On the Couch - Brock talks about 'tanking'

[heartbeatstrue 57]

If the AFL have cleared the kruezer cup as they apparently have, then it's all over. Move on.

Spot on, it doesn't get more blatant than that!

[rpfc 27,572]

Demetriou is taking a very narrow view of tanking and after that poll I created I can understand why - you can't prosecute creative list management or experimentation.

As Clint Bizkit posted - it's about motives and people don't know them.

I think AD has been right on this all along - the definition of 'tanking' should be narrowed to players not putting in effort deliberately to lose games. And even that has to be proven.

Everything else is playing within the rules of the game.

[Dr John Dee 1,057]

Demetriou is taking a very narrow view of tanking and after that poll I created I can understand why - you can't prosecute creative list management or experimentation.

As Clint Bizkit posted - it's about motives and people don't know them.

I think AD has been right on this all along - the definition of 'tanking' should be narrowed to players not putting in effort deliberately to lose games. And even that has to be proven.

Everything else is playing within the rules of the game.

Which is what Brock says he was asked to do, isn't it? So he should be able to come up with names, dates, details. A bit of proof, sort of thing ...

[olisik 4,060]

Wouldnt matter if we are stripped of our picks anyway, its not like the kids we draft will have any buff about them or be on the park for more then half a season in their first 2 years at the club.

Like most of our other recent draft picks, these kids will also spend a majority of their first 2 years at the club injured.

[Hannibal 5,814]

I've read "Longsufferings" and other posts that insinuate conspiracy theories. Am I the only one that is just taking these circumstances on face value ? McLean kicks the winning goal for Carlton in a highly publicized game and gets invited onto OTC. Naturally his time at Melbourne is discussed, as well as his decision to leave - he was a top 5 draft pick afterall - and then he clumsily drops Melbourne in it.

I think people are reading far too much into the circumstances.

[The heart beats true 16,375]

I think people are reading far too much into the circumstances.

Don't take away the conspiracy theories BH. It's all we have left in 2012.

[Range Rover 1,935]

Sorry, but you are being naive.

The set up was from the start by Dimitriou and Anderson. I have said it before and will say it again - they are [censored] scared that our club wil get draft picks that they had assumed would go to their own developing, experimenting darlings, GW$ and GC$, and throw in a potential star as a F&S.

When they, after a "thorough and impartial investigation" strip us of pucks, and make us offer our first remaining pick, maybe in the 50s or so for young Jack, they know we will be cellar dwellers for another generation.

So you think Demetriou and Anderson determine content on On The Couch? "Hey Gerard, quickly ... give Sticks and Ratts a ring and get Brock on there"

There are plausible conspiracies and then there's fantasy.

You are both being naive.

The innuendo over tanking for a number of clubs will always be there and stirred up by the media in a quiet news week.Its never dead and buried. Its all froth and bubble that proves nothing but certainly excites the nuffies on this site.

If Vlad and co wanted to strip MFC of the picks they could do so any number of ways without compromise themselves and game.

Love a good conspiracy theory but the ones peddled here are ordinary to say the least.

Calling someone naive after your spectactular inability to read the Scully affair correctly is a bit rich.

I realize though trechery is a very painful thing to consider.

I've read "Longsufferings" and other posts that insinuate conspiracy theories. Am I the only one that is just taking these circumstances on face value ? McLean kicks the winning goal for Carlton in a highly publicized game and gets invited onto OTC. Naturally his time at Melbourne is discussed, as well as his decision to leave - he was a top 5 draft pick afterall - and then he clumsily drops Melbourne in it.

I think people are reading far too much into the circumstances.

Perhaps certain people have been waiting a long time for an opportunity arise ... saw their chance ... and took it. Entirely plausible to me.

Interesting that Gerard Healy doesn't want us to get Cloke ... http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-premiership/demons-pursuit-of-star-magpie-travis-cloke-overlooks-their-biggest-deficiency-writes-gerard-healy/story-e6frf3e3-1226436441146

He has also commented extensively on matters relating to 'tanking' and Melbourne's internal political machinations ... http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-premiership/is-new-leadership-the-one-constructive-outcome-that-could-emerge-from-melbourne-demons-week-from-hell/story-e6frf3e3-1226106183382

"But no one at the club can deny there has somehow been a major disconnect between the front office, the football department and its staff, and the players.

That disconnect is still there today but at a far more public and raw level given what has transpired between the board and the players.

It's difficult to know just how this is going to play out but the board and football administration have a major job of repairing their relationship with this playing group.

There's clearly a festering sore that needs to be fixed if this group is to be any chance of filling their obvious potential."

Didn't Gerard's brother Sugar recently spend considerable time 'helping out' the club. Wonder what friendships and alliances he made while he was there.

Open your eyes gentlemen.

[The Reverend 1,718]

Wouldnt matter if we are stripped of our picks anyway, its not like the kids we draft will have any buff about them or be on the park for more then half a season in their first 2 years at the club.

Like most of our other recent draft picks, these kids will also spend a majority of their first 2 years at the club injured.

Ah! Another ray of sunshine. Is it getting dark in that cave of despair?

Edited August 3, 2012 by Crawf52

[Sir Why You Little 34,657]

That is a pretty fair appraisal by Healy there i would say.

[daisycutter 28,630]

Didn't Gerard's brother Sugar recently spend considerable time 'helping out' the club. Wonder what friendships and alliances he made while he was there.

As far as I know he is still on the Board of Directors as a 'casual' director (whatever that means) since Feb 2012 see here

[Guest bluey]

So you think Demetriou and Anderson determine content on On The Couch? "Hey Gerard, quickly ... give Sticks and Ratts a ring and get Brock on there"

There are plausible conspiracies and then there's fantasy.

Calling someone naive after your spectactular inability to read the Scully affair correctly is a bit rich.

I realize though trechery is a very painful thing to consider.

Perhaps certain people have been waiting a long time for an opportunity arise ... saw their chance ... and took it. Entirely plausible to me.

Interesting that Gerard Healy doesn't want us to get Cloke ... http://www.foxsports...3-1226436441146

He has also commented extensively on matters relating to 'tanking' and Melbourne's internal political machinations ... http://www.foxsports...3-1226106183382

"But no one at the club can deny there has somehow been a major disconnect between the front office, the football department and its staff, and the players.

That disconnect is still there today but at a far more public and raw level given what has transpired between the board and the players.

It's difficult to know just how this is going to play out but the board and football administration have a major job of repairing their relationship with this playing group.

There's clearly a festering sore that needs to be fixed if this group is to be any chance of filling their obvious potential."

Didn't Gerard's brother Sugar recently spend considerable time 'helping out' the club. Wonder what friendships and alliances he made while he was there.

Open your eyes gentlemen.

Didn't Gerard's brother Sugar recently spend considerable time 'helping out' the club. Wonder what friendships and alliances he made while he was there.

Ah,..... Greg... is..... Director of Football, reporting to the board ...expert..

[Hannibal 5,814]

Perhaps certain people have been waiting a long time for an opportunity arise ... saw their chance ... and took it. Entirely plausible to me.

Interesting that Gerard Healy doesn't want us to get Cloke ... http://www.foxsports...3-1226436441146

He has also commented extensively on matters relating to 'tanking' and Melbourne's internal political machinations ... http://www.foxsports...3-1226106183382

"But no one at the club can deny there has somehow been a major disconnect between the front office, the football department and its staff, and the players.

That disconnect is still there today but at a far more public and raw level given what has transpired between the board and the players.

It's difficult to know just how this is going to play out but the board and football administration have a major job of repairing their relationship with this playing group.

There's clearly a festering sore that needs to be fixed if this group is to be any chance of filling their obvious potential."

Didn't Gerard's brother Sugar recently spend considerable time 'helping out' the club. Wonder what friendships and alliances he made while he was there.

Open your eyes gentlemen.

The fact that his Brother is the football director may mean that he's more informed and capable of asking the right questions, but it doesn't necessarily mean that the whole show was a setup.

I also doubt that he'd try and deliberately stuff a club where his Brother is the football director. Knowing the right questions to ask is far different to concocting an elaborate plan to destabilise your Brother's club.

I'm happy to agree to disagree.

[Rhino Richards 1,467]

Calling someone naive after your spectactular inability to read the Scully affair correctly is a bit rich.

I realize though trechery is a very painful thing to consider.

Wow. Nostradamus you are. With Scully it was a case of you think he will stay or go. I am sorry I didnt choose your egotistical approach to ad nauseam put a view out there. You must be very chuffed at your life achievement.

And treachery is a difficult thing to spell also.

[Range Rover 1,935]

Brad Green presents an interesting figure in all of this.

I'm sure we all recall that interview on On The Couch last year (http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/on-the-couch/melbourne-demons-skipper-brad-green-dismisses-reports-of-rift-between-playing-group-and-officials/story-fn5k2y08-1226102071511).

Do you think he may have been one of the senior players Gerard refers to in the article in my previous post, where he says ... "Clearly the board have now asked the players twice for their opinion and have now for the second time in a very public way ignored them. It was the board that started the investigations, not the players. There was no revolt as has been reported but only forthright answers to the club's leading two men (Schwab and McLardy)."

Gerard really is quite scathing in that article, also syaing that ... "the players will be held by history to account for their part in the performance. But so too should the board who have so far flown under the radar. Their performance during the week was of a similarly poor display of maladministration that contributed to the result and by extension the dismissal of Dean Bailey before he was given a chance to finish the year.

Brad Green really lost out in the 186 fall-out. Stripped of the captaincy. Dropped at various times this year.

Publicly humiliated really. A lot like a few down at the club thought his mate James McDonald was.

[John Crow Batty 8,272]

Some people are more intuitive and have more foresight than others. Fact of life.

[Range Rover 1,935]

Wow. Nostradamus you are. With Scully it was a case of you think he will stay or go. I am sorry I didnt choose your egotistical approach to ad nauseam put a view out there. You must be very chuffed at your life achievement.

And treachery is a difficult thing to spell also.

I'd rather misspell the word than not understand it.

Edited August 3, 2012 by Range Rover

[Rhino Richards 1,467]

Its probably both issues but you go for it. LOL.

[Damo 3,004]

I'm happy to agree to disagree.

This is an excellent choice as a sign-off. You should apply it more liberally.

[Hannibal 5,814]

Some people are more intuitive and have more foresight than others. Fact of life.

Well there's a revelation if ever I've seen one.

[Range Rover 1,935]

Its probably both issues but you go for it. LOL.

Old Rangey cracks the case again. What do I win?

Go Dees!

[Hannibal 5,814]

This is an excellent choice as a sign-off. You should apply it more liberally.

I'll apply it how I like, when I like, where I like.

Thanks for your interest.

[Miles from Nowhere 199]

Gerard Healy is nothing more nor less than the Tom Scully of his generation. Chased the Sydney dollar, but seems to carry some resentment about his original club - in fact worse than that. If he had 1/100th of the integrity of Sugar I might be interested in his views. But he has an agenda, god knows why, and he turns his bile loose at every opportunity.

So my prediction; Scummy is going to be unbearable when he gets a media gig in about 2030, and be no more listenable.

[Range Rover 1,935]

The fact that his Brother is the football director may mean that he's more informed and capable of asking the right questions, but it doesn't necessarily mean that the whole show was a setup.

I also doubt that he'd try and deliberately stuff a club where his Brother is the football director. Knowing the right questions to ask is far different to concocting an elaborate plan to destabilise your Brother's club.

I'm happy to agree to disagree.

One person's view of 'deliberately stuffing the club' is anothers of rescuing it from 'maladministration'.

The agitators think what they're doing is noble, or at least that's the pretence.

Really though it's just a plain old struggle for power, position and money.

Edited August 3, 2012 by Range Rover

[Range Rover 1,935]

Meanwhile ... the supporters suffer.

[Clark_Kent 315]

Perhaps the supporters should take control of their club. We pay the money we should get a lot

more say in what goes on.