Would that be known as a circumcision? lol

Would that be complete bollocks? (shrugg)

ShaneD

Seems to be the whisper.

Would his contract have to be paid out if he was cut midterm? Or would there be certain criteria he had to meet (both on and off court) that if not met could trigger further action?
If this is the case something as simple as missing a bbq could be a trigger to allow the club to cut him without it being a huge financial burden.

Would he be replaced with a new import? Or will they just keep Marcus Timmons for the reminder of the season if this is found to be correct information?

I didn't think this was true until Isaac made a comment on this!! This is very big news.

I wonder who is the one behind Willie being cut - Mal or Phil?

Word is that he has NOT been cut.

I still think that today's article was fairly harsh. Hopefully they get the results they're after.

I like watching Farley play, but my first impression was exactly as outlined by Groundhog Day above - reminded me of CT. Wondered if they were letting the fans down gradually as there are a lot of Farley fans in SA.

Anon #111574

Are you trying to suggest that that was a bad idea? - Best thing the Sixers ever did.

anything official on this??

Conspiracy theory: (purely hypothetical )

A secret consortium operated by Paul Bell has brainwashed Mal Hemmerling into thinking Willie Farley is dispensible.
In doing so the Sixers cut Farley on a Monday or a Tuesday just in time for a ratings bonanza on Talking Hoops- as Bell has signed Willie to an exclusive interview.

Cutting Farley alienates the less savvy element in the crowd and they vote with their feet - Bell and his minions then sweep in to rescue a now financially ailing Team and the coup is complete.

Winners -Bell and his consortium and the folks at 88.7 Coast Fm who it is discovered have been hiding Osama Bin Laden in the Studio assiting Raj --sending covert messages across the phone system to his allies, which is why the phones always sound like shit !

All this in little old Adelaide.

.. my point is - lets just see what happens. Obviously Willie is playing No D at all and his attitude has been, for the most part, pretty poor this year. Body language, crowing and not getting back to help etc etc.BUT i would be really surprised if they cut him mid-season.

yeah, and if I grew 6 inches, lost some weight, and improved my shooting to 80% then noone would complain if the sixers signed me either.

ok so if hes cut, who do we replace him with for the rest of the season,

do we

A, give a local a crack for the rest of the season (unlikely with phil as coach)

b, get a import in for the remainder of the season which would have to happen asap if we were to qualify for finals,

that being said who do we look at,

bailey formerly of perth ? or are there any others who know the nbl who would be budget like him ?

This is typical Phil, each year trying to shift the heat from himself, don't let him and Boti put this uneducated crap to us fans in hope that we buy it.

Smyth did it to Maley, Bauer, Williams, Stiff, Sapwell, Davis, Brooks, tried it on early with Rychart, Nash, C Thomas and now Farley - he almost tried it on Timmons and Wheeler last week. All this to try and shift the heat off himself,we have all seen it, the fairy tale man who tells you what you want to hear.

A bit hard for players to perform when they don't get on. We can see straight through him, dont sit on your bum coach and after a game say the players did not do this and that, how about getting up and saying something practical or even coach a bit during a game. If its getting to hot for you then get out but dont mess up another players career just for your own ego and dont brag about how Boti will back you just because he still supposedly owes you for taking him to Milan all those years ago.

The club is moving forward and has out grown your excuses and the fans are tired of you messing skilled players about, funny how they can perform for other clubs but not here, we dont have players ringing to come here, spare us that story. Try now and keep your pride by earning the respect of your players, peers and the fans, go out standing for something not as a cowardly mouse.

The sixers have not FREED WILLIE (been dying to use that).

Word is that Smyth, the master of shifting blame is setting Farley up to be this season's scapegoat.

Boti, of course, playing attack dog.

reginald thats just a dumb comment, right now theres no where near as much heat to shift off himself. they have 3 wins in a row, the best all season and you think hes making excuses...for what, they are doing better, dont make dumbarse comments.
not only that but Adelaide is known for bringing out players that have sucked for othe teams, Rychart was average before he played for us now hes bloody great, Mastrojvich came to Adelaide because of the history we have of doing this, it just hasnt worked yet.

Reginald,

Did Phil take Boti to Milan and choose not to take you, you sound like a spilt little child. You are the one who has a chip on his shoulder and the one who has had his ego hurt.

For the life of me I never understand this theory that coach must get up out of his chair, rant and rave and then belittle a player to get the best out of them. Motivating a player through fear will only work for so long and after a certain time that player will either leave the program or stop listening to that coach.

Why does BG have so much trouble keeping the older player? Because he treats them like children and belittles them into working hard out of fear, it doesn't work with adults. Phil Smyth empowers the reasonability onto the player and then he has the player confidence, if Willy is in a funk and will not play hard because of a personality clash with someone, he need to grow up and become an adult rather than sulk like a baby.

Reginald's comment is fair. Farley hasn't played hard D for seasons and all of a sudden it's a problem?

Boti finishes his article with "It would be a tragedy if the disease of "me" is what ultimately undoes Adelaide's 2006-07 campaigns." The statement is plural and seems to indicate that many of the early 36er loses hang on Farley's head. Farley's attitude isn't the sole reason the team will go no where near a title this season, it has more to do with Phil's average trainings, lack of development for young players, terrible and offensive recruiting of young prospects, over-paying of certain players while letting others walk who he could have got for not much more money than the first offer that was presented.

All of a sudden instead of people talking about how Phil recruited a team with 5 shooting guards in the ten, relying on a aging part-time point guard to play 40 minutes a game and hoping that putting Ng in out of position to face full court traps while clearly not working on pressure releases in trainings during an un-interrupted pre-season cost the Sixers games, people now talk about how Farley has lead to 12 loses so far.

I wonder if Phil has actually voiced his concerns with Farley directly, or just gone straight to the media?

Yea u dont think the season should be blamed on Farley, sure he isnt the best defender on the team, and never was or will be, but i still think he is in our top 2 or 3 players and still one of the top players in his position and imports across the league. Boty seemed to indicate there was a problem with his attitude, if this is so they should talk to him and adress this problem and sort it out in private not through the media. I think a player of Farleys callibre unless a major issue has come up should atleast be able to see out the season and his contract, like if he really does have a terrible attitude (which i wouldnt have a clue about) then yes eventually he will have to be cut loose, but Farley (from the outside) seems to be a good guy who gets along with the team and is also a hell of a player so i think they should try to work with him and give him a role that he enjoys and that suits the team, which i think can and basically has been done over his career as a 36er!! Sure we havnt had the best season, and Farley has been up and down at times but across the board his season has been ok and his stats are reasonably similar to his career stats so he is basically giving us what we would expect.
End of season the only way i would cut Farley, assuming he wants to return is if they decided to restructure the team or something ie recruit Newley to start SG or something like that and get a import SF, and in that case Farley probably would have to go, but yea he is not a bad player and i hope he is in 36ers colours for a few more years yet!!

EC

I read the campaigns as being the Lightning and the 36ers because the article includes bits about Phillips and Farley.

yea well thats fair enough if they have spoken to him and the team before going public, and there stance on lift his performance all round at trainings etc is also fair enouigh as even if something like defence isnt his strength he should atleats try his hardest whilst playing defence, but yea given the service he has given the club over the years i think he has earnt the right to a good fair warning (which he may of now been given) and i dont think they should be too quick to cut him as he is still one of the best imports going around the NBL

The article is nothing more than pro-Smyth propaganda.

The use of the 'Farley was a no show at the Christmas function' begs the question whether any other players missed the function? Was Farley the only no show? Did he have a valid excuse?

As people have alluded to in other threads, Smyth has been guilty of missing his fair share of official 36ers functions. More importantly he has been guilty of missing his fair share of U/18 and U/20 national championships and the like.

Farley's stats this year of 20, 5 and 5 largely mirror that of his entire career as a 36er.

The fact he is no Darnell Mee on defence is something any casual fan would know yet the coaching staff signed him for multiple years despite his defensive shortcomings. Now, the fact that Helms scores 7 in a row on him is a major problem? Farley was put in Smyth's dog house for the rest of the game and this somehow translates to 'he was given numerous opportunities' but failed.

What about Smyth's team defence and strategies which have been exposed this year? How many breakdowns have we seen of our match-up zone game in and game out?

Fair enough if Farley threw a NBA Superstar-like tantrum and refused to come into the game (something that seems to happen almost weekly in the NBA) but this was not the case as far as I know.

I find it more than a little coincidental that this kind of Smyth inspired Nagy propaganda comes out around the time when the club is trying to find a way to fit Wheeler and Timmons into the roster.

By all means tough decisions are made in professional sport and if the 36ers think they can find a better fit than Farley then good on them. However, for an article to come out questioning Farley's heart and interest in an attempt to gain public opinion prior to him being cut either now or at the end of the season is unfair.

Farley is a competitor and wants to win. I don't see how many could be surprised that Farley would have been pissed off for being in Smyth's dog house all game. I would have been more concerned with where his head was at if he didn't care he only got 19 minutes.

Benj, correct - DC, the plural refers to 36ers and Lightning.

To the comment about Rychart - I don't remember his stats being that different when he was at the Giants to be honest. For some reason, his time at the Giants has been left off the NBL site so I can't quote actual figures.

Jimmy, I went to Milan, a group of us supporters went with Brenton and Barbara Higgins all Phil could do was talk about how he got Boti to Milan and that we were going to receive positive press from here on as opposed to his hit outs on Dunlap, what the relevence was I dont know but we heard it more that once thats for sure, no one said Phil has to rant and rave like BG, although BG is getting the results, I agree with Jonno and Double Clutch, just coach. Suddenly blaming defense on Farley when you eyed him as one of your main offensive players is like suddenly blaming a Paul Rees for lack on offense - players have main roles. Phil does not have the respect of his players, thats why our championship players leave!

Instead of finding a week excuse to put a players head on the block each time I would rather hear him be more professional and respectful like Neil Craig and tell us where not the individual broke down but as a group / team with him included and what he has done this week to turn it around from a coaching point of view.

For what it's worth, the official line of the club is that the club administration does not get involved in locker room issues.

Smyth was, as quoted in the paper, worried about Willie's body language and didn't think it improved over the course of the game.

What Boti has written stands has his opinion and reporting only.

Apparently three players were unavailable (prior engagements, family things, whatever) for Mal's party.

so..he is NOT (officially) cut?

I have to take Reginald to task.

What heat did Smyth transfer to Maley?? Winning the championship??? What about to Bauer? Played 98-99 - 2 championship rings..yeah must have had a lot of heat there too! Williams...deserved what he got....under performed. Dont even know where Stiff or Sapwell came into it, they both had to move on due to the massive reduction in salary cap. They were out of contract and the 6ers couldnt sign anyone else.

Brooks and the early Rychart issues were caused by the previous administration of the club, when they tried to run the whole show, from office to change room level. History shows us what a success that was.

The only player, out of who you listed, who could fairly be said may have been used as a scapegoat is Thomas. But I can tell you almost every game, without fail, when I used to be in the admin office writing my match reports, he would come in wanting to know what his stats were. Didn't care about anything else. So I think a lot of the criticisms of him were valid.

As for KB, it is well known his issues with the 6ers back then were he didnt get paid what he should have, hence why he left.

Not trying to make any apologies for Smyth, but just trying to keep rationale to the discussion.

"Willie appeared tired and lethargic," Smyth said yesterday. "We were disappointed with his effort level and his body language appeared to show he was tired and disinterested.

Hey Phil, ever thought of talking to the guy and asking if there's a problem? Or do you just like guessing as it APPEARS thats what you do. The way Willie plays is a direct result of the way the program behaves. Have piss weak trainings and what do you expect you're going to get at the defensive end? I agree that his attitude is a problem but has been like this for a long time and I'm talking not only this season. I find it strange for it to be brought up now though, especially after a win. Cetainly seems like scapegoat time and is indicative of how Smyth manipulates public perception with sidekick Boti. Is Boti on holidays soon? He normally drops a turd on someone just before holidays and then disappears. Real tough.

Exactly, "tired and lethargic" sounds like phil's coaching this season. Perhaps have a camera on your self Smyth and then watch that. Then maybe he wont criticize someone for their first under double digit game for the season? Sure he had a terrible game but I think Willie just needs to go on a bit of a row and hit 2 or 3 shots together and he will be re-energized. The fact is the team was playing better without him in that game so therefore it was better to have him on the bench.

If he had played his normal 40 minutes instead of 20 minutes he probably would have scored his usual 20 points but the team wouldn't have been better off. Obviously, his defense sucks not because of a lack of skill but because of a lack of energy or whatever it is. However, Smyth is happy to criticize Willie after one poor game yet we have Nash playing 25-35 minutes a game for an average of 3ppg. And before you guys start saying he has a different role he is mainly there for defense, he has been a joke on defense this year for the person that is meant to be our main defensive specialist! So for Smyth to sit back and protect his "friends" and attack willie, espically since in some games he has been the only one doing anything, I think is very wrong. If he wants to be like that fine but be consistent. The best thing he could actually do is show support!!

Maybe Farley needs to go next year for us to get a small forward import however currently it seems like he is being used as a scapegoat. When in fact the first person to go and should most definitely go next season is Smyth!

How do you get rid of Farley at this stage in the season? Who do you replace him with? Have we got time to find another import plus another 6 weeks for the team to gel all over again with a new player? This is all nonsense to me. Get rid of Farley now and ask for the season to end in disaster. We've moved 1 place up the ladder with Saturday's win. Lets keep building on this because we can make the playoffs from here. Disruption like this is a disgrace to the team and to the fans who are hanging in there to see them continue their upward move on the ladder.

FYI
Dusty Rychart Stats @ Giants

I reckon Rychart's minutes per game with the Giants were about 35 as well. I remember working it out back then and he was one of the best players in the league for minutes played.

Dusty was great before he went to Adelaide.....Wright just didn't use him.

Exactly my point. Rychart was good before, during and after his move to Adelaide.

Everyone is complaining about Phil sitting down when the game is being played, he did that when we won championships too.

His job is to prepare the players before the game and call subs & timeouts during the game. No amount of stalking the sidelines and ranting & raving changes that. If his players are underperforming his duty is to fix that in between games, quarters and time outs. Systems are to be put in place that are carried out by your players, Brett Maher when he is running the point doesn't need Phil on the sidelines calling plays, and if Darren or Matt are running the point instruction should be made before they hit the court. Just because a coach prowls the sidelines doesn't mean the team can hear him or listen to him, they are worried about the next move on the court.

Are they Jewish?