Elliott won't ever leave this story completely in the past. But I don't really care. It's just sad that ass hats like Matt Lodge get redemption stories while they're still talking about this as if it was the worst thing to have ever been done by a football player off the field in the history of humans.
And as far as it goes with his talent level, he's better than most make out. He started out with plenty of errors in his game and he does give away penalties at times. Every player makes errors and concedes penalties. But he's definitely improved in both areas. But once people have it in their minds that a player is poor it's very difficult to alter the perception. All I can say is that while many of you might wax lyrical about his faults, the last two coaches that have had the option of keeping him in their top 17 have been more than happy to do so. So arguing that he's poor is relatively useless. More to the point I'd compare his impact on a modest contract to someone like Aaron Woods and he offers good value for money in my opinion. I along with many others who were fortunate enough to see many of our monstrous forward packs over the last 30-40 years will always have very high expectations of forwards. However it's difficult to assemble a pack like those we've had in the past with a salary cap in place. We may be able to keep 1-2 star forwards in the roster, but good solid players who love the club should always be respected and I think that Elliott fits that description very well.