On 03/04/2012 at 21:41, rpfc said:

The AFL stands by Mifsud.

The MFC stands by Davey.

Who lied?

They obviously talked about the new regime at the footy club.

Did Aaron embellish or use dramatic licence in that meeting?

Or did Mifsud during the subsequent meeting of the executive? Did he want to impress the higher ups with his inside knowledge of The State of Indigenous Life in the AFL?

Now this is not new for me - but I am going to believe the MFC. One of our players is under attack because our coach was thrown under a bus at a recent AFL Executive meeting. The MFC is under attack.

I believe in Aaron.

One party chose to take the contents of a confidential conversation had in their role as an AFL official, and divulged them to someone totally unrelated to the situation, who has no business knowing that information and who is known as a blow hard who takes any opportunity to aim a snipe at the AFL.

I will choose not to believe this party.

  On 04/04/2012 at 00:58, Dees said:

Hopefully we can get new informations about this development from Damien Barrett in footy show.

Whether you like him or hate him, he is the best news breaker in AFL.

Is this a joke?

How easily some are convinced...

  On 04/04/2012 at 01:06, Bossdog said:

This presser was the normal weekly one. Coach sits there and is asked question before training. No need for CS or Don McL to be there

It may be a weekly scheduled press conference, but it was in no way a normal weekly one. Did they think he was just going to get questions on how the boys have been training and how the game plan is coming along.

  On 04/04/2012 at 01:07, drdrake said:

We need to move forward, we need to deal with any un-resolved issues internally, we need to take away the distraction from our playing group. They have dealt with the Death of Jimmy, being thumped and now this, it is the clubs job to get our players focused on performing on the field, the competition is that tight that if we are not 100% mentally right we will get thumped.

Some things are more important than the next game.

One of our players is about to get dragged through the courts for something that is incredibly complex but that most people have already judged he is in the wrong for.

Another of our players is being accused of being a mole and a liar by the AFL.

Both times we asked them for the truth. They plead their innocence.

We are supporting one, will we support the other?

  On 04/04/2012 at 01:01, why you little said:

I just hope Mark Neeld already knows the source of this leak, and will deal with it his own way.

If he just wants it to go away..i don't like his chances.

Is Aaron going to play for the coach? We will know soon.

We must back the coach 100%

I'm not sure it is Mark's job to 'deal' with it. He is employed to coach the side

If (and i say if) there is any residual personnel problems then it is upto the CEO to sort them out

  On 04/04/2012 at 01:05, olisik said:

Cant believe Davey is one of the highest paid MFC players.

He had maybe 2 good seasons, i think he is a drain on the team, a drain on the energy of the place, a drain on the budget and membership fees.

I remember when he was threatening to leave the MFC, all he seems to care about is himself. I don't think i have ever seen him even congratulate a team mate for a good play, even when he was VC.

Waste of the rumored 500-600k per year.

that is a very defamatory statement olisik not to mention highly uninformed.

i think you should delete your post

  On 04/04/2012 at 01:01, why you little said:

I just hope Mark Neeld already knows the source of this leak, and will deal with it his own way.

If he just wants it to go away..i don't like his chances.

Is Aaron going to play for the coach? We will know soon.

We must back the coach 100%

What about backing the player. Innocent until proved guilty. What if Aaron has had no part in this,but people on here and in the media want to hang him. Why is he not given the benefit of the doubt. He is a 150 game player who's word has never been doubted before and I feel a very loyal clubman,, best and fairest,,,,Rising star nominee,,,International rules rep.....and a great representive of the Melbourne Footy Club.

  On 03/04/2012 at 23:08, dee-luded said:

I agree, & I hope Vlad is not trying to setup Thomas who is nothing more than a message boy in all this. And I hope Mif didn't deliberately induce the message boy deliberately to set him up. I know long bow, but a target they would love his bust on their wall.

Get back to the Real Issue here. Someone inside, went outside with damaging stories.

Or did Mifsud make it up? We dont know at this stage whether Mifsud or the alleged MFC insider is lying or both.

Demetriou should not have been making the statements he did on legal action. Completely inappropriate.

If all this broke three weeks back, that would be about the time our form went backward. Just saying

  On 04/04/2012 at 01:15, daisycutter said:

I'm not sure it is Mark's job to 'deal' with it. He is employed to coach the side

If (and i say if) there is any residual personnel problems then it is upto the CEO to sort them out

Quite right Daisy. There is no time for theatrical revenges or reprisals. This should be sorted out professionally and responsibly by the Club even though the AFL has been a circus about this. I am concerned however that when Schwab has contacted the AFL that neither Vlad or Mifsud has spoken with him. What a joke.

  On 04/04/2012 at 01:13, rpfc said:

Some things are more important than the next game.

One of our players is about to get dragged through the courts for something that is incredibly complex but that most people have already judged he is in the wrong for.

Another of our players is being accused of being a mole and a liar by the AFL.

Both times we asked them for the truth. They plead their innocence.

We are supporting one, will we support the other?

Will you settle down? This is much more complex than back or sack FFS

Irrespective of what (if anything) was said by a Melb player to Mifsud. Mifsud has damaged his reputation and broken the trust he may have built up with players (especially indigenous ones) by leaking to the media.

The losers in this are the indigenous players the AFL is trying to support. They now have one fewer trusted channel by which to discuss and explore the issues they may be struggling with. And that is a shame.

  On 04/04/2012 at 01:25, PaulRB said:

The losers in this are the indigenous players the AFL is trying to support. They now have one fewer trusted channel by which to discuss and explore the issues they may be struggling with. And that is a shame.

I think the damage is far wider and MFC and some of its officials are caught in the fall out.

  On 04/04/2012 at 01:15, daisycutter said:

I'm not sure it is Mark's job to 'deal' with it. He is employed to coach the side

If (and i say if) there is any residual personnel problems then it is upto the CEO to sort them out

That is exactly why i hope he already knows who the culprit is.

The only way to take the focus away from this is to show up at Subi and play a tough game of footy that unites the club. Another hiding will be hugely demoralising following on from this saga.

If the coach and club are prepared to let this go, then we must start performing or otherwise it will fester out of control.

I know I just stated the obvious.

  On 04/04/2012 at 01:20, Rhino Richards said:

Or did Mifsud make it up? We dont know at this stage whether Mifsud or the alleged MFC insider is lying or both.

Or neither, which I think is most likely. Alleged insider mildly disgruntled, in the context of personal circumstances and a new regime. Mifsud interprets favourably to his overarching mindset/agenda, and embellishes or inappropriately uses info he receives for other ends.

There is no interpretation that saves Mifsud IMO from impropriety.

  On 04/04/2012 at 01:27, Choko said:

Or neither, which I think is most likely. Alleged insider mildly disgruntled, in the context of personal circumstances and a new regime. Mifsud interprets favourably to his overarching mindset/agenda, and embellishes or inappropriately uses info he receives for other ends.

There is no interpretation that saves Mifsud IMO from impropriety.

except his boss..........

  On 04/04/2012 at 01:27, Choko said:

"and embellishes or inappropriately uses info he receives for other ends"

There is no interpretation that saves Mifsud IMO from impropriety.

I take that as Mifsud lying if he did not accurately report the context of discussions. Given the most generous assessment you can make on it, there is nothing that does save Mifsud or the AFL from a lot egg on the face and huge doube standards.

  On 04/04/2012 at 01:25, Choko said:

Will you settle down? This is much more complex than back or sack FFS

I see the complexity but I want my club to show up for once. That is what I mean by 'Back or Sack.'

We are being used as damage control by the AFL - they are throwing our player to the wolves.

If you back him, then do more than just 'get on with it'.

  On 04/04/2012 at 01:31, Rhino Richards said:

I take that as Mifsud lying if he did not accurately report the context of discussions. Given the most generous assessment you can make on it, there is nothing that does save Mifsud or the AFL from a lot egg on the face and huge doube standards.

Correct. Which is why he needs to go. AD has made this about him getting shafted by "evil" Thomas, but in fact, it is more to do with the fact he, at best, embellished and therefore misled both Thomas and the AFL (because this issue was taken to the Executive). That is..... unless the alleged MFC insider lied.

  On 04/04/2012 at 01:34, rpfc said:

I see the complexity but I want my club to show up for once. That is what I mean by 'Back or Sack.'

We are being used as damage control by the AFL - they are throwing our player to the wolves.

If you back him, then do more than just 'get on with it'.

Maybe we don't back the player, but don't want to sack the player because that's not in our immediate best interests. Maybe we want to prepare for Saturday and deal with the fallout, which is complex, over time. Doing things at our own pace and not being dictated by parochial supporters or by the AFL can in fact be the best "backbone" of all, and can be the epitome of great leadership. Just give it time.

  On 04/04/2012 at 01:35, Choko said:

Maybe we don't back the player, but don't want to sack the player because that's not in our immediate best interests. Maybe we want to prepare for Saturday and deal with the fallout, which is complex, over time. Doing things at our own pace and not being dictated by parochial supporters or by the AFL can in fact be the best "backbone" of all, and can be the epitome of great leadership. Just give it time.

You have to go about your business and trust those in your corner. If we trust Davey, we should say so, push it back on the AFL.

The fallout shouldn't be ours, let's not accept it.

  On 04/04/2012 at 01:18, Bossdog said:

What about backing the player. Innocent until proved guilty. What if Aaron has had no part in this,but people on here and in the media want to hang him. Why is he not given the benefit of the doubt. He is a 150 game player who's word has never been doubted before and I feel a very loyal clubman,, best and fairest,,,,Rising star nominee,,,International rules rep.....and a great representive of the Melbourne Footy Club.

Very much so. Innocent unless proven otherwise. We have no idea how the rumour started at this point or whether there was even a leak by one of our players, let alone Davey. Given his recent form, it's very hard to take anything MisFed says as even remotely close to the truth anymore. However, he will be a blight on the AFL's indigenous relationships for as long as he is retained in his current position.

The way things are heading at this point, i don't think we'll ever know the full story. The AFL (led by Vlad) is preferring this one to just blow over and is happy to let it go as probably a misconstrued comment or leak by a MFC player, whoever that was. And as of this morning, we've put the shutters up.

It's now back to business for the FD and boys. Fingers crossed that there was no snitch at our end. If there wasn't, i suspect we'll see us back on track within a few weeks. If there was, and it was someone within the playing group....then who knows what lays ahead.

Never a dull moment at the MFC lol

You may trust him but what do those in the inner sanctum think?

  On 04/04/2012 at 01:34, Choko said:

Correct. Which is why he needs to go. AD has made this about him getting shafted by "evil" Thomas, but in fact, it is more to do with the fact he, at best, embellished and therefore misled both Thomas and the AFL (because this issue was taken to the Executive). That is..... unless the alleged MFC insider lied.

Whether he embellished or was lied to is irrelevant. The fact is he breached a players privacy by running to the media (Caro, Smith & Thomas) instead of addressing the issue through the appropriate channels. The club was made aware of the allegations and attemtped to contact him and he refused to return the call. This is why he must be sacked he has breached confidence and privacy.