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The revelations about communications between Stephen Dank and the Melbourne Club Doctor, Dr. Dan Bates over its supplements programme does not constitute proof of any breach by the club of ASADA and WADA guidelines. The club has issued a statement into revelations on the subject which was aired on last night's ABC 7.30 Report and can be read here. However, the response is totally unsatisfactory in that it does not address why members and supporters were misled about the club's association with Dank after the Essendon doping allegations came to light in February. At the time, the club informed the world that Dank had made an unsuccessful application for a position at the club. What we and apparently the AFL weren't told then was that an association nevertheless continued in some way through Dr. Bates which only came to an end when the Essendon bombshell was dropped. The withholding of this information from members and supporters is totally unacceptable and it is imperative that those responsible be relieved of their duties at the club as soon as practicable. While we can't be certain that the association between Dank and Bates is in any way responsible for the team's poor form to date this season, it would be fair to say that by "coming clean" and taking full responsibility, the powers that be at the club would set an example to the playing group of the respect their supporters, who can only stand by and watch the events unfold with increasing bewilderment, deserve from the club. Only if this is done, can the club expect their loyalty in return. And if there is any doubt about where the chain of responsibility ends, I direct you to the sign that once sat on the desk of United States President Harry S. Truman and read, "The Buck Stops Here".

I don't know what to say, so I wrote a poem (I don't usually write poems). At 7.30 my Demon heart sank, when I heard we spoke to some bloke, Dank. It was bad enough they broke the bank, despite assurances we did not tank. Now we know we were not frank, and today it's clear that something stank. But do not cry or walk the plank, because Jack Watts returns to a half-back flank.

The fight had four quarters and although he was holding his own in the first half he went down in round 3 and never got up....

Really, we consistently turn on our own? Like when we raised millions to cover our debts? like when we stuck by the club through 7 years of 'list development' that has netted us nothing but wasted draft picks? like we got through 186 and 148 and tanking allegations and sponsorship dramas and racism allegations and Jurrah and Scully and the death of our beloved president? Like how we all fail to truly support a club that has failed miserably on so many fronts for so long? Because I don't see anybody here demanding anything unreasonable, nobody is microwaving their membership, dumping chicken [censored] at AAMI Park. We want to be successful, we want to stop being so poorly handled, dragged through the mud every week, and then perform pathetically on the field. If you don't want something better for our club than what is happening right now, in front of you, than you are weak. Because seeing something wrong and doing nothing, is worse of all.

Bing, I don't think anyone is suggesting that we should have told the world we had an association with Dank, but we sure as hell should have told the AFL. Lying to head office is a recipe for disaster, and that's what we've ended up with.

"The Board is the first to acknowledge that today the Club as a whole, both on and off the field, has not met the goals we set 4 years ago. This is unacceptable and must be addressed." In which world do you live in where Presidents, CEOs and boards aren't held accountable for not reaching targets? The ex-CEO of Electronic Arts (I am a shareholder) resigned a few weeks back for what he says is "accountability": he was holding himself accountable for the company's inability to reach financial targets in his time as CEO, 2007-2013. A "weak" supporter is not one that demands change: it's one that DOESN'T demand change.

Mate, you've been a member of this forum for three years now, have I ever struck you as a torch-bearer before? I've spent half my Demonland life deriding posters who go off half cocked about anything. Sometimes you've got to recognise though when the people who are pissed off might actually have a point. It also shits me a bit that I spend a few minutes of my life trying to articulate a point and you respond with a patronising meme. Go jump in the lake.

Saw Col tonight at Coles and had quite a long chat to him. He said that Dank is a crap stirrer and that he doesnt think any repercussions will be handed to Melbourne. He told me although it's abit of a worry for supporters, dont read into it too much as we did nothing illegal.

This statement should have been made weeks ago, when the Dank saga first broke. Instead we tried to [censored] the AFL and the press in a hope no connection would ever be validated. Jesus Melbourne.

what do you expect? They issued a detailed statement. Why would they do anything more while they await developments? What could they usefully say? Some strong words to make MC supporters feel better? Would you believe it if they did? If they put their heads up it would just give more opportunities for the media frenzy. How about a bit of patience to see what's what rather than over-reacting every tick of the clock. Some of you guys seem to love being as depressed as possible at every opportunity. Sure there has been plenty to be depressed about, but get a grip. I just hope the players aren't as negative as you lot.

I like most of the people on here, I am just a supporter. Other than paying for my membership each year, there's little I can do to influence anything the team or the club does. Like many of you on here, in supporter terms I'm about as low as you can get right now. I clutch at whatever positive thoughts I can find as I know the alternative is unhelpful and destructive. I'm sick of the jokes at work, in the family and among friends I'm sick of everyone feeling sorry for me I'm sick of people trying to help me with my "problem" that i go for melbourne - eg "my mum has switched to the storm - she says she gets more back from the emotional investment" I'm sick of the scandals - merging, salary cap, leadership spills, changes of coach, the tanking, the alleged danking I'm sick of the spin and pre-season hype. I know the club needs to do it to get memberships but it was wearing thin more than 10 years ago But most of all I'm sick of losing! Back when I started following the club, whenever something bad happened - losing a big game, or some sort of turmoil, I always thought that in the long run this will build our character and on that final day in september it will mean that much more. I don't know anymore if we will get to that day - there are so many powerful forces at work and we are about as far away from powerful as you can get. BUT what I do know, is that if we ever rise up the ladder and win that premiership, I will let everyone know. Every person who has joked, patronised and tried to get me to turn away... I will let them know that this is what it means to be a real supporter. I will dance on their graves as we are down and out right now and we made it back. This is what keeps me going.

The club acceded to all of Neeld's demands when he became coach. A beefed up footy department spend. which included Neil Craig, Misson, line coaches with their own IT person, more dedicated roles in the recruitment department, etc. He was given carte blanche to do what he liked with the list and I doubt the club has second guessed any of his decisions. And 18 months down the track we have a dispirited football team that barely gives a yelp. No quarters of footy won out of 12 (GWS have won 2) and the worst percentage after round 3 since 1985 when the wooden spoon team of that year St. Kilda had the temerity to be on 34% compared to our 35%. Even a quality young player like Trengove has gone backwards, perhaps due to the burden of captaincy before he'd paid his dues. Since Neeld has been at the club I've never heard so many players talk of "buying in"; the clear inference being that many didn't. Quality leaders get the best out of their organisation and individuals, but even Neeld's most ardent supporters couldn't say this has happened. We're not on the inner sanctum and yes, we all know that our midfield stocks are terribly poor, but there's far too little effort, far too much throwing in the towel when the going gets hard, far too little work ethic, far too little run and spread, and far too little confidence, which means that players aren't trusting their teammates to win contested footy, so they get burnt on the outside while they're caught flatfooted. And each opposition goal makes it that bit easier to give in, that bit easier to stop pushing yourself, to stop committing like you were at the first bounce. Ultimately the coach wears the blame if he can't change the mindset of a group. And now Neeld states that we're in the same development phase as GWS. How convenient ? Let's just continually lower the expectations of your supporters. These days every time he opens his mouth I feel he's insulting my intelligence. But I have no answers. Getting rid of a coach so early in the year probably isn't the answer and leaving him until round 23 makes me shudder. Worst of all though, unlike the players I did buy in. What a fool.

Has the stkilda school girl got a younger sister?

We deserve to be screwed. I have consistently supported the board and DM but this is just woeful and inexusable. Just as is the case for Essendon the issue of the whether the drugs used were banned is to an extent a furphy. It is the governance issues that Essendon and now Melbourne will be smashed on by the AFL. I have said Essendon will cop a huge fine and if it is proven Hird condoned/knew about the program at Essendon he will be suspended. Whilst it doesn't seem to have been as systematic at MFC, none the less governance system seems to have been woeful. We also deserve to be fined. It remains to be seen if Neeld was directly involved and if the method of administration of the drugs d was above board but if they weren't and he knew he should also be suspended. Keep in mind two things. One Essendon sacked Danks because of concerns about financial probity (so they say but much more likely they knew what he was doing was dodg). How could we continue to remain involved with him after that. How did we allow the club to get involved in the first place for that matter? Where was the bloody risk management practice at. Governance 101. Secondly put what ever spin on it you like MFC lied to the AFL publicly but more appallingly from my position to its members The very people they have asked to to accept another rebuild, asked to be patient, asked to stick with the club. Unacceptable. Demondame hit the nail on the head in the best post i have read in some time on Demonland. Of course there is a link between the listless efforts of our players and this pathetic sham. How would the skipper feel knowing at any point this would inevitably all come out in the media. The whole playing group would have felt the same. Jeez loise. Compare us to Essendon. They get on the front foot and their club is galvanized. Witness the scenes in the change room after the Freo game. We do the opposite and our club is falling apart. Witness the scenes in our change rooms after the first 3 games. As Demondame said we have all been wondering why we have been so, so poor on field. We now have the answer. People talk about the players having pride in their performance, which i agree with but in a game where people are always talking about the difference between winning and losing being a fraction of a per cent how on earth could the players be expected to perform at the required level when their own club performs so terribly off field. How can they give their all for a club they would have every right to have lost faith in. You don't think they have lost faith? Re watch the first 3 games and count the pressure acts. Neeld bangs on about elite. What about elite standards of governance and management. I'm sorry i've had enough, this is the final straw. For a start DM needs to go. The buck clearly stops with him. I'll wait and see what the evidence is but my gut says that Misson (as much as it pains me to say as he has been about the only positive in the last 2 years), Craig and Neeld will also need to go.

My attitude is the club should have come clean day 1. While the statement they issued in Feb was technically correct, it was also lie by omission IMO. The admin have tried to be smartarses but should have just played a straight bat. There was nothing to gain from going the way we have. Get rid of them. Final straw.

I just cannot believe the stupidity of this club, but more worryingly I'm border-line not caring anymore. To watch on and see what was happening at Essendon and to not immediately contact the AFL and say that we have been dealing with this bloke Dank is extraordinary. It's not a matter of whether there was a breach of WADA regulations, it's a matter of integrity and transparency. It's about a duty of care to the players and openness with those players parents. The oily approach of this club and the treatment of its supporters beggars belief. I'll watch this latest disaster with interest. I expect the club to take the appropriate steps with those concerned in this cover up. Some officials should resign in embarrassment before the day is out. My on-going support will be fully dependent on how they handle this final (hopefully) mess.

Perhaps you need to read my opening paragraph. I'm not imputing guilt on the club for anything other than being complicit in misleading its members on this issue. I'm not interested in previous alleged indiscretions which may or may not have occurred or be part of various people's personal agendas or vendettas but this clearly crosses a red line as to how the club should be conducted.

These are the things that have gone to poo that could have been influenced by the board Tanking coming up in the manner in which it did; this happened because we had the wrong mix of people in our footy department 186 Sacking Dean Bailey over the phone EnergyWatch Sacking Cam Schwab, then extending his contract for another 3 years(!), then sacking him for some fluff reason (right course of action, but years too late and for the wrong reasons). Hiring Mark Neeld on the say-so of Garry Lyon, on the say-so of Mick Malthouse This latest epic Dank disaster I excuse them for the Jurrah and racism disasters. The rest happened under their direct line of influence. So what that they're not the ones pulling on the jumper or coaching the side or whatever? They're the highest level of management at the club. They are charged with making sure the right people are in the right senior management position. Hardly a thing has gone right under their watch, I can't understand why you can't see that they are responsible. They are the the highest level of management at the club - they must take responsibility! The thought of this group being the group charged with getting us out of this endless marsh of faeces terrifies me.

Just by watching it all unfold on Fox something is not right at the footy club and there is a rat in there. I think if anyone is going to get punished it will be individuals. AFL not really worried now about the Drugs we took as it is approved. Dermie saying he really feels for the supporters.. Also said that to build a good football club you need good people, besides Jim Stynes (God bless him) there are no good people at that football club.. and you know what he is right..

Jamar instructed to mark and kick the ball?

Supporting the Melbourne Football Club is like being married forever to a totally unfaithful woman - you love her dearly, however she keeps playing up on you, making you more and more miserable whilst your friends laugh at you

AFAIK, the only incorrect thing done was the failure to just be effing clear about it from the start. Do that and there is no problem. But noooooooooooooooooooo. This club has to find a situation and then think "what is the one way I can guarantee to [censored] this right up - I KNOW - lie to the AFL and make AD look stupid!" Don must resign now. The rest of the board need to concentrate on the new CEO, replacing Neeld and then replacing themselves.

If what has been reported is true, the problem is that the club - our club - has lied to the AFL about a very serious matter (ongoing investigation involving Dank, Essendon & performance-enhancing drug use), and about which the truth was always going to surface. I find it hard, almost impossible, to fathom that McLardy and whoever else who knew about the doc's association with Dank would even imagine they could hide it from the AFL and ASADA's investigators. If it was as you say and there was no illegality, the wise and ethical thing was to fully admit to everything. Not to lie. That is plain stupid. In my view, if this is what has happened, McLardy must go immediately and in total disgrace.

What comes out of his mouth on virtually a daily basis and the decisions he makes border on insanity.

I notice that Mark Robinson's team at the HUN are going for the MFC hammer and tongs on this drug fiasco (he'll do anything to get his beloved Essendon out of the headlines). But what worries me most right now is Mark Neeld's extraordinary claim that the MFC and Greater Western Sydney "are pretty much at similar stages in terms of their development and what we're trying to do". Are you kidding me? Talk about setting us up for a loss!

I expect the players to be made to run out in red and blue clown suits in Sunday.

This thread reads like a sensationalist headline from News of the World or OK magazine. Stop being such reactionary, uncritical lemmings - it's unbecoming.

Screw you Stuie I've been a paid up member for 13 years in a row, and I go every week without fail. You wanna call me weak? well I wanna call you a moron. Fair? If it's weak to demand our club not be so miserably represented on and off the field, than fine, I'm weak.

This doesn't change anything, Stuart. It's still shoddy corporate governance and it's still in the President's domain.

[censored] weak comment mate, dont bother posting if your ganna post poo...

this footy season could end tommorow and i couldnt care less hurry up 2014

I give up. Please could everyone at the MFC just resign and walk out the door. No doubt people from Demonland will then volunteer to run the club, win a premiership in a year or two and make millions of dollars. Oh by the way, not one person nominated for the Board at the AGM a couple of months ago. However, I am sure there are many briliiant potential board members. just dying to volunteer and give money and have their reputations scorched by Demonland and the membership. Come on suckers the line starts at the MFC front door.

Good grief man. The club was dragged into this mess the moment they found out about the issues at Essendon at the hand of Dank. One club hired an outsider to perform a transparent internal investigation and the other tried to cover up its association hoping the matter would never reach the surface. One club is inept. Guess which one ?

"High performance with high integrity" ...... outstanding ethos but shallow words if you don't live and breathe them. Personally, I find ongoing poor performance difficult to swallow, but I choke on lack of integrity.

That was rank.

You simply don't get it.

Caroline Wilson is Cam Schwabs real father

Over pre-season I've gradually been concerned by a number of things and those concerns have continued to manifest themselves. I'm not above saying I was wrong and I'm not above changing my mind in the face of overwhelming evidence. The guy is a crackpot.

Nice guy who's out of his depth. It's over Don.

FCS, Take the blinkers off. The club doctor is the direct link with the club. Which the club had originally denied. And apparently an internal review didn't reveal this.

I wonder if Chris Connolly made a joke about us needing to take drugs to improve?

You've missed his point about being misled and withholding information about the involvement with Dank. Not being transparent, which I stated in another thread. Which is why the AFL have hastily asked for the club to clarify themselves due to the lack of transparency on such an important issue/investigation. If the clubs internal review did not reveal the association with Dank through the club doctor, that is where responsibilities lie. That is where the buck stops.

Geez, maybe Hazy's insights about Boards and responsibilities were right after all........

Demonland spelling and grammar policing squad repairs another thread title containing a misspelt word.

Now that makes me [censored] mad. Why didn't the halfwits come out with that statement at the start and neuter this event then! Who is running the show? Seriously, WYL would have been a better media manager that the club on this issue.

Anything any member wants is good governance and transparency for its members and supporters. This club needs to be as transparent as ever. Always. The one thing you don't do is withhold or mislead. If you do you must be held to account.

just remember no matter how low we go, we will never be as low as that germ Damian Barrett

Not me mate, they should have come out with this statement back in Feb. This part in particular is the cover up, yes technically Dank wasn't employed by the club but we did use his services to a limited extent under consultation with the club doctor. Why didn't we just come out and say it! • As soon as the investigation was launched into the Essendon Football Club, the Melbourne Football Club instructed all staff including Dr Bates to sever all ties with Stephen Dank which occurred This is a damning statement on the integrity of those running the club at the time, some still with the club now.

This is why I love Cam Mooney. Here's the preview he gave on League Teams - some constructive critique on Watts rather than FIXATING upon the fact he didn't play last week as 90% of the gallery seem to have done, and in place of wisecracks and cheap shots, some actual positivity from last week: "It's great to see Jack Watts back in and I hope if he's going to play centre half-back or down back, play on a man. I hope the club just makes him play on a man. Don't worry about trying to get him to play spare man. Look, it's very hard to try and organise to get a spare man down there, especially when you've got a very inexperienced backline, so just don't worry about playing games. Just make this guy play on someone. He is extremely athletic, extremely quick, he can beat opponents one on one so make him play on an opponent. There's not too many positives down there right now but Nathan Jones, as usual, 28 possessions again last week, he's just an outstanding individual for that football club. Viney, again, 17 possessions, what a superstar he's going to be. And it was good to see Colin Sylvia, a couple of goals and had 20 possessions, after we gave him a little whack a couple of weeks ago, finally getting involved and showing some leadership so that is a great thing for the Melbourne Footy Club." I may not share his confidence about Watts' ability to beat an opponent one on one (and in fact he's had a direct opponent more often than Mooney realises I think), but boy is it refreshing to hear someone look at the positives to build upon, no matter how small.

Surely the fact that we're questioning faith in McLardy at all is mostly heightened by his past dealings of ineptitude, rather than merely the Danks issue. At least for me anyway. The longer this season goes on, the more I want the AFL to take over our club, because think of the instability brought about by losing your CEO and your President in a matter of weeks. We need some sort of security and the AFL can provide us with it. Ultimately, McLardy and his board have to go. I think it's probably untenable now and it has to come before season's end - I think McLardy's resignation probably was anyway.