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No longer a demon but wanted to acknowledge Jamie Bennell who has been delisted by the Eagles after 93 games for the two teams: http://www.afl.com.au/news/2016-09-12/eagles-delist-six-after-early-finals-exit A nice pic of him in his Demons jumper in that article. His instagram message: "Thanks to these two clubs for giving me the opportunity to play at the highest level and live out a childhood dream. #plentyoffootyleft". He is all class! Good luck with the next venture.

Very sad to hear his dad is unwell. Probably time to let all the speculation rest for a while.

I'm caught! Yep, it was a typo, my forum name is suppose to be Little Gaffy. Don't tell, ok?

"Spoke to Adolf, he told me the shoulder is feeling good, can fully extend his arm at 45 degrees now, he wasn't happy about Austria losing to Poland in the Euros, i told him its only another four years until the next one, i don't think he appreciated my joke, Adolf doesn't laugh much"

Channel 7 ,the Afl, and the Watsons are all tied up here. Gillon and Jobe are Albert Park neighbours so it will be a private matter with little mention on 7, perhaps dealt with on Cup Day or on Us Election Day. If Jobe weren't such a spoon fed little cheat he would hand it back without anyone asking.

If I remember rightly, that was also the draft Carlton were supposed to have pick 1 (Goddard) and 2 (Wells) but lost both due to salary cap sanctions. Super harsh penalty and, combined with some seriously inept administration, helped set them up for years of failure, which they've still barely recovered from. Wasn't it great?

The scary part is they butchered a few high picks and lost some decent talent along the way.

It's really dissapointing in my opinion that Jobe hasn't handed the Brownlow back, he's a leader of the club and supposed to be one of the best 18 leaders in the AFL players ranks, if he doesn't know what he took then he needs to set the example sorry jobe but not being 100% sure what you took = not being 100% sure that you didn't cheat = hand the medal back and give it to those who are sure they didn't

Gee, didn't mean to make you cry. Maybe I'm confused. Must be a different Andrew Gaff I'm thinking of. I'm talking about the one who won the best and fairest of a grand final team last year, and was his team's best in that grand final. The one who is still only 24, and fills a line-breaking and attacking link role which we are deficient in. Which one do you have in mind?

His head hit the grass, not the ground.

The ability to move the ball quickly doesn't require supreme leg speed. It requires superior execution of basic skills like kicking and handballing. Geelong's premiership sides moved the ball quicker than anyone with barely a speedster among them. The best way to improve our speed would be to really sharpen our skills over summer. We are still a long way off the top teams in this area.

Fortunately no-one here is a cynic and we find that Vlad's tipping off of Evans, a "joint" investigation, the attempted "deal" with Andruska, the attempted sacrificial offering of Hird, the letting off of support staff, etc, are all easily explained away in a rigorous drug investigation. Only guessing, but your posited cynic might think that we would never had heard about any of this but for the involvement of an organisation that, quite unexpectedly, wasn't awestruck by the mighty AFL. Namely, the Australian Crime Commission who got the ball rolling.

The AFL and Essendon's ability to muddy the waters and prolong the entire saga has given the average punter extreme fatigue over the whole issue. They just want it over, the care factor is now very low. There was no baying for blood after CAS's verdict, despite Essendon only ever being punished for governance breaches, and not actually for the drug taking itself. A cynic might think this was the plan from the beginning.

Guys we should know by now that despite the odd issue, the AFL, the Clubs and the footy media are all in bed together. It is a business and decisions are made to benefit the industry. The EFC has a major stake in the business. As a result, conflicts arise and business interests predominate. AFL CEOs, have for a very long time been deal makers. You can just add Gil to a long list of deal makers. Principles get easily pushed aside when your objective is to achieve the best commercial or business deal. I suspect that for the next 10 years we will be moaning about GWS. The playing field has been tipped upside down to give them a leg up for business reasons. There is nothing fair or even handed about the AFLs support for GWS. I was listening to someone rabbiting on about what a wonderful recruiting job GWS had done. Save me! They may have done a great job in development, but recruiting wise, the AFL has done the job for them. Anyway, back to topic, I will eat my hat if Jobe is required to hand back his "Downlow Medal". In any event, who would want it? To be known as the recipient of Jobe's tarnished medal.

As the Coodabeens say " it's not a real Public School Tony!"

Do you blokes have all those flaccid old puns on autofill or do you actually put some effort into the recycling campaign each time someone's willy gets a mention?

Simply control of the ball makes you look faster. We don't need a lighting midfield, but a couple of quick players and 'm sure we are looking. But by controlling the ball with great disposal and speed the ball will be faster than out foot speed. Its going the right way.

I found out on 2 days ago that Roos cleared his desk out on the Friday before the Geelong match. Some may say `so what` but I reckon it might give us a little insight into the players seemingly `couldn't care less` attitude on the day. Finals were outta the question, the coach had already checked out, we may as well too!

How did Hodge once again get off his kidney punch to Selwood? Surely it was worth a fine. He is the luckiest player in the AFL, with the MRP.

Great to see Jack Hutchins, Tim Smith and Declan Keilty in the Team of the Year too!

Im probably in the minority but i think its great gws are succesful and i wouldnt give a fig if they win the flag this year. In fact id be pleased to be honest. Once the afl decided to go down the 2nd side in sydney road they had to make it work - and not just in the short term but the long term as well. Fitzpatrick said on saturday the goal was to make afl the leading sport in nsw within the next 30 years. Hugely ambititious. For that occur both syd teams have to be succesful. My issue with the gws decision was the risk of thinning out the talent pool. Two succesful sydney teams will be critical in terms of influencing talented athletes to switch to afl. The other thing is that i live watching gws play. Thrilling stuff. Brilliant skills, fast ball movement and brutal contests. Exactly how we are looking to play. I hope they win the next two and we knock them off when going for the threepeat

Classy exit by Jamie Bennett. Good on him. Some other recent delistees could learn a lot from him.

No suspension because apparently there was no head contact to the ground.

I think I can vouch for that proposition. Fifty-5 is on very close terms with Rene Descartes.

.. so you spend your days 'regularly' driving past an all-girls school? ... ummmm ...

Evidence he is on $750-800k please?

Which is brilliant, because he's had a lot of misses with those top picks. Most of those guys have then landed at Carlton. His strike rate is pretty ordinary given the amount he had to work with. If his strike rate is anywhere near his GWS time at Carlton, they'll be in big trouble. Let's hope so. The biggest mistake made by multiple clubs recently is the boys club mentality that saw Hird, Buckley, Voss, Leppitsch and Ratten all land coaching gigs. It's about living off past glories, instead of living in the present and picking the best candidate. There's a bit of that with SOS. Oh, he's a recruiter somewhere? Well, we better get him back. Naturally, we had quite a bit of that under Schwab too. Thankfully, PJ rarely seems to buy into that.

I agree, it was a joke - the person said any idiot could have done it and I agreed

Why not? The AFL has.

"Dear Mr Satyr, Thank you for your letter. It has been forwarded to the appropriate staff member. Please find enclosed a complimentary Essendon scarf and a Collingwood 3-game membership. We trust that this will be your last communication on the matter. Your sincerely, Giardia Lamblia for Gillon McLachlan"

As I was saying.

Well, yes...and no. The term "public schools" derives from the concept of schools such as Brighton Grammar, Scotch, Xavier etc being open to the public at large. Just as long as (a) you can afford to send your child there, (b) your child is of the correct gender for a single sex school and (c) there is available space in a school with high demand. And if you live in Melbourne, often the second most common question you'll get asked in life is "Which school did you go to?" which in the olden days (think 1950s and 60s) was really asking you two other questions rolled into one (did you come from a family who could afford to send you to a "public school"? and what's your religion?)

Yep, we've timed our rise perfectly. Thanks Barry.

GWS are genuinely scary. They have arrived. But unlike any other young side we've seen that announces itself at some point, GWS have hordes of talent coming through together at the same time, rather than a handful like most other clubs. It makes me sick. Their list profile is unbelievable and they have an insanely well balanced team that is built for modern-day football. They have the running power of the dogs/port, they are are as skilled as anyone (other than Hawthorn) and they just beat the best contested ball winning side of the modern era in a [censored] qualifying final.

Dick jokes aside for a minute, Dal Santo is on the slide and is declining. If we need experience why don't we look for a trade for a 27/28yo leader and find a piece we can get to assist for another 3 seasons? One season isn't worth it.

Who are Geelong's ultra quick midfielders other than Dangerfield?

Settle down, LH. The first part is what we all thought happened, and getting out of that mindset takes experience. If they're still talking like that in 2-3 years time then I'd be annoyed. And all he did was compare the differences between Roos and Goodwin. Nothing to get yourself in a tizzy about.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2016-09-11/complacent-demons-let-down-paul-roos-says-christian-petracca This makes me a bit angry: "We got a bit complacent against Carlton and thought, we've won three on the trot and everything's working well, this week it will come easy to us," from a 1st year player!!! Meanwhile a chance to make finals, establish their credibility, increase membership etc goes begging! Petracca continues: "Roos is a bit more old-school and sometimes gives a few sprays but his mentality is really good, Roosy, and he's positive. "With Goody, he's just understanding a bit more of relationships and obviously he's played in our generation, so he understands what it takes to make it a bit more." Did I just read a few back-handers to Roos!! So Christian, Roos is less understanding of relationships. Gee tell that to Jones, Watts, Viney, Gawn etc http://www.melbournefc.com.au/video/2016-09-09/tribute-to-paul-roos And, he gives sprays...Christian, are you still smarting over his spray after breaking your toe? Your Macca quote sounds like it! Petracca thinks Godowin knows better than Roos 'what it takes to make it'!! Well young Christian here is a message from a long standing, disillusioned supporter: Roos has the runs on the board as a coach. Goodwin does not!. If you really want to know 'what it takes to make it' as a coach and as a team look at Hawthorn - 3 premierships in a row not just 3 games in a row!! Petracca is a good kid albeit naive so deserves some slack but who at MFC is allowing first year players to be interviewed and make public those thoughts especially as they do not represent those of the team!! Goodwin really has his work cut out if that is the attitude of player(s) on what is required to be a successful team, coach and club.

Hahaha can you imagine all this discussion re schools ever appearing on the Pies supporters' site?

It's pretty cut and dried to me. If the appeal fails, he must lose the Brownlow and it must go to the next highest vote getter(s) from that year. This is what the Olympic Movement and most sports do in these cases. Just ask Jared Tallent who received his gold from London a couple of months before the Rio Olympics after the "winner" of the race was found to be a drug cheat at the time.

Update: Jesse Hogan's old man's health has deteriorated. Naturally this is a difficult time for Jesse Hogan and as such contract negotiations have taken a backseat during this difficult, emotional time. However, Jesse has again confirmed to the club that he wishes to remain at Melbourne and sign a long term contract. The club has been contacted by Freo both club expect Hogan to stay a Dee as this is what he has been saying. However, if he was to change his mind over the death of his father Fyfe would be the trade. But let me say again, the club extremely confident (99%) he is staying. Also the club believes no player in the top 25 will request a trade this year.

While I respect and understand your comment I actually think the biggest success of the Essendon, Hird and his sympathisers campaign has been to con fans into thinking the bold statement. Essendon came into 2012 having been spanked by Carlton in the first Elimination final with a list most thought would need to go backwards before it went forwards. They started out the season unexpectedly on fire winning their first 9 games in a row with amazing fitness and strength before an unprecedented spate of soft tissue injuries crippled the list and their season. The reality is a lot of people think the performance enhancing drugs mustn't have worked as Essendon didn't make finals, but really had they kept their pumped up players on the park they could probably have made finals or even top 4 based on their first 9 rounds. The combination of the drugs enabling the Essendon players to get too big too soon for their own bodies and bad luck is what I believe kept them from succeeding, not a failure of Tb4 and other substances to enable them to recover faster and endure larger training loads than a clean athlete. Also on Jobe Watson compare his 2012 stats to every other year he played and you will see a sharp spike in almost every category, 3 more possessions a game than his next best year, 2 more marks etc etc. Sure some players have a blinder but the coincidental fact that in the year he was being injected with a number of substances including Tb4 he played so much better than his career average and the good luck that unlike his colleagues he didn't succumb to injury and was able to take the park during the height of the Dank/Robinson/Hird program says to me that his performance was clearly enhanced by what CAS has found to be illegal performance enhancing substances. We'll never know how much worse Essendon or Jobe would have gone without the program, maybe it would have been the same, but this is the eternal argument of drugs in sport and given the rigour and systematic intensity of Essendons program in 2012 and their improved performance during that time it's highly, highly likely that drugs helped both the team and Jobe win his Brownlow. Its a shocking endictment on the Afl and AFL media that this hasn't been discussed more openly and this blanket "the drugs didn't work anyway" argument has been allowed to be preeminent. As to anyone who looks at it logically it seems highly, highly unlikely that the drugs didn't help in some way.

Brayshaw isn't slow and Viney is quicker than both Jones and Salem. Dangerfield is a freak and the only truly explosive inside mid in the league. Pace is usually the last building block for a quality midfield. There's no doubt we need an Isaac Smith or Bradley Hill, but the ingredients of a quality midfield are coming together very nicely.

I would cry if thats all we got for Jesse. Gaff is the biggest downhill skiing midfielder in the AFL. Soft as butter. The stats will back me up on that.. he probably lays less tackles than any mid in the comp and gets a pathetically low number of contested possessions even for an outside mid.

Well, Andrew Gaff and Pick 13 and I'd probably learn to live with it. Josh Kennedy isn't getting younger. Essendon fans think they're getting Darling, using what we give them for Hibberd... (good luck to them on that price) The circle is complete, and a young Demons fan comes home. Still would love Hogan to commit to us. In the end he's priceless, really.

And getting a year into a young KPF talent like Weideman...

Can I suggest we get them to watch the beginning and end scenes of the Gallipoli Film during off season.

I ran your post through my artificial intelligence botnet supercomputer and it deduced that you're not Gil McLachlan.

you know afl/asada/wada/cas et al don't do themselves any favours by taking so long to make decisions, in some cases taking years it's just not good enough. they need some new mechanisms or powers. we seem to be going backwards in some (many) areas

Missed his calling in life as a Nigel Tufnel stand in :