Tim Watson has called for Joe Daniher to announce his future “yesterday” as the football world waits on his decision.
Daniher requested a trade to Sydney in 2019, but the Bombers held firm and refused to deal him.
Now a restricted free agent, the key forward is yet to make a call on what he wants to do this year.
Garry Lyon and Watson discussed the situation on SEN Breakfast this morning.
Lyon: “When do you want an answer from Joe Daniher?”
Watson: “Yesterday.”
Lyon: “So if you’re the coach of the Bombers, you’re saying ‘Joe, cough it up, you’ve had a long enough time’.”
Watson: “Absolutely. There’s been discussion about this for over 12 months now. I think that Joe should know what he wants to do and where he wants to go and we’d be fools to think that if it is Sydney that there haven’t been discussions along the way to accommodate what Joe wants to do. Obviously the season only finished for Essendon on Saturday, but I would think he owes it to the football club to tell them as soon as he possibly can what his decision is.”
Lyon: “He doesn’t need two more weeks (to make his decision). He has had 18 months.”
Watson: “Of course he doesn’t (need two more weeks). I think he’s going to go. I think he knows that he is going to go and he should tell the football club if that is the case. I’d be really disappointed if he goes on a number of levels. One, he’s the most talented forward the club has, even in the last quarter on the weekend moving into the ruck he found the ball and was a valuable player. And two, and this is an old fashioned view, but when you do play for a football club and you do get paid a lot of money, but you then can’t perform because of injury, in my mind you still owe your football club in some way. The club supported him super well during that period of time. They searched all over the world for the right medical advice to be able to rectify his situation. Loyalty for me, it is still important.”