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It's only contracted until 2017.

Yep. Got there a bit late but it was a very good session. Only JKH and Newton in rehab. No sign of Dawes,Spencer and obviously Brayshaw. Hogan looked concerned and frustrated with a knee issue and left the track early. Hopefully nothing sinister. Petracca is a beast with an aggressive 'Hogan like' attitude! Stayed on with a group of about 15, including a sharp Trengove,with McArtney barking the orders. Christian was the standout.

We have an opportunity to annihilate one of our rivals at the G. Who wouldn't want to be there to witness that?

Home game, Away game... WTF is wrong with people? It's at the bloody G.. What the hell is this comment???? You would not go to a game to support your footy side coz a few bucks of your entry fee will go to the other side.. Some people amaze me..Will you never go to a Bombers home game again?? I'll be there.. I'll be cheering home the Dees.. I'll be sticking up as many bombers supporters as I possibly can..

I'll be there - louder and more obnoxious than usual, and I will be handing out plenty of free advice to all Essendon supporters within earshot.

Was their briefly. JKH still in rehab & training one on one with Crossy. What a luxury to have. Just shots at goal today (for JKH) with either foot....set shots and on the run. Ben Newton running, running. No Spencer, Brayshaw sighted.Max King provided the highlight demonstrating his improving foots skills. He had a low shot for goal on the run but almost missed the ball completely. Improvement noted in that he didn't trip himself up and fall over. Received much encouragement (?) from team mates....to take up different sport. Trengove & Petracca training hard now.

I'm guessing you heard Dave Colbert this morning on SEN with KB ? He stated that this should not be a celebration of the past and that Dees' fans should turn their backs on the Bombers rather than applaud a disgraceful regime.

For the first time in a decade we have a reasonable list. Baring a bad run with injuries our best 25 now have the skill level needed to compete with most teams. I believe we are a better side than Essendon and we should win.

I think that Dees supporters should be getting to as many games as we possibly can. While I'm sure that some disagree, I strongly believe that the crowd can make a difference in the result of a game.

me too, bitters, i expect we'll give them a jolly good thrashing

Err they were not punished for taking performance enhancing drugs. Can we get that straight? The EFC were punished for engaging in conduct that is "unbecoming or likely to prejudice the interests or reputation of the Australian Football League or to bring the game of football into disrepute, contrary to rule 1.6" in that they failed to keep records of their suplements regime etc etc There was nothing to do with taking illegal drugs because at that point they hadnt been found guilty of that. No sympathy from me....as far as I am concerned they tried to get out of the whole sage by destroying records. They have gotten off lightly. Remind again what has happened to Hird? What 'punishment' has he been subjected to?

Even Ross Lyon just admitted on SEN that the "tyranny of distance" is a major reason they can't attract talent back to WA. Who wants to put up with two x four hour flights across the Nullabor every second weekend ? Especially when your 195cm with back issues and have already missed a year of your career. And especially when past West Coast players are on record saying that the travel shortened some careers. Hogan's manager has already stated that he wants to live in Melbourne. He may leave the Dees at some stage, but it won't be to WA.

If you have a 16 game MFC membership the money for your entry at away games goes to MFC

Shame he want selected. Was so looking forward to yelling "HULETT THE DOGS OUT!"

187

I am going to buy a general entry ticket, proudly wearing my MFC Colors, sit right in the middle of the see no evil, hear no evil, do no evil supporters and let fly with the biggest Sledgefest I can muster!!

Suggestion for the run-through banner; "We're here to clean up Essendon" Tough job, somebody's got to do it.

Who are you and what have you done with Old Dee?

That's some autocorrect you've got there. What else can it do?

Can't understand why Melbourne supporters would boycott this game. There's still 4 points up for grabs and it's a crucial launching pad to finally get some early wins on the board.

The Essendon Football Club continue to be the most arrogant bunch of delusional knobs in this industry. For them to march in support of drug cheats is simply astonishing! They have learnt NOTHING during this whole sorry saga. Their supporter base and organisers of this stupid march from Fed square is another example of blind defiance and denial of drugs in sport. This is not anything to celebrate. They are arrogant fools. The Dee's will smash them!

surprises me no journo has done a follow-up article with reimers on 2nd thoughts it doesn't surprise me at all

If Autocorrect were the coach of our beloved Discomknockerated Football Club then Terlich could become Terrifich in an instant.

Just get rid of all the records & we will be fine Vlad Demetriou gave them over 24 hours notice to do this in 2013 Demetriou made a salary of $3.8 Million...The suits of the AFL have to go...

would like to break 100 margin for the first time since Round 6, MCG, Attendance: 38799 Sunday, 2nd May 2004, 2:10 PM AEST Brownlow Votes: 3: C Bruce, 2: A Yze, 1: J White Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final Melbourne 6.3 12.5 19.9 25.10 160 Carlton 1.3 2.5 4.7 8.7 55 and Hogan for 10, of course

McDevitt appears before the Senate Committee: He says: "The tribunal accepted that Stephen Dank made plans to use thymosin beta-4 as part of Essendon's injection program. They also accepted that the players had consented to being injected with thymosin and that injections had occurred. Despite this, they were not comfortably concerned or satisfied that the injections had actually contained thymosin beta-4 because there were no adequate records kept and because Essendon failed to carry out lab analysis of the substances. The CAS panel openly disagreed." 'http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/essendon-doping-saga-afl-antidoping-panel-simply-got-it-wrong-says-asada-chief-20160304-gnakb9.html McDevitt is a very impressive individual. Almost the Lone Ranger as a voice against drug taking in sport. Cudos to him.

Awesome to hear Trengove and Petracca doing so well. Stoked.

how about #STANDBYCLEANSPORT in 6' letters

no bad behaviour from Essendon will make me miss watching the dees play, that's for damn sure

Here is a better idea. Beat them by ten goals.

"A dozen dirty Dons are eating Swiss cheese With the rest we'll do as we please" I'm on fire

Don't really understand people boycotting this game because of Essendon. If I was in Melbourne I would be making a point of going so I could very loudly let them know what I think of that Club. I would also really really enjoy seeing 1) them getting smashed by us; 2) our boys getting their first back to back wins in quite a few years; 3) the transformed execution of the new game plan; 4) Hoges kicking a big bag. Why wouldn't you go to see that.

For anyone concerned about paying to go and giving money to the coffers of the Bombers if you are a member then there is no excuse. A replacement game, I wouldn't imagine they would get much if anything from Melbourne members coming. Fan support must be absolute, it's what has always impressed me about Richmond and Collingwood (and even Essendon). They're fans have put up with a lot of crap over the years but stuck fat and turned up in good numbers, it's time we started making some noise. On a side note I am seriously getting sick of us CONSTANTLY having an away game to them at our bloody home. Can we for once have one home game against them? It's decisions like this that make me feel the AFL is quite happy for us to stay under their thumb.

Absolutely true. The players still talk of the roar of the Melbourne supporters at the Essendon game last year. It really does makes a difference. Essendon supporters will be there in their droves so everyone has to put aside their conflicted emotions and support their team. This is a really important game for our development and direction as a Club. We are feeling it and I am sure the players will be the same.

md, understand where you are coming from but my desire to support my club exceeds my distaste for essendope also as someone said this game is a replacement home game (for NT games) so it is free entry for all members

Except that they have. Don't misconstrue this as 'whoa is Essendon'; but: The club had premiership points stripped in 2013 and they missed the finals. They were fined. Their coach and senior staff were suspended. They've lost a whole swag of supporters (many to the AFL altogether). More prosaically, they lost the chance at a premiership for a whole generation of players (regardless of your views on those individuals' culpability). They must now rebuild with draft sanctions and will be un-competitive for a number of years. To say they haven't been punished (and rightfully so) is simply false. So will happily be there, cheering on my team against the opposition, no matter who they are, just like I do every other week.

Acually no I didnt hear that, glad someone else was thinking along the same lines, and they have a decent reach audience on SEN! Appalling how they will seemingly be celebrating their misdeeds, I'm glad Colbert is constantly on their case

Or airlines that quote a price then charge you a fee to use a credit card but they do not accept any other form of payment.

Can the AFL object to a banner reading "happy to be playing a clean team"?

I hope Reimers sues McVeigh to within an inch of his existence for his slanderous comments at the start of the investigation. He deserves "##### all" does McVeigh. Just another bozo I have to switch off when he comes on the tele.

Terrified about losing to them

I'm worried about this game. Massive walk to the G, many past players attending. A big build up for then in their first home game,. I hope they get smacked round 1 and we follow up with round 2 but I'm nervous about it

Collingwood. Both fielding their strongest teams, respectively. No injuries to key players, or suspensions. The Pies having finished the season on top of the table. The Dees seventh. Pies being red hot favourites, but the Dees gain some momentum having finished the season with a wet sail and having beaten more fancied teams throughout the finals. Would be a massive, old school Grand Final. And, despite being 20 points behind at 3/4 time, we win with a length of the field goal in the last minute of the game to end an absolute cliff hanger. The Dees are back. Finally. Thank you Paul Roos.

Essendrug home game, I am not going. I refuse to show support of any kind for the drug cheats.

I suspect that we'll be seeing a lot more goals from our midfielders this year due to the interchange cap as well as having an improved (hopefully!) group that is better able to balance attack and defence. While the tall targets will hopefully kick some more goals as we improve and gain more inside 50s, we'll also likely see more goals from the likes of Kent, Kennedy, Garlett, Harmes, Tyson, etc as they rotate through the forward line. If we can't kick goals without Hogan then we have a serious problem, but I predict that won't be the case.

It gets old, but it stays funny.

Richmond still ninth. It never gets old.