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TRADE CHATTER \u2018DIABOLICAL FOR YOUR TEAM SPIRIT\u2019<\/p>\n
Australian Football Hall of Fame legend Leigh Matthews believes the trade speculation surrounding star duo Lachie Neale and Zac Bailey would be \u201cdiabolical for your team spirit\u201d at Brisbane.<\/p>\n
Matthews\u2019 comments come after Jon Ralph reported Collingwood was closing in on Neale with a lucrative three-year deal that would see the dual Brownlow Medallist paid $2 million over the first two seasons.<\/p>\n
Speaking on Fox Footy\u2019s On The Couch, Matthews said Neale, 33, deserved a three-year contract because he was \u201cplaying as well as he\u2019s ever played\u201d.<\/p>\n
But Matthews, who coached the Lions to three straight premierships in the early 2000s, said the constant trade whispers focusing on Neale and Bailey \u2013 a free agent who\u2019s been heavily linked to the Crows \u2013 wasn\u2019t ideal for Brisbane\u2019s playing group.<\/p>\n
Bobby Hill has played some VFL games for the Magpies. Picture: Michael KleinSource: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n
\u201cThe public narrative that Lachie might be leaving and Zac Bailey might be leaving is diabolical for your team spirit, I think,\u201d Matthews told On The Couch.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbsolutely you\u2019d keep him (Neale). I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any point about him getting pushed out of the Lions, so forget about that one.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s only a question whether a Collingwood comes in with a much bigger offer and maybe he wants to play at the MCG and Anzac Day games, I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut all I\u2019m saying \u2013 I know it\u2019s modern footy \u2013 but it\u2019s a bad narrative if it hits your club that there\u2019s this public debate mid-season, or that these blokes are probably going.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked if he thought the lure of winning a third premiership would be an attraction to remain at Brisbane, Matthews said: \u201cI think there\u2019s an element once you\u2019ve played in a premiership team \u2026 that therefore staying where I want to win another premiership is slightly less a priority for some players who\u2019ve never played in a premiership win. I think that\u2019s a reasonable scenario to balance, on average.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe just might want to get out of Brisbane for bad memories. Not with the football club but the city.\u201d<\/p>\n
PIES \u2018BOILING POINT\u2019 LOOMS AFTER STAR\u2019S \u2018UNEXPECTED\u2019 ABSENCE<\/p>\n
There are fresh doubts over whether Norm Smith Medallist Bobby Hill will play for Collingwood again after he was an \u201cunexpected absentee\u201d at main Magpies training on Monday.<\/p>\n
This weekend marks one year since Hill last played a full AFL game, with the premiership Magpie dealing with complex personal issues.<\/p>\n
Hill was expected to return to Collingwood this week after spending the past three weeks in WA for the birth of his third child.<\/p>\n
But 7News Melbourne reporter Xander McGuire on Monday night said Hill\u2019s absence on Monday was potentially \u201cone too many false dawns\u201d for the Magpies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no way to sugar-coat this, this is a setback for Bobby Hill,\u201d McGuire told The Agenda Setters.<\/p>\n
\u201cCollingwood is aware his return won\u2019t be linear as he navigates complex personal issues in his own life. But at the same time, time is really running out for Bobby Hill to make an impact and to remain in the standing he is in the AFL right now.<\/p>\n
Pies table HUGE deal to lure Neale | 00:48<\/p>\n
\u201cAs someone who\u2019s been monitoring this story forensically for the last year, I feel like this is actually starting to feel a bit different. It feels like this has almost hit a tipping point, where there\u2019s been one too many false dawns for Bobby Hill. Especially among the playing group, those frustrations are hitting boiling point at the moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt must be said, the Collingwood Football Club is being very understanding of this. They\u2019re willing to go with the two steps forward, one step back, as long as this takes.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut too often recently it\u2019s been one step forward, two steps back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fellow reporter Tom Morris claimed people both at Collingwood and around Hill were now \u201cseriously questioning whether he\u2019ll ever play for Collingwood again\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is remarkable given he\u2019s contracted until the end of 2030, he\u2019s on $750,000 a year,\u201d Morris told Channel 7.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt some point, Collingwood is going to start looking for a way out, a way to break a contract and support him on the way through.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An AFL legend has warned trade speculation would be \u201cdiabolical for your team spirit\u201d at Brisbane, while there\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":739011,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-739010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=739010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/739011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=739010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=739010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=739010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}