Right off the bat, I want to talk about the good facets of Mooney’s career thus far, at least before I get too negative.
His achievements include:
• Two premiership medallions (1999 with North Melbourne and 2007 with Geelong)
• A coaches award in 2004 (finished 5th in Geelong’s Best and Fairest that year as well)
• NAB Cup Grand Final winner in 2006
• All Australian player in 2007
• Playing in Dream Team/Victoria game in 2008
Over the course of his 176 game career, Mooney has averaged 12 disposals, 5 marks and 1 goal, but more importantly since 2007 these averages improve to 14 disposals, 8 marks and 2 goals.
Mooney is widely acknowledged as an important part of Geelong’s success, and even this week his coach has highlighted his importance to Geelong’s chances of continuing the amazing form that has seen them dominate the competition for the last few years.
Having got the good out of the way, let’s have a look at the negative aspects of Cameron Mooney’s influence on the Geelong Football Club – on and off the field.
The first five years of Mooney’s career were indifferent despite accumulating a premiership medallion in that time (a game in which he didn’t touch the footy).Whether this struggle was due to his temperament/attitude or if he just needed that time to develop is up for debate; regardless it was a very lackluster start to his career.
Mooney has had his share of discipline issues in his time contracted as an AFL player He had a patch in 2006 where he was suspended an amazing 4 times showing a complete lack of regard for the requirements of his club and AFL footy. This is an issue that has been raised again this year after Mooney was suspended for 1 week after what can only be described as a stupid and pointless act. His coach has made it publically known that he won’t accept that behavior again and rightly so.
Mooney’s temperament hasn’t been exclusively exposed via suspensions, it has also been questioned on the biggest stage of them all; the AFL Grand Final. Twice Mooney has performed below the standard expected of him in two of the three Grand Finals he has been involved in. The first as mentioned above he didn’t get a stat, the second to be fair to him was a good performance and one of the major reasons Geelong won the 2007 flag but the third was last year’s disappointing game where his kicking for goal was according to a lot of people, himself included, one of the main reasons Geelong didn’t win back to back flags.
The most recent question mark I have, and one that would really irk me if I was a Geelong fan or involved at the club was Mooney’s public declaration that he may go to the Gold Coast when the club is formed. Whilst it is fair enough to not rule out your options, I think there is something to be said for doing it classily and in a manner that won’t affect your current club.
The big problem for Geelong is that no one has stepped up and shown they are capable of filling Mooney’s erratic shoes and as such, they have no alternative than to try and manage him and back him in. I dare say he would be treated a bit differently by all involved at Geelong if a player such as Tom Hawkins was delivering on a more consistent basis.
Don’t get me wrong, Mooney is a good player and clearly wears his heart on his sleeve, but I have made it clear I don’t rate him when you look at the total package.
What are your thoughts?
Tags: Cameron Mooney
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