speed of change- King trade.- FOXsports

saintbrat · Post: # 516989Post **saintbrat** » Mon 11 Feb 2008 8:45am

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,865 ... 11,00.html
King resisted Cats pressure to retire
By Jon Ralph February 11, 2008

NEW St Kilda ruckman Steven King has revealed Geelong withdrew an offer for him to stay at the club midway through trade week then tried to convince him to retire.

But 29-year-old King says he has now come to terms with his controversial departure from Geelong and is determined to add another chapter to his remarkable career as a Saint.

The former Geelong captain was traded within a fortnight of his exceptional Grand Final performance but says becoming mired in bitterness would only affect his performances with St Kilda.

Recently engaged to partner Danielle Atkin, settled in at Moorabbin, and ready to fight for a spot among the cluster of St Kilda ruckmen, King said he was not at the club simply to extend his career.

....................................
"To be honest, I am not really sure what happened. I know on the Monday of trade week I had a one-year deal on the table and by Wednesday it had mysteriously disappeared and by the Thursday I was getting calls from Geelong people telling me it might be a good idea if I retired," he said.

"I thought, 'Gee, that's a pretty quick turnaround. I didn't want to retire, but (manager) Ricky (Nixon) and I only had a day and a half to get somewhere else that I could have a kick at.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>........

saintsRrising · Mon 11 Feb 2008 11:08am

That would seem to confirm the rumours that the main reason that King left the Cat's was salary cap issues.....that they had to makea cut somewhere...and fortunately for us that was King.

placating Blake was perhaps a factor....but pretty week if Geelong get rid ofa players main competitor fora slot in the 22 as Blake should have to earn the post of ability.

bigcarl · Post: # 517034Post **bigcarl** » Mon 11 Feb 2008 11:12am

saintsRrising wrote:That would seem to confirm the rumours that the main reason that King left the Cat's was salary cap issues.....that they had to makea cut somewhere...and fortunately for us that was King.

from memory we made a very good offer to the kid (his name eludes me) who missed the grand final because they thought they owed king

imo it was king we had our eye on the whole time and geelong fell for the three-card trick.

they had to match our offer to the kid (whose name eludes me) and thus couldn't afford to keep king.

masterful strategy by us

markp · Post: # 517041Post **markp** » Mon 11 Feb 2008 11:28am

bigcarl wrote: imo it was king we had our eye on the whole time and geelong fell for the three-card trick. they had to match our offer to the kid whose name eludes me and thus couldn't afford to keep king.

masterful strategy by us

If that is really what happened then masterful strategy is a fair description... especially if King delivers for us.

bigcarl · Post: # 517042Post **bigcarl** » Mon 11 Feb 2008 11:31am

markp wrote:
bigcarl wrote: imo it was king we had our eye on the whole time and geelong fell for the three-card trick. they had to match our offer to the kid whose name eludes me and thus couldn't afford to keep king.

masterful strategy by us
If that is really what happened then masterful strategy is a fair description... especially if King delivers for us.

well that's the one i'm putting around anyway to get up the noses of a few geelong fans

markp · Post: # 517043Post **markp** » Mon 11 Feb 2008 11:33am

I like it!

saintsRrising · Mon 11 Feb 2008 11:44am

I don't know if the saints mada an offer to Blake or not.......but the Tigers chased Blake...and as they had first pick in the pre-season they had the ability to get him.

Animal Enclosure · Mon 11 Feb 2008 11:50am

It was back page news that we offered Blake big money to make the switch. The next day he signed with Geelong (for a much improved offer).

King was then squeezed out by the salary cap, so I guess we did influence the outcome!

Batnoe · Post: # 517056Post **Batnoe** » Mon 11 Feb 2008 12:15pm

Offer was 3 years for 1 million

Too much for Blake i believe

Am rapt to have King

Zed · Post: # 517255Post **Zed** » Mon 11 Feb 2008 9:24pm

It was a nothing to lose strategy for Saints

If Cats Blake had agreed to go to Saints we would have had a 10 year ruckman. If not then we get ready mady King for the next 3 years and Cats have to up the price for Blake.

Put the squeeze on the Cats with little risk to the Saints - nice to see the Saints playing hardball.

Scoop · Post: # 517282Post **Scoop** » Mon 11 Feb 2008 10:28pm

Zed wrote:It was a nothing to lose strategy for Saints

If Cats Blake had agreed to go to Saints we would have had a 10 year ruckman. If not then we get ready mady King for the next 3 years and Cats have to up the price for Blake.

Put the squeeze on the Cats with little risk to the Saints - nice to see the Saints playing hardball.

Spot on Zed.

However, I am not that sold on Blake and am happy with the way the cards fell. I believe we have a potential 10+ year ruckman in Van Rheenan - developing very nicely and King can only assist in his development.

Enrico_Misso · Mon 11 Feb 2008 11:21pm

And don't forget that delisting G-train opened up some space in our salary cap which allowed us to snare King.

Then we got the best of both worlds with G-train rediscovering himself and begging to come back at a lower salary.

Both will be motivated and focused to have a huge year.

Could you have written a better recruiting script ?

Batnoe · Post: # 517293Post **Batnoe** » Mon 11 Feb 2008 11:29pm

Enrico_Misso wrote:And don't forget that delisting G-train opened up some space in our salary cap which allowed us to snare King.

Then we got the best of both worlds with G-train rediscovering himself and begging to come back at a lower salary.

Both will be motivated and focused to have a huge year.

Could you have written a better recruiting script ?

The Train retired, we always wanted him there, no delisting

Enrico_Misso · Mon 11 Feb 2008 11:36pm

Yes, sorry, wrong choice of words.

But it was nonetheless extremely fortuitous that it opened up a window to grab King.

barks4eva · Post: # 517387Post **barks4eva** » Tue 12 Feb 2008 12:02pm

bigcarl wrote:
saintsRrising wrote:That would seem to confirm the rumours that the main reason that King left the Cat's was salary cap issues.....that they had to makea cut somewhere...and fortunately for us that was King.
from memory we made a very good offer to the kid (his name eludes me) who missed the grand final because they thought they owed king

imo it was king we had our eye on the whole time and geelong fell for the three-card trick.

they had to match our offer to the kid (whose name eludes me) and thus couldn't afford to keep king.

masterful strategy by us

Either way it certainly looks a whole lot better than Rendell and Thomas giving up pick 6 & pick 31 for Brooks as if 6 wasn't enough already