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Inevitable on the evidence we heard and an indictment on the legal system that it went this far because it could easily have been disposed of the committal hearing stage which was when it was clear that there was so much conflicting evidence that it was going to be extremely difficult to prove anything beyond reasonable doubt. Was this justice? I think not. Whichever way you look at it, and Liam made mistakes, this has probably destroyed his football career and apparently his relationship with his partner. It has left Liam a broken person who needs a substantial amount of help to get his life back together and it hasn't done anything positive to bring about reconciliation within his own family let alone his community. It leaves me cold.

It's too late for Old Dee. We need to focus on Young Dee now.

Ben Polis has a Demonland account.

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With the amount of change to the list, the style, the coaching, the leadership, and the fitness during this offseason I don't think ANYONE no matter how much of an expert they claim to be has any idea how we will go this year. Anything could happen with that much change, we could take the spoon or we could make the eight, it's impossible to give even an educated guess. Add to that the way Neeld used the NAB cup in a similar way to top teams do (ie- practice rather than all out going for wins) no one knows what will happen.

+1 more member my newborn son was joined up yesterday after being born Monday morning. Also got him a Demons jumper and beanie from the Demon Shop. His mother is a Cats supporter hopefully he doesn't ask me what the hell I've done in a few years time!!

Mate - I was born in a premiership year on Queens Birthday holiday at 4pm just 1km from the MCG as the siren sounded on another Demon victory, this time over Richmond. By the time I was 9 years old we'd never missed the finals and won 6 flags. The one laughing in those first 2 frames was me and no-one can take that away.

Baseless and ignorant assertion. Every time Col has made a mistake in his career, he has worked his butt off to make up for it, and has always taken all of the knocks on him square on the chin, from keyboard warriors and knobs on the street alike. He's a ripper bloke and loves the club. Try showing our players some respect.

Toot toot. Actually there's something to feel good about - the fact that you're not Ricky Nixon.

With all due respect to Old Dee, at least he's seen a Premiership (or perhaps more than one?). I'm more concerned about the other x thousand supporters who have not had that particular pleasure bestowed upon them.

This should do it.

The Blues recruited Malthouse but Buttifant did not come with him. Can the Carlton Fitness Boss deliver Mick the athletes in the shape that Buttifant did. Does he have the quality of Assistant Coaches that he had in the 2011 Premiership year? 3 of the 2011 Maggies Assistants are now Senior Coaches. The Blues fans are up and about but with a tough draw to start the year that could change pretty damn quickly and rest assured they will jump off the bandwagon again if the year goes pearshaped and the reality dawns that the Judd era will deliver the Blues exactly the same number of Premierships that the Buckley era delivered Collingwood. Do you understand what the club has achieved in recent years? We've moved our training base from the dilapidated slums of the Junction Oval to the modern elite facility at AAMI Park. We've payed off our $5 million dollar debt and we've taken full ownership of the Bentleigh Club which is valued at around $8 million. We used our improved commercial position to put together a football department led by impressive people like Neeld, Craig, Viney and Misson and now Jason Taylor. We went out and got Mitch Clark. How Freo must wish they had poneyed up for him. You talk about winning important games. If you read what Colin Garland said today about the home truths delivered to the players in the 2011 pre season about their fitness levels and professionalism you will understand the cultural changes ushered in by the new footy department. Just looking at Misson and Craig, is their a better sports science due in the AFL. Both have years of experience in conditioning AFL players to play tough hard footy from first bounce to final siren. The kind of tough hard footy that wins those important games you talk about. Neeld and Craig have also introduced a much tougher brand of footy, with a great emphasis on being able to play a hard nosed defensive game style. I like Neeld. He talks directly and simply. And he backs up what he says with his selections. For the first time since the Northey era if you want to pull on a Dees jumper you've gotta be able to play tough hard footy no matter how talented you are. And Misson and Craig will ensure you have the elite fitness required to do it.

I hope the Bombers get absolutely smashed. The face of Hird shattered.

I don't give a FF who wins these meaningless games. The season starts on sunday, 31/3 @ 1.10pm

It's in the laws that WYL views everything about the Demons by WCS Worst Case Scenario and a large amount of feeling sorry for yourself

He pots us at every turn! Quite frankly who gives a F#%K what he thinks!

one sentence on ABC news headlines that Liam was found not guilty

I don't have the stats to hand about games played for Bluey votes but I would bet London to a brick that a number of other players have featured in the top 5 of the b&f and played 16 games or less over the past 10 years. What you aren't giving credence to is the coaching staff ask players to do certain tasks and jobs. The votes they get reflect that. Col clearly doesn't do the stuff he is supposed to (like 2nd and 3rd efforts). His votes would reflect that. So your conclusion about number of games doesn't hold water for me. Edit: 2008 McLean came 2nd in the Bluey having played 14 games. Snap.

I am glad somebody else is paying attention and realised that Magner cannot play. My thoughts for what they are worth: Sellar ahead of Pederson (and play him up forward not down back where he has been training) M. Jones & Terlich ahead of Nicholson (better disposals) Davey and/or Jetta (based on their VFL and NAB Cup form) Dawes at Full-forward (where Neeld seems to want him) not at CHF where many Demonlanders have placed him! GO DEES!

After giving it some thought, I actually think FA can benefit clubs like ours if we do it smartly. Sure, we may lose some players but we can also pick up quality older players as a stop gap for a couple of years which could really help our competitiveness until our young stars are ready. If we can go out and get ourselves a couple of good older mids who may be chasing a little extra coin in their twilight we can start to see improvements in our midfield. More wins will equal more members which we badly need.

For old dee....they look smart in those Blasers. You got one yet?

Agree, Punt Rd Oval now is a waste of valuable real estate in an area where all the sporting infrastructure is already there.

many here didnt really expect Morton to really be that much chop...he wasnt. Sylvia has been lauded as the great whote hope for years and years now. Look up potential in the Websters and theres a picture of Colin !! He teases with his undoubted talent, often towards a contract signing then falls away. Many a scribe agree he is a prodigious talent , but one thats never really stepped up to where he ought to be. I am now firmly in the camp that thinks he never will. If he wants to walk at seasons end by all means. iN fact tel lus now and we can play someone else whos actually more interested.Be doing all a big favour and would actually be his single greatest contribution to the club. Hes a show pony thats never developed into the real player he ought to have. FFS hes been at the club an eternity and some still talk of him as "potential" etc etc wake up folks

"How does an administration let that happen?" I've often wondered about CS's perceived interference with the football department, but if the questions he was raising were about this kind of issue, then it's no-wonder Bailey went and Cam stayed.

Maybe we could get Ricky Nixon on here to tell a few jokes to cheer old dee up a bit?

If we can replace our Etihad home game with a Darwin match this is a real winner I reckon.

If darwin games are to remain I would like to see some sort of package that a current member can upgrade with to promote members to fly to Darwin and watch the game

My suspicion is that Sylvia is like the bright kid at school who only achieves when he's pushed by his teachers. Until Neeld came along, I don't think the coaching style sufficiently pressured him to achieve. He got by on innate ability but didn't push himself hard enough. With a coach who can push him to get the best out of himself, I suspect we'd see a different player. I hope Neeld is that coach. And I suspect you could replace "Sylvia" with "Travis Johnstone" and the above still stands.

Yes it's amazing how many inventive new reasons a player manager can give his charge to move with the aroma of crisp bills floating nearby. Prestia is the energizer bunny mid we would've had had you-know-who stayed. He's like you-know-who, only with heart.

This is the least of our worries. When you hire a New Zealander you have huge character issues. They come from a totally different culture. I know I am generalising but some of the worst individuals in our society come from this remote part of Australia . They have no concept of how to spend money(but they know how to jump the queue to take decent Australians jobs and save it ) They are some of the most inbred ,small minded, greedy little people on earth. This part of Eastern Tasmania needs an intervention. Since Clarrie Grimmett, they've given us nothing but a massive welfare bill and Rusty Crowes' overly earnest acting,poetry and rock music. The lungwich berrier is huge also. The maoris are fine, and actually work well with others. It's the pale ones that can make you want to self harm. For a third world country, they do well in Rugby, I'll give them that.

i think we should stay away from this sort of personal insult. If you want to argue, then argue, but don't stoop.

You believe your right and thats your right, on the other hand I believe your completely wrong and I know i'm right so lets leave it at that eh!! over and out.

My entire family are bombers supporters. I watched the ox play when I was a kid and from that day Ive been a demon. Im 28 and he is still an icon to me.

Thank you MFC for a nice rememberance video of Jimmy. A time for reflection. We all miss you big Jimma.

I am just itching to see four quarters of Football played with the new look team, sick of Internet single cam replays quarter by quarter. Itchen to see the boys have a really good crack at another AFL team with premiership points on the line. I am excited by the chance to see some of our new recruits running around in the Red and Blue. Young players such as Toumpas, Viney and Barry Mature age rookies such as Terlich or Matt Jones, New veteran such as Byrnes, Rodan and Dawes. My expectations are low in regards to wins but excitement is high to see some real football.

Urge all Jimmy / Demon fans to tune into AFL360 tonight, they have a lovely Tribute , one year on!

Ok, for 2013: 13 games at the MCG of which 10 are 'home' games and two games at Etihad of which one is a home game So, that is 15 games in Melbourne plus Geelong which is near enough to be considered a Melbourne game, so that is 16 games in Melbourne of which 11 are home games plus one home game in Darwin... Sydney is one and a half hours away as is Adelaide and Brisbane isn't much more. Hardly going to sap their strength or give them jet lag. Maybe you believe we paid up members and interstate supporters should be willing to fork out the extra to travel to the MCG/Etihad and accommodation... thankfully the club treat us with a little more respect than that. There are just two we will travel any great distance for - Pattersons and TIO whereas West Coast travel across the country eight times and half way across the country twice and Fremantle travel across the country ten times - and isn't that really hurting their chances...not!! So essentially, we will have one more game at TIO in the future under such an arrangement - hardly the end of the world, but quite possibly the beginning of a new world for the club.

Jimma...Age will not weary you. Forever Young R.I.P.

No coach could or should survive 186. The die was cast Neither GWS or GCS in their infancy put up figures approaching that result .

Moist eyes when I watched the video this morning. Such memories, both delightfully happy and profoundly sad. Geez time flies ..... 12 months down the track already. #13 is for you Jimma, whenever it might be!

Wow time goes fast, RIP Jim Stynes, you will always be in our mind

I always thoguht he was a FA - I do my own Contracts thread - oddly enough the AFL do half arsed jobs constantly on things like this... And FA itself isn't the end for 'smaller' clubs - it can help smaller clubs if they are smart. It aides smart clubs, regardless of size.

I'm waiting for Jnr to splutter his thread ending crap of Sylvia and very surprised he wasn't first in but I can only ever ask myself why everyone is so certain Sylvia will walk out as soon as his contract is up?! He's never held us to ransom come contract time in the past, never come out in public and criticized even though he's been punished and watched teammates thrown out the door. There is nothing that proves or disproves he doesn't bleed red and blue and wants to be a life player?

There is not a club in the AFL that would pay Sylvia what we are paying him, if he leaves its not for money.

I'm not excited at all.... If anything I'm losing interest in footy altogether......

Sign him up ASAP. Give him 5 years with incentives in his contract (eg makes AA, b&f position, brownlow votes etc). One one condition - he shaves his beard off.

His feet were born there

So, I just purchased my first ever membership. I'm pretty excited about it. Can't wait till the season starts.

Richmond's 2013 membership slogan: "When Brad Miller and Addam Maric just aren't enough".