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Hi fellow Demons, Just wanting to pass on a chance encounter I had at the Carlton game, it does not serve as an indicator to whichever path young Jesse chooses but it might fill gaps in for some..... I bumped into Tom Hogan , Jesse's dad at the G. A really down to earth bloke, we had a chat and I wished him the best. I did not ask him the obvious, felt it would be a betrayal of his trust as he started the conversation with me. The striking thing with Tom is he looks quite old, he had been suffering from some illness - you can tell, I should know, the last 6 years I have battled cancer (hopefully beaten it) and my body is significantly farked as a result of it..We joked about the weather, talked about Perth and there is no doubt that young Jesse loves MFC and has strong bonds. His father was also pretty happy with the club. As has already been stated, it will come down to whether he wants to be home with his Dad and family or stay with his mates at the club and that is it in a nutshell.

Dogs are blowing all kinds of theory's (excuses) out of the water. - injuries - playing underdone players - lack of finals experience - the travel factor from the week before With the exception of rd 23 against Freo and round 13 against Geelong they have come switched on to play every week. Yes they had other losses but were still competitive in those games. Time for us to cut the crap and switch on mentally for a whole season.

Praying the Crows get into the granny, the Cats and Swans have had enough success the past 10 years. At least we are guaranteed one fresh team making it in (Gws or Dogs). Crows vs Bulldogs grand final would be amazing.

In his press conference, Clarckson said that everyone at Hawthorn would be happy if they finished 18th if Jarryd Roughead got his health back (well that's all I recall of his presser before I fell asleep - literally). I think everyone in the football world would be happy for both of these events to come true.

Let's be realistic with these three. Prestia received a godfather offer from Tigers, end of story. Marchbank has been dealing with SOS all year and they have a relationship. He is also going to a club with several former team mates, is guaranteed getting a game and will no doubt be on bigger bucks than with GWS. O'Meara has had 2 serious injuries. He damaged both Patellas badly and then a Patella tendon. He hasn't played a full game in 2 years. Only a few quarters in a lower competition. He is a massive risk to any club. 3 clubs pulled out after Medical testing. Few clubs could take the risk. The Bombers because they could get him for nothing. The Hawks because they have won 4 flags and are immune to criticism from fans or media. If he fires great if not they will say they tried. For them he could be high risk and high reward. If a bust, so what. They are also getting Tom Mitchell. We can not be criticised in any of these instances.

I see this a little differently to some others on here. To me if Jesse wants to go home it is now, not at the end of next year. Therefore he would have to inform us of his wish now so we can start talks on a trade. The fact that his manager says there is no hurry to his decision may just be to not make the family situation public and give them privacy at this very difficult time. I think the club is acting exactly as it should in giving him space and time to deal with a family crisis. I think he will stay and is just not wanting to discuss contract details at this time while he is obviously very emotional. Again I wish he and his family well over this difficult time.

I don't see how his managers comments change anything. We know his Dad is crook and we know that because of this he is quite understandably thinking he might have to return home to be with his family and provide support. So of course he's gone home and needs to see 'where his head space is at'. I really feel for him. He is a young fella who loves his family but also clearly loves the dees and his team mates and would be busting to be part of what we are building towards. Tonight's effort by the doggies and the obvious bond between those players will further reinforce this desire. If he goes back to WA it will be to freo or perhaps WC. Both clubs have problems i reckon. WC have shown a brittleness in the last two finals series and i don't think have the cattle (or perhaps culture) to win a flag in the next few years and Freo is miles off. And at Freo he would have Ross ' my way or the highway' Lyon as coach - a coach that burns out his players and would hardly be a dream coach for a key forward with is low scoring game plan. And neither club will pay much more than we would. But the pull of family at a difficult time is powerful. I don't envy his choice.

The entire GWS reserves?

Hi, I can confirm the photo was taken in Perth.

Players changing clubs tend to fall into two categories, those chasing a premiership and those chasing money. I may be proven wrong but I venture that those looking for a flag are far better performed than those counting their cash. We should be careful about paying over the market for players and wait for the one's looking for success to find us or we find them.

No one's demanding an answer now, but he's got until trade week. That's 4 weeks (?) away, plus however many weeks he's been mulling over it already. Ffs, all emotion aside, you either want to go home, or you want to stay. You talk with coaches, family and friends, take many nights to sleep on it, put on your big boy pants and make a call. People are making out like we're pressuring him, quite the contrary, we have been very accounting and understanding, but this will not run into next year, and we will not be screwed!

Can I just go on record saying I DO NOT WANT Darling?

Jay Clark, who is easily the most reliable breaker of MFC related news, was 98% certain Hogan would stay earlier in the year. His most recent piece is very much 50/50. West Coast interested in poaching Jesse Hogan from Melbourne "But despite the Dees’ strong on-field progress this season and significant salary cap room, Hogan may now wait to consider each team’s direction in the early part of next season before he is prepared to give his contract more consideration." He can seriously [censored] off now if that's what he's planning to do. Auction him off to one of the Perth clubs and end up with early picks + Darling/Weller.

We have had a number of posters on DL confirming his Dad is very sick, Pennant St Dee being one and i've never sen anyone question his credibility (and nor would i). To be frank i'm amazed at the tone of some of the comments surrounding Hogan, particularly those that are clearly skeptical of his motives and those demanding he make a call. For Pete's sake give the kid a break

We definately need an answer by trade week (which is Oct 20?) there is no need to monitor clubs progress next year. That is utter BS Interesting that the journos did not mention any illness in the family. We are being fed crap from many sides at the moment... Yay or Nay Jesse will Goodwin fly to Perth? I think i would.

Some rare logic from Brayshaw. "Why you wouldn't saddle up to the future Melbourne have got, I just don't know."

Just got the word that the Casey staff members have said that Melbourne are indeed having a serious look at Declan

He'll stay.

Crappy situation both Hogan and the the club are in. If Hogan has a desire to go home and be closer to his family the club would be negligent in not trading him this year. If we hang on to him for another 12 months and he has a great year we could ask for more at the trade table. He may even change his mind and decide to stay. The risk however is we could be hung over a barrel with a trade and Freo have pick 3 this year. We always get screwed over. If we trade him this year instead of next we also get 12 months development into a kid. The club also needs stability and another 12 months of will he or won't he sign is not ideal. Really feel for the young man, the club, the supporters and also Goodwin

A lot was made earlier in the season about Hawthorn's ability to get out of tight squeezes and win the close ones. I said at the time that I thought it was an indicator that their years of ruling over the competition were coming to an end because those were often games that they would once have won comfortably. As much as football has changed in the time that I've followed it, the trend was much the same as what happened at the end of Melbourne's era in 1965 when it scrambled home to win its early games but failed to make the top four. The circumstances were a little different (we had a board that sacked a 6 time premiership winning coach) but the reality for the Hawks is that they've missed out on making the top four. And I believe that, despite them having a great coach, good finances and a strong following, the end will come fast. They're facing a cliff and when their stalwarts have gone, they'll be left with their mercenaries and they will plunge down to a place where James Frawley is all too familiar.

My year was made tonight.

You would argue underwater 'stuie'...seriously mate. My last words on this. You Are Wrong 'stuie', Carlton are not a Destination Club...they're picking up SOS's NQR's.

I don't want to hear the injury excuse ever again Considering the Dogs injury list for them to have the reserves side in a GF is a credit to their mental strength and commitment Toughen up MFC

Essendon. First the drugs then the orgies. *shakes head*

Hope all goes well in ur recovery and that u have beatin this barstard of a disease. O and welcome to the nut house!

Roughead is a massive loss to their team, and with his playing future in doubt, they won't win a flag with their forward structure. And Vickery won't solve the problem.

If Jesse asks for a trade then the club will asking for more than 2 first round draft picks. Half of all first round draft picks are busts or virtual busts and only about 1 in 4 top 5 picks end up being B+ or A grade players (that converts to a 25% chance) These are facts, not opinions. On average, 6 - 7 out of all top 10 picks don't get to play 100 games. There are no guarantees with drafting and it's feasible that we could lose out completely in a 'worse case' scenario. Then there's the time and development required for any draftee to be factored in as well - another disadvantage. It takes 3 - 5 years for a draftee to his straps - why should we be placed at a disadvantage? In my eyes, we should be looking at being placed at an advantage. He's our asset. 2 x top end draft picks and a good player as a minimum. And that player they give up can't be a player that wouldn't hurt them if they lost that player. But the club should push for more.

Clarkson highlighted that in his press conf...said the games changed in its interpretation...a thinly veiled dig at the umpires! Right to the end the Hawks were whinging!

I'm starting to wonder if it's really worth drafting players from WA no matter how good they are...the go home risk is too great

There's nowhere near enough media 'noise' to suggest that Jessie's gone. The article as a whole doesn't paint that darker picture and, if anything, the writer stresses Jesse's love for the MFC. Frawley, Scully, Howe- the articles were regular and definite in their conclusions. For hogan though, the journos seem to have no idea what's happening. If they smelt blood in the water they'd do what they always do and go in for the kill.

goodwin was far more positive on sen coaches box. everything seems to be pointing to the fact that jesse is genuinely torn about what to do, and caroline did say that she heard at one stage it was one way, but now she thinks it might be the other, but she genuinely doesn't know. she's not alone - no one does. it's all just speculation at this point.

Needs to make a decision. If he is keen to go then sort a trade now.

Caro, Matthews and others were discussing Hogan on 3AW today. Caro thought he was gone and others thought 50/50 but all based on speculation rather than "facts". They then discussed why he would want to go back home. They talked of all the usual WA stuff and even a thought that Jesse was a "different cat", but not once was there any mention of illness or any other issues in the family. Not even any broad generalisations in that direction. That struck me a strange because surely journos get a lot more info than we do. OK, they may have a pact to not talk about it out of respect to the family but if so why go to lengths to discuss other reasons? Why not just skip the reasons? It just didn't make much sense to me ... anyway make what you want out of it.

It is very sad that Jesse's father is not well. But increasingly his return to WA is looking less about family and more about Jesse! "...But despite the Dees’ strong on-field progress this season and significant salary cap room, Hogan may now wait to consider each team’s direction in the early part of next season before he is prepared to give his contract more consideration...Fremantle has been widely considered the main rival for Hogan, but Eagles’ football chief Craig Vozzo yesterday said the Eagles had also been circling the powerhouse big man for years...“We have been in constant dialogue with his management over a long period of time,” Vozzo said. Surely, he knows enough to not need to wait till 'the early part of next season'. If that is correct it is disappointing that Jesse keeps moving the goal posts with seemingly little concern for the interests of MFC. He has us on a string...

word around the traps is that Chip Frawley wants back in... wants to play finals again before he retires

the afl have changed the rules on some of those points type swaps. i don't understand the specifics and differences though. maybe someone can enlighten us? if hogan is to go to freo then freo have to find picks for hogan, mccarthy and hill (at least), all of who would attract high pick selections. their only other choice is to trade some top players. i'm still struggling to see how they do it. if hogan goes back to wa for family reasons then we are limited to 2 clubs and what they can offer. it seems under those conditions and where we wouldn't block him from going for family reasons, that the most likely outcome is we are forced to accept unders (despite all the keyboard jockeys here talking about rich rewards and being in such a good strong bargaining position). if he decides to go home (and it makes sense to do it end of this year) then i think we are at a great disadvantage.

Not a word of criticism from the TV commentators of what a poor effort the Hawk's leaders did in the second half. Cyril (who I like, but hate the way they fawn over him) had only about 3 possessions (that I recall) and 2 of them were turnovers, but the commentators made it sound like it had nothing to do with him.

How do you know if we were even chasing them hard?

Pretty pathetic effort by Clarkson trying to blame umpiring for what was a heavy loss after relinquishing a four goal lead. Still, typical. They are after all not used to not getting a free ride from the maggots. Those two frees against Cyrrrrrrrilllllll in a couple of minutes must have broken their hearts - it did to Bruce.

Huellet (sp?) would also hopefully step up. I gave up on Hogan staying and the Carlton game cemented it. If he goes due to his Dad being terminally ill or even just quite sick then so be it, but the club must get pick three and a bloody good player off Freo for him. Anything less that that pick and either Fyfe or Neale I'd make him stay a Dee. We need to set the terms and stick fat. Sure think of him and his family but at the end of the day we must get the better deal out of this.

Hard to be the worst when you're in the same side as Schoenmakers.

I reckon both Sydney and Adelaide will destroy a slow, boring defensive outfit like Geelong. And I bloody hope they do! Would love nothing more than to see this endless cherry-picking recruitment strategy from teams like Geelong and Hawthorn crash & burn.

What do the Bulldogs do that makes them so good They RUN and they handball FAST When they have the ball they create space for the next in line receiver, ie they dont all run TO the ball. Most run away from the best receiver .... When they dont have the ball they move in and crowd the ball and the likely next receiver of the opposition. They are fantastically well coached. ,... An absolutely modern coach indeed Good luck to them

A reminder that when we played the Hawks, they were two games clear on top of the ladder. We started their downfall.

I'm not a huge fan of this comparison. The Hawks were fresh off a flag and had runs on the board when they lost Franklin. We are far from being anything like Hawthorn, so I'm not sure we can be so flippant about it (flippant may not be the right word, but hopefully you know I mean).

May I suggest that what we need is a new system of semi-banning where people get restricted to 'x' posts per day. They'll all have to set a higher bar on what bait and snark they can be bothered engaging with, toss most of it out, and we'll be left only with the actual useful stuff that more than two people (the mutual antagonists) actually would be interested in. It would make this thread about 800 posts shorter.

Revise history? What in my post was incorrect? Neither were perfect. Both were 200+ gamers. Both were BnF winners. Yze was All-Australian. Both were terrific servants of the club. Annoys me that people taint the team of the late 90's early 2000's as being soft and no good. We had some terrific footballers who despite coping with clearly the worst facilities in the AFL made it to a couple of prelims and a grand final. As I said before, we would kill for those kind of on-field achievements at the moment. You'd think that the last decade of complete and utter humiliation would have made us appreciate the team of that era even more. Instead it seems to have done the opposite and many here seem to denigrate them at any chance they can get. It's bizarre.

No it's me conducting a photo bomb.

At the risk of stating the obvious, surely we would be looking at a Clarkson assistant that can bring intel about the Hawks game plan? His previous assistants have done well; Simpson, Beveridge and to a lesser extent Bolton. There are enough ex-Melb players at the Dorks we could snaffle: Neitz, Yze, Bruce to name a few.... Assistants are a great way to bring fresh new ideas into a club. Goodwin would know most of Egan's ideas, strategies if they have worked together. Maybe he rates Egan, and that is great but you can't do what Richmond have done and just bring in any old ex-player and hope that it works.

Maybe you should put Hunt on the right wing