Whispering_Jack

Then there's those two blokes on the interchange bench who add a cricket flavour. Godfrey Evans was arguably the best wicketkeeper the game has ever seen.

You have to love a centre line that evokes memories of the 1970's, Dame Edna and the adventures of Barry McKenzie. Excuse me but its time for a technicolour yawn.

I can see it now. In 3 or 4 years time we're going to be charged with tanking over the past few weeks.

Who's to blame for the 'blackest day in Australian sport'? Peter Fitzsimons has nailed it when it comes to responding to the critics of ASADA's investigation:-

As I understand it, the offer to the NRL players is backdated 12 months to the date of the ASADA investigation report into Cronulla which was 1 November last year. The investigation into Essendon wasn't finalised until a few months ago so the backdating of their offer the same way would still keep any Essendon players who agreed to such a deal out for half a season. All of this would have to be subject to WADA approval because I don't think it will be pleased at this sort of dealing.

Yep. Time to put Jack on the long term injury list because he's going to miss out for the rest of the season. According to the list on the club's website, he has three mates and nobody is out for 4 to 6:- injury list: round 22 Jack Grimes (hamstring) – season Jayden Hunt (back) – season Jake Spencer (ankle) – season Jack Trengove (foot) – season Sad part about all this is that for the first time in years we have plenty of players available for Casey but their season ends on the weekend.

The mystery continues according to the Age injury list:-

OD - no confusion. Just a bit tongue in cheek.

ASADA Show Cause Notices - NRL

Wally Lock? A great Demon premiership player who was unlucky enough to play in only one winning grand final (missing three others due to injury). Don't even dare to mention the name in the same breath as Evans. Also, if Vlad was around he would have impaled the bloke by now for playing those games. It's an absolute disgrace and I hope PJ diplomatically makes his displeasure known. The AFL has certain criteria to apply - if we don't qualify on the basis of those criteria, then so be it. If we do qualify (and I think the case for is unimpeachable) then let us have the pick. It's a drop in the ocean compared to what the AFL handed out to GCS and GWS and the rule has to remain to help clubs that are genuinely in trouble.

Gillon McLachlan should be telling Evans to shut his trap. If he has indeed made commented on the likely outcome of our application, the club should show some strength and confront the AFL about one of its officers preempting the decision (which might open up a challenge if the outcome is adverse to the club). The situation is made more unpalatable by the fact that he is a former employee of the club. We have had enough problems caused by disgruntled employees in the past - I hope he's not another one.

Only the name is withheld to protect the innocent?

Who is in the mix for Melbourne? Cam Pedersen looks likely to return as a forward option. Jordie McKenzie could add some toughness around the ball and had 29 disposals in the VFL, and Jay Kennedy-Harris's pace would be handy at Subiaco. Jimmy Toumpas played just one VFL game so expect him to be given time. Michael Evans and Luke Tapscott are some chance to play after winning more than 20 disposals each in the VFL. Evans also laid eight tackles. Rohan Bail did not play VFL but, if fit, will be in line for selection. - Peter Ryan

There are some extraordinary goings on surrounding the NRL. I can't see any of this getting past WADA and I suspect Australia is going to look very sick in the eyes of the sporting world if the back room deals I'm reading about come to fruition.

I had Paella for dinner at a restaurant on Thursday night and got food poisoning as a result. Obviously an omen for Sunday's game because living through that was worse than the food poisoning.

It's interesting that Rohan Connolly is adamant that Melbourne doesn't deserve one. The basis for his scepticism is because of the tanking controversy that dates back to 2009. It seems that we should be punished any number of times for our involvement in that situation, even five years down the track after we've already had an outcome and been punished twice or three times before. Connolly has regularly stood up for the club he supports over the drugs scandal (and to an embarrassing extent for a journalist who should be looking at the case from an unbiased perspective when he reports on it) and I wonder therefore what he would say if the Bombers had a dozen of their best players suspended for the next two years because they ingested the banned drug TB4? Would he have objections if the Bombers needed some sort of assistance from the AFL to maintain a viable playing list to be competitive in the AFL business? That's exactly what he's doing in our case.

The stats from the game:- Sam Blease 1 goal 1 behind 5 disposals 4 kicks 1 handballs 1 marks 2 tackles 33 Dream Team Points Mitch Clisby 17 disposals 10 kicks 7 handballs 3 marks 54 Dream Team Points Michael Evans 1 goal 1 behind 19 disposals 8 kicks 11 handballs 4 marks 9 tackles 101 Dream Team Points Alexis Georgiou 12 disposals 9 kicks 3 handballs 3 marks 3 tackles 55 Dream Team Points James Harmes 15 disposals 7 kicks 8 handballs 1 marks 6 tackles 61 Dream Team Points Jesse Hogan 1 behind 5 disposals 4 kicks 1 handballs 2 marks 1 hit out 21 Dream Team Points Jay Kennedy-Harris 16 disposals 11 kicks 5 handballs 3 marks 4 tackles 71 Dream Team Points Jordie McKenzie 1 goal 30 disposals 11 kicks 19 handballs 2 marks 2 tackles 91 Dream Team Points Dan Nicholson 18 disposals 7 kicks 11 handballs 2 marks 2 tackles 55 Dream Team Points Cam Pedersen 3 goals 22 disposals 13 kicks 9 handballs 11 marks 5 tackles 36 hit outs 154 Dream Team Points James Strauss disposals 17 kicks 10 handballs 7 marks 1 tackles 97 Dream Team Points Luke Tapscott disposals 16 kicks 8 handballs 9 marks 2 tackles 100 Dream Team Points Dean Terlich 3 disposals 2 kicks 1 handballs 1 tackles 12 Dream Team Points Jimmy Toumpas 10 disposals 7 kicks 3 handballs 2 marks 1 tackles 37 Dream Team Points Note: Blease and Terlich were both injured before half time.

Logical that we apply. IMO the AFL will award us some form of draft assistance because we not only merit it in our abysmal record over a long period of time but also because there is another club that is going to be asking for assistance very soon. St. Kilda has won only four games this year but look at the quality of player they are about to lose. In their worst case scenario they might win even less next year. If we get a refusal this year, the Saints will have to go empty handed next year. I'm not sure the AFL will want that.

Whilst it's true that there have been some great examples of players carving out great careers after being picked late in the draft and even after being initially overlooked the stats still indicate that if you use your early draft picks wisely then you are likely to produce top players. It seems that some supporters of the club have developed a defeatist attitude with regard to the way they view early draft picks and some are suggesting that despite our consistently abysmal record with high draft picks, some are suggesting we shouldn't even try to get draft assistance at the end of the season. I disagree strongly. I posted this today on Facebook. As long as the rule about draft assistance exists, it would be remiss of the club's board not to apply for it because we definitely qualify. I am confident the current people in charge of our recruiting are infinitely more capable than what we had in place a few years ago and the same can be said about the people in charge of our player development. We shouldn't however think that the draft picks alone will do the trick. It's hard work, patience and the ability to ride the tough times.

No need to be sorry Bing. I'm not calling for the coach's head or anything like that but I believe he didn't think things out properly after the Brisbane game. Of all times, that was one for positive reinforcement rather than negativity - especially if he believed the team to be mentally fragile as a result of past experiences.

My two bob's worth is that if there's one thing we've learned in our recent history it has to be that the people at the head of a club need to stand up and be accountable. In terms of football matters, that means the coach. We all have our theories about the ills of this club and there's no doubt a ring of truth to most of them but in my view, the current situation we're faced with after making some promising progress early is that in concentrating on making our team stronger defensively, we've put such little emphasis on the attacking side of our game that we've completely lost the ability to score. This was clear a fortnight ago when we were clearly the better team for more than three quarters against Brisbane but our inability to convert kept the Lions in the game to the point where they overcame us by going all out attack while we defended to try to save a game that was there for the winning. What did the coach do after the game? He attacked the club and the players raising past ghosts like "tanking" and "culture" and opening the floodgates for negative thinking throughout the club. The media got into the game as well and soon everyone was talking about Daniher, Bailey, Neeld, Schwab, McLardy our poor recruiting etc etc ad infinitum. Those things should not have been the agenda at that particular time. What was wrong with the coach saying, "look, I'll take the blame. We've spent a lot of time this year emphasising one aspect of our game. We now need to work on other areas to get ourselves up to the standard we require." That's how I saw things but obviously, I was wrong. The message the coach gave us was, "not my fault at all. They're terrible. Blame someone else". Whilst all that may be true, it had the same ring of denial that we've criticised James Hird for over the Essendon scandals and the result was predictable.

It is and your protest will fall on deaf ears here as much as it would anywhere else on Demonland.

... except for Voss who was sacked.

There is no more appropriate time in the course of Demon events than today for our football team to take a stand for truth, justice and the Australian way. Over the past eight years we've been ravaged, beaten and humiliated by the least worthy of participants in the AFL competition. Twelve months ago, we had our faces rubbed into it by this noxious vermin at some god foresaken wilderness to our north. We went back there again earlier this year and they flogged us within an inch of our lives. Enough with the humiliation! Now that the game's back on the MCG let's teach these suckers the meaning of humility. It's time to draw a line in the sand and not be satisfied to win by 7 goals to 5 which is where we were heading a fortnight ago content to drift home against Brisbane before our wheels fell off. No. In the words of Winston Churchill, today we're going to fight:-

That has to be the most charitable evaluation of this thread that I've ever seen!