Blistering

That bitter social misfit was front and centre of the Carlton tanking scandal and despite his failings, he should know exactly what happened in 2007. After all, he was the full forward who was taken off the ground for a long stretch when he threatened to win a game against Collingwood late in the season. He also knows that his surgery which kept him out of the last three games could have waited till the end of the year.

The comeback you would expect from an intellectual gnat. Ignore him WJ.

Well, I can't be bothered looking up the annual reports either but if my memory serves me well, I understand we were in the black by over $1m 12 months ago and if PJ's early projection has us as losing $1.5m and the foundation heroes collected $.5m then we're hardly $5m in the red. The best way of resolving this is by checking out this year's annual report later in the year. My conclusion is that since the Gutnick era we've been run by an ordinary lot who have collectively done very little other than Jimmy's debt demolition to improve the club and to the contrary, have led us down the path to where we stand today. That includes Szondy, Gardner and the Stynes/McLardy combo. Now, its over to Bartlett ...

Do you have a source for that alleged $5m debt that Gardner's board fixed up Bob or do are you suggesting the current debt is $5m or are you confused or maybe being alarmist?

A maverick doctor can happen and the board were smart to insist on a 3 month pay out clause for Schwab. Clubs make these decisions.No doubt the Brisbane people ran a tight ship and were stiff to be in a position where they need a spare $3m in the kitty. IMO there must be some issues over at the Lions to create a situation where they recruited Fevola and other duds, lost good players, sacked a favourite son and are in deep shite over money. They don't get any pity from me.

Supreme Court litigation would have cost the club at least $1m and even it won the case, where do you think we would be now in terms of getting financial and draft assistance from Vlad the Vengeful?

What a nonsensical rant. The Mission Food/Schwab/De La Rue spat and the Kaspersky stories were all played out in the media and here on Demonland ages ago. It wasn't hidden at all and it's not news. "News" is something written about something that's, well ... um, new. WJ was saying that whoever fed this to the journo might have been doing so because they had another agenda.

Different circumstances but Schimmelbusch was sacked by North after a pre season loss leading to the installation of Pagan who won 2 flags.

With effigies of McLardy, Schwab and Neeld burning in front of a crazed mob in the background. It works.

... quite. He should be calling for divisiveness and disharmony which has been the hallmark of MFC politics for how long?

I'm a doubter on Sylvia. He has 12 rounds to prove he can play with a little more consistency and discipline than what he's shown in the past. He has to do that otherwise the best he'll do as a FA is land an ordinary contract in a backwater club like Moloney did. I get that he's a FA but if he doesn't come up to scratch then I think we should explore the possibility of trading him for a midfielder who might be a FA or out of contract with another club.

We'll see tomorrow, I suppose but the point about the youngsters creeping in at the expense of the old is solid. The team is becoming more and more Neeld's team than Bailey's and it will be interesting to see how it unfolds.

Did you express that view during the preseason when you were going to training and reporting here on it?

Am I right in saying that Garry Lyon supported the Szondy ticket?

So the rumours continue to persist under Peter Jackson's watch. If he's supposed to be so good then why do we get leaks like this (assuming that Barrett isn't just blowing smoke out of his you know what).

There's another thread on Land titled - YOU'RE KIDDING ME RIGHT??????To claim someone has a conspiracy theory and be debunked in a single thread and then to be debunked again in another thread and have the gall to post that deserves another - YOU'RE KIDDING ME RIGHT??????Are you really suggesting that there were no disgruntled ex employees who talked the tanking investigators and gave them the Caroline WIlson version of the "vault' which was later discredited, nobody leaked the lie about Cameron Schwab leaving a game "ashen faced" and nobody gave the media details of what was alleged to have said before the game v Sydney at Manuka in 2009 - YOU'RE KIDDING ME RIGHT??????

I think we all have a fair idea of what happened with the tanking enquiry and we know that those with supposedly lofty demands for proof are themselves nothing but hypocrites. This is how one poster involved in this discussion responded to me a while ago when I asked for evidence: TimD Were you awake over the last five years? Pot, kettle, black.

The fact that it was clear that Wilson put the rumour across with Lyon's consent demonstrates the shonkiness of this sensation seeking programme. A pox on all of them and their lightweight rumours. Most of what we hear and read about this game is about lightweight rumours and speculation. Sickening really ... and kudos to Eddie. Lucky for her she no longer lives in an era where they burned her type at the stake.

Just out of interest, how would a club like Geelong be treated differently on the score of governance had it been the Geelong club doctor who secretly went on a "frolic of his own", took advice from Dank and kept that information hidden from the Board until yesterday?Should they have sacked Bates a month ago?

Rolf Harris named as the club's no 1 ticket holder.

Did he win the fight?

Surprised that you're surprised or that you think the question of openness on this issue is any less important than the club's relationship with the AFL. It's of paramount importance IMO for a club to keep the faith of its supporters. That hasn't happened here.

Ridiculous, idiotic comment unless you really think Essendon hasn't been inept over their supplements programme?

Sorry but while there's some substance to what Whateley's saying, it's easy to join the chorus after one game and its easy to pick apart and analyse every word that's uttered by officials, coaches and players. I say they need to be given the opportunity to suck in what happened during that game and come out an show us that they can play and do it not just one time but consistently. The ball is in their court, not just Watts. As for Whateley, he's joined the tabloid push and in order to conform to its standards, he's declining to its level of mediocrity in reporting/opinion writing. He's spending too much time with Robbo and Black Caviar and his IQ is descending to their level. Sadly, the competition at the Age has become tabloid too and we're left with nothing except a handful of good football writers in the Sunday Age and Martin Flanagan.

I've been meaning to bring this up all week and somebody referred to it in a post buried away in a thread I can't locate among the proliferation of hand wringing, complaints and whining since our loss last Sunday (and I'm not criticising people for having their say given their emotional involvement in the club - it was just all too way over the top for me). In a game where there were many things to be annoyed about, one of my concerns was how Mitch Clark was taken off the ground after he kicked his second goal. After we made such an abysmal start to the game, Clark had put us back into it with his two goals. When he came off, our forward line reverted to a rabble and Port was able to clear the ball with ease. Even allowing for the time he's been out if the game, surely Clark could have stayed on the ground for another five minutes? He was at full forward after all. I don't blame this for the loss but his absence IMO put paid to the possibility of recovering back to even terms by quarter time and perhaps we might have approached the rest of the game differently. After seeing this I'm firmly in the camp that says the AFL should limit interchanges to 80 per game.