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Well this is just the thing I wanna revisit after a 9 hour red-eye flight. Bloody hell! So just quietly I think we [censored] up that draft.

Well then, case closed. Clearly rode the coat tails of Geelong's success. Hack. In hindsight it's amazing that they let him get away with it for ten years.

One would hope we have a number of coaches developing the players at our club. The amount of Geelong past and present players who came out and had pot shots at the Dogs over their handling of McCartney suggests to me that he had a huge influence at their club. Essendon were shattered to lose him when they did too. Running the show is a tough gig. Now he gets to do what he does best, teach kids how to play footy.

Bit of a contradiction there, could be tricky to resolve. Who to believe? On the one hand we have "your mate", on the other, we have professional footballers who worked with him for many years. Hmm.

He coached Ocean Grove to four premierships ... oh hang on ...

McCartney inherited a bunch of individualistic sooks - think Griffen, Cooney, Minson, Higgins, Jones, Jarrod Grant. Not a team oriented bone in their bodies. He was right to purge the team of them but paid the price because he was not supported by a gutless administration. Thank God we didn't get any of them. To say that he could not be a good pick up as a development coach is ridiculous given his CV.

It's that time of the year, so thought I'd get the ball rolling on some interesting ideas to keep us pre-occupied. With the NBA thinking of raising their draft age to 20, its begs the question whether we should do something similar here. IMO, raising the draft age to 20, or even 19, would have huge positive implications for the league. From the perspective of clubs, they can be much more confident with the ability of young players and their capacity to take to a professional environment. If draftees can dominate against men an other talented juniors even at 20, then clubs can lock in top 5 picks knowing they have a much higher chance of drafting a superstar. Many of our own failed draft selections could have been avoided through this simple mechanism (erghmm, Jordan Gysberts and Lucas Cook, erghhm). From perspective of draftees, it gives them time to mature and gain a better work/life balance. Many AFL players go straight into the system at 18, and when they finish 6 years later realise that they're 24 with no idea which direction to take with their lives. Having a year or 2 before entering the system gives them time to start a uni degree or part time work, allowing them a more holistic and healthy view of life as young adults. From the perspective VFL/lower leagues, they will benefit greatly with the influx of talent from all the 19-20 year olds. Would gain popularity and potentially even a decent fan base and financial viability. Some negatives I see would be logistical issues during implementation (who do the clubs draft the year that 18 year olds can't get drafted?). Also the AFLPA will no doubt be in uproar over the lost salaries of the new draftees while they play in the lower leagues. However I still think these are a necessary evil to ultimately improve the function of the league as a whole. Thoughts?

Whether the Bulldogs were right or not in dispensing with McCartney's services as senior coach, doesn't necessarily impact on us employing him to develop junior players. It's my understanding that McCartney was brutally honest in his assessment of a number of players at their end of year interviews, particularly some of the senior lot which caused sufficient discomfort for a few of them to make the decision to walk. It's a dangerous business these days to be brutally honest with your senior players and the Bulldogs will doubtless find this out in years to come. Melbourne and the Doggies fought out two close games this year and certainly in the second, their younger brigade stood out. But I believe the reason they won both was the steadiness and experience of their older players. It was a good mix but they won't have it next year and that's pretty ominous for them given that if you reverse the results of those two matches, we finish ahead of them on the ladder at the end of the season. If he is in fact appointed, then McCartney's impeccable record in the development of juniors at Geelong and the Bulldogs is what would have attracted Melbourne. The fact that he was able to attract some of the players he worked with at Geelong over to the Dogs as assistants says a lot about his personal skills with the players who he spent a long time in developing.

Shite post. Words fail me.

Glad I've never made any silly statements.

I'd be more likely to believe this news if it was announced as a riddle.

I can tell you now this source is quoted from Brendan McCartney himself. He is going to the Dees on Monday. He wrote his own contract. He is VERY happy and sounds like he may even be our next senior coach in waiting. His role won't be much next year. He rejected Essendon senior gig because of the scandal. He built a bonfire with all his doggies stuff, had a party and burnt it cos he was treated like crap there. Probably the only scoop I'll ever have so passing it on to fellow Demonlanders

Yes, we are.I never played Senior footy under Mcartney, although witnessed how he operates in the change rooms. Very down the line, and commands respect. I played under Neeld in grove a lil, very much the same. Both were fantastic coaches who unfortunately didn't have what it takes to nurture the "precious" feelings of modern day afl footballers. If they were both coaching AFL in the early 90's and before, their style would have been very successful. But from all accounts they are fantastic assistant afl coaches.

Clearly we didn't develop him properly.

He'll be back in what will later be recognised as one of the all time great comebacks. Go Trenners you good thing.

I'm hardly a source of information either, but I was told at about the same time as the above post, very reliably, that Mc Cartney will be announced on Monday as our dev coach. it was from his work with Goodwin at essendon, that made him decide to come to the dees- he really rates him. Hird wanted him, but was rejected them for obvious reasons.

Most likely.Hope the Dogs are paying his salary, as he had 2 years left as senior coach. They are paying everyone else's, Griffin and Cooney for starters.

Please let it be Toumpas. How I'd love to see his critics have a nice slice of humble pie shoved down their throats.

Well that was painless (if true). Didn't take 100 pages either...

Because your life is totally meaningless.

Yes but I believe he's on the outer. Does it matter?

Maybe we should get Nigella Lawson on board to comfort the kiddies. Oh wait .drug issues.

Dog's senior players have been known to run things their own way for quite some time. Have heard that from a couple of people involved with WB, albeit not inner circle. Also, the Ackamanis interview on Open Mike spells this out pretty clearly. Sounds to me that McCarthy was pretty honest with the senior players and maybe put them back in their place. There's no doubt he is good at developing young players. It will be a win for the club if he takes over as midfield coach from Stone.

10 years at Geelong. I think Footscray failed McCartney.

It's how Barrett claims credibility on a story, he'll write a story in the HS and then go on AFL.com.au and say, "the Herald Sun is reporting....." as if it's someone else backing up his claim!

Seems to be a night of scoops on Demonland so I thought I might bring you this earth-shattering news from the HUN:- Melbourne firming to select midfielder Angus Brayshaw in next months national draft You have good reason to be sceptical despite the quote being in the above article Bob. That latter time is close to elite for 18 year olds and the improvement in the time is sensational as well. I've watched him at training both at MFC (in January when he was doing AIS work experience at the club with Billy Stretch) and at the Sandringham Dragons and he just isn't that quick. He certainly wasn't tested at the recent draft combine because of an ankle injury. I've only seen him play when fit in a televised game and he didn't look to have elite pace although he's handy and yes, I'm sure they'll have him working on his endurance when he makes our list. What I like about him first and foremost from what I've seen is that he's a footballer first in that he's got all the skills and most importantly, he's good on both sides of the body. It's this that IMO puts him ahead of Petracca.

Sorry WYL but this reads as a very interesting post 5 years later

General Kurts who is up river, in the highlands? "the horror" is that who we are talking of?

good now he can tell us how to stop Libba when we play the dogs next.

Thanks for following me on twitter Jay Clark! I know you can see this

I'm way, way beyond pretending I know whether or not support staff are good appointments or not. I thought Chris Connolly and Neil Craig would be great appointments who would surely help our rookie coaches stay on the right path. Good luck to McCartney all the same.

LOL McCartney against draft aid for Demons

Get back to me in 2014

Sounds ominous until you reach the final paragraph which I presume reflects John Pierik's understanding of the sanctions any players are likely to receive if found guilty:- My starting point would be the opening half of next season and even that is likely to be regarded as lenient by ASADA or WADA. Not only that, there's every risk that leniency towards the players might give rise to pressure for team penalties that could lead to the ousting of Essendon from the competition altogether for a period of time. I don't think the AFL or the sport needs that at this particular time.

Pretty sure daniel cross would have had a say in his appointment, they would have asked his opinion

Mods, please change the name of the thread. I keep foolishly looking at it hoping there has been some update on JT's condition and all I see is people pointlessly arguing about whether he will play again.

I think I can see what happened here. The opening post is written by a person fascinated with rock musicians who died...or perhaps did not. I assume he was looking at the Abbey Road album cover, and the idea that McCartney was, or perhaps was not dead...ergo, McCartney comes to the Demons. Obvious, really.

As Dwayne Hoover said: "It's all life until you're dead."

Wow. I thought to myself "McCartney sacked? Stupid bulldogs. If only we could bring in for a development role, but we'd never have the room or the money..." Very pleased with this development.

Maybe he's Kurt Vonnegut? After all, "I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you different."

Or a fish pun.

Although you do claim that Kurt never died

You should be watching the A League Derby. It's exciting and it's a game that Melbourne can't lose.

This is a fantastic news! His development of younger players is right up there in the best in the AFL. You have to see the likes of Libba, Macrae, Stringer, Dallhouse and so on and its pretty impressive. The way they treated him was an absolute disgrace.

Awesome news. Jackson is a gem - how different this club would be if we had him in '07 instead of that [censored] Schwab. Both Geelong and Essendon rate Macartney incredibly highly in developing players - like Stone, probably should never have been a senior coach - doesn't mean he's not a superb addition.

This will be a very good get, is it safe to say we have the best coaching panel in the AFL now we need results

And we have plenty that need developing.

Was just thinking maybe replacing Stone...

A perceptual illusion - It must exist because there's a word for it. But it's about imagining what will be rather than the current reality and the fault is often with the expectations that are built up in the absence of hard evidence (by the recruiters rather than the recruit). If we were to increase the draft age to 20 we could relegate potential to a subordinate category rather than the primacy that it currently occupies.

GREAT NEWS! Looks like we will get the ANZAC Eve game vs Richmond: "Richmond and Melbourne also appear to have been successful in their joint push to play each other on the eve of Anzac Day, with the Tigers hosting what both clubs hope will become a regular fixture on the night of April 24. Next year that game falls on a Friday night". http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/tigers-to-play-14-home-and-away-games-at-mcg-in-2015-20141023-11at1h.html Would love to see Eddie's face as he vigourously fought this suggestion!! Would expect us to host in alternate years. Really excited for our club on getting this fixture going!