Demonic Ascent

I didn't say he succeeded only that he attempted it.

I know this is a soul destroying day but surely you can see the OP is trying to inject a little humour into one of the darkest days in our history.

Yeah - Tom and the club know he's staying and are stringing GWS along to keep them away from our other uncontracted players (like Sylvia) until we can sort out their contracts. Well, I can dream right?

+1. I read this thread and so put on the recorder to tape On The Couch yesterday while I was at work. I watched the interview last night and while Brad certainly looks a bit uncomfortable being in the media spotlight as he has all year (see 5th Quarter after WCE game) there was nothing to go all dramatic about like some here reading into it that the club is falling apart at the seams. Some people honestly...

The problem goes back to early in the Daniher era. The problem is not that we "got rid" of our experienced players, our problem is that there were no experienced players worth hanging on to.

Ahh OK fair enough, I thought he was saying we "could" as in it is being considered.

That would be contrary to what Don McLardy said at the pre-game function. Don't remember the exact wording but the gist of it was that Scully is only one player on the list and they have to make sure they are able to do the best thing to keep the list together and not disrupt our list management for the sake of one player. This was at a "premium members" pre-game function in the Yarra Room I think. He came up after the President's lunch I think and there weren't many people left by that stage but the ones that were left gave a decent ovation. He also said that Jimmy's had a rough four weeks or so after having his fifth round of surgery a few weeks ago but is back on his feet now and was much better today than he has been recently.

Yep would be great if someone other than a first year rookie was able to show as much aggression to the contest.

I reckon Col would be favourite for our B&F this year. He has finally put a full season together after much injury and is 25 and is about to hit his straps. Logic says we should be doing everything we can to keep him. He is tough, quick, can jump, can take a mark & kick goals from outside 50. I am wary though of the "Travis Johnstone" example of playing blinding years in the final year of their contract and then becoming complacent until the next contract comes around. At the moment though I reckon Col's been building consistency over the last 3 years and has really improved and matured. I think he'll only get better from here and would be trying to secure him. It would be interesting to see what he was worth on the trade table though but at this stage I think we need to keep the harder-bodied midfielders to protect the kids as they develop.

Even though I'm starting to lean towards "he's gone" if anyone boos him while he is wearing a Melbourne jumper near me on Sunday they will want to get away from me pretty quick smart. I will be cheering him every time he gets the ball just like I did against the Dogs and every other game he has played this year.

Ablett had given 8-9 years great service, won two premierships, a Brownlow and multiple MVP's for his club. He was also being pushed out by the coach and had his family up north in his ear telling him to go. On top of this he was underpaid on his last contract at Geelong due to exploding from 2007 onwards. Still not ideal for him to leave the Cats but there were other things going on there than just the money.

The thing that rankles me the most is that players from other recently successful clubs (Geelong & Brisbane come to mind) have made a "pact" of sorts amongst the playing group that they would take a pay cut to hold the team together to try and achieve the ultimate success. On the other hand we have a kid here barely out of high school unsure whether being the highest paid player at the club is enough? I guess what it really comes down to is what is it that motivates the kid? Is it making a career out of footy and maximising his earning potential? Or is it playing in premierships and etching his name in history as a great fo the MFC? The longer this goes on I think it is the former and not the latter.

Where are the weekly Dale Thomas stories? He hasn't re-signed yet and surely him leaving the Pies would be a much bigger story? Will there be weekly Pendlebury stories next year? Or is the media too scared to get Fat Eddie offside?

No you're right we were smashed by injuries. Tingay, Schwarz, Lyon, Jakovich, Prymke, G Lovett.... we should have won a flag in the 90's if not for injuries.

Jamie Shanahan?

Not to mention the obvious red herrings "waiting for the CBA" and "waiting to see who the coach is".

Exactly and on top of that I'm pretty sure the Stynes administration would be happy with a helpful cash injection that playing in the finals gives you. Not sure how much it is but something is always better than nothing.

Hehe, it's about time we upset the Blues and knocked them out of the finals again (1988, 1994, 2000 - OK so we didn't knock them out in 1994 but sent them on their way beating them after finishing 7th and they finished 2nd. We also ruined their party in the last game at Princess Park). We also owe them for those two losses in 2006 as well as the "bruise-free" comments this year. Beat them in 3 weeks and again in first week of finals would make my year.

So what? I'd rather play away games against Victorian clubs in Victoria if it's all the same. Good to think outside the box but I think this idea is a bad one. The only way I'd agree to this is if we somehow convinced the AFL to stop scheduling us to play at Geelong every single year as a compromise.

Good post. On your last point, it seems pretty clear the "coaching" issue is a ruse, much like the CBA was previously. No one could seriously prefer to go and be coached by two past-it lunatics who while successful in their day are both past it and the modern game has past them by. Sheedy is obviously in the role only for his "marketability". What sort of development is Scully going to get with the coaches main focus on getting the club in the papers each week and being the centre focus of a team of kids younger than him? IF he takes the money and runs I think he will have been badly advised as well as I don't think he could seriously see this as a good move for his career and in all likelihood his career development will take a massive hit.

No. We should not be petitioning to play games outside of Victoria. We need to get fair dinkum and bury the Docklands bogey not run from it.

We won't win any of them. We may put up a fight against the Blues due to the comments by that d-head Robinson and Armfield earlier in the season but ultimately can't see us winning. Carlton are looking at top 4 this year we would be lucky to sneak into the finals. If we showed some commitment and intensity we could win 3 of them (can't see us winning at Geelong no matter what we do). But I doubt that will happen and our "leaders" will go missing again. Of the ones listed above I reckon Jamar, Rivers & Sylvia will try their utmost but won't be able to get us over the line in any of them due to lack of support.

Did they? Fair enough I thought it was one after their first round pick and one at the end of first round. I'll defer to your better judgment though.

I don't know but at a guess I'd say whoever finished lower on the ladder would get first pick. So say we finish 6th next year and Geelong finish 3rd our pick would come before there's. That's just a guess though so couldn't say for certain but you could probably get an idea by looking at last year's draft order.

End of first round.