Mazer Rackham

Not sure I see where the "mess" is. It's supposedly not on any banned list and looks like it's being tested by actual scientist/medicos. It seems to fit more into the pain relief category than the performance boost category. If it's suss the AFL can ban it. Whateley's nose for this kind of news is way off anyway. He tried to wave away the EFC drug scandal, and don't try to talk to him about Damien Oliver. You'll hear a whooshing sound from how quickly he changes the subject.

Embrace it. Enjoy the spectacle wherein each round we will learn that Jack is an unappreciated star / an eternal dud. Make your own worm, AFL score style, of the oscillation between star/dud. Correlate it with Port's win/loss record. Thrill to the flow on effects about Hinkey's genius and Goodwin's flubbery. (And vice versa.) It's going to be a 23 week (+ finals?) ride, so make the decision to enjoy it.

So, to sum it all up ... Watts is a star, and a good ordinary player. He has the complete set of skills, and major deficiencies in his skill set. He is the best kick for goal in the league, and doesn't kick many goals. He will tear it up at Port, and he will fail at Port. He will humiliate the MFC, and he will vindicate the MFC.

If the AFL ran international cricket ... Demetriou would have called Lehmann and Smith telling them they were about to be nailed Bancroft would have been made to swallow the sandpaper There would be no charge of ball tampering. The whole thing would be put down to governance failures Smith would be sent to France for a year on a management study course Lehmann would score a gig with a management consultancy firm Warner would spend a year in New York learning to be a barista Smith would eventually present the Alan Border medal Everything would be the fault of the media. The players would all be brave, hard done by, Some numpty would sue the ICC

It's only trying to keep pace with the modern game!

Seconded, for same reasons

At a minimum Smith & Warner should be sent home, serve out bans. Others should have to pay a price too. But the actions of the cricket board and/or ICC will be telling. Do they really want to root this out, or will they (try to) wriggle out of it? The game of cricket may be done and dusted before we live this one down.

Bancroft-gate was a stupid, reckless folly which should be quickly put to bed by cutting out the rot. Primarily, Warner. But Smith also has to be stood down. The EFC drug thing was a club-wide systemic attempt to subvert the entire competition. And the competition managers got involved to cover it up. It's like the difference between a robbery at a 7-Eleven and organised crime. The Aus cricket board now have a say in whether they are complicit and just as rotten.

You underestimate the power of the MFCSS! It is your destiny!!

Playing lists change but whipping boys don't. We can't sit around doing Jack. Watt's a DL poster to do? Wouldn't be right if there wasn't one of our own to lay into.

This guy should have been in the Richmond Focus on Footy mob. They needed quality minds like his. I still don't get how he's got any standing to do this. What harm or suffering has he experienced from the drug saga? Apart from being p!ssed off. The case seems to be based on things Gil and Fitzpatrick were alleged to have said, but part of this case is for him to go on a fishing expedition to find out if they did or not. Seems strange. Any lawyers can explain? But ... anything that causes embarrassment to the AFL can't be all bad.

waited til his teammates were doing rehab, would go through their wallets tried to crack onto his teammates girlfriends, told them the teammate said it was okay told people he had cancer so they'd buy his anti cancer recipes cookbook ran a horse race betting syndicate which was actually a ponzi scheme stole millions in crypto currency after he hacked a japanese exchange fought for ISIS developed a new nerve agent poison for Putin he had to go

Vlad would have shut up and let it pass. Gil should do the same, but couldn't stop his reflex reaction to someone having any hold or sway over the AFL. He resents ASADA and would like to stick it to them. In olden times, we called it cutting off your nose to spite your face.

This is the mental damage caused by supporting Essendon. Guy probably spends all his time giggling uncontrollably. Reckon the ancient Greeks already did it. It's the one where everyone dies in the end.

OK, this intrigues me. But can you elaborate. What are the bonds we are building with the AFL and other clubs. I can see the ANZAC game with RFC could be part of this. What else? I don't follow this at all. Can you give examples so an old slowcoach like me can understand who are the key stakeholders and what are the strong bonds we are working towards. Again, this sounds very promising, but what are the concrete things that are re-invigorating our brand, and what does re-invigorating our brand look like? Bigger membership? Merch sales? Again, I'm finding this hard to follow. What does a coach say (or is it the FD, the board?) to players to give them perspective. What do players do in response? Win games? Looking forward to some elaboration.

Horse racing is more legit

Specifically, that ASADA were about to descend. On "a" club. Who knows which club? I'm not saying that it's YOUR club, David. Of course, if it were -- hypothetically speaking of course!! -- I'm confident that they would find absolutely nothing. By the way, are your shredders in good working order? I'm just asking to make conversation.

He's trying to prove Demetriou guilty, of setting up EFC and victimising the golden child Tird. What the fool doesn't understand is that Demetriou is guilty of protecting EFC and minimising the damage. Demetrious is a heavyweight in more ways than one, and I'm sure his cross examination will reveal a lot more, and damage EFC more, than this fool would want. Already the defence lawyers are calling it "Operation Backfire"

Gee ... I wonder if "Melbourne lawyer" Jackson Taylor is actually a duffle coat wearing, mouth breathing nuffie and diehard Essadon supporter.

He's said to be a hard man .... hard as nails .... for days at a time...

I absolutely get that. From my occasional forays into Church City, a short 5 minutes of listening to 5AA is enough to harden one against those two clubs forever. (well .... for a while anyway.) I can't imagine what a steady diet would do to one's mind. Something like this, probably: However, we must look at the big picture. Provincial difficulties must be risen above and the long range, objective view be held. And that is, clearly, that a certain few clubs must never be given an inch. Must always be held in contempt if not with outright hatred. In no particular order: Carlton, Essendon, Collingwood, for reasons that are too obvious to need writing here. Hawthorn, Geelong, Sydney also deserve no quarter. Adelaide, Port Adelaide, as already discussed. Richmond, for being Richmond. St K, Footscray. For being contemptible losers, and Footscray even more for winning in '16 and breaking that stereotype. F***** losers. North, same reason, but without the winning part. GCS and GWS. "Vlad's folly". One for not winning enough and one for winning too much. Freo for being anonymous and taking up space. WCE and Brisbane, for beating us in the past. The f****** b******s. That's all I can think of for now. But no true supporter of Aussie Rules can go too far wrong following the above chart of who to hate. How much hate, you ask, and how to apportion? As a rule of thumb, or when in doubt, remember this: too much is not enough. GO DEMONS

Well, it's out of their hands. Freo called up and asked very politely if Tirdy could come and play with them. And the AFL looked up his record and discovered that after recklessly dumping the AFL into its biggest scandal in 100 years, he did some coaching for a prominent footy club, AND last year he presented the Norm Smith medal! Fully rehabilitated! Back to normal! It would be wrong for the AFL to continue to victimise Tird given that some other organisation saw fit to grant him those second and third chances.

Poor old Joel, down to his last $40 million! It's uncanny how companies with phantom clients and phantom income end up getting into strife.

The kid did look good. But we're not going to have Majak Daw playing in key defence every week. That opened up a lot of opportunities that a better team wouldn't have allowed. Having said that ... good on you Bayley, and GO DEMONS

EFC: welcome to Essendon, Jake. We do things a little differently here. Get these ... er ... "dietary supplements" into you. Jake: duh .... supper? suppel ... duh ... what for I eat dial supper? EFC: don't worry about the details, mate. It'll put hair on your chest. Jake: duh ... okay NEXT: (two weeks later) EFC: Jake, did you eat those dr-- ... those supplements? Jake: .... yeah!!! Jake eat good ... kind of ... nearly ... EFC: hmmm .... maybe we'd better go back to the injections.