There is very little room for sentiment in professional sport. Burt has always been extremely popular amongst fans (hence anyone who criticises is shot down) and very popular amongst his fellow players. It is not so much skill, effort and smarts thats got him to the top and kept him around, its obviously his attitude and approach to the club, supporters and his teammates.
Obviously his strengths were goal kicking, the ability to ride on the teams success. He always contributed his most in years we were successful and on the front foot.
In years we struggled he was an absolute liability. Could offer nothing to get us out of trouble, and seriously you have to question his desire and effort. Which to me is why I was so heavy on him. 2 things last night:
It was as much effort as i'd seen him play with in a couple of seasons. Knowing it was his last game he was putting in on the kick chase, he chased hard from marker on the last tackle. He was out there to have a go and make a difference. Ideally what you'd want out of your experienced leaders every week.
Secondly, he was Luke Burt. He didn't want to dive on a loose ball at one stage that had been played at by Saints to get 6 again and was out hussled to it by Soward. Dan Hunt charging at him there was no attempt to hold on or get under him, just a resignation that Hunt was the bigger man and a half hearted slap at the ball. These are the sort of efforts that really show he should have been tapped on the shoulder a long time ago. The guy has been a target of other teams for the best part of his career, an even bigger one the last 2 years and has glaringly cost us games. Games you can't afford to lose when we need every win we can get.
But above all else, he is a mate of Hindys and sharing the stage with him last night apparantly was what Hindy wanted. So from that perspective it sits well with me. But from the inability of our club to make a hard decision on Burt perspective , it really is a glaring illustration of why we suck.
