I love how wilson and the other media critics jump on board the band wagon and make a big ruckus and totally forget the real situation at hand.

The real situation being that this has been going on for a long time, probably since this draft system started, and that melb was not the first club to try to make the best of a season that had gone horribly wrong.

And i believe its true to a degree, the afl is to blame for this, they set this system up.

Of course your weaker teams will try there best to gain quality players and rebuild.

and if that means getting the best picks while your down the bottom of the ladder, clubs did it because it was possible.

If melb is scrutinised and punished, then i expect that carlton, richmond and west coast should also be investigated and punished.

It does only make sense to punish the individuals involved, why punish a bunch of people that are new to the club, when they have done nothing wrong, its insane. The players ask should not be punished, as it was there lively hood being threatened. (thats if they did indeed platy under instruction as opposed to miss coaching them)

im guessing she's seen the statements of one or two players / coaches who have clearly fingered connolly and quite possibly schwab .. even if there is conflicting testimony, or it's outweighed in the end, she'll still be able to point to what she had as justification for the claims / accusations

Even with statements such as: "What Melbourne did in manipulating results was disgusting."?

It's a left wing rag.

But whatever floats your boat.

Wouldn't care if it's left, right, up or down.

Even with statements such as: "What Melbourne did in manipulating results was disgusting."?

absolutely, it suggests she's seen words to that effect in a statement

Even with statements such as: "What Melbourne did in manipulating results was disgusting."?

Well... what it did is what it did... that could very well be nothing at all... and then to say that it is disgusting is subjective.

I'm actually shocked that she is allowed to write such crap and not be held accountable for it.

I hope the club is waving this [censored] in the league's face and screaming 'persecution'.

Would love to sue her for defamation and for being a pathetic sensationalist.

Well... what it did is what it did... that could very well be nothing at all... and then to say that it is disgusting is subjective.

Fair call.

New respect for Steven J Peak on SEN ripping into media speculation, especially the rumours purported as fact by everyones favourite halloween witch.

She's clearly not very clever.

It's a long walk from basic to anywhere near quality journalism for her - and it's one that she's not sufficiently knowledgeable or intelligent to attempt to embark upon.

Tres ordinarie.

Well let me understand what these journos want. They want a club that sits on the bottom of the ladder, bar two new teams, who will pass them soon with their lists of star players/top draft picks and also struggling financially, to be harshly dealt with, for a crime also perpetrated by many other clubs and seemingly condoned by the AFL, in a system it instigated.

So lets get em then. Take away our draft picks for the next five years from 2013. Fine them a $1million dollars. Watch any energy or inclination to try disappear from the Board and Staff. Make them a pariah. Ensure no player will want to join them. Condemn their innocent Coach to a short career in the AFL. Comdemn their team to failure and by big margins. Take away the last morsel of hope from their supporters who are now at their wit's end.

Don't affect the premierships of the Pies and Hawks obtained with players gained using the same system as us. Don't investigate other clubs even though their players and coaches admit to the crime. Watch as the player we got for the crime is now the highest paid young player in the game at the newest club, lured during his first contracted year and on the back of lying to his dying president and the football world.

Yes rejoice as even more misery is brought to the MFC and enjoy the thrashings weekly on TV that come as a result of the punishment.

Yes that is what you vultures want, blood.

We might be found to have done the wrong thing in the end, but for what purpose, to give a club a chance to compete in a rigged competition, where it is banned from the best timeslot on fridays and given low crowd drawing games at the worst times. Where it is forced to compete against clubs that have received many priority picks, by losing large amounts of games and surprisingly playing finals the next year, while it twice won games that cost it some of those picks. Where it is forced to compete against new clubs that are just given lists of players that it cannot ever hope to compete with. Where even the latest star player leaving his club will be directed to the newest club for free.

Yes lets feast on the carcass of the MFC. Yes lets sh-t on the last hopes of its supporters.

In the words of Sheahan and Wilson, then we will know the meaning of "pathetic and disgusting behaviour".

I appreciate and understand your emotion, but the AFL have to govern by rules, not feelings - although I'm hopeful they'd take them into account if need be.

Right now we're being investigated, not Carlton, or Hawthorn. As a lawyer you'd appreciate the need for a formal complaint and subsequent evidence. Those things may happen, but if they do they'll be treated on their own merits, as the case against Melbourne will.

And just because "everyone was doing it" is a poor defence. By all means correct me if I'm wrong.

Wow Caro really is milking this for all she can. No new information contained in that article and a writer who once condemned the AFL for their incompetence when it came to the tanking issue is now defending them. Caro seems to be writing AFL propaganda now, and it's unsurprising. For a case which the AFL have seemed desperate to keep confidential it's amazing how much information Wilson has managed to extort from loose-lipped witnesses. Surely the AFL would tell these witnesses to not talk to the press about a confidential investigation. Amazing that they didn't listen and all of them spilled their guts to Wilson and only her.

No. Caroline has one source in all of this, that is the AFL who are doing damage control of their own to create a visage of villainy that would be the Melbourne Football Club, and why wouldn't they? The AFL have been, for years, slammed for their ignorant approach to the tanking issue. Too afraid to open that can of worms which could expose an issue that has plagued the competition for up to ten years. Unfortunately their hand has been forced and in order to avoid the massive embarrassment they've paid off a journalist who has a lust for a good exposé. So Caro has sold her soul to the AFL for the chance to break the biggest story of the year and now writes vitriolic propaganda pieces to protect the reputation of the white collars who run the joint and have been shown up for their incompetence to enforce the rules of the game, and creating an environment where cheaters believed they could prosper.

Wouldn't care if it's left, right, up or down.

Biased reporting is OK with you ?

Then why are you complaining ?

Are Melbourne still sponsored by the Age? I know we were recently. It's actually quite a shrewd investment. Sponsor a club that appears so conflicted it will sell plenty of newspapers. Sure beats sponsoring the Hawks or Cats. Nothing to reveal about their off-field internal rumblings

^{For those wanting us to sue the paper, it is one of our Gold Sponsors. Well there is a dilemna.}

I appreciate and understand your emotion, but the AFL have to govern by rules, not feelings - although I'm hopeful they'd take them into account if need be.

Right now we're being investigated, not Carlton, or Hawthorn. As a lawyer you'd appreciate the need for a formal complaint and subsequent evidence. Those things may happen, but if they do they'll be treated on their own merits, as the case against Melbourne will.

And just because "everyone was doing it" is a poor defence. By all means correct me if I'm wrong.

My post is directed at the journos as I said in my opening line. They are baying for blood instead of reporting.

I understand the processes that hopefully will take place. I just can't believe the venom from a couple of journos.

My post is directed at the journos as I said. They are baying for blood instead of reporting.

As I said, correct me if I'm wrong.

Let's face it, nobody here really knows whether what she is saying is true or not, however I would think like has been posted that she would be treading on extremely rocky ground if she was making assumptions and there was no fact to what she was saying. That's the concern for me, that there is thought that has gone into her articles, and she obviously thinks she has a basis for what she is saying.

However, on the other hand, it's surprising that it's only Wilson who is saying much at all on this topic. Most of the other journos, for instance from the Herald Sun, are reporting things fairly generally and not being brash at all. It's rare for this type of thing to happen, for only '1' journalist to be 'in the know'.

As I said, correct me if I'm wrong.

I am going to sleep with the vision of your picture of Kate in my mind. Should get a good night's sleep.

I thought we have been shooting the messenger up until now but this is totally over the top, she's throwing the toys out of the sandpit.

Maybe it's because I'm an MFC supporter that I much prefer Mark Fines' approach to this. Good old 'Viney' who has as good a handle, well probably much better handle on the average supporter than anyone else in the media reckons that he and the supporter in the street see Melbourne as being victimised for something that has been going on with all clubs since the priority pick came in. Own up to the mistake AFL, amnesty and move on. Unfortunately much bigger ego's than 'Finey' run the AFL so I can't see this happening.

Yet again CW has written an editorial piece with no new information, just another opportunity to whack at low hanging fruit.

I normally wouldn't be in for this, but honestly I would be happy for us to drop The Age as our sponsor. They are shaking us with one hand and (with Caro) stabbing us in the back with the other.

It's quite amazing how football can make you feel intense hatred towards people you've never met.

I used to work for Freo as part of its interstate support staff when CC was coach (n.b. always been a Melbourne supporter even then) - all i'll say is all the Freo people were lovely and had a time for a chat, everyone!! - except CC - never bothered to even look at me in the face once. I thought that was poor form and I don't think much of him as a result.

I am going to sleep with the vision of your picture of Kate in my mind. Should get a good night's sleep.

OK.

I'll leave it there. I liked your "famous" post and plenty will like this, but it was very wide of the mark for me.

The HS going with a rep from an unnamed former sponsor claiming a club official made the comment that we "made sure" we got the priority pick.

Even with the assumption all of it is true, it could easily be the official's perception, or even revisionist history because they though it puts the club in a better light - i.e. we weren't really that bad; we meant to do that.

I love it how Caro points to Tom $cully leaving as the evidence that Melbourne did not focus on training and developing their players and couldn't retain their players.

What about the fact that ALL the other young players re-signed with the club?

So one player leaving for a contract 5 times his market value (in what many described as a once in a lifetime opportunity) suggests that a club was short-sighted and could not train, develop or retain their players?

I suppose why would you let the facts get in the way of a nice story.

And in any case on what basis is she qualified to give an opinion on a footy club's training and development regimes? I must have missed the chapter in the AFL history books when Caro played on a half back flank for the Tigers,