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redan fcBendigo Advertiser | THE Nathan Horbury clearance stand-off between South Bendigo and Redan football clubs that came to an end late last week raises the question of weighing up the value of a contract against keeping a player who has made it clear that he wants out of a club.

That is what has happened in the Horbury scenario over what has been a drawn out battle that began last December when the star Redan midfielder signed with South Bendigo as an assistant coach.

The problem was Horbury – an elite talent with VFL and Victoria Country experience – was a contracted player to  Ballarat league club Redan for 2016, and the Lions had made it clear from the outset that he was a required player this year.

Adding some irony to the story was that Horbury had joined Redan full-time last year following another long-running clearance controversy after he had initially been a contracted player with VFL club North Ballarat for 2015.

Speaking to the Bendigo Advertiser last Thursday night, Horbury rightly took full responsibility for the predicament he has found himself in the past two years and that he has learned a valuable lesson to never sign a football contract again.

What’s the saying – once bitten, twice shy.

As it had every right to, Redan dug in its heels in twice denying Horbury’s clearance bid to join the Bloods, before an AFL Victoria area appeals committee also rejected it.

In the end, the contract won over Horbury’s key arguments of wanting to join South Bendigo for personal reasons (his partner, Hollie Frew, plays netball for the Bloods, and her brother, Daniel Frew, plays football for the club) and personal development (the assistant coach role).

Having played in all the practice matches with the Bloods and assisted coach Brady Childs in the first three games of the BFNL season, on Saturday after choosing not to sit out a year of football 24-year-old Horbury was back playing in Redan colours.

Horbury admitted it would be “weird” going back to the Lions, and with his comments in Saturday’s Bendigo Advertiser expressing his disappointment at not being able to play for the Bloods this year, there must be some query over is his heart really in it for Redan given he has spent the past five months fighting to leave.

Which again begs the question – is a player worth the fight for a club if they really don’t want to be there?

Luke West – sports reporter

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