Whispering_Jack

26. I x Max Gawn plus 1 x Billy Stretch?

Knightmare's 2016 AFL phantom draft is out on ESPN - Knightmare's 2016 AFL phantom draft: Who goes where, and when? http://www.espn.com.au/afl/story/_/id/17897568/knightmare-first-2016-afl-phantom-draft He's only doing the first two rounds and is not really predicting where the academy/father-son bidding is going to happen so it's not completely realistic (if anything can possibly be regarded as that). Here are his top 10 1. Essendon - Hugh McCluggage 2. GWS Giants - Andrew McGrath 3. Brisbane Lions - Ben Ainsworth 4. Gold Coast - Jack Scrimshaw 5. Carlton - Will Brodie 6. Gold Coast - Jack Bowes 7. Fremantle - Tim English 8. Gold Coast - Sam Petrevski-Seton 9. Sydney - Oliver Florent 10. Gold Coast - Tim Taranto For Melbourne's pick in the third round KM fancies Willem Drew, a 188cm, 78kg midfielder.

The Giants are expected to open up four more draft spaces before the end of the month with their final delistings. It looks as if they are going to bid for McGrath and then go heavily for academy players. It will be very interesting to see how many they finish up with and how far the other clubs press them.

Sydney have recontracted him.

The forward they call ‘Bull’ is a roughie for the AFL drafts

The fixture looks good to me. If we can continue our linear progression upwards, a final series beckons. The ingredients appear to be there ... a popular and new coach in the modern day mould, a young and talented side with an extra year for bodies and minds to mature and some experienced players to help them move forward in their journey. But as always, there's many a slip ... At this time last year for example, double up games against Fremantle would have looked ominous. Nobody would have predicted their collapse from a top of the ladder finisher in 2015 to bottom four in 2016. In late October 2015, we also were uncertain of the outcome of the impending CAS decision that affected Essendon and a handful of other clubs that had Bomber players in their midst. In the end, clubs that played them twice reaped a nice little bonanza. On the face of it, not having to play last year's top eight twice bar Adelaide and North Melbourne seems very agreeable to me. We play Fremantle once also, and that's a home game on the MCG. If my expectations are correct - i.e that North will fall and Fremantle will move up the ladder - then it's a good fixture indeed. Factors such as a run of games in Victoria to start the season are important as well - the Bullies had a great launching pad this year when they had so many early games at home. The issue of six day breaks and their timing might be a challenge but that's a matter for the health and conditioning people and I think we should be able to handle it better with a stronger, more mature list that has extra depth. As usual injuries will play their part - if we can maintain a fit and healthy list we will win plenty of games. And if we win the games, the crowds will come. You couldn't be anything other than optimistic with this year's fixture.

Answering my own question and it's a definite yes! Mithen name lives on at Melbourne

Another way to look at the list:- 2017 MELBOURNE LIST 1. Brayshaw, Angus 2. Bugg, Tomas 3. Frost, Sam 4. Garland, Colin 5. Garlett, Jeff 6. Gawn, Max 7. Harmes, James 8. Hibberd, Michael 9. Hogan, Jesse 10. Hulett, Liam 11. Hunt, Jayden 12. Jetta, Neville 13. Jones, Nathan 14. Kennedy, Ben 15. Kennedy-Harris, Jay 16. Kent, Dean 17. King, Mitch 18. Lewis, Jordan 19. Lumumba, Heritier 20. Maynard, Corey (category B rookie) 21. McDonald, Oscar 22. McDonald, Tom 23. McKenna, Pat 24. Melksham, Jake 25. Neal-Bullen, Alex 26. Oliver, Clayton 27. Pedersen, Cameron 28. Petracca, Christian 29. Salem, Christian 30. Smith, Joel (category B rookie) 31. Spencer, Jake 32. Stretch, Billy 33. Trengove, Jack 34. Tyson, Dom 35. vandenBerg, Aaron 36. Vince, Bernie 37. Viney, Jack 38. Wagner, Josh (rookie) 39. Watts, Jack 40. Weideman, Sam 41. White, Mitch (rookie) 42. TBC – at this stage No.47 NAB AFL Draft 43. TBC – at this stage No.69 NAB AFL Draft 44. TBC – at this stage No.84 NAB AFL Draft 45. TBC – at this stage NAB AFL Rookie Draft pick – number TBC 46. TBC – at this stage NAB AFL Rookie Draft pick – number TBC Notes: At this stage, Melbourne has three selections in the NAB AFL Draft (No.47, No.69 and No.84) and two in the NAB AFL Rookie Draft. Those selection numbers are likely to change, given further list changes across the competition will happen. A final selection order will be confirmed in the lead-up to the NAB AFL Draft. Melbourne's number of picks in the NAB AFL Draft could also change, if it makes further delistings or upgrades any rookies to its senior list. The first list lodgement is on October 31, before the NAB AFL Draft is held in late November. Melbourne’s list extends to 46 players (it's normally 44, with 40 primary/senior list players and four rookies), as it has two category B players: Joel Smith and Corey Maynard. Those two players are not counted among the ‘regular’ four rookies, but are eligible to play in the AFL, if an opportunity occurs to elevate them to the senior list. Updates to this list will continue to occur throughout the rest of October/November as the list is finalised by the end of the drafting period in late November. ARRIVALS Trade period: Michael Hibberd (Essendon, Jordan Lewis (Hawthorn), Pat McKenna (GWS Giants) NAB AFL Draft: NAB AFL Rookie Draft: DEPARTURES Retired: Trade period: Lynden Dunn (Collingwood) Delisted: Chris Dawes, Jack Grimes, Matt Jones, Max King (rookie), Viv Michie (rookie), Ben Newton, Dean Terlich

Yes - Time to turn the power off this thread. Lock up time.

We played some really good football that year but it was interspersed with some really poor football as well. And there were discipline issues such as the drinking incident involving Beamer (which I think was poorly handled) and the story about the players calling off training. Divisions within the FD and the playing group are usually a recipe for disaster and Bails copped the full brunt of that disaster. We the supporters didn't fare very well out of it either. As I said above, it's over now.

You missed a day. We're up to 31 formerly associated with a player who cannot be named on this thread.

The thread is about Jordan Lewis so if you don't mind I'll begin my response by referring to him. Lewis is 30 years old. He has 264 games of AFL football behind him and has played in four premierships. He is mature, a family man and handled himself with assurance and self-confidence over his decision to leave Hawthorn. I think the football world gave him great credit for this and he deserved it. Very few true Hawthorn supporters are going to argue with him about this or boo him when he runs out on the field against their team wearing a Melbourne jumper. By contrast, Tom Scully was a mere kid at 20 on the night when the events I described took place. I don't have the slightest doubt that he wasn't being entirely open and frank with me during our conversation. I mentioned how nervous and distracted he seemed and how he often checked his mobile phone during the evening. This happened most when he was asked about the knee injury that had affected his season and about his future. I never believed for a minute his claim that he hadn't "seen any offers" and that he would sit down with his management to decide on his future after the game. That decision had been done and dusted for some time by then. There were however, other parts of the conversations we had that night (and others were also taking part) during which the nervousness wasn't so apparent. He joked about Sam Blease having a big head, he talked about his family life and his experiences at the club including his respect for Jim Stynes. I'm prepared to accept what he said about those things as truthful. His obfuscations only came on the point of his future because he had a very good reason not to reveal the truth. Tom Scully was about to leave Melbourne and I believe there was a single motivating factor behind the move - the money. I don't believe for a second that Stynes "hounded" him, nor do I believe he was involved in any conduct that constituted a "meaningful factor in Scully's decision to move". I stand completely by my point of view. The conversation took place in front of others including some of his teammates and I also had discussions with people involved at the club including a Board Member that reinforce my view. I'm not surprised however, that you were told these stories. I'm not suggesting you lied but there were clear divisions of opinion at the time and there were those who had their reasons for pushing the self-serving line they gave you. There were people who had reason to dislike Jimmy - perhaps because he led the move to push them out of power. We're all too aware of the power struggles that blighted the club, causing great damage over too long a period that thankfully has now come to an end. I'm puzzled however, that you think I'm being naive about this - "he stated that he had not been involved in any negotiations with Melbourne or anyone else". I think the statement was correct. The negotiations were conducted by his manager with his father looming large in the background. He was a 20 year old kid who wanted to play footy and while adults did the real dirty work for him, it wasn't only the Scully camp that had unclean hands in this. That's why in the end, I'm happy that the thread is about Jordan Lewis and I'm clear in the knowledge that the club is heading in the right direction with people of his ilk in the foreground and a lot of very positive people in the background.

Giant Lachie Whitfield claims 'drug' texts a ruse as AFL anti-doping charges loom "The damaging evidence could hold the key to the futures of the trio with the case now certain to drag on until December as the AFL and ASADA continue highly sensitive negotiations over the potential outcome." Why am I not surprised?

Wasn't Allen the strategist who once kicked the ball across goal from the Collingwood back pocket straight into the hands of Footscray's Simon Beasley to give the Bullies a victory at Whitten Oval.

Nic Nac won't be playing for a while and most probably not the next time we play WCE.

I think it's time to give Rocky a rest for the next 10 months.

It would not surprise if there's a club out there that has already lined him up to join them as a DFA. I suppose we'll know next week. In the meantime, I can't see that it would be Melbourne. We seem to have everyone left on the list contracted so we would have to pay someone out of their existing contract to come into play as the suitor for a DFA. Not sure that's a likely scenario but will stand corrected.

The AFL Top 22 - Melbourne B: Neville Jetta, Tom McDonald, Michael Hibberd HB: Jayden Hunt, Oscar McDonald, Christian Salem C: Dom Tyson, Nathan Jones, Bernie Vince HF: Dean Kent, Sam Weideman, Christian Petracca F: Jeff Garlett, Jesse Hogan, Jack Watts R: Max Gawn, Jordan Lewis, Jack Viney INT: Jake Melksham, Angus Brayshaw, Clayton Oliver, Cam Pedersen EMERG: Tomas Bugg, James Harmes, Sam Frost The additions of Lewis, Hibberd and Melksham, who sat out 2016 because of a doping suspension, further enhances Melbourne's finals hopes. The trio brings experience and leadership, two qualities that are vital for a young team preparing to take the next step into September. The Demons' line-up is full of talent, although fans will have to be patient as the forward line builds cohesion around the pairing of Jesse Hogan and Sam Weideman. With the squad it has in hand, Melbourne will push for finals next season.

Let's see the evidence but if the case against these characters is proved then it amounts to a further condemnation of the AFL. The news first broke before the finals and relates to events that took place and were known to them well before then. Whitfield should not have been allowed to play in the finals in the face of these allegations.

I'm not surprised and I don't believe the story because I have a different understanding - one that came directly from the horse's mouth. On 31 August 2011, I attended the Fawkner Hotel and with about 20 others, had dinner with four members of Melbourne's team - Tom Scully, Cale Morton, Stef Martin and Max Gawn. It was the week before the last game of the season, one which he eventually withdrew from due to general soreness. For a time during the evening, I sat next to Tom and in our discussions (heard by others), made him aware that my family had a business connection going back several years with his father's roofing company (which he had recently resigned from as a Director). He seemed nervous and distracted during the evening, often checking his mobile phone. Tom spoke about the lingering issues that he had with his knee that year and said he felt that they were all manageable and that he would be over them after the break in between seasons. On the subject of his future, he stated that he had not been involved in any negotiations with Melbourne or anyone else. He told me that he had not "seen any offers" but that after the game on Sunday, he would sit down with his management to decide between then and the B & F in a few weeks' time. I asked him how he felt the club had treated him in the circumstances and he said he couldn't be happier. They hadn't put any pressure on him and were aware that he would be talking to his management at the end of the season which he said had been his position since March. On Jimmy Stynes who had been fighting cancer for two years and was extremely ill at the time, he said he was full of admiration and he had no issues with Jim's comments earlier in the year. He said he didn't even believe they were directed specifically at him. For the record, I thought after that night that Scully was gone. I respected fully that his decision was a difficult one but, on the figures I had heard that he was being offered, there was no real choice. His departure was announced about a week and a half later. Usually, I would be more than somewhat bemused that five years after the event, a story emerges that flies in the face of everything that I was told that night but I'm not any more because I've heard this sort of scuttlebutt before. Several months after Scully departed, stories started emerging that he left the Demons' 2010 end of season trip to China because of the drinking culture of the players (Tom was apparently a teetotaler). At the time he returned, Phil Scully told my brother-in-law that he left early because of serious health issues involving a family member. When I hear allegations made about a dead man that he can't respond to, it brings out the cynic in me.

Care to share it.

Do you have a source for the claims that (a) Stynes hounded Scully and (b) the "hounding" was a meaningful factor in his decision to leave?

I tried to finish the book a few times over the past several months and found myself skimming the pages as I passed the half way mark without taking in the words. Perhaps it was the style in which the book was written but I tended to lose interest and eventually put it aside altogether. My interest was piqued again with the season coming to an end and my being laid low in bed with a cold so I grabbed my volume and finished it off in a single sitting this morning and into the early afternoon. From my point of view, it wasn't particularly satisfying in regard to it being a revelation of many unanswered questions I had about the troubled times in the lead up to his sacking as coach and the unrest surrounding 186 and its aftermath all the way to the disintegration of the board that replaced that of Paul Gardner which appointed Bailey in the first place. Bails comes across as really good bloke. He was thrust into a job at Melbourne that could never have resulted in the type of success that say, an Alistair Clarkson has achieved at Hawthorn. Clarko most likely would have failed had he come to coach Melbourne in 2008. Similarly, Mark Neeld was, in my view, in much the same boat - there were too many divisions and too much bad history. Some call it the Norm Smith curse and while others might laugh at the notion, it's inescapable that our club has been blighted by more than its share of tragedy over the past five decades since we became known as a club that sacked its coaches. After all, if you can sack the very best, then coaching at this club will always be a dangerous activity. And we sacked the very best in 1965. The troubles that stretched beyond Bailey's tenure were indelibly tied up with that history and I think we're fortunate that the "bad history" might have become just that - history. The club is now run in a different way, without the interference that marred administrations in the past. There is a better chance that the current coach won't have to deal with "wankers" or "bullies" and if that happens, one of Dean Bailey's lasting legacies will have been to aid in the process that rid us at last of the curse.

Too early for mine although that view might change if he plays a couple of blinders in the NAB Challenge series.

No love for the current custodian of the number 33? Queenslander = bananas, surely?