So, Tom Lynch has done the unthinkable, broken the AFL code of conduct and behaved like … a professional sportsperson.
The now-former Gold Coast co-captain dared to tell his club what everyone’s known for the past six months, if not six years, that he’ll be going home to Victoria to be closer to family and success.
Seriously this is not news to anyone! Princess Eugenie tweeted back in May she thought he was a perfect fit for Hawthorn’s forward line.
Yet Lynch has had the audacity to stand up in front of his teammates and coaches and let them know of his decision, rather than slink into the off season and out the back door.
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But this is the AFL – we don’t behave this way.
Players are supposed to deny everything, say how much they want to stay at their current club and how happy they are there: 'We’re just working through some small points but I’m sure the club and my management will come to terms soon'.
Then bang, when no one’s watching they head home for a short, end-of-season catch up with the family and never return.
Sure there’ll be some social media vitriol from fans of their former club, but it will be outweighed by posts welcoming them to their new home.
Then they just have to get through the first media built-up ‘grudge match’ against the old side and it’s smooth sailing from there on in.
And let’s face it, Metricon Stadium isn’t exactly going to be a cauldron of hate when Lynch first returns. More than 85% of their tiny crowds are made up of catering staff, school groups and old people on an excursion from the retirement home, none of who know their own names or what happened at breakfast let alone who Tom Lynch is and what he did last year.
If Lynch finishes up at Richmond, as I’m reliably told he will, it will be for around $400,000 a year less than the Suns would pay him to stay, and $200,000 less than Hawthorn can offer.
Collingwood is still a slight chance and will be putting a very similar offer on the table as the Tigers, but Punt Road is looking like home purely because of the chances for a premiership medallion or two in the next few years.
The smaller pay packet means Gold Coast has the option to match it and keep the free agent, but the fact the club immediately demoted Lynch from a share of the captaincy would suggest they have made up their mind.
The reception Lynch got from his (former) teammates also leaves little wriggle room to welcome him back into the fold.
His announcement was reportedly met with stony silence, but I’m told a few younger Suns players slipped in a comment or two along the lines of “piss off” and “nobody wants you here anyway”.
The same but different to Jaeger O’Meara’s departure two years back when the Rising Star winner’s farewell speech was met with hearty applause – to which a dumbfounded O’Meara reportedly asked “Why’s everyone clapping?”
I hear the older players were a little more accommodating to Lynch, especially Steven May and David Swallow who are good chances to leave the Sunshine State at the first available chance. They both come out of contract as free agents at the end of next year.
How will they deal with breaking the news to the Gold Coast hierarchy?
Fair chance it will be through a text message from their managers in the first week of October.
One thing’s for sure, they’ll be doing everything they can to avoid the Lynch mob.
