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They did, reply below.Dear Ethan, Thank you for your email, your legal knowledge is clearly second to none. We were unaware Melksham played for Essendon and may possibly be suspended if found guilty at the conclusion of the WADA v EFC trial. We will reassess. Do you think Dangerfield would come to us? All the best Roosy.

Good idea, someone email the club. I'm sure no one at the club has considered any of this.

One year ago tomorrow 2 October! Anniversary of his sad passing! Fond memories of a great man taken too soon! Fence!

I would be bitterly disappointed if we only got pick 24 for him, in what is a well known shallow draft We should trade him for another up and coming player, or back ourselves to actually develop him properly

I was told today the club has not given up on Dion.

If we were to land either I would be spending a lot of time having relations with myself

Against all logic, I want to give the Toump one more year.

The things I know are that: 1. the club is very professional now and has a very capable recruiting team; 2. Paul Roos has repeatedly said that we need more midfield depth and class - established player/s, not just juniors with potential; 3. several MFC people (including Roos) have stated that we will be very active in this year's trade period; and 4. Howe, Garland, Toumpas have not yet re-signed. Seems absolutely clear that the club would have identified certain established players to target during this trade period - but, given the new era of professionalism, that doesn't translate into us finding out who they are here on Demonland prior to anything being announced.

The musician? Bit old isn't he?

Listening to 3aw atm? Dees talking to J Hogan putting to him the plans to land a big fish or two, money no impediment Jesse will be compensated better at the dees than anywhere else

Given Essendon's propensity to fail to keep records and other such stuff there must be a real chance there'll be confusion in their paperwork we'll end up with Carlisle instead of Melksham.

We can't use this reasoning every time something is denied... srsly.

Toumpas is a small player (i.e. not a tall/project type that requires patience), has been around 3 years and still couldn't get a game in a mediocre side. He wasn't even dominating the VFL. I like the kid, has copped some unjust criticism in his time and hope he does well at his new club but you're kidding yourselves if you think we'd get more than pick 24 for him. I think we'd be lucky to get it. Ben Kennedy is another name I've heard mooted but he's in a very similar boat to Toumpas. Small player, highly rated junior, struggled massively over 3 seasons. I'd prefer a pick. We waited too long with Morton a few years back and ended up getting pick 88 for him...

Your ability to detect a little sarcasm is without parallel jnrmac.

If true would mean he will be a 1 club player, which just brings a smile to my face. ? Well done MFC?

Melksham is a mixture of good and bad, but his good bits of play are the type that we really lack and are hard to get. He has good pace and excellent movement in contests, which allows him to break out of contests into space and move the ball quickly. The best teams can break into space and that's where a lot of the scoring now comes from. Melksham can do some things that make you rip your hair out but he has a skill that we lack, in an age group that is important. If he becomes the quality midfielder he was drafted to be then great, but if not he becomes a mature role player to bring a unique skill to our team.

You wouldn't need to - I'd give you a hand.

The Veale deal was a Veal Schnitzel, chips and pot for ten bucks.

I have a nagging (MFCSS) feeling that this will come back to bite us quite badly. He may have deficiencies but he's also had a bad run of luck with injuries/illness and generally getting some continuity. Missing out on Wines is one thing, but if we are a few years down the track and Toumpas is dominating in another jumper while the player we got in return is languishing or delisted, projectile vomiting is in the pipeline.

It is a strange piece of timing. I can't help wondering if Chick's comments are more directed at Worsfold and his impending appointment at Essendon, than anything to do with the Eagles. Maybe there are things he only really paused to recall this week, when people wanted to reminisce with him about Eagles in grand finals, or Worsfold as a coach. There's nothing for it, the Demons are just going to have to step up and win a bunch of preimerships, we can't risk them all ending up in the hands of creeps and b4stards.

So true Lucifer. I really don't get too excited about these stories. The West Coast story has been known for a long time. Sure, there are plenty of clean footballers, however, the demands of the sport (read all professional sport), means that both illicit and prescription drugs have been taken for a long time (in the case of the VFL/AFL beginning in the 1970s with the use of anabolic steroids). Bulked up players have been around for a long time. There are differences in use starting with individual use moving to organized programs, but the use of drugs has been a part of the game for a long time. This is why the self righteous attitude of past AFL administrators that the sport was clean (Demetriou being the classic case) has been just pure b.............. and been about protecting the brand. Those in the game will continue to push the boundaries to seek a competitive advantage so drug use will not go away. Do I think that MFC players have taken stuff over the years, Absolutely, although perhaps not in any organized way sanctioned by club staff. Anyway, as you say Lucifer........"they weren't the only ones"

The bennell photos are to cover up and take the attention from the other 12 player that took drugs with hunt, one takes the fall for everyone else involved, notice when those picture came to light the story of the 13 players is never heard of again.

Lucky you emailed them, dodged THAT bullet!

now just think that bit over a few times

I don't disagree, both players are on the fringe, but I think people on here are really down on both of these players simply because they haven't come in and starred. Whilst I admit they haven't had the initial impact I would have hoped, I think Michie has started to settle and play the role the footy department needs him to and Newton will be all the better after another year settling into the club, his role and the gameplan. Riley couldn't win enough of the ball, nor be the damaging player we needed him to be. Michie and Newton are very much in the frame of being potentially solid contributors.

It will be our version of the Trent Croad move. That makes Bernie Vince our Luke Hodge.

Tigers think they're in a premiership window and are prepared to roll the dice and risk it with Harley. We're in the middle of a major culture shift and to bring in Bennell now would most definitely risk denting all of the hard work the club has done over the Roos/Jackson period. I'd be willing to think the club sees it as simply not worth it. Ken Judge passed some comments on Bennell last Saturday on the radio which went something like: Ablett Snr showed how much of a potential star in the making he was at Hawthorn but didn't toe the line and for fear of it infecting the rest of the list, Yabby Jeans moved him on and he ended up at Geelong where he turned out to be one of the all time greats and played in two GF's - the Hawks went on to win 4 premierships. I can't recall who Judge mentioned but they basically said there was two sets of rules at Geelong which was one for Ablett and the other for the rest of the squad. His comments about Bennell directly were referencing a couple of other incidents that occurred between the infamous Tassie photo and when he had the incident with the bouncer. He said they were kept under wraps and out of the media but were pretty disturbing. I think PSD probably alluded these incidents early on in this thread. Richmond might back themselves in to control Bennell given they've managed to get Dusty's [censored] together for him and maybe the MFC might think it could do the same however, we have one problem child at the club that takes up enormous resources at the expense of the rest of the players (Jurrah) is not fair and doesn't bode well for a strong culture being built off the foundation of a team first mentality. The Suns want him gone. I think that speaks volumes on its own. I reckon we'll look back on this one and not be too disappointed at all.

Maybe he's turned the corner. (Without flipping the car and running off).

Clangers. Really highly visible big ol' clangers. Also, brainfarts. HOWEVER I was just now doing some checking back, because part of the reason Essendon fans turned him into an object of hate was that he had seemed to be developing well, but then tapered off. Melksham played the first few years of his career (to 2013) under Simon Goodwin. By the end of that time he was a useful, quick, goal-kicking midfielder. After Goodwin left, Melksham's numbers immediately declined - halving his goals, knocking a quarter off possessions (particularly kicks), and just generally not being that great. So the 'Goodwin-Melksham connection' is probably more than just nice talk or a bit of favouritism. I'd reckon Goodwin is backing himself to refresh Melksham and have him delivering in a very particular role that we do need more of. I'm feeling better about it with some more facts on hand. Still very wary, but better.

Fremantle were keeping him fresh for the finals.

And since this year was his second year he had second year blues so next year I'm expecting him to kick 107 goals whilst claiming the Coleman, wins the Brownlow, norm smith and kick a lazy 9 in the GF.

While on holiday in Germany guess who my fiancee and I ran into yesterday, yes Jake Melksham along with Michael Hibberd. Initially running into Hibberd I had a very very brief conversion with him. A minute or two later and around the corner waiting for him was Jake. So straight out I asked "Are the rumours true mate, will you be at the Dees next year?" A little coy and thrown off he replied "it's highly likely". I responded "well i'm a Dees supported" and the conversation turned to his and our trip with him relaxing quickly. Overall we spoke to him for about 5 - 10 minutes and he was a very nice bloke. He didn't have to stand there and chat but he wanted to once we found that commom ground on travel. He asked us many questions as we did to him and shared the usual travel stories and experiences. Aside from the start we didn't talk any footy and I didn't want to push it, I got the impression that was the last thing he and Michael wanted to discuss and righfully so as I'm the same with my line of work atm while on holiday. Overall I think he'll enjoy a fresh start, and after that conversation welcome aboard I say and I hope he flourishes. Cheers!

Can the mods ban this clown.Absolute troll

I like that you can make fun of yourself. There is quite a bit of material isn't there?

For me its about irony.. Wines AND Toumpas end up together...why couldnt we have had...........

Mate if you can score some good oil of the quality you got last time us Demonlander's would be mighty grateful. I'll have to be quick on my copy and paste though as last time you deleted some of your 'scoops' before I could add them on. Go HH you good thing!

Amazing the article has come out today, couple of days before the GF.... nice one HS you pack of fl ogs, how long have you been sitting on the story.

AzzKika, Not sure if you are being serious. Do you really think the club wouldn't be across this? You must have a very low opinion of the entire organization if you think they wouldn't have weighed up everything before making a call such as this.

Please come back Col, we miss you.

Given he's failed more medicals than there are stars in the sky, Carlton have certainly come out the losers in that sliding doors scenario.

Wow...Col kicks Demons winning goal in 2018 premiership win. Hollywood would buy the movie rights.

Ben Kennedy.

and how much of a hole in our side did Kent leave when he went down injured, We lacked line breaking speed without him and his pace in and around wing/hf to create turnovers. I was a critic of Kent last year and before as I felt he was not working hard enough to reach his potential with the tools he had at his disposal. Before he went down injured he showed enough to suggest the penny had dropped and he was looking at having a good year. What Kent getting injured did was amplify our lack of line breakers who can run between mid and forward, Kennedy offers that and you can't have to many of them on your list because sometimes you need to play two of them and have the depth to pick sides to beat the differing oppositions week to week. Kennedy is a good user of the footy Has good acceleration Has very good cruise speed Is a good decision maker in traffic Good get for mine at the right price

After all the pages on DL devoted to 'we should have taken Wines over Toumpas' and Port end up with both of them... ...ha ha...the ultimate irony!! Only at Melbourne!

Considering the outstanding recruiting in the last 2 seasons since Roos & co took over I trust that Melksham will be a wonderful recruit. Roos has a long, strong record of rejuvenating players. He knows what he is doing. Personally I am excited about the prospect.

Oh my god, you made me spit beer out of my nose! Lol!