Chris

I am fairly meh about this as I don't think it will affect us as I don't think they will be any good for a while yet. I am also resigned to the AFL being a duplicitous bunch of flogs.

How many have the Hawks won with their bunch of pp's?

One thing has been puzzling me of late about the opinions on here of the player we need. There seems to be pretty much a consensus that we need a ruck forward to help out with Max when he needs a rest. That is all well and good but who of Hogan, Watts, and Weid do you leave out of the team because having four big men forward is one too many.

Reportedly Frost of the Jack variety has agreed to terms with Brisbane pending a deal being done during trade week. I know there was a little discussion on him fitting with our needs, no more discussion needed it seems.

I wasn't meaning jobs either, although it may have sounded that way. I was talking about players we should be welcoming back into the club to be around and talk to the current group about being a Dee. I have my reservations about Garry as I mentioned. Hopefully with the new found stability he wouldn't be in a position where he felt he needed to intervene.

I agree having past campions around can be great for culture due to the history they bring but you need to make sure they are destabilising. Garry comes across to me as one who meddles in things behind the scenes, plays politics if you like. I could be really wrong but just the impressions I have, I am happy for him to be around but not too involved. Russell is already there as he is employed by the club and seems to have a great relationship with the current group. Not sure how much he bring history or culture wise. Ox could be good, I would bring him in as a part time specialist coach to work with the young forwards and even the bigger mids like Tracca. Neita would be great but I think is a part time coach at the hawks for forwards or goal kicking or something. If he is then no but if he isn't then massive yes. Green is the defensive coach at North, unless he has been let go. Same as Neita, if so no, if he isn't then massive yes. The ones I would love to see to bring that history and good cultural stuff are Junior (we screwed him over but he is there on B&F night), Yze (although is coaching), Bruce (same as Yze), White, Healy (of the Greg variety), Lovett, Lovell, O'Dwyer, Stinga, and the Febeys. Even bring back Grinter to be a part time coach on having a real crack 100% of the time. My memory doesn't go back tot he early 80's or before but surely there are some from this time that would suit too. RDB is always a given, it is up to the youngens to realise what he can offer and what he means to this club and take on board what ever is offered.

What did Garry actually do that he deserves a second chance from us for? His family and the Brownless family are the only ones who would need to give him a second chance. Who says Wayne deserves a second chance as well, he got one but I am not sure he deserved it.

You beat my facebook by 10 minutes on the announcement, good work. I wonder if the mind of Dunny will now be made up?

A few Facebook sites are reporting he is all but gone. I know that this now must be the case because facebook said so.

I haven't watched that one yet and you just gave away that we won!

It may be the other way. Maybe Dunn doesn't want to commit until he knows who the coach is, if Brisbane were to appoint Neeld for instance then Dunn may not want to go.

So was I. It only has six games, one is the Geelong win last year, one the 94 final, one a final in the 80's against Sydney I think, and the other two I can't remember.

Any time! I should ask though, what are you thanking me for?

The only right place for our sunday celebrations would be the G, there is no other home and there shouldn't be. The G also has an open day on the sunday where people walk all over the turf so it really wouldn't be too much more to just hold our celebration day there at the same time. As someone above suggested, we could just stay all night partying until the celebration the next day!

Big summer on the stir fries coming up! I am a big fan of Salem and think he offers a lot in the areas we are missing, his delivery is especially missed. Hopefully he has his Thyroid fully under control so he can bulk up a bit and get really fit and show us what we know he can do in 2017.

Got a box set of great Dees games for fathers day and was watching the 94 final against the blues on the weekend. One thing I noticed, apart from the fact we played good tough footy, was how similar Swartz and Tracca are in the way they move around a footy field. I have very few memories of Swartz playing as I didn't see much footy in my teen years as I was too busy playing various sports to get to games and they weren't really replayed but the similarities really stuck out. Lets hope Tracca has a better run with injuries and becomes some where near the player Swartz was!

This is only the first lot cut. They normally announce them in a few batches. There is normally one between the trade period and draft as well so I would be very surprised if there weren't more changes to come. Especially as we must use 3 draft picks and with Hibberd coming we only have 2 spots on the list.

Hogan wasn't on the list as such in 2013 as he couldn't actually play for us. Haven't split it to best 22 as I don't know their list well enough but the saints have retained 20 players from 2013, some of them great experienced heads.

With the news yesterday it means there are now only 13 players on the list who were at the club during the last Neeld year. They are: N. Jones J. Watts C. Dawes J. Viney J. Trengove L. Dunn C. Garland C. Pedersen T. McDonald D. Kent M. Gawn N. Jetta J. Spencer Those in bold have without question improved their games during the Roos years and are best 22, the others have been struggling with injury, have seen the game gone past them, or remain required depth. That means 7 of our 2016 best 22 were at the club in 2013. Puts into perspective what Roos had to work with and the changes he has made to this club. I dare say by the end of the trade period this year a couple more of these players may well be off the list as it wouldn't surprise me if Dawes isn't around next year due to ongoing injuries and Dunn may seek a trade, who knows. By the end of next year this list may be down to not much more that the players in bold. I do feel bad for Grimes and thank him from the bottom of my heart for his unwavering service to this club.

Plenty of cud to chew over yet

Apparently he responds very well to a roasting.

Did Wiggins have the steroids injected? I know nothing of the case but do know that various inhalers used to treat all sorts of things contain steroids. He may not have ever been injected with it.

Why? It isn't beyond the realms of possibility for the dons to settle with a player for a undisclosed and confidential amount, as most settlements are, then pay them less than market value in their contract? Both the player and the club would need to be on board but it could happen. Here is a more realistic example. The club would normally pay Heppel 500k a year, they also have to settle with him about the PED issue and will pay him 1mil for this (all figures made up). They say to Dyson, hey, we will give you a 1.5mil settlement when we originally said 1 mil, that extra 500k comes off your 5 year contract so instead of your contract being 500k a year it is now only going to be 400k a year. You get a big chuck up front in the settlement and you free up a bit of cap space so we can bring in more talent and you can play in a team that should be more successful. I'm not sure on the tax implications on a payout but that could also be beneficial. The club could also pay it out of there pocket so the insurance company doesn't need to be involved. It is possible. Even though we have seen what these players will do to tow the club line I don't think this will happen but imagine the almighty [censored] storm that would erupt if they were found out for that!

The confusion I think stems from AOD coming under S0 as a drug not approved for human use. As you say TB4 is banned under S2 as it is deemed performance enhancing.

What have they done that makes you think they don't?