AFL Employee leaked info about indigenous players

[old dee 23,872]

Agree. The only way the journos feed the monster if you provide the feed. I cant think of any reason why Davey, Vlad/Mifsud would not to say anything further. If Neeld has decided to close the topic I cant see McLardy pushing it.

And that whats being adopted now. Glad you have dropped your earlier hyperbole

The MFC McLardy statement at this point is superflous and again would only feed your monster and will draw more questions. The issues puzzling everyone from this fiasco will not be addressed by the media release.

I would hope McLardy would adopt a more media savvy approach that you have outlined.

Disagree. It only festers if its got more to feed on. Given what has happened to date we cant stop the media raising it in the future. if they do its only a rehash of what we already know. Ho Hum. MFC will need to ensure at best it can that it is not in the news for anything else.

Like loosing by 100+ points RR!

[binman 43,762]

As long as he talked to them ranga by ranga not as a group I dont have a problem with it

To be honest i don't reckon jokes such as this one are particularly funny as it makes light of what Neeld was wrongly accused of doing. If, in the context of player meetings relating to performance, plans etc he had spoken to the indigenous players as a group rather than as individuals this would have absolutely been racist and wrong. Neeld was furious and hurt by the accusation, an indication of how innapropriate such an approach would be

[Rhino Richards 1,467]

Like loosing by 100+ points RR!

Its "losing" old timer. Cut the new age lingo you looser. Doh

I am looking at things they can control. *Cough*

[old dee 23,872]

Its "losing" old timer. Cut the new age lingo you looser. Doh

I am looking at things they can control. *Cough*

In case it has escaped your eagle eye RR spelling is not one of my strong points.

I blame the nasty nun I had as a 2nd grade student.

But I am probably just thick

[daisycutter 29,738]

In case it has escaped your eagle eye RR spelling is not one of my strong points.

I blame the nasty nun I had as a 2nd grade student.

But I am probably just thick

well at least i always understand what you are talking about old dee, unlike some others

[Rhino Richards 1,467]

In case it has escaped your eagle eye RR spelling is not one of my strong points.

I blame the nasty nun I had as a 2nd grade student.

I trust that nun was not on the internet the whole time.

FWIW, I think I had for grade 3. Gulp!!!

[old dee 23,872]

well at least i always understand what you are talking about old dee, unlike some others

Thanks Dc a very long time ago when I was writing my first very important sales report for the board my boss bought back my first attempt

back to me.

He said do not try to be too clever, keep it simple that way you will be understood.

To this day that advise has served me well.

Glad to hear it is still working.

[nutbean 8,838]

To be honest i don't reckon jokes such as this one are particularly funny as it makes light of what Neeld was wrongly accused of doing. If, in the context of player meetings relating to performance, plans etc he had spoken to the indigenous players as a group rather than as individuals this would have absolutely been racist and wrong. Neeld was furious and hurt by the accusation, an indication of how innapropriate such an approach would be

i shouldnt have not made light of it. i apologise. The stupidity of it is that if a player whinged then so be it but this whole onlythe indigenous boys meeting in group would have been so easy to check up on and equally hard to get the coach and five players to lie about it happening.

[Arsene Wenger 72]

The media really don't want to let go of this, but they just don't know what angle to take on it.

(they certainly can't come to a consensus)

EIther way, they seem to be happy to take Mifsud's word that he didn't make it up or embelish himself, and that it must have been his source that was incorrect.

You know, cos Mifsud has proved to have such outstanding character.

As Tony Jones just said on the 9 news: "Davey denies he has anything to do with it, so if it's not him, then just which player made the allegations to Mifsud?"

Because it must be a player, that they can then crucify.

It must.

The media wouldn't have it any other way.

[Range Rover 1,935]

Jackie let me tell you a liitle story

A long long time ago when i started my first job i was sent to sydney for an intensive 13 week training course

We were each assigned a counsellor

The only time I had contact with him was for a weekly review session

He was a useless drip and the first 8 meetings went asthis - him: well how are things going? - me: yeah fine, no problems.- him: ok see you next week.

I started to feel I should at least contribute something to our meetings so on the next meeting - me: yeah fine but the course is getting tougher now. - him: really? well hang in there. see you next week.

The remaining meetings went as the first ones

At the end of the course he wrote a report which said that I "struggled at times". Well I hit the roof and refused to sign off and got the report rewritten when he admitted it was because of that one comment.

I believe it is possible Aaron may have similarly made some innocuous comment about the training being a huge change in intensity (no surprise there) etc etc which mifsud has misconstrued/misconstructed.

It may be as simple as that

As for the group meetings stuff, again that could have been misconstrued. Its quite possible that someone had a discussion with the indigenous guys about what was going on with the jurrah situation when everything was unclear. heck they may have approached mgmt themselves and had an adhoc discussion. Again this could have been misconstrued esp if a certain person has an agenda.

Things are rarely as they seem if you look at things through preconceived attitudes

Sorry to join this late (on opposite timezones here), you made a good point here DC but IMO a distinction must be drawn between a relatively innocuous whinge about training loads and the captaincy shake-up (as you postulate), and the far more serious charge of actually concocting a fictitious meeting that never took place.

The former is an opinion (albeit a dumb one). The other is a dangerous, politically and racially charged lie. Mifsud was very clear in his statement about the latter, saying there was no ambiguity in the player's conveyed message but that he had now backtracked, denied it and gone to ground after seeing the damage that it had done.

Let's not gloss over what happened as seems to have been the trend over the past few pages of this thread.

It's pretty clear to anyone with two open eyes what occurred here but we'll just have to have faith in Neeld's approach to dealing with it and leave it at that.

The bigger story here is the damage that has been done to and within the ranks of indigenous footballers by what has to be seen as a sequence of negative news events over the past year. You can't tell me that the stories about Andrew Lovett, Andrew Krakouer, Liam Jurrah, the Rendell saga and now most probably an additional "prominent indigenous senior player on our list" won't have some sort of effect on the way clubs approach certain aspects of recruiting.

That the AFL has chosen to stick with this drongo Mifsud as the key person to manage this immensely delicate issue speaks volumes of that organization and the pompous git who runs it.

One wonders if the real reason Demetriou is backing this clown is through fear of what other things he might say if he were to be cut loose?

Edited April 4, 2012 by Range Rover

[daisycutter 29,738]

Sorry to join this late (on opposite timezones here), you made a good point here DC but IMO a distinction must be drawn between a relatively innocuous whinge about training loads and the captaincy shake-up (as you postulate), and the far more serious charge of actually concocting a fictitious meeting that never took place.

The former is an opinion (albeit a dumb one). The other is a dangerous, politically and racially charged lie. Mifsud was very clear in his statement about the latter, saying there was no ambiguity in the player's conveyed message but that he had now backtracked, denied it and gone to ground after seeing the damage that it had done.

Let's not gloss over what happened as seems to have been the trend over the past few pages of this thread.

It's pretty clear to anyone with two open eyes what occurred here but we'll just have to have faith in Neeld's approach to dealing with it and leave it at that.

The bigger story here is the damage that has been done to and within the ranks of indigenous footballers by what has to be seen as a sequence of negative news events over the past year. You can't tell me that the stories about Andrew Lovett, Andrew Krakouer, Liam Jurrah, the Rendell saga and now most probably an additional "prominent indigenous senior player on our list" won't have some sort of effect on the way clubs approach certain aspects of recruiting.

That the AFL has chosen to stick with this drongo Mifsud as the key person to manage this immensely delicate issue speaks volumes of that organization and the pompous git who runs it.

One wonders if the real reason Demetriou is backing this clown is through fear of what other things he might say if he were to be cut loose?

well who knows rangey

the story from both Vlad and Mifsud on what the source said has changed a number of times over the last 2 days

that in itself says something

there is still doubt over who the 'source' was depending on which media you listen to or how you interpret or read between the lines

regardless, mifsud has behaved unprofessionally now on a number of occasions and brought the afl into disrepute

i think he is a dead man walking as indigenous players and club management will not trust him or open up to him

vlad 'reluctantly' accepting his offer of resignation was an easy option for him now lost

could be he preferred to keep him pissing inside the tent than outside where he would have no control

of course now he has also managed to deflect the spotlight to the mfc and thomas

[Biffen 12,947]

I dont understand the role that Mifsud has . If he goes around the AFL having informal "chats" with people and then acting on them professionally then his role is a professional [censored]. If he develops talent from the Aboriginal community and assists them to achieve the standards required for draft camp then that is fine .Searching AFL clubs for signs of racism is bulldust .The clubs should be left to educate their more "country" recruits about racist attitudes .This guy is a professional parasite and an individual of weak character .

[sue 9,143]

I am amazed that the AFL is trying to counsel Davey. Not only does that imply they think he is lying, but what a lot of paternalistic crud.

But I doubt it is racist paternalism - they'd do this to anyone to cover their bums.

[Arsene Wenger 72]

I dont understand the role that Mifsud has . If he goes around the AFL having informal "chats" with people and then acting on them professionally then his role is a professional [censored]. If he develops talent from the Aboriginal community and assists them to achieve the standards required for draft camp then that is fine .Searching AFL clubs for signs of racism is bulldust .The clubs should be left to educate their more "country" recruits about racist attitudes .This guy is a professional parasite and an individual of weak character .

As little as I think of Mifsud, I don't think this is correct.

[furious d 472]

Sorry to join this late (on opposite timezones here), you made a good point here DC but IMO a distinction must be drawn between a relatively innocuous whinge about training loads and the captaincy shake-up (as you postulate), and the far more serious charge of actually concocting a fictitious meeting that never took place.

The former is an opinion (albeit a dumb one). The other is a dangerous, politically and racially charged lie. Mifsud was very clear in his statement about the latter, saying there was no ambiguity in the player's conveyed message but that he had now backtracked, denied it and gone to ground after seeing the damage that it had done.

Let's not gloss over what happened as seems to have been the trend over the past few pages of this thread.

It's pretty clear to anyone with two open eyes what occurred here but we'll just have to have faith in Neeld's approach to dealing with it and leave it at that.

The bigger story here is the damage that has been done to and within the ranks of indigenous footballers by what has to be seen as a sequence of negative news events over the past year. You can't tell me that the stories about Andrew Lovett, Andrew Krakouer, Liam Jurrah, the Rendell saga and now most probably an additional "prominent indigenous senior player on our list" won't have some sort of effect on the way clubs approach certain aspects of recruiting.

That the AFL has chosen to stick with this drongo Mifsud as the key person to manage this immensely delicate issue speaks volumes of that organization and the pompous git who runs it.

One wonders if the real reason Demetriou is backing this clown is through fear of what other things he might say if he were to be cut loose?

I might start following boxing and barrack for the punching bag, couldn't be much different to being a dees fan.

Agree with everything you've written and it breaks my heart. The fact that we just accept apologies and want to move on speaks volumes.

If Aaron is telling the truth he has been slandered every bit as badly as Neeld by Vlad and Mifsud and every journalist that has printed it, and there has been a few.

I think the reason Dimwitriou is backing Mifsud is because he wants him in the upper echelon of the AFL admin asap, for PR reasons, and knew we'd roll over.

[Biffen 12,947]

As little as I think of Mifsud, I don't think this is correct.

i judge a man by his deeds and words .To Mifsud I say"get a real job".

[Arsene Wenger 72]

i judge a man by his deeds and words .To Mifsud I say"get a real job".

It's your simplistic view of his job I have the most trouble with.

[Face Your Demons 175]

I'm over this now lets move on and win games

[dee-luded 2,959]

this thread keeps popping to the top of the list, i don't know why as the issue is done and dusted.

For me after pondering Mark Neelds interview this morning this was a beat up IMO... sorry to say.

Mark Neeld found out 3 weeks ago & taklked to Aaron about it, & They worked it out between them..... thats the bottom line, as it should be... Pity they didn't do the media yesterday PM.

So after 3 weeks for some reason Mif broached the subject with Thomas???? Why? Was it just chat? or was it to stir up things in the Merdia? or was he setting up Thomas to go off half cocked, then to cook his goose???

IMO Aaron is clear as they sorted it satisfactorily.

The culprits are Mitsus, &/or thomas, &/or Vlad????

[dee-luded 2,959]

Gold !!!

( or is that Ranga !! )

No!

Only Copper..

[dee-luded 2,959]

i judge a man by his deeds and words .To Mifsud I say"get a real job".

I hope Vlad isn't not playing a terribly scheming game of spot the Middle Eastern man under the Pump support him & support GWS at the same time???? Just a left field thought.

#Edit: Over & out for this Topic.

Edited April 4, 2012 by dee-luded

[beelzebub 23,383]

No!

Only Copper..

oh...thats good !!!

[Buzzy 992]

My thoughts of (alleged) events:

1 - Davey clearly says something in a catch up with Mifsud.

2 - I don't believe he was trying to be critical of Neeld.

3 - Mifsud twists it in some way & blurts it to someone, as part of his new position as AFL's chief dobber.

4 - Caro brings it to the club.

5 - Davey sorts it with Neeld and the issue is dealt with and should be closed.

6 - Mifsud blurts it again, this time to Grant Thomas.

7 - Sh*t gets hectic.

8 - Mifsud backtracks because he knows he has dumped Davey in it and misconstrued his words (not necessarily lied)

9 - Neeld claims in a presser today that he still doesn't know who the source is. Suddenly he's not concerned about it. Hmm that's odd Mark. Because we all know it was Davey?

I get that he has to close ranks around Davey to maintain a club unity but I would prefer he didn't fib to us all in the meantime...

Of course I could be wrong about some or all of this - but I think it may be the chain of events from what I can work out?

It annoyed me in the Neeld presser today when he said he didn't care about finding out who the original source was.

[monoccular 17,573]

I hope Vlad isn't not playing a terribly scheming game of spot the Middle Eastern man under the Pump support him & support GWS at the same time???? Just a left field thought.

#Edit: Over & out for this Topic.

I may be wrong but I beleive that Mifsud is a Maltese name, not a middle eastern one as one may suspect at first hearing.

Still, when it comes to AFL HQ, the conspiracy theory is always a good starting point. More often right than wrong.

[Arsene Wenger 72]

My thoughts of (alleged) events:

1 - Davey clearly says something in a catch up with Mifsud.

2 - I don't believe he was trying to be critical of Neeld.

3 - Mifsud twists it in some way & blurts it to someone, as part of his new position as AFL's chief dobber.

4 - Caro brings it to the club.

5 - Davey sorts it with Neeld and the issue is dealt with and should be closed.

6 - Mifsud blurts it again, this time to Grant Thomas.

7 - Sh*t gets hectic.

8 - Mifsud backtracks because he knows he has dumped Davey in it and misconstrued his words (not necessarily lied)

9 - Neeld claims in a presser today that he still doesn't know who the source is. Suddenly he's not concerned about it. Hmm that's odd Mark. Because we all know it was Davey?

I get that he has to close ranks around Davey to maintain a club unity but I would prefer he didn't fib to us all in the meantime...

Of course I could be wrong about some or all of this - but I think it may be the chain of events from what I can work out?

It annoyed me in the Neeld presser today when he said he didn't care about finding out who the original source was.

Sounds about right to me.

As to the last line:

And Neeld has nothing to gain by PUBLICLY finding the original source.

I'm not even sure there's anything to gain by finding out PRIVATELY.

Whoever it was can remain to be [censored] off, or they can get on with it and adjust.

Neeld shouldn't and won't change his approach either way.

And if they continue down the same path, they'll be exposed very quickly.