Melbman2

I suffer the same malady though at some stage Ross will have us on the verge of the 8 which will make us more attractive to prospectives

Give Geelong Clark and a smoked ham then sit back and watch him take out Hawkins.

The news report at the time of the draft was that they guy they wanted at that pick was gone, so there was a mad scramble to pick another guy. BP and Benny Hill music go hand in hand.

It was during this time in 2012 in an online chat with Cameron Schwab where I innocently asked him about some aspect of the Essendon midfield dominance and he said "yes it is very interesting isn't it". I had no idea what he meant at the time as it seemed an odd answer and I now wonder if it was a cryptic nod at the Essendon "program" of which we didn't know anything about yet.

linky?

But is it really restraint of trade when a player can still ply their trade but just can't jump ship in a way that is not in the best interests of the competition and therefore not in the best interest of the public?

Excellent point

In full support of your post I give fellow Demonlanders 10 minutes of the wonderful Tasmanian Bill Mollison. "Fury drives me and fury continues to drive me!" 10 minutes really well spent if you have the time.

I like the conundrum that the Essendon board are in. They want to sack Hird for his role in the "supplements" scandal but can't do so without evidence of wrong doing. The very same evidence the Essendon board don't want to see the light of day. I guess they have to wait for others to introduce that evidence then they can go for it.

I pose the question, are Hawthorn the games largest parasites? (inflammatory language intended) Add their ability to attract players that other teams have put the hard yards into to the fact their home training ground VFL park once belonged to the wider football community, now it is theirs. Also add that we built the G but now its their home ground too (along with the lesser parasites) Add the money they "receive" from Tassie. All up they "poach" other teams players, are gifted the communities VFL park, use ours for home games and are paid money by a state in which they are not even based. Pretty smart way of doing business it seems. A quote I heard recently in a non football sense was "the goal in life is not to own the land but to control the land". The Hawks have done a great job in controlling assets that they don't own or even necessarily developed. Let the pot shots begin............

I tend to agree with you. Am concerned once the AFL administration leaves then we will revert to old ways and the debt, disastrously poor decision making, and amateur approach to all things MFC will return and threaten to finish the club off. Having veins that pump red and blue in the few of us that there are won't save us. Love to be wrong but history tells a different story.

Agreed and additionally for the Hawks and Cats, they get their ladder determined draft spot PLUS the two best available players in Chip and MC, effectively picks 1 and 2! How can the lower teams compete with that? In my mind this is an embarrassment for the AFL.

Off topic and flogging a dead horse but... There was a new coach named Neeld Whose Demons once took to the field It started with hope And ended a joke And his contract was later repealed

The only handouts here are going to the top teams. We are being compensated for a loss of investment. How about the most succesful person in your suburb gets to take your house under "free agency". A house that you've just spent years renovating and improving having also spent time and money in the analysis in choosing it in the first place. Is it a handout that that you get compensation that doesn't even replace what you had but only allows you some opportunity to start from the beginning all over again? Reanalyzing, hoping to choose correctly and then renovating and developing. We are being given nothing other than some cockamamey reduced opportunity to try to somehow replace what we already had, a lot of which will be at our own time and expense. Seriously mate, I'm all for digging in and and doing the hard yards but to say handout? Seriously!

And the firsts had a player called Clark Who told the Dees to go and get ...... And along with Chip Frawley Who acted appalling By keeping us all in the dark

The only reason Dunn spoke out was cos his mum was too busy to make the call

All clubs pass on some good players but only one club seemingly passes ALL good players

http://www.news.com.au/national/football-stars-are-not-special-cases-in-drug-probes/story-e6frfkp9-1226921887341

Cheers, Here's the blooper vid if anyone wants to see it http://www.afl.com.au/video/2014-02-28/dees-a-work-in-progress

I'll go against the trend here and say that the Hawks were under performing given their list, and while Kennett's words could have been destabilising to the team & club, the outcome was that they did indeed go up a notch. Not the way you really want to run a club though. (Cue the pelting with vegetables)

There was also the goal the Hawks were awarded that actually hit the post and left a mark on it.We kicked the higher score on the day

This is a very interesting point. It screams "deal" to me where the AFL attempts to minimise flac with its penalties by having them pre approved by ASADA so that there is no appeal while minimising the penalies as much as ASADA will allow.

The news reporter said it all with a straight face as well, bizzare

Just heard on the news that Hird will receive his 2014 pay this year and so not receive any pay next year. AFL have agreed. WTF?

That was a quality piece that could easily sit in any sports page in any paper in the country