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I like the fact that Roos is reinforcing the message about the necessity for players, irrespective of age or talent, to strive to prepare themselves in a professional manner. This is exactly what wasn't happening at the club over the years when team leaders were discovered to be urinating in night clubs at 3am (and weren't penalised a single game) and others missed training sessions because they were under the weather or smashed their cars at 5am. I will be very disappointed about not seeing Petracca playing in Round 1 and upset that he's not even starting in the Casey intraclub on Friday but if the delayed start is even partly due to him being taught a lesson or disciplined by his coach for lack of care in his preparation then I would regard that as a big step forward for the club. An even bigger step forward if he and the others in the young playing group take heed of the message.

Just taken by one of my work mates, the Temple is ready!

Having regard to Paul Roos' season opening speech, my take on this public statement is that: - Roos reckons there's some serious young talent on this list now - Hogan, Petracca, Brayshaw, Oliver et ors; - notwithstanding this natural talent, the only way they'll unlock greatness is through a disciplined and commited work ethic and approach to preparation - simply winging it on natural ability is not enough; and - Roos takes every opportunity to drill this message into them, publicly and privately. Why? Because Roos has effectively rebuilt this list/club, he knows the list now has massive potential, and he doesn't want these young bucks to stuff it up through non-elite behaviours. They simply have to get this stuff. And live it.

I wonder why hasn't Heppel contacted his mate Hal Hunter and told him what he was injected which was apparently completely safe? Surely that would reassure Hal since he'd be unlikely to assume he was given something that Heppel wasn't. Answer - Heppel is fooling himself.

Colin Garland to have 30 touches, 12 marks, 15 effective spoils, 100%DE and kick a long bomb goal late in the last quarter to put us up by 10 goals.

All this confidence makes me uncomfortable...

Ted your so right and Bub, I think Heppell is not only a pawn in the game but just can't admit to the ugly truth. It's no different from any drug cheat. The strong ones with moral strength can come out and say, yes, I did it, but as we know, there are many more who do not have the moral or psychological strength to come out and admit their wrongdoing. I think most of the players are only now waking up to the truth and the impact that EFC disgraceful conduct is having on them personally. My anger comes in waves. 4 corners has awakened my anger towards the EFC and its sheer dishonesty in its dealings together with its total ambivalence to what it was doing and the potential catastrophic health impact on the players. Those who orchestrated the program to those who were in the know stand condemned for ever and a day. My anger over the injection regime has grown as I have seen the way the club has dealt with it. It's cover up, it's refusal to do the right thing by its players, it's supporters, and by the game. It's telling all the mums and dads out there together with the young boys out there who dream of playing AFL footy that it is okay to take drugs, to cheat, and if caught, to blame others and todeny all wrongdoing. More and more the Presidency of Little, yes, he was a little man in terms of moral rectitude and standards, looks to be a disaster. May the club well rue the day, that David Evans stepped away from his role in the club. But for all those people in the know who stood by and did nothing through misguided loyalty, mate-ship, fear, personal and financial loss, they will forever remain condemned. It is no different in moral terms to the worst atrocities in modern history including this country's actions towards refugees. If people through misguided loyalty or indifference do nothing, we all stand condemned. If MFC ever did what the EFC did, I would walk away from the MFC for ever. Some things cannot be traded or reconciled. The AFLs management if this issue should also be condemned by its total failure to set a clear and unambiguous standard for the future of the game. The silence from all the clubs including our own has also been disappointing to say the least. Rant over.

Jack Riewoldt Brian Lake and Dyson Heppell will be the new guests this year.. Thats enough for me to ever watch that show again.

Ask him next time you speak with him at training.

Yep, my favourite was when one commentator (Mark Ricciuto I think?) was declaring with supreme confidence that Simon Goodwin would be the new Crows coach, whilst Goodwin himself was holding a press conference at that very same moment announcing his deal with us.

Totally agree on all points. For me it just reinforces how simplistic the views of so many footy commentators are. Hutchy rabbited on about the Roos defense mantra last night on FC, basically saying it was not possible for him to adapt. Roos had a strategy (ugly football as Demitriou famously called it) that as about maximizing the chances of winning a grand final. He won one and nearly won another. It was a strategy in a time and place and other clubs used a variation of it. It is an insult to Roos to suggest he is not capable of adapting his approach. As you say Roos is a thinker, he'll recognise what needs to be done to win. In fact this exactly what he has done. He recognised the need for us to score more but was also aware the dees first needed to stop leaking goals. Winning is his priority not defense. Interestingly in the HUN article yesterday Roos made the point that all the MFC coaches had aggression at the ball carrier and strong defense as cornerstones of their coaching philosophies. Attcak built on defense. In essence he was saying they were all on the same page.

I don't mind Robbo ( with the one disclaimer - he cannot bring himself to be impartial when it comes to Essendon). He might be a bit of a buffoon but he doesn't take himself too seriously, as opposed to many of the other journalists who think they are delivering the word of god and just cant be questioned. He constantly makes a [censored] of himself but he can laugh at himself for doing so. I like the way Gerard and he feed off each other.

I found what Heppell said quite annoying, yes the club let him down, but not as badly as he let himself down, he as a professional athlete, is, always has been and always will be 100% responsible for anything and everything that goes into his body, the only way that isn't the case is if he was lied to, which sadly we can't rule out. I can't see any reason why every single player wouldn't want a list of everything they've ever taken so if anything like this happens they know they were fine.

Would Stevie J have become the player he was if the culture at Geelong didn't set him on the right path? Same with Gary Ablett Jnr. Talent is one thing - discipline is another.

GWS by 5 goals. We're due for a loss.

I'm flying in from Sydney especially for the game with my daughter. I predict I'm going to enjoy the living hell out of it, oh and a Dees win!!

I hear they can feel it when the other is having a moan about something...

The irony with the dudes continually having a crack at Saty is that they think he's uncool asking the players various things. But they are in all likelihood equally as uncool. And being so frigid about it all confirms this. I expect the players don't give a rat's and are used to being asked things by supporters, even completely inane things. Keep it up Saty - I'm interested in hearing what the players have to say about stuff, even the completely inane stuff. Always provides some insight.

I still can't get over Heppel's statement on 360 last night that those who call them drug cheats are "uneducated on the situation". Does that mean he is "educated" and the rest of us aren't? If so, that would indicate he is fully conversant with the WADA code...and the fact that professional athletes are totally responsible for what goes into their bodies. You can't keep blaming everyone else Dyson, particularly when you infer that you are so "educated"....

you want good mail...here's good mail

Relax, we've got this.

I'm just stunned, having watched that report, that there are still contributors to the Essendon experiment managing to evade the consequences. Surely this was criminal behaviour in some form or other. I'm sickened by EFC, the AFL and the AFLPA. Their treatment of & lack of support for Hunter in particular sickens me. They have potentially ruined this kids life & the lives of those close to him. I'm sickened by Mr Tanner wanting to bring Hird back into football. I'd like to never see his head again. And to Heppel & company - wake up & get out of that stinking cesspit club.

That's rubbish imo, he is a professional athlete, he is responsible for what he takes, age and inexperience are no excuse, even at under age level they learn about this.

I agree, I like the way they work together. Yobbo is kind of the "Molly Meldrum" of footy. I just refuse to watch Heppell though. I also think Gerrard has backed off a bit, maybe under instruction from above....

Cognitive dissonance in action.He's struggling to reconcile that the club did something to him, something bad, but he loves the club and knows it wouldn't do anything bad. At some stage (and it may take a long time ... years) he will work out that the club has betrayed him.

Kryton, If your daughter is in the age bracket between 5-12, then I'd suggest you email the club ([email protected]) and see if they can squeeze her in to the guard of honour (they still had spots when I emailed them last week). My boy is taking part, did it last year and loved it. More broadly, for anyone interested, link to the guard of honour for remaining 2016 games here: http://melbournefc.formstack.com/forms/2016guardofhonour

This time last year I was equally nervous as to our R1 chances - the game last year was my fondest memory of 2015. Sitting behind the punt rd goals with my boy in the sunshine, Viney slams GABJnr, Wattsy kicks a beauty from the pocket, Hogan takes a nice grab in the third and kicks his first goal in league footy...if we have a day like this on Saturday, and I can't see why not, then I pity anybody who can't make it.

ASADA did not say that ... there was a suggestion very early on in the piece that someone from ASADA might have used words of comfort on AOD9604 but Robbo should know that doesn't equate with the players being told they would be OK for two and a half years. The drug that they were charged with and found guilty of taking was TB4. The reality is that the claim that everything was OK was a con and it's been used very effectively to placate and keep on board dead heads like Heppell who one day might wake up and realise he's been taken for a ride.

I'm surprised that we are surprised. Four Corners, which incidentally IMHO did and excellent job with this story, made it very clear the players (and their parents) were systematically mislead by Essendon from beginning to end. In a sense it is even more morally reprehensible than the systematic drug cheating itself - clearly they were prepared to gamble on the long term health of these young men when they should have been in their physical prime, and then they were more than happy to cover it up in order to save their skins....... And they are still at it. Time for another round of ASADA infraction notices me thinks, but this time target the real culprits. i understand WADA feel most of their objectives have been met, and don't feel they can afford financially another round of going after the real cheats, given their busy (and expensive year) coming up at Rio, and in additional sports such as Tennis and Athletics. I understand they feel they have made their point very successfully with Essendon. They also feel that when the likes of Hunter are successful, that the raft of litigation which follows will catch the real culprits - the AFL, Essendon and Hird in the legal netting. Lets hope so....

Please don't put Gawn and any number close to 426 in the same sentence

Yeah itd be current, clean players who are currently representing the club that ran the grossest team doping in the history of sport.

I'm tipping Melbourne to win and to go on to be 9 an 0.

welcome to the 'anger' Ernest

I haven't followed this as closely as many on here have but did watch the Four Corners program last night. I have assumed that Essendon would have their house in order by now but it would seem that is not so. To pursue Hal Hunter for costs is reprehensible. We have emailed Essendon sponsors Kia and Fujitsu to ask them why they are continuing to associate themselves with a business that has probably cheated and is now definitely bullying. I doubt either company will reply but will let you know if they do

wow will this saga ever end for the bombers? ongoing legal action, players still not knowing what they took, this wont go away! Although I agree Heppell sounded naive, it would be very worrying for fans to be hearing from their next captain that he feels let down and angry at the club and several people that were running the club. for him to say this in public is pretty big for me. wouldnt surprise me if he leaves along with others. Essendon brought all this on themselves and have made it 100 times worse by being arrogant, dismissive and misleading their players. no sympathy from me

His mark against the Dogs suggests he could be. He is about 4cm shorter than Fyfe at the moment but this could change over the next year,

Suffice to say.....you're not the one confused

I don't have Foxtel and didn't see the Heppell interview but I'm confused by the reporting of his position in the news. On one hand Heppell says he knows what he was given and that is was all OK but on the other hand he says he feels let down by the club?

Something that I don't think has dawned to the many a Bomber supporter who think at long last despite the bans at least it's all over.....well...its actually only just starting. We are already seeing the disenfranchised starting to grumble. This will escalate into all out legal warfare. Still...still incredulously the Windy Hiller's think they can contain it in settlements. But not all will settle. Some will have real and decent legal representation and non alligned to boot.

Swung past at about 10:30 for an hour. The Casey group were just milling around having a bit of a laugh whilst the rest trained. Looks like they had done some light stuff and a few of them did goal kicking before heading off. Someone else will know more I'm sure. Dunn, Brayshaw, Weideman etc. Not sure if I saw Lumumba. Dawes was doing running with Crossy and other support staff. Sprints and jogs. Ben Newton was wearing the training jumper not singlet which usually means participation at some stage with the main group. Can't recall see Spencer, ANB or Trenners. Anyway, the main group were broken up in to smaller groups including Macca taking Salem, Wagner, Tyson, Matt Jones and Oliver for a kicking drill. Forwards practising some goal kicking. Other mids working on ground balls and so on. All pretty standard stuff. Of note to me was towards the end of the session Goodwin assembled 18 players to form a team and run through some game scenarios to make sure they had positioning and game plan set up. That team was Forwards: Hogan, Frost, Watts, Kent, Garlett, Ben Kennedy Mids: Gawn Tyson Viney Jones, Wings; Matt Jones, Bugg Backs: Garland, T Mc, Wagner, Jetta, Salem, Vince By this stage of course the Casey guys had left and Pedersen had left as well. Harmes and Grimes grabbed green bibs to be token defenders. Vanders, Oliver, Petracca and a couple of others watched from the sidelines. Might only be of interest to me and/or a coincidence but Matt Jones and Bugg were both playing as inverted wingers. They did a few around the ground stoppages and then set up a 3 points up with 30 seconds scenario. Hogan went as the 7th defender to CHB. Watts came up as an extra midfielder covering the far side of the ground. Gawn was very defensive with his taps. The kicks all stayed boundary side and after Frost marked in a pocket then centred the ball Gawn was vocally saying "should just take the shot Frosty". Vanders did some contested marking with Rawlings and handballing after the training finished. He appeared good to go. Jones did fast hands work with Macca. Ben Kennedy did extra ground balls. Salem and Viney had shots for goal. And Hogan and Kent took turns kicking to each other on the lead. Jesse still dropped one or two and wasn't happy but otherwise most stuck. Kent's kicking was mostly great but he just slices them every now and then. Just has to keep being balanced over the ball. Hogan kicking to a lead is a thing of beauty.

And these pricks are going to play on ANZAC day. Yuk.

The bottom line is that the players should have said no.

I think it's time I intervened. You are being very naughty boys. We are about to witness the resurrection of the MFC and all you boys can do is make silly puns. Stop it now or the mighty one will smite you to the ground and send you to bed without your dinner. Now go and say three Hail Vineys and let's hear no more of this.

did you read any of the 74 posts before yours?

4 corners absolutely destroyed essendon tonight and left me wondering how people arent in jail. And they didnt even need to spin anything.

Dyson Heppell is in a dream world.

Mumford, Ward, Shiel, Greene, Griffen, Whitfield, Scully, Kelly, Coniglio Gawn, N.Jones, Tyson, Viney, Vince, Brayshaw, Vandenberg, Oliver, Bugg Their midfield is a bit better and bats a bit deeper than ours currently.

Dees by 24pts. Hogan with 4. Gawn 7 marks and 437 hit outs. Oliver 27 possies. Demonland goes into meltdown and crashes. There are riots in the streets.

Dees by seven goals to finish 2nd on the Ladder after Round One. The following week we will be top of the AFL Ladder with a healthy percentage after beating Essendon by a lazy ten majors.

It's actually very disappointing to see that this thread has turned into another $hitfight and pi$$ing contest from some regular offenders I am sitting here patiently, like many on here, just waiting for the day that Jack gets back to doing what he loves most.... Playing Football! I will no longer be reading this thread as it has turned into another boring battle of bone heads...