Whispering_Jack

Those who might be critical of us taking all of our emergencies up north instead of playing them at Casey (if that transpires) might note that none of the seven players named on Brisbane's extended interchange bench played for their reserves yesterday.

Tough gig for the ump. Handled himself reasonably well in the circumstances. They're a tough, resilient family and I wish them well.

Thanks Alotta ... like you I enjoy strident debate and I'll always speak my mind on a subject without worrying about those who throw barbs. I know most people realise I do so because of my loyalty to the club. Happy to have a drink (diet coke only*) with you or any of the blokes but will bring along my son bodyguard Blistering just in case the going gets rough (only joking). Anyhow, this is not about me so thanks to the mod who closed the thread a few minutes ago. Let's concentrate on the footy ... * I have a bet going which, if the Dees get up against Brisbane, will see me with a plentiful supply of diet coke to share around.

No you get serious, stop being disingenuous, stop inventing things I allegedly promised and start by reading what I wrote in the post to which you are apparently responding but doubtlessly haven't bothered reading in full.

Despite a rather pithy effort by some on the New CEO thread to divert attention away from the real issue, Dr. Gonzo, the "faceless men" alluded to there are not current board members but rather, people previously involved with the club who couldn't leave well enough alone and have gone beyond being critics to something far less savoury. They caused damage to the club. On the subject of "smears" the worst of these is the one put forward against me when it was falsely alleged that I hadn't fulfilled a promise to reveal information about these so called "faceless men". On the contrary, back in February on the Caroline Wilson thread I set out a summary of what I had been told. In it I also covered some aspects of the discussion which have been completely (deliberately?) misconstrued by my critics. This has been confirmed to me by a number of others and in particular, by another poster in the same thread. This is what Hoopla wrote on 28 February @ 9.38 My critics who are too lazy to check their facts can go to that thread. Those who have demanded that I provide names and more detail would be aware that I specified I had "to respect some confidentiality" over the information provided to me. The weasels among us might suggest I should breach confidences but I won't. My post of 27 February 10:35 am gives a fair bit to go on and for further information, I suggest that you ask Bagdad Bob, who seems to be the Caroline Wilson guru around here, to fill you in on what he knows about what Caroline Wilson and the AFL were told, by who and when. Those who want to delve further into the subject might want to ponder about how the Mifsud/Davey story ever saw the light of day. How did Mifsud and Caroline Wilson come by the fabricated story about Mark Neeld's relationship with our indigenous players? Did that lie materialise out of thin air or was there someone with a grudge against the club who wanted badly to hurt the club and was that person assisted by others? I know the exercise of rereading the media articles at the time can be long winded but it's worth it to see what you can uncover about what I now view as a pretty sordid attempt to undermine a young coach. Whatever you might think about his performance in the role, he didn't deserve to be the butt of that filthy campaign. And just maybe, there could be a connection between all of that and the vault story. Go figure? During the course of that discussion on the Caroline Wilson thread, I said I would "tell the full story in my own good time". That means it's up to me (and one other) to determine when that information is divulged and nobody else.

Good luck to him. I'll be following his game tomorrow night and looking forward to a great debut.

So maybe we're not as bad as we think.

I now you're challenged in many ways Rhino and that you're used to browbeating posters here by putting words into their mouths but I previously put you above having a dismally poor moral compass. I've already told Bagdad that the only thing that's keeping me from actually naming names is that I'm keeping a confidence but you don't want to understand that. I have elsewhere revealed what I said I would about the tanking controversy and its connection with Caroline Wilson. Now bugger off and if you're really curious then why not ask Bagdad what he knew at the end of October about the extent of Wilson's knowledge and the extent of the AFL's knowledge and where he got his information from? As far as the faceless men are concerned, I did say "their day will come" but since I haven't named them where's the smear and innuendo? In any event, I stand by what I said. I suspect you might read their names in the media one day rather than get it from me but I will happily pass on their names when the right time comes.

I've just been watching the first half of the Anzac Day game and trying to compare it in my mind with last Sunday's game. You can sum up the difference in the intensity and the fact that the players in today's game are able maintain their skills at a higher level under greater degrees of intensity. I suppose that's obvious really but it's amazing that we did lift our intensity last week when GWS fell away and, in doing so, our skills improved. Notwithstanding, I suspect that we're a long, long way off the levels of Essendon and Collingwood (again self-evident because the Bombers beat us by 148 three weeks ago). However, with improved confidence, I think we can go a fair way to bridging the gap.

Getting close but why not ask Bagdad to answer the questions I posed in post #46 and you might even get closer?In the meantime, the boss has asked for this discussion to be trained on the new CEO (see post #62) so let's stick to the topic. You will get the full answer one day, I'm sure.

The young spinner Ashton Agar will be in England during the time of the tour and could receive a call up if absolutely necessary. And if Julia wants to pick up some votes from the cricket fraternity she should arrange Fawad Ahmed's naturalization ceremony ASAP. I'm underwhelmed by the batting line up, a legacy of no succession plan reminiscent of Daniher's last three seasons at Melbourne. I'm usually an optimist but I reckon by the end of the third test, it's going to be all over red rover. A bit like playing Port Adelaide, Essendon & WCE in successive weeks.

It shouldn't be too hard for you to work it out.

Bob ... you know that I never accused you but rather I stated that I couldn't rule out the fact that the people undermining the club came from a certain group that incidentally also included myself because I had once served the club. Being in that broad group does not make one guilty of anything.I've also stated that I've given an undertaking to my informant not to name names without that person's consent and you know this, so stop playing the precious thin skinned victim. When I'm permitted to divulge that information, I will. In the meantime, I believe the information I have is 100% fact. This is because the identity of one of the people who gave the tanking investigation the vault story (as early as 30 October) subsequently was proven and nobody could have guessed at that time this it was that person without the inside information. You also said in another place at around that time that you knew what Caroline Wilson knew and that you also knew what the AFL knew and that the two things were different. Now that the tanking investigation is over, would you care to tell us what Caro knew and what the AFL knew at the end of October and how you came upon that knowledge?

There's some merit in what you say and I suppose we can leave it to the historians to determine whether it was fair or not. My view is that the white ants got in early when Charles Happell was fed a story about Hollywood Boulevard early in the Stynes administration. Schwab had hardly had time to set up residence at his desk at that time. Looking to the future, I remain optimistic and I genuinely believe that the challenges of the new CEO's position offer enormous rewards and like many others here hope we get the right candidate in the chair.

Well, if it's true that Danks has such a letter issued by ASADA then why did the Bombers not make a copy? And if such letter was in fact issued by ASADA, then surely as a matter of public interest, ASADA should release that correspondence?

What Tappy really needs is a breakout game where he kicks six goals as he did for Casey a few weeks back but he needs to do it on the big stage. Maybe Sunday?

They are "faceless" but by no means nameless Rhino.Their day will come.

Obfuscating, revisionist and as usual on this subject, another weak attempt to put words into my mouth TimD. You know very well that there are people who were undermining the club for some time. They surfaced over a number of matters including Mifsud/Davey and the tanking enquiry and if you looked closely at what I have revealed in the past, you'll know it's not invention. I certainly know it couldn't possibly be so and my understanding is that the board is aware of them as well. You also know that those elements aren't internal to the club at present and therefore a competent candidate should have no problems dealing with them, particularly if, as you apparently believe, they don't exist anyway. That being the case, you should be extremely excited about the club's future prospects.

Probably because the two clubs did such a great job promoting the day that it finally became entrenched on the AFL's calendar.There was a time when it was suggested that we promote the Melbourne - Sydney rivalry with a game on the evening of Anzac Day but nothing ever came of it. I think we need to be more proactive in developing such games.

Must be near Mackay, Queensland NORTH EASTERN CONFERENCE - NEAFL ... and yes, I'll be happy if Simon Black plays for the Lions ressies against the Suns today

One of the advantages of being virtually injury free is that we can field strong teams at VFL level which helps younger players like Taggert and Tynan in their development. We could have as many as 20 Demons playing at Casey on the weekend although I dare say that one or two might even have to have a run in the seconds. In any event, this is the ideal form of development for these young players and I hope we see some dividends by the second half of the season in the form of some AFL games from Taggert, Tynan and also Dean Kent.

I think Brisbane should be far more concerned with their decline in form across the board than with the loss through injury of one player. And if that loss of form coincides with a return of confidence at Melbourne after Sunday's final quarter heroics then we must be a chance to win this one.

Nah ... that would surely depend on what questions Vlad asked them. The article does suggest that players do have an out on the basis of a WADA principle of "no fault or negligence", based on athletes proving they did not know what they were being given by sports scientists or doctors. This might be applied in the case of Jack Trengove if all he did was use a cream prescribed by the club doctor but I have my reservations about that. However, it certainly would not exempt players who have substances administered intravenously off the premises where the club doctor isn't involved.

Daniel Rich

We outlasted the Maggot? Unbelievable!