Elwood 3184

Here we go again

AFL will look at topping up Lance Franklin's pay if decides to move north and join GWS

Certainly, we need to promote the game on a national level but does it have to be in a way that denies constituent clubs any chance of preserving their most valuable assets?

Come on Demon fans. This is your chance to do something positive for the club.

I think you are agreeing with me. The only fair comparison with Danihar is how he was tracking in the first three years of his tenure. I seem to remember he made a grand final in his third year did he not? Do we really expect this current regime to do the same in 2014?

Daniher's playing list during that period was far different in terms of maturity and experience than the one Neeld inherited and the game is substantially different.

Neeld will get improvement out of the team but you won't get a grand final appearance by 2014.

I've just finished watching his media conference, following the intra club game.

It's quite amazing how relaxed he is this year, with 12 months getting to know the players and coaching staff.

Also getting the type of players he needs to implement his game plan, and getting the whole group fitter.

I get the feeling he is in a good place and his confidence has risen.

A happy confident coach would rub off onto the playing group I'd assume.

Any thoughts?

What are the odds that the AFL Commission members have not read the entire report, yet are going to sanction a club without a hearing. Assuming of course that it is not an agreed result.

Why in heaven's name would they need to read the report. Wilson and Niall have already pronounced their guilt. That's all that's needed.

The one person who put the game into disrepute is the bloke who runs the competition, the man who said nobody tanks and the man who, under his watch, allowed a selective investigation into one club that followed his dictums and ignored half a dozen others.

There is a word for this but whichever way you look at it, this man is guilty.

Now let someone investigate him.

I reckon 5AA might do the Renmark game.

I'll be off to Casey Fields for the St. Kilda game and then off to watch us in the NAB Cup grannie.

Caroline Wilson = double standards which must be exposed.

Hopefully, Garry or someone else in the media will have the necessaries to confront her on the Terry Wallace admission.

Anything happening today?

So, if one is interested in hearing about what is going on at training, but couldn't care less about lazy Gys, do you open the Training thread or not?

That is why some are complaining about the thread being hijacked.

Fair dinkum. The training session was yesterday morning and it's 1½ days after the event.

If you were that interested you would know by now that there are only a few brief reports and some great photos on 'Land and that's about all you're going to get until Monday when the next session will presumably take place somewhere.

Be patient.

Was disenchanted at not getting a game, wanted a fresh start.

Thought he was playing good footy at Casey with no reward in the senior team.

Also said Moloney should have been captain and that Grimes & Trenners were too young.

Obviously didn't buy in....

Not a bad kid, very shy and socialized with mates from outside the club.

IMO won't make it, mentally weak.

Moloney as captain - incredible!

The legendary Blind Freddie could have told you that Beamer wasn't fit to captain the side.

Not after the nightclub incident that saw him dropped from the leadership group in 2011. I reckon if Bailey and the rest of the leadership had the nuts to do the right thing by the club and by themselves, he should have received a 2 - 4 week suspension from the team.

You're right about the mentally weak part.

note no Collingwood or St.Kilda

Only one Carlton player in Eddie Betts.

Malthouse not a fan of this game?

It's been a while since Essendon won a game against Melbourne and they were so pathetic last year that, even with all of our problems, we actually outperformed them from Round 10 onwards. Yet somehow, the majority of those who have posted on this BomberBlitz thread reckon we're the ones that have the dud list and are in for another horrific season - 2013 Season Preview - Melbourne Demons.

After reading the optimism in the training report threads, I wonder whether if it's us who are losing touch with reality or is it them?

Years and years ago the most popular question at the AGM was the one about when the party pies and sausage rolls were going to be served. The free feed at the end was a highlight!

I suspect WJ is doing all of the legwork and hard slogging while RL is browbeating witnesses and getting information out of them with menacing threats.

Good luck you two. The future of our club could well depend on what you find out.

3184 the place to be.

After reading this thread (and could the commentariat please note the heading refers to four consecutive profit announcements and not one), I can only hope and dream that we were like Port Adelaide

the reality is whilst Davey has the nouse and inherent skilss he simply lacks the engine and chasis to do what he used to do. Its ALL a struggle now. Have no doubt hell play a handful more but theres now a good deal of talent lining up to compete for some spots. Eventually youth wins out

The writing is clearly on the wall for Aaron. Its not if but when. Sad in a way but its his call to a point. But at some point this too is taken away.

He's best to be mindful of his body. Its the only one he has. Its a tough gig footy and often the end is not sympathetic.

Sad but probably much better for him to retire on full pay from the club and earn it with an assistant coaching role at the club. That would be preferable to watching him struggle at Casey.

Win/win for everyone.

The most worrying thing in this thread for me is the panic that a single reporter has struck into the hearts of many who think our whole club is so exposed that it could be seriously damaged by her articles and then don't ask themselves "why am I worried".

I wouldn't call it "panic": the word "contempt" springs to mind.

I must confess to not having read this whole thread but I'd imagine there are few if any posts in support of Caro. Personally I think she is a must read and an important cog in the business of the AFL because she keeps everyone pretty honest.

I have no issue with her treatment of MFC. She is sussing out the facts and reporting them and then just offering an opinion. I don't like what I hear but I can't see she's done anything wrong.

I'm with her all the way on Adelaide. Without the likes of her clubs would be much freer to break rules and the larger clubs would hold the whip hand. She keeps them honest.

She also reports on the part of the game I enjoy, the politics and the uneasy relationship that exists between the AFL and the Clubs. Without her we would be more ignorant of issues than we are now and there would be much greater reward and willingness for "bending the rules". What club now would risk being as blatant as MFC or Carlton in pursuit of draft picks?

There is no doubt she has hurt our club with her attacks in the last few weeks but the only reason we are in this position is because we were incompetent in the execution of an AFL approved methodology and one that we probably all thought was "tacky" at best. She has been in part responsible for removing the PP which is a good thing.

Keep up the good work Caro.

Methinks, it's not a case of incompetence in the execution of AFL approved methodology at all but rather, a case of people involved with our club, past and/or present who put other agendas and issues ahead of the club's interests.

I await the day when a former Carlton or Collingwood chairman comments on a live issue such as this one in the way one of ours did and quite frankly I'm disgusted at the campaign against some of our personnel that's been raging for a long time and has not helped our cause one iota. Instead, it's hindered it and damaged the club and its brand enormously.

There's been talk here of democracy. On the issue of determining whether certain people at the club should go, there is an AGM and you can nominate yourself for election rather than go underground and dob on the club to the media. It's that sort of thing we need to wipe out before anything else.

It's starting to look like the delisted free agency situation is a bit of a fizzer with very few training with AFL clubs and only one signed up to date.

Perhaps clubs are going to be more interested in taking young players through the draft and therefore we could use our full quota (or close to it) in the ND?

Smashed it in for a touchdown.

Congratulations.

I am amazed that we have a survey on this, hardly likely to get an unbiased/unskewed result What does attempting to measure supporters views achieve that couldn't be achieved with a simple question asking for comments.Are you trying to objectify what is essentially deeply held feelings Essentially this is the same as the Age's rather stupid polls along the Do you still beat your wife? lines

Perhaps you could ask Caroline Wilson's husband that last question?

So we have a meeting at which there was discussion about the consequences of winning or losing a game or games but not direct instructions for the players to lose and suddenly we're guilty of tanking and must be sanctioned? That's not necessarily the case at all.

A couple of years ago, the Fremantle selectors met to select their team for the final round of the season against Hawthorn. They decided to rest half their team and would have also discussed the consequences of picking a team that wasn't going to win in a pink fit. Does that mean that the players they put out onto the field weren't going to play the game on its merits?

Having meetings and discussing the consequences of a particular selection process is not the same as actually ordering your players to lie down and lose and the players themselves have indicated that when they ran out onto the field they were doing their beat to win. In the case of the Richmond game, the fact they were in front when the siren went is more proof of that than some people's versions of what transpired at a meeting held more than three years ago.

I am shocked that people are talking about sanctions when we as a club haven't even had our chance to put our side of the story. Some of you people are truly shameful and disgusting specimens, hardly worthy of calling yourselves supporters.