Demonland

THE TRADING CHRONICLES 2013 by The Oracle TRUTH, LIES AND THE WHOLE DAMNED THING They say that the first language of the AFL is the telling of lies and the opening days of the 2013 trade period added currency to that perception. If we believed all of the rumours that were being spread about the place over the past few days, then most AFL clubs would be virtually unrecognisable by the time of next year's opening bounce. We heard on Tuesday morning that Greater Western Sydney has launched a bold $4 million play for disgruntled Collingwood defender Heath Shaw. The immediate thought that came to my mind was that the Giants must have plenty of money to throw around if a player of Shaw's ilk was being offered anything like that sort of money to move to Sydney. But then I started wondering who's money are we talking about? After all, this is a fledgling club that can barely attract a crowd of six or seven thousand to that quaint Skoda Stadium out in the sticks of western Sydney where the game is about the third or fourth most popular ball sport and, despite the team's name, it's dwarfed by the local soccer team which has a far greater following and is also quite good at the game. It was at about this time that I remembered that this crowd is being financed by the AFL which grudgingly doles out money to a number of other clubs (including Melbourne) but the amount must be nothing that comes near to matching these Hare Krishna impersonators from the outer reaches of the city of sin. Later in the day, GWS denied it had offered the amount quoted but confirmed they're very much interested so who's going to quibble about a couple of hundred thou either way. Shaw is off to GWS and likely oblivion and if that happens, Taylor Adams will most likely be a Pie sooner or later. In the meantime, the AFL has confirmed that the Buddy Franklin deal is kosher, the Hawks have passed on matching a deal they cannot possibly match and are shameless about the fact that they're content to take a first round draft pick allowed under the rules which they so vehemently denied the Demons under a different rule but that's the business of AFL. So here we are watching the grass grow under the feet of most club recruiters while at Melbourne, which boned one of its own yesterday, there's even less happening. These days Demonland is not the preferred location of most football stars. It's more like the deepest of slums in one of the third world's poorest cities compared to the bright lights of Hollywood. Which means that of the dozens of names bandied about as possible swaps for the Demons' perhaps not so coveted pick 2, none have put up their hands to date. In fact, they're rushing to deny the truth of it all. Done Deals Lance Franklin (Hawthorn FA) to sign a long term contract worth about $10 million over nine years to join the Swans. Dale Thomas (Collingwood FA) joins the exodus from the Pies and is off to Carlton on a four-year deal that will earn him close to $700,000 a season. A clairvoyant with close connections to Mick Malthouse tipped this months ago so it's no surprise at all. Eddie Betts (Carlton FA) goes to the Crows on a four-year offer worth about $2m. Colin Sylvia (Melbourne FA) lured by Ross Lyon on a guarantee of playing in a losing grand final team at least once in the next three years. Shane Mumford, the Sydney ruckman has accepted a three-year deal with Giants. Matt White (Richmond FA) joins Port Adelaide on a three-year deal. Shaun Hampson (Richmond) The back-up Carlton ruckman who struggled to get away from Megan Gale on match days was the first trade, going to Punt Road in exchange for the Tigers' second round pick, No.28 overall. To be continued

There's only 360 people on the site at the moment. The real test will be once that doubles. If it can hold up under 800 I will be happy. I will be thrilled if it survives over 1,000.

http://www.nmfc.com.au/news/2013-10-08/walsh-returns-to-north

Burns to Collingwood as Midfield Coach. http://www.triplem.com.au/melbourne/sport/afl/news/2013/10/scott-burns-leaves-west-coast-and-returns-to-collingwood/

This should be fixed tonight when we move to a dedicated server. I hate to keep harping on it but the new server is like 5 times more expensive than what we have been on in the past. If you want to donate to the cause you can either donate here (http://demonland.com/forums/index.php?/donate/) or take out a Demonland subscription here (http://demonland.com/forums/index.php?/subscriptions/).

We should be making the move to a dedicated server tonight. Please bear with the errors for a little longer.

It's a server problem. We are in the process of upgrading to solve this issue.

Please be patient as we will be shortly moving to a dedicated server that will be able to handle the load.

Bear with us. The wheels are in motion to move to a dedicated server which will increase the performance of this site. It's like trading some rookies for Ablett, Swan and Selwood.

So it would seem. Very close to closing it all down. Not worth the hassle.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2013-10-07/trade-winds-monday

It all runs fine when there are only a few hundred people on the site but once things get busy and we have over 500 people on at once then things start to bottleneck.

We are well aware of these issues and are currently in the process of looking into a solution which at the moment looks like significantly increasing our costs per month.

thanks for the generous contribution and to the all the others who have taken out a life membership or donated over the past few days. All of it will be going towards upgrading the server so these error don't happen. I can only image what will happen once trade month is in full swing, not to mention the draft. If anyone wants to take out a life or annual membership with Demonland you can do so here: http://demonland.com/forums/index.php?/subscriptions/ If you've already taken out a subscription and want to donate you can do so here: http://demonland.com/forums/index.php?/donate/ Cheers and Thanks again to those who have lent a helping hand. It is very much appreciated.

I have alerted Nasher to the issue. I will see what he thinks but I have a feeling we are going to need a bigger/dedicated server which is going to significantly increase our monthly costs but should solve the issues. Stay tuned.

Running defender who impressed when promoted off the rookie list and looks to have a future. Games MFC 2013 8 Career Total 8 Goals MFC 2013 1 Career Total 1 Games CSFC 2013 7 Goals CSFC 2013 0 Keith "Bluey" Truscott Memorial Trophy 120 votes

Youngrookie battled to overcome injury and never got past the Casey development league team. Games CSFC DL 2013 6 Goals CSFC DL 2013 1

One of the most improved Demons of 2013, the tall forward/ruckman was particularly dangerous around goal at times. Games MFC 2013 11 Career Total 14 Goals MFC 2013 15 Career Total 18 Games CSFC 2013 5 Goals CSFC 2013 16 Keith "Bluey" Truscott Memorial Trophy 117 votes

Anyone still using the site2 link to get here? You can test whether your ISP is sending you to the new server by clicking the Home button near the top left of the page. If you are taken to the Demonland homepage then you are here and you no longer need to use the site2 link. If you go to the Demonland is currently unavailable page then you are not.

Whatever. We still need people on the board with those qualities. Perhaps it's not a bad idea to abolish the post given out results on the field in recent years.

It's not just this site. It's infected every forum I visit.

Here's a video that explains DNS propagation for those that are interested.

The biggest culprit in slow DNS propagation is Telstra Bigpond.

THE TRADING CHRONICLES 2013 by The Oracle COLIN GOES WEST On the opening day of the AFL Free Agency period, Colin Sylvia's proposed new three year playing contract with the Fremantle Dockers was lodged at AFL headquarters and by the end of the day he was officially a member of the club that was this year's runner up. It was as simple as that. The player who spent ten years with the Demons and was drafted at pick three was gone without much fuss and little handwringing, his time at the club best remembered for his misdemeanors more than his good play which left him with few decorations and in return for which Melbourne is expected to receive a second round draft pick. How different that is to the brouhaha that surrounded the departure of former captain Stan Alves to North Melbourne in 1977 which was a drawn out affair that ended in bitterness and recrimination. Alves, who was recruited from Edithvale-Aspendale in 1964 (but sent back by coach Norm Smith to grow in size), played 226 games for the club between 1965 and 1976) and finished second in the 1975 Brownlow Medal. The story goes that he chose to play for North Melbourne rather than Collingwood on the toss of a coin and luckily for him, played in a winning premiership against that club in his first season at North. The win came after a drawn grand final the week before. Melbourne received nothing in return when he moved to the Kangaroos. Times have changed over the years in between. The warring and bickering over players continued but the threats of legal action and the need for an orderly competition resulted in the introduction in the 1980s of draft and salary cap rules under an independent commission formed to run the competition over and above individual club interests. Until recently, the trade period was a humdrum affair which ran for a little over a week but most of the real action occurred on the last day or two. Nowadays, there's action aplenty even before proceedings start and the Buddy Franklin to Sydney on a multi million dollar nine year deal story dominated the media in the days after the former Hawk played in the 2013 premiership team. His club will receive a first round draft pick in return. Others changing clubs (or expected to do so) are Collingwood's Dale Thomas to Carlton, the Blues' Eddie Betts to the Crows and Richmond's Matt White to Port Adelaide. North Melbourne is expected to claim Saint Nick Dal Santo in the coming days. On Monday, the official trade period opens and the rumour mill has been as busy as ever on that front. As usual, only a small percentage of those rumours will ever emerge as deals. Still, the period promises plenty of surprises as clubs strive to improve their lists. There are some who have high expectations in the period ahead for the Melbourne Football Club but I am not one of those. The club is desperate for quality midfielders (a hard nut extractor and a line breaker who can run and carry and hit targets would do just nicely) but has a poor list leaving it with very few players it can offer as trade bait. The AFL shunned the club's application for a priority pick despite the fact that the club won only five matches in the last two years (a number which in one year not long ago got Hawthorn such a pick in the Franklin draft) and a club so bereft of recent success is not a popular destination for players on the move so the only real bargaining chip it has in trading is the number two draft pick which has been offered up to all and sundry in recent days. Whether a club bites and coughs up a suitable midfielder or two in return remains to be seen but I suspect the frenetic pace of the last few days will slow in the coming week or so until later on when the free agency and trade period runs its course to finality on 25 October. The other feature of the past week has been the Draft Combine which has showcased much of the young, new talent on offer for the AFL National Draft in November. The draft pool is not considered particularly deep but a few players did put their hands up in the various tests which the hopefuls were put through over the week. I liked the versatility shown by Sandringham Dragons midfielder Nathan Freeman who was prominent in both speed and endurance testing. His teammate Josh Kelly who killed it in the 3 kilometre run and scored well in the beep test and the running vertical jump pushed his top three credentials and Tasmanian Kade Kolodjashnij (if only the late, great Jack Dyer was around to call that name in the heat of the action) also pressed his claims. Probably the most exciting young talent in the draft will be West Australian Dayle Garlett who has a history of trouble but, from all accounts, presented very well at the draft combine. Whoever takes him is almost assured of having a ten year player of quality but also takes a risk of Dustin Martin-like proportions and sleepless nights worrying about what the morning's headlines might bring. A much safer bet for a club like ours might be Geelong Falcons midfielder James Tsitas (aka "Jimmy the Greek") who impressed in several tests and won the all-important kicking assessment. What Demon fan would not be stoked to have yet another player with these initials to join the club's midfield mix? The Oracle will provide his commentary on the free agency and trade period on an irregular basis over the coming few weeks.

When you click on the Home button it is sending you to Demonland.com and because your ISP hasn't updated it's DNS records (read the article I linked above for a laymans explanation) it is still pointing to the site on the old server. The site2.demonland.com/forums is forcing your ISP (Telstra, Optus etc) to take you to the new server. When you click the Home button in the top left corner it is taking you to demonland.com and because your ISP hasn't updated yet it is taking you to the old server. This should update with 24 hours. You will know it has when you click the Home link and you see the DEMONLAND homepage or when you type in demonland.com and you see the standard homepage and not the site2 link. Please don't bookmark or continue using the site2 link once the Home button takes you back to the standard Homepage.