No worries B-dog. If you get a rush of blood you'll find me down behind the GW$ interchange dugout.

I'll have a spare wad of DemonDave's brilliant $cully/Vlad million buck notes for you to chuck over the fence!

I'm torn now. While I don't really agree with the idea, I know I'm going to [censored] my laughing of I see this happen.

Hope you don't get thrown out.

You tend to shoot yourself in the foot sometimes RR.

"Reportedly" by who...their managers? Nice story gets a few more lines in the media

Club will not confirm or deny, doesn't want the players knowing who is on what etc

If you don't think it is a business, let's see what happens next time the TV rights come up and the players have a bit more influence these days

Cloke is waiting to get the best deal he can, Scully didn't have to wait, the only difference

I am passionate about my Club, but I temper my passion, it is just a game of footy.

played by a Club with I think Don McLardy said Cam Scwhab looked after a $40M turnover, that's a business....it is not a few beers and a sausage roll after the game these days

My passion leads me to believe that I don't need to constantly bash the Club, the players, the administration, the ex players, the ex administration like some do on this board.

I support the Club going forward, the only thing I will be doing on Sunday is cheering/crying/sobbing/gasping/sighing over the 22 blokes in the red and blue

they are the only ones that matter

Edited June 19, 201213 yr by satyricon

I'm torn now. While I don't really agree with the idea, I know I'm going to [censored] my laughing of I see this happen.

Hope you don't get thrown out.

Some things are worth fighting for McQueen ...

The only effect it will have is how sad and pathetic Melbourne supporters look.

Are West Coast supporters sad and pathetic? Are Geelong supporters?

I'm pretty sure we have double the right to be [censored] off at that little scumbag, given he did nothing for our club except waste our first pick and an entire year working through his lies.

This moral high ground thing is fine, if that's how you feel, but don't shut down those of us who feel it is completely justified to make him feel a bit of pain. He has had no ramifications thus far for being a disloyal, lying piece of garbage.

Some things are worth fighting for McQueen ...

That analogy is a bit extreme, RR.

Regardless, enjoy yourself on Sunday.

No worries B-dog. If you get a rush of blood you'll find me down behind the GW$ interchange dugout.

I'll have a spare wad of DemonDave's brilliant $cully/Vlad million buck notes for you to chuck over the fence!

Enjoy the rather large fine you will have to pay for your pound of flesh....

You tend to shoot yourself in the foot sometimes RR.

"Reportedly" by who...their managers? Nice story gets a few more lines in the media

Club will not confirm or deny, doesn't want the players knowing who is on what etc

If you don't think it is a business, let's see what happens next time the TV rights come up and the players have a bit more influence these days

Cloke is waiting to get the best deal he can, Scully didn't have to wait, the only difference

I am passionate about my Club, but I temper my passion, it is just a game of footy.

played by a Club with I think Don McLardy said Cam Scwhab looked after a $40M turnover, that's a business....it is not a few beers and a sausage roll after the game these days

My passion leads me to believe that I don't need to constantly bash the Club, the players, the administration, the ex players, the ex administration like some do on this board.

I support the Club going forward, the only thing I will be doing on Sunday is cheering/crying/sobbing/gasping/sighing over the 22 blokes in the red and blue

they are the only ones that matter

So you'll cry/sob/gasp/cheer yet still 'temper your passion' and regard it all as 'just a game'? That's some feat.

I have sat through 18 months of monotonous cr@p on the Scully situation and for the first time here are my thoughts on the whole saga:

(Note: I would encourage certain other posters to be similarly economical in their postings!)

Scully “Lying”

• This really only occurred at the press conference (that Melbourne forced him to do) and also when asked directly by Jim Stynes
  
• HOWEVER, under the current AFL system, much in contrast to the NRL, even if he had made up his mind by then, he couldn’t come clean, because of the very real risk he wouldn’t play again all season (NB: comments by Primus and Roos about what they would do in similar situations. Primus has hinted Boak will not play again if he decides to leave Port).
  This just shows the immaturity of the AFL system (compared to NRL) in dealing with a player who makes the decision to move on. Both parties (player and club) should have the maturity to continue their employment relationship until the end of the player’s contract.
  
• Given this I feel Scully had little choice but to conceal his intentions when put on the spot.
  

Scully’s Decision

• The man was offered $6m for Christ’s sake, and given his rumoured issues with Melbourne’s culture etc. the decision was a no-brainer.
  
• I certainly hold no grudges against him for the decision.
  

Is Melbourne better Off?

I believe YES.

We lost:

• Scully (a #1 draft pick); and
  
• Freed up approx $600k of salary cap space (I think that’s what we offered him).
  

We gained:

• Approx picks 4 and 13. Time will tell if we win out of this, however for a number one pick with a dodgy knee I tend to consider it is reasonable. (I acknowledge that no one would ever trade away pick 1 in a draft in exchange for pick 4 and 13, however Scully’s value had depreciated considerably over his first two years to be substantially less than that of a number one pick).
  
• We used the salary cap space to pay Mitch Clark. IMO this is a much better use of this cap space and is the reason we win out of the situation.
  

Should Scully be Booed

• Sure, why not? It’s AFL tradition to boo a player who leaves your club.
  
• I don’t think it’s at all offensive. If anything it shows respect for Scully’s ability and the fact that he meant something to Melbourne fans. As a comparison I seriously doubt WB fans will be booing Sam Reid given he was a virtual nobody at their club.
  
• Throw Monopoly money at him if you want, however anything like this only legitimises Scully as a “big name” worthy of such petty displays.
  
• IMO the best thing to do is nothing at all, as this shows he’s not even worthy of our contempt.
  

On the contrary I strongly encourage all Melbourne fans to show the utmost respect for Junior McDonald and cheer him at every opportunity.

/EndRant

Edited June 19, 201213 yr by Mega_Watts

Some terriblly serious punters out there lol. Surely this is just poking fun at the brat !!!

So you'll cry/sob/gasp/cheer yet still 'temper your passion' and regard it all as 'just a game'? That's some feat.

I nearly gave up, ok try it this way, played contact sport for 44 years, every game I played, tried to hurt/psychologically damage/beat/humiliate etc my opponent(s), but at the end shook hands, it is just a game.....go to footy, have two hours of christ knows what, do all of the above....walk home through East Melbourne, either celebrating or commiserating with my lovely lady....close front door, think about next week...log on to Demonland during the week to see if there is anything interesting......see which player has had forty two touches, kicked ten goals, and looked sensational during the post match interview.......and blame Norm Smith for putting our recruiting back 50 years so we couldn't draft him

Edited June 19, 201213 yr by satyricon

Are West Coast supporters sad and pathetic? Are Geelong supporters?

Did they throw Monopoly money at former players?

Not a fan of this idea.

Sure, give him a mouthful, but let the scoreboard provide the ultimate humiliation.

Yeah.

Don't get me wrong - in September I would've been game to take a crowbar to his knee and finish the germ for good.

Nine months on, it just feels like a petty excuse for sour grapes.

And even so ... why? He was contracted for 2 years and played far less; of those thirty-something games he starred in one I can recall (39 touches vs. Bulldogs).

He wasn't a fan favourite or a cult figure and didn't seem like the amiable type.

So, as a player he was one under par through 18 holes and as a public figure he simply existed.

Boo the $cumbag? BFD.

Scully “Lying”

This really only occurred at the press conference (that Melbourne forced him to do) and also when asked directly by Jim Stynes

• HOWEVER, under the current AFL system, much in contrast to the NRL, even if he had made up his mind by then, he couldn’t come clean, because of the very real risk he wouldn’t play again all season (NB: comments by Primus and Roos about what they would do in similar situations. Primus has hinted Boak will not play again if he decides to leave Port).
  This just shows the immaturity of the AFL system (compared to NRL) in dealing with a player who makes the decision to move on. Both parties (player and club) should have the maturity to continue their employment relationship until the end of the player’s contract.
  
• Given this I feel Scully had no choice but to conceal his intentions when put on the spot.
  

/EndRant

A thoughtful, measured post to be sure. Some nice bolded headings and dot points. But where it falls down is in your summation and conclusion about the lying bit.

You absolve Scully too easily for his actions. Everyone has a choice whether to tell the truth or not. Even if that choice may appear to be tough at times. It's still a choice.

To say he didn't have one renders him a mindless automaton devoid of any responsibility for his actions.

That's not the way it happened.

I don't quite get the argument that Scully had no choice but to hide his intentions/likely signature because it would mean he wouldn't get played. Hows is that a defence? Surely this is just tough [censored], if indeed it occurs.

What's the alternative? The club wasting time and effort on the development of a player who's on the way out. If he's leaving, let him spend his remaining months in the twos or on the sidelines. If he doesn't like it I'm sure he would be quickly consoled by one look at his bank balance.

Obviously I have written enough on this issue but no-one held a gun to his head to sign/agree when he did, but he did. And then lied - whenever that was. And he kept doing it. And when it become farcical - he kept doing it (the trip to 'see the facilities').

You are a naive simpleton when you have 'jumped the shark' as it were, and you are trying to convince people you haven't.

He should have waited until the bitter end to agree - he evidently did not do that, or he should told us of his decision when he made it - he did neither and he lives with the consequences good and bad.

He didn't respect the MFC so I am not going to respect 'his difficult position.'

Note: Damian Barrett has a 'piece' on this issue on the AFL website, referring to Boak. Golden Age of Footy Journalism © I tell you...

I am passionate about the dees and footy but I could care less about Scully to be honest. He left in bad circumstances and evidence strongly suggests he lied. Neeld believes in the reality bus, i believe in the karma bus.

And by that i don't mean i hope someone lays him out on Sunday. Quite the contrary i have no desire to see him hurt and less desire to see one of our players get weeks for hurting him (or even be distracted at all from trying to win the game, a game i reckon is one of the more important games for the club for years).

If people want to boo, go for it i say, but as i said i could care less about Scully (one might say he is persona no grata) and i couldn't be bothered. I'll save my passion for the inevitable poor decision we'll cop (perhaps a 50 for shoving Scully over - the umps will be watching no doubt).

What i will say is we are a funny lot, footy fans. We had no probs luring Templeton, Moore and more recently Clark to the dees with huge offers but go bananas at a player who dares leave our club for top dollar. Yes it would appear Scully lied, so perhaps that adds a bit to the equation but i do recall Clark telling the bears he had to return to WA for family reasons and Freo said at the time they thought he had verbally committed to playing with them. I'm not calling him a liar by the way, just pointing out the potential inconsistency. As Grant Thomas has said lying is part of footy DNA .

the only way I will EVER 'get over' the anger this whole episode has caused me, is if I see Scully chronically injured with his career in tatters and/or I see the compo picks we got produce some very good player(s)

simple as that

A thoughtful, measured post to be sure. Some nice bolded headings and dot points. But where it falls down is in your summation and conclusion about the lying bit.

You absolve Scully too easily for his actions. Everyone has a choice whether to tell the truth or not. Even if that choice may appear to be tough at times. It's still a choice.

To say he didn't have one renders him a mindless automaton devoid of any responsibility for his actions.

That's not the way it happened.

RR - I accept your point and have edited my post to state he had little choice in regards to lying/revealing his true intentions.

However I still contend that it is the same choice that every reasonable person would have made given the current AFL climate where player movement is not accepted maturely.

As an example a few bigger names who have made the same choice in this regard include:

- All of GWS/GC's recruits who have all waited until their season was over to reveal their intention.

- Gary Ablett revelaed his decision less than a week afer his season finished despite having clearly made it earlier.

- Chris Judd revealed his decision to leave WCE 2 days after his season finished despite having clearly made it earlier.

As a contrast player's announcing their intention to leave a club mid-season is well accepted and handled maturely by all parties. This wasn't always the case: When Justin Hodges announced mid-season in 2001 he wanted to leave the Broncos at the end of the year, Wayne Bennett told Hodges that his services were no longer required and pushed him back to the Broncos' feeder club, the Toowoomba Clydesdales.

Nowadays both NRL club and player generally accept a player's decision and the contracted (but soon-to-leave) player continues to earn first grade selection when his form warrants.

the only way I will EVER 'get over' the anger this whole episode has caused me, is if I see Scully chronically injured with his career in tatters and/or I see the compo picks we got produce some very good player(s)

simple as that

Ok. You are so affected by Scully leaving and how he chose to do so that you hope a young fella trying to make his way in life is injured so badly that it ruins his career. Right. I'm no psychologist but i would reckon by any measure that is a pretty unhealthy level of anger. TimD are you in the house?

Anyway each to their own.

Edited June 19, 201213 yr by binman

Did they throw Monopoly money at former players?

No, but they abuse players who gave their heart and soul to their club and won them premierships and Brownlows.

5 years on and West Coast fans were still very abusive towards Judd. He is fair game to them, even though unlike Scully he was always honest about his intentions to return home. He never lied at a press conference, he never lied to his terminally ill president. He gave West Coast bloody good return for their investment and then he left, and he has done nothing for Carlton's fortunes so far and West Coast are on top of the ladder.

Personally if Melbourne supporters want to throw fake money at Scully, I think that's pretty amusing and is about as 'sad' as booing him, which I will be.

I never boo players either. Not Farmer, not Thompson, not Jolly (who I loath), but this guy, he deserves everything he gets and more.

What I want to see on Sunday.

A 4 quarter attack on the ball, I want to see our bigger bodies destroy the younger gws frames.

Melbourne players to sledge everytime $cully butchers the ball, no Will Minson type calls!

A 7+ goal minimum winning margin by the end of the game

Mega_Watts, what you overlook is $cully's duplicity as he boarded the flight to supposedly 'check the facilities'. Even if you think he had no choice earlier, at that point he treated us as with complete contempt. I return the compliment - I'll never forgive him for that.

Rpfc, i rememebr the scully threads well- you stood by him for a long time. But im glad you can see it got to a point where it became farcical. I remember when scullys manager came out mid season to tell the world there had been an approach from GWS, but was sure to make the point that it was the first contact between Scullys and GWS. I remember thinking at the time that it was nothing but a PR stunt by the Scullys to try and keep their name clean, and try to dispel the rumours that the deal was done preseason. It was also conflicting against their standard line up to then where they had said they wouldnt field any offers until later in the season.

Tom scully is a lier and a dog. I think he should be booed by every melbourne fan from the moment he stepps onto the G, to the moment he leaves (preferably on a stretcher). Throwing Fake moeny at him is not assult, it is a light hearted prank - i think it would be a good laugh, aslong as people dont get too fired up and somehow go to far.

No, some didn't

I think you will find that the contract he is one is substantially bigger then the others being offered by GWS.

No, but they abuse players who gave their heart and soul to their club and won them premierships and Brownlows.

I'm talking about throwing Monopoly money, not booing Scully.