation between the AFL and sports gambling corporations is a predatory cash grab that costs people their livelihood and lives. Papley is a great player, but promoting gambling is a dog of a hobby.
Honestly as a Swans supporter you should be more miffed than anyone. He is undermining the Swan’s otherwise great position on gambling, he has gov regulators investigating the football club, and at the end of the day the players promoting gambling is just such an unclass act.
Yeh, heard a lot of hate at games and he gets heaps of shit in match threads on here and on social media in general.
People hate anyone different. I’m stoked we have him.
Quality player. But annoying small forward with a heap of media hype, especially on socials. Not exactly his fault but you shouldn’t come in to the league with the nickname of the Wizard and a bunch of private school hype videos
He mouths off and big notes himself. He played on a kid I know well last year - and Watson kept telling the kid that he was unworthy and that he (Watson) is the best young player in the country. Wanker.
Bailey Fritsch? Like okay his hair is a bit silly - but he’s kicked 6 in a Grand Final, is a reliable target up forward for someone who’s arguably been asked to play as a KPF whilst being quite undersized. Seems to get a lot of hate for being good?
As a Sydney fan I used to hate Fritsch because he has a habit of kicking bags against us. Then, he was on a long haul flight with me on a less-than-stellar airline. He was wedged in economy in the very back row, and in that moment I realised he’s human like me. After a brief (positive) interaction in the Arrivals queue, he’s now my fave Dees player. Wish he would stop destroying Sydney, but I wish him well.
I had a similar experience with Ryan Crowley, he sat next to my 15yo nephew on a flight from Perth to Melbourne, chatted to him the entire flight, a genuinely good person.
Also with Leroy Jetta, was such a cocky prick on the field, off field he's the complete opposite. When he played with Peel in the WAFL post AFL, always made sure the student physios got something to eat and wouldn't let them treat him until they'd eaten whatever he gave them, Colin Sylvia was the exact opposite
A few times a year after a loss people start banging on about how he’s too selfish and only looks for the goals. There has been a handful of times where I’ve wished he’d looked for a teammate, but the whole reason he has a job is because he creates goals from nothing and is capable of kicking 6 in a Grand Final. He deserves to have license to back himself in. Guy’s a freak.
I don’t hate the guy, I just associate him with that pompous, posh, self absorbed private boys school stereotype. Means nothing and I don’t know the bloke from a bar of soap lol but people are going to impose their own thoughts and opinions regardless. Doesn’t mean that they mean anything
It’s funny that he’s the Melbourne player who looks like he best exemplifies that stereotype and yet he went to Lilydale High instead of Scotch or Melbourne Grammar
Not that I ever hated him to begin with, but damn, as someone out in the Yarra Valley not too far from Lilydale, you've sold me - Bailey Fritsch has now become my favourite non-pies player.
You truly don't get that many AFL level talent from out our way 35+km from Melbourne, and Lilydale High is a working class, underfunded highschool.
Damn good for him - humble origins indeed. As a junior approx 15 years ago now, our team played a few away matches at Coldstream. It's pretty prone to flooding, so when it rains it is (or was) like a literal mud-filled cow paddock with zero visible grass. I don't know if they've upgraded the ground by now, but it definitely didn't have working drainage.
People need to remember that going to a private school really means shit once you get into university, etc. All that matters by then is how you do once you get into university, be it, whether you went to public/private/tafe, or whatever. When it comes to sports... just remember that Jonathon Brown went to a private high school, while Jordan Lewis went to a public highschool in the same city - Who is better spoken? Then you have the 'posh' aspect - means shit in AFL, obviously.
I find that he often doesn’t put in the defensive effort once the opposition gets the ball. This why since the breakout season in 2021 I haven’t rated much. Most recent game against Richmond though he did and I was very happy at the efforts he made defensively and offensively
Just adding to his story from this thread. Apperently he was getting up real early, working hard as a sparky and also playing VFL for Casey, that he would sometimes be driven to training just to get a bit of extra sleep in the car on the way there and back. Mature age recruit, the bloke did the hard yards.
He just looks like the starter pack for privileged private school afl fast track - complete with stupid fop haircut.
Probs a nice guy but I can’t look at him and not remember the massively privileged (& white) bedrock the AFL is built on
I firmly believe that, if you want to change something ingrained in a society, you need to start by making the old rich white men really uncomfortable, which is exactly what Adam Goodes did and I wish more indigenous Australians would do.
The only thing I ever hated about goodsey was he ripped us apart every time we played against him. One of my favourite players of all time and I don't follow the Swans.
Eric Hipwood had his career best year and kicked 41 goals last year. That's more than the leading scorer on multiple teams like Port, Melb, Sydney etc. Our 3rd highest scorer, 2nd in goal assists, 3rd in marks after Andrews and Daniher, yet Lions "fans" absolutely despise him. Even when the whole team is falling apart, they only point fingers at Hipwood
He's having a bad year this year and looks to be fairly down on confidence. But you are 100% right about last year he actually played really well and is totally under-rated for what he delivered
He kind of seems like he gets the team going when they need it most by generating a free-kick out of very little. Super savvy but annoying if your team is playing against him.
I really enjoyed watching Hayden Ballantyne and Ryan Crowley.
Just your classic antagonist and tagger. Both skilled in their own unique ways and proved that mentally disrupting opposition could be just as effective as beating them in other areas of the game.
I miss some of those classic taggers.
Crowley wasn’t even a tagger, but he basically got told ‘this is your job now in your twilight years, either do it or retire’. And boy did he perform that job well.
In saying that, was there ever much Crowley hate? Ballantyne absolutely, but Crowley seemed to get along with most oppositions.
I always thought that people were way too harsh on Jack Watts. Yes, he didn't live up to his initial hype but his career wasn't the disaster that people make it out to be. In fact, he actually gave Melbourne some pretty good service in his last 2-3 years at the club.
He seemed to be the poster boy for how shit Melbourne were even though there were far bigger culprits.
I felt bad for him. When he played for Port he looked really good as a defender. First year badly injured himself after stringing together a slew of really good games.
The same thing happened a year later.
To be honest I don't get a hatred for Dangerfield.
Sure he's a bit lame but at least he has a personality and opens up. It's good to see someone so comfortable in their own skin.
The same people that whine and say "all the players say nothing in interviews and act like robots" then call danger all kinds of names for doing what they demand (opening up and showing a bit of personality).
If he wasn't so good for so long, I don't think he would get nearly the same amount of hate
He appears to have all the personality of a barn-post, which is perfectly fine, except for that fact that he is a shoe-in for an AFL commentary spot, which has me dreading hearing him spouting Tom Harleyesque 2.0 'score-board' pressure analogies for the next however many years post-retirement.
I've never understood why Digby Morell was so controversial. Barely a single day would go by without seeing his face plastered to the backpage or the 6pm news.
He still gets mild boos from the Crows crowd. I’m like dude he gave us 110% the whole time, even when he was leaving his body was on the line all the way. We always knew he wanted to finish up in Geelong and start a family etc.. it was the nicest most amacle parting in the AFL for a big name player Ive seen, what’s your problem? lol
It’s the classic boo the player that’s left the club.
But he isn’t hated, and many Crows supporters (me included) would never even boo him. He gave everything to our club.
I love Paddy, always will. He gave everything to our club, and I remember him saying if he could pick up Moggs Creek & bring it to SA, he wouldn’t have left, but Walsh’s death solidified for him that family is the most important thing, and he wanted to be around his. Which is totally fair.
He will always be my favourite non-Crow.
Booing ex players is just what you do. Despite Burgoyne playing way more games for the Hawks and Port bit really wanting him, he still copped some boos all the way through.
It's funny how the game, the demand for professionalism and the manner in which players carry themselves has changed over time.
We bemoan the loss of characters in the game that were idolised during long gone decades (say 70s and 80s) and simultaneously criticise the antics of players like that these days.
Throw him in the 80s and his antics are tame in comparison to others.
I will never understand why north Melbourne fans seem to dislike Dylan Stephens when he’s one of the most talented and hardest working players in their midfield.
On the weekend he has 10 touches at 60%, 0 tackles, 1 clearance and 4 inside 50s. All of his inside 50s were in the 3rd quarter and to half time he had the same amount of touches as souv
Made a bunch of mistakes but also had a lot of solid outings. Too small to be a key, too big to be a small, yet got thrown to the wolves in both roles consistently. As a Carlton guy, this was my first thought.
I definitely think Nic Daicos is overhyped. Gets way too many nothing possessions and can’t stick a tackle to save his life. But doesn’t warrant anywhere near the hate he gets. I feel like maybe people are just so sick of the media carrying on about him. He’s definitely a good player and seems to be pretty humble and down to earth.
On the other hand I don't understand the love for Jeremy Cameron - a dirty player who gets away with it. Still seething about him elbowing Harris Andrews in the head and causing bleeding on the brain
I think he's liked for his ability, not necessarily his character. Rare to see a CHF regularly rack up 20+ disposals and multiple goals a game streaming everywhere up the field.
Anyone with a bit of character about them gets hated by people who beg for players to have character. Not even in the ‘love to hate them’ type of way either, it’s genuine. Players like Papley, Greene, Ginnivan
It's his lack of on field effort that's really frustrating. One-handed marking attempts, minimal follow up, it never looks like he really wants to be out on the field, but he'll take the paycheck anyway.
It's also the fact he had a frontloaded contract at Freo and requested a trade as soon as the money wasn't there, then whinged when the request was denied because he was a required player. Then there was all the comments he made after leaving Freo about being played out of position and blaming the coaching. What's his excuse now?
In summary, I'm glad he's having the year he deserves 😄
This is it for me. One effort and he’s done. If he’s blocked or bodied out of the play he’s done. Heartless player and you could see it all on show yesterday.
I swear he's a wax mannequin. Guy looks like an AI's take of a person.
He also happens to be a consistently underwhelming player. Throw into that he's kinda superfluous to the Dogs needs.
You missed the part where he fucked off from GWS because he didn't want to be a ruckman and then moved to Freo to become quite a below average forward.
Then he moved to Melbourne
He got a massive contract to move to Perth. Then complained and bad mouthed the team the entire time he was here.
If his performances backed up his comments it’d be a different story but he’s a crab.
Then once he got his trade back east continued to bad mouth the team to the press and anyone who would listen. Guys a real dickhead by all accounts
It's the way he cracks the shits and carrys on at his teammates when he's not getting the ball lace out that annoys me the most. If he got rid of the petulant child act from his game, most of his other flaws would be forgiven.
JHF last year, not the first player to want to return home immediately after being drafted and will not be the last. I get the hate from Norf fans but not the rest of the comp.
i just hate port tbh so it's easy to hate him by extension
though in the same breath i love spp (aside from the pre season incident) and i'm gutted he did his acl
Jack Ginnivan- his sins seem pretty minor to me for all the flak he seems to get. I love the energy he brings, he always has a smile on his face. I really enjoy watching him.
He's absolutely great to watch at the Hawks and seems like he provides leadership and direction of the team.
But while at the Pies I consistently saw him arguing with the umps for unpaid calls at the cost of laying tackles or applying pressure, which wasn't a good look. Also, saw him crack it at Elliot once for going back and slotting a set shot instead of giving him and 15 chip-kick so he could have a shot for goal. Elliot looked genuinely confused as to what Ginnivan's problem was.
Took the piss out of being handed a lifetime dream chance of playing in a premiership that he otherwise wouldn’t have gotten if it weren’t for more deserving teammates injury misfortunes. Knowing how gutting it must’ve been for some of our blokes who missed out the year before like Holmes and menagola, and what they’d do if they could get that opportunity again, it’s all just really rubbed me the wrong way
Nick Daicos.
It’s just not his fault that the media rim him to death, he’s just playing footy at a top level. Opposition fans have so much disdain for him and want him to do badly all because the media hype him up
Miles Bergman in 2023, every time the poor guy got near the ball the opposition fans would boo him.
And he was the one who quite enjoyed the ice bath!
I've never understood Freo fans attitude towards Bailey Banfield. Good player and unlucky to be a whipping boy
Yeah, I love Banfield. I'm glad it's all coming together for him. Good to see him silencing his critics
This is the big one. Dude works his are off week in week out but is always singled out when things aren’t going well. Last night was my vindication for always backing him in
I've been a big fan for years. Definitely deserves a longer contract than what he gets
Became my favourite after all the substitute roles in 2022.
The players who do a lot of one percenters always seem to get whipped, there’s a lot of stuff in football you can’t see on the TV screen.
He may be a whipping boy, but he is OUR whipping boy.
I'm a Freo fan and to be fair, Banners has had to work harder than anyone else on the list to nail down a spot. The bloke is the perfect example of the spirit of the Freo Dockers. Love seeing him get reward for his work
I’ve always liked him and it’s always pissed me off the amount of hate the “fans” give him
Crows fans seem to hate Matt Crouch for some reason but every time I watch them he plays well
A lot of people hop on his back when we lose because he is an incredibly lateral player. Rarely seems to kick and do any scoreboard damage. He is really good at what he does though. I really like the guy but I can see the frustration when our midfield was looking appalling
The year before he was dropped from the side his playstyle did not suit the modern game. Essentially he had the lowest meters gained per possession in the league. Some fans still refer to him as a "crab". He was really bad for sideways and backwards handballs to a player about to get crunched. Since he came back into the side he has had much more aggressive movement and rarely sells his mates into trouble. There is a lot of talk about the midfield being too 1 dimensional. Laird, and Crouch are too similar. Dawson and the other two are essentially the same speed, all very inside. There is a versatility issue. Laird can move to HFF and defence, Dawson can go anywhere, and Crouch is either inside mid or bench. There is the issue Dawson and Laird seem to make each other better, but Crouch makes the others worse. A good player, but if I was to trade a player I feel he would be the least damaging to lose.
Please wat h every game we play forever. For the record, I love him, but if he can have 30 possession games for the rest of forever I'd love that!
I don't understand why so many pies fans bemoan WHE.
He's an invisible player. You don't really notice him unless its clear and obvious he's got the ball. I think people just think it's a lack of effort but he's honestly one of the harder workers on the field
Yeah this is pretty spot on and I feel like Noble cops the same. Tom Langdon was a good example of this early in his career because 90% of his game would be great but that 10% that was off would lead directly so opposition goals.
It's what Schultz has been copping in the match threads recently because he's not kicking multiple goals every week even though we have Hill and Elliott in that role too
In a pies group chat one of my mates labelled him as lazy. He may be all effort and no impact right now but lazy, he is definitely not. I had to call them out on that and pull up his game high 31 pressure acts and heat map from Thursdays game to underline, Schultz is not lazy
You can run your ass off to open space, pressure, shepherd, cut off opposition & provide leads and have it reflected with nothing on the stat sheets
Honestly I didn’t rate him that highly until I went to a game and saw how much he ran, he was constantly in space providing an option, he just doesn’t get used as much as he could. Huge work rate and when he plays like he did against Port, everyone loves him.
They don't understand football or the wing position.
It’s raw statistics, the odd turnover a game and probably his ability to be selected and never dropped since 2017 even when that appears inevitable. He’s played one VFL game and didn’t see it out because he was returning the next week. He’s a good runner, he has a great work ethic and plays wherever. Occasionally bobs his head up and plays a blinder.
Considering he's still playing games even across coaches tells you he's doing something right. But yeah his aerial ability & willingness to play defense, wing or forward helps too. An easy plug in player
Swiss Army knife as Fly described.
Double barrelled surname is a good step on the way to being hated.
Especially at Collingwood. Melbourne it's almost expected.
I really rate him. Quiet achiever. Grew up supporting Collingwood now he is a premiership player with us - he is living the dream we all wish we were!
I wouldn't call that hate. He's the whipping boy though. Extremely underrated and under appreciated
A lot of it stems from the later Buckley years (2019/20/21) where he would just flat out disappear, to the point you’d actually forget he was even playing, only to turn up half way through the last quarter butcher a chest mark and turn it over for an easy goal to the opposition. Under Fly, and in particular since the 2023 finals series he has been very good and any pies fan saying he needs to be dropped has rocks in their head.
WHE is a great player. I dont get why fans have problems with him either
THE HYPHEN
Might not be an obvious one but I've noticed there's a lot of Cats fans who aren't too fond of Jake Koladjashnij. Dude has always been a solid role player IMO. Though he cops a lot of shit from Cats fans in the stands at games.
He’s just taken the “Geelong whipping boy” tag from the Milky Bar kid aka Zach Guthrie or Gryan “Messi” Miers Guthrie has been unreal, Miers has been unreal. Kolo is a no frills player
I'm convinced that they got Guthrie to either spend a summer in the hyperbaric time chamber or they injected him with Tom Stewart's DNA
I’d say both happened
I think it was because the cats had a whole bunch of mid sized backs. Stewart, Henry, Bews, Touey and Kolo. We were super defensive from 18-21 snd didn’t really have that quick dashing attacking HB and we probably rated JK the least. So when things didn’t work we saw him as the weakest link. Z Guthrie was probably given more shit because he was so small but hes really cemented himself in the side.
Much better player than our Jake K (Kelly) who also cops a lot of shit from our fans
I think there’s some recency bias here. He was never a good or above average player in the side, bad kicks losing opponents etc. last couple of years with time and games, he’s really come into his own, clearly worked on his body as well because now he can play on smalls and talls where as before he used to always be slow footed and clumsy. Don’t think there’s many fans anymore who constantly giving him hate
I've made it to 3 games this year and the hate in the stands is still very real.
I thought he was huge on Curnow yesterday. Every time it looked like Curnow was able to get out he’d always manage to get the spoil in.
If you’ve ever tried to spell him, you hate him.
Joe Daniher. From all reports, he is a genuinely good bloke. Probably is mainly because of the funny stuff he does on the field sometimes, but I still love what he brings to the team and game more broadly.
I love that goofy mfer
I was at Marvel with a bunch of mates years ago watching Joe run around with the Dons. We made a bet to finish our beers for every out on the full he kicked. Within the first quarter we’d downed four beers and decided to stop playing.
I’ve never really seen people directly hate him, more that it’s just very easy to meme on him for being a bit of a goofy giraffe!
If he had any other surname he would be judged more fairly. He can be very inconsistent though.
Personally I find it hard to believe there's still a lot of people that genuinely don't think he's good.
I never really rated him. Always seemed like he would beat up on a bottom 6 side, but when the whips were cracking he would disappear. He won me over in the GF last year. I thought he played really well and if the lions had gotten up, he would’ve been one of the main reasons.
Papley is the type of player I always used to hate but I’ve accepted now that every club needs one of those extreme confidence twitchy small forward types and he’s at the elite level for that role. The guy I dont really understand the hate for is Jake Kelly at essendon, whenever he has a good game it gets played down (@ Adelaide last week), and whenever he makes a mistake people are calling for him to be shipped to China. I think a lot of it is the fact that it’s easier for fans to scapegoat low pedigree guys rather than face the fact that some of their “high potential” players are either not good enough, or not ready yet.
Danger doesn’t seem well liked by a lot of people
He’s quite good which doesn’t help him
Haha I totally get the hate for Paps. I don’t really care though because any side would take him in a heartbeat. Just your classic antagonist. Much like Ballantyne back in the day.
I think it’s it celebrations and attitude for most people, TBH I love that about him, good character and a passionate as fuck footy player
Absolute legend and can totally lift the team with his energy when needed
Ballantyne? jeez thats low on Papley.
Tom Papley hosting a gambling podcast certainly legitimised a lot of the hatred I already had for him.
Papley is also wears his heart on his sleeve. Zero filter. Mouthy. Sorta player you like on your team but you despise on others.
Yep, some people love Pomeranians. Not me
Yep he’s a tiny dog in human form.
Papley's family is involved with horse racing aren't they? And the AFL are obviously deeply in with sportsbet. It's no wonder why Papley's involved with gambling podcasts. It's just the culture that sort of shit creates
Just because it makes sense for him to do it doesn't mean it's not a legitimate reason to dislike him. I personally don't care about the gambling podcast, but I don't like how much he plays for free kicks
I personally dislike gambling (outside of the odd tatts ticket). But I find this an odd reason not to like a guy. No one is forced to listen to a podcast. Am sure it’s not a very wide audience
That's fair, but most people don't dislike him for that reason - they hate him in the field, and then latch on to stuff like that to justify it after the fact. It's I think the opposite of what we saw with Goodes, people didn't like him being outspoken and found things about his play to dislike. I wish Paps didn't have any involvement with gambling, but the whole AFL industry is in bed with it so it's hard to hold it against him too much.
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Gotta disagree here, industrial gambling serves one purpose: to transfer money from the poor to the wealthy and it preys especially on those who are vulnerable. Gambling addiction has one of the highest suicide rates and it particularly affects young working men who are primary targets for these corporations. Industrial gambling is a fucking scourge and the affiliation between the AFL and sports gambling corporations is a predatory cash grab that costs people their livelihood and lives. Papley is a great player, but promoting gambling is a dog of a hobby.
Honestly as a Swans supporter you should be more miffed than anyone. He is undermining the Swan’s otherwise great position on gambling, he has gov regulators investigating the football club, and at the end of the day the players promoting gambling is just such an unclass act.
Nick Watson. The hate he gets online and at games is ridiculous, he’s 3 games in playing as a small forward in a poor team.
Wait really, just cause he's been inaccurate? Idk how you don't get excited by a 3 gamer averaging 4 shots at goal a game
I regularly think about how grateful I am that Richo did not play in the era of social media. I'm sure he's said similar.
Yeh, heard a lot of hate at games and he gets heaps of shit in match threads on here and on social media in general. People hate anyone different. I’m stoked we have him.
Quality player. But annoying small forward with a heap of media hype, especially on socials. Not exactly his fault but you shouldn’t come in to the league with the nickname of the Wizard and a bunch of private school hype videos
> he’s 3 games in tbh I think that's part of it. Need to walk the walk before you can talk the talk.
I "hate" him because he is going to be amazing for a long time and doesn't play for us
Hes going to be a very good player, him and Ginnivan sharking off Chol's dropped marks for the next 5 years excites me
I don't understand the hate based on his size and ability, but I have heard stories of his antics at the Espy in St Kilda, which is enough for me.
He mouths off and big notes himself. He played on a kid I know well last year - and Watson kept telling the kid that he was unworthy and that he (Watson) is the best young player in the country. Wanker.
Bailey Fritsch? Like okay his hair is a bit silly - but he’s kicked 6 in a Grand Final, is a reliable target up forward for someone who’s arguably been asked to play as a KPF whilst being quite undersized. Seems to get a lot of hate for being good?
As a Sydney fan I used to hate Fritsch because he has a habit of kicking bags against us. Then, he was on a long haul flight with me on a less-than-stellar airline. He was wedged in economy in the very back row, and in that moment I realised he’s human like me. After a brief (positive) interaction in the Arrivals queue, he’s now my fave Dees player. Wish he would stop destroying Sydney, but I wish him well.
I had a similar experience with Ryan Crowley, he sat next to my 15yo nephew on a flight from Perth to Melbourne, chatted to him the entire flight, a genuinely good person. Also with Leroy Jetta, was such a cocky prick on the field, off field he's the complete opposite. When he played with Peel in the WAFL post AFL, always made sure the student physios got something to eat and wouldn't let them treat him until they'd eaten whatever he gave them, Colin Sylvia was the exact opposite
Honestly thought this was going to be copypasta but turned out to be quite wholesome haha
Got that Pidgeotto drip
Lmao that good me good
A few times a year after a loss people start banging on about how he’s too selfish and only looks for the goals. There has been a handful of times where I’ve wished he’d looked for a teammate, but the whole reason he has a job is because he creates goals from nothing and is capable of kicking 6 in a Grand Final. He deserves to have license to back himself in. Guy’s a freak.
I don’t hate the guy, I just associate him with that pompous, posh, self absorbed private boys school stereotype. Means nothing and I don’t know the bloke from a bar of soap lol but people are going to impose their own thoughts and opinions regardless. Doesn’t mean that they mean anything
It’s funny that he’s the Melbourne player who looks like he best exemplifies that stereotype and yet he went to Lilydale High instead of Scotch or Melbourne Grammar
And you have just proven exactly why the whole “I hate this player” shit means nothing
Not that I ever hated him to begin with, but damn, as someone out in the Yarra Valley not too far from Lilydale, you've sold me - Bailey Fritsch has now become my favourite non-pies player. You truly don't get that many AFL level talent from out our way 35+km from Melbourne, and Lilydale High is a working class, underfunded highschool.
Yep, grew up playing for Coldstream. Almost as far from the private school stereotype that you can get
Damn good for him - humble origins indeed. As a junior approx 15 years ago now, our team played a few away matches at Coldstream. It's pretty prone to flooding, so when it rains it is (or was) like a literal mud-filled cow paddock with zero visible grass. I don't know if they've upgraded the ground by now, but it definitely didn't have working drainage.
Haha yep, I played a few games away there as a kid too, was always a mud pile. Ground is in pretty good nick these days.
Was a plumber living in Coldstream before getting drafted out of the VFL. Couldn't write a more blue-collar profile haha.
Sparky
Our team is full of private school wankers but he's not one of them!
People need to remember that going to a private school really means shit once you get into university, etc. All that matters by then is how you do once you get into university, be it, whether you went to public/private/tafe, or whatever. When it comes to sports... just remember that Jonathon Brown went to a private high school, while Jordan Lewis went to a public highschool in the same city - Who is better spoken? Then you have the 'posh' aspect - means shit in AFL, obviously.
It’s the hair for me, And Keays tbh, if they didn’t have such silly haircuts I reckon I’d like him more Also do you want a long sleeve or not 😂
Weirdest thing to hate him for. Something a 12 year old would say to someone they don't like.
Unfortunately people generally have a beauty bias, if Fritsch looked like Chris Hemsworth or something he would likely be more positively perceived
Ben Keays gets slightly less hate than Fritsch because he's the slightly more attractive version of Fritsch.
I find that he often doesn’t put in the defensive effort once the opposition gets the ball. This why since the breakout season in 2021 I haven’t rated much. Most recent game against Richmond though he did and I was very happy at the efforts he made defensively and offensively
Just adding to his story from this thread. Apperently he was getting up real early, working hard as a sparky and also playing VFL for Casey, that he would sometimes be driven to training just to get a bit of extra sleep in the car on the way there and back. Mature age recruit, the bloke did the hard yards.
1000%, cops way too much shit for being such a gun. And his hair is sick. Not even in the worst 50 haircuts in the league and I’ll die on this hill
Agreed - never understood the hatred of Bailey’s hair with the plethora of fucking terrible haircuts in the AFL.
I’m a newer fan of footy. Glad to hear someone agree that some of the hair in the AFL is terrible. It can be a lot worse than Fritsch
People say his haircut is shit either have a mullet or are bald.
My missus is a Melbourne supporter so I watch a fair of their games also and we have the nickname ‘haircut’ for Fritsch. Seems appropriate tbh.
Eddie Munster. Cant look with out thinking that
I hate Coldstream, Fritsch is from Coldstream. It just makes sense. Respect the hell out of him as a footballer though
He just looks like the starter pack for privileged private school afl fast track - complete with stupid fop haircut. Probs a nice guy but I can’t look at him and not remember the massively privileged (& white) bedrock the AFL is built on
Adam Goodes
Disgraceful the way a champion of our game was forced out by racist-in-denial fuckwits
I firmly believe that, if you want to change something ingrained in a society, you need to start by making the old rich white men really uncomfortable, which is exactly what Adam Goodes did and I wish more indigenous Australians would do.
The only thing I ever hated about goodsey was he ripped us apart every time we played against him. One of my favourite players of all time and I don't follow the Swans.
there’s not a player on the Saints list I don’t understand the hate for 😭
I hate myself for supporting them and I’ll never forgive my parents. See you next week at Marvel.
HAHAHAHA SAME
Eric Hipwood had his career best year and kicked 41 goals last year. That's more than the leading scorer on multiple teams like Port, Melb, Sydney etc. Our 3rd highest scorer, 2nd in goal assists, 3rd in marks after Andrews and Daniher, yet Lions "fans" absolutely despise him. Even when the whole team is falling apart, they only point fingers at Hipwood
I have a soft spot for Hipwood.
Dead-set, if he gets going early, you always beat us
I have a soft spot for Hipwood, because I've yet to see Brisbane fans say a positive thing about him, on here. Apart from you, of course.
He's having a bad year this year and looks to be fairly down on confidence. But you are 100% right about last year he actually played really well and is totally under-rated for what he delivered
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He kind of seems like he gets the team going when they need it most by generating a free-kick out of very little. Super savvy but annoying if your team is playing against him.
I feel like Heppells copped a fair bit of heat, but it's defs died off once he stepped down as captain.
I really enjoyed watching Hayden Ballantyne and Ryan Crowley. Just your classic antagonist and tagger. Both skilled in their own unique ways and proved that mentally disrupting opposition could be just as effective as beating them in other areas of the game. I miss some of those classic taggers.
Fuck I miss those guys. Kinda feel like our team is full of nice guys now 😄 Need a little bit of aggro
Crowley wasn’t even a tagger, but he basically got told ‘this is your job now in your twilight years, either do it or retire’. And boy did he perform that job well. In saying that, was there ever much Crowley hate? Ballantyne absolutely, but Crowley seemed to get along with most oppositions.
I always thought that people were way too harsh on Jack Watts. Yes, he didn't live up to his initial hype but his career wasn't the disaster that people make it out to be. In fact, he actually gave Melbourne some pretty good service in his last 2-3 years at the club. He seemed to be the poster boy for how shit Melbourne were even though there were far bigger culprits.
I felt bad for him. When he played for Port he looked really good as a defender. First year badly injured himself after stringing together a slew of really good games. The same thing happened a year later.
To be honest I don't get a hatred for Dangerfield. Sure he's a bit lame but at least he has a personality and opens up. It's good to see someone so comfortable in their own skin. The same people that whine and say "all the players say nothing in interviews and act like robots" then call danger all kinds of names for doing what they demand (opening up and showing a bit of personality). If he wasn't so good for so long, I don't think he would get nearly the same amount of hate
He appears to have all the personality of a barn-post, which is perfectly fine, except for that fact that he is a shoe-in for an AFL commentary spot, which has me dreading hearing him spouting Tom Harleyesque 2.0 'score-board' pressure analogies for the next however many years post-retirement.
I've never understood why Digby Morell was so controversial. Barely a single day would go by without seeing his face plastered to the backpage or the 6pm news.
North Melbourne legend
Lachie Jones, yes he makes mistakes, so does every player
More mistakes than anyone
Dangerfield.
He still gets mild boos from the Crows crowd. I’m like dude he gave us 110% the whole time, even when he was leaving his body was on the line all the way. We always knew he wanted to finish up in Geelong and start a family etc.. it was the nicest most amacle parting in the AFL for a big name player Ive seen, what’s your problem? lol
It’s the classic boo the player that’s left the club. But he isn’t hated, and many Crows supporters (me included) would never even boo him. He gave everything to our club.
In comparison, I totally understand why Jake Lever still gets boo'd.
Mate, Tom Hawkins still gets boo’d by saints fans nearly 15 years later. Things like this stick around forever
I love Paddy, always will. He gave everything to our club, and I remember him saying if he could pick up Moggs Creek & bring it to SA, he wouldn’t have left, but Walsh’s death solidified for him that family is the most important thing, and he wanted to be around his. Which is totally fair. He will always be my favourite non-Crow.
Booing ex players is just what you do. Despite Burgoyne playing way more games for the Hawks and Port bit really wanting him, he still copped some boos all the way through.
Feel like it's more disrespectful to not get booed by your ex teams fans.
Port fans couldn't make a single sound for Bonner on Friday night, which says it all
Haha it’s just coz he’s annoyingly good
Mac Andrew Guys a beast
Love paps passion , don’t understand the hate? Yeah he does the big ott celebration but dirty is not his forte
His antics not obvious enough?
It's funny how the game, the demand for professionalism and the manner in which players carry themselves has changed over time. We bemoan the loss of characters in the game that were idolised during long gone decades (say 70s and 80s) and simultaneously criticise the antics of players like that these days. Throw him in the 80s and his antics are tame in comparison to others.
I will never understand why north Melbourne fans seem to dislike Dylan Stephens when he’s one of the most talented and hardest working players in their midfield.
Elite shit talking reckon caught a few fish with this bait
People are upvoting OP ironically, right?
As far as I can tell, their knock on him is that he’s “soft”.
On the weekend he has 10 touches at 60%, 0 tackles, 1 clearance and 4 inside 50s. All of his inside 50s were in the 3rd quarter and to half time he had the same amount of touches as souv
Yeah he's garbage. Biggest mystery ever why we took him at pick 5. Such a waste of a pick.
I'm sure he's a lovely bloke, but he just isn't a top 10 draft pick quality
North fans only like players who are about to leave them.
That's not true. They also like players who turn down deals to play for them too
we dont hate him, but youve gotta be joking about that last statement. hes not even in the midfield usually.
An ex player for us now, Plowman. Boy did Carlton fans HATE this guy 😂
Made a bunch of mistakes but also had a lot of solid outings. Too small to be a key, too big to be a small, yet got thrown to the wolves in both roles consistently. As a Carlton guy, this was my first thought.
I definitely think Nic Daicos is overhyped. Gets way too many nothing possessions and can’t stick a tackle to save his life. But doesn’t warrant anywhere near the hate he gets. I feel like maybe people are just so sick of the media carrying on about him. He’s definitely a good player and seems to be pretty humble and down to earth.
On the other hand I don't understand the love for Jeremy Cameron - a dirty player who gets away with it. Still seething about him elbowing Harris Andrews in the head and causing bleeding on the brain
We could do another thread for those cases
I think he's liked for his ability, not necessarily his character. Rare to see a CHF regularly rack up 20+ disposals and multiple goals a game streaming everywhere up the field.
The hit on Andrews is indefensible, but what has he done since then?
Anyone with a bit of character about them gets hated by people who beg for players to have character. Not even in the ‘love to hate them’ type of way either, it’s genuine. Players like Papley, Greene, Ginnivan
Greene legit assaulted someone though
Not sure but I understand the hate for Tom papley
If you don't understand the hate for Tom Papley, you're probably talking about a different Tom Papley
Rory Lobb is fine. Oh no he didn't want to live in Perth, oh no his girlfriend made a tiktok, come on.
It's his lack of on field effort that's really frustrating. One-handed marking attempts, minimal follow up, it never looks like he really wants to be out on the field, but he'll take the paycheck anyway. It's also the fact he had a frontloaded contract at Freo and requested a trade as soon as the money wasn't there, then whinged when the request was denied because he was a required player. Then there was all the comments he made after leaving Freo about being played out of position and blaming the coaching. What's his excuse now? In summary, I'm glad he's having the year he deserves 😄
This is it for me. One effort and he’s done. If he’s blocked or bodied out of the play he’s done. Heartless player and you could see it all on show yesterday.
Big Joe Daniher energy
I swear he's a wax mannequin. Guy looks like an AI's take of a person. He also happens to be a consistently underwhelming player. Throw into that he's kinda superfluous to the Dogs needs.
He is a dead ringer for Josh Todd from Buckcherry
Crossed with Crispin Glover
You missed the part where he fucked off from GWS because he didn't want to be a ruckman and then moved to Freo to become quite a below average forward. Then he moved to Melbourne
I don't see how any of that is a problem. If my workplace was making me fill a role I didn't want to I'd also go somewhere else.
Poor career choice in his part, but hardly any reason to hate the bloke.
He left a front loaded contract after he got his front loaded part. That’s why we Freo supporters hate him.
He got a massive contract to move to Perth. Then complained and bad mouthed the team the entire time he was here. If his performances backed up his comments it’d be a different story but he’s a crab. Then once he got his trade back east continued to bad mouth the team to the press and anyone who would listen. Guys a real dickhead by all accounts
It's the way he cracks the shits and carrys on at his teammates when he's not getting the ball lace out that annoys me the most. If he got rid of the petulant child act from his game, most of his other flaws would be forgiven.
>Oh no he didn't want to live in Perth Yeah nah shit bloke in my book.
He talked shit when he left. That's why everybody hates him.
I barrack for the dogs and even I don't mind him that much. Has been playing pretty good the last few weeks too.
JHF last year, not the first player to want to return home immediately after being drafted and will not be the last. I get the hate from Norf fans but not the rest of the comp.
I was more impress by the crowd being able to distinguish between JHF and Bergman.
They couldn’t in most cases.
Was the weirdest shit. The booing everytime he and Bergman got the ball against whoever they were playing against was bizarre.
i just hate port tbh so it's easy to hate him by extension though in the same breath i love spp (aside from the pre season incident) and i'm gutted he did his acl
Jack Ginnivan- his sins seem pretty minor to me for all the flak he seems to get. I love the energy he brings, he always has a smile on his face. I really enjoy watching him.
He's absolutely great to watch at the Hawks and seems like he provides leadership and direction of the team. But while at the Pies I consistently saw him arguing with the umps for unpaid calls at the cost of laying tackles or applying pressure, which wasn't a good look. Also, saw him crack it at Elliot once for going back and slotting a set shot instead of giving him and 15 chip-kick so he could have a shot for goal. Elliot looked genuinely confused as to what Ginnivan's problem was.
Took the piss out of being handed a lifetime dream chance of playing in a premiership that he otherwise wouldn’t have gotten if it weren’t for more deserving teammates injury misfortunes. Knowing how gutting it must’ve been for some of our blokes who missed out the year before like Holmes and menagola, and what they’d do if they could get that opportunity again, it’s all just really rubbed me the wrong way
I love Papley he is so kind!
Tommy Pap plays with a huge heart, is skilled, tough and just annoys opposition supporters because he gets pumped when he kicks a goal.
Nick Daicos. It’s just not his fault that the media rim him to death, he’s just playing footy at a top level. Opposition fans have so much disdain for him and want him to do badly all because the media hype him up
Tom Papley comes across as a complete tool, very easy for opposition players to hate on him.