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Guys This event hasn't been well publicised yet. Being a Vietnam Vet that never got the chance to march in a Welcome Home March. I want to encourage people to attend this parade for our younger vets of Iraq and AFGHANISTAN which starts about 10:30am on Sat 21st March They step off about 10:30am at Linlithgow St. Near the Art Gallery. They march up to the Forecourt of the Shrine for a typical service. The veterans are then invited to Govt. house for a well deserved tribute lunch by the governor. I along with a lot of Vietnam Veterans will attend to make sure they get the thanks and welcome home they deserve. give it some thought and attend if you can.

The Best thing the MFC can do is play him with a warning. According to my Carlton mate who knows Jeff "he needs love" Punishment and being left out in the cold will only make it worse. Jeff has had a very different upbringing compared to most. Yes this is a serious matter but it must be dealt with carefully....(i hope)

He's guilty of stupidity but let's see how it pans out before we start making a noose and selecting a tree.

The idea of some labelling others as being holier than thou is laughable and indeed ironic. Whatever punishment the club and the courts may give him, some will agree and some disagree, but we all want him to sort himself out and play good footy for the club this season.

So sad. Condolences to the family. He used to visit a young friend of ours when she was critically ill in hospital. Decent feller. Yet another reminder: support donor campaigns as much as you can. Reform Australian law: make it an opt-out system, as they do in Europe. Tragic to see young people die like that. People often die in our community because of a lack of donated organs (the marrow Madeleine needed had to be flown in from France) My own daughter needed a new liver last year - at the age of 16. She made it, thank God, but jeez it was a close shave.

I miss Stephan Martin

Maybe I've missed something, but isn't his explanation that he moved house and forgot to tell the cops/court he had a new address and therefore didn't get the summons. If true, that shows he couldn't organise his way out of a paper bag, but it is hardly a hanging matter. I can understand why a magistrate would say that is not good enough, but as a MFC supporter I wouldn't say he's used up a second chance. But maybe I've missed something?

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-02-23/no-consent-no-trades-aflpa The players look to the US when it suits them. Teams should be able to trade players at their own desire. Players are forcing through their own movement with blackmail and PR leverage. Teams should be able to send players anywhere in the league, as long the contract they signed is honoured. Contracts need to be between the player and the AFL to allow this.

The old bloke in my mirror keeps telling me that seeing him daily is preferable to the alternative.

Just renewed my 16 month old - supposedly Carlton supporting - nephew. My argument is, until he can consciously refuse, he is ours.

The fact the spotlight has for the most part avoided Reid absolutely baffles me, surely the club doctor should be front and centre in this situation, if the club didn't acknowledge the handwritten letter that he apparently wrote to the club my next step would have been to make one out to ASADA providing details of what was going on.

Posters should remember that a lot of these good list decisions have also been made under Todd Viney. I reckon Todd would've been bettr placed than anyone to tell Roos that Sylvia wasn't worth it.

If he is only going to play forward for Melbourne in the AFL in 2015, why bother playing him in the middle for Casey? Play him in the same role for the seconds so that when he steps up, he knows what is expected of him. That is what I would say if I was a decision maker at the club. As someone who wants the best for Aaron - it would be best if be played in the middle at Casey and if there happens to be a spot in the rotation for Melbourne available and his form is good enough - he should play there. Let Bail, JKH, Kent, Howe, and/or Watts play this amorphous 'half forward' role.

I wouldn't call it genius but if Roos really wanted to keep Sylvia we would have given him a better offer, same with Frawley. Clark, I have no idea what the story was there but it did appear we didn't work hard to keep him either. Sylvia to me was a no brainer, highly overrated by many on here.

Hopefully, we now have the senior players and solid citizens around the club to avoid a repeat of some of the derailing we've had in the past: if the likes of Roos, McCarthy, Goodwin, Cross, Lumumba (from what I've read), Jones and even our boy Nev Jetta can't help keep Mr. Garlett on the straight and narrow, then it's hard to know what would. Also hopefully, this is the residue of an unsettled year at Carlton, and once its played out, he'll settle back down to letting his footy do the talking.

Of course. He was knee-deep in a bunch of tomes discussing football theory and scientific discovery and in his insatiable thirst for knowledge it slipped his mind that the state had a query for him about criminal charges he is facing. Unconfirmed sources say his court date clashed with a lecture at the University of Melbourne

I don't like it when mature age players are thrown into a role that they were not recruited for excelling at. I have seen him play in the guts. Half forward is such a difficult place to play. That is all I am worried about from his perspective. He comes in as a HF plays 50 mins gets 2 touches and nothing else and we are all calling him a failure. Setting recruits up to succeed is what we are all about from what Roos and co. are saying. I don't believe that involves playing Vandenberg out of position in his first year. As Vandenberg relyed to me, there have been no roles given to the first year players - they learn the basics, the gameplan, the non-negotiables, and if they are good enough in the VFL, they will play a similar role in the AFL. Also, someone said that he could play midfield for Casey and then forward for Melbourne... THAT is setting a bloke up to fail.

Where's Liam Pickering in all this? Agents/Managers are well paid. This is the kind of stuff they get paid for, particularly when a player is dealing with an issue whilst transitioning from one club to the next.

I think it's time to admit that I have been proven absolutely, incontrovertibly, 150% wrong on Sylvia. I love Bernie though.

Saty do you write for Dr Seuss?... If so, you're a genius! “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.”

As I understand it they both copped 2yr bans but got 6mths reductions for co operation and pleading guilty. So no Tribunal hearings etc. As we know the Essendon players chose not to co operate and instead try their luck at the Tribunal. If they go down they should be facing full 2yr bans unless they can prove they were duped in which case it would be 12mths. And I would imagine this would be duped by the Club Doctor not the Coach or Sports Scientist. Good luck to them on that one.

Nate Jones please wait until your footy career is over before doing this!

semicolon; problem solved. Think of it as the equivalent of nicotine gum to make the transition from comma to full stop.

I think that's wrong. Every athlete caught would claim that and it couldn't work that way. But I still ask why didn't Doc Reid approve everything, and if he did he is as guilty as the players. And why dodn't one player ask his wife, his own doctor, look up the internet etc etc. From what we know not one player made independent enquiries as to what they were being given because: they had all drunk the Hirdy Kool-aid; and, they were trying to get an edge and this was a 'black ops' programme and it was all top secret. They are cooked.

Thanks for your service, Pig Dog.

It's worse for them than that. Little and Hird made a special point of making sure that the Settlement Deed for the Sanctions stated that the Sanctions were only for Governance Breaches it specifically stated that there was no suggestion of Drug Breaches. They should never have done this. They should have had it worded to say that there was no suggestion of Drug Breaches but they were agreeing to the Sanctions on the basis that they covered the entire situation including if Drug Breaches were sustained in the future. But by vainly hoping to protect Hird's personal reputation they have left themselves completely exposed to the AFL virtually being forced to impose further Sanctions for Drug Breaches. ASADA are only penalising the players not the Club. How would it look if the AFL did nothing to a Club that was involved in administering illegal drugs. I can't see how they will be able to do nothing.

Wot?

lube-all-plus............................................hmmmm

Crikey, we're judgemental group here on Demonland. If we want the guy playing for our club, I always find a bit of empathy beats hitting said player with a stick and telling them they are naughty!

I'm pretty sure Roosy had no intention of keeping him.

Very sad news. Best wishes to Nick and his family. He is one of the greats of the game and highly respected.

You might find his ability to show up to training might be compromised by court decisions. Failing to tell the club about upcoming appearances is not a good move, whichever way you look at it. The club would have assisted him in managing and prioritising his diary. Good footballer, it appears, but clearly not a clever guy. MFC will be watching him and managing him in minutiae from now on, so it's more than just between him and the courts. If by chance he didn't tell the club because he didn't want his new club to worry about him, then this has proved to be counterproductive. From the limited info we have, Garlett simply appears to be poorly organised and hasn't taken the care required to get his act together. I hope it's nothing further.

Might wanna change the thread title to: 'Christian Petracca Comeback Thread', because our boy is in good spirits and ON THE MEND!!:

This. Surely we knew what we were getting here, anyway. Hands up who thought, "model, responsible citizen" when we took Garlett?

I was there again, how tragic Only no show was Trengove, I think, Max King made a brief appearance and went inside to siwm, said he was off legs today, the Hammy Twins Vince and Howe ran laps, so did Neal Bullen, all said they are tracking as they should be, no timeframe on return as yet Gus Brayshaw didn't do much, said he didn't shine in the concussion test after the two knocks, he said both Viney and Tommy Mc got him in the praccy match, so has been given a light week, said he would be lucky to pass some of the tests unconcussed. Petracca was out there, handballing, coaching, encouraging, helping to get the padding down from around the goalposts at the end (I kid you not) Emphasis was on ball movement again, standouts today Tyson, Pedersen, Stretch, Bail Roos had one explosion, lack of support when Nathan Jones got a clearance New nickname for those that like them, Harmes is now Nut, both he and Vandenberg trained with the forwards Salem did a bit more one on one work at the end From Jade Rawlings, the time and location of the Intraclub was part of the program schedule, had been for a while Another interesting bit, JKH played as an inside mid for the Indigenous All Stars, said he enjoyed every minute of it, because of the lack of height in the IAS, they tried to read Eagles ruck taps, said he learned a lot Nev Jetta suitably modest about being in the best, said he was just doing his job, played on both Wellingham and Gaff Any questions feel free, pics will be on Twitter Demonpk soon

Drink driving is stupidity - but he has exacerbated the stupidity but not telling the club of this outstanding matter and further exacerbated it by not turning up to the court hearing. We are all human and make mistakes just doesn't cut it here. I think the correct terminology is "stupidity cubed"

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only charges from the afl thus far have been to do with governance issues.

Extract from notice of charges:- http://www.afl.com.au/staticfile/AFL%20Tenant/AFL/Files/EssendonFC-notice-of-charges.pdf 90. Hooper states that 34 Essendon players were injected with an Amino Acid compound sourced by Patient A from a Chemist in Mexico. The identity and integrity of the commodity was inferred by Hooper from labelling without independent or professional verification. Additionally, the Amino Acid appears to have been in storage at HyperMED for a considerable time prior to its use. 91. Save for the above, Hooper does not know the content or source of the amino acids he injected into the players at HyperMed. Anyone that has not read the notice of charges should do so, particularly if you support lenient penalties.

The fact Essendon cannot produce records of what was administered when is not only fanciful considering the degree to which these players are monitored these days but should result in a guilty outcome regardless of any other factors.

Very silly man. The people that say they dont care and wanna sweep it under the carpet seriously get stuffed! As someone thats lost a good mate from a drunken idiot behind the wheel It is a serious offence to me and the fact that he didn't tell the club was just plain stupid! Some of these so call professional athletes need to grow up and be greatful that they are given a chance of a lifetime to do what i would give up my left nut for. Start taking responsibility for their own actions for once.

The reports as to his brilliance at training and in the interclub excite the hell out of me. Stoked we picked him up. And for what seems to be an absolute bargain too. There was a reason he was a bargain though. It's now up to the MFC (coaching and leadership groups) to return his off-field behaviour to where it needs to be.

on the other hand he could have hit and killed a bomber fan

Just think. There is some poor little USB stick sitting somewhere crying his eyes out just waiting to go to Confession

How can you backdate when they are still training and continuing along with their normal,off-season activities? Saade got two years holiday from St. Kilda which also included training. I don' t see why Essendon players should be treated more leniently!

Dear Mick....youre an idiot !!...or a stooge...or both

http://www.sen.com.au/news/a-short-sharp-ban-is-the-most-appealing-outcome I disagree strongly, the situation is simple, if this club has cheated than it needs to man up and cop what's coming to it, they have fought the investigation ever step of the way, Robbo and his media team have carried out a media campaign trying to discredit and paint ASADA as the big bad wolf and Essendon as innocent victims. The league needs to be very strong on the fact that Illegal or performance enhancing drug use is unacceptable under any circumstances and cannot go soft on anyone for it, much less this club who has appealed the legality of the investigation once, while it's coach has twice. If they are found guilty is important that the punishment is not reflective of what is best for the EFC, or for the League in terms of getting them back on the field ASAP, it needs to send a message, and i suspect ASADA and WADA are hell bent on making sure that happens.

I'm not having a go at you because I often express similar thoughts, but that's a very Melbourne fan view point. Let's hope he's the next Barlow and dominates!!! He's been training all summer, he's fit. He's played quality footy in a state league, he knows how to play. AFL uses an oval ball on an oval field with 18 men in a 360 degree game, nothing is refined. Well G Ablett is, but you can win a Brownlow being Priddis who cracks in, wins clearances and slams it forward and racks up footy in space. I certainly doubt he's a master of modern stoppage football which has turned in to it's own art form combined with the sheer force guys like Selwood and Josh Kennedy use in there. And game plans are important, particularly defensive organisation and responsibilities. But I guess when you break the game down the under 12 basics are still the basics of AFL: provide an option, win the ball, use the ball, man up, contest to win the ball back. I don't have huge expectations on him realistically, but it's about time we get surprised by one isn't it? I also see the half forward idea as a smart way to use his size and accumulation ability. He can play high half forward and it's really little different to midfield these days especially in a Roos game plan that pushes the half forwards around the ball. You learn defensive skills and contested skills just as well at half forward as midfield these days. Fairly or unfairly I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing him play NAB challenge almost as much as any of our players because he's such an unknown. Maybe 5 weeks in to the season he'll be slowly developing in the VFL working on his game at an improved level from the NEAFL. But until then I'm going to enjoy one of the joys of being an MFC supporter and enjoy the ride!

Vandenberg is ticking all the boxes, he is now back training fully, spoke to him at Casey on Thursday, all his GPS numbers are AFL level, he is the third fastest or so at the club for sprint speed, he is up to his playing weight of 92k and is feeling like he belongs, the more I see of him the more I can see why the club took the punt on him. His kicking for goal is very good, he makes the occasional clanger but so does every player Can see why Harmes is being looked at up there as well, he is an aggressive bugger, can take a mark and is fast, and can kick goals, I would say we will get to see both at some stage playing forward in the NAB Cup