darkhorse72

I never understood the paying a minimum of your salary cap rule. Its like telling any business you mist spend this much on staffing even if you don't need it. There should be a minimum wage for players and the rest is by the free market. It will naturally adjust itself with competition between clubs for valuable players. Looking at your above figures, isn't the minimum wag close of a $100k nowadays?

Great news..we'll see what happens.

The draft is a lottery, long term success if between the players ears and club culture.

Really "I never went after Fitzroy players or others at clubs that have really been struggling. My job really was always to try and develop players that other people may not have wanted or didnt think they were good enough. Apparently we weren't struggling when he went after Scully. While I don't give a rats &%rs about scully, it amazing me the amount of money he gets paid its not questioned regularly about his performance. But I think it basically illustrates that no one cares what happens in bankstown.

Looking outside wines v trump. All these kids have the skills to be drafted. But what sets them apart is what is between their ears and their determination. Its that desire to beat the best makes them great footballers and that will overcome lots of short comings seen in their junior years. For example if Watts had Viney/wines/fife mind sets he would be a superstar. That is the job of our new coach to change their mindsets, to have that hunger for the ball and nothing else. Remember ever club overlooked Fife, some more than once, he was a skinny kid but I think Freo realised in attitude there was something there. That is what is important in my mind when picking in the draft. Roosy/viney has already shown that this year with some great pickups.

this ia great game to watch now...Go Port.

An interesting read, obviously biased.. But when I read the following... Juice Newton plays like Jonathan Brown for the first quarter of the game against North then never does anything ever again i remember that game clearly,saying to my dad, finally he's come of age...amazing first quarter, the whole team was dominating..thinking finally...that three quarters of crap!

I liked Martin when with us,played some great footy in patches, but he wasnt getting the opportunity in our ruck setup so he left, whether by choice or not who knows? He had the same purple patch with us after Jamar got injured, then the next year vanished and was traded a year later. But the interesting this is what will happen once the preferred talls return as what happened with us?

Personaly while swan gets a lot of the ball (Great for DT) he is not that damaging with it. Prefer a player that damages the opposition with al possessions.

I think we should ask for a PP, but on the condition we trade it for an established player. Brings in experience and class, which is what we need. Look at Judd/Ablett at their clubs. Sets examples, we did well last year with out three imports. Imagine offering pick 1 or 2 to a big club. Its about bargaining.

Yeah tickets are popular, we got bumped front he top desk to the lower as we didn't get the tickets int he first week. Given we go every game its a bit disappointing for the kids. Pre-game, with the young one's in tow its a bit hard. But the Western Dee's do ave their pre-game lunch on and they are normally good.

We need to win. The biggest issue is the lack of confidence in winning bloody games of footy, we need that far more than a few spots higher up the draft chain. As PR has already shown with pederson, with believe and confidence our existing players can make the gains we need to play finals.

Yep.. easy run to the line with a big smile...she and Viney dating yet

Just watching Jess run the Marathon in Glasgow. Possibility for 3rd, these two Kenyan's 1 and 2 are too far ahead.

Its not the watching of basketball, but the tall young men to choose it over AFl as juniors due to their natural advantage for the game. Its far easier to play basketball than AFL if your a lanky teen. Listne to how many players come from a basketball background.

The issue with talent is correct. It has also been skewed in the last few drafts because of GWS, GC grabbing most of the best talent into two clubs. Hence the we (non new clubs) haven't got the quality in the young players selected after the first round that would normally be there. Other issues is competing sports, notably Basketball which tend to grab all the big blokes that used to come into the VFL system. If you think back to the 80's and earlier their were a lot more talented big blokes running around in teams each Saturday.

Interesting article here where a sports historian disputed our 1858 formation date. AFL's Melbourne Football Club logo challenged by sports historian for factual inaccuracies It was part of the registration of our emblem as a trade mark. I can see the basis of his argument of us being formally a club, but we won so not a big deal.

GWS will have more grumbles as they have so many high draft picks before considering all the other issues of young players moving up there. These kids were top of their class etc coming in and not getting good game time. The exodus will be constant as the team matures and other clubs should benefit.

Interesting comments from the Open letter" Dr Harcourt also suggests our players ‘passively’ accepted the use of supplements – this statement is offensive - our players took considerable steps in this regard. They insisted on being provided with informed consent They insisted on the club doctor approving all supplements And they insisted on all supplements being approved by WADA If they had written approval why are they in caught. Simply the club does not have it. And while the players trusted the club, the club did not do what was right by them. They brooke their trust in a big way. Also how could they get independent advice if they don't know what the players took as they have no records. Lastly on sponsorship, people talk about his company like TOLL, Unless the main driver for the sponsorship like Little, has majority control, the board will simply override his decision with a simple vote. If it is confirmed (likely) sponsors will run a mile. While I believe they should remain part of the competition. however, they should be hammered with heavy sanctions and the players should sue the club.

It seems good and bad,but we would finally get past that 13th flag So we will be striving to win our first AFL flag, which is the reality anyway.

Great work by the club.,

Very interesting article. It was spot on how the legal action is about Essendon and not the players. Liked how it said the players had separate legal representation. While i feel for the players, I hope they sue the arse off the individuals who created the mess. The club will survive but those individuals need to accept responsibility for their actions, not run away to France and be paid for it.

what a win!

Every time a team runs out they have a chance to win...the question is the degree of difficulty in achieving it.

From what I have been told, its fro the sports psycho's... Apparently the adrenaline from helping your teams score can result in the player over exerting himself and possible becoming injured. We all know when your pumped you go in harder etc...so they tae them off for the adrenaline to drop and then back on. To be it seems nuts..thin farmer with that second half of 9 goals against the pies...imagine if he had to run to the interchange every time he scored, whereas he stayed on and was in the zone..