Why are you being so aggressive? Stop posting like a nut.
Of course you can use the benefit of hindsight, because in his fifth year at the club, after two Grand Finals and finishing in the top four every year you don't get to turn around and say "A-ha! I knew it was rotten from the start!" If Tippett was so crappy then everyone wouldn't have flipped their lid when we signed him in the first place. Obviously he's stinking the place up this year, but he was in contention for AA ruckman mid way through last year before getting injured (
http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/the...n/news-story/c5aff96c860df7391175f6abc90589be)
My criticism of the Tippett deal is for some bizarro reason we gave him what was essentially a six year deal (four years which was fine, but then an extra two if he hit certain benchmarks. Considering he's been injured a lot it's amazing he's hit those. That deal didn't protect us at all).
The 'soulless mercenary' talk is just childish really. Was Nathan Buckley a soulless mercenary? Jack Gunston? Players move for hoped success all the time. Players move for money all the time too.
And as far as the 'selling out our culture' thing - we have a 20 year tradition of recruiting key forwards from opposition clubs - Plugger, Barry Hall. Tippett and Franklin hardly go against that tradition. Although part of me thinks if the club knew they'd be getting Franklin in 14 they wouldn't have got Tippett. But again, we've made two Grand Finals in that time so it's hard to say we made big mistakes.