The Oracle

I just checked the latest odds and Richmond are now strong favourites at $1.60 to win c.f Melbourne at $2.40. The Dees no longer have to struggle with the spectre of being the favourite and having to win. I regard this as a blessing from above. We'll win this one now.

I can see why Gordon is looking at an appeal with an injunction to allow his players to play and therefore avoid the CAS result pending its outcome. It allows Crameri to play out another year of his contract and who knows if he'll be needed next year? Who knows how many of the remaining 12 at Essendon would be required players next year or would want to play there? In the event that they get an injunction, the process will only keep this hanging over their heads for another 12 months. But do they really want that?

The information comes from someone who is reliable and knows him from out Torquay way. Whether he's 100% right, I can't tell you but he did say that at the start of last year Curnow was 187cm and that figure was in the TAC Cup Record for the whole season and that the 191cm measurement was in this year's record from Round 1. Males stop growing at any time up to 20-21 and his view was that Curnow hadn't stopped growing yet and he believed Curnow was now 193cm. The other thing is that he usually marks the ball at a higher point because he has good reach and is strong, he's a handy mark even when pitted against tall defenders.

Most reports have Curnow at 191cm but I'm told that he is now around 193cm tall and not much shorter than Hogan. I don't know why this is so but as far as I'm aware, the only results from the Draft Combine that haven't been made available are the height and weight statistics. They will be interesting when they do come out.

Spot on. We don't need the next Joel Selwood.

Carlton To Snap Up Sepp Blatter

On the subject of coaches taking blame, it's interesting that North Melbourne hit the proverbial wall last night. Brad Scott has done well with the team and it was a great performance to get them to a semi final last year but his teams have a habit of doing what they did last night every once in a while making it hard for them to get credibility as a team. Yet Scott is always whining and blaming others. Time he took the onus for not preparing the team well enough.

If you follow the Tribunal's logic however, that's not a problem because Watson only believes he was administered AOD964 and so does Dank. In their mind, it wouldn't be enough even if the players were charged with its use or attempted use.

I know what you're thinking. Melbourne only wins the opening game of a season once in a blue moon, a rare occurrence involving 13 full moons in a one calendar year. Well, the fact of the matter is that the last time a blue moon happened was in 2010 but we didn't win our first game of the season - we were flogged mercilessly by Hawthorn so let's forget this blue moon thing and concentrate on the other colour that represents our club. And tonight fellow Demon fans, we're going to experience a red moon, a lunar eclipse which will start at around 8:00pm. Which makes today, the perfect occasion to totally eclipse the Suns. Not only that - it is written in the heavens that by the setting of the sun and the rising of the moon, we will be celebrating our first win for 2015 and for once in a red moon, it will be in the opening game of the season.

Good to see you've become more moderate now that you've changed your alter ego to abstemious BBO.

Did McVeigh say how he knew they were taking vitamins because Essendon doesn't know what they were taking?Also does he know why they signed consent forms acknowledging that they were to be given prohibited substances if all they were taking was vitamins?

Interesting comparison with The Wizard Jeff Farmer who was 174cm 80kg when he played for us. JKH is about the same. Lack of height never hurt Jeff. I remember one year he should have won mark of the year.

It was last year when OTC did such a dissection was the last minute of Richmond's capitulation against Gold Coast. There was no sacking of coaches of the board. The team was given the opportunity to regroup and the Tigers are now serious challengers. I'm not suggesting we were any good on Sunday (we were horrible) or that we'll go the same way as they did but their supporters have grown up from the rabble they once were, baying for blood at any and every poor performance. We have now become the Richmond of the competition.

The level of the debate on this thread can be best summed up by this post.It's impossible that we will lose by 187 on Sunday because the game is being played on Saturday. Only idiots would be dismissing the CEO after the week we've had. The media would rightfully make a meal of us.

Seven out of eleven actually. They ended up beating Collingwood on QB with a goal after the siren kicked by Jimmy T. Incidentally, the word after the game was that Collingwood weren't really trying to win the game at all.

I didn't see any reports so can only assume the boys didn't have any major training yesterday but the club has this on its website:- They're off to Darwin later on in the week so this could be a good opportunity to catch up with the team before their trek north.

I will have all of the correct numbers for you later tonight.

The "experts" on future stars got this one very wrong. Stewart wasn't nominated as a F/S so the Pies won't even take him with their last pick. This goes to show that it's so easy for even the pundits to get things wrong. They had Stewart ahead of Jake Stringer for God's sake!!!

I think this brief par from KC in the How the Demons Fared section of his match report on the Casey game sums it up:- Lucas Cook (7 kicks, 2 handballs, 2 marks, 3 tackles, 2 goals) - kicked a couple of goals but didn't exert himself on the game nearly enough. Cook hasn't been particularly convincing in his two seasons and there are others in the Casey forward line including a VFL listed forward who are showing more than him at this stage. If he doesn't lift over at Casey in the next month, then his position on the list could well be in jeopardy. This is a tough, ruthless business and we need to make some hard decisions to prove that we're relevant as a club.

Sheahan had the utter gall to describe McLardy's speech as "propaganda" when, in fact, he was using the oldest trick in the propagandist's kit bag. You're right. If there wasn't a hidden agenda behind this they wouldn't have gone out of their way to set this all up in that way. There used to be a bloke in town years ago who did it so much better than this lot. His name was Jack Little.

Thanks dazzledavey36. One of the things I didn't cover was the new rule instituted last year which allowed clubs to pass in the rookie draft and give a few players the option of trying out during January and February before the final decision to rookie is made. It wouldn't surprise me if Melbourne does that with those very late invitees who were added to the permission to train list in the last week.

God. I'm embarrassed. I wasn't meant to be doing a follow up till tonight or tomorrow morning because they said nothing much was going to happen on the weekend. How do I explain this?

The actor might look like Hitler and speak like Hitler but if you look closely, he's playing a character called "Mr. Demetriou". Otherwise, I agree that it its poor form bringing Demetriou into this but it's great fun anyway.

He's not dreaming about making the finals but he is about doing so under Bailey. We can salvage something out of the season with a new coach and the reinvigoration that a change can bring. However, I would not guarantee Viney the coaching gig beyond 2011 at this point in time. There needs to be an extensive process by which the next coach is to be selected. There's also the situation of Viney potentially coaching his son. I'm not sure if that's healthy.

According to this report, Cameron Schwab is gone and Dean Bailey is going - Melboure Demons expected to terminate the services of Cameron Schwab; Dean Bailey's future is unclear When are we going to hear from the board?