Hoops

Hugh Greenwood quits Wildcats to pursue AFL career

Oh and lastly the ruckman in the AFL is roughly 200cm and skinny as a bean pole and the club get him to put on size and by the time he gets to AFL standard he has the size to compete in ruck contests but literally has sfa agility... Compare that to your stereotypical small forward running around in the NBL who is also 200cm and is expected to be the third best rebounder, passer, outside shooter on the court...

I understand why an AFL club would atleast ask the question to basketballers far more than the rugby codes or soccer players

@ GWB in regards to how easy Aussie Rules is to play ...

A decade ago teams wouldn't play skinny dudes because they felt they would struggle with the physicality

We have also seen them hate on shorter players regardless how good you are at winning the ball

These days they don't want to recruit you if you are slow....

Basically if you have height and a decent jump and good lateral movement then you will attract the AFL talent scouts. They also love that basketballers can understand the contexts of zones or man to man defence...

The rest they can mould into you...but sadly for afl if your not star at 23 then you'll highly unlikely ever be one and your basically cooked by 28 and by 30 the media want your head...

Compare all that to basketball and it wouldn't surprise me if an AFL star with a basketball background wins an AFL premiership and then chooses to play in the NBL in his 30's providing he gets a chance but if it was Pendlebury then I think he could be great at attracting sponsors and people to the game and speak very eloquently about the club, league etc

Good question mate

After stewing on this all day and being highly annoyed moreso because Greenwood was who excited me the most about my memberships this season I guess I've cooled down a bit and realized that Wildcats have a recent history of achilles injuries and had Hugh done that then he'd be out for the year and we would be back needing new players.

Sucks about the timing but no monies should be lost for this club (but it's not like the games will be any cheaper to attend)

@MACDUB, I certainly understand where your coming from but atleast Ibekwe's talent isn't lost upon us viewers all Greenwood changing sports

I don't think people here are saying that Perth's season is over??

If anything I know a lot of smart people in this forum will realise that they could potentially get even better from this i.e Jawai & Kenny. If they can get Kenny re-rated to a 1 they would essentially get 2 extra points to get Jawai or the like.

The general consensus as I understand is that people know Perth are still going to be a helluva team.

Do fans have a right to be angry? YES. Very much so. More than fair enough.If it happened to your team you would be equally upset. Hell call me sensitive but I'm even cut up and angry about Ibekwe chosing United to chase bigger $ considering we gave him the key to open up his NBL door per se.

Kinda sick of people on social media saying "Aw but Hugh is a great humble bloke and is one of the nicest guys ever" etc.

Yes i know that. And i don't doubt that he is all of the above.

But that doesn't take away that what he has done is poor form and not a "good faith" practice.

He probably deserves a bit of stick (as long as its not over the top personal attacks as that is unnecessary)

When you haven't got a job and something comes along you take it. If something better comes along you move on. Its a job for these guys and while its probably not the right thing to do no one seems to care too much when the clubs cut players that have years left on their contracts.

I know a couple for ex pro players and the way they see things is completely different to how we see things as fans..

Still, pretty shitty move.

Totally agree an "open market" would not have solved this issue. Wildcats offered him what was his market value in the NBL.

Heck you could even argue what the Wildcats offered him is his market value worldwide (he could have gone to Europe but it would have been a lower league paying similar to what he would have got with Perth).

Sad if the move is financially drven as I presume the Wildcats deal would have been for $230k odd over the 3 years im guessing - not exactly peanuts lets be honest

Gaze on S.E.N. had some things to say about this, I haven't got the quotes but some of his points were interesting, going something like this.

1. Greenwood has moved for the money, don't be fooled into thinking it is anything else. (Well there are 2.5 billion reasons for this now I guess)

2. College athletes in the US will continue to be targeted by the AFL, because very few actually go on to pro sport careers, they get jobs but are A+ athletes compared with many Aussies here. (He has a point there).

3. Greenwood was touted as a decent footballer at the age of 15, he was probably always going down this track. (Appears this may be the case).

4. The NBL needs to be an open market, no salary or points limitations to compete. (This is interesting because it may lead us to losing teams before gaining in the long term, but is the NBL in a position to do this)?

Let's face it, the AFL is a juggernaut on the AUS sporting landscape and the NBL is only a small player at best in dollar terms, what can we do but ride this out and hope it provides some other baller an opportunity in his place...?

Losing Mitch Creek to AFL would be a blessing in disguise for Adelaide.

A shame yes, but Id prefer this happen now than 8 games into the season. He is late to the party to get into the AFL though, by his age he would normally already been in a team for a couple of years.

Would be interesting to see if we do try for Drake again.

I esp like the part about the 'Making sure he dosnt just pop up for MElbourne united next season'. Its possible Hugh could change his mind again, and this way the Wildcats make sure he either comes back to them or sits out of ball for a while.

Interesting comment here which makes his actions over being excluded from the boomers more sense.

"n November 2013, before his junior season at UNM began, Greenwood told the Journal his plan to return to the pitch one day.

“If I wasn’t on their national radar (for basketball), I’d be off playing footy right now,” Greenwood said. “My dream is to play in the Olympic Games and obviously that happens through the national team. If they weren’t still interested in me, I’d be playing Aussie rules footy.” "

http://www.abqjournal.com/631238/sports/former-lobo-greenwood-drops-hoops-to-pursue-aussie-rules-football.html

Nick Marvin fronts the press:
https://audioboom.com/boos/3489539-nick-marvin-press-conference-21-august-2015

On the one hand I feel that this is a great loss to basketball that I should be very sad about.

On the other hand, it screws my least favourite basketball team and possibly advantages my football team. What's not to like?

Kind of similar to the Cherry-Evans backflip.

That left GC in a similarly difficult position having passed on other players/let players go..and are now in a position where they have no adequate cover.

I don't agree with the treatment of Muo or how he was cut, but didn't Perth pay out his contract ?

PeterJohn,

I was referring to the "higher ceilings of basketball". Not sport in general.

Sorry should have made that clearer.

The West Australian have also confirmed he is heading to the Adelaide Crows.

"It is understood the 23-year-old will join the Adelaide Crows as a Category B rookie, allowing him to be accessed by the club immediately."

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sport/a/29314873/greenwood-quits-cats-to-become-crow/

He should of completed the season with Perth then asked to be released from his contract to pursue AFL. Leaving it this late to find a replacement is not a very honorable thing to do, I sure hope the club had not spent money ordering Hugh Greenwood merchandise.

The OP mentioned it had a lot to do with Gliddon being picked over him as a replacement which, if true, is a pretty sad reason to turn your back on the club and the sport.

I'm probably being a little bitter here also but it feels a little unethical for an AFL club to poach a player that they know is already contracted even if its from another code.

Anyways I hope it works out for him, I guess he feels he has made the best decision for himself and his future.

I wonder if the Cats might look at either Kenny or Eli from NZ ? They both looked decent against the boomers.

Absolute dog act by the kid.

I am still shocked by this to see he has actually done it.

Top guy, but gee wiz...

I'm guessing that you base recruiting decisions around the pieces that are already locked in. Identify the remaining needs and fill them as best as possible.
I'd say the Cats have got a pretty respectable track record of recent rosters.
Not much they can do when the longest term locked-in piece of the puzzle disappears totally out of their control. I don't think it's unreasonable to have assumed that Hugh's contract, which I assume did not have an AFL out clause, would be honoured.

I was more referring to import signing and retention of Veteran players.

Probably didn't articulate it well but I feel like Greenwood should not be the fall guy for the Wildcats season the administration should wear the blame

Short cuts? "Locking in" a young aussie with a very bright future, for 3 years, was one of the best off season signings in the league.
You're sounding pretty ignorant, Roger.

Might be a bit harsh on Perth but the fact that something like this can derail their plans says a lot about the efforts they made in building this years roster.

If a 3 point rookie is the player who you are basing recruiting decisions around maybe some of the blame should be apportioned to Wildcats management who have gone with an import who does not come with a pedigree that we have been come accustomed as well as persisting with an ageing injury prone core.

Time will tell and I hope I'm wrong but this could be the season that the Cats learn a lesson about taking short cuts

why didn't the Wildcats...include a no-out clause for AFL in his contract?

"Pretty pisspoor to make a three-year commitment and then back out of it. Does't say much about his character."

It is.
I hope Chris Masten bites him for this.

Wonder if the Jason Holmes thing inspired him.

Absolute killer for the Cats. Had a nice backcourt trio locked in, not world-beating, but a good versatile mix. Now suddenly we're in deep shit.

Yep call to Drake U'u

Yeah and by all accounts he struggled.

Few of these popping up

https://www.google.co.nz/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.rgj.com/story/sports/college/nevada/2015/02/24/mw-notebook-unms-greenwood-frustrated-teammates/23953693/&ved=0CC0QFjAFahUKEwjfi66L3rfHAhWi3KYKHYlqAYg&usg=AFQjCNFGs81iHD1agExt7j-_XXfBJ1ensA

"UNMS GREENWOOD FRUSTRATED WITH TEAMMATES"

Absolutely shocked.

To think that he made the All Star 5 at the FIBA U19 World Champs..guys like Valucuinas and Lamb in the NBA and he is giving up on the game.

Seems like he is throwing his toys out of the cot a bit..didn't make NBA, didn't get a Boomers invite so he thought bugger it I'm not going to dig deep and work hard to get to higher ceilings.

Is there a priviledge element coming through here - always got the best treatment and held in high regard - Emus, AIS, Tasmania - and hence he can't deal with not being "the man". Id say its awfully hard for a guy who was the man at Jnr levels to adjust to playing 3rd, 4th fiddle etc.

Awfully funny that he would say that the AFL basically sucks because it has no international concept yet he jumped at it straighy away.

As an avid Oz Basketball fan it hurts to say this, but I reckon if a young guy in Greenwood's position (ie. NBA&Europe doors closed) has half a chance to play a game of footy on the MCG, it's worth the risk to change sports. He could always fall back on Basketball if it doesn't work out.

Who's left out there to sign ?
Wonder if Jawai has ever played PG or SG lol

OP delivered. Congrats.

I spoke with a friend recently who has played with Greenwood & played for a while in the NBL. I said I was surprised Greenwood didn't get drafted, or even a gig in Europe. The friend's opinion was that he will be a good guard in the NBL.

Based on that assessment, I think Dazz is right - he's got more potential to make money in the AFL, since Europe is likely off the cards.

This is really disappointing. There are not a lot of options left for the cats to sign a decent replacement.

After all the work he has put into basketball it is hard to see him just give it up like that.

Just received that email from the wildcats , looks like the OP anon was spot on.

Wildcats just sent out an email confirming Greenwood had requested his release in order to pursue AFL, and it will be granted pending board approval.

Hugh Greenwood leaves Wildcats

Guard Hugh Greenwood has requested to be released from his contract with the Perth Wildcats to pursue an Australian Rules football career.

Greenwood informed the club this evening.

Wildcats managing director Nick Marvin said he was very disappointed to receive the news.

“Unfortunately Hugh Greenwood’s decision not to honour his contract poses a significant challenge for us. Whilst he leaves with our best wishes, it does require us to revise our recruiting strategy immediately,” he said.

“We made numerous decisions based on his commitment to us, so we are disappointed to lose him.

“However, the Wildcats family has always dealt well with adversity and this occasion will be no different.”

Hugh Greenwood was in the first month of a three-year contract with the Wildcats.

Subject to board approval, the Wildcats will allow him to breach his contract.

The club will hold a press conference tomorrow morning at the Bendat Basketball Centre.

Hugh doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who would do something like this. I'm taking it with a grain of salt.

He didn't warrant selection in the Boomers team IMO. He isn't a true PG and you only have to look at his college stats to see he wasn't/isn't as good as what people think he is.

Very good at the junior level because he was very good at everything and a fantastic leader.

At the next level I don't see where he will be more than solid at any one thing. Needs to get a part of his game downpat

This rumor doesn't make sense at all. If he believes to be good enough to warrant an auto selection in the boomers then surely he would realize he would make more money playing basketball in Europe or making the NBA.

Can't see it happening.

Assuming this is Greenwood and there's any truth to this story at all, if he's upset about having Mills, Delly, and Gibson picked over him.... well, good luck in the AFL.