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Goodwin was pretty confident on friday night on SEN that Jesse would stay. Said he had spoken to him recently and had a good relationship with him and that Jesse loved the club and the players. Said he would be pretty shocked and surprised if he wanted to leave. While not a signature, that is a pretty positive outlook. Hope he is right. We need to keep a big name player and show the other clubs that players want to play with us.

Thoughts on the game. Lynden Dunn - BOG for me, following up his very strong Qualifying Final. I'd be more then happy keeping him on the list for key defensive depth next year. Colin Garland - Thought was ok. Looks as though he injured himself when he ran himself into trouble late in the 3rd term. Hopefully will be good for next week. His ability to play small is important. Matt Jones - Not a bad game. Not the day for outside mids, but worked hard. Ben Kennedy - Wonder if he's carrying something as he was very quiet. I reckon he'll be important for us on the quick deck of Etihad, so hope he's ok. Viv Michie - One of his quieter VFL games, but solid/ Alex Neal-Bullen - Thought he's caught some unfair criticism. His disposal wasn't great, but he won that many clearances for us and set up so many attacking plays, that his disposal could be forgiven. I agree that it will need to improve at Etihad however. Ben Newton - Looks reasonably solid across half back. Wonder if he'll get a run at another club next year? Clayton Oliver - I love this kid. Suffers a serious case of white line fever. I loved his little jab at Dunnell in the 2nd term after Salem's knock. Wouldn't of loved it if we lost a close one. But looking back it puts a smile on my face. Christian Salem - I know it was at VFL level and not AFL. But gee that first term reminded me of how good he could be. Real shame about the knock and that he'll miss next week given how valuable he'd be. But I'm looking forward to a big 2017 for Salem. Joel Smith - Realy happy for him to have a good game considering he missed the Qualifying Final. He looks a likely type and I still don't think we've found a set position for him yet, so watch out after another pre-season. Jake Spencer - Some people thought he was good, others thought he stunk. I just thought it was a typical Spencer game. Gave his all, competed, but did a few silly things also. For me I have reasonably low expectations for Jake as I see him as an AFL depth ruckman only. If another club offered him an opportunity I wouldn't hold it against him for exploring it and the club should be willing to let him go. We could always pick someone like McInnerney up late in the draft as his direct replacement. Jack Trengove - Thought he looked really good in the 1st term. Much quieter after that however. Loved his mark early also and seeing him stream through the middle of the ground to have a long shot at goal. Watching him on the fast track of Etihad will be interesting.... Sam Weideman - After a great Qualifying Final he found the going tough in conditions that didn't suit. I've got a feeling he could have a huge game in the Grand Final with a BOG 5 goal performance. Touch wood.... Mitch White - Started well, but after landing on his ankle seemd to struggle after that, but still got through. Hopefully he should be right as with no Salem, his kicking will be really important. To win by 7 goals with no Grimes and a few injury issues was a great effort after Williamstown won by about the same margin earlier in the year. Next week will be tough at a venue where many of the Bulldogs plays play and play well where out Melbourne players have a horrible record. But, if like the Qualifying Final, our midfield can control the inside ball, not allowing the Dogs to get it outside quick to utilise their superior speed, then the Scorpions should be to strong. Our VFL defence of Dunn, Garland, White, Hutchins and Michie since he's gone to half back have proved to be very strong and hard to score against, so a win in the midfield should see us with enough ball forward to get the job done. Spencer, Trengove, Grimes, Neal-Bullen, Oliver, Kennedy, Matt Jones v Minson, Stevens, Hrovat & Honeychurch is the key IMO. We should win out with weight of numbers, but it's no sure thing. Hopefully the Weed, Terlich, Tim Smith etc can get on the end of a few and put us clear. Go Scorps!

Breathtakingly insensitive.

Being paid 300k to play footy and live in Queensland for a couple of years Such a tragedy

I like him just the way he is.

How selfish of him...

One thing I've really noticed in his VFL games recently is that Clayton Oliver is an excellent kick off both feet.

FWIW: Tom Browne channel 7 sports news reporter just stated his information is that Hogan re commits to Melbourne.

Yes I was serious. I wasn't doubting the truth of it and it was not the reference to Jesse's father being ill, that I found insensitive... ...It was the reference to 'stuffing it up for us'. In the circumstances I felt it was a poor choice of words. If Jesse goes back to play in WA to be with his family so be it. I will applaud him. I will not think his father's illness 'stuffed it up for us'. You have a different view, that's just fine.

Or maybe that's due to the fact that everyone in our midfield instantly looked for him the moment the ball went forward of centre? Or the fact that after such a good season in 2015 that the opposition put far more time in to stopping him? You guys are laughable. Just have a listen to yourselves talking him down to help soften the blow of him leaving. Name the forwards in the last 20 years who have kicked over 80 goals in their first two seasons? I'll be waiting for an answer. When we work things out in the middle and up forward he will monster teams. His body work is sublime, his hands are sensational and when he learns to kick for goal with some consistency then he'll get reward for his efforts. Let's not forget that in the second half of the season his kicking went AWOL - he could easily have kicked 60 goals for the year. The kicking is something he seriously needs to sort out, but when he does every backman in the competition will dread playing on him. We all better hope that he makes the decision to stay long term, as we won't be as good without him there. We will be relying on Weideman to come on quickly, as clubs will put their key backs on Watts and then who else do we have? Pedersen? Dawes? Where will all the goals come from?

If Hogans old man is terminally ill then I see the most likely situation is for us to give him space and him play for us next year. If the club push for the contract situation to be resolved (either way) while he quite clearly has bigger issues at play would be disrespectful IMO

Someone needs to let Jon Ralph know that Kennedy is 29 years old

Are you serious??? If you are not prepared to be offended or you are over sensitive for God sake never go onto social media.......... especially Demonland. The truth is the truth. Who and why are we protecting people from the truth?

Agreed. It's further compounded by the text messages between some of them asking if they 'go their thymo' injection yet. Text your teammate to ask if they got their shot, but not write down the shot on the disclosure form? I reckon the players have gotten off very lightly, the media could have gone very hard but didn't.

See, this is what annoys me. He's not a 'Prima Donna' forward. He's a kid. It's up to the club as a whole to make sure we get the very best out of him - if the transition is slow and the disposal is sub par then of course you aren't going to kick many goals, nor are you going to get a whole lot of the footy. And the list of players in general without a flag is very long. It doesn't just go with forwards with stacks of goals.

Good day out at Port yesterday, we were having a celebratory ale in the Railway Club hotel post game, and in walks Plapp, Dan McPherson and a few of the other Casey coaches who were all too happy to have a chat to us. Salem won't get up, but Garland should be fine according to Plapp. A very content bunch they were! Oscar McInerney and Declan Kielty gave their draft chances a big boost. Thought Morris and Munro were also very good of the casey listed players but Angus Scott had a very quiet day compared to 2 weeks ago. Tim Smith is a very good vfl player who's been at the club 4 years now, to those that think he could be drafted i think his chance has passed, his inconsistency is the most frustrating aspect of his game brilliant one week unsighted the next.

AFL HANDOUTS by George on The Outer Are some more equal than others? Between the clubs themselves and AFL House, it is difficult to get a true appreciation of the financial well-being of individual clubs. The annual reports take well into the New Year in some cases and the AFL doesn’t produce its own report until May the following year! Even then, it seems to be un-published for months afterward. Perhaps it is planned that way, in the middle of the new football season, when no-one cares what happened last year. Regardless, it is interesting to extract the information from all these data-bases and put them together. It is worth noting the absolute financial support that the AFL is providing to the Northern state clubs, outside of draft picks, additional salary cap space and cost of living allowances. Here are the results for the 2015 Year: 2015 Base Bonus Additional Total Profit/Loss GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY GIANTS 7,890,840 1,200,000 11,490,642 20,581,482 -529,000 GOLD COAST 7,890,840 1,200,000 8,854,524 17,945,364 -300,000 ST KILDA 7,890,840 1,200,000 8,337,466 17,428,306 -848,000 BRISBANE LIONS 7,890,840 1,200,000 7,349,619 16,440,459 -681,000 WESTERN BULLDOGS 7,890,840 1,200,000 6,640,343 15,731,183 388,000 NORTH MELBOURNE 7,890,840 1,200,000 5,492,480 14,583,320 530,000 MELBOURNE 7,890,840 1,200,000 4,909,031 13,999,871 562,000 PORT ADELAIDE 7,890,840 1,200,000 3,795,418 12,886,258 211,000 RICHMOND 7,890,840 1,200,000 3,416,500 12,507,340 459,000 HAWTHORN 7,890,840 1,200,000 3,267,685 12,358,525 3,300,000 SYDNEY SWANS 7,890,840 1,200,000 3,144,805 12,235,645 300,000 ESSENDON 7,890,840 1,200,000 2,737,272 11,828,112 -1,300,000 FREMANTLE 7,890,840 1,200,000 2,570,346 11,661,186 763,000 CARLTON 7,890,840 1,200,000 2,495,684 11,586,524 -2,700,000 WEST COAST EAGLES 7,890,840 1,200,000 2,386,781 11,477,621 5,500,000 COLLINGWOOD 7,890,840 1,200,000 1,904,152 10,994,992 850,000 ADELAIDE CROWS 7,890,840 1,200,000 1,542,653 10,633,493 1,400,000 Some of the outcomes are explainable, such as Geelongs loss resulting from a building programme at Kardinia Park. Others such as Carlton seem to have arisen purely from spending more than they earn, particularly when the on-field results continue to be mediocre. What is truly amazing is the extent of support provided to St.Kilda and the Western Bulldogs, when compared to clubs like our own. Similar membership bases, similar fixtures, similar ladder positions and yet St.Kilda were gifted an addition $3.5 million dollars more than Melbourne. The Bulldogs were given an extra $1.5M. Worrying signs for the AFL is that despite all this additional money thrown their way, the Saints still lost nearly $850,000. Not all that can be as a result of a lousy fixture, Etihad stadium or a lowly finishing position. The other point to note is despite these individual anomalies, the extent of support from the AFL is probably about right. Take away the outliers and 12 of the teams receive monies within a $4 million range. What is galling for a many fans is that the likes of Richmond, Essendon, Carlton and Collingwood are receiving nearly as much support financially. Yet these same clubs demand priority in fixturing and TV slots. These are the clubs who claim others are held up by their largesse. As Julius Sumner Miller used to say “Why is it so?” Perhaps it’s because some clubs are more equal than others, in the socialist Animal Farm known as the AFL.

Our skipper that day was 28 years old. This year, he turned 80. It's been a long wait. Too long.

So Casey plays a good game on TV and suddenly we want to add most of their players to our list? Let's just settle down a little here. Some of their players go alright but there is a steep jump to AFL level. One minute we want Kielty, then we are interested in Tim Smith, now we are talking about this bloke? I think we can set our sights a little higher than this.

While I liked the post because it said something positive about him staying, even I am not insensitive enough to word something like that, when his family and mates probably read this site. Poor form GNF.

I'd leave Carlton's duds alone. Toumpas shows us that talent at junior level doesn't translate if you can't win contested footy (not that I'm fully cognisant of these players deficiencies, i.e. decision making, etc.).

No club should have an academy. The AFL should run an academy that all clubs have equal access to.

We gave up pick 3 and 14 just to acquire the mini draft pick to get hogan. After four years development, I wouldn't think his worth(in picks) had decreased

This is going around in circles so fast I'm getting dizzy.

Thumbs up. We live in an age where people go searching to find offence. Btw, I'm not suggesting LH was, but the grievance industry is alive and well. According to our latest Australian of the year the word "guys" is now sexist. But I digress ... Edit: I hasten to add that I acknowledge you may not endorse my post, or that it adds to yours.

I don't think GNF was being insensitive or facetious. He omitted the word inadvertently ie the timing of the resolution of Jesse's personal situation is not dovetailed to the trade period, nor the AFL season nor his contract expiry and that potentially could cause a suboptimal outcome for the MFC notwithstanding the best intentions of Jesse (and even other parties in this saga). If you look at my post from several weeks ago you'll see the same assessment, albeit written in more subtle language as the matter of Jesse's father's illness was not being discussed in detail at that point.

As deejammin notes they also decided to lie by ommision by not indicating on the pre testing ASADA forms they had injections. I assume these forms are confidential, in so far as the club would not not know what a player puts on their form. So they wouldn't have to stand up to their bosses at all. Just tell the truth. The club would not have known which players did so. I'm actually amazed that the players did not cop more stick for this lie by omission. To me it was the most daming bit evidence against the players (one that wouldn't have come out if they had taken a deal early in the piece - so much for trying to protect their reputation by fighting on). That all players seem not have recorded what drugs they took or the number of injections is way too much of a coincidence not to be aconscious decision to deceive ASADA and suggests the club asked them to carry out this deceit. Surely this should have set off major alarm bells for the players.

Sydney and the Dogs are both playing in prelims this week...

I'm kinda repeating myself here but I'll say it again anyway. If you can go to the GF, do it! The doggies will no doubt have a very strong contingent of fans that couldn't get tickets to the final in Sydney and will be full of voice. Not only that but it could be your last chance to cheer on a few players who will be moved on at trade/delisting period. On a completely different note am I the only one that thinks it's a bit unfair that the Dog got an extra day of rest compared to Casey give we finished higher on the ladder? Also I would've thought it would be better to play it on the Saturday as a sort of lead in to the the final on Saturday night.

And funny how Zaharakis could say no.

A downhill skiier and a speculative pick 12. Not close to enough for Hogan.

The efc players deserved their penalty. One for taking peds. Naive - maybe. But that is neither here nor there. Do the crime and do the time. Take responsibilty. And two by componding that stupid decision by not taking a deal early, pleading guilty and missing only 3 months and perhaps as few as 3 games like the cronulla players. I dont buy them getting any slack for taking the peds based on just doing what they were told by the club. But even if i did they cant blame the club for not taking the deal. They made that stupid decision all by themselves and more fool them if they took advice on that matter from the very people who got them into the mess in the first place. But they have served their penalty and i have no issue with any of them. Looking forward to having the melk run around for us. Its like gaving a brand new recruit.

Lots of different perspectives on Jesse's situation on this thread, which is great. Why some posters feel they need to re-state their view over and over again, I'm not sure.

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

I was very impressed with"SOS"s form yesterday. I'd be very surprised if he's not upgraded next year. He looks to me as if he could be a very useful contributor to our backline next season. Could he play midfield? His attack on the ball, his decision making, and his disposal all impressed me. I was a great admirer of his dad Shaun's guts, standing his ground in "the hole" to be crashed by the likes of Lockett. Shaun Smith, like another brave Demon hero of mine, Steven Icke, was a fantastic transfer from North. I'm so glad we have Joel as a Demon.

I reckon we should be looking at him anyway. He'd be the best fwd/ruck option available IMO.

On 'Open Mike' last week Matthew Lloyd recalled how bad his kicking for goal was early in his career. Sheedy told him not to go into the rooms at the half-time break, but instead practice kicking for goal. He was incredibly embarrassed and reached a point that year where he didn't want to have shots at goal. He didn't want the ball in his hands or the responsibility. He famously fixed his goal-kicking in one off-season to be one of the best we've seen. He reiterated one summer.

The AFL never wanted to ban them. Essendrug is too important. Gill told us that

Fair call. Also I find it hard to be sympathetic toward the EFC players when sportsmen and women in this country and across the world have to live with their decisions regarding doping. Ignorance of what you have taken or casting blaming on others (ie coach or club) is not a legitimate excuse. AFL footballers should not be treated any differently than any other professional sportsperson.

I was sitting behind the goals at the punt rd end, up in the great southern..............never forget it.

I bloody hope not. Dawes is cooked regardless of what Hogan does.

I want Hogan to stay but if he was to go it would have to be for McGovern and a pick, probably their first round. WC have been using him as KPD but he can easily play CHF. We need to replace like for like.

I think our defensive zone changed in the 2nd half of the year, and we had someone sitting back. For mine, that's a perfect role for Dunn.

Whether he is actually "gone" or not... did nobody see this coming? He was always going to go home for at least some the off season. As soon as he inevitably boarded the plane we were going to hear all the media rave about it. I'm no way more confident that he will stay than I was at the start of the year but the media can put whatever tag on him traveling home not like he would actually call them up and tell them. Its all just crap look I can speculate too: Maybe he isnt there pondering his future maybe he misses feeding the birds on swan river. OR maybe he left his headphones there last time he visited. Or.. or! Maybe and this one is a bit of a stretch here but maybe he just wants to go visit his family and friends.... Personaly I think that feeding the birds is the most likely he seems like a bird feeder to me, but feel free to suggest your own reasons

Love the way this story has been played out on the drip, as though it was ever conceivable that Jesse would remain in the red and the blue. Jesse will be a good player, but perhaps the once-in-a-generation stuff has been been overdone. His half-in half-out attitude probably was detrimental to our performances this year, no doubt it made our forward line one-dimensional.

As a number have said it is an incredibly painful time for someone to go through, being early 20's and watching your dad battle and then slowly succumb to cancer is horrible. Watching your first hero fade away is tough bananas. Everything else slips to a peripheral concern that just takes time from being with your family. Think need give it a little time before talking him leaving etc.

The biggest thing I got out of today was Joel Smith. Pace, height, decision making, disposal and he cracked in. A Jayden Hunt type story in the making.

Only on the football field. He never really used too, his twin sister stole all the grunt. But it's amazing how he can go from chillaxed to completely switched on as soon as he steps onto the grass. He used to be the kid who would pick the opposition off the ground before moving onto the net contest, but not any more. Like earlier this year in Casey's second game v Collingwood which they lost, Dec cleared the ball at one stage and Aish, instead of trying to smother, went for Dec directly to try and take him out. Well Dec still got the clearance and Aish bounced off of him and landed on his back. Dec looked down, saw Aish, and immediately jumped on him. Really gave him a good hammering before being dragged off by 2 Collingwood players. Don't think so. When he finished his preseason with Melbourne this year he had a meeting with Roosey and the coaching staff which basically said 'sorry but we don't really have a place for you.' That might've changed since then, but I doubt it. Justin Plapp did tell us at the start of the year if Dec has a good year he will be drafted. We know for a fact the North Melbourne, Geelong and Essendon are looking at him, and the staff at Casey believe there is one or two more. He was invited to the state combine, and he did a day of testing with North at the end of last year where afterwards he was told they would be looking at him as a Rookie if he played VFL Seniors all year.

It's like Pokemon as far as I'm concerned - gotta collect em all.