Nasher

Surely they should be allowed time to prepare their defence.

The guy was been on Essendon's list for 9 seasons, and had the form and fitness to be a regular in the side for only one of those seasons. Ron, the footy fan world is full of nuffies who have no idea about the quality of players on their own list; hell, there are enough posters on this forum who reckon Lynden Dunn is "tough" and has "mongrel" to prove that. I reckon your Essendon supporting mate is one of them.

It came as a surprise to me that he is only 24 as well. Much like Nathan Jones, he was burned in to my mind as one of our "seniors" when he's still just a baby really. He should rightfully be looking to hit career best form in the next few years, not calling it quits. Such a shame.

The AFL.com.au article says he's going to concentrate on business interests, so presumably any off-field role he takes on will be minor.

Melbourne's Clint Bartram retires at just 24

I know he's not everyone's favourite player, but my initial reaction was disappointment. He's known as one of the club's hardest workers and by all reports is an individual of the highest quality, so I guess from a personal point of view I was hoping he'd beat this problem. All the best Clint.

Jetta, Bartram and Davis yet to sign.

But it'll be pick 2 out of more or less the same pool of players, minus those taken after 53 in the ND. I reckon 53 is too early to be passing in favour of the PSD.

That isn't a mixed metaphor.

I assumed the Scully comparisons were all tongue in cheek, but if people are genuinely afraid that Hogan is going to leave at first opportunity then they have serious abandonment issues.

The existing captaincy arrangement is fine.

No doubt it was because one mug said the wrong word a few times and the false use spread like the plague. I've never seen an environment where vocabulary use is more contageous than in sporting media.

"Spot on the money." Actually no, that one just irritates me.

What about Amla then? What a chukka! That said, I doubt the batsmen were complaining; he's definitely no Murali.

I'm a lot less like that than I was five years ago. These days I form zero attachment to players who contribute little. I have full respect for all players, especially those that give 100% and have their bodies battered and pounded basically just for our amusement, but these days I form little personal attachment to the individual players and cutting them causes me no anguish at all. This might change again once we start winning games again.

It's pleasing to hear that at least he takes ownership of his own poor form. It's a refreshing attitude from the "it's everyone else's fault except mine" attitude we've heard a bit of on the way out recently. I've never been under the impression that he couldn't play, and wouldn't be surprised if he is able to eek out more of a career if his body is able. That said I agreed and still agree with the decision to let him go; as Ricky said himself in that article, clubs can't wait around forever. Good luck.

I assumed it was something Neeld had said to him during their discussions prior to his recruitment. I doubt a player would be driving a change in game strategy when he's been at the club for 5 minutes.

It's a joke.

He might've been 50-50, in which case, wouldn't you want to at least dip your toes in before deciding one way or the other? No problems with this; I'm glad he bailed early so we didn't waste too much in time and resources for a player who wasn't interested.

It would be great if these threads had a training report or two chucked in with three pages of waffle. (Yes, I appreciate the irony of this post)

I expect it to remain the same.

I don't think being the club everyone wants to have a whack at is particularly good for the brand, but whatever floats your boat I guess.

Yes, though my knowledge of this kind of thing is at layman's level at absolute best, I took Blease being paired with Bail and remaining competitive as a very encouraging thing. Bail is one of the club's best runners in both speed and endurance; but Blease should have him covered for burst speed. Blease's goal I guess should be to build his endurance up to a point where his burst advantage will allow him to beat Bail in these events. Makes sense to me anyway.

Given the sorts of players we've picked up so far I'd be amazed if we wasted a spot on the list on a bad egg like Sherman or Reimers. We've shown so far that we're far more interested in moderately talented players made of the right stuff than highly talented flogs who just coast. A spot on the list is nothing to be sneezed at, and while there has been the occasional exception, a lazy player is usually lazy forever.

I love the logic in the idea of using our golden pick 4 on a player ranked in the teens just so someone else doesn't take him.