SaberFang

I'm sure he's on the phone to CHUBB right now.

Oh dear, there's that propaganda creeping up again! Jimmy better get on the front foot and leak something damning against the AFL to Slobbo.

There's little point considering hypotheticals that won't occur. He won't be cleared, if at all, until long after this year's trade period. After botching so many draft picks over the years, the last thing we need to do is start making risky gambles on what few commodities we have. Every trade must be nailed.

Do not go NEAR any players under a looming 2 year ban.

Swann talking tough saying they might let him go to the draft for nothing. Yeah, right!

Had to laugh at a comment I overheard from one of the game's elite young midfielders a few months ago. A Bombers fan asked if they'd consider moving to Essendon. Their response? "No [censored] way."

I just love the fact the team is seeing the fruits of their labour. If they go out with manic pressure and intent then they can pull off unlikely wins. Bulldogs, Richmond, Collingwood & Geelong is quite a collection of scalps looking at the ladder right now (5th, 6th, 8th, 11th) and shows that we can match it with mid-tier teams when we bother to show up. It's all a learning process and they're slowly learning that effort and intensity is sometimes enough to win the game, even if your skills aren't quite up to par. Certainly makes the two Saints losses and the Bombers loss that little bit harder to swallow though. I'll be a little devo if we drop the Carlton game...

Almost definitely an instruction from the coaches that they wanted him to focus on his tackling pressure last week and not worry so much about getting possessions. We saw the same with Toumpas a few months ago. Think it's a great way of developing our kids; giving them specific tasks to perfect over a few weeks, rather than expecting the world of them.

Hird can stay at Essendon for the rest of his contract for all I care. They'll never move on from this period until the cancer is removed, and Hird is the cancer. It's clear now that they're either tanking or Hird has well and truly lost his players.

Hogan Rising Star favourite? After Footy Classified showed some damning vision of Cripps in their loss to North, I'm inclined to agree.

Gee whiz, that escalated quickly. Bloody great news, even better if we can snag him as a rookie.

Hird begging Winderlich and Fletcher to play on in 2015 has really worked out well for Essendon, too. Great list management! Thank Christ Roos isn't so sentimental.

Viney has no fear picking a fight with the older kids in the schoolyard. Love it!

Don't forget, Beams now "injured" and out for the season. Didn't look too distressed when I saw him sipping lattes on Friday afternoon in South Melbourne. The excuse they need a PP because all their players are leaving? They're not leaving for nothing; they're getting picks in return and it's the duty of list management to make those picks count. If their recruitment team is too inept to get anyone worthwhile... oh, except those two gun players they secured last year... well, maybe they should have a look in the mirror? They already have a huge leg-up in the form of an Academy. Get the AFL to poor some more money into that so they can better develop their exclusive talent. Their coach's poorly timed comments about needing to losing the next 6 games to get a PP send a really poor message to his players. You have to wonder if Lepp is out of his depth up there.

Maybe Lloyd can be the next golden child to senior coach them with zero senior coaching experience?

Tyson's carrying an injury, his reduced form this year is completely understandable. We've seen what he's capable of when fully healthy; something to look forward to next year hopefully.

Certainly never expected the karma bus to hit them with such force. And to think, WADA haven't even banned them yet!

If they put in an official request, so should Carlton, Gold Coast and us. Makes it impossible for the AFL to favour Brisbane alone.

I'm literally gobsmacked that Essendon fans put up with this egomaniac as a coach. It didn't take long for Carlton fans to turn against Malthouse and want his head, yet Hird remains untouchable. They indoctrinate their members well at Windy Hill!

Forget about Parish, Essendon are blatantly tanking at team selection to secure him in a very shallow draft. This year's best KPPs are locked into Brisbane, Carlton and Gold Coast, and the best midfielders are predictably gifted to Sydney and GWS via their Academies. All teams will slide even further if the AFL gift Brisbane a priority pick, which would be a total farce on the AFL's behalf (thus it will almost definitely happen). Win another game or two and we might be looking at pick #7. Focus your energy on the hopefully likely outcome that we trade our first rounder for Prestia.

Well, we can safely lock in pick #5 or #6 for our first rounder. Essendon and Brisbane are clearly stealth tanking (to make amends for draft sanctions and to guarantee a priority pick, respectively). Carlton are simply abysmal and Gold Coast can't win without Ablett.

We can definitely lose to Carlton if we don't turn up with the right attitude. It's the same "oh, we can't lose to Essendon," and "oh, we'll make amends for our last loss against the Saints" mentality that led to those two losses.

Our win/loss ratio is slightly better than 1:3, so hopefully we can end up with another 1-2 before the end of the year.

The banishment for tunnel ball has to end eventually. He deserves a final chance in the ones to prove his worth.

Seedsman or Michie?