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Hopefully the MFC.

The amount of comments on this thread about him being a sook just shows how much further appreciation and understanding of anxiety and depression has to go. The kid can seriously play and I hope he gets its together and plays somewhere when he is capable.

Following the CAS judgement on the Essendon 34, the AFL immediately put into place a set of rules relating to clubs affected by the loss of suspended players. These were made apparently without consulting the other AFL clubs and this was done on the basis that it would have been a health and safety issue to force the Bombers to go into a season 12 players light. The concessions to Essendon, the offending club in this sorry mess, were far ranging and generous. The AFL allowed the Bombers to elevate all rookies immediately and gave them the right to promote another ten players to their senior list from outside current AFL playing lists without affecting the club's salary cap. The Bombers have already been able to add a number of experienced former players and are continuing to comb the country for more players with which to replenish their list. As for the other AFL clubs who lost players to suspension, they were allowed the immediate right to promote a rookie and that's all. While it can be argued that the clubs in question don't deserve any breaks because (with the exception of Port Adelaide with Angus Monfries) they recruited players already under investigation/charges for breaches of the WADA Code, this really begs the question. The AFL has made concessions to a club which was the offender in the drugs situation and yet the innocent clubs must go into the season short of players or, if they are belatedly allowed top up players, the Bombers have been allowed to jump the gun and sign players. Now this - Essendon and Port want Jamar "The AFL has asked all clubs for their feedback on allowing affected clubs other than Essendon to be given special consideration. The clubs are expected to give a response by early next week." How insulting is this part which suggests that the AFL will be influenced in its decision on top up players by the other clubs given there was no consultation on the Essendon concessions? The AFL consults when it feels like it and likewise doesn't consult when it feels like not consulting. Like when other clubs put pressure on the AFL to not give draft relief to Melbourne on cockamamie grounds when the club clearly deserved a priority pick but was seen as a recent offender against AFL rules over tanking. Similarly, the AFL can't make a ruling over Jobe Watson's Brownlow by itself but has to consult with the player. We're fast becoming a mess and risk losing ground to other clubs. The game needs competent decisive leadership, not the weak efforts we see from Gillon McLachlan.

Simon Goodwin

Please don't quote him, I block him so I don't have to see his posts.

I like the way Harmes played last year when he made the senior side. He wants to be at the contest. Good sign that.

It's a good sign that no-one is arguing Petracca, Oliver or Weideman. We appear to have moved on from the expectation that a first year player (including Petracca as one in this instance) will be our saviour. It probably won't be him, but gee it would be great if it were to be Frost.

How can the AFL give the medal for the best and fairest player go to a player found guilty of taking drugs, this defies common sense and logic. Taking a vote on it shows a total lack of leadership and ownership by the AFL who will be looking to use the opinions of other clubs to sanction their dishonesty.

Jack Viney for me. We already know how good he can be, but I believe this is the year he makes the rest of the competition stand up and take notice.

Colin Sylvia

Prodee and Mach5 have this nailed. 1. GWS recruit CM 2. Freo don't even know him let alone rate him. 3. CM signs a contract extension much to his delight. 4. See point 2. 5. CM starts exhibiting elite talent. 6. Freo starts to take notice. 7. CM starts kicking 4+ bags per game. 8. Freo in desperation gets in his ear and says 'come home to the club you love son'...... We WILL make it happen. 9. CM believes he's going home to play for the club he loves. He's ecstatic. 10. It doesn't eventuate and the world caves in around him leading to possible anxiety and depression. (If indeed afflicted by these truly aweful mental illnesses I hope he can garner some respite and recover as best he can) Moral of the story. 1. Don't believe everything you are told. 2. Stand by your commitments and re-evaluate your position only when you have fulfilled them.

any attempt to use logic will be meaningless to the afl (unless you have very deep pockets)

Your posts are hurting my eyes Luded.

A 10 man leadership group? Really? Speaks volumes about Ablett's off-field leadership up there.

I have pretty much gone off tennis. I used to be quite keen, but once the women became grunters and screamers, the women's game lost all appeal. It used to be that there were much better rallies in the women's game than men's; now it is the reverse. And since we have canonised Old Man Hewitt (who was the Kyrgios of his day), the cynic in me just turns it off.

Lumumba. With Goodwin having more of an influence, meaning players will be running forward more, I can see him having more impact and getting caught less as he'll actually have players going with him rather than standing around watching.

If this is true (and i have no reason to doubt) it is a disgrace. All clubs and players in the competition should be condemning the Essendon players as drug cheats. I don't mind sympathy or olive branches but that doesn't mean they should be tarred with the brush. Either all of the industry has been brainwashed or the other clubs were undertaking similar "beyond the line" programs and just didn't get caught (thus the sympathy).

Dean Kent. Barring injury, I think he's going to be very handy.

Bailouts for inept administration running the club into the ground is one thing; bailouts, draft and salary assistance to a club for implementing the largest illegal doping program in Australian history...? That takes the cake.

Last year when Frost jumped on a late plane (NT?) and someone suggested it was because he was going to play forward, you laughed it off as the most ridiculous suggestion ever. Next minute he's playing forward. Now you don't see him as a defender? The reason so many see him as a defender is obvious, he played in defence at Gdubbya, he's huge with great closing speed and a long reach. His goal kicking leaves a lot to be desired. Anyway, thanks everyone for the training reports, as always they're appreciated, they were a lot more enjoyable a few weeks ago, though.

The constant Saty criticism here is so absolutely boring. And mindless. Would everyone please just keep to the topic. And stop personally attacking other posters. Living in Sydney, I am grateful for every snippet of info I get about training, the players and the club generally - no matter how trivial some of it may appear to be. For instance, the poster who reported his conversation with Petracca at training (posted above) has literally made my morning. Positivity and progress at the club and the prospect of attacking footy once again. Was pumped to read that post.

Oh shitz yeah don't smile or laugh at work!

Note how Dank focuses on something basically irrelevant, ie whether he sent Charter to China or not. In the end, that is a side issue.The main questions is what Dank gave to the players, not where whatever it was came from, or who purchased it. As has been said above, the chance of Dank and Charter saying something truthful between them is pretty low.

The simple fact that there was no contingency plan for the Essendrug 34 being suspended for a year is proof he should go. From the first press conference on it was obvious they were making plans on the run. The fact they seem to have given little credence to this possibility beggars belief.

BBO is right at home with grunters and screamers.

An interesting article in today's HUN:- Dom Tyson says Melbourne’s young midfield is ready to ease the load on Demons stars Nathan Jones and Bernie Vince Tyson injured a medial ligament in the Anzac Eve game v Richmond and this hampered him for the rest of the season. “Going into games I reckon was five per cent off and I probably just wasn’t as confident,” he said. “But I’m healthy now and ready to roll.” He really looked bigger and stronger at training on Friday so he must be doing something right.

Thebox was on. Others doing stuff left the ogre alone in lounge. Too tired to find remote. Not a fan of much other sport really these days. Prefer mysteries....reading....or building models

Actually I find this interesting. I said last year ( other than the ankles as we later found out ) that much of Harry's lackluster year was more about the others than him. That the team had to catch up with a style the big O was used to and enjoyed. I too think Goody's influence will be to hit the "go" button......and you'd better go....and go to where you're meant to andhave trained for. Once players see it 'click' then the real climb begins. Ought to be enjoyable to watch

Ask any Fitzroy supporter. Then run as fast as you can.

If we needed any further evidence that the AFL is incompetent as well as corrupt, this is it. Any company of the AFL's size which did not work out its responses to every possible CAS outcome, however thought to be unlikely, is beyond incompetent. They should all be sacked.

Angry Hinkley hopes AFL will relax list concession rules after CAS verdict So minutes after the verdict was handed down, the AFL announce concession rules for Essendon, but a week later they were yet to advise clubs on the parameters for the banned players. If that's not an example of money taking priority over anything and everything, even player welfare, then I don't know what is. Integrity in the AFL has been a joke for some time, but it is clear that integrity and AFL are now mutually exclusive.

Van Demon!! He's demonstrated his talent already. Now with some experience and confidence under his belt he's ready to do some damage.

?

Say that again?

Doubt we'd want a top-up player that we lose access to at the end of the season anyway. At the same time, losing 12 players to suspension and having a free-hit at 10, giving them access to one more player than Port Adelaide doesn't make a lot of sense either. Collingwood lost Thomas and Keeffe to suspension and Scharenberg for the year with injury, but weren't given a top-up player. Plenty of teams have lost more than 3 players to injury and didn't require a top up player. Sets a strange precedent. If they manage to have 12 of their currently listed players suspended, then it should be a case of "unlucky lads, you're in for a rubbish season." Replacing 10 out of 12 missing players with whoever they like so they can "field a competitive side" is mind-boggling. God damn wine, I was planning on making this a one sentence response.

Well that was some match, as good as I have seen in women's tennis. Great win by a girl who was not overwhelmed by the Williams circus and power game. Great effort

I wish Jamar all the best at which ever club gets him, most likely essendon because port is unlikely to get to top up. I doubt Jamar will do much at Essendon, his last year with us was pretty ordinary and his now another year older. I hope that Spencer can step up and help Gawn, their game together against Geelong last year was pretty damn good from both of them. It would be fantastic if they could both continue to play at that level.

Cam will be cured of his inflication once he is playing for freo next year. Future nickname Mitch Clark mark2 .

i'm confused now. how could gill lose something he never had?

The root of the problem begins with running the organisation at the expense of ethics, morals & fairness. The AFL values profit above everything else. How can an organisation be run well into the future if this is the overall objective of its existence. It's only when ethical motives are taken into account & valued at least equally with making a profit that an organisation will be a valuable part of society into the future. In my opinion they will continue to sacrifice doing the right thing & put money, TV rights & "growing the game" above all other things. The following is an extract from a book that I am reading at the moment: The idea that business should advance the social good has been regaining its proper place in the last decade, helped along by the string of business scandals in recent years. As a case in point, in a 2009 speech James Murdoch, told the audience at the Edinburgh Television Festival that the "only reliable and perpetual guarantor of independence is profit". Yet in the wake of the phone hacking scandal at News Corp.'s UK newspaper unit, his sister Elisabeth Murdoch could say to the same audience three years later that her brother "left something out", declaring "profit without purpose is a recipe for disaster." She went on to say, "Personally, I believe one of the biggest lessons of the past year has been the need for any organisation to discuss, affirm & institutionalize a rigorous set of values based on explicit statement of purpose." Yet despite this growing consensus, it is probably fair to say that the implicit assumptions in the marketplace are that making money is the main thing in life, that business is fundamentally about accumulating and wielding power, and that maximising profit within legal limits is an end to itself.

I have been saying this for a while now, but "Dill the Likeable" runs the AFL by poll if it can't be hidden under the carpet (code for integrity unit). Lets not make a decision until we see the poll result. To my mind this is not leadership but some brand of following...

I'm not really all that well versed in the AFL's structure but I think it would be enormously difficult to unseat the entire AFL Commission. On the other hand, it might not be that hard for the football community to impress on the AFL its concerns with the direction of the game. The AFL seems to see the pinnacle of its success in terms of the amount of $s it achieves in selling the media rights every five years. I'm not sure that the game is growing in terms of grass roots football or popularity with the young and we are being surpassed at junior levels by other sports including soccer and basketball both from a participation and interest point of view. The way the AFL through the commission and publicly through its CEO's has been handling the many difficult issues it has faced in recent years has been appalling. These things influence the interest of the market but if you're not attracting the youth, the effects might not be felt until well into the future. In the meantime, the membership numbers for clubs might still be growing for a while for the time being but things might turn around before we know it. The game's only bright spot in terms of growth is the participation of females but that won't be enough if we can't clean up our act on a number of other levels.

I saw Smith do a couple of amazing athletic intercepts in the training match sims before Xmas. He's trying very hard to get his fitness base up and appears to be leaving nothing behind - he looked buggered after the two sessions I watched. As Saty noted, he does have a a decent frame which hopefully will fill out over time. Whilst being somewhat of a project player and new to AFL club environment, I got the feeling he was very well liked and received considerable encouragement from his teammates and the coaches on the track when I was there.

The point I was trying to make, I was at the first training session after the break when the senior players came back, Jeff Garlett completed the whole session without an issue, you can interpret Roos' words a couple of ways, the usual suspects on here decided to take the negative approach, which you are entitled to do, I actually spoke to Jeff a couple of weeks in when he had an issue with a slight calf strain and spent a couple of session in rehab, because he is built like a stick, and because his base fitness is really good, the boxing is what tops it off, so because he hadn't been able to do it, he was trying to catch up with it I have quite a few posters on ignore because I don't think it achieves anything nit picking, but I will post if I have a differing opinion to what is being stated as fact in a post

I took one for the team this morning. Went out to Casey to have a look at the boys. 14 Celsius so no heat stroke for me or anyone else. I couldn't identify all the players but will give you what I can. Trengrove was involved in a drill with two trainers where he kicked out from goals to them, ran out, gathered the ball wheeled around and had a ping for goal. Looked good doing that. Later he was running the boundary with a bit of pace and being encouraged as he passed Nathan Jones. Moving well and body,legs etc all looked solid. He's not so far off I think. Petracca walked passed clicking his fingers and tapping his chest. Moving ok but taking it easy. Not involved in the main business. Garlett looked slick in the sprints and composed and classy in match simulation. Hogan has a very intimidating look to him but retains that laconic air. Bigger, strong hands and despite the wet conditions competed well. Tyson was solid in the conditions. He was moving freely. Presented well and used his possessions to good effect. He impressed me. Oliver- had a good look at him. He was easy to spot. Keen as mustard, his kicks and hand passes about 90% effective. Made good choices and made it as easy for his team mates as they could want. I get the feeling he could be huge value in the main season. In comparison to Neal Bullen and even Stretch he needs to build up but when that happens, he'll be an awesome prospect. jack viney Everything you expect him to be. Super competitive moving well hates to be beaten. Very prominent in all passages of play in which he was involved. Expect a big year from Jack. Maximus was massive this morning. He launched himself vertical at one point to punch the ball out of play to stop Gus marking. For good measure he gave Gus a hip and shoulder as he walked past him back to the centre of the ground. Nice bit of agro from Max . Not Usain Bolt but he was a huge presence and I sense that him being around will be super important for all the mids this year. Took some big grabs and not bad by foot in the conditions. Ask me about others. I might be able to answer.

I often wonder about posters on this site Jessie Hogan doesn't smile.............It must mean he's going back to WA Jack Watts has a laugh at training.............Must have a crap attitude. I am working on a robot that sort of half smiles at training..........Means he is half happy to be out there but doesn't want to go anywhere. Should keep everyone happy.

They're not "like slaves" because slaves don't have the choice of whether they will enter that life or not. AFL players know what the system is and how it works well before they voluntarily nominate to enter that lifestyle. You don't sign a contract and then complain about it not being fair, you just don't sign it in the first place.

While i dont doubt Carey would have trained hard in the wet but 8 hours straight? Spare me seriously.. the guy is known to talk [censored] and this is one of them.