Jump to content
View in the app

A better way to browse. Learn more.

Demonland

A full-screen app on your home screen with push notifications, badges and more.

To install this app on iOS and iPadOS
  1. Tap the Share icon in Safari
  2. Scroll the menu and tap Add to Home Screen.
  3. Tap Add in the top-right corner.
To install this app on Android
  1. Tap the 3-dot menu (⋮) in the top-right corner of the browser.
  2. Tap Add to Home screen or Install app.
  3. Confirm by tapping Install.

Featured Replies

Posted

I won’t write about the  allegations.

The headline in a News Limited publication "Melbourne Demons rookie alleges senior AFL coach raped him" is a lie to say the least.

No AFL senior coach was involved and certainly not a Melbourne Football Club coach.

Sadly, a lot of people will read the story based on the headline (I am aware the headline is not written by the writer of the article).

The body of the story also makes no sense in relation to dates mentioned. He couldn’t have been a teenager in 2005 when he was on the rookie list in 2007.

Maybe Rupert needs to be sued again!

 
 
7 hours ago, Satan said:


I wont write about the  allegations.

 

The headline is lie  to say the least. No Afl senior coach was involved and certainly not a Melbourne coach . Sadly a lot of people will read the story based on the headline

(I am aware the headline is not written by the article writer . )

The body of the story also makes no sense in relation to dates mentioned. He couldnt be a teenager in 2015  when he was on  the rookie list in 2007

maybe rupert needs to be sued again !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm sorry, but this was where the original story started? What's actually wrong with this headline?

Former Melbourne Demons footballer Daniel Hayes serves Supreme Court writ on AFL and junior coach Mark Heaney

The article has nothing to do with the Melbourne FC. It's about his experience with the Eastern Rangers assistant coach.

The article mentions that he's suing the AFL. Again, nothing to do with the Melbourne Football Club.

It’s a legitimate and sad news story. It seems the kid could have been anything but his life in every sense, not just  football, was derailed allegedly due to abuse suffered before he was drafted.

  • Demonland changed the title to Click Bait Article About an Ex Rookie Listed Player

1 hour ago, dazzledavey36 said:

I'm sorry, but this was where the original story started? What's actually wrong with this headline?

Former Melbourne Demons footballer Daniel Hayes serves Supreme Court writ on AFL and junior coach Mark Heaney

The article has nothing to do with the Melbourne FC. It's about his experience with the Eastern Rangers assistant coach.

The article mentions that he's suing the AFL. Again, nothing to do with the Melbourne Football Club.

 



This is the headline on news.com.au

Quote

 

Melbourne Demons rookie alleges senior AFL coach raped him

A former Melbourne Demons player has launched a bombshell lawsuit against the AFL after allegations a coach raped him.


https://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/melbourne-demons-rookie-alleges-senior-afl-coach-raped-him/news-story/ffec5b1c66a638ed2b0ff28a105d9a49

Nothing to do with the MFC, but those who don't get beyond the headline and sub heading wont know that.

9 minutes ago, JTR said:



This is the headline on news.com.au


https://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/melbourne-demons-rookie-alleges-senior-afl-coach-raped-him/news-story/ffec5b1c66a638ed2b0ff28a105d9a49

Nothing to do with the MFC, but those who don't get beyond the headline and sub heading wont know that.

News.com gutter journalism  

Say no more. 
 

 
On 15/05/2023 at 06:38, dazzledavey36 said:

I'm sorry, but this was where the original story started? What's actually wrong with this headline?

Former Melbourne Demons footballer Daniel Hayes serves Supreme Court writ on AFL and junior coach Mark Heaney

The article has nothing to do with the Melbourne FC. It's about his experience with the Eastern Rangers assistant coach.

The article mentions that he's suing the AFL. Again, nothing to do with the Melbourne Football Club.

Court documents reveal coach accused of raping former Melbourne player Daniel Hayes was a long-time AFL employee who coached Sydney Swans academy teams

Whilst the event that Daniel Hayes is referring to as the basis for the litigation has nothing to do with the MFC, I’m not so sure that the story itself is not about the club in a way.

The football world knew he was troubled when we drafted him. Clearly, we as a club “took risks” when we did so and there is mention in the article that “his early days with the Demons were characterised by disappearing acts and club-imposed suspensions”.

This raises the question whether we did enough to recognise why he had his issues and whether we could have done enough to help him. I’m not suggesting that the MFC should be blamed or included in this litigation but we shouldn’t shrink away from the fact that it was not so long ago that the football world wasn’t equipped to handle these issues in society - particularly insofar as it involved indigenous youth.

These days, AFL clubs have mentors and others working for them who might have been able to identify the issues Daniel Hayes harboured alone. 

I hope he finally gets justice and finds peace and enjoyment in the game that treated him so cruelly when he was a young kid.

41 minutes ago, JTR said:



This is the headline on news.com.au


https://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/melbourne-demons-rookie-alleges-senior-afl-coach-raped-him/news-story/ffec5b1c66a638ed2b0ff28a105d9a49

Nothing to do with the MFC, but those who don't get beyond the headline and sub heading wont know that.

My mistake, I haven't even seen that as of yet. I thought he was talking about the initial ABC article.

But yes, @Satan is correct thats horrible headline. My apologies mate.


On 15/05/2023 at 08:47, Whispering_Jack said:

Court documents reveal coach accused of raping former Melbourne player Daniel Hayes was a long-time AFL employee who coached Sydney Swans academy teams

Whilst the event that Daniel Hayes is referring to as the basis for the litigation has nothing to do with the MFC, I’m not so sure that the story itself is not about the club in a way.

The football world knew he was troubled when we drafted him. Clearly, we as a club “took risks” when we did so and there is mention in the article that “his early days with the Demons were characterised by disappearing acts and club-imposed suspensions”.

This raises the question whether we did enough to recognise why he had his issues and whether we could have done enough to help him. I’m not suggesting that the MFC should be blamed or included in this litigation but we shouldn’t shrink away from the fact that it was not so long ago that the football world wasn’t equipped to handle these issues in society - particularly insofar as it involved indigenous youth.

These days, AFL clubs have mentors and others working for them who might have been able to identify the issues Daniel Hayes harboured alone. 

I hope he finally gets justice and finds peace and enjoyment in the game that treated him so cruelly when he was a young kid.

Beautifully said, WJ.

To say this has “nothing to do with the MFC” is incorrect. He was once on our list. It’s by no means the fault of the MFC, but I like to think that our Club is open to helping this young man as he was once one of us. The Club has the wherewithal to do this. We boast having a great culture (which we certainly have) so I can’t see us “washing our hands of him” should he reach out to us.

The headline is shameless clickbait. (Who’s gonna read an article titled, “Eastern Ranges player alleges senior coach raped him” ??!??) And it’s worked, clearly. 

1 hour ago, Nasher said:

It’s a terrible headline but a legitimate issue that deserves some focus. I recommend reading the ABC article as linked above that goes in to the specifics.
 

I hope Daniel is able to get the help he needs.

Agree 100%

The headline might be skewed towards clickbait, but as far as I'm concerned that's ok in the context of the issue.

If Daniel has been courageous enough to both live through his trauma and then subsequently go public with it, then I'd say it's a story he wants to be heard and if it takes a bit of clickbate to acheived that, then so what.  I'm only partially guessing, but my assumption is that when people want these things to be heard, it's about a) some self respect in being believed and b) encouraging others to help them come forward in the hope that the problems are better managed going forward, which I think is very noble.

I think there is some very useful discussion which the article raises and I certainly found it insightful as well as saddening.

It also contains some important lessons on how the media and the general public need to tread lightly, with care and compassion around individuals and collective social and personal matters.

Read the article, it explains things far better than any of us can in this thread.

All the best to Daniel in his life moving forward and I hope he is able to reach some inner peace regarding his past trauma.

Edited by Rodney (Balls) Grinter

  • Author
7 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

My mistake, I haven't even seen that as of yet. I thought he was talking about the initial ABC article.

But yes, @Satan is correct thats horrible headline. My apologies mate.

It would seem that my original thread title got edited taking out the news.com.au reference, which is why I included it in thread title. (There are only 18 AFL Senior coaches).

  • Author
8 hours ago, IvanBartul13 said:

2015 is a typo, meant to be 2005 and implies it was during his time at the Eastern Ranges.

terrible proof reading when dates do matter in context of article

1 hour ago, Whispering_Jack said:

Whilst the event that Daniel Hayes is referring to as the basis for the litigation has nothing to do with the MFC, I’m not so sure that the story itself is not about the club in a way.

The football world knew he was troubled when we drafted him. Clearly, we as a club “took risks” when we did so and there is mention in the article that “his early days with the Demons were characterised by disappearing acts and club-imposed suspensions”.

This raises the question whether we did enough to recognise why he had his issues and whether we could have done enough to help him. I’m not suggesting that the MFC should be blamed or included in this litigation but we shouldn’t shrink away from the fact that it was not so long ago that the football world wasn’t equipped to handle these issues in society - particularly insofar as it involved indigenous youth.

These days, AFL clubs have mentors and others working for them who might have been able to identify the issues Daniel Hayes harboured alone. 

I hope he finally gets justice and finds peace and enjoyment in the game that treated him so cruelly when he was a young kid.

It could go either way WJ.

Maybe the club did all they could to help and support him? Was the club fully aware of what had happened previously at the ER and did Daniel speak up to the club about his experience? I presume perhaps not and the poor kid was simply too scared to speak up. 

Thinking back at the time I mean we had some pretty strong indigenous influences at the club like Matty Whelan, Byron Pickett and Aaron Davey. Did he raise this with them, because I would like to think these guys would have been a significant support for him at the club and a voice for him. 

Either way it's incredibly sad and as I found myself reading the ABC article on the weekend I was waiting for the happy ending story in the end. But there's not.

The only positve is good on him wanting to help others and spread the awareness. There far too many incidents like these that simply don't get spoken about at all.


1 hour ago, Whispering_Jack said:

Whilst the event that Daniel Hayes is referring to as the basis for the litigation has nothing to do with the MFC, I’m not so sure that the story itself is not about the club in a way.

The football world knew he was troubled when we drafted him. Clearly, we as a club “took risks” when we did so and there is mention in the article that “his early days with the Demons were characterised by disappearing acts and club-imposed suspensions”.

This raises the question whether we did enough to recognise why he had his issues and whether we could have done enough to help him. I’m not suggesting that the MFC should be blamed or included in this litigation but we shouldn’t shrink away from the fact that it was not so long ago that the football world wasn’t equipped to handle these issues in society - particularly insofar as it involved indigenous youth.

These days, AFL clubs have mentors and others working for them who might have been able to identify the issues Daniel Hayes harboured alone. 

I hope he finally gets justice and finds peace and enjoyment in the game that treated him so cruelly when he was a young kid.

Well put WJ. While the club obviously isn’t responsible for what happened to Daniel prior to his coming to the club, there is definitely a question of if we did enough while he was here and, while acknowledging it was a long time ago, what can we do better to support our players that might have this type of issue in the future?

2 hours ago, Nasher said:

It’s a terrible headline but a legitimate issue that deserves some focus. I recommend reading the ABC article as linked above that goes in to the specifics.
 

I hope Daniel is able to get the help he needs.

Surely that headline is something our club might have issue with.

  • Demonland changed the title to Shockingly poor article about an ex Demon Rookie
5 hours ago, Stretch Johnson said:

Surely that headline is something our club might have issue with.

Yep, a lot of people only look at the headlines and would be assuming it happened at the MFC.


The headline is an example of why the three letters "AFL" can cause confusion. In this instance, the media outlet is using "AFL" to mean "Australian rules football". It is not using it to mean the coach is part of the professional AFL competition. I am in no doubt, however, that the headline writer would have known full well that the use of "AFL", while technically correct would have attracted readers to the story assuming it meant the professional competition.

While I may be accused of cynicism in holding this view, I would argue that I am not being anywhere near as cynical as the media outlet.

  • 4 months later...

I just wanna say thank yous all for the msg my name is Daniel Hayes this story is about me please be careful what yous write please I really don't know where to start but I'm 35 5 kids live in East Gippsland MARK HEANEY RAPE ME on 5 on September at he's house when I was playing for EASTERN RANGES footy when I played bottom age in the TAC football everyone keeps saying did I speak to anybody [censored] I WISH I DID plays in my head everyday I was Scared and emotional and embarrassed to say something And not being with my mum and my family they live 4 hours away 😥 all I wanted is to play AFL that was my dream and when my dream came true when I got drafted to Melbourne in 07 rookie best moment of my life you would think 🤔 has anybody reach out ????? To answer your question is NO NOT EVEN A MSG OR PHONE CALL OR EMAIL FROM MELBOURNE FOOTY CLUB OR AFL makes me think y am I doing this my mental health is at its worst atm

 

G’day Daniel, the fact that you have spoken up now is not only courageous but also, an important act for other young people who don’t have a voice and who might be spared your experience in the future. If I can speak on their behalf, all I can say is “thank you” and though I can’t speak for the AFL, I can say “sorry” from the bottom of my heart for what you went through. 
 

Thanks whispering_jack 

1. Justice

2 .he needs to be in jail for the rest of he's life 

3. Be a Voice for everyone I don't want anybody to go thro what I did yeah  I know I'm going to STOP it from happening but somehow help in anyway so when it does happen again to some1 else the AFL CAN ACT FAST 

 

Edited by therealhayesy


Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

Featured Content

  • AFLW PREVIEW: Richmond

    Round four kicks off early Saturday afternoon at Casey Fields, as the mighty Narrm host the winless Richmond Tigers in the second week of Indigenous Round celebrations. With ideal footy conditions forecast—20 degrees, overcast skies, and a gentle breeze — expect a fast-paced contest. Narrm enters with momentum and a dangerous forward line, while Richmond is still searching for its first win. With key injuries on both sides and pride on the line, this clash promises plenty.

    • 2 replies
  • AFLW REPORT: Collingwood

    Expectations of a comfortable win for Narrm at Victoria Park quickly evaporated as the match turned into a tense nail-biter. After a confident start by the Demons, the Pies piled on pressure and forced red and blue supporters to hold their collective breath until after the final siren. In a frenetic, physical contest, it was Captain Kate’s clutch last quarter goal and a missed shot from Collingwood’s Grace Campbell after the siren which sealed a thrilling 4-point win. Finally, Narrm supporters could breathe easy.

    • 2 replies
  • CASEY: Williamstown

    The Casey Demons issued a strong statement to the remaining teams in the VFL race with a thumping 76-point victory in their Elimination Final against Williamstown. This was the sixth consecutive win for the Demons, who stormed into the finals from a long way back with scalps including two of the teams still in flag contention. Senior Coach Taylor Whitford would have been delighted with the manner in which his team opened its finals campaign with high impact after securing the lead early in the game when Jai Culley delivered a precise pass to a lead from Noah Yze, who scored his first of seven straight goals for the day. Yze kicked his second on the quarter time siren, by which time the Demons were already in control. The youngster repeated the dose in the second term as the Seagulls were reduced to mere

    • 0 replies
  • AFLW PREVIEW: Collingwood

    Narrm time isn’t a standard concept—it’s the time within the traditional lands of Narrm, the Woiwurrung name for Melbourne. Indigenous Round runs for rounds 3 and 4 and is a powerful platform to recognise the contributions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in sport, community, and Australian culture. This week, suburban footy returns to the infamous Victoria Park as the mighty Narrm take on the Collingwood Magpies at 1:05pm Narrm time, Sunday 31 August. Come along if you can.

    • 9 replies
  • AFLW REPORT: St. Kilda

    The Dees demolished the Saints in a comprehensive 74-pointshellacking.  We filled our boots with percentage — now a whopping 520.7% — and sit atop the AFLW ladder. Melbourne’s game plan is on fire, and the competition is officially on notice.

    • 4 replies
  • REPORT: Collingwood

    It was yet another disappointing outcome in a disappointing year, with Melbourne missing the finals for the second consecutive season. Indeed, it wasn’t even close, as the Demons' tally of seven wins was less than half the number required to rank among the top eight teams in the competition. When the dust of the game settled and supporters reflected on Melbourne's  six-point defeat at the hands of close game specialists Collingwood, Max Gawn's words about his team’s unfulfilled potential rang true … well, almost. 

    • 1 reply

Configure browser push notifications

Chrome (Android)
  1. Tap the lock icon next to the address bar.
  2. Tap Permissions → Notifications.
  3. Adjust your preference.
Chrome (Desktop)
  1. Click the padlock icon in the address bar.
  2. Select Site settings.
  3. Find Notifications and adjust your preference.