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No one is forcing anyone to stay at gunpoint. Sick of this train of thought. Soft Eggs, as Barn Dee calls it. Onyer bikes. Love me, love my dog of a club. Nearly came to blows with a Hawks footy nut that had suggestions for me/AFL about what to do with us. We have 70 Afghans coming to see their first game of footy tomorrow, courtesy of MFC. If you see them at the G say hello , shake hands. They might be able to tell you about what a real problem is. So you can just enjoy the footy.

but he would be twice as heavy

If supporters believe that Bates acted completely alone and that no other employee/s had any knowledge of his dealings with Dank they believe in garden fairies. Even the club interviewing Bates three times since the Essendon story broke hints at their concerns. They haven't denied they knew Dank was in communication with Bates, only that Dank wasn't an employee. Yet they weren't forthcoming with that information to the AFL even when they were quizzed directly about Dank. Does anyone think that once this story broke the players themselves haven't had concerns ? They would have been thinking, "what the hell was I being injected with when I went to that clinic ?" Does anyone think that not one player would have raised those concerns with the footy department and sports science division on the back of the unprecedented furore surrounding Essendon ? Yet the club still tried to sweep it under the carpet ? For the club to not act in a fully transparent manner to the AFL, its members and own players on the back of arguably the biggest footy story and investigation in the games history was disingenuous and inept. McLardy's position is untenable. And I'd be surprised if some in the FD also aren't held to account. I can't disagree with anyone that says this club stands for nothing. They make decisions on the run.

Report from Clint Stanaway on twitter:- Glory be ... salvation is on its way. We cannot lose now that the facial hair has gone the way of the club doctor and the CEO before him.

Here's what he's thinking right now: jesse hogan ‏@jesseBhogan2h Another good win to the scorps now just need Melbourne to have a win. #3-0 #carnthescorps #getaroundthedees

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.

Yep, it's all too hard for some. Lucky those 108 Aussie diggers took a different approach when they confronted 1,500 to 2,000 advancing North Vietnamese soldiers at Long Tan. Show some mettle for Christ's sake. All you need to do is actually support the club and the players - it's not war. Surely that's not too hard. Geez there are a lot of drama queens here.

Dominant quarter by the Scorps 19.9.123 EFC 7.12.54 Kent with6 or so touches and a goal. Not even MFC could screw up Hogan becoming anything less than superstar.

This situation is a failure of Governance but perhaps shows why governance is difficult. Any small business representing others or with multiple owners will properly require two signatories on every cheque. Why? To avoid fraud and theft. It's call internal controls and without wanting to bore people internal controls are more and more important the larger an organization gets because it ensures core objectives are met or the chances of a failure of process minimized. Clearly the administration of drugs to players is a critical issue for any football club because should something go wrong, like a rogue doctor, the implications for the club, player and governing body (AFL) are severe. We are seeing that now. Schwab's job, amongst others, was to ensure that proper systems were in place to ensure the club met pharmaceutical standards. That a rogue doctor could put the Club's players at risk without any check or balance is a complete failure of internal control. The Boards job is to ensure these internal controls exist. That's what governance is. Bate, on his single authority, should not have able to prescribe "supplements" without someone else checking. It's tough on the Board but it's why you need people on the Board who understand their role. This Board doesn't. All they had to do was ask what protocols were in place to ensure supplements were legal. It would appear they didn't.

First game I've been to this year, and was very impressed with the overall team play of Casey. Welsh mentioned "DI's" at the final change, that we needed to have 600 for the game and we were right on track. I assume this stands for "defensive involvements" or something similar, and right across the board the pressure acts, smothers, sheperds, chase and bumps applied universally across the ground was evident that this is a well drilled team playing for each other. Best for mine easily was Jake Spencer, and he epitomised this ethos, not only winning hitouts with monotonous regularity with a mix of timing his jumps against his opponent, but also good body work and tremendous understanding with where his midfielders either were standing or about to run to. His pressure acts around the ground, chasing, tackling, harassing opponents, for a guy of his size was fantastic. He offered an option when resting up forward too with his leading. Its a shame that he may struggle to get a game now that Gawn has been rewarded, he certainly deserves a crack at it again. What odds he coming in for Jamar anytime soon? His partner in crime, Fitzpatrick had a very good game also. He is certainly progressing along nicely as a forward/relief ruckman. Hes now becoming very hard to beat one on one due to his size and speed. Just needs to work on busting packs a bit more. Three goals for him was just reward for effort. Rodan was very busy, however he tried to do far too much at times. This undid a lot of his good work. It was reminiscent of early Nathan Jones, just trying to do too much and getting pinged on the third option rather than taking the first or second. Still, his workrate was first class and he will come under consideration again. Blease had a similar game to Rodan, very flashy and a couple of times while surrounded by opponents simply accelerated out of imminent danger. A mix of clever and wasteful use of the ball was his only markdown, I think they will give him a go before Rodan due to his greater upside. Its probably a bit unfair to group them, but McKenzie/Couch/Magner not only are all very similar players, but all had equally impressive games today. Couch kicked a beautiful goal from one of the difficult pockets where he knew he was going to get run down, took the time to size up the kick dribbling around the corner and just got it off before being dumped. He has a very good football brain just lacks that yard of pace. The trio combined to completely dominate stoppages and centre clearances. Hogan was immense. Despite his young years, he has a presence out on the field that is hard to ignore. Smart higher leading early in the game got his fellow forwards involved, and as the game wore on he became more and more dominant deeper. Even when he had a breather in the last quarter, he grabbed a footy from the bench and was handballing and bouncing it to himself, you can tell he loves the contest and wants to be involved the whole game. One thing to note is his odd run up to goal, he takes off, takes a sharp veerto the left for a step or two then straightens up. Its very odd but effective. Strauss was good today, his use of the ball is well documented and came to the fore today. He's obviously fighting for the same spot as Jetta, who offers a better option in the chasing and tackling department, but his foot skills may give him the nod going forward if he keeps this form up. Taggert, given that he was only a late call up, was also very impressive. He is very big across the chest area now, and his ability to swing from half back to half forward was a feature, as was his kicking both for goal and in general field play. I really like the look of him. Lets hope he can string together a few more like this. Tynan was solid without being spectacular, but was part of a very stoic half back line that was almost impossible to pass after quarter time. Clisby was also OK on the half back line as well, still not sure what his standout attributes are as this is the first time Ive seen him play. Davis similarly had a fairly serviceable day. He was matched up against Daniher most of the time and managed to get a few timely punches in against a significantly taller opponent, but a feature today was he was the instigator in a lot of our rebounding chains. Kent disappointed me. Of all the listed players, he and Clisby probably had the least impact. He kicked a goal, but just didnt look to be working hard enough up forward, where the ball spent a lot of the day. Of the Casey players, Panozza was rock solid off half back as was Riseley as usual. A couple of the newer players caught the eye, Nathan Page while small in stature was very busy and involved off half forward, and Jake Best also showed a bit of dash. Under Age player Ben Kearns, while very skinny also threw himself into the action admirably and was rewarded on the scoreboard. It was a pleasure to watch Hogan up one end, and Daniher up the other go about it, these two will be features up forward for their two clubs for many years to come, and it was certainly refreshing to enjoy watching a game of football again!

Just got in, not a whole lot to add to the previous reports (and KC's gonna come on here and make me look silly soon enough) but: Magner, as well as being good at the stoppages, seemed to be working really hard to spread and provide an option. I noticed him be the second or third man in a chain of possessions quite a bit. I have no idea who Essendon were playing in the ruck today, but Spencer and Fitzy carved him up. Some of Spencer's taps to advantage were beautiful, putting the ball right where an already-on-the-move midfielder was about to be. Lovely stuff. Rodan did some nice things, but his highlights were all the kind of flashy thing that an AFL team wouldn't let him get away with in a million years (dancing through three opponents, etc.). I reckon he'll look good at this level, but never again be able to recreate it when he steps up to the 1s. Taggert did some lovely things and looks to have a good footy head on his shoulders. A couple of kicks that were weighted just right and played the angles perfectly had me excited about his future. Blease is still classic hot'n'cold Sammy. There were a few times he dashed through the midfield, lowered his eyes and hit his target on the chest ... and there were just as many times when he dashed through the midfield and blazed away. More of the first, Sam, and you could be a real player. Jordie Mac will play seniors next week, and every week after that until he retires, or we get more than a couple of blokes who go as hard as he does. He's got his limitations, sure, but when actually trying seems beyond most of our team, Jordie has to play. While I doubt Fitzy is improving quickly enough to force his way into the seniors this year, I do think he's now a good to very good VFL forward. If he plays the majority of the year at Casey, there gonna do very well with him and Hogan together up forward. And Hogan is really good. There was one moment where, with the ball kicked to his side of a one-on-one contest, he sought out his opponent's body, shoved him away from the drop of the ball, and plucked it with an ease that bordered on contemptuous. It was the kind of mark that Wayne Carey took a thousand times in his career, and you could just tell that the ball was safe as houses in Jesse's hands. In the first half he was getting a bit frustrated with the delivery often favouring his opponent's side of the contest. It was only after halftime, when Casey really took over the midfield, that the supply improved. Still, even in the first half, there were a bunch of times he halved a contest he had no right to get anywhere near. Also, loved his smarts. If giving it off was the best option, that's the option he took: there were a number of times he could have blazed away, but did the team thing. To be honest I wouldn't mind a bit of that "F you, this is my forward line!" type thinking, but it's sure nice that he's not just a beast, he's also a footy player. Oh, and Daniher is going to be very good. The only lingering question mark on him is whether he has the body type to put on enough muscle for his width to match his height (he's skinny as hell, in a Morton-ish kind of way), but he moves beautifully for a guy his size, and has excellent skills to boot.

How about a new logo that tries to cram seven different concepts into one making it look ridiculous. Then we could get all our players to wear a blazer from a private school. And then we could just get ex players to run the club and shebang, we'd be back in business. Oh wait we tried all that didn't we.

Scorps win by 82 points - Hogan finishes with four. Casey Scorpions 4.2.26 11.6.72 19.9.123 25.12.162 Essendon 3.4.22 6.8.44 7.12.54 11.13.79 Goals Casey Scorpions Hogan 4 Fitzpatrick Page Rodan 3 Best Couch Kearns Taggert 2 Kent Magner Strauss Tynan Essendon Daniher 4 Bate Duscher 2 Hams Jetta Thompson Best Casey Scorpions Rodan Spencer Hogan Riseley McKenzie Magner Essendon Daniher Hams Hardingham Steinberg Tipungwuti Coghlan Leading Possessions: Magner,McKenzie 31, Rodan 24, Couch 23, Clisby, J Tynan 20, Spencer, Strauss, Hogan 19.

COACH and FOOTBALL DEPT When Neeld and his football dept first came to the club it became apparent that the fitness and the culture of the list was so far below the clubs that they had come from...We could do one of two things....1/ Train like Essendon and have half your list out with soft tissue injuries 2/ Build you fitness gradually for a result which was long term Change the culture by bringing to the club older players who had come from premier clubs to teach training methods and attitudes to the younger players....It did not matter that they were not elite players but that they had the right attitude to training and preparation...Unfortunatly these two methods do not change overnight and take time to implement..... I believe that the football side of things will change if we stay the course BOARD This board has had the years from hell to deal with.....Some of it was their fault some out of their hands....But they have all stood up and none of them have thrown their hand in the air and said "Give up...I'm out of here"...They preform an unpaid work and have the interest of the club and supporters at heart....They are all professional and hard working people who have a lot of business acumen.... I believe this club will prosper if we all stay the course..... SUPPORTERS I realise that all of us want instant success ....We bag the coach , the players, and the boot studders....and hate being the laughing stock of the competition but it is now that we have to stay the course If we sack the coach, the board, some players, and the doorman now, what will change.....We will put ourselves further behind and continue to be the laughing stock...Thompson, Malthouse, Hardwick, the Scott bros all came to their clubs with plans and it took a fair while before their teams became first competitive, then successful If we don't stay the course, this club will implode and we can all go to the snow or where ever.... As a fifty year member I implore all supporters to stay the Course.

The clubs statement indicates that they knew of the connection with Dank. • 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 You don't instruct staff to sever all ties with someone you don't know they have ties with in the first place and then know that it occurred. The club obviously knew of the ties, instructed these ties cease and knew that the instruction had been complied with. This would have been known at least at CEO level and given the climate at the time with Essendon you would think the President at least and maybe the whole board would have known in February. Why didn't they just tell the AFL that at the time?

The fact that they don't know about the Dr-Dank relationship means that that they don't know waht the Dr was doing with respect to supplements. That's what is so concerning. We're in a worse postion than Essendon - they don't know what happened but at least they knew something happened.

Kent given big wraps by the coach for his third qtr efforts.

It's not hard. You could start with any supplement program to be approved by two doctors and only supplements on the approved WADA (ASADA) listing to be administered. You could go further and have a central register of drugs administered which is checked periodically by an independent third party. That's off the top of my head. Give me a day and it would be much more sophisticated. By the way, it's not the Board members job to come up with the protocol. It's the CEO's to ensure one is in place and he would consult with people who understand these things. The Boards job was to make sure a protocol was in place. That's governance.

The thing is they did acknowledge this in their statement re: Jackson and Freeman the other day. I posted this on Demonology last night; Contrary to what some may believe I love this club too as I'm sure everyone on here does or we wouldn't be here. Everyone on here is more than just a casual observer. Criticising the people running the club isn't tantamount to treason which is what some like stuie and Satyriconhome (and Dr. Who on Demonology) indicate when they criticise anyone critical of the running of the club. I agree that strong clubs are those with everyone pulling in the one direction (including supporters) but you can't expect the supporters to go along to get along when the direction they see they're being pulled in is to the bottom of oblivion. This isn't about mere wins/losses or even innocence/guilt, this goes to the heart of the governance of the club and looking at the last 4-6 years honestly you'd have to say those in charge have failed miserably which as I said before, they indicated in their statement re: Jackson & Freeman;

I haven't read the entire thread because quite frankly the whole topic is too depressing, so I apologise if this point has been made ... On Thursday the club based its entire defence in this matter on the credibility of Dr. Bates: http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2013-04-18/response-to-730-report On Friday the club said "We have sufficient concerns about an identified breakdown in reporting protocols": http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2013-04-19/club-statement-friday-19-april That's a very damning situation - who knows what has been going on? Certainly not the MFC and their "internal review into its own supplements program". Really I despair ...

Worst post ive seen on this forum in a while

On my way to Windy Hill now for the Hogan Show. Will endeavour to post quarterly updates.

Been to a few parties like that....

This is the crux of the problem, isn't it? In some ways, the subject matter is irrelevant - it's the amateur way our administration has dealt with all our off-field issues and I agree with whoever said it goes back to 2007. It started with the belief that by simply drafting the best young talent through getting top draft picks, our on-field success would take care of itself. We'd sacrifice a season or two for greater returns. Well - that bit us royally on the arse and we're still paying for it now. Since then we've lurched from fire fighting one disaster to another with an administration that was more concerned with building a brand as the originator of the game, where it all came from etc. New logo, new red and blueprint, new blazers, new deal with the MCC. It was papering over the cracks - on the field we were [censored] and our development of this exciting new talent we'd fought so hard to lose for was useless. The only area the admin succeeded, thanks to Jimmy, was clearing the debt. Call round some of the old boys to dig into their pockets, chaps. Meanwhile clubs like Collingwood, Richmond and Hawthorn (yes, I know they secured early picks as well) have grafted and tried successfully to build their clubs up. Success is going to be a long time coming to our club but, when it does it'll be because we run an open, honest and tough entity and not one that runs itself as a piece of historical curiosity that has a divine right to be here and relies on handouts to exist. Honestly, it's like the last days of the British aristocracy. If we were the first club, we should be damn well showing the example.

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

Bring back the sleazy cartoon Demon from the 80's.

Sure, let's rename ourselves the Vikings and drink mead, worship the Norse gods and rape and pillage after each game, Erik the Viking can become all out favourite movie and official mascot! Huzzah!

Saw Hogan again today at Windy Hill for Casey. The kid has it all.

A mate of mine wrote a message some years ago and its core stays with me still. He said that the club is yours. It is not the players, or the administrators or the boards'. It is yours. And you - the supporter - mark with your unconditional support for the club - a continuation of 155 years of the existence of this remarkable creation. WE form the fabric of the club, though we may not feel it or know it. IT IS US, FOR [censored]'S SAKE. So when I take my kids tomorrow (why, jesus, why?), and I sit with my dad, my brothers and their children, I am at MY club, with my family and that I will support despite their fault and failings. Players come and go. Officials come and go. The supporters are the club - we are the permanent feature - renewed our kids and grandkids in perpetuity. So when I am disappointed, feel helpless, feel utterly furious, I try to remember this. Am my favorite stanzs of my favorite poem: Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho' We are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are,-- One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

2 early goals to Hogan in the third

Exactly, and this was 3 days after Neeld says in his press conference that his primary aim is to nurture the players because they're down on confidence. Next he says club comes before individual in his Watts explanation. No Mark your primary aim is to nurture your rapidly evaporating senior coaching career. I don't think "whackjob" is out of line.

i would like to see them all come out with military style haircuts they'd still get spanked by 100 though.. then they'd just be a bag of spuds with crap haircuts

now the bad news......dunny's mo is back

Pretty terrible that a 21 year old young captain of ours had to be shielded by players from reporters because of the danker. Should spread a rumour he perscribed things to damien barrett to help him talk crap better.

The statement from the club that there are no concerns about supplements was entirely predicated on the management of the program by Bates - who is now stood down. Before that McLardy was saying no changes to personnel contemplated, next day Schwab is sacked. I can't believe anything coming from the club.

so who do you reckon did know?Only Dr Bates no players no coaches no football mangers it beggars belief

What about their duty of care to their own players once this sordid mess came to light ? What about their duty of care to the parents of these players, some of whom are very young ? Once it became clear that Essendon couldn't categorically state what their players were injected with 2 months ago, hence their decision to ask to be investigated by ASADA, don't you think that the MFC should have taken the same measures ? At this point Dank wasn't looking like the cleanest skin, was he ? Some of these substances have yet to be tested for humans. I'm not saying that the club has done anything "illegal", what I am saying is that our club is being run by incompetent sloths.

Here's some more "buzz words" for you - critical mass. It's not one event or issue that has so many people so [censored] off with those in charge.

No the ignorant minority were blaming Bohdan. I cant believe you cant see the issue with all of this. It is surprising that Misson Craig and McLardy did not know about Bates talk with Dank post 5 February. I cant believe it took a TV report to make the AFL aware of discussions outside what the club had told the AFL. Its sloppy that we had maverick behaviour by one employee in the area of greatest importance to the Club.....player welfare. The AFL have been individually dealing with each club over the importance of the integirty and transparency of supplement programs. It was ropable when Essendon came forward. And now 2 months later the AFL are "blindsided" by discussions between MFC and a dubious element that the Board were not aware was going on. You wouldn't know what governance was even if it smacked you in the face. This administration has been an appalling failure of governance all the way through. You really are clueless.

While I liked to believe that we are handling ourselves perfectly through this time.... LITERALLY EVERYTHING WE"VE DONE SINCE 2007 WOULD LEAD ME TO BELIEVE OTHERWISE. The AFL has a right to protect it's game, and right now the game needs protecting from us.

Massive heart for using "one fell swoop" correctly. First time I've ever seen it written on a forum and not thought that the op was worried about an attack by chickens...

Ok this is going to sound like madness..but... After watching that game and looking at our list I actually think we should be able to match these teams for effort and intensity. They are human with arms and legs. They just believe in themselves more and have the insatiable hunger to get to contests and help each other. Our players I feel have bought into the psych of we aren't fit enough yet and we are still 'young'. It's total mindset - we should not be 100 point worse team than these sides. Yes we don't have a Selwood or Goodes but we shouldn't be as far off as we seem right now.

You poor bastard.

Stuie in Politics there used to be a thing called Ministerial Responsibility, which effectively meant that if anyone in Minister's department stuffed up, the Minister accepted responsibility and generally stepped down. Standards are a lot looser now and most Ministers just tough their way out and accept no responsibility; I liked it the old way when they had a good reason to ensure their department operated smoothly. There have just been to many stuff ups, it can't be a coincidence that we have effed up so much, someone has to wear the blame, the ship is sinking and will go to the bottom unless we do something, and soon. I like Don, and the other members of the board seem ok too, but even they must know that it's becoming untenable for them to stay; they just don't seem to be able to run the show.

Have you noticed where this club is at right now stuie. Briefly we have the worst performing side in 50 years Our average losing margin is 14 goals in 2013 We have been fined $500 000 for tanking The AFL has appointed a CEO to sort us out. We are now part of the Danks fiasco The AFL believes we have mislead them. Our Doctor has been stood down. Our Recruiting manager has made the headlines for the wrong reasons. Who is at fault? Us out here in the outer? Please accept that our Management and governance is appalling.

These statements are becoming so frequent we should have an "MFC Statement of the Day" thread stickied at the top of the board..

It might be time for a rest. If we include preseason games, the season is already seven weeks long. Add that to a few months of preseason training and that's a lot of senior football for a teenager. Give him a rest, bring him back in the twos and then, pending form, give him a run in the ones.

Jamar instructed to mark and kick the ball?

Was he in the vitamins queue?

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....