Balla to lead Freo (opinion piece)

[valkorum]

http://www.sportal.com.au/afl-news-display/ballantyne-the-man-to-lead-dockers-169720

For a bloke who stands 174cm tall, Hayden Ballantyne prowls Patersons Stadium with as much pomp as a prime Wayne Carey â€" and he should be Fremantle's next captain.

[elephants]

:o

All respect I have for Freo would be well and truly lost.

He is the worst leader ever. Leading by example? No way.

[valkorum]

Balla is in the leadership group - that is enough.  He leads from the front at training.

[elephants]

He is a douche!?!?! Even my majorly delusional Freo member friend thinks Balla can be a twerp.

All the AFL's captains are good blokes with ability. Sure Balla has ability but do we really want 22 Ballantynes running out on the field week in week out. He is a really average bloke and doesn't play the game when he is out there.

I would much prefer to see another of the more genuine people skipper your side.

Mundy, Barlow, Broughton, Duffield, Sandilands, Mzungu and more are streets ahead in my mind.

[valkorum]

How do you know he is an average bloke?  Go back and read the articles about Chris Scott and Balla.  Chris actually says that Balla is a great bloke off the field but not many people would know that about him because they only "know" him from his on-field reputation.

I love having Balla playing for Freo - I would hate him if he played for any other team in the comp.  He is the type of bloke that supporters love him and EVERYONE ELSE hates him (Milne, Libba Snr etc).  Balla does play the game - apart from his stupid off the ball act (which he has deservedly paid the price for) he was heavily involved in the play (6 inside 50's, 2 goals, 20 touches).

He is definitely not captain material though.  In order - Barlow, Mundy, Suban and DeBoer show great leadership abilities to me (not including Pav), Sandi and McPharlin are too old to be taking on the captaincy.

[elephants]

Sure, hard to say coming from an Eagles supporter. I don't see him as captain material.

[TheMailman]

Although niggling and stuff like that is well within the rules, it isn't really something you should base your team around. It isn't really within the spirit of playing the game of AFL. It creates too many grey areas and ambigous game results, goals etc.

A bit of niggling when you get ahead of your opponent is fine (Rhyce shaw, Stephen Milne and the like) but to do it 24/7 regardless of the game situation is a bit annoying. Ballayntine has enough skill to be in the leadership group but IMO he jepordises a lot of AFL level respect.

[SydneyRox]

The guy is fast getting a reputation as bad as Libba!

Sooo happy he is suspended for the Sydney game, cant stand the little diver! Also glad that Ross Lyon has called him on the diving.

[Cicjose]

lol getting punched in the face and you call a dive

let's hope you dont get the same treatment anytime soon

[CrowsFan]

Haha cic you have to admit he did make the most of it. He collapsed as if he had just been shot and then got up immediately after the free kick had been given.

To be honest I don't mind his little niggling, obviously the cheap shot on Chappy was too far, but the rest of it I'm alright with ;)

[TheMailman]

lol getting punched in the face and you call a dive

let's hope you dont get the same treatment anytime soon

This wasn't Barry Hall on Staker stuff Cic...

[Colliwobblers]

From all reports he is a great bloke, fact is he got under the cats skins but he only was able to because they were already sooking it up because they were losing - typical cats.

Scarlet is a thug and he gets rubbed out within the first few rounds almost every season, this is typical from him, blame ballyntine all you like he didn't punch himself.

What I will say is he did the dog on chappy behind play - he got rubbed out for it.

He is annoying and i don't like it but he is far from the only one and if it works like it did against the cats he is worth his weight in gold to the team. Like it or not that kind of unsettling of your opponent is priceless and it showed how effective it can be.

I don't knock him because i hear he is a great bloke but captain...... while not alone in acting as he does and while it is fair play (except nutting chappy  ;D ) it is also not really what you are likely to pick in your captain.

As for taking dives he does it a little there are MUCH better at it NRoo and many many others that are so bad at playing for ffrees they shouldnt even be in the AFL but in Soccer.

To all cats fans - yes my turn will come when he gets under all the pies skins when we play and I probably won't like it then, but I will like it a lot less if the pies players carry on lose the plot and lose like the cats did. Bit dissapointed in a few of the pies tweets supporting scarlets actions to be honest,

un-australian to belt a little bloke when your big no matter how annoying he is.

[SydneyRox]

lol getting punched in the face and you call a dive

let's hope you dont get the same treatment anytime soon

Wont condone the pucnh from Scarlett, but his head movement and the fall down are two very separate movements. Most games I have watched Ballantyne niggles and niggles until someone reacts, they dont often go too hard, but to get the free kick Ballantyne makes sure someone sees it, by going over the top.

If his own coach is telling him to stop, there must be a fair bit in it.

[valkorum]

lol getting punched in the face and you call a dive

let's hope you dont get the same treatment anytime soon

This wasn't Barry Hall on Staker stuff Cic...

I agree it wasnt but I am prepared to go out on a limb and say Balla is tougher than Staker

[SydneyRox]

thats a pretty big limb! more like a branch! :)