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Fair to say I'm no fan of how he (and his Dad) went about the whole situation with the Dees, but doesn't feel like the right time for a pile on, even if it's a more footy-focused one. Seem to remember something about his wife's Dad having brain cancer (not sure if remembering correctly), and no idea if this has any relation to that, but there's clearly some bigger issues happening in his life and no matter what I think of him as a footballer; some things are bigger than that and I wish him well.

Agree that it is not the time to pile on however it is acceptable to assess Hawthorn's recruiting of him and Patton as nothing short of disatrous. Whilst they did not give up much to get them they clearly thought that they had two players to take them forward into the next 3-5 years. At the moment they are 0 from 2 in that regard. I take no pleasure in seeing footballers no matter how odious they might be going through hard times BUT football clubs are another matter and may those flogs from "the Family Club" enter a deep dark well of dispair for many years to come.

There are not many ex-demons that I dislike. I think Frawley gave good service and earned his move and I was sorry to see Watts go but understood the reasons. I hope Jesse Hogan can get his career back on track at the Giants. I hope whatever personal issues are afflicting him are resolved but I couldn’t care less about Tom Scully the footballer

Scully and Patton are clearly not in a good space at the moment and as for Tom whatever the reason l hope the kid is ok. I am sure that most would like to see Hawthorn struggle as myself but not because of two young men and there issues.

I think Sheedy is more to blame than Scully. After being snubbed for our vacant coaching position he went after vengance willing to pay any price for it (With GWS salary cap). Scully made a smart business decision taking their extraordinary offer. Gift horses like that don't come along every-day. His only crime was not being straight up with Stynes. But he was a kid in a high pressure/scrutiny environment. Mistakes get made.

How cruel you are and impatient on an 18 year old but for lack of composure and enthusiasm of youth his 7.13 could and will probably be 13.7 this year maybe 18.12 !!! Look at the play vs GWS in Round 17 where he set up Spargo for a goal from the backline snd later kicked one in the square after running the length of the Gabba from defence and that is the learning he has done in his first full season! But you prefer to not recognise his ability and potential that others including Jordan Lewis can obviously see. Go and drink your half empty stein of beer or glass of wine and I hope you enjoy it!

My understanding Petty around Christmas or late 2020 contracted a disease ( sickness) which restricted his training snd body strength. As a result Burgo is handling him with TLC as he patiently resumes full training on his modified style program. I honestly don't know the health of his groin issues which were of course last seasons problems and I can only go on that We have to wait an see the progress in front of our own eyes or as reported by the power(s) that be Burgo.

Are ewe kidding?

https://www.sen.com.au/news/2021/01/25/hawks-midfielder-steps-away-from-football/ I see the unloved Tom Scully has withdrawn from training for a fortnight to focus on a personal issue. While not wishing him any non-football ill will, if this is how it ends for him how do demonlanders think he will be remembered, not just by Melbourne supporters, but in general? For mine he will always be an unfulfilled and over-rated talent who succumbed to Kevin Sheedy's BS and financial lust. Otherwise he is entirely forgettable for his contribution to the game.

Thankfully, he'll end his career as a very ordinary pick one. Imagine if he became an AA quality gun and you had to watch him run around every week ? Good riddance.

The debate about the value of pick 1...it is still a bit of a raffle. This is ' @Macca' pet subject. The value of the draft. Every recruiter in the land would have taken Scully. It's not only the pick and development but also luck with injury. Not wishing him any bad luck in the future but Rowell looked great then goes down...will he come back as good, will injury dog his career. Who knows? ...best not to have all your eggs in the one basket.

Not exactly. Smith at the time said he offered to step aside for Ron. RDB for his part was persuaded (by Carlton) that if he remained at Melbourne while Smith was there as, say, chairman of selectors, anything he achieved as a coach would be seen as Smith's achievement also. Ron had also seen Smith have a falling out with his COS, Checker Hughes and did not want to risk the same with Smith. In the end, after RDB decided to leave Smith backed his decision, telling the board to let him go. (As a kid I like you thought Smith was happy for Ron to go as it secured Smith's position, but I did some digging and discovered that I was wrong.)

“Don’t bait me please” mate, no one even asked you nor mentioned you. Just because Watts never lived to his potential, doesn’t mean he was completely [censored]. The idea that top draft picks are said to be either stars or spuds (no in-between) is just so stupid.

Thought we had the next Judd when we drafted him. He's a very average player. I still focus a lot in watching former dees on telly when I get a chance and sculls is just an average player in general. Still runs hard through games but butchers it still. From a personal point of view I hope he is okay and gets the required support he needs. Think we need to be mindful in that aspect regardless of what you think of him. People struggling enough as it is in this world.

Scully not the 1st or last player to leave an afl club for a larger contract ... blame both the Afl for wanting an expansion club to be successful ASAP plus the MFC who’s culture was pathetic at the time. Very overrated & gws payed way overs. Hawks like other successful clubs not wanting to bottom out continue to top up eg the Cats, will bite them in the rear end eventually.

Puling the wool Bingers

Surely Ticketmaster and Ticketek will waive their booking fees as a gesture of goodwill.

I am in the kill zone 58er. The games will be a tv events for me till at least July. I would rather be alive. Happy for you to push the envelope. My membership is paid so the club will get the money wether I go or not.

I have been a Scully detractor over time but on reflection, at the time of his defection he was a wet behind the ears 19 year old under the influence of an avaricious father in a dysfunctional Club. I hated the way he went about it but, at the end of the day, his leaving didn’t really hurt so time to let it go and wish him no ill will.

I was watching a Dees game in a Sydney pub the year after Scully moved to the Giants. Got into a conversation with someone who walked in halfway through the game, after several minutes of discussing the Dees they revealed they were a family member of Tom’s. I made some fence sitting comment along the lines of “it wouldn’t of been as easy decision to make blah blah blah” and was told that Tom didn’t didn’t appreciate Stynes calling him in for a chat and pushing heavily the fact that he had cancer and was dying. They thought it could of been handled differently whilst still delivering the same message.

Primarily drafting as a way of building a premiership list can work but there again, often it doesn't if that's the only way a club decides to build a list (primarily drafting only) From our clubs perspective, in recent times we've swapped a number of top end picks for proven talent (May, Lever, Tyson (?) Clark (?)) but have used draft picks outside the first round for other experienced players (Melksham, Hibberd, Tomlinson, Ben Brown, Frost, Langdon) Again, putting aside that disastrous period* where we drafted one failed pick after another, we've drafted with much better results more recently (Viney (pick 26 F/S?), Petracca, Brayshaw, Oliver, '"Scully for Hogan for May", Salem, Harmes (Rookie 2015) & Fritsch) And we await with bated breath on LJ, Kozzie, Weideman, Rivers, Rosman, Bowrie, Laurie & others So it's a mixed bag** and we are definitely on the improve but remain a work in progress Top 4? Ridgy didge? Not yet. Not sustained anyway. The forward line needs to fire consistently rjay Bottom line, recruiting should entail many aspects - Free Agents, Drafting, Traded in Proven Talent and various other top ups (the odd DFA, Academy players (?) Rookie identification etc etc) *Not that I was advocating it at the time but if we had have swapped all those failed draft picks for proven talent (prior to when Roos arrived), we wouldn't have bottomed out the way we did - isn't hindsight a wonderful thing! **I've left a few players out no doubt

Yes I wasn’t quoting facts to be argued or dismissed. It was opinion. I hope Kobe gets the chance. Thanks for your post to clarify too. Us demonlanders have to stick together. Yes I am perhaps an optimist which appears to be rare on our board. We have been battered and bruised as Dees fanatics but we rise again and again year after year. Let’s hope 2021 is our year.

As they say, money can't buy happiness ... Hope he's doin alright though, I never wish hard times (outside of the football field) on any player.

@Macca straight swap with Goff?

I see where St Kilda's coach has stated that last year he allowed players to play their game and not overload them with instructions, just to be their best. It seems to have worked. Im not sure which team it was that interviewed the players and asked them which position they could be the best possible asset to the team in, and tried to allow the player to concentrate on that role. Another interview I remember reading from yet another coach that interested me in that he said whichever player was most professional in that position would be chosen to play there. For each of these different views it would make sense that the coach would have a list of key attributes for each separate position and rate the players striving to hold a position or even 2 or 3 different ones. Those capable of holding a couple would of course be adaptable to what is needed on the day. I think MFC has a potted history of allowing players their preferred roles. Those adaptable are smart and possibly multi-skilled players. Im thinking Bayley Fritsch, Luke Jackson and Tom Mac; all being able to play forward and wing. Im not sure where their wants lie, but Im guessing it isnt the wing. But prepared to adapt and smart... Then we have Jones Harmes and Brayshaw, maybe Melksham. Im not sure at all about their adaptability to change behavior to be their best in another role. Harmesys interview yesterday doesnt leave me warmly assured.

"In team sport I have always believed champion players make champion coaches, not vice versa ..." Leigh Matthews

If it's going to be 50% of capacity, I've half a mind to attend. *No jokes about only having half a mind, either!.

Lovely day down at Casey, blue skies and low 20's. A sharp contrast with the high 30's that we experienced last year with smoke filled skies. Only allowed to watch from outside the fence, so the track-watchers on Monday got it good! Today I was really "on the outer". In rehab: Brayshaw, Petty and Smith. Smith carrying a bandage on his left knee. Most of their work seemed to be strengthening type exercises. All were kicking intermittently, Brayshaw off his right foot ( I can't remember which one was injured).Hibberd was unsighted, but I may be wrong as half the players were wearing fluoro vests, making it difficult to pick them out. In bad news for fashionistas, Luke Jacksons mullet has gone. Nathan Carroll is reportedly heartbroken. A couple of main drills involving full ground transition, which I was told was all about stretching the field to create space in the mid-field. However, Pickett and Lockhart didn't participate, and later Pickett joined the rehab group, but nothing obvious as to why. Perhaps it was about loading, as he was involved with tackling exercises later, meaning he wasn't trying to protect and injury. Watching Rosman one can see the natural athlete and runner. He just glides over the ground effortlessly. But comparing him, Bowey and Laurie, they are obviously the new recruits. Physically they are a step below players like Jordon, Chandler and Rivers who have only had the benefit of barely one season in the system. Ben Brown is one seriously big unit and will be a major target up forward. Fans can be assurred he will be using the same long run technique when kicking for goal. He took a mark in the forward pocket at one stage and started his run up from the wing. Still he put the Sherrin through the big uprights, so you can't complain about that. He did leave the session early after about an hour on the track. Make what you will out of that. Clarrie had a Ronald McDonald look about him. A bright red cap and a face smothered with sun-screen. Good sun sense however for a red-head. The session finished with lots of re-runs of touch type football with what seemed like a focus on evasion skills, and shrugging tackles. Also an emphasis on short accurate passing and quick switching to outside runners. Sorry, not much more to report. Always good to see only 3 or 4 in the rehab. I can remember the sight of a dozen plus in rehab in early 2019, and we all saw what came of that. Even those that are away from the main group don't appear to be too far from joining full training. But then the first game is just 2 months away, and practice matches sooner......

Went down to Casey Fields for an hour this morning. A beautiful sunny and non windy morning (a rarity for Casey) for the lads to train in. Was a bit of a treat to watch some footy given the 17 games spent watching in the lounge room last year. I took my viewing position behind the fence in the pleb section and saw everyone's favorite mercurial small forward of the mid 1990's -early 2000's watching his son and the boys intently. I picked a great day for it as it was essentially an intra club game, for the 60 minutes I was there. They had the blue team with numbers on versus the white team with no numbers, and given the blue team won 9.5 to 3.1 you could probably imagine the blue boys had the much stronger line up! (More game simulation may have continued after I left at 11???) The standard looked OK but given I haven't been to a training session since a week before the infamous 2013 season started, I have nothing to compare. Notes for the blue team: Petracca - looked a million bucks rotating through midfield and forward and kind of looks a class above everyone else - not sure if that's a positive or a negative? His chizzling kicks and overhead marking is a thing of beauty. Hunt - played as a half back flanker circa 2016/2017. Looked ok. T Mac - Played wing in the first half of the session. Then as the third key/floating fwd in the second half. Looks fit, no issues. B Brown - Kicked 2 difficult set shots that essentially nobody at the club can drill. Very excited to have him at the club. Will probably kick a lot of goals via free kicks. Harmes - Played exclusively in the centre square and did not play well. Seems a distance away from 2018 and isn't excelling at any position at the moment (ie -since 2019) Tomlinson - Looks settled down back as a key defender, continuing on from his late season recovery after the wing failure. May was in rehab but I think Tomlinson will be there regardless come round 1. Jordon - Not sure if he'll make it but he was heavily involved today through the middle of the ground and featured in many transitions towards the forward 50. Moves well and I reckon he'll play games this year. Lockhart - Starting back pocket while Jetta was in the white side. Fritsch - Becoming one of my favs. 2 or 3 goals and adds some class to our forward line. Kicked a nice set shot today. Gawn - Nailed a nice set shot today. Spargo - I'll have to wash my mouth out with soap but Charles looked good at half forward, involved in a fair bit of play. The new draftees played for the white side. REHAB Boys: May, Brayshaw, Vanders, Pickett and Smith. I suspect May, Pickett and Smith are injured as this pre-season is too short for players to miss back to back sessions for no good reason. Jackson ran laps. Didn't see Hibberd or Melksham. Not sure if Viney was absent or playing for the white side. Hopefully there were other posters at Casey today who can add to the above, and provide a more ""footy technical" training report.

Fair way to take the scooter from Richmond to East Cranbourne.

Yeah Coolth was a good get. Came right in. has good wins on 1st of May and Galactacus (spelling?) last weekend and a exacta which was nice. Just missed out on a few today, hope for some winners tomorrow if I jump on.

Lol i reckon we just let fans watch half the game. I bags the second half

It's not like it's just the pies we need to be worried about though. I haven't read most of it, but this thread is kinda stating the obvious though I think there would be 17 other clubs that would be into Trac. I'm not sure he'd be up for leaving us just on the basis of team performance though, I suspect it would be a bit more nuanced than that. Despite his exuberant persona, Trac seems like a fairly level headed, mature and I think he's also getting to an age where he would expect of himself to be contributing and thus owning some of the leadership and direction of the club. So if the team wasn't performing, I expect he might actually feel some degree of ownership for that and accept the challenge and responsibility to turn things around. I'd hope he'd only be seriously looking elsewhere if we were heading towards being an absolute basket case.

More of the sections would be available fir larger crowds but if 50,000 are allowed for each week the seating the same fir each game Would most likely apply. Remember Covid distancing will be applied in some form. In Brisbane some areas have had tickets Sold in twos with gaps of two or one.Later groups of up to six have been sold also at the Test match last week.

I’m not being a drama Queen, I’m just explaining how online selling works. I make no criticism of the people on the phones, they are usually very nice. The fact remains that if people can’t easily buy online using a payment method that they are comfortable with a percentage of them will drop off and not purchase. This is not an opinion by the way, this is one of the most heavily researched and documented subjects in online sales and marketing. I’m sure that Covid is a very big factor this year, both for the inability to get to games and the effect on many people’s finances. I am saying that the purchasing experience is also a factor and not just this year. Our incredibly aspirational membership goal will need every little thing to line up in order to be realised, and a user friendly online purchase of membership is a big part of that. But hey, you go ahead and stick your head in the sand and resort to name calling, that is quite a common approach here.

Don’t care if he’s friends with Kanye or Guy Sebastian.

Easy fix. We target Maynard ?‍♂️

For information of D/L I was in touch with the membership Dept last week and our membership is about 1,500 behind last year at this stage. From memory 28,000 was mentioned as a figure Last week. Easily matched or beaten with 1 or 2 good wins in the first few rounds. I have a good feeling for 2021 both on and off the field so let's get signing up Dees fans, there is a lot to like ie. BBB Jacko Kossie Riv snd the newbies Bowery Laurie and Rosman plus a rejigged Tommy Mac and our A and B graders led by Trac Maxy and Clarry all under the new Coaches Ooze and Chocco!

I was just keeping it warm for you Spirit

How bad is the injury to Saty? Hasn't appeared at all this pre-season.

To be fair on this one 'Lucifer' it wasn't Richmond's fault here. The AFL F...U...badly. That's why it didn't come out.

Well done to Tampa ... they go to the SB in their home town after winning 3 games on the road in the playoffs 13 years in the wilderness. Brady comes to town and they're at the big dance

Lewis saying that some of the things Kosi does onfield remind him of the one and only Cyril Rioli? Hardly surprising. Not sure why some can't believe that comment, or have morphed it into a Cyril Vs Pickett debate. Pickett possess similar traits, without question. His evasiveness, reaction time and vision are all at the top top end. And they're traits that were stamped to Cyril. The ability to turn a contest at which your team is at a disadvantage into a win and then shot on goal. It's the pressure acts, the follow up and the delivery through vision that sets these guys apart. It's incredible to watch. There were a number of passages of play where Pickett produced those type of passages and as he gets fitter, stronger and more confident we'll only see more. Obviously the two players have differences and I'd argue that Cyril has him covered in some areas. I had the pleasure of watching Cyril play at Scotch College as a school boy. But that's not the point. It's that Pickett possesses some extremely rare and valuable attributes that all teams would be desperate for. We're extremely fortunate to have him and watching his career unfold will be spectacular.

Let’s face it most of us think he has the potential to be a star. We’ve had our share of misses trying to find small forwards and he appears the best of the lot. I’m also a Spargo fan and believe he will be best 22 this year

He wouldn't have been as good in another team. He played in a flag in his first season and ended up playing in a dominant Hawks era for his whole career. He was a fantastic player, came along at the perfect time and was the cream on the cake of a great side. Overall I would say he was overrated though. Aaron Davey in that Hawks team would have been as good or better than Rioli.

Aaron Davey slow as a wet week? Do you actually know this for a fact? The Davey I saw in his debut season was imo one of the fastest players in the competition with his ability to just run down any opposition with his sublime closing speed.

geez apologies i just remember seeing it in the background of a flick i scrolled past on some socials didn't exactly stop for a forensic analysis

Training is 'closed'. However, some were lucky enough to get into the ground on Monday. Others have had to watch from outside the cyclone fence which is about 20m from the oval boundary. You can walk around the perimeter and see what is happening in different parts of the ground. But it is difficult to see what is happening on the other side or what is happening with ball movement and positioning. Made more difficult when players are wearing bibs which they swap frequently. And difficult to hear coaches/players over the music. I went last week until the rain came - about 45 min. That was probably enough to see who was there, who was in rehab what some of the plays were, guess the tone/energy of the group etc. So for me an hour is about enough. Does that make a trip to Casey worth while. Not sure. Training is Monday, Wednesday and Friday and players seem to be out on the ground at about 9.00am.

As many have posted - the coach has to train and select the "right" players, but once the game starts it's mostly up to the selected players to deliver the result. I think we've lacked on-field in game leadership over the years. Jones and Viney seem to be introverts and focus on their own game rather than directing the traffic - sure they may think they "lead by example" but it's not enough. I think the sometimes maligned Jordan Lewis probably gave us a lot in this area - I note we were 12-7 in 2017 and 16-8 in 2018 when he played. I think his contribution may have been undervalued in those years - including by me - because he wasn't the player he once was and didn't always go. Now I think the backline is well placed with May and Lever. I think Max is a respected and very capable leader at providing team social cohesion but I'm not confident about his ability to be the general in the midfield and direct traffic. Petracca and Oliver are tremendous players but are they going to co-ordinate the action? I think probably Brayshaw is the man most likely in this area to have the required qualities - hopefully with full length games he can return to his best position as part of the midfield rotation and be in a position to direct. I think part of the FD love for AVB are his leadership attributes but can he command a best 22 spot on output? Melksham was the leader of a very inexperienced forward line in 2020 (as evidenced by his role as stand-in team captain) and that's possibly why he retained his position despite some very ordinary form. For all his playing limitations ANB is possibly the man most likely to have the personality and intelligence lead in this area, but again can he command a best 22 spot on output? Maybe Ben Brown can bring a major contribution down there. Until these on field leaders emerge and direct I think we will continue to struggle with consistency.

I went to a talk by the Richmond mindfulness coach, Emma Murray a couple of years ago and it was very interesting to hear her talk about their approach to breaking out of negative self talk and mid game slumps. Unless she was BS’ing the conference delegates, it is definitely mindfulness techniques but vastly simplified to help an AFL player remember and be able to execute it on the field. They use focus change (both physical and mental) and re-orientation back to the hear and now. This is classic mindfulness but they really bought into it as a group and worked both in group sessions and 1-1 to train it in and reinforce. Obviously she would have somewhat of a bias about it’s contribution to their success but it sounded like the whole club has attributed a great deal of their turn around to mindfulness and their ability to arrest mid-game form slumps and negativity.