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He was a favorite of mine, but have to say im dissapointed in Aussie. After all the support we gave him, going up to the Tiwis on numerous occasions, being there for his Dads funeral, Josh Mahoneys trips up there with him, the medical support, and many chances we gave him to get his head and body right. Subsequently........he doesnt turn up to the first day of training, doesn't visit his Doctor, makes it difficult to contact him. Then he nominates for the draft!! ?? Very ordinary behavior and lack of respect for the club that tried to support him all the way.

Master, I have to say, I don't agree with you - but, then again, I have absolutely no idea what Neeld thinks of Prendergast. My instinct is along the lines of what most other posters have said though. That said, I loathe the personal attacks that some people simply cannot resist making on this site. It reflects poorly on them, both intellectually and emotionally. Most people that regularly post on this site appear to love this club - why attack them?! It's good that people have different opinions from time to time - the opposite of that retards progress and advancement.

in both of the 2010 and 2011 seasons we ranked 8th for attendances (avg, home and away) and 11th for memberships... bear in mind its 17 sides in 2011. The leauge avg. membership last year was 38,257, ours was 36,937. It's also worth noting it is pretty tight between 3rd and 11th, with an extra 3300 members we'd be 8th, and with an extra 8000 we'd be 3rd... and this is on the back of 6 pretty damn awful seasons in a row. so I don't get why we have this reputation as having poor support when the numbers clearly don't indicate it.

I've got this theory that Neeld doesn't rate Prendergast. I think its why he didn't trade Bate for a second round pick or delist anymore than the minimum players. Sure Bate is training well, but he's still got a lot of work to do to prove he's got an AFL future. I also think it was part of why he was decisively willing to trade for Clark. Now you can't sack a recruiter in October/November, it would just throw you into disarray, but I wouldn't be surprised if this was Predergast's last draft for the MFC. Also if he found himself replaced by someone, it could possibly be from Collingwood (although head recruiter Hine is contracted). Fatguts Phil Scully need not apply. Anyone else think I'm crazy? I just don't think the players we have recruited fit well with the players Neeld wants. That and the sweeping changes in coaching at the club make me think Neeld may as well start from basics with the recruiting. It certainly would have helped someone like Wallace at Richmond.

Gee, Jack Watts whored his support around... Hope that doesn't translate into playing career.

I'm prepared to let this pass through to the keeper but posters should be aware that our current policy does not support the making of jokes at other people's expanse er ... expense.

I think Mark Neeld fears the numbers 12 and 39 and that's why we traded for Clark and didn't trade Bate.

And of course one may add that from his three picks from 33 onwards last year Prendergast picked at least 2 players (Howe and McDonald T) who Neeld may well feel contented at the moment

I agree with the fact that Prendergast would have been following Bayleys instructions and they may now be different under Neeld. Neeld took over the list knowing what was there and surley made some undertaking to the Board that he could take that list deep into September, so the pressure is on him and his new coaches to deliver on that. It will be Prendergasts job to introduce new players that fill what Neeld believes are the gaps. No way can Neeld say that Prenergast is retrospectively responsible for recruiting players that HE doesn't like! What makes it tougher is that this is a weak draft and we don't enter it until pick 36. This will require some really creative drafting.

Barry told him to shut up shop till we recruit him at 54?

Yes, I think you're crazy.

What would happen is you take the MCG capacity (100K) minus MCC reserve (22K?) minus AFL members reserve (22K?) and the Pies can be left with the rest as ticketed members for their home games. There is no obligation to leave seats open for opposition/away fans and they will make more money off fully ticketed memberships (like Freo/WCE). Essendon are limited in their memberships due to playing at Docklands which has a capacity of 50K. As mentioned some of those 70K members are 3 game members (and pet members?) The best way to look at it then in terms of who benefits most from their memberships is revenue from memberships. And I'd say Collingwood are still a long way in front. The Pies made $3.8 million profit this year. The Hawks have made ~$15 million profit since about 2007. The Pies had a turnover of $75 million this year (compared to our $40 million.) This is what we are up against and why we need to continue to improve and implement strategies to increase our revenue through memberships, sponsorships, merchandise, functions etc and whatever other means we can (winning some prizemoney wouldn't hurt either).

Must say I am amazed to hear the description of Tom Mc training, as I thought he had ability, but looked very unco to me in his running. Clearly I was wrong or he has improved.

Went to training this morning and stayed for almost two hours. It was a really interesting session considering who was doing what. There were two separate groups - the main group - and I counted 26 players in this group. The other group was a strange mixture of rehab people and late starters like Jurrah. Colin Sylvia walked about 10 laps before heading inside. Luke Tapscott walked a lot of laps with a young member of the fitness staff. Jordie McKenzie jogged a heap of laps. James Strauss (who appeared for only 20 mins or so) and McKenzie did a light kicking drill together, about half way through the training session. Neil Craig was with them and he was correcting thier kicking actions. Although they were only 20 metres apart, Craig appeared to be making them focus really hard on a specific kicking method. Jack Trengove, Mark Jamar and Dan Nicholson made a small group of their own that did not sem to attach to the rehab group or main group. They did some tap work with Jamar, a bit of lap running, and maybe 1 or 2 sprints, but nothing too taxing. Trengove looks to have really bulked up in upper body and legs. His chest and biceps are becoming strong and a bit chiselled. The Rehab Group It was difficult to keep tabs on this group because they kept on splitting up into mix 'n match groups and doing little drills in small, ever changing groups. Lucas Cook, Aaron Davey, Mitch Clark, Michael Evans, Ricky Petterd, Neville Jetta, Liam Jurrah, and about three others who had left by the time I began watching this group. About five of the fitness guys were with this group and had them doing approx. 100m run throughs, but they were paying particular attention to the running action. Petterd and Jetta in particular were given some specific coaching on this and Cook was given the same a bit later on. Davey, Clark and Jurrah were doing a change of direction drill that was really intense and exhausting. Davey was really focused. Clark and Jurrah seemed to coast a bit but were getting stuck in by half way through. The Main Group Glad I am not an AFL footballer being coached by this group. Repeated gut running in pairs. 1 x 300 m sprint 4 x 100 m sprint 1 x 300 m sprint 4 x 100 m sprint. Interestingly, they put Cale Morton with Jeremy Howe. Howe is clearly athletic and his running action and pace rarely changed over the 10 sprints. By the sixth sprint, Morton began to drop off and Jade Rawlings demanded that he stay on Howe's shoulder. To Morton's credit, in the last 2 sprints he busted his gut and did stay with Howe. I have to give it to him for sticking it out. Morton looks as though his body has developed but his arms are still muppet thin. Nathan Jones, Clint Bartram, Howe and James Frawley seemed to be able to keep up the intensity the best. Jared Rivers was finding it tough going with Frawley. Jamie Bennell has a lot of work to do. He was running with Bartram whose mental strength is telling when exhausted. In the last four sprints or so Bennell was dropping off approx. ten metres and some coaches were driving him to catch up. Sam Blease and Jordan Gysberts ran together, and in the last two sprints, one of the fitness guys ran with them making them try and catch the team in front. Blease has a sprint a bit like Travis Johnstone. A really long stride and he seems to be coasting but he is actually very quick. Bartram, Jones and Howe were the standouts. After the running, they had a five minute break, changed into footy boots and did some kicking/handballing drills. Simple stuff really. The interesting bit was after those drills, the 26 main group players divided in to two teams and practiced a match-like drill. To me it looked like Jade Rawlings was in charge and they were practicing how to get the ball out of defence through an opposition forward press. Our defenders would start with it about 25m out from goal and were not allowed to take it out of the corridor. First, the player who began with the ball would, each time, try and beat an opponent one-on-one. Second, they were instructed to use a pattern of one handball, one kick, one handball, one kick etc... to bring it out through half-back. Third, the midfield would pour down into this defensive zone, and a player would eventually kick it long to leading forwards who had lots of space created by the midfielders pressing into our defensive 50. I hope that is as clear in typing as it is in my mind! I watched a fair bit of the Dees training last pre-season and there are some clear differences. The number of repeat sprints is higher. A lot of clear, one-on-one specific coaching about the minute details of skill. Neil Craig might be the instigator here. Misson has very clear instructions for the warm up session. The training looks more tailored. The rehab group were focusing on running action, changing of direction, short step change of direction etc. and this went on for a lot longer than it did with Bailey. Go Dees.

You seem to be missing an R.

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!

Phil Scully is fast becoming the Damir Dokic of the AFL. These situations rarely work out well for the sportsperson, hopefully this case is no exception.

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.

Might get the nick name "Billy Ray"?