Neil Crompton

I agree re Chocco. I wrote the following not long after he arrived: The Choco Appreciation Thread Neil Crompton replied to raDeelaide's topic in Melbourne Demons Tony, I think Mark is the type of bloke that inspires initially but after a time he may tend to irritate - particularly the other coaches. I think he has a shelf life of about 3 years.

Other than just being nasty, what was your point of making that comment? If Joel does not make it, so what, lots don’t. No need for this sort of derision. Joel doesn’t deserve it. None of our players do.

Gil has the opportunity to do something right before he leaves.

Clarkson and Fagan likely to be stood down from their roles until enquiry completed.

This will be huge. If true, I would be tearing up Clarkson’s contract at North. Again, if true, we will see if the AFL has the balls to do what needs to be done.

Welcome back to the pond.

So Gus still has Brownlow bragging rights over Andrew.

It’s typical that the only team with lower total points value (of picks) than us is the team we will be dealing with over Jackson.

She’s got a great sense of humour D, as we all know, but obviously she is upset. If nothing else, her stance on (our) player bashing has been consistent and is well known, whether or not you agree with her interpretation of the “offending” post.

My apologies to Old Dee. He said very early on that he considered Jacko would go. Smart-A me commented that if Old Dee thought that he was going, then I was more than convinced he would stay.

I’m positive that if we could bottle and then drink some of what WCW has, we’d all be better off. (In times like these, being fanatical and somewhat deranged can have its advantages).

JNM, I think it was Goodwindees who stated/hinted some months back that the move home was for reasons more significant than just homesickness. And if he goes, it certainly will open up some good opportunities for us. So I have no problem wishing him well. I hope he can reach his full playing potential despite the burden he will now have to carry - whichever club he goes too. But I very much doubt he will. Unfortunately, I believe that his full potential would have been reached at the MFC.

11 posts in less than 2 pages D3 - that has to be a record! (would love it if we could chat about someone other than Christian (required player) Salem. No problem with your opinion, but I think defending it 11 times is a bit over the top. Thanks)

I was of the view that Woewodin would be one of the first recruits to play afl, but certainly Howes has some quality about him, and would not surprise. A few sessions in the gym would not go astray though.

I believe our year was already negatively “affected” to some degree or the Entrecôte incident would not have occurred. And I’m positive it had lingering effects for the rest of the year.

Yeah, but we got 10 first round picks by trading them - so not too shabby.

Luci, in your example, what happens in the following year when the Dons no longer pay the Swans? Could the Swans then be forced into some sort of salary dump to cover commitments made with the Dons money in the previous year?

Guess what guys, we weren’t good enough this year. Which was pretty evident from the bye onwards. Why? I’m sure it’s a number of factors, but that’s for our paid experts to sort out. However, I would suggest that the Melksham May incident would never have happened last year. What does that say about our culture this year?

Simply, we were not good enough this year. We all thought that we were better than that, but we really weren't. There is no shame in that. What would be shameful, given our player base, would be if we cannot, during the season review, determine what went wrong, and how we can dramatically improve next year. It's obviously not just a player problem.

Might be a few less members next year after our disappointing final series.

Chandler looked great again today - cannot see why he hasn't been given an opportunity at AFL. Bedford has so much going for him - but he tends to spend it before he controls it a lot of the time, which is very frustrating (and for him too i imagine). Sam looked good all day - and so pleased he looks to have found a role that could well get him back to AFL.

"I hope it's the making of a more adaptable coach!"

Help winning Casey a premiership maybe? I’d call that upside.

Dig deep boys

Von, every team has injuries and is banged up at this time of year. That’s not a valid excuse in my view. We’ve been overrun / outscored in 12 of our games this year, including 4 of the first 10 games when injuries / players being banged up were not an issue; and another 8 in the last 12 games of the year - and obviously again last Friday. While I agree with you that fitness and pressure are linked, but, as I said in my previous post, I don’t know why we’ve had these failures this year.