I was too sad and angry at first to even write anything but then after thinking about it more, in my opinion the reason why Harves and Chris decided not to sign Farmer for another year is because Wiz may not be able to play the brilliant football like he used to not because of his skills but because of the way the game has changed.

It is common knowledge that Wiz has been unfairly targeted by the umps, they would give frees against him for the most ridiculous reasons and they would hardly give anything for him. The opponent players knew and capitalised on this to their advantage of course. Watch again those games and see how Wiz himself was frustrated a lot, he tried very hard not to retaliate as much as he could.

Please guys we need to give Harves and co the benefit of the doubt and stand by the club eventhough this is hard to swallow. I do not think it was an easy decision for them either. I am sure that they were fully aware that Wiz was popular with the supporters but they had to make what they believe was the right decision for the club.

great article Greg. Pretty much summed up how i feel.

There are two things that are still bothering me. Firstly, i wonder what the point is of dumping The Wiz when we are only going to get a 9th round draft pick out of it. If we keep him around for another year on a performance based contract, then what have we lost? Sure, the next draft will have GC17, but surely we aren't going to lose as many players at the end of next year. so, to me, it's the choice between a 9th round pick this year, or a 7-9th round pick next year. As for the benefits of keeping the Wiz around, there are numerous posts that explain that more eloquently than i could.

Secondly, the media's role in this is still knawing away at me. As i see it, the relationship between the media and jeff's sacking can be viewed in four ways...

1) The media got it right. They used their astounding powers of intellect, foresight, and unbiased common sense, and wrote something that both they and Harves know will turn out to be correct decision for the club.

2) Harves and Rosich are just as stupid as the WA media, and they have made the wrong decision.

3) Harves and co. have caved in to the pressure exerted by the media.

4) Harves and co. knew they weren't going to give Jeff a new contract, and they somehow thought the media should know before jeff and the fans.

Options 2-4 leave me with a sick feeling about the future of the club, and option 1 requires that i forget everything i have ever read in a WA newspaper.

5) Coincidence. The WA media by pure fluke got the outcome right. Even then they got the story and reasons entirely wrong. If you say some one is going to retire often enough, you're bound to be correct sooner or later.

We still don't know what was said at the meeting, apart from press releases.

yes, it could be a coincidence, but reading the articles before the last game, there was a definite tone of certainty. normally the gutless WA reporters hide behind inuendo, in an attempt to cover their slimey skins should their harmful speculation turn out to be merely that.

Whether you agree with the decision or not, calling it gutless is just stupid.

I would've kept Jeff, but I understand why they didn't. It makes things less fun and takes something away in the quirk department that we all love about Freo. But the reality is, that part of things hasn't really worked out so well for us so far. Maybe this is a sacrifice that needs to be made for some greater good in the culture of the club.

This hurts, but Jeff isn't dead, so a tragedy it isn't. Many of us have been touched by real tragedy, I think we need to keep some perspective. Jeff has, so should we.

I don't think anyone's called it 'gutless', just 'weak' ... and then only in response to others who've wanted to call it 'tough'.

I don't think a decision is automatically 'tough' just because it's unpopular or controversial.

More to the point, however, those who've put forward arguments for seeing the decision as weak don't deserve to be called 'stupid'.

It was stupid - he was in career best form (for every stat except goals):
http://finalsiren.com/PlayerStats.asp?PlayerID=786

Oh look, another argument: he was in career best form!

Remind me again ... what are all the tough reasons for dumping him?

It's OK. I'll just go back through the papers.

I think you're right Polly. I can't effectively mount an argument in support of the decision because I don't really agree with it.

However, Wizfan, the first part of the article calls the decision both weak and gutless. To this I objected and that objection is my previous post.

All sorts of rhetoric will surround this sort of decision regarding one of the greatest players of all time and one of the most beloved. We've all defended Jeff for so long, he is very important to us. However, I'm hoping that hysteria doesn't take over.

I agree with 95% of what was in the article. I have hated the robotic and soulless ways in which other clubs have operated and that is why I love Freo. I don't want us to be West Coast, but I don't want us to be Richmond either.

I don't agree with the decision, but I have more of a problem with the sort of comments I have eluded too than I do with letting Jeff go. Harvey has been neither weak nor gutless in this decision. It is, in fact, the polar opposite to either of those ridiculous assertions.

Rage against the decision by all means, but personal attacks towards those involved, if they must be made, should at least be confined to defensible attacks with some basis in truth.

I completely agree that personal attacks have no part in this. But I don't see how those who don't support this decision are therefore being personal.

I don't think the word 'weak' is any more loaded than the word 'tough'.

I agree 150% with every word you said Greg.

Fair enough Jeff was forced to retire. Fair enough he wasn't right for the team in the direction we were going.

But it was insulting and disgraceful in how they handled it and treated him in the end. The media has hammered him throughout his career, the umpires were against him and finally for his team to turn against him and kick him in the face is real low.

Where was the respect given to Jeff that he deserved? Where is his farewell to the fans so we can get closure on what he has given us? The club just gave a brief written statement and thats it. Disappeared. Quick and blunt.

To do that to a Fremantle icon who has kicked 200+ goals for us and played 131 games and is the highest indigenous goalkicker in the game is a utter disgrace. And in comparison to give Mark Johnson a standing ovation and to be carried off with just one year with the club and a handful of games and goals is a kick in the face.

Jeff probably doesnt read these forums. He doesn't know what his fans think and how they feel. I really hope he gets picked up by Melbourne in the PSD and he can show us on what he can do and they show him the respect he should receive.

Weak and tough are separated in this case by the connotations attatched to them.

Weak is an attack, a completely unreasonable, unsubstantiated and personal attack.

Gutless is the same.

Tough, in this setting, is not an attack.

Was it a tough decision? I believe it was. Should it therefore be heralded or applauded? Nope. That's the job.

I am filthy dark on the club for not giving him another year not only for reasons of nostalgia but also because we need him, he’s good enough and he deserves it. What was weak and gutless was that the club announced his axing after the season had ended when I'd bet the house that the decision was well known prior to the closure of the home and away season.

Announcing it after the season enabled the club to possibly save a certain degree of face in that Jeff’s hot and cold nature, which has been his career, could make them look silly. By announcing it when they did they could selfishly avoid any serious nationally televised backlash. Possibly they had thoughts that they had to get through Friday Night Football if they had made the decision earlier.

It was also weak and gutless for Harvey to run the "it was an amicable parting of ways" line on us. The club is treating us like a bunch of stooges here! We've been around this club too long to have him or anyone else practise on us like that.

I might be over the top being critical of Harvey as who knows what happens behind closed doors. But if he wanted Farmer to stay on and got belted at the board room table, then don't roll out the company line on us when blind Freddy can see the actual reality. If on the other hand Harvey was the instigator of the decision then, given the article on the link below, how much faith can you put in what he says in the future and if he even half backs you in then you’re actually in dire straights. You'll never convince me Mark Johnson's one year deal wasn't a favour from a mate. So if Harvey can pull that sort of deal off then sliding the Wiz one deserved year extension is something he could do in his sleep.

http://wwos.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=615296&rss=yes


Dolphin I understand it’s not a tragedy in a personal sense and I sympathise with those who have been through actual tragedies in the true sense of the word. To me, it’s a tragedy in a football sense and I meant nothing more than that. I apologise if the term made light of any personal tragedy.

"who knows what happens behind closed doors"

In a nutshell.

There are obviously too many soft centred nuts in those nutshells behind closed doors.

Weak, Gutless and soft. Wow. Did Mark Harvey run over your cat Greg?

I love Jeff's performance when he is switched on and playing team football. If we went back 12 months and read about his limited season because of his lack of self discipline and how it cost the team, we would realize that the club gave him another chance for 2008.

I have been totally behind him to continue, but after the game against Richmond, I can see that he can be a liability to the team. Sure, there was nothing in his "contact to the head" of the Richmond player, but his "verbal response" to the umpire gave away a goal at a crucial part of the game and his team mates had to work extremely hard to try to retrieve the lead. All players need to be TEAM players.

I have to say that I admire Harves for insisting on TEAM football. It works. Just look at Geelong...

You shouldn't have to apologise, Greg. It goes without saying that, on a football site, we're talking football. When loaded words like 'tragedy' get used, it goes without saying that they're being used in a football context. We've all had personal tragedies in our lives and don't need to be reminded that 'tragedies' in football aren't, in a strict sense, tragic.

Such reminders are used, quite strategically, to turn this into a moral debate, where the good guys are 'pro-club' and the bad guys are 'anti-Harvey'. Nothing could be more ridiculous from the point of view of the so-called bad guys, or at least from the point of view of this bad guy.

The club has stuffed up. It's stuffed up big time.

Let's all stop pretending that it hasn't.

Oh please, Maj. Spare us the 'Jeff cost us the Richmond game' media line.

The free against Farmer was paid at the 7 kin mark of the third quarter.

What are we supposed to believe? The other 21 players dropped their heads and went, 'Sure, there's another half to play but, what's the point? Jeff just blew it.'

So you reckon when West Coast finally delisted Ben Cousins last year they "stuffed up"? A brilliant player that was given many chances after he consistently broke team rules (or was given special treatment, depending on your point of view). He could have been very valuable to them this year.