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One of the most ridiculous comments I've read on here, and that's including the off season training threads.

THE DEVIL IN THE DETAIL by Whispering Jack Tonight I'll be fronting up as usual to the Devil's Advocates Dinner for members of the legal fraternity who support the Melbourne Football Club. They include judges and their associates, solicitors, barristers, paralegal people and their staff all with that one thing in common - the fact that red and blue blood courses through their veins. That, and the fact that they have suffered greatly through the sport over time (except of course, for those who managed to get a professional involvement in the Essendon drug saga) It's almost becoming a tradition that on the weekend before this function, Melbourne suffers a hiding of gigantic proportions meaning that the mood of the evening is usually sombre if not funereal. As a reminder of how poorly the Demons performed in their game against the Hawks, I give you this report from Footy Almanac. As a result, I pity for instance, Phil Kingston, the auctioneer who has to flog various Demon related products during the course of the evening, like an afternoon in the coaches box, when the enthusiasm among the crowd leaves a lot to be desired. I might even be tempted to put in a bid for the coaches box gig but only on a non match day. Still, I always look forward to the event and trust that there will be some special revelation that might reveal a light at the end of that very long tunnel that seems to extend itself whenever we get a third of the way into a season. THE GAME Melbourne v Western Bulldogs at The MCG Sunday 24 May 2015 at 3.20pm HEAD TO HEAD Overall: Melbourne 84 Western Bulldogs 74 wins wins 1 draw At MCG: Melbourne 44 wins Western Bulldogs 27 wins Last Five Meetings: Melbourne 1 win Western Bulldogs 4 wins The Coaches: Roos 0 wins Beveridge 0 wins MEDIA TV - Fox Sports Channel 3 Radio - SEN ABC ABC Grandstand THE BETTING Melbourne $3.05 to win Western Bulldogs $1.38 to win LAST TIME THEY MET Western Bulldogs 14.7.91 defeated Melbourne 13.7.85 at Etihad Stadium in Round 15, 2014. The Demons had a slow start but recovered from way back to lead late in the game until a few defensive mistakes and some brilliance from Marcus Bontempelli saw the Dogs home by a goal. TEAMS MELBOURNE B: Colin Garland, Tom McDonald, Jack Grimes HB: Jeremy Howe, Lynden Dunn, Heritier Lumumba C: Daniel Cross, Aaron vandenBerg, Matt Jones HF: Angus Brayshaw, Cameron Pedersen, Jack Watts F: Jeff Garlett, Jesse Hogan, Jack Fitzpatrick FOLL: Jake Spencer, Nathan Jones, Bernie Vince I/C: Rohan Bail, Ben Newton, Aidan Riley, Jimmy Toumpas EMG: Max Gawn, Viv Michie, Billy Stretch IN: Jack Fitzpatrick, Jesse Hogan, Ben Newton, Aidan Riley, Jack Watts OUT: Chris Dawes (calf), Viv Michie, Christian Salem (hamstring), Billy Stretch, Dom Tyson (knee) WESTERN BULLDOGS B: Matthew Boyd, Jordan Roughead, Easton Wood HB: Robert Murphy, Fletcher Roberts, Jason Johannisen C: Tory Dickson, Liam Picken, Koby Stevens HF: Bailey Dale, Jake Stringer, Mitch Wallis F: Stewart Crameri, Tom Boyd, Luke Dahlhaus FOLL: Ayce Cordy, Lin Jong, Marcus Bontempelli I/C: Shane Biggs, Brett Goodes, Lachie Hunter, Michael Talia EMG: Jarrad Grant Nathan Hrovath Jack Macrae IN:Shane Biggs OUT: Mitch Honeychurch (general soreness) NEW: Shane Biggs I sat opposite Heritier Lumumba for part of the Devil's Advocates function (they rotate the club guests during the evening) and found him to be a revelation in terms of his ability to articulate his views on life and football with such intelligence, passion and humour. He is a major asset to the club not only as a player but as a mentor for our young team. When asked by compere Doctor Turf what his initial thoughts were of the three way trade involving Mitch Clark (to Geelong), Travis Varcoe (to Collingwood) and him to Melbourne, it was that the Demons had won. Perhaps he was jesting but I think he might be right. He also added that he felt at home at this function because his stepfather was a Solicitor which meant he understood why so many there were wearing mismatched ties. His story of how his parents were both dancers who met in Brazil (his father was from the undemocratic Republic of Congo). This probably explains the graceful way he moves around the field at times and he was the big hit of the night from my perspective. Josh Mahoney spoke of his experiences as a twice rejected AFL player (Collingwood and Bulldogs) who spent three seasons in the VFL before getting a chance to be a premiership player at Port Adelaide. Josh has had a role change at Melbourne, moving from the coaching to the business side of football which he says suits him just fine. He did mention that Neville Jetta and Jack Viney would miss another week before returning but that Jesse Hogan was good to go this week. The final speaker was Simon Goodwin who spoke of his experiences as coach in waiting and how he was enjoying the learning experience under Paul Roos and how he is being mentored as a future coach by Neale Daniher. It was something that most of the audience knew little about and there a great deal of interest in Neales experiences as he fights his debilitating illness. Goodwin remains very confident that the club is on the right trajectory despite the difficult three week period it has just experienced against three of the competitions strongest sides. He expects us to be a finals prospect within the next two to three years. Congratulations to Devils Advocates convener Ralph Glezer with who I first went with to the footy in our university days which started not long after our golden era ended. There were many times in the barren years of the 70s and 80s that our only joy was the sight of Robbie Flower running on the wings of the MCG and the suburban football grounds of Melbourne. Kudos to Ralph for bringing in poet and Demon fan Greg Shalless to open the night by delivering his tribute to Robbie - https://soundcloud.com/sen1116/ode-to-robbie-flower/ Phil Kingston of Garry Peer & Associates estate agents was brilliant as the auctioneer of various bits and pieces of Melbourne related goodies. Dr. Turf was the compere and ran the show well with his wit and wisdom. He brought the house down with his story about how Prime Minister Bob Hawke gave him his private telephone number so that he could deliver his horse racing tips on a Saturday morning. Turfie asked the PM what would happen if the phone was engaged, to which Hawke answered, then were all f---ed because the only person who has the number is George Bush and if hes on the line it means hes gotten us involved in another bloody war!" I'm wondering if he has the phone number for Paul Roos because I would dearly like to know what hes thinking as Melbourne takes on the Western Bulldogs with a side that it somewhat depleted from the games of early in the season when the team showed significant advances over last year. Despite the fact that the Western Bulldogs have dominated recent meetings between the teams (they have won nine of 10 matches since 2008), the games have been reasonably close affairs with the Demons in the contests until close to the end. The past four contests have been decided by an average margin of 11 points and on most such occasions, it was the overall experience of the Doggies that made the difference but this time around, things promise to be different. The Western Bulldogs jettisoned a fair bit of experience at the end of 2014 and many of the pundits expected them to struggle with the extra reliance upon youth but instead, their youngsters have risen to the occasion and given their fans some joy after the gloom and doom of the off season. Whilst Melbourne has some promising young players on its list, some of the best of its youth have been sidelined with injury lately and therefore, team selection has become something of a mish mash with several not quite right players getting games and a number of selections going against the flow of logic for an outsider. The end result is that I don't have the same feeling of confidence in the team's short to medium term prospects that I held a month ago. Western Bulldogs by 27 points

Great to hear that Daniher is mentoring Goodwin at the moment. Brings a smile to the face after a tough three week period.

Yep. Nothing to bash Watts for this week, so we'll just make stuff up. And people wonder why other people reckon some are prejudiced. Edit to add: If anyone ever finds themselves wondering why people tend to "lay off" Watts, avoid being overly critical or even defend him when he's had a poor game, look no further than the accusation of dropping himself due to being scared of Hawthorn. He comes under attack for such ridiculous and often fictional things with such monotonous regularity, some of us don't think it would be fair, just or useful to criticise him any more than he already is. It does not mean we're any less disappointed with how he's going.

I want them smashed. Not so much for the systematic doping regime they implemented (ok, well I do want them smashed for that), but for the stinking, lying, obstuctionist, 'we're Essendon and to accuse us of anything makes you an evil troll' attitude that they've had right from the first. It's not that they did it that riles me up so much; it's the arrogant and insulted demeanour they have adapted to anyone dares suggest that they have a serious case to answer.

Hello everyone, Long time lurker, first time poster. I have a theory about the Dees performance woes, gleaned from my background in elite swimming. I wasn't elite but I certainly trained at that level, in a squad with Olympic medalists and under the tutelage of an Australian national coach. None of this will be Earth-shattering, and Roosy touched on it in his press conference. Its just an insight into something I dont think the footy world understands very well. Think about Dom Tyson early 2014. Limited pre-season. Huge start to the year, diminishing returns as it progressed. Now in 2015, despite a full pre-season, his performance aint amazing. Hes not alone: Chris Dawes, JKH, the list goes on. Its a very obvious trend. In swimming, wed train 11 months of the year. The focus was on an annual competition, namely the Australian Championships. Youd spend the entire year preparing for that one week of racing. Other competitions would come up along the way, but your training was focussed on that one comp. The training program would go through phases. The year would start with long, low-intensity swimming. As in, 100 km weeks. That would last perhaps three months. The next phase would be more intense- fewer kilometres but bloody hard. This phase would take up the majority of the year, perhaps 7 months. At this point, swimmers are constantly worn-out and have little in the way of speed. Racing during these periods would always produce poor results, and that was expected. Then, a month out of competition, youd start to taper. And thats what I want to talk about. Tapering is reducing training loads for recovery ahead of the competition. Its also a time when you build up your speed with short-distant sprint training. Tapering is a delicate thing. Its really personal for each individual athlete, depending on their body makeup and the nature of their specialist events (eg. a 100m sprinter should taper differently to a 1500m swimmer). Its really easy for an athlete and his/her coach to bugger up the taper. For instance, nearly everyone would have a month off after Nationals, but there was a semi-serious competition (a trial to get on a state team- so important in that sense) which was (oddly) scheduled about three weeks into that month off. Everyone would compete having not swam at all for three weeks. It was common for people to shatter their best times during that competition, meaning their coach had bungled the taper for Nationals in a major way. Duncan Armstrong once came and spoke at our club, and he detailed his preparation for his 1988 Gold-medal Olympic campaign. The bloke had a preparation for something like two-and-half-years, without taper. Perhaps it was between the 1986 Commonwealth Games and the Olympic trials in 88, so two years. During that preparation, he raced without tapering, and produced results so bad that many people asked him if he was even going to compete in the Olympic trials. Its my belief that the Melbourne Demons are currently stuck at exactly that point. Overtrained, exhausted, and not at all ready to perform. Obviously, swimming training with one important, week-long competition per year is very different to training for a six-month footy season, but the Dees fitness management needs to be looked at seriously. Perhaps, ideally, youd have a list full of AFL-ready players, who could cycle through different stages of taper at different times and be swapped in and out on that basis. And were a long way off having that kind of depth. Perhaps the Melbourne fitness staff know that the payoff for tapering our athletes for peak performance now, wont yield the returns that it will when the young list matures over the next few years, and theyre keeping the players in that Duncan Armstrong taperless period. Or perhaps Australian Rules Football doesnt quite draw the world-class, high-performance managers that the impressive job titles claim they are. Regardless, I think what youre seeing is a lot of over-trained players with no speed and explosiveness, who are performing at their best only after periods of injury-induced rest. On a positive note, when Duncan Armstrong finally did give himself some time to recover and build some speed and explosiveness, he swam a world record despite going into the Olympics ranked number 46 in the world. Maybe thatll be us in a couple of years. Go Dees. Luke

Have said this before...don't ever listen to what Roos says. It's all smoke and mirrors, he never tells the media/public what's really going on. He has a plan and as Viney said recently he goes about his work with no concern for the noise going on around him. We will never really know the full effect of his tenure until he has left the club after next season.

Let me say I am a big fan of PR and he is building the list as best he can. As a Paid up long term member I am well aware of our deficiencies with the list, I am also aware that our young draftees are still developing, however.... PR - give us supporters of this club a bit of respect, we don't need to hear our list are tired after round 7, this list is ranked 9th youngest not 18th. All clubs have injuries and we are not in the worst position on that. Please stop telling us that some players who have been around on our list for years may still be mentally fragile! It is patently obvious to most of us who these players are, and hopefully their all gone as soon as possible. I am sick of hearing about the black past of this club and it's woes. All I want as a supporter and watcher of games is to see effort, skill and competitive football. I don't want to hear mamby pamby pressers after each game we lose, As a supporter I want a coach who is a robust defender of his game plan and direction and stares everyone down with confidence. Lately it's starting to appear quite fluffy and political when Roos speaks. I'm over excuses and political speak. The next month will be the barometer of where this list is going and supporters want to see a brand worth attending games to watch.

I found that really interesting as Roos and to some extent McCartney are doing similar. I guess it would also be a great benefit to Daniher to be involved with footy. Very happy that he is helping us rather than the mob out near the airport

James Hird gets a parking fine...a great laugh. Arrogant and defiant to the end!! Moral of the story: The good guys win!!

Three weeks ago the talk was finals. Now it's priority picks. Both are ridiculous.

thats pretty awesome.. kinda need a really-like button

Just learnt how to do the gif thing mandee?

The Round 1 forward line that kicked 17 goals had Hogan as main target, Watts as a roaming forward and Frost as the forward.ruck. Watts had his only excellent game of the season , then Dawes came back Round 2 and we have gone back to kicking 2014 scores. Think we will see that Round 1 forward structure this week this but with Pedo in the Frost role. Makes me feel a lot more positive about the game.

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.

Huh? We got Nat Jones at our first pick at 12 in 2005 we didnt miss on Pendles. The 2003 draft was a dud lets face it. The 2004 draft was full of talent and guess who was all over it oh yes the tanking Hawks but really what is your point Hogan?

My view is its not about average age its about the quality of the mature players you have to lead the way.

Edit:- This is biggestred's link

then beat me to a pulp

This. Roos says whatever he thinks will (externally) be met with the least resistance. The conversations and the experiences going on behind closed doors are a completely different matter.

Malthouse was ridiculed when he said he couldn't see Carlton losing a game. Hardwick was ridiculed when he said Richmond's best will beat anyone. Roos has the shoe on the other foot. Coaches can't win with what they say sometimes. Either way, I reckon Roos talks pure drivel in the public domain but he's always calm and in control of the situation. That's a good skill to have.

Off the mark for mine. Neeld was the king when it came to excuses. Roos has got nothing on him when it comes to the fallback of age and experience. Let me say that overall I think Roosy is doing a decent enough job given what he's inherited. The stagnant style of play and inability to stop opponents when they get a run on remains a concern, but if you look at the big picture, we've progressed a fair way from 2013. In saying that, my issue with Roos isn't his post game rhetoric as much as his pre-game rhetoric. He talks up the opponent to the extent where you feel as though we will be lucky to even come close. Judging by Roos' public offerings, we lost the last three games before they had started. He 's made numerous references to Melbourne as a "bottom side", and is always highlighting the "gap between the top and bottom". He cements this with talk of a "lack of talent". The coach is the absolute last person who I want to hear publicly acknowledge that our team lacks talent. If that is the mindset, how are you possibly instilling belief in the group? Sometimes I think Roosy forgets that he no longer has his media hat on. He is the coach who has a responsibility to make this group believe they are going to win. Not that they can. Or they might. That they WILL win. If some of his messaging is filtering through to the team, it wouldn't surprise me if it was a contributing factor to the level of performances we've seen of late.

FCS........It was nearly 40 years ago.......Ruckmen were six foot......Times change.

I'd like to see him playing as a high half forward for the Giants and Shiel playing midfield for us.

EFC legal team.

Your namesake - was not particularly quick, disposal could be iffy - but brought it each and every week. The two closest we have is Jones and Cross. The best and worst efforts of most of our team is too wide. When most of the team bring the same effort the junior brought to the team on a weekly basis we will see a rise up the ladder.

How hard is it to work out that young teams occasionally lack "effort" when they're overwhelmed and there's not the leaders to show the way. It has happened for time immemorial. Michael Voss played in a wooden spoon team. Sam Mitchel played in a bottom team. As have countless others who went on to be stars. We've got the most exciting key forward I've ever seen at Melbourne, an exciting key defender and one of the most exciting young mids I've seen join the club. Plus Petracca who will be a star. It's a brilliant template.

After round 6: Kennedy, Betts, Garlett and Waite: 66 Carlton: 66

We need to kick goals. We need players to kick goals. Our forward line does convert. I think Howe as a half forward or deep 3rd forward (like Gunston) would be the go. He is wasted down back.

The PP is clearly dead, unless the Hawks have a bad year or two.

Ah yes BB, but can you apply your reasoned deduction to this question? If a man says something in a forest and there's no woman there to hear it, is he still wrong? I haven't won an argument with my wife in 37 years. Maybe I'll go and talk to myself in a forest somewhere and be right for a change. Or would I still be wasting my time? I can't work it out.

Let's cut to the chase. He has lost interest. The only question remains is - is it Sydney, Hawthorn, Collingwood etc who has him wrapped for 2016? Of course AFL, that honorable integrity filled body, would say that this cannot be done so early....but the record speaks.

Didn't know what you meant till I googled it. Then I found a picture of a bloke who looks a lot like Saty. Perhaps he was standing on a scooter?

Rubbish. Our average age is HIGHER than these teams: West Coast Port Adelaide Collingwood St Kilda Brisbane West Bulldogs Gold Coast GWS Giants How many of those teams consistently put in a worse effort than us? Sick of the excuses when the facts don't back it up.

They're f$&;)d beyond belief!

The endless argument about who did and didn't play on Saturday highlights only one thing - Hawthorn's depth is a hell of a lot better than ours. They could cover the players who were missing, we couldn't. This is the crux of it, and until we change that with good draft picks and some frugal trading, we will always struggle when we are hit by a few injuries.

Yeah but injuries have an exponential effect depending on a teams position. Hawthorn are the reigning back to back premiers and widely tipped to three-peat, of course they can cover a few injuries more than the side who only won 10 games in the last 3 years.

The next time Hird and Co look out of their windows they will be staring down their worst nightmare !! THE WADA AMADA !!

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.

Roy Masters: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/essendon-bombers/australia-may-not-have-representative-at-cas-hearing-into-essendon-case-20150520-gh5tbz.html Some quotes ( in itallics): In a nutsell: - "Essendon may even struggle to find a non-conflicted Australian advocate to appear in the court and argue their defence." - Essendon are struggling to find a judge to be one of the three arbitors who will make the decision.The gall and hubris continues: "...In order to guarantee the presence of one AFL-minded person in a jurisdiction of European lawyers, legal sources claim Essendon have suggested a recently retired Australian High Court judge, Justice Ken Hayne, as their nominated judge on the three-person panel. Justice Hayne is an Essendon supporter and is hugely respected for his independence and clarity of thinking. However, he is not on the CAS list so they simply wanted him added ie change the CAS rule so they can an Essendon supporter on the panel!! -The venue is definitely in Switzerland: "CAS's Sydney office has been in contact with the Swiss registry in Lausanne asking whether the case would be held in Australia and the answer has been a definitive no". If only they had not been so cocky and confident of WADA not appealing to CAS they would have had more time to get their ducks in order. Now they are doing everything on the run. While WADA is looking very cool, calm and collected having nominated their defence counsel and their preferred panel member. Who looks inefficient and incompetent now. WADA are going after the AFL with all guns blazing!

DP I reconsidered and removed my post. It is a lie to say that they have been found innocent. Their not guilty status is temporary. Hird took full responsibility and then denied any wrong doing. To say that they do not know what the players were given but it was not illegal and was good for them is an insult to the intelligence. They are a blight on all Australian sports and sports people. Serious penalties need to be meted out and now I have no doubt that they will.

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."

kill this thread. no more handouts

there will never be a priority pick. close thread

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.

Is it 2008?

Coates will be involved but not on the side of Essendon. He is after all a very senior AOC and IOC official, and the Olympic movement can't stand the way there seems to be one rule for the wealthy football codes and another for all other sports when it comes to drugs in sport in Australia. My bet he is intimately involved in the move to have it heard in Switzerland, and will have considerable sway in the ultimate outcome including the nomination of the Chairman for the hearings which looks like CAS's nominee.

i have a few from the 87-91 erano ads. Straight feed from the Ch 7 truck. I am going to put them up on youtube soon when i get some time.