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I can only take so much of this abuse of "a fine young man".About 6 years more will do-if the knee holds up that long .

Actually , Rudi took credit for what was a quirk of free contraception and legal abortion in NYC during the 70's that resulted in less unwanted kids and less crime. The "broken window" policy and ZT policy lead to a huge prison system .What the world needs is population control-and an alarm clock for Sammy .

Good call. This sends a message to the entire team, that part of being "professional" means being punctual, as well. It should also send a very positive message to us long suffering followers, that this team (well at least the management) plans to deliver. I find it strange some posters here seem to be making excuses for him as though he was just some kid still learning his trade in the junior leagues. He's playing football at the highest level. That requires discipline and planning. Failure or "we tried" is no longer an option

We at Demonland have thought long and hard about when is the appropriate time to put an end to the Voldemort threads and have come up with June 24, 2012 to enable us to come to closure with this person and his family. Anything to do with him will be finished, kaput, over after we give GWS a flogging in Round 13 including the thread dedicated to anything but the little creep him. That still leaves us with 122 days to bag the living suitcases out of the Little Lord and co. PS: if I forget, could someone please remind me of the date?

I think we have less deadwood in our list now after the pruning of the last three years. I think we'd only need to draft 3-4 kids in the 2012 draft, we have Viney, mid first round concession (9) and we trade our second Concession (13) and our 2nd round pick (31) for Gaff (or equivalent) then use our 3rd round pick (49) to gamble on a smokie/dev player.

I think people are arguing that 2 compo picks will be the end point not the start. No point saying what is he gonna cost, and saying what you want him for ideally, ideally yes we would get him for 1 compo pick, but i think to most he is far more valuable than that.

at the peak of the jack watts bashing from a few years back, i made a point by buying his badge and pinning it to my scarfe with pride to which i copped much jesting. ill be at etihad next saturday night and although he will not be in attendance i will be purchasing a cale badge and plonking that right next to jacky boy for good luck. i think i have started a tradition. does lucas cook have a badge yet?

Sanctioned for turning up late to meeting. Cripes. http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/7415/newsid/129381/default.aspx

Sam only has him self to blame. Neeld made it clear to all that he expected "an elite work ethic and elite compliance"

Yeah, we saw where "keeping the players happy" got us last year. Maybe you'd rather we brought back Bailey? Sam isn't being criticised here for not being perfect, he's being criticised for not doing what the team and club required of him. Discipline, structure, and doing what you're supposed to starts off the field.

Me thinks if Morton is ever going to be hard at the footy, he'll do it under neeld. If not, you'd have to say his days at Melbourne are over.

To the contrary, the above comparison doesn't in fact say anything about the respective draft depths. At all. It's far too small a sample. What it does say though, is that the order in which players are picked in the national draft doesn't necessarily reflect the order at which they should have been picked (ie, it's speculative). In the case you've highlighted above - time has shown that Judd should have been picked higher than pick 3 ; Masten lower. What follows from the above comparison is that Gaff, a proven pick 4 with a season under his belt, is a lot more valuable (and a lot less speculative) than spending picks 13 and 15 on two wholly unproven kids who may not even get a game in the seniors. In fact, I doubt WCE would be particularly impressed with an offer of pick 4 in this year's draft for Gaff, let alone some low teen pick. Why? Because Gaff's shown himself worthy of being pick 4. And there's value in that. And that's why no club would trade both compo picks for a Masten if push came to shove, but all most definitely would for a Judd. This is not a game of bingo - we're actually talking about parting with low end first round picks we received for ONE player to try and secure an equivalent player to the ONE player we lost. Your argument, to my mind, just doesn't stack up.

Do you mind if I ask. How do you know that the A-grade 'prospects' will be gone by then? Have you done your phantom drafts? Who are your Picks 10 and 13 making the assumption we do finish where you expect us to finish?

I was half an hour late once when some idiot rammed my car at an intersection. I'd call that a factor beyond my control. I actually think this is a pretty decent call by the PTB. It's not a massive sanction to miss a game of sillyball in the first week of NAB cup, but it sends a clear message to the players that there is going to be a hard line taken on discipline.

Yep i could just see Neeld accepting that excuse. Just like the dog ate my homework. Tough [censored]. It is your job to be there on time. Take measures to ensure you never miss an alarm, or get up in time or allow enough travel time. It's called being professional.

If they make a good offer to Cloke he will go. I was frantically searching ( without luck) for an interview I vividly remember him doing for the papers after he re-signed last time around. It was very frank and revealing - loyalty wasnt high on his priority list. 1/ Essendon got into him big time 2/ He said players had to look after their own interests 3/ ( the most revealing comment) - In the end the difference between the Essendon and Collingwood offer was not big enough to warrant a move Unless he has had a change in thinking, if GWS throw big money at Cloke that the Pies cant get close to, he will go.

That's no accident Utah. That's the curse of the female gender

Every player is now aware of what is expected. Good.

Rudi Guillaini cleaned up New York with ZERO TOLERANCE. He was berated by the bleeding hearts for his tough stand but the results are there for all to see. Is Mark Neeld our Rudi? ZERO TOLERANCE, guys - get used to it. Pity - I was looking forward to seeing Sam in his new forward role, but I expect he is a lot more disappointed than any of us here. Let it hurt, then learn from it.

I thought we were all still angry about 186? I want full committment from these 'never-do-wells' and I don't care who you are. I want improvement from every one and higher standards for all. Until I see some actual Demons running around and playing with heart it's schadenfreude for me everytime a MFC player is punished or whipped on the track.

Yes, it let every other player get there on time but stopped Sam at every intersection. I like it.

One compo pick and a player is the logical way to go, even if they were to decline. Gaff isn't a superstar. He has played one season if football. How do you know how good he will become or even is? He was drafted at number 4 in a fairly shallow draft. We have a super draft coming up, (so the experts say) and we have the opportunity of picking up two fantastic players. Why in the hell would we give away two first round compo's for a first year player who has hardly set the world on fire? Logic? You are asking for logic? You are the no brainer sister.

Well done on backing the players demonoid. Just in general and not directed at specific individual, ......can we do away with allegations of "player bashing". It has a similar application on a debate as labelling someone a "racist". None of that goes on as its against the CoC and all Mods and the Site Owners are quick prevent any such attacks should they occur. If do feel there is a case of unwarranted player attack then use the report button on the thread There is nothing wrong with constructive criticism of a player's performance. Players and officials from all Clubs should be respected but are not immune to fair and reasonable assessment and judgement on the Boards.

It is disappointing as I was also looking forward to seeing what Cale had to offer after a long pre season under a new coaching group. I just hope by seasons end, people won't be using this little two week lay off as another 'injury interrupted pre season.' Two weeks is nothing, so we shall see how much he has improved in the early rounds!

Yep so true, If we can get one of the best midfield prospects which Gaff is from the last 3 drafts then i would be stoked. These compo picks could be great if we land 2 Gysberts at best imo but then we will be picking up 3 good mids. Gaff and Viney could be 2 great mids which is the difference.

Jordie I highly doubt that. You would have to be extremely stupid to allow that to happen if you were WC. If Gaff gives a clear indication he wanted to head home WC will have to pull the trigger just like Brisbane had to with Clark and Adelaide with Gunston. Smoke and mirrors can scare the potential suitors all they want by saying we'll let him go in the PSD but a football department that let a pick 4 leave after 2 years for free is absolutely brainless. If he wants to leave, it won't take 2 first round picks. It'll just take smart negotiating and a very steady hand to not pull the trigger or call their bluff.

Sepoy should race BC, but only if they both carry 65kg.

As long as the Scully discussion stays in this thread and stays (reasonably) nice there's no problems with it continuing IMO.

While the concession picks were the silver lining of the dark cloud of Tom's departure from Melb, being able to enjoy 2012 without fear and loathing about losing a player is another. GWS stirring the pot at Collingwood and Essendon this season will also add a pleasant side note to the footy this year as well.

Bob, who died and made you classroom monitor?? Invoking 'freedom of speech' whilst pressing the mods to shut a thread down so others can't exercise theirs goes beyond irony into the realm inanity. The Tom Scully Affair and greater GW$/AFL saga from which it/he was spawned will remain a topic of interest among many Demon fans for a good while yet. Get used to it!

with some of the stuff that gets 'moderated' around here, I find it appalling that apparently there is no problem with using the site as a vessel to personally denigrate one of our finest players, whom by all accounts is a fantastic bloke also. If it makes you feel better about yourself because he gets to play footy and you don't, that's your problem. Poor form, threadmaker.

I've said it before and I'll say it again he reminds me of Brendan Goddard in almost everything he does. Brendan's first 4 years he was highly criticized for his lack of effort and attack on the ball although he showed glimpses of sublime skills and a smart footy brain. Now days Brendan can play almost every position on the ground and is an absolute elite match winner. Our number one draft pick is almost a mirror image IMO a little taller but could potentially play a number of positions and have the ability to be a top player with match winning ability. Time will tell but I think he looks the goods more then likely 2013 or 2014 he will start to dominate games

We are not holding two "very, very powerful bargain chips." They're just not. Individually they may facilitate a trade for a good kid, but together they might get us a HWFUA type talent - the true value of these picks is together. We have one trade week to dangle both in front of a club to get a Gaff or a Rohan or a Shuey or any other very talented Victorian we can coax home. Otherwise we can settle for a decent kid in the draft that might be very good. But no promises.

I'd be interested to see which of the 3 get the whole year spots, i'm tipping magner and couch because i think nicho could work on his disposal?

The GWS/GC situation is unique. We got 2 1st round picks for Scully based purely on his contract $s. If Scully had wanted to leave and go to another club in a "normal" trade, I imagine we would have got a 1st rounder and a player. Remember, we got Clark for just a 1st rounder (12?). Only an established super star would be worth 2 1st rounders; Gaff is a long way from that (as is/was Scully)

Robbo, with far far more common sense, accountability, team orientation and defensive skills and attitude. Could be a really big thing, and a huge bargain. Could be a mid, or a decent tall fast marking forward.

Martin IMO is and has always been our best Utility option and in our best 22 Neeld has recruited a few more that could fill that role but until i see them play Martin is the man I dont like Utility players used as Ruckman except for the occassional boundary throw in when the main ruckman is out of position I also like him playing forward more than defence and is a perfect fit to replace a key forward having a breather It will be interesting to see what plans Neeld has for Stef IMO he is really hard to match up on so putting him forward could damage the opposition on the scoreboard I think Martin could go to another level in 2012

I dont think anyone has made that statement in this thread on Gys You have only said in 100 words or more what most have said. FWIW, he is 20yo and played only 18 games in 2 years. In that time he was managed to scoop 2 Rising Star nominations from few appearances. I think criticism of his kicking is a little pre mature as a young kid in an overwhelmed midfield finds his feet. There is enough to be excited about with this player as he matures.