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And plenty of others like Sloane, Rockliff, Shuey etc.This is what I find so absolutely frustrating and so hard to deal with, if forum people can pick better players with their limited resources and time, why was our recruiting bloke so absolutely pathetic and incompetent. Every team has its champions and stars, even Nathan Jones, our best, couldn't make the AA 40 player squad. No rising star, no AA squad member, no MVP vote getter, no member of the under 22 team, 38 wins in 8 years. Single handedly this bloke destroyed us and now we are trying to rebuild and thank God with a new structure. Looking at Sydney and how good they are, the only thing that gives me hope is Roos. He was there. He started it. He brought in Longmire. He traded for players. He was the architect. Along with PJ we have the right people and that gives me hope they will turn this place around. Last for those people on here who are too proud to receive some special assistance if we manage to fluke some, have a look at the Hawks and Swans they got it and weren't too proud to take it and look where they are. Incidentally the best player last night and probably second best in the game was a PP. funny that isn't it. Before anyone tries to shoot me down, I agree a PP won't win us a flag but it will help if we use it correctly to IMPROVE us at least to some small degree. Go Roos and PJ and give me a club to be be proud to support again, it has been too long.

Change of environment. Sounds legit. Pause, not. Could've stuck to photography if he wanted a real change. Not a return to the same sport, just half a punt down the street as others have said. But I can't believe people have wished injury upon him. I wanted to be the first.

Having depression doesn't give you the right to be immoral. Change of environment my arse he's moving a couple of hundred metres and still doing exactly the same job. IMO the club makes a stand and either trades him to the highest bidder or sends him to the draft.

Breaking News: The AFL has allocated all unsuccessful participants from the TV series The Recruit as special Category C players to be drafted by Essendon in the event of the club requiring replacements on its list for sanctioned players. At the request of Essendon chairman Paul Little, the allocation has been further extended to evictees of Big Brother and The Bachelorette.

Sorry to offend you but I am a registered nurse of 30 years. I work with depressed patients and support them 100% but they can be manipulative and some know how to work the system. So don't be so rude.

F him send him to the draft.

1. The vibe 2. Mabo 3. The fairy at the bottom of the garden.

From HS: 'Bombers coach James Hird leaves for San Francisco this morning to complete an international business course..." How much training does this guy need? Did he not learn anything in France? Perhaps a course in humility and taking responsibility might help. Just stunning that he would leave now. You would think he would stay to try and shore up his players (that he ostensibly cares so much about) that are being wooed by other clubs. Hird must be the reincarnation of Narcissus himself!!

Just cos you've experienced it doesn't give you the right to act like an A-hole fork!

Pull your head in mate. She only asked a question, based on her first hand knowledge of (part) of the subject. She is not asking you not to feel sorry for yourself, or act the the expert on everything depressed.

Sorry 'fork' but I think it's a load of BS. Sell is the right word, Buckley needs this to work or he a Sando will be yesterdays news. So long as we get fair compensation I don't care what happens to Mitch, I think he has done a lot of harm to the issue of depression in society and as one that has and still has to deal with it my reaction to him is well beyond the words that I can use on this forum. He's used the issue to his own ends.

Hope the Pies sign him to a fat contract, and he never plays a game again.

Lets be more specific, Jon Ralph believes the Saints will take Petracca. Ffs people this is how rumours start when what was actually said is not reported correctly

The man behind this circus, and whose honest co-operation with the doping investigators could have avoided much of the pain it has brought to the football world, was in court yesterday. Stephen Dank sat with Deakin University law lecturer and Bomber apologist Martin Hardie behind the Essendon camp. It was reported by one observer that he was "talking with him through the verdict". Dank's view of the outcome:- "This is an extremely disappointing result for the players. They haven't taken banned or illegal substances. The players' rights have been simply thrown to the side of the road in an inept display of legal jurisdiction by the AFL and ASADA, and this ineptitude has been fully supported by the decision handed down today. However, the fight rolls on and Essendon should have little trouble winning the appeal." Stephen Dank says the fight rolls on after Federal Court ruling Dank was displaying as much knowledge of law as he was of banned substances when he told Age investigative reporters Baker and McKenzie in April 2013 that TB4 was legal under the WADA Code. This case was not about whether or not the players took illegal substances. It was about whether, in investigating the Essendon doping programme of 2011/2, ASADA had acted beyond its powers. Middleton made a number of findings of fact and law that led him to decide ASADA had acted lawfully in conducting a joint investigation (until August 2013) with the AFL. He found as fact that the Essendon camp's attempt to impugn the testimony of ASADA CEO Aurora Andraska was unfounded and that she was a truthful witness. He also found that the co-operation given by Hird and the Essendon players to the AFL was based on their contractual obligations to the AFL, they gave their evidence freely without objection and with the knowledge of their legal rights. He acknowledged as valid the interim report of August 2013 which led to the sanctions against Essendon on governance grounds. He even went as far as adding that even had he made a ruling in Essendon's favour on its claims about the nature of the joint venture he would have exercised his judicial discretion in such matters and would have been disinclined to make orders ruling out some or all of the evidence gathered by ASADA during the course of the investigation. In short, he agreed with ASADA's counsel that Essendon and Hird's case was "nonsense on stilts" and dismissed it outright. Middleton J covered virtually every base in the Essendon arsenal making it extremely difficult for a Full Court appeal to succeed but whether or not the Bombers and Hird do appeal after sending millions down the toilet in legal costs is another matter. Despite the cost, Essendon might claim to have achieved some minor victories by resorting to the Federal Court to head off the show cause notices which were issued on 12 June, 2014 on the eve of Round 13 (they lost to Melbourne by 1 point on 15 June) when there were still ten rounds to go. The players could have taken the six month deal offered by ASADA at the time which would have meant missing half a season (including a finals game as it turned out). Some are now suggesting on the strength of the NRL deals that new ASADA CEO McDevitt will do a deal that would be backdated in time to see them back playing at the start of 2015. That would be a travesty and would turn Essendon's loss into a victory (albeit a costly one in terms of money spent) by giving the players a bonus of 10/11 games off thanks to their court challenge. But Roy Masters doesn't believe the Bomber players will be so lucky - EssendonBombers could face 12 month bans following Federal Court ruling. In any event, I don't believe a strategic appeal to a higher court would be vindicated. The players are jack of the situation and one of them (Paddy Ryder) has already indicated he wants out. Others are likely to follow and the Bombers may well have to go into damage control to prevent the bleeding in terms of loss of players and threats of upheaval from the membership. They need to resolve board, coaching and staff issues (Little, Hird and Reid surely must go) as well as the status of players because the current uncertainty must have an effect on the issue of evaluating players if trades are to be done. Their entire recruiting strategy is at risk at a time when they still have to contend with draft penalties. And if the sanctions against players are as tough as Masters believes, the Bombers might have to go to the AFL for some sort of draft assistance to help them form a viable team in 2015 - and we know what the football world thinks about that subject in the case of first time applicants . Essendon is in a mess today and only has itself, its employees like Dank, Robinson, Hird etc to blame. As one observer stated a little while ago in The Footy Almanac, this was "the work of a club that not only has its head up its own arse but thinks that the view is spectacular."

The hypocrisy leaking out of Eddie's ears as he tries to explain how it was the best thing for everyone will be good for a laugh though.

It's been bleedingly obvious for a long long time that this kid had serious issues and wasn't up to playing AFL footy. It's not about someone making a few mistakes, it's more that he's made precious few good decisions. I think some just don't what's required of players these days to really make it. Talent is only the beginning. I'm sure wannabe comedians like RTG & Biff will try to take a moral high ground, but my point is that you've got to make consistently good solid decisions as a club for sustained success, and this was clearly as high a risk proposition as you'll see in AFL recruitment. Hope the kid gets his life somewhat on track.

The very wise and knowledgable Leigh Matthews once said that Collingwood will get more out of Ben Hudson than Melbourne will from Mitch Clark and we all laughed at him. Guess who's laughing now?

He doesn't have to play AFL. It's not like he can't pursue his love of photography, and play footy with his mates anywhere, and be happy. He is using this need for 'change' of environment to get to his footy club of choice. It is BS.

Why should a finals season be based on equality of chances? That make the home and away season irrelevant. The best teams should always be on the front row of the grid.

If we were to trade Petracca, a 92 kg running midfielder who can take a grab forward, we truly are insane. At some point in time you have to take a punt that a bloke will be a champ. What's the point otherwise? It's akin to saying that we are aiming at being mediocre.

Can't say I'm overly interested in the GF or who wins. First time in a long time I've felt like that.

To see Hunt and Harmes make their senior debuts next year and look like they have what it takes. Trengove and Toumpas to come back after a full pre-season and show the world why they were taken so high in the draft. 20 Games from Hogan. To pull another deal like the one for Tyson during trade week (I'd like to get either Shiel or Treloar out of GWS). Petracca or Brayshaw at pick 2, in that order of preference.

The fact is that if the move is something that Mitch has initiated then it shows a spectacular lack of integrity and character on his part. He may be within his rights to do so legally (and I hope there are questions being asked at the club about the revised contract we gave him), but ethically he's in the wrong in every way. He's basically forfeiting his Man Card and behaving like a self-centred child.

In the game of australian rules football, virtually every skill pales into insignificance next to the ability to kick goals instead of points. It's the great undeveloped skill of our game.

Flop me. If there is one thing that doesn't need fixing in the AFL at the moment, it's the finals system. The current system rewards perfectly each team based on where they finish.

What a rubbish post.

I agree that it was boring, but I don't think it was due to the game feeling artificial, it was because one of the team advanced too far in the series for their talent level, and got an education from a truly classy contender. I thought the quality of the finals so far this year have generally been pretty good.

Billie Smedts would fall into that category I reckon. As would the obvious O'Rourke

Demonland has a lot of active members, and as such, pretty much every conceivable view gets some air time. And funnily enough, everyone thinks their own view is the right one. Any time someone puts a view forward, it's pretty reasonable to expect someone to disagree. It's what forums are all about.

If he was out of contract and wanted to leave, fair enough that's the nature of the sport now. The fact that he was still contracted for next year yet we restructured it to pay him out on the udnerstanding we'd be the team he returned to if he was able to make a comeback and then go shopping round other clubs is what gets me. It's despicable behaviour and shows a complete lack of ethics and honour.

Thats where I hope Fitzpatrick finally becomes an established player for us.200cm super quick forwards don't grow on trees.

From above In his affidavit to the Federal Court he stated: “I believe that if show cause notices are issued to current or former Essendon players by ASADA this would give rise to immeasurable and irremediable damage to my reputation, my earning capacity as an AFL coach and my business interests external to Essendon and the AFL. But it's all about the players....

The Squires Loft Scoreboard ,the Angus Burger dicshits,the stupidity of corporations. The yappity blokieness "and in the meantime theres a goal to Melbourne,not sure who it was Jetta I think, No it was KennedyHarris.Well done to him for the Good guys goal of the day!

A round up of the media ... James Hirds time at Essendon is over Legal shirtfront flattens Hird, Bombers Essendon verdict judge exposes the club's weak and frivolous case James Hirds fate in hands of players after Federal Court failure ASADA trumps Essendon in Federal Court battle ... and no coverage of the doping saga would be complete without Caro Essendon pays for misguided approach

Makes me sick listening the the commentators on Channel 7 still going on about how the club has been through enough,,,,, No! The supporters & players have been through enough. The club/admin deserve everything that they're getting. If they had of just swallowed some humble pie early last year, then the whole thing would be over bye now. Instead we're seeing it dragging on into a 3rd AFL season due to the club and (most importantly) Hird's arrogance.

So it has been 11 days and 1727 posts in this thread since GNF 'broke' the big news Are we really any the wiser as to what is going on? Why do these things always take so long?

Conversely, it could be a sign that the current finals system is adequately and properly rewarding teams who finish top 4 and win their QF... Beating Hawthorn anywhere is hard. I take faith from their ability to beat Fremantle in Perth (something like three losses over there in two years prior to that), but a PF against Hawthorn is another step up.

I feel sorry for the kid. To get given talent other people can only dream about. but a set of brains other people can only laugh at. What a waste.

Well done Gawndog, but great to also see young Harmes come 6th. Reckon he's going to be a player!

Hawthorn. Could not draft a star if they were hit in the face with a planetary orb.

Ryder has walked.

Do the Sydney crowd even know what a football side they have? Talk about "pearls before swine"

The Judean peoples front?

I thought Middleton was suffering from severe morning sickness? When did she arrive in Oz?

I don't agree with that. Ban him.

No embarrassment here mate. We could have changed a life Could have . Anyhoo,people who never make mistakes are not my cuppa. I'm not big on judging things I know little of. I was big on getting him over. Would fit well in our fruit basket.

Middleton J's decision. Justice John Middletons full ruling against Essendon and James Hird in the Federal Court Brilliantly put together and a very difficult finding to appeal against. Of course, the Bombers won some time and will win more time in the unlikely event that they appeal but it's as damaging a defeat as you can get. An innings and 350 runs.

Yep...just one more preseason ought to do it...for sure

Maxfield never played in a premiership.