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I'm baffled that supporters think we should drop him now. He is less likely to end up in jail now, after so many mixed evidence, than he was before we heard from all the witnesses. We sign him up for a year, support him through this, and worry about the rest as it happens. You don't let someone so talented just slip by. He is a Melbourne player, and he gets our support. I, and I'm sure the rest of the people at the club, believe he is innocent. To demote him or delist him, suggests otherwise. There are so many rubbish players on our list, it's not like we are struggling to clear the list.

Interesting bit of evidence from a passenger in the van Basil Jurrah arrived in with 8 mates. The vans are called "troop carriers" by the locals. The witness said that in the van were nulla nullas, machetes and other weapons. Contrast that with Basil's evidence of he came with three mates unarmed to visit a cousin. Also he had been drinking for 12 hours when the incident occurred. Contrast that again with evidence of two of the other victims who said Basil was armed with a machete, was the instigator, that Liam didn't hit them and that he acted in self defence in relation to Basil. Then this last bit of important news that a co accused will plead guilty to the serious charge that Liam has been charged with. Lastly we have only heard from the Prosecution side so far as the Defence don't run their case at Committal and to date the prosecution case is a shambles. Also the Magistrate said there was some evidence to send him to trial which is not the test. The test is " is the evidence capable of leading to a conviction" which is based on "beyond reasonable doubt". The Defence QC is entitled to feel extremely confident. Liam will not be delisted.

I'm in Melbourne for work next week. Was planning on flying in mid arvo and meeting some mates at Carlton v Richmond. About a month I decided to brave a 6:05am Saturday flight out of Perth so I'd be in Melbourne in time to get to Etihad. So I'm getting up at 4:15am, when it will be about 1 degree, to cab it to the airport for a 4 hour flight. all to see a game against a team we can't beat at the best of times at a stadium we can never win at. Clearly, I'm a [censored].

I reckon this is the furthest from the mark rpfc has ever been on any issue in his time on Demonland. I'd be absolutely staggered if Jurrah wasn't supported and re-signed. Staggered.

The age old quibble about which ordinary player is better than which other ordinary player. As Ben Hur said in another thread: chicken pox or measles? I'll take none thanks.

Geez I thought you meant Wona. Hang on a minute.........

First full off-season on Demonland, right?

Petterd has had a number of injuries which have impacted his ability to string games together. Obviously that makes it difficult to show any consistent form or improvement. The real question I have is his attitude. Watching him at Casey (or the the G) he just doesn't seem to be enjoying his football. Is it a clash with Neeld and Co.? Is he struggling to get his head around the training demands? We'll probably never know.

Cook is nowhere near AFL ready,he can't dominate VFL defenders yet. He'd get mauled against AFL defenders that would run off him all day and he doesn't have the tank to go with them. He's not a Cameron/Patton that is good enough to play straight away,maybe he'll never be good enough.

His kicking has gotten worse and he is a one way player. The 13 tackle game was the exception, not the rule, for Petterd's defensive efforts. His main strength is marking inside 50 and he seems to be caught up the ground a lot these days which makes him pretty much useless.

Morton won't be playing at all this weekend. He's been spotted heading to Splendour In The Grass: That might explain his consistent underperforming ...

Haha. I'm sure I can find a chick to let me use her Carlton scarf as a bat rag, er I mean to keep me warm!

Back on topic please. We have a long servant of the club about to embark on his 250th game in a couple of days time. It will be a while before the next Melbourne player achieves a 250 game milestone for MFC. I'll say it will be Jones in approx. 5 years time ! Such is our list.

A big NO for me NEXT

Casey is too far for him to travel isn't it??

1: Friday on my mind 2: Saturday Night Fever 3: Sunday Bloody Sunday 4: I Dont Like Mondays To be revised when we start to win again.

Reckon Suicide Note (Pt. 1 and Pt. 2) are more apt

Move on people. Trengove is slow enough. We don't need another.

If Carlton are prepared to let him go for nearly nothing, to make salary cap room for their asault on Cloke or other players, I would look at him. He is their best player over the last month.

Can it get much more depressing?

Let's get Bruce, Ooze and Cheney back as well! As the Blues Bros said... we're getting the band back together.

Yep absolute no brainer, anyone that cannot see our midfield needs being adressed with these great early picks has little vision!! Trade some dead wood, make some more salary cap room if needed and if we are in the position to get a Premiership CHF Then why wouldn't you? If I was a defender I'd be having nightmares about playing in a backline against Clark and Cloke. Add a fit Jurrah, an improving Howe, grab a crumber with another pick, add Swingman Watts into the forward line and Bingo ... your playing stocks increase exponentially! so does your potential to kick swags of goals, something we don't do enough off! I believe we would be highly negligent to not throw the Southern Stand containing buckloads of cash at Cloke Lets go get him! Now!

I would find myself barracking for the club, even if I didn't want to, there is no other option. But I often get frustrated with the club to the point of abandoning them, I have for 30 years, but I can never leave the Dees. I liken them to the missus, I stay with her hoping she'll oneday put out.

It's worth pointing out that before he got his wrist injury last year he was for the most part very injury free. The wrist was thought be repaired but something went wrong. No fault of his own, ironically if there hadn't been that set back he might not be in this mess. Then the knee injury was an unlucky impact injury that just happens in football. This alleged assault issue is the first major problem we've had with Liam, albeit this is an incredibly serious issue. All that aside if he is injury free he is one of our key players, and he hasn't had soft tissue problems so we just need luck on that side. The court appearance will sort itself out, guilty or not. So I certainly don't agree with you.

Why would MFC not presume innocence, and re-sign our most exciting player? Do we imagine, after that apparent shambles of prosecution testimony, that Liam's legal counsel have quietly told the club to expect a conviction? His injuries do not appear to be career-threatening, and he is in his prime. The nearest to an unstoppable match-winner that we have. With what story would the club explain discarding him now? Should we get rid of Grimes too - we can imagine he may get injured....? And maybe - who knows what? Look what's happened to Clark, and all that money thrown at him. Come on Demons, stop exposing us to all these RISKS! Shame on you, those who would canvas the idea of the club walking away from Liam Jurrah at this point.

Redleg, I reckon this is a mistake we make a lot; we get sucked in by a handful of good games and keep (or in this case, recruit) players based on too small a sample size. It's the reason Dunn has been on our list for two years too long; he had a purple patch back in 2010 and got two years. McLean might've been good for the last month, but he did stuff all for the three years before it, including his last season with us. He's also demonstrated with his recent use of Twitter that he hasn't grown up a bit since his exit. I couldn't be less interested I don't think.

The irony of that comment is that you made a thinly veiled dig at stuie, thus proving his point.

Thanks Redleg I feel a bit better Can you now get him back on the park?

AFL will have our back on this one, pretty sure some special consideration or something can be applied for and put in place to A. Ensure that he isn't de-listed and has a future in the AFL and B. If the worst outcome does happen, we wont be caught out by it and will not be at a dis-advantage. And if that outcome isn't good, it would still mean that there is still a possible future beyond him serving time. It would almost be a good idea for the AFL to create a new list called a 'Consideration list' or something which players can apply to be on. Few rules around it could include that they are not allowed to play any senior games while on the list to keep things fair for other teams and to stop it being abused. I dont think any AFL team would oppose an idea like that.

I find it hard to believe that the MFC would not have considered every possibility by now. I would be exceedingly surprise if the subject has not been discussed with the AFL. The last thing the MFC / AFL would want is to be seen to be doing the wrong thing by an indigenous player. For better or worse LJ is on the Melbourne list until this matter reaches a conclusion. IMO if that is some time in 2013 than that is what will happen. Not sure I like it but that is my belief.

Thanks for clarifying, rpfc.

They always could. It was more cumbersome since a rule change that mean that the 18th team (GWS) says 'we want Daniher' and Essendon says 'ok we will take him with our 1st pick' and then it goes back to GWS and they say 'we want Viney' and we say 'ok, we will take him with our 1st pick.' Then if GWS don't want to nominate, it will go to GC (17th team) and they might say 'we nominate McDonald' and then NM has to make a decision and so forth. I explained this earlier but it is confusing and I understand people not knowing how it works. So to answer the question of GTG - yes they can. In fact, in theory, all F/S could be locked away by GWS nominating them and then the F/S clubs locking them in at their first picks.

Only if he decides to play until his 36....

Justifiably so H_T The Dogs got done something cronic Or we got a great deal. Probably both.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/a-fractured-spirit-20120725-22r2q.html Really good balanced article on the situation. Respectfully recommend people read it before posting speculative comments.

By demons be driven Pantera. Great song and even better band.

It's an absolute certainty.

The club must stick by Liam otherwise it sends a bad message to all players that the club has no substance and will not look after you if things get a bit tough. We expect everthing from you, your life, your loyalty to stay for less than you get elsewhere (see Scully) but give nothing apart from some cash in return. I expect some flack from the "It's a business" people but in all honesty business is only one part of the mix in sport, an important part but still only a part. There are not too many businesses out there that draw the emotion and passion of a sport and club like ours. We support our people, to do otherwise would be weak and against the grain of the culture we are trying to build.

Staggering....

Ugh, year from hell continues, especially for Jurrah. I sincerly hope the club sticks by him.

I say stick by him, appeal to put him on the rookie list but if the AFL reject, then we just wear it. Could always make him out to be on the long term injury list? With the amount of suspect evidence and most of the witnesses being drunk, I doubt he will get a full sentence. It sounds like the other two were more involved, hopefully he is trialled separately.

if its glows in the dark it's a nightclub

Its important to note that Jurrah is still entitled to a presumption of innocence till the result of the trial is known.

Unfortunately the only top 20 selection CAC made that turned into an A grader is a player you reckon can't kick and is no longer with us. Richmond got A graders in Cotchin and Deledio. Riewoldt is close, but I put him in the Frawley category in that he presently hasn't backed up. Collingwood drafted A graders in Thomas, Pendlebury and arguably Beams and Sidebottom, although the last two aren't quite cemented for mine. Hawthorn drafted A graders in Roughead, Franklin, Rioli, Hodge and Birchall. St.Kilda drafted A graders in Riewoldt, Goddard and Dal Santo in the top 20. Hayes was last century, so I won't include him. Geelong got Selwood, Bartel and Kelly in the top 20. I'll stop there, but out of 17 top 21 draft picks outside of Thompson we didn't draft one player that has cemented themselves as A grade, although I have high hopes for Frawley and Trengove. You may not want to do the exercise, but how many top 20 draft picks have we had in comparison to the clubs I just listed, or anyone else for that matter ? It's terribly damning and borderline spectacular in terms of failure. And right now I reckon Prendergast couldn't have done worse with the golden eggs he was gifted. I'd love to be proven wrong. I disagree on Bate, Dunn, Morton and Petterd (not top 20). They're just very ordinary footballers. No magical wand at another club was going to turn a sow's ear into a silk purse. That said, it's far easier to play well in a team that is performing well and Dunn has shown that if we're up and about he can play some footy with a bit of X factor. So I agree that they'd get games in a good side, but none of them would be A grade in any side. Isn't the aim to get A graders out of top 20 draft picks ? PS: for Nutbean and others - yes I'm using hindsight and yes I may not have done better in the same role. But it's not about me and I wasn't on the payroll and paid excellent coin to get picks right and improve our list. I sit in judgment like every fan should. You laud the great decisions your club makes and some of us make criticisms when they've erred. I know that there are some supporters that never want to hear one bad word about their precious club and precious 'darling' footballers. I think you may have guessed that I'm not one of them.

I'm going to take this chance to reflect on my favourite Green moment, given the occasion. Melbourne vs. Hawthorn - 2003. We almost blew it in the final quarter. The Hawks slammed on six goals straight and levelled the scores with 3 minutes left. Junior fell awkwardly on his head on the wing; Robbo thought he was dead. The incident chewed up time and stopped all momentum against us. Green ended up with a long-distance set shot and began his run-up hugging the fence on the wing. He slotted it, as cool as you'd like. It might be indulgent, but I believe Green had, in his prime, the straightest kick in the game.

There's nothing to get over, he's not a player worth paying highly for, and he won't reach lofty heights like a top pick should. It's simply a case of just not liking the little [censored], and having a bit of fun discussing how average he is. This is footy, we've been giving it to opposition players for years, as if a soulless, lying scumbag with an abnormally bloated dad is going to be immune from some harsh, yet completely fair comments. Don't like it? You know the drill.

Really cant understand the hubris We've amassed 2 wins this year hell of a lot to make scully jealous for sure.

He will be considered a great number 1 pick.

If we're going to be keeping & playing some senior players thru the middle more regularly, (Col, Davey? Beamer? Jones) I would then like us to use the Early picks for Kids - Toumpas, + Stringer or Wines or Mayes with Picks 3 & 4,,, & look @, with our Mid1st Rnd Pick, at either Kennedy/Colcohoun/Vlastuin, or Alternatively look to a Caddy trade, (Mid1st Rnd Pick + Morton or Moloney) for (Caddy + GCS 2nd Rnd Pick)