Whispering_Jack

Thankfully for these blokes there will be VFL practice matches played on the weekend before the opening AFL round when no AFL games are played at all. I believe players who have had restricted pre seasons are eligible to apply to play with the VFL aligned teams in these circumstances.

The positive B sample was released on 11 September which was one day before the Fremantle semi final loss in which Crowley played. His infraction notice came on 1 October by which time the season was over. What I find strange is that the AFL didn't arrange for an immediate Tribunal hearing - you can't blame ASADA for tardiness in this case but, even allowing for the nature of the substance involved, this could see Crowley out for most of the season.

Paige Cardona looks at the upcoming father/son prospects and one of them is the son of an old Demon favourite:- AFL Bloodlines: Father-sons

This is the most purple day in Australian sport.

KC from Casey posted the list of Scorpions players named in the development league (2nds) team and none of them were mystery players. Pedo played in the Casey seniors and according to KC dominated. He was possibly left out for team balance reasons but will most likely come into the team for Friday evening's game given that we'll need someone to fill Chris Dawes' spot while he serves his suspension in round 1. In any event, Georgiou R. R. Martin seems to have solved the mystery with regard to three of the players in his post on page 1 of this thread.

Sorry. The auto speller's celebrating St. Patrick's Day a day or two early

This list is the players who were missing at the weekend - either injured or rested. Jeremy Howe (hamstring) – 2-3 weeks Jayden Hunt (?) Dean Kent (heel) – test Max King (?) Alex Neal-Bullen (knee) 3-4 weeks Christian Petracca (knee) – season Aidan Reilly (?) Dean Terlich (?) Jack Trengove (foot) – indefinite Bernie Vince (hamstring) – 2-3 weeks Mitchell White (?) I'm guessing that most of those with a question mark didn't really need a rest this weekend which suggests that the mystery injury of the week thread will be busy again this year.

This one?

He would have to be odds on to play on Friday night and whilst the opposition might only be a tad better than what he faced yesterday, it should be a good test for him.

Huh?

No problem as long as the old man ends up with the meat.

... with $6m in his back pocket.

Greg Denham's losing his venom towards the Dees ~ Denham: Dees playing finals next year achievable

Bound for Glory News has an article on each club's next "breakout star" ~ Your club's next breakout star Apart from the fact that Melbourne hasn't produced many "stars" of any kind in recent memory, I think one contender might have been overlooked although the BFG choice is a reasonably fair one:-

Not that they were a big deal in the first place but these NAB matches have been devalued substantially since they became a "challenge" rather than a cup and there's no prize for the winner. Even then, Paul Roos was never really interested in the results of games (I think he won only one pre season competition match in all those years at the Swans). And yet, some people are treating these games seriously. I didn't see much vision of last night's game but in quite a few of the highlights Mitch Clark was running around unattended and, at other occasions, he appeared to have Kyle Cheney on him. When they get to the real stuff and Hawkins is playing at full forward and opposition coaches really concentrate on stopping him with a bit of real pressure, we'll see how he really goes then. Meanwhile, this is how the selection of the squads for Melbourne's game tomorrow is being looked at in the media:- Johann Wagner who won The Recruit, in line for first NAB Challenge game

And look how that's ended up so far. Hird's coaching tonight, the rump of the 34 under him continue to train out of the main season but are missing out on meaningless (in terms of results) NAB Challenge games under a "provisional suspension" in the hope of missing only two or three games if found guilty. Farce.

Melbourne likely to steer clear of Adelaide free agent Patrick Dangerfield

Interesting piece from this week's Inside Football: For fans' sake, Dees must begin climb

The official word is Gosch's Paddock tomorrow (Thursday) at 9.15am but Demonland will have correspondents there at different times of the day and at Casey Fields and Ballarat just in case.

According to the club website, an open training session at Gosch's Paddock at the unusual time of 12 noon. Should bring a good crowd of onlookers.

I'm a moderator so I'm obliged to get on there from time to time to make sure the lads are behaving. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother with the thread at all because, deep down I believe Tom is a virtuous soul who has been much misunderstood by the Demon faithful. As you can see from his form since he left Melbourne, he did us an enormous favour when he jumped ship. I also think his dad needs a good meal.

Yes, but what does it mean?After all, this is a forum and people are welcome to post as much or as little as they like about any subject they like as long as they don't get caught out offending against the code of conduct. Therefore, the volume of posting can only mean that the poster retains nothing more sinister than a strong interest on a particular subject - surely? My good friend Redleg, who I otherwise regard as completely sane and level headed, has posted 2,703 times on the No T$ No B$ Thread. What does that make him if not an avid believer in everything in the world other than Tom Scully and bullsh1t?

I've always maintained that if found guilty, the very best the Essendon players could possibly hope for is an 18 month suspension backdated to the date of the infraction notices. This would be consistent with the Ahmed Saad penalty which sounds just about right to me given the level of co-operation Saad gave when he was charged. A six month reduced penalty which seems to have been discussed extensively in the media would surely be a joke. As for the recent meeting between Gillon McLaughlin and the delegation of Essendon players while the AFL Tribunal was still in the deliberation phase, it was totally inappropriate and another example of the AFL treating the competition with utter contempt.

Just arriving in Sydney town and catching up with the latest news on this incredible saga. "All of these substances have some sort of approval somewhere in the world, for use, both therapeutically and in a general medicial sense." I'm sure it's been discussed but ... does Dank have a propensity to throw Essendon under a bus every time he opens his mouth or what? After that, you know why the Bombers didn't appear to make much of an effort to get him on the witness stand and why they'll be hoping that the AFL Tribunal members don't listen to Triple R or, like a growing number of Melburnians, don't read the Age. If they hadn't made up their minds on a guilty verdict already, this would have been the absolute sealer.

In Wellington NZ and our ship is parked right next to Westpac Stadium where Sri Lanka play England in a few day's time. Pity that we'll be in the Tasman by then.