Nasher

KS covered it - but as an admin I have the right to edit posts as I see fit. In the master's case I just took out one inappropriate sentence (didn't affect the flow of his post at all) - in general I don't like deleting whole (long) posts just because it has one or two very minor CoC violations in it.

Why bother posting it at all then? There's about 30 blokes who "might" miss selection. SD was clearly implying that it was done, even if his words didn't spell that out.

Indeed - at face value I rated their decision to sign him (with or without the MFC endorsement) as poor, but with each passing moment it just looks increasingly ridiculous. It isn't "win for Casey, lose for Melbourne" like so many have said, everyone loses from their absurd decision.

So many tall poppy syndromers who are loving watching Fev flounder, but to me this is just a sad picture of a broken man. Gambling when he surely knows that's the worst possible idea, but what else has he got to do? The fact that he was there by himself tells the biggest story - where are his mates and his family? Does he have any left? I wonder where he went after he left Crown. With no friends or family in support and no job to keep him occupied, it's no wonder he ended up back there. This is a guy with a serious problem and zero support. Having a hefty income stream only makes it worse - the sooner he runs out of money (or ideally, someone in the right frame of mine takes responsibility for his money) the better, because I expect this pattern will just continue until it can't any more.

If he's 100% ready to go then what do you gain by playing him (at the expense of someone who's not ready to go and needs the run)?

I seriously doubt they have already chosen their round 1 side already, considering it's two and a half weeks away.

I was hoping nobody would dob me in here :-p I have an uphill battle justifying to better half (and indeed myself) that the 2.5hr each way drive on a shonky highway is worth it for a practice match. And I'm crap at writing match reports, but if I make it to the match I might offer a brief player synopsis.

Ross Taylor's innings not worthy of comment from anyone?

If we really must play the game of comparing sportsmen with off field issues, then Andrew Symonds is the man I'd liken Fevola to the most.

I'd guess he's not playing because he's already 100% ready to go, and too many other players need the run to get up to scratch.

Named after a school. Even more spectacular when that school (Ogilvie) is now an all-girls school Looks like it could've been an all-girls team judging by the number of flags they won.

I live in Tasmania and have never heard of a club or league called "Tasmanian Amateurs" - either in current existence or in history, so if one existed it hasn't in the last 20 years or so. It sounds to me like it could mean "one of the Tasmanian amateur leagues but we don't know or care which one so we'll just put 'Tasmanian Amateurs'". Edit: A bit of Wikipediaing (?) suggests that the current NTFA (see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Tasmanian_Football_Association_(formed_1996) ) was formed a name change from the "Northern division of the Tasmanian Amateur Football League". I have no idea if there was a Southern division - again I don't think so but I think this exercise is proving that I know stuff all :-p Edit 2: Zing! Seems there was one: http://www.fullpointsfooty.net/southern_tasmanian_football_league.htm Most of those clubs still exist and are either part of the SFL or the Old Scholars league.

Cost/benefit analysis. To justify the significant increase in cost it would have to have a significant benefit. Without looking in to a huge amount of detail, I only see very small benefits - 1%ers if you will - but nothing worth the expenditure. I'd suggest there's a very good reason why the vast majority of the clubs see themselves better off with alignments rather than standalone teams.

Agreed - OP isn't the medical mystery it was even three years ago; clubs seem to have a handle on how to manage it now. I think we're unlikely to see Stephen Powell like cases ever again (or Brent Moloney for a more recent but less severe case).

300k isn't a huge amount of money really - certainly it doesn't buy the right to lay down the law about the non-AFL portion of their playing list. And what about Casey's 2010 (and 2009?) finals campaigns, where the MFC essentially said "stuff your finals campaign, our season's over so you can't have any of our players other than a token few"? I say this realising that I only have 0.00001% of the information at hand, but it sounds to me like there's two clubs involved here who don't give a fig about the interests of the other. Not the foundations of a rock-solid relationship really is it? The alignment has nothing to do with the agreement with the council; it was just the logical next step after the agreement. We could start a standalone reserves side, but if the $300,000 we pay Casey offends you then times that number by about 10 and you're in the vicinity of the estimated costs of running a standalone VFL side last I saw them.

No it won't, it'll just make Melbourne supporters look like a bunch of flogs. I'm not a fan of this either, and I don't think Casey have done the relationship with MFC any favours at all by thumbing their nose at the request not to go through with this - just as I did not think the MFC did the relationship any favours by not allowing MFC/Casey regulars to play in their final campaigns this year and last. But if our CEO and our footy boss - surely the two most influential people on these matters - could not convince them not to go through with this, then any bleating supporters do is going to be water off a duck's back. Save your effort and your anger and just get on with life. It's a disappointing decision but one we've got no choice but to live with.

So; stamp our feet, cross our arms and huff and puff? Roger that.

This.

If you think Maric belongs on this list then you don't quite understand the topic.

This thread covers nothing that the Scully on SEN doesn't. Closed.

You would have a wary eye on a third of the players at the club then, because that's about how many are out of contract and they're all just as likely to have signed on somewhere else. It's just this one particular case that the media have picked up and run with, but as nutbean correctly pointed out very early in the thread it could just as easily be someone else, but the media vultures just haven't circled there yet.

That isn't "counting a little", that's "counting absolutely", and it's an atrocious way of measuring a coach's worth.

Where did you get the idea that we have no assets? If you've got no assets then you've got no business - cash in bank is an asset for example (i.e. at the very least, I doubt our bank balance is $0). Take a look at our financial report when it comes out later in the year; you'll see we have millions of dollars in assets - as will all the clubs. There's absolutely nothing wrong with borrowing money and being in debt - this is an essential part of any business of any decent size. The issue we had with our previous debt is that it was significantly hurting our cashflow. If we borrow money for smart investments (like this poker machine venture for example) then any short term hit we take on cash flow should be cancelled out and then some with the revenue coming in.

If the word has come from Allan - even if it's indirectly - then it is clearly compromised. Mike's just another tool that has been used.

No, quite the opposite actually.