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No surprise here except for the fact that the GWS offer was made in November 2010 and not October 2010 which was when the AFL's window allowing contact with uncontracted players was still open. The AFL has already connected Phil Scully's employment at GWS with son Tom's playing contract. The fact that the offer was made outside the allowable window suggests to me that GWS breached the AFL's rules. Contact could be made in October - this offer was made in November. The AFL claims that integrity plays an important role in how it and it's member clubs operate. It should at least investigate this latest revelation and, if GWS breached its rules, apply appropriate sanctions. In 2002, the AFL investigated Carlton for committing salary cap breaches on the eve of the national draft and imposed heavy sanctions which included removal of the club's high draft picks. Earlier, in the wake of the breach of salary cap rules by Melbourne, the AFL awarded Fremantle an early first round selection supposedly to compensate the Dockers for losing Jeff White. I think an appropriate sanction here would be to strip GWS of one of its top three draft picks and award it to Melbourne to compensate it for the obvious subterfuge and lies that went on in the 12 months after the GWS approach was first made to the Scully camp. Of course it's not likely to happen because, as I've indicated many times, the AFL is heavily conflicted on this issue.

We got the same as Geelong got for Ablett. We won't get more than that. Time to move on.

A couple of words of warning: the mods have made it clear that no fat jokes about Phil Scully are allowed as they are in bad taste (pity because I heard a beauty and I have to respect the majority ruling on this); this thread might be locked once the new revelations from Michael Warner are published this evening (the no fat jokes about Phil Scully rule will continue to apply until the mods rule otherwise or he loses 25kg, whichever shall be the sooner).

May I ask what the Scully's has to do with Training on Monday? Take the Scully talk somewhere else. Enough about the Scully's, sick to death about it!

Well it was all on show at draft day 2009 - if you looked that is - check out the far left of photo - notice anything?

Over it. $ was never a Melbourne footballer. We traded a no 1 pick for 2 first rounders and saved a lot of cash in the process. Story ends there as far as I am concerned.

I heard it was scully snr and not meatloaf singing at the afl Grand final

Couldn't give a rats about scully and his bogan family. But this stuff is the best entertainment you could hope for to fill in the weeks before the draft. Warner implied there is plenty yet to come....bring it on!

I actually just re-read the HUN article. I don't think Neeld was harsh at all. He is merely challenging a group of AFL elite players, coaches and ultimately himself. As he has said before "i only get one chance at this job" He wants to give it his absolute best shot. If the playing group don't measure up Neeld will go, before the playing group, as what happened to Dean Bailey found out.

http://www.sen.com.au/audioplayer/Audio/Jade-Rawlings/3485

FWIW (and I'm going to be ridiculed for this), I actually think Jones could be as good as or at least a very similar type of player to Dane Swan. I don't think he's a Chapman. If anyone ever watches Dane Swan play, he runs his guts out and gets some looses possessions, he has a strong body and gets stuck into tight situations, grabs the hard ball and then gets the ball out in any way possible. He's not a pretty player. A lot of his 30+ possessions a game are actually just rushed kicks out of packs to push the ball forwards. Jones has been guilty in the past of trying to take too many players on than he should. But he is maturing. He has a strong body, knows how to get the ball, has reasonable skills when he actually has a target to hit and has been developing a good tank to cover the ground needed to get the loose ball. His finishing has steadily improved. He will now hopefully have a better system to work within with Neeld as coach. Swan became a top footballer at about the age of 25. Until then he was middle rung. I absolutely believe that Jones has the time and ability to turn himself into a Swan-esque type of footballer. He just needs to mature. Learn when to get a quick ugly kick off out of congestion, or try to finesse. I think in time he could become a star. Now I await my criticism...

Good insight from Rawlings of what is currently happening at the Dees.He stated that it was very serious around the place getting into the start of pre season training.He said he was offered another role in Victoria( Ox stated Collingwood))whom he knocked back to join Mark Neeld He said he was extremely impressed with Neeld's philosophy to take the club forward. He said the club was currently challenging the players to succeed.With regards to fitness he said certain players were in the elite level and felt that others were not up to it at this stage.Seen the list as being very talented and especially his group the back line. Stated they had a very different game plan to implement requiring players to being very versatile.Game plan will be structured.In closing the interviewers concluded he was very impressive and the Dees had obtained one of the strongest coaching panels around.

Thanks s-t-i-n-g-a , I hadn't actually seen the whole of this . Q. " So how do you resist that kind of money ? " Tom " Well it all goes back to your values........." Hmmm ..... He actually said it himself. Enough said .

groan........do you mean we have to do it all again someday? How many pages was it? I believe in _ _ _ _ _ _ (fill in the blanks)

Who is to say they didn't explore the likes of Swan, etc...? Many current stars would have been stitched up long ago...GWS will tell us their focus was young potential stars. (Ward and Palmer aren't that 18/19 yo young). Perhaps what we've seen is who was left or who nibbled at the $ bait. And why the AFL granted GWS a two year window considering the difficulty in chasing.....

Ha Ha ...so sorry ..lol i meant Dustin Hoffman....

I doubt there will be any Ablett style back slapping with T$. Gary Ablett gave his all for Geelong won Premierships, should have won a Norm Smith. He still loves Geelong but needed to get out for a while. T$ couldn't wait to run away from the MFC. i doubt he will play round 13 next year (i hope he does) but he may fear for his life. At some stage he has to confront what he & his family have done to both the MFC & the supporters who helped pay his initial contract.

I don't think there's need for that - these guys did this in good faith. Maybe apologies are warranted to club legends like Schwarz who copped a bit of a pasting by some, but we shouldn't let the $cumbag tear the club apart with supporters having a go at each other about who was right and who believed him. I believed him up until about 1/2-3/4 of the way through the year because I wanted him to stay & in the absence of evidence what other choice as a supporter of the club did I have? We should move on in supporting the club and the players and new coaches/FD who have chosen to stay on and display their loyalty, guys like JT, Chippa, Gawn, Tappy etc instead of wasting our energy fighting amongst ourselves over who was right or wrong.

I get the feeling that it won't be just the players at our club that will be giving it to him on this. I get the feeling that the way this has unfolded will see him copping a mouthful from players from most teams barring GWS themselves. The way this deal was done has sent shock waves throughout the competition, not just the Dees.

Whether he signed the contract in 2010/2009 or not is no irrelevant because this proves that he is a liar who lied to the club, supporters and media in his press conference in March 2011 stating that no approach had been made to him, his manager or his family. What I want to see is the players get stuck into him like never before in Round 13 and every time we wplay them for the rest of his career. I don't want to see any of the backslapping crap the Cats had with Ablett when they played GC this year. Punish the little ****.

Wrong ? How could rpfc be wrong back then not knowing then what we might know now ? It's all nice n' neat with you and hindsight. I think you and others should move on. But I doubt that will ever be the case until some time after our club uses those two compo picks.

Footy is lies.

I love the way people are wailing as if this is a surprise or changes anything. It's all a bit "more of the same" now. I reached my limit of surprise or care ages ago. More than anything now I just feel sorry for Jelena Scully.

"Sad" is the main one that comes to mind.

As much as I find this whole saga distasteful and the feeling we've all been conned - club and supporter alike, the reality is that the culture of the AFL does not allow for any player to announce to the world they are leaving for greener pastures before or during a season. It happens in rugby and we all find it strange that a player can play alongside his teammates and before his fans with everyone knowing and accepting that he won't be there for the following season. In the AFL all these announcements are pretty much made after a player's or club's season is completed, be it after home and away or finals. Leon Davis flagged some possible intent to return to the west for family reasons coming off his best year while Collingwood's season was still alive, but he is 30, most of career well behind him, and this was perhaps viewed as more of a swansong. So what was Tom Scully to do? The upshot of any pre-season 2011 honesty would have been what - rot in hell playing for Casey (most would have been happy with that I'm sure), play for the seniors if picked and be booed by his own "fans" (placing the club in an awkward position as to whether to play him at all), sit the season out on full pay (getting money for nothing would grate even more) or get his knee fixed for the benefit of GWS (under some false injury pretext when he was clearly able to play games)? Maybe the scenario that played out was the only one that could have played out - and while he, his dad, and GWS will forever be stained with what has transpired, until or unless the culture shift aligns itself to that of the ARL (and I hope it never does), then this will likely happen again, particularly while new fledgling clubs are given an open cheque book to entice away young players who will only have $$ signs in their eyes. My lingering question still remains - did the MFC really know and just kept up public appearances of denial because it seemed the only way at the time? And for what it's worth I wouldn't have blamed them for doing so - a very difficult situation with no opportunity for a win-win, particularly if there was always an opportunity for Scully to withdraw from the initial Heads Of Agreement at any time until the end of Season 2011. Personally I think the club has come out of this really well, both from a PR point of view, as well as the 2 compensation picks to be accessed at our choosing, over a guy who has a dodgy knee, is maybe severely overrated on what we have seen to date and who clearly didn't want to be here once he saw the size of the pay cheque on offer. He gets the money and we get to try again with two first round picks under a new regime of coaches - now that is a win-win - and from purely a football point of view, we win hands down!

Shock , Horror , Yawn, The truth will out. Whole lot couldnt lie straight in a bed if they tried !!! Its nice that so many are finally joining the dots Is anyone really surprised....really ? Well rid of this ilk of refuse.

Puts a whole new meaning on the word 'courageous'

There is absolutely no moral integrity in what occurred in anything that occurred. No revelation would surprise me except that his mum hasn't signed on as well. MFC is the winner out of this. Integrity intact, acted in good faith, supported its player, offered a sensible reasonable contract for what he deserved. It's a sad, pathetic sordid tale.

Yeah, but the chances of that happening with picks around the early-late teens is very slim. Thank christ character never came into the calculation of compensation, as we would've been lucky to get a pick within the top 100.

Nah i want a gun player myself. This whole $cully saga was a waste of time. No wonder Vlad refused to mention the word Tanking. He knew what was unfolding.

Well if it wasn't already the stench that wont go away for the AFL.... This is the GWS gift to the AFL that keeps on giving. What an embarrassment...the so called system has been a joke. Tom I don't blame you. You are a kid following your father. Phil I do blame you...you know better, you and your family will forever be remembered with this stigma of money hungry liars.... As for GWS....absolutely out of line. Should be sanctioned by the AFL.

What a lying [censored]. Sorry Tom, figured I could look at a guy my own age in that position and think that you'd agonise over making the choice, but no, your choice was made over a year ago without even a whimper, then you had the gall to lie to me and every single other Melbourne supporter about it. You jackass. Need to make sign regarding Phil and consumption of meat pies for GWS game...

Bogans.

If were talking Jurrah then he will have to work on his 'consistent' efforts in regard defensive pressure. He knows how to do it all but in all honesty he doesn't give it for 100 mins.. But hes far from alone. most of the team doesnt and thats the essential element Neeld will address. Players will need to play at 100% for 100% of the game or give it their very very best impersonation of such. Neeld wont accept players professing to give their all, he will only accept them doing it. One simple rule for all.

Im sure everyone will be instructed as to whats expected of the team , and of them as individuals. Roles will be described and criteria of acceptance explained. At the moment all players are at the exact same point of their new Melbourne experience. I.e No one has played a game under Neeld yet. Players now all ...ALL, have to earn their spots. They will have to work just as hard if not harder to keep them as efforts and outcomes are better understood. Liam, just to suggest one, will not be exempt. No one will. A new day has dawned and some will see the sun and smile at the chance, others will wilt in the heat. Its about a team , not individuals.....that era is over

I went today - first time ever... The running session was brutal. Believe me I know - I used to be a 400m runner. Punishing session. Observations on the running: Trengove did really well. He's not a natural runner, but just gutsed his way in front of Bail on every rep. That kid has something inside him - I think it's captaincy material. Bail was good too, as was Jones. Howe was excellent, he looks the most like a track athlete out of anyone at the club. Martin has an inefficient running style but is so bloody strong and wilful that he easily makes up for it. Gysberts needs a heap of work. He is gutsy though. He was absolutely farked half way through the session but continued to push himself. He is going to improve out of sight under this new regime. There were back slaps and bum taps flying all over the place between the rep 300s. Trengove and Nicholson (who also ran very well) were big talkers. The groups: Forwards: Watts, Martin, Dunn, Howe (who has endurance and speed that I think might belong on a wing), one of the Mc's (I can never remember them all - not Joel or Jordy though). Rehab: Clark, Davey, Grimes, Jordy Mc, Tappy, Gawn, Fitzy, Neville Mids: BATE!!! Gysberts, Trengove, Bartram (ran well too), Bail, Beamer, Jones Backs: Other side of the ground - so presumably the rest. The non-playing staff: Neeld - spent most of the time where players were running having a kick of the footy with someone really short who I did not know. Once the ball exercises started though, he was all over them like a rash. Physically providing contests (to an extent), telling them to move move move, etc. Hands on coach. I like. Misson - extremely organised and very clear to the players on what's required. Not hard-assed verbally; he let his program do the talking. Garry Lyon - laconic, confident, happy, wearing thongs (on feet). Got around to a few supporters for a quick chat to each. In quick chat to me seemed happy we have the right things going on at the club, and aren't the boys working hard?! Royal - merciless in the handball skill game. Told the group as a whole that some of the work they were doing was [censored]. Gave good instruction though. All in all - enjoyed watching my first training session. We're going to have a different team to watch. I'm Big Kev! I'm a bit bored now. Questions welcome, but it was a lot to take in.

Yes I agree that we all hate Sheedy and he stole one of our players and often he talks rubbish. But the idea has some merit. As the one of the first team to host a match in China this can have it advantages. China has a lot of 2 things people and money either one of those MFC could utilise. Currently AFL has little or no exposure as others have stated but that's not a reason by itself to not try and gain some ground in China. The country at its last census has 1.3 Billion people even if you got 1% interested in or talking about or discussing AFL and in particular MFC that is a potential market of 13 million people. Look yes 1% is probably a high target but 0.2% interest in a country that size still means 2.6 Million people. So if all people lnow about AFL for the first few years is MFC and potentially its merchandise then how can that be bad for the financial coffers of our club. A five year investment may have some value. Just Saying...

I finish school next week and I will make sure that I can go to as many pre-season trainings as possible. By Monday 29th November I will be giving my own recollection and reports on the trainings that I go to. Hopefully its not as boring as the first one of the year a few weeks back!, training that is.

I'm sorry, but this is the biggest unsubstantiated load of rubbish I have read on Demonland in a very long time, and that is saying something.

While what you've said is true, I (and others) feel that Nathan Jones has improved in all the areas you've mentioned every year since he was drafted. Continual improvement is the key to success, IMO.

He's only been at the club for 2 months, and already he hates our fitness levels. Jeeeeeees!! Wait till he sees our footy skills!!!!

I come from the simpleton's stance of footy. Is he any bloody good ? Thats the one and only criteria, everything else is just something to be worked out.