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Buck up guys the slashing of wrists since the Hawthorn debacle is getting silly. Lets be realistic. We won 4 games last year & hopefully can get 6-8 wins this year. We started the season well & showed great improvement. Then injuries - Jetta, Kent, JKH, Viney, Salem, Hogan. Then a number of players badly out of form - Watts, Jamar, Howe, Dunn, Gawn, Dawes. On top of this our better mids N Jones & Tyson both look a bit proppy. You take effectively 8+ players out of our best 22 & of course we are going to struggle. Look at poor Stretch - once in the better players at Casey & straight into the Firsts. At the Swans he would need to do this 5 or 6 times before getting promoted. While last week was disappointing we will continue to struggle until we get a decent, in form group of 22 players out there. I still reckon we can take a step forward & win 6-8 games.

In my view this was always going to happen that WADA would try to take these hearings to Switzerland and indeed I predicted it on here about a couple of weeks ago. What has been a surprise, but in retrospect a logical one, is that WADA has nominated a foreign Arbitrator. This has not been the precedent with Australian cases, but it is most welcome.As I have said many times on here, WADA are seriously [censored] off with Essendon and the AFL especially as to how ASADA have been treated. I have no doubt part of McDevitt's brief to WADA in Montreal would have been if possible to get the hearing as far from the toxic atmosphere of Australia if they want to conduct a fair appeal. You just imagine the public pressure which would be exerted on Arbitrators if the hearings are held in Sydney or Mebourne? It would almost impossible, and the decision as to location would be made with this in mind. With the WADA nominee coming from Belgium, no doubt the Essendon one from Australia, it is then up to both parties to agree to a Chairman. Given their attitudes, with WADA effectively having a veto over the Chairman, this is unlikely to happen in which case CAS nominates the Chairman, in all likelihood another European. If so, two of the three Arbitrators will have no detailed knowledge of the case and therefore be able to bring totally dispassionate analysis to it, and arrange rulings in favour of compulsion of subpoenaring of witnesses and testimonies under oath, in Swiss Courts if the hearings are eventually held in Switzerland. This looks like a disaster for Hird and Essendon

Nice to see someone on the reality bus. As a former coach, who shall remain nameless, once said, "It is what it is." We simply don't have the depth yet to cover key players being out. Think back to the Richmond game when we were close to full strength. We looked remarkably better than last year. Next year we will clear out some strugglers and bring in some more capable footballers. We're not in a position to be bagging big names just yet but in another couple of years we will do okay out of free agency. We need to be patient. I believe we are on the right track. Roos and Jackson are laying the foundations. Remember when we were worried about sponsors. Now new ones come on board and little is even said. It just happens. The recruiting has been better. We're starting to build the basis of a team. I don't think we're far from giving a few sides a bit of a shock. We just need to get all our ducks in a line and it will start to happen.

It is dead set ridiculous how negative so many supporters are being. We are one win behind Port Adelaide, Geelong and Richmond, who each played finals last year. The five games we have lost were against five of the current top six sides. The thrashing everyone is so up in arms about was at the hands of last year's premiers, who thrashed the Bulldogs a month earlier - and everyone loves them. Get a grip. Yes, we played poorly on the weekend. But look at the bigger picture. Talking about the team like it is hopeless only makes us all think that it is hopeless. Mind you, if we don't bounce back in the next few weeks, I'll take it all back and be the first through the door of that online knife store.

Is it 2008?

this wouldnt be the new Belgian bloke by any chance ??

The AFL is waiting for the best time to announce Keefe & Thomas inadvertently took the cocaine by kissing each other in a nightclub.

Viney and Jetta were crucial losses for us, given that they offer a tougher edge that so many of our players lack. Remember that after the Richmond win the talk was about everyone's surprise at Melbourne 'out-muscling and out-working' an opponent. People joking about how they had to read that twice. Somewhere in this team, the toughness does exist and the effort can be made. But we also all know that too many players just don't see the point once they feel like a loss is inevitable anyway. We need to beat a few comparable teams to ourselves, and at some point sneak an unexpected win or two, if we are going to restore enough confidence to the players to get them out of the celler-dweller state of mind.

Fresh supplies of brown corduroys to Windy Hill me thinks........ Rich Young to lead the case for WADA against Essendon who's Rich Young ? well.... from the australian "The lawyer who brought down notorious drug cheats Marion Jones, Floyd Landis and Lance Armstrong will present the World Anti-Doping Agency’s case against 34 current and former footballers accused of taking a banned peptide. " "Richard Young, a US-based anti-doping expert who helped draft the original World Anti-Doping Code, has agreed to prosecute the case against Essendon to be heard before the International Court of Arbitration for Sport."

there will never be a priority pick. close thread

You are all missing the point. Its the basics. tackling running, effort, pressure etc etc. We fail miserably. That is not talent. Its intent effort and desire. We see it in glimpses but mostly we lack on field leadership. We also lack players who can get the pill 30 times a match. Haven't had one this year. Last one to do it consistently was Junior. That's the thing with players like Barlow - they know how toget he pill.

As one of the few (only?) card-carrying Belgians to post on Demonland, it's a big day to see one of my countrymen holding the future of our sport in his hands. Never thought I'd live to see the day ... nor did Essendon probably.

Take out 7-8 top players from the top sides and see how they go! How would Dockers fare without Fyfe, Mundy, Pavlich, Barlow, Sandilands, Mayne, Hill and Johnson? Not too well I would suspect. Too many doomsayers on this forum. Or do we call them Fair-weather supporters? On the band wagon when we win chuck us into the creek when we lose. Grrrrrrrr!

Yes , well done 2014 in picking the venue. Surprised me but gladdened me. If I wasn't the cynical old bastard that I am I. Would almost be thinking that Australian sport , or at least the recalcitrant component of it , just got placed on level pegging with Chinese swimming and the old East German Athletics!!! Hilarious in a fashion, damning and shameful in reality. Thank you Hird and Little you've taken us all for a ride and left us in the SHlT !!! The appointment of such a non Oz arbiter will reinforce how clinically it will be reviewed. No weight to anyone's notoriety or reputation will be afforded nor should it ever have. Now events will be reviewed in a very matter of fact manner. What happened, what likely has happened , what was intended to happen and by whom for who. I would be extremely surprised if now that the diabolical misdoings are not seen as they were. Some will be smiling at the thought that a nice junket awaits, for others it may be finally dawning upon them that a much longer holiday is earmarked. There will still be the local spin, the fanboys won't be able to help themselves to continue to barrow out the rubbish dressed as supposed heartfelt and needed redress. These bozos will become even more obvious to the vastly still ignorant footy public as the inconvenient truth is 'unveiled' by the more respected component of the 4th estate. Gradually the public's view will swing. Only the despots fervently hanging onto the Hird-line will remain on that side of the fence. When this sorry chapter is over this country deserves a Royal Commision into the practices of sporting codes, their administrations and the ability of them to honour and deliver the codes of conduct and adherence of agreed drug/doping protocols. The smiting of upstarts like Hurd and his ilk should be the start, not the finish of a good hard look into this disgusting trend.

kill this thread. no more handouts

Complete dribble. "Formuler" FM. Let's instil a culture of hard work to get what you want. [censored] the handouts, if we keep asking for them we will never be taken seriously as a club. "Check out Melbourne asking for a handout again." Rubbish thread.

We are a good chance to win this week. The Dogs can't match our mid-field clearance machines Daisy Pearce & Ellie Blackburn.

I understand the argument you're putting, franky, but what I saw from the Ponsford on Saturday made feelings of gloom and doom almost irresistible.

Dont look now James...thats no Toblerone !!!

Don't underestimate the xenophobic line the local media will roll out when things look bad for EFC in a dastardly foreign court. I can't eat that much popcorn.

Essendon would have re-signed Keeffe and Thomas immediately upon hearing the news.

FFS We need to stop looking for handouts. That includes the supporters as well.

don't want it. Topping up draft handouts has gotten us nowhere except to contribute to a soft culture that may be permanently ingrained,

It's been established already that no matter how poorly you perform, if the word Melbourne is in or associated with your club's name, you don't qualify for a priority pick under the rules.

The Hills are Alive.......with the .........

They got Tim Broomhead out of him who looks a fine young player and will have a good career at Collingwood.We got a Forward who can't even do what forwards are suppose to do and thats mark a ball and kick a goal! Oh but he talks tough..

Our list is a work in progress and unfortunately is one of the worst in the league. We need every player to be available. I would argue taking Kent, Viney, Salem ( after his hammy) and Hogan out of our team is more significant than a team like Hawthorn who can lose champions like Hodge and Lewis, and then Lake and number one ruck in McEvoy and not even miss a beat. It's not an excuse - it's a sad reality.

When was the last time anyone unwittingly took methadone for back pain? Ryan Crowley, must have been to see Mr Charters. http://www.theage.com.au/afl/fremantle-tagger-ryan-crowley-unwittingly-took-methadone-for-back-pain-20150519-gh5a9q.html

Settle down Song - it's only a Chris Dawes thread we're hijacking.

And we will get killed off half back. He's probably our laziest footballer. When he goes forward, he has a knack of being even lazier. He's finished. Trade him.

Reverend is she listening ? Here goes Oh please God can you let my team perform well enough one year that we are not discussing Draft picks and Priority Picks in May. Please after 50 years can you help out.

Do us a favour and explain this statement. Roos missed the finals in 2009 - that's once - and they bounced back strongly in 2010. What do you think will improve us? A younger coach? An older coach? A coach with less hair? Will that make Hogan want to stay. Or maybe, just maybe, a guy who played 365 games and has coached a premiership + a losing GF knows more than whingers like you. And no, I don't care how many years you have watched us be [censored]. We've all watched those years.

agree first sentence good luck with second .....it's all self interest

This appointment alone tells me WADA are deadly serious about this case...I'd try to do a deal if I was the players.... no wait...

I disagree. Rebadged and still playing is not the message that WADA need to send to sporting bodies world-wide. Would-be cheats need to know they destroy themselves and their team. Less than that, and the lawyers and spin-merchants will be reassuring everyone in no time; media lapdogs in tow, in full raptures and looking to the future... I think we need to see Essendon gone; and people connected with Essendon left ashen-faced, with no second life to come once WADA have gone back home. Tough, but unequivocal and non-rewriteable. WADA has to win, and be unambiguously still in control of the outcome ten years from now. This has to be a precedent that says you cannot just batten down and weather the clobbering, in the unfortunate event of your getting caught with a fistfull of syringes. I'm not sure how I see WADA's investigation precipitating that outcome - maybe opening the floodgates to damages claims, on the basis of their damning findings - but for me there's only one right end for a club that first ran and then top-to-bottom closed ranks around such a programme.

It's not the actual results people are upset about. It's the fact that all of the non-talent related issues (effort, spirit, footy basics) are STILL happening. That is the bigger picture.

Agree, BB. CAS hold all the cards. It is their decision where they hold it and in a case of this importance they will hold it in the place where they get the fairest outcome. In a way, Hird and his tribe of disciples have only themselves to blame for this. Their behaviour throughout when they have tried everything to discredit ASADA, used every underhand trick in the book, manipulated their lackies in the media and academia to try to influence the outcome has come home to roost. WADA and CAS have been observing this, and would have taken notice. They realise this same bag of tricks will be pulled out against the CAS Arbitrators if the Appeal was held in Australia, which is exactly the reason why it cannot be. The Hird camp seem to think what goes on in Australia is not noticed by the rest of the world. I can assure them that this whole episode has been very closely monitored in Switzerland, and the outcomes noticed. For WADA, it has become a MUST WIN, otherwise it opens the door to every dodgy coach in team sports around the world to implement the same program of doping which Essendon and Hird have attempted to get away with. This cannot be allowed to happen...

You are amazing aren't you..... Apart from Freo in Round 22, I give us a good shot in all other matches. We'll win at least 6 I'd of thought, so zero chance of a priority pick.

The premise of the thread is based on an incorrect assumption that we wont win 3 more games. As stated previously, we have played 2 teams outside of the top eight... and have beaten them both comprehensively.

I love how playing the 3 best teams in the last 3 weeks and a serious run of injuries that has exposed our known to be shallow depth = we wont win many games. I still expect us to win 6-8 which was what I expected at years start.

I wouldn't be so flippant in saying that "...a number of players badly out of form - Watts, Jamar, Howe, Dunn, Gawn, Dawes. On top of this our better mids N Jones & Tyson both look a bit proppy". You can add Lumumba and (to a certain degree) Vince to that list. Yes, they are playing poorly, and when you have that many players out of sorts, it might explain the poor performances, but it doesn't make it any less of a problem. Once again, we can properly assess where the team is at after the next three games against more mid-tier opponents, but if the senior players are still turning in bog ordinary performances against the Bulldogs and the like, it might be time for some home truthes about certain players, their actual capabilities, and their future at the club. Getting Viney and Jetta back will help a great deal, and Tyson badly needs to find some form.

govt blessing to dump wada? i'd like to see that if they did dump wada there is no way it would be with govt blessing. the ramifications would not be worth it

One Ruckman: Griffen, Leuenberger, Smith or Dixon One A-grade Midfielder: Danger, Sloane, Shiel or Treloar One of any of the following second-tier mids: Douglas, Selwood, Moore, De Boer, Coniglio, Yarran or Ellis-Yolmen One of the following youngsters: Lennon or Lonergan And I wouldn't even mind if we got another veteran FA in to take over from Cross and to allow for further development for our younger mids. One of: Thompson, Bartel, Kelly or Goodes. (Very unlikely of course). We have to have at least three more mids come from other clubs. We need to land a star player and it doesn't bother me how much we pay them. The second two definite starting 22 players with who possess both skill and fierce competitiveness.

This.Kent was starting to look like a beast. His power and speed is what we are seriously missing. Put that with Vineys toughness and smarts and it does leave a big hole in our lineup.

Collingwood went for Quentin Lynch to replace Dawes, I don't think they are really laughing.

Every time I look at that picture I want to find Schwab and Prendergast and shoot them.

Totally agree BB there needs to be a Royal Commission into illegal substance use in sport. Too many back room deals by the AFL for my liking. It not healthy to have a Boy Club in the AFL as poor decisions are made.

Needs to be dropped as a warning to pick up his game, and find some form. If it's good enough for Grimes and Watts it's good enough for Dawes.

I don't think you're 'write'.