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Dean Wallis' Diary ...Dear Diary, Today I woke up and looked at myself in the mirror and thought "what have I done to deserve this head"? Then off to the jabbing room to help the boys bulk up on the good gear. Sheeds often got me to do the dirty jobs on the field and now I am doing all the dodgy business off it. After the morning Jabs I will be down to the TAB to place a small wager on the footy and then off to an integrity meeting with the AFL. Busy day!!!

THe AFLPA are the ones ruining our game They are extremely immoral and they forced free agency upon us and other ludicrous rules that make the competition unfair.

The more I read the more confident I'm becoming that Parish will make it. Call it the 'reverse mozz'.

Still somewhat staggered that the theme of certain posters and media pundits is to overlook our near third world midfield. I don't care what Petracca, Brayshaw, Tyson, Salem and Viney could be, we can't rest on our laurels with these kids. I'm confident they will come on, but 5 mids aren't going to win you a flag. Top midfielders often come from the top picks. Use your top two picks to add to those 5 and suddenly we're getting somewhere. Keep it simple, stupid.

This again raises my old hobby horse about sharing of the gate takings. Especially for games at shared home grounds, NB our annual game vs EssenDrug, at OUR home ground but their home game. Two teams put on each game - why should one by the quirk of the AFL's administrators, take the whole gate whilst the other team actually plays for nothing? Surely, after deducting the costs or running the game, the gate should be split? After all, EssenDrug, Collingwood, Melbourne, Richmond don't actually own the MCG. Even fairer, the AFL should carry the ground costs, and the participating teams split the residual revenue. In fact the whole concept of the cost of running a particular match is artificial - no club never can nor should carry the true cost of having a ground in a prime real estate position, not maintenance, nor the full cost of lighting etc. As it stands with the "power teams" getting a disproportionate number of games at the venues that allow / attract bigger crowds, it is again just a matter of the rich get richer, and thus stay at the top, and the poor remain poor and find it more difficult to rise. And all this is artificially rigged by the AFL.

I'd be happy with that outcome. Hanging on by a thread, no doubt, but does get one last shot. If he's good enough he can force his way back in ala Jetta. Good luck.

What the [censored] are you talking about?

We'll be taking Parish with pick 3. Essendon wanted him with pick 4 so we made the deal with Gold Coast to get pick 3 and pinch him. Bookmark it. He's the best midfielder in the draft (after Hopper who goes to GWS as an academy pick). His decision marking and skills are elite. He's not super quick, but reads the play well so he always gets to where the ball heads. Despite his size he isn't a pure outside midfielder like some peg him to be. He's more than capable of winning his own ball as his stats say. Roughly half his possessions are contested and he usually gets 7-8 clearances a game. He'll be at worst a solid midfielder at AFL level, and at best he'll be elite. Lucky we get him with pick 3! Pick 7 will be whoever falls. Hoping Francis slips through to us there as he is super talented, but will be happy with whoever the club chooses. It's nice to finally trust the club to get these decisions right!

No, it's not. It's a ridiculous assertion to say "it's a complete lottery". I didn't really want to expand, because, unlike some, I don't need to monotonously hear the sound of my own voice, and genuinely didn't think I needed to explain what was an inane proposition, however... In 31 drafts the draft pick with the most average number of games is pick 1 (143). The second highest average is pick 2 (128). The third is pick 3 (124). And lo and behold pick 5 happens to be no. 4 (103) ! If it was a "complete lottery" the top 3 draft picks wouldn't have the top 3 success rates over these 31 drafts. Clearly the science has improved over more recent years, so these types of results will continue. Nine of the top 10 draft picks (worst of those 9 being 84), average more games than any pick chosen from pick 20 onwards (assuming that pick has been involved in at least 20 drafts, which takes us to pick 75). Naturally there will be nuances where a later pick like 56 - 82 games might have 3 or 4 x 200 game players, which boosts averages, but the overall numbers (shown above) are compelling and certainly not representative of a "complete lottery". Obviously, as a Melbourne supporter I know there is no guarantee, that's obvious, but there's a reason clubs try to improve their draft position, like we did this year, and clubs like the Saints, who orchestrated 6 x top 22 draft picks over the last 2 years for this current rebuild. No-one has ever stated that drafts wouldn't be completely re-done with the benefit of hindsight, but early picks give clubs the best chance at cherry picking top end talent. To state that drafts are a complete lottery and that every pick from 1-75 has an equal value simply disregards empirical evidence. Having seen some of your postings over the journey I have no doubt that none of the above will sway you. And I couldn't care less. Cheers...

I was thinking about this the other day and I can't think of many leagues besides the AFL and American leagues that have a draft system. The difference between the AFL and the American leagues is that in America most players are recruited from the college system. This means that the players drafted there are not only older and more mature, but they have also ahve more exposed form in the college system. Therefore, the AFL is unique in that we are drafting players at such a young age which certainly adds more of a "lottery" element to the whole process.

Yes. But the deception involved means the transaction was not carried out in good faith. You could argue, if St Kilda are too stupid to work out there's a problem then too bad for them. Recall when Richmond worked out Trengove had a dodgy foot. Good for them. But it's a bit hard for St Kilda to do their due diligence when information is being hidden from them.

Good stuff. Reminds me when back in the day everyone on Demonland (myself included), were gushing over a midfield of Bell, Sylvia, McLean & Moloney. Epic lols

I was wondering if the player manager would be deregistered. But after reading the article I wonder what sanction should be levelled at the PA. It's great that they look after the players' interests, but at any cost? Where's the line? The player has dodged a strike, St Kilda served a lemon, and the game has most definitely been brought into disrepute. In fact it looks [censored] foolish.

gil's standard response IS say nothing. say what you like about andy d, but he ruled with an iron fist. gil runs by committee and focus group.

I've noticed in the last year or so that there has been a lot of stupid bickering and name calling derailing threads. I'm just asking can you please stop this rubbish? If you don't like or agree with someones opinion so much that you feel like you have to respond with insults why don't you just put them on ignore. It is becoming a chore to read through some of these threads listening to you guys throw stupid insults at each other. Dazzle, Moon, Stuie (I know there's a lot more but that's all I can think of right now) I'm talking to you guys. I enjoy reading your posts on football but for a long time it has just been you guys calling out other posters and such. I know a lot of posters are dumb and I'm probably one of them but for someone that comes here to read about Melbourne news it sucks to have to wade through pages of posts of you guys just arguing together.

The issue isn't that the best kids invariably get picked at the pointy end of the draft. Duh. The issue of the AFL Teenage Lottery Draft is the T word - they are kids, just removed from high school (or sill in it). Recruiters have made mistakes that I think they would not make of we had a rule similar to the NFL where kids have to be 3 years removed from high school. I would prefer 2 years of whatever competition we want to create for these juniors and then the top picks become even more clear and evident as players that WILL help the worst teams, because the draft as a force of equalisation is purely defined by the early picks the only difference between what Carlton and Hawthorn start with at the draft is the Number 1 pick that they have to get right. You eff it up a few years in a row - how much will that cost you? Hey, Dees fans, how much did that cost us?

Um, no, but our midfield stocks will keep us at the bottom... If your Forwardline coach cannot make a functioning, efficient, scoring forwardline with Hogan at its core - you need a new forwardline coach. Tom McDonald is an excellent CHB with elite endurance and the ability to lock down any tall in the game. If you think that I am saying "that's all we need to win finals" then you are making things up to state the bloody obvious. I am aware of the needs of the forwardline and the backline - but there is also a gaping wound where a, yes, finals bound midfield should be - we don't have enough talent in the most important area of the ground.

That is a pretty poor business case and short sighted at best. 18 fairly strong clubs is far more attractive, and healthy for the league, than 6 really strong clubs, 6 OK clubs, and 6 clubs on the teat. Just one of my gripes with teh AFL and the way they run things. Stop pandering to the TV stations and do what is right for the long term health of league would be the first good step!

After watching the first half of the u18's academy vs Werribee, I would be more than comfortable taking this bloke with pick 3. Two things stood out to me, while he may not have the best 20m sprint time, he does have extremely good acceleration. Twice he received the ball flat footed with a Werribee player bearing down on him, I was certain he was going to be tackled to the ground, both times however he was able to turn, take a few extremely quick steps and buy himself enough time to find a target. Extremely impressive. This brings me to the next thing I noticed about him, his speed of decision making in tight and vision are exceptional. Nearly every time he won the ball in tight, he was able to flick out a fast handball to a team mate in a better position. I still worry about his size when coming to play afl, but if he can bulk up enough to play in the middle I think he will become a very good afl player. If he is always too small to play in the middle, I think at the very worst he will become a very capable outside midfielder, who is also capable of winning his own ball.

Well that settles it...

I will just wait on confirmation before updating my Contract thread. That won't happen automatically, by the way, he will be delisted and then available for all and sundry until, I assume, our last pick in the Rookie Draft. With King and White still on it and Harmes and Vanders coming up off it, we will have RD6 and then Michie will be selected in available with RD24. For those who say - why bother? Just move on if you think he is 'delistable' - what sort of talent do you think would be available at RD24? And you are peddling the same argument as those that asked the same of keeping Jetta around. If those that have eaten their humble pie about Jetta don't see the similarities with Michie's situation then they are suffering from acid reflux...

The rules around the bans go something like this. You can provisionally suspend yourself while a matter is being dealt with, during this time you can train but can not compete, the reason you can train is because if you are not found guilty then there has been no loss of performance, it makes sense. If you are found guilty and suspended then you can not train until a few months before your suspension is over, this allows people to be back to fitness for when the suspension ends and means the suspended period is more like the actual suspension not the suspended time plus time to get fit. This doesn't sit so well with me. The period of provisional suspension comes off the time of any subsequent suspension so for arguments sake, if the players had been found guilty and the players banned for two years then the six months already served would have meant they only had eighteen months left to serve. Counting this time now when the periods are not continuous goes against logic to me as they had no loss, that was the point of the provisional suspension.

Somewhat a lottery.

maybe they could play the VFL GF at the G that week? or as the womens league grows they could play a game to get exposure?

AFLPA is as corrupt and is as much to blame for the denigration of our great game as the AFL itself.

Losses: Carlton St. Kilda x 2 Essendon etc.

Considering Zac Smith also left the club, GC must really not rate Gorringe

BA usually doesn't have the early scoop, and he has an incentive to keep us guessing over the picks (as this is his bread & butter). I'd be backing the early mail coming through (as it turned out to be correct) that MFC was chasing pick 3 from Gold Coast because they wanted Parish. I just can't see our recruiters having a late change of heart due to a few highlights, like us plebs do.

I've been here for a long time I'm just asking for everyone to think to themselves "Is this adding to the thread". Cheers all.

I reckon Matt Jones is okay. Not sure why posters keep wanting the club to pay out his contract. For a start, this should be an absolute last resort act, which should not be lightly entertained. It creates all sorts of list management issues, not to even touch upon the impact it can have upon a list culturally.

I figured these guys needed their own topic after this little gem from caro http://m.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/union-told-jake-carlisles-manager-not-to-tell-saints-of-drug-allegations-20151029-gkmd80.html Tbh this is a disgrace. Would the saints have grounds to sue? Add this to the way theyve sided with essendon and the afl with the drugs saga and they arent exactly a wonderful union....

If we don't think he's good enough for a senior contract, why would we bother rookie listing him? He has been in the AFL system for five years, it's not like we don't know what he is capable of. He's only unlucky by virtue of the fact that others like Jones, Newton and Terlich have contracts. With our recruiting and drafting over the past two years, he probably is not in the best 15 midfielders on our list, so I think we should cut our losses and move on.

All these arguments about we earned it are just bulltish. Carllton didn't earn 6 Friday night games and 2 Saturday night games this year. Carlton didn't 'earn' the fact that they haven't played at Geelong since last century. The AFL do what they want and we need to rage about it. The comp will never be equal until they fix this crud.

reminds me of the old ama protect the member no matter what (or whatever it takes!)

Not thrilled with the fixture, but in past years I've been quite optimistic about it and we've served up big plates of [censored], so I'll try not to get too upset. Last year you had to have 13 wins to make finals, so if that's to be our goal... Realistically we should beat: Essendon, Gold Coast x 2, Brisbane, Carlton [5 wins] We should also realistically win 50% of: GWS, North, Collingwood x 2, Richmond, St Kilda x 2, Bulldogs, Port Adelaide x 2, Adelaide [5.5 wins] That leaves us needing 2.5 more wins, which could come from matches in the list above, or against sides I think we're more than likely to lose to: Hawthorn x 2, Sydney, Fremantle, WC, Geelong. Finals are definitely a legitimate possibility for us for the first time in a long time, but we'll require a good run with injuries and a bit of luck. We can't afford to drop any matches to "easybeat" teams like Essendon and Carlton like we did last year.

Hardwick has regularly been referred to as a poor mans Petracca with similar traits... Not bad. Christian Petracca hasn't yet played a single game of AFL but there's already a poor man version of him out there.

What a bizarre bunch of corrupt organization. Unbelievable how Gil has been so silent on this.. oh wait the new drug test will take care all of that.m

well then, there must be an opening around here somewhere.

If we wanted another backup ruck we would have kept Jamar or Fitz on. Because we haven't, it seems to me that the FD have plan A under control...

Dermie liked to pick from the teens.

This is the post we should have bumped the thread with. LOL. Double LOL at the other guy getting all sooky about his embarrassing error.

The man was a hero for many in my generation. He could play in the ruck and up forward but he was peerless when he was at full back. Those drop kicks would often hit the centre of the ground and of course, he was always a feature of the World of Sport kicking competition. I can still see Bruce Andrew with hair neatly parted in the middlle, lifting the board to show he was awarding Tassie 9 out of 10 for one of his kicks. Vale Tassie and condolences to his family.

In Breaking News it is being reported that the Essendon Football Club is to sue the Essendon Football Club. It's time we got to the bottom of this supplements program an Essendon Official has said . Upon being asked by a reporter for the Titus Daily how it could be that the club was suing itself the Club Official responded by saying it's only right the players knew what was used and it's up to the Club to clarify. The Reporter again reiterated that they themselves were actually the Club so surely they would know. The official again repeated that this is true and will be awaiting the club's reply to the club's inquiry. When questioned as to how the club could not know what was used the Official replied that this is indeed what they were hoping the club to respond to. TD " Who ? " EFC " The Club" TD " But you're the club" EFC " Yes and we await our reply " TD

No way. Warnock is dreadful. He might win a couple more hitouts but he's even more useless around the ground than Spencer, and possibly less agile if that's possible. In his 2 games for the year he took one solitary mark, and he averaged 1.5 tackles compared to Pencil's 5. In the pecking order at Carlton he was behind Cameron Wood ffs. Pencil is also two years younger. He may not have the highest ceiling but he's about to enter his best couple of years I think. He's sufficient backup to Maximus. The less said about Daw the better. Amazed it took this long for North to cut their losses.

have a look at the video of Hogan's first goal against Richmond. JKH off loads to Jones who hit Jesse lace out. Kennedy-Harris shows in that moment that he is absolutely up to it. Just needs a dose of urgency ala Watts.

I disagree with all of the above bar one. Mat Jones contributed last year, indeed wasn't he was a crucial element in of our wins IIRC (though i can't remember which one) with a shut down job on a key hb playmaker? If so he was factor in one of our 6 wins. He provided run and carry, did his job and covered the loss of injured players. That adds up to more than nothing. Not sure of his contract status but if he is contracted i can't see how you could rookie him. Pay him out then pay him a rookie sapary? He'd probably take that. Michie was among our best in the last 3 games, partic against Carlton. He makes good decisions, is quick and a good, penetrating kick. The penny has dropped. Terlich stays and is good depth. No harm in keeping him given we are unlikely to pick up a delisted player. Besides we should honour contracts if we expect our players to. Yep, promote Harms.