Why BJ left St.Kilda: Facts

[Zed]

He was looking stale and I reckon in his own mind the challenge of a new club will lift him back to AA level. I really don't think he could get back to that level had he stayed at the Saints. I think he knows he only has 3 years at the top level left and his 4th year and last year will be average. Smart move from him to lock in a 4 year deal on big bucks.

Bombers will extract more from him in the next 2 years than we could have. The question is can they get to a GF in 2014 otherwise BJ's best will be behind him.

[mr six o'clock]

Three reasons he left for Essendon
1. They were the highest offer in Victoria ( didn't want to go interstate )
2. They are realistically on the way up the ladder where we are in a rebuild stage
3. After years at the same place a change can present a new challenge and maybe reignight a level of excitement ( after coming so close without getting the ultimate then hitting a form slump a change might be the answer to turning it around)

Agree

But as we've seen in the last two years , if you tag him he doesn't like it .
He's a quality player who will do well for the bombers but NFW is he better than watson , yet he is now there highest paid player .
3.2+ over four years !
Should be able to keep his brother out of trouble with that sort of coin .

[bobmurray]

Three reasons he left for Essendon
1. They were the highest offer in Victoria ( didn't want to go interstate )
2. They are realistically on the way up the ladder where we are in a rebuild stage
3. After years at the same place a change can present a new challenge and maybe reignight a level of excitement ( after coming so close without getting the ultimate then hitting a form slump a change might be the answer to turning it around)

Agree

But as we've seen in the last two years , if you tag him he doesn't like it .
He's a quality player who will do well for the bombers but NFW is he better than watson , yet he is now there highest paid player .
3.2+ over four years !
Should be able to keep his brother out of trouble with that sort of coin .

If not, he'll easily be able to put up the bail money

[Yaysaints]

I don't rate them as a premiership team. They have a few good players and lets see them have enough money under the cap to keep them.

[ShanghaiSaint]

Who cares?

He's gone!

THIS!!!

[nw7]

He lleft because they gave him $800K per year for 4 years. Good luck to him and well done Saints for not matching it. He is worth $600 to $650K per year not $800K. My son had number 18 on his jumper, its sad to see him go but he really struggled to win his own ball, was easily tagged out of the game and was rarely a match winner, thank goodness we didnt match the offer. A player that is getting $800K per year for 4 years needs to be a matchwinner consistently in our team. Now we have the chance to pick up such a player in the next 2 years.

[clarky449]

How about you ask your source about Ross Lyon, then you might realise everything you say about him is off the mark.

[saintsRrising]

BJ had many rotations on the midfield.

I fail to see how playing there more often would make him a good midfielder which he is not.

Essendons crap midfield may allow him to play more time there though, but due to their poor quality rather that his ability in the role.Money will have been the prime reason.


If it was a flag there are other much more likely teams.

[GrumpyOne]

From an impeccable source here they are:

(1) Money

(2) Money

(3) Money

There are three more reasons.

Strangely they are all spelt the same way as the first three.

[santazzi]

Guys let it rest. He made what is for him an excellent business decision. "Hey nothing personal" as a mobster would say...........
The "playing in the midfield" idea makes business sense. His chances of winning a Brownlow improve with the amount of time he spends in the middle. Brownlow is cashable commodity down the line.............it is all business. Thank him for the father son.........can't see him playing 200 more...........and father son is business in our favour............so long and good luck BJ........

[Spinner]

Guys let it rest. He made what is for him an excellent business decision. "Hey nothing personal" as a mobster would say...........
The "playing in the midfield" idea makes business sense. His chances of winning a Brownlow improve with the amount of time he spends in the middle. Brownlow is cashable commodity down the line.............it is all business. Thank him for the father son.........can't see him playing 200 more...........and father son is business in our favour............so long and good luck BJ........

Only needs to play 100 more for father son at essendon.

[Dis Believer]

Guys let it rest. He made what is for him an excellent business decision. "Hey nothing personal" as a mobster would say...........
The "playing in the midfield" idea makes business sense. His chances of winning a Brownlow improve with the amount of time he spends in the middle. Brownlow is cashable commodity down the line.............it is all business. Thank him for the father son.........can't see him playing 200 more...........and father son is business in our favour............so long and good luck BJ........

Only needs to play 100 more for father son at essendon.

Won't get theer on his current contract unless he plays every single game for the next four years and they play through to the GF every season for four years.

[Megsie]

What a loyal person Goddard is! has all attributes required to play for essendon! The karma train is coming Brendan. You just never know when

[saintspremiers]

From an impeccable source here they are:

(1) Better facilities on offer at Essendon Fields new facility about to open next year.

(2) Chance to play in the midfield

(3) Chance to play in a premiership

Also, he was offered MORE money at other clubs than Essendon, although I don't know which clubs they were.

Your 3 points are laughable.

Yet the only one that mattered, that is money, you didn't identify as part of the 'facts'

Only going what info I was given, and as I said they are factual. I'm sure money was a huge one also.

They are not laughable. Our facilities may be new but not necessarily good. And whilst the Bombers aren't world beaters neither are we - they are closer to the mark IMO.

[saintspremiers]

How about you ask your source about Ross Lyon, then you might realise everything you say about him is off the mark.

What's Lyon got to do with it?

[skeptic]

I really never thought he was a very good midfielder

certainly not an elite one

[BigMart]

He left because we weren't able to keep him.....

Like Plugger, Hall, Everitt, Ball and so on..... He had a more attractive offer...

[vacuous space]

BJ was an elite midfielder for the last two months of 2010. There's a reason why everybody was rating him top-5 and it wasn't from playing loose in defence. Since then, he's really struggled with contested ball and clearances relative to players like Hayes and Dal. Armo and Jack are better inside players at this point. BJ was surprisingly ineffective as a forward. As a spare back or outside mid, he was a overhyped version of Heath Scotland. Valuable, but I'm sure everybody could come up with at least five players more critical to our success. While I wanted to keep him, at that cost, Essendon can have him.

I don't blame him for leaving though. An extra 200K to work across town? I wish somebody would test my loyalty so.

[BigMart]

I bet his B&F finish (like Joey) was a lot higher than most on here thought?.

Suggesting the coaches thought he played his role OK

[villasaint]

$

[saintbob]

Good luck to him, we had the opportunity to match the offer and we decided against it!!!

So get the **** over it

[Playon]

From an impeccable source here they are:

(1) Money

(2) Money

(3) Money

Its a rich mans world

[maverick]

Better facilities about 5 hours from his home. He was playing in the midfield for us in longer periods but I agree they have more chance of winning a flag than us. Reckon the money was a pretty good reason why he left and was probably the main reason.

He lives in Port Melbourne, Essendon Fields is 1/2 the time than Seaford from there.
Why do the Bombres have a better chance than the Saints at winning a flag.
Their only decent defender is 38, their only A grade player is 28 before the season starts and their best up and comer can barely string 3/4 of a season together.
They won't make the finals next year.

[70s sainter]

It didnt feel that they were much closer to winning a GF than us when we beat them by 71 points this year.

[gringo]

I think life after footy was on BJs mind and as he isn't ever going to be a lawyer or broker he probably thought the possibility of getting a little job after it all ends sounded good. It must take it's Toll all that thinkin'.