News Last drinks: The tough conversation Gus Gould needs to have

D- voice

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Yes, he deserves a fourth chance, given the first offence was the club's fault, the second wasn't a breach of contractual obligations and the third was such a minor incident. Uncle Arthur can multitask. He can look out for both the club and the fine young man he has befriended.
Utility Mate...
You have been given so many chances ( explanations ) on TK why Elliott needed to be sacked yet you still insist he should have been kept...
You see, you haven't learnt from your mistakes :tearsofjoy:
 

flamebouyant

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Adam sealed his own fate when (if as is reported) the first person he reached out to when his most recent drama erupted was to Laundy. Not his coach. Not the club secretary. It was to Laundy with a grovelling apology to the effect "I have let you down". He should have been apologising to his team mates, to his coach, to the club CEO. Obviously Elliott once again had no understanding where his true loyalties and responsibilities lay. Good riddance.
Best post of the thread!! But no doubt utility will turn 200 page fucking debating the flaws of your thinking and judgement of character!!!
 

Flanagun

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Utility Mate...
You have been given so many chances ( explanations ) on TK why Elliott needed to be sacked yet you still insist he should have been kept...
You see, you haven't learnt from your mistakes :tearsofjoy:
Nope. As I explained, the first offence was the club’s fault, the Lichaa thing wasn’t an offence and the Toilet incident was very minor…. So it’s like 1.5 offences really. What happened to Elliott was a grave injustice. Are you saying you’d be ok with the club sacking Burton after 1.5 booze related incidents?
 

COVENS

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Nope. As I explained, the first offence was the club’s fault, the Lichaa thing wasn’t an offence and the Toilet incident was very minor…. So it’s like 1.5 offences really. What happened to Elliott was a grave injustice. Are you saying you’d be ok with the club sacking Burton after 1.5 booze related incidents?
Burton is allowed 5 booze related incidents
 

COVENS

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I’d give him 10…. Just saying the king was treated very harshly..
I don't think so. Perhaps a more talented player would have been shown more leniency - but life isn't fair and professional sport even less
 

Flanagun

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I don't think so. Perhaps a more talented player would have been shown more leniency - but life isn't fair and professional sport even less
He’s one of the most skilful backrowers in the game. He just hasn’t been properly developed. Like every player in our squad who debuted after 2014. That spiral cut out he threw against the warriors last year still gives me chills. We let go of a really good one.

But in a perfect world, players should be treated equally regardless of talent disparities.
 

Dogtime

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Adam sealed his own fate when (if as is reported) the first person he reached out to when his most recent drama erupted was to Laundy. Not his coach. Not the club secretary. It was to Laundy with a grovelling apology to the effect "I have let you down". He should have been apologising to his team mates, to his coach, to the club CEO. Obviously Elliott once again had no understanding where his true loyalties and responsibilities lay. Good riddance.
Apologising for kissing a girl? I think not. A convenient casualty in the salary cap war. Get a life and grow up your drivellers.
 

D.O.W.

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The way I see it, the club has absolutely made the right call, we’ve drawn a line in the sand and we’re starting to set some standards.

These decisions are also safeguarding their sponsors from negative media and protecting their mutual brands, so, I have no idea why Laundy is having a go at the club for taking a stance on a bloke with an abysmal wrap sheet.
 
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Alan79

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I supported Elliott through all his incidents. The mad monday thing was a storm in a teacup really. These players share a locker room so have doubtless learned to not regard nudity as a big deal, had the media not hired a scissorlift to spy it'd be a non incident where adults have behaved immaturely since many of them have never been forced into maturity. As far as I'm concerned the Lichaa incident could all be a storm in a teacup too. I've known plenty of drunks to go ballistic over things they've thought happened which in fact did not. None of us here know for sure if anything untoward did take place between Elliott and Lichaa's GF, but plenty have jumped to conclusions. This latest incident is probably pretty minor on the scale of things that players have gotten away with. I don't know If Elliotts spouse has split with him, but as far as I'm concerned, if Elliott has cheated she's the only one that has been greatly wronged.

At at the end of the day the club is probably sick of putting out fires where Elliott is concerned though. He should have learned by now that if he'd been accused of farting in an elevator the media would be over it like he'd attempted to orchestrate an Auschwitz style murder of civilians. Some people refuse to learn lessons if all you do is give them a slap on the wrist and I suspect the club has decided that Elliott fit into the category of people that wont learn unless they face serious consequences.

As far as Laundy is concerned, I appreciate whatever money he supports the club with, but also know that his opinion is no more valued than the poorest Bulldogs fans. It is however more newsworthy if the media can convince fans that it'll have some dire consequences on the club if he pulls out of his sponsorship.

In summary, I wouldn't have complained if the club had kept Elliott, nor am I going to complain that they've let him go. Hopefully the rest of the squad take note that poor behaviour can have eventual consequences that equates to more than some reputation damage.
 

chisdog

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The way I see it, the club has absolutely made the right call, we’ve drawn a line in the sand and we’re starting to set some standards.

These decisions are also safeguarding their sponsors from negative media and protecting their mutual brands, so, I have no idea why Laundy is having a go at the club for taking a stance on a bloke with an abysmal rap sheet.
Yep - no more kissing girls for our players!
 

Doggy71

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Laundy needs to pull his head in and just keep signing the fucken cheques!
 

TwinTurbo

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Some of you blokes on the Kennel must be super connected or possibly actual board members or staff in disguise... :tearsofjoy: . Who here actually knows for a fact what he is contributing financially ( and I mean everything above and below the table). And while you are at it, how do you know that the club/board have not asked or encouraged him to be involved directly with some of the clubs recruitments. Do we know for a fact that Laundy hasn't been asked to make certain statements publicly so that the club is at arms length? Surely if his contribution is so small financially, why would Khoury and Co and now Gould allow him to potentially damage Canterbury with unwanted involvement or comment.

Sponsorship is a fancy name for donation. Those that don't actually understand or know how sponsorship works would probably be very surprised to learn that most of the time it would be much easier with greater return to just spend the money on direct media advertising (print, radio tv, online etc. or now these days thru targeted social media) than it is to be a sponsor of something.

Lets say for a guestimated example that Laundy is giving Canterbury $1m a year in sponsorship, what does he get in return. In realty "fuck all".

Exposure? What, for the hotel empire that he has successfully run over 50 years, or for the half a billion dollar deal he did for the 30 odd pubs he leased to Woolworths for the next 20 years, media awareness, business networking, political influence?? He has more than enough clout with his hotel empire to do just about anything he wants to already.

The fact is he gets to watch his logo run around (at the moment on the worst team in the comp,) and some footy players visiting his establishments (which they already did). Yeah, I know there is corporate hospitality and sponsorship activation, ticket allotment, merchandise, player appearance and access, business to business opportunity's, cross over marketing etc. but why would he bother? I can tell you from 1st hand experience with most sponsorship there is usually a personal or emotional connection or a long term plan for something else.

With major corporates that have budgets for sponsorships etc. it normally comes down to the person directly responsible for this spend and what ticks their box. If that person is AFL mad, there is probably not much chance of a league sponsorship etc. and vice a versa. Other times it can be because the company wants to align itself with a particular sport for financial opportunity, but it is never just for the actual sponsorship package benefits like tickets, merchandise, corporate hospitality etc.

Arthurs first passion in league is the Tigers, so I doubt its an emotional attraction..

The return on investment rarely matches let alone exceeds the cost so Arthur must have a long term goal otherwise its a totally useless waste of his time and money to be involved. The goal might be to eventually get on the board (either him or one of his sons) or it might have to do with the potential development of something on the old site at Liverpool or even Belmore, who really knows that isn't in the loop.

Either way Arthur will have a plan and it wont be to just watch a bunch of boof heads run around on a footy field with his name on their jerseys while impressing a few friends in a private corporate suite. More importantly if what he brings to the table is actually a hinderance and does not benefit The Bulldogs, I am sure Khoury/Board/Gould etc. will quickly cut ties and find a better sponsor.
I have close connections to 3 of our current sponsors/advertisers, none of whom is Laundy Hotels, and they get very good value for their advertising dollars. They know this because they measure it, regularly during the season, in many different ways. They compare it with other forms of advertising, rated on impact versus spend and high visibility NRL advertising ranks very highly. For example the video broadcasters provide detailed analysis of the time spent during a game where each advertisers’ logo is identifiable by the viewers, also why the ratings of each game is important and obviously on what and when it is broadcast. This is how the value of advertising is allocated to each of the locations on the team gear, front of jumper is x dollars, sleeve is y dollars, etc.

For most advertisers corporate entertaining at games and team functions of their clients and suppliers ranks very highly. In non COVID affected seasons it’s most unusual to have any vacancies in the corporate facilities for any of our games. Keeping in mind that advertisers’ clients and suppliers often support our opposition, they don’t have to be Bulldogs supporters to want to come to our games and enjoy the corporate facilities. This is why Stadium Australia is good for our advertisers, the corporate facilities are excellent. Belmore not so much unfortunately, this why our Leagues club is often used by advertisers pre game.

I‘ll conclude on this, many advertisers take advantage of the availability of players, past players and coaching staff to provide motivation and training for their staff. Being in house functions we never really hear much about them but some advertisers rate this highly in their reasons for advertising with us. An example, Josh Jackson is already booked for multiple functions for next year. Never underestimate the attraction of an NRL team member giving out a company’s awards for their staff. One advertiser has our players give out their quarterly bonuses in addition to multiple players attending their annual awards dinner.

Advertisers leverage their connections to our club in many different ways, as it suites their individual businesses, it’s not just logos on jumpers during the game. There is a lot of profitable “business” done in the corporate facilities. That’s why we have a large number of advertisers who don’t have their logo on the gear, they benefit in many other ways. But one thing is common amongst all advertisers, they know the cost and they know the benefits and they measure them against each other before they make their decisions.

Always a Bulldog
 
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