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I'm pretty excited and proud to be a first-time member!

Relax It's Time. We're not the financial basket case that we once were. Since Jimmy's board took over we've gone from being $5m in the red to $6.4m in the black. Sorry, as a result of the rats who ignited the tanking fiasco and the people behind them (assuming there were such people and my sources tell me there were), we're $5.9m in the black. Take away the gaming licences and it would be a bit of a hit but we would probably be able to dispose of those licences to others in a timely manner and (in any event) the real estate underpinning the Bentleigh Club is worth plenty anyway if sold on the open market unencumbered by the business of the club. It won't come to a loss of the licences but we can thank Jimmy, Don, the hardworking board and the supporters who have rallied behind the club since 2008. We're safe - now let's get on with the footy.

Take a chill pill FFS. As if this wasn't going to happen, and as if our lawyers weren't aware of that. There is no evidence. There never was. Nobody was match fixing. Keep the knife away from the wrists, please.

There are a number of ways this article can be interpreted. The clearest one, however, is that the AFL,s open door policy to gambling organizations is changing not just the vernacular in terms of the actual commentary of the game I.e pick the losing margin etc but is all pervasive and all corrosive. But its just another example of the actions of the AFL's corporate honchos that are alienating a number of supporters.So forgive me for my quick rant. This is not the game that it was not so many years ago, it's the plaything of big interests. Players are faster, stronger, fitter.........and the game has never been more on the nose as it is now not just in terms of drugs and/ or gambling but in the way in which it no longer brings us together but divides us into the haves and have nots. And by God Im sick of the coverage now needing to be one of crisis to crisis. Where have all the characters gone? Not just on the field but all those off it. The reason we loved the game in the first place. Where has all the fun gone from our game? It's as the game I loved has gradually been eroding and is in mortal danger of disappearing completely. More to the point, we are continually told that our clubs are either failing or succeeding....and if they're failing its as if we must as supporters be in a perpetually gloomy state. Why? The media demands it of us. It's become tedious and if this is the way it's going the regular supporters ( of which Im one) will just switch off. [censored] off!!!I go to the footy to enjoy the on field theatre and, to be honest, to leave the stresses of work behind. I may well be living in the past but I'm not convinced its not a better place than what we have today.

I'm tired of Wilson using sentences like these: "Both Connolly and Bailey are the scapegoats of something the AFL privately believes was sanctioned by others." "The Demons also fought for Cameron Schwab not to be charged and in the end McLachlan admitted there was not sufficient evidence to do so despite some strong opinion to the contrary." Exactly who is "the AFL" that "privately believes" something? Just who is the "some" that has the "strong opinion to the contrary"? Demetriou? McLachlan? Fitzpatrick? The cleaner? They're unidentified, faceless sources, with more "unofficial" opinions and "private" beliefs. Wilson is trying to save face now by putting up more nameless sources that she knows (and therefore we don't). You can't challenge these "opinionated" sources because they're like ghosts. Trying to Identify the "private" individuals they refer to is like trying to herd cats.

We have not been cleared, we have been SHAFTED big time We are guilty in the eyes of everyone despite the afl's pathetic effort of incomprehendable spin It has cost us a min of $1M in fines and legal costs and who knows what in sponsorship and membership It has derailed the club for 8 months and its not over We have had the most appalling media coverage We have been scapegoated for what others pioneered before us and will never be brought to account Two careers have been severely damaged We have been made a laughing stock in the football world We are still a fractured club internally if reports are to be believed It may not be fair and balanced but we have been SHAFTED big time And I am so pizzed off at our current position i couldn't begin to explain

An investigation may be as simple as reading the brief. I conduct investigations all the time, "who left the milk on the bench?" "why can I never find clean socks" and "who let the dogs out". There would be an obligation on them to hold an "investigation".

Look at the corruption in Horse Racing! If that industry is allowed to continue to operate I'm sure the little old MFC will be allowed to keep it's 75 Poker Machines.

Thankfully the conversation has moved on - but I couldn't let this nonsense just sit there! How can you seriously say that the Board has been spineless in all this ?. They have held firm - and they have got the AFL to say unequivocally that the MFC didn't tank. We've stood tall in the face of scurrilous negative publicity and retained our draft picks.- nothing weak about that. What was left for us to challenge in court ? The AFL's view that Connolly acted against the AFL's best interests or the AFL's right to fine its member clubs? Months and months of distraction - backbreaking costs - no guarantee of success - and an enemy capable of sending us to Etihad for half our games and witholding our equalisation monies. Pragmatism has it all over suicide. Well done Don and the Board. Now if we have to fight the Gaming Commission, we'll be able to do it with the AFL's money!!

Yeah but you can call a duck a pig if you want, you're entitled to do that. The fact remains it is a duck. And the fact remains that we have been found not guilty of deliberately trying to lose. So if you want to say we have been found guilty of tanking, please enlighten us as to what this word means. Because the generally accepted definition of the term is deliberately trying to lose and we have been found not guilty of this. 'Not doing our best to win' is not an offence and 'conduct prejudicial to the AFL' is not tanking. So I fail to grasp your assertion that we have been found guilty of tanking.

If anyone thinks the MFC and it's lawyers didn't have this at the forefront of their thinking during the whole process then they've got rocks in their head. Everything done, agreed upon and the wording/language used was to ensure that there would be no issue or evidence upon which the gaming commission could mount a case or remove our license. It was almost the sole reason McLardy fought so hard to ensure there was no evidence that the board of directors influenced games and therefore were not fit and proper people to hold the licenses. Take a breath. They were all over this issue a long time ago...

After last season this is not good. It must be close to him deciding his head is not up to AFL. Quit while you stilll have a functioning brain Rohan. There is more to life than Football.

This is the ONLY result that would see us cleared without going to the courts. We wanted to be found not guilty. We got that. The AFL wanted something for the fervour created by their own investigation. They got that. We keep our name, and the AFL 'keeps its integrity' and two men fall. And we thank them for falling. CC's 'joke' performed something of a release valve that the AFL used to great effect. It allowed any shadowy behaviour to be put at his feet and those below - Bailey - and keep the focus off the club's higher echelons. He screwed up but he didn't deserve what he has accepted. He has borne the brunt and we should be thankful to someone with the best interests of the club at heart.

These games will mean little if we lose them both but a great deal if we win.

Dear Brock, Thanks for the ten large you chipped in previously. No chance of you stumping up another $490K is there since you took it upon yourself to open up that stupid yap of yours ? ( you stumped up, half witted, bogan) Regards Us.

The greatest act of spin was by the media, convincing the general football cognoscenti that normal tactics when employed by a bottom 4 team, now conspire towards a morally bankrupt pursuit in the form of "tanking." To somehow shift the mindset of people that something generally accepted was now totally abhorrent, and should be roundly condemned... Was pure genius. Tanking = footy's war on terror.

It's in the microchip at the back of your neck. If you haven't had it installed you will be fined.

Yes, we guessed that from your avatar.

And melodrama abounds

It's great that its done before the season starts. 800 pages of evidence and by all account an incredibly exhaustive investigation (over half of the 2009 MFC staff!) and the only thing they had was CC's comment in one meeting? I simply don't understand how CW and several DL posters can then seriously maintain that yes other clubs did it but we did so much worse and that's why we got slugged. If, like CW you believe we tanked in 2009 and and did so amateurishly then surely they would have turned up more evidence than one meeting. But as CW notes it hinged on the one meeting and comments made by CC. Does anyone seriously think that if say Carlton was as forensically (and allegedly under threat of heavy sanctions for those interviewed if inconsistencies were discovered) investigated a similar meeting or comment would not be dredged to the surface? I'm with BBob on this one (at least partly). It wasn't the comments that CC made it was that there were people in that room that 4 years after the fact were prepared, for whatever motivation, to put a club who had employed them at serious peril and potentially ruin the career of at least CC but potentially others (not to mention potentially tarnishing the legacy of Jim). BBob may well have a point that perhaps poor management practices perhaps created an environment where there would be some seriously disgruntled ex employees. However i tend to believe that this sort of behaviour is more symptomatic of a club culture that has long been characterised by divisive, dirty internal politics and factionalism - a culture that is at the heart our sustained lack of success. A positive out of all of this is it seems great strides have been made to build a more united club and this drama may act as a further unifying force. Lets hope all with axes to grind or knives to plunge put their weapons down and get behind the club. The Don, the board and CS have handled this drama extremely well and their positions are now cemented. Of course lessons can be learnt from what occurred 4 years ago and i hope they are. To be fair steps have already been taken to address some of the issues that have raised issues (CC being moved out of the footy dept, CS role being more clearly in admin, a strong well resourced coaching team that is left to get on with its business with a reasonable degree of autonomy etc etc). However we must now stand united and this might the watershed moment. But a final comment. Whilst it is possible the four (?) Judases who were prepared to put our club at risk had legitimate reasons to be angry with the club it is still simply not on to drop us in it. 500k and two good men out of footy for a spell because four men couldn't find in them to say something like "look it is possible he was joking". You might argue that perhaps they felt strongly about the issue and were compelled to out CC but as Redleg (i think) pointed out they seemed not to have raised any concerns at the time so can't have been too morally outraged. What's the bet that one of these men was also one of CW's sources (or indeed continues to be). I assume the club knows who they are and i guess so do others in the footy world. I wonder if it at some point their preparedness to rat out a colleague (which is ok in my book, but only if they have done something really wrong and you are acting as whistle-blower) will one day hurt their chances of employment at a footy club that perhaps knows about their treachery.

I think we did well to get the finding of Not Guilty on Tanking. We all know the benefits of that. Clearly it was a negotiated position. The findings and suspensions however are bizarre. CC is guilty of Conduct Unbecoming. That conduct was a private comment at the MFC which should never have been made public. Only the AFL leaking the Report has allowed that. He is supended for 12 months and Trigg for Salary Cap cheating as a CEO who knows better, got 6 months. Work that out. Please don't say "oh he got that for Tanking" as we all know the penalty must fit the actual offence, not one that is dismissed. The Club gets a $500k fine for employing CC, who made the comment. Please. The Crows for Salary Cap cheating get a $300K fine. As far as the fine goes, yes I know we get grants from the AFL and I will say no more here, other than, I wouldn't be too worried about paying the instalments, I am sure they will be deducted from our dividends from the AFL. As I and many others have said, this was purely about the AFL saving face and I think it has made a fool of itself. It has manufactured a situation that is at best farcical. It should have made the hard decision and exonerated all parties and got on with life. This will continue to fester in the media. The statement of McLardy that there was no evidence of Tanking is 100% correct, as was confirmed by the findings and two people I trust, who told me as much on the weekend. There was also no doubt in our legal adviser's minds that we would win this in Court easily. The settlement means we have innocence on the cheating charges now, save time, expense and distraction for the club and avoid making a big enemy of a powerful body, that could fixture us in New Guinea and affect our grants and financial position in the future. The MFC had no choice and did the right thing in resolving this. The AFL in my opinion is left a bumbling, biased organization, that makes rules on the run and clearly favours the big and interstate clubs. Just look at their reasons why they are not investigating the Lions. It is shameful. They disregard an informer and a former staffer who corroborates him yet launches into us, on the say so of Brocky. They continue to refuse to investigate other clubs despite far more "evidence" than mere Brocky. What clear evidence of double standards. I don't know how the AFL bosses sleep at night. We are a part of it however and have to live within it. So, on with the footy on friday and Go Dees.

"These claims are unsubstantiated and no evidence has been produced to support them." "No formal AFL investigation will be undertaken in the absence of credible information or evidence." This is the AFL's excuse for not investigating the Lions after an allegation made by Jason McGrath about drug use and match fixing at the Lions was corroborated by a former Lions staff member. Clearly Brocky can cause an investigation against the AFL patsy on his say so but no investigation against a beloved interstate club on corroborated allegations. So you need evidence to investigate the Lions. Clearly two people's allegations, according to the AFL is not evidence, yet only Brocky is needed to bring the wrath of the AFL down upon us. The AFL is officially a basket case competition the way it is being administered. Pathetic and disgusting.

Never understand those who prefer to watch a Dees game on TV when they can go to the game. Obviously some have family commmitments and for some cost can be a factor but where those don't apply je ne comprehende pas! THE PLAYERS CANT HEAR YOU IF YOU ARE IN YOUR LOUNGEROOM.

Whereas she's alright because she gets around on a broomstick

Hello.

I think you are being harsh on this occasion as we dont know what was the ticking time bomb in that report. Don and the Board would have taken legal advice as how far we could go with this. I think the Board have done well. They have been arguing with the AFL for over a week trying to dilute the sanctions so it was fairly obvious that they had to accept sanctions but endeavour to water them down as best that they could. There is more to this than what most of us know about.

The gambling regulator is pretty much in reality an ineffective toothless tiger. I doubt we have much to fear. Still gives the 'Rooned' lot something to worry about. For mine the Board achieved a pragmatic commercial settlement which avoided a finding of tanking and ringfenced draft picks and the CEO.

A person in a managerial position at a club making comments to employees that, although taken out of context, were perceived to have been of a bullying/threatening nature. That is the crux of it. Regardless of the intent of Connolly's comments someone in a managerial position needs to take ownership for them regardless of the intent. If a manager at a bank, for example, makes a light-hearted comment in a meeting that staff should charge extra fees in order to meet monthly targets or face the sack and a couple of people in the meeting take it seriously the manager will be held to account because being in a position of authority they need to be aware that their comments, although of a joking nature, could be misinterpreted or taken out of context and acted upon by people who may feel threatened or bullied by those comments. It's pretty simple yet the media and the public seem unable to comprehend this concept which is unsurprising considering the way McLachlin butchered his press conference yesterday.

FFS just consider their investigatiion & outcome into Damien Oliver, move on & stop worrying. Clayton's investigation will be undertaken boxes ticked and do not believe for one minute our legal team will not have been all over this Speaking of soft it's not the club it's half of demonland HTFU

"Everyone thinks we are tankers" WGAF. They were always going to whether or not we were fined or not, or completely absolved or not. This is a pragmatic decision to move on and we have been cleared of any guilt realting to tanking. Just step back, stop worrying about perception and worry about the footy.

Some times I think I see humour in every situation RobbieF It seems funny to me that they all went to Carlton The worst unchargered tankers in the league

It's not really a backroom cover-up. It's a contrived outcome for an investigation that Demetriou probably wishes Anderson never started.

Key word in the articles re: the Gaming Commission thing is "inquiry". They want to be seen to do the right thing, get the run down on what happened and give it all a big tick. I don't think it is a concern.

To be honest, I couldn't give a f**k what 98% of the AFL thinks. Do you think the Swans care? The Hawks? The Filth? No they don't. These clubs go about their business without a care for anyone else. Look at 5 teams who have won premierships, They only care about themselves and how they can succeed. Now that this 'tanking' saga has a full stop, I expect our football club to do the same.

This is very concerning, there were all those weeks last year where he was a late withdrawal due to concussion. As someone said above, with everything that's happened to Belly I gotta wonder at what point does someone say to him it's too much? Who makes that call? Of course I hope he makes a full recovery and is able to have a long a prosperous career, as long as he doesn't have any after effects post-AFL. We've already seen Barts retire early because of a knee problem that will limit him for the rest of his life.

I wouldn't be trusting anyone at the club to give you a straight answer on that one seeing as they came out of Friday night and said they knew nothing of the penalties, but my guess is it was a sanctioned leak by the chiefs to gauge reaction. I think they have done us all a disservice and I don't like the way they have manipulated the supporters of the club. ...as for the AFL, they are a laughing stock at the moment and are not doing their duty as custodians of the game. I have often found the people who preach integrity and values are the people with none and the AFL have done nothing recently to change my thinking on this.

I am quite suprised at the apparnet lack of concern on this forum for the latest developments. I think we are potentially in a world of trouble. as Sue said , the commission wont differentiate between motives but will determine whether or not actions were taken which could be perceived as tilting match day or attempting to tilt match day results. If their findings reflect this then they are free to act as they wish and will be well within their powers to remove or at the very least, suspend our gaming license. And that, my fellow Demon lovers, could set a course of events in motion that will result in the club no longer existing in its current entity. This is a VERY grave development.

Are you missing the fact that none of these people are still at the club and they clearly had an axe to grind ? I suspect there are many at the club, including executives and Board members, who will be buying Connolly birthday and Christmas presents for the rest of their lives.

rpfc for many months a large number of people on here were telling us the result of the AFL inquiry would be "no case to answer" We now know that was way off the mark. I will believe we are safe from the gaming commission when they say "no case to answer".

I can understand the confusion of many. The final outcome from the governing body (The AFL) is that we didn't tank and didn't go out to deliberately lose games having considered all the evidence, and I can live with that . But the $500K (third largest AFL fine handed out) and the suspensions of key coaching/managerial staff is damning. The information from the regular meeting in the vault should never have come to light. That's where the blame should lie in all this. Four people came forward, and informant among the club allegedly supplied information to Caroline Wilson. Then there was Brock McLean. Our club has had backstabbing snitches with gripes. These people would rather battle for power or bring someone down than see this club prosper in pursuit of a flag. It's virtually unheard of at other powerful AFL clubs. These are the people who should be in the spotlight. These are the people who are holding this club back now. The Board have been cleared, the CEO was exonerated after all the collated evidence. These people I speak of have Connolly and Bailey's blood on their hands, not to mention a $500K noose around the clubs neck.

Not only did Prendergast screw the playing list he's helped screw the club administratively. I'd like to bump into him.

Guys, cool your jets. The VCGLR has to do something and they have brought it up internally when AA started this mess as I stated in a post a few weeks back. The key was the AFL clearing us of tanking but they are an independent organisation and must do their due diligence. Bailey and Connolly won't affect our licences, but the club may have to answer a few questions at some point. You can become worried if it escalates but until then, enjoy the relative quiet.

I know I'll get little sympathy for this, but stuff gambling. If gamblers are so smart, let them take into account pressures on a club to lose as well as form etc in making their damned bets. The only time they can whinge that something was fixed is when someone manufactures a surprising result from secret information.

Okay. So if the VCGLR inquest findings are different than the AFL's, where does that leave us, and more intriguingly the AFL? Will the AFL defend its findings and take on the VCGLR? FMD, can't we just get a friggin break?

Just one more...

This charade has leached us of $500,000 in tax to the AFL to cover up their incompetence. I went to most of the 2009 games and have no doubt we did what had to be done to secure the first 2 draft picks, even under intense media scrutiny. Cuddles and Bails did their very best for our club despite the ramifications and for that I feel deeply for the humiliation they are copping for taking that bullet.

While I am happy this is over I am furious that our club has been so incompetent in its dealings with its own staff and the administration of our footy dept. That there are so many disgruntled ex-employees is very poor. That we needed to have a meeting to discuss tanking is insane. There was probably email evidence as well. We have had a decade of footy administration incompetence. I hope to hell we are over it. FFS we can't even lose properly.

OX personally i would have prefered to go to court for the reason that the charges are shaky. I am seething we have been fingered when i believe other clubs did the same. But if our gaming licenses and Sponsors are solid i can begrudgingly cop it. We simply have to win at all costs now. We the supporters must make sure the FD is the number one priority as far as available funds. How we are not guilty but the head coach gets 16 weeks will always be a mystery to me. But we can attend next years draft so it could have been worse. On field we will be hated by other clubs who did the same. This must make us stronger. Us v Them from today.

The AFL think we tanked, INCLUDING match day, but knew it would be difficult to prove and didn't want a court case, or to cripple the club over a flawed draft system they implemented. They had enough evidence and a determination to do something, especially when the whole football world thought we tanked, but were able to facilitate an outcome where all parties walk away somewhat satisfied under the circumstances. Except, of course, some supporters that you'd never please. No draft sanctions is massive.

Hopefully, pheromones aren't on the banned substances list yet.