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RalphiusMaximus

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Everything posted by RalphiusMaximus

  1. Pretty sure they've come out at various times and said that they would regard it as tanking if a team were found to not be trying to win the game on match day. Other moves such as positional changes, sending players off for surgery or playing young players don't count. Therefore if we can show that the team on the park was trying to win the game there is no case to answer. Of course, this wouldn't be the first time the AFL has moved the goalposts halfway through the game to get the result they wanted...
  2. Gosh, who'd have thought? Oh wait, that'd be me Great news for both players. Nicho is coming along very nicely and Evans has some real talent and should do well with a full pre-season behind him. I really look forward to seeing them both playing in the side next year.
  3. Actually, no. We are obliged to use our next pick after the rival bid to take Viney. If they take away our pick 27, we would then be obliged to take him with our next pick (forty-something?). We still get him. Regardless, the AFL can't afford to take picks off us for this years draft, because the first thing the club does in reply is get a court order preventing the draft from taking place until our legal challenge is heard. The AFL can not reasonably hold the draft while those picks are in dispute as, should the challenge fall in our favour, they would then be forced to hold it over again, remove players from teams who have already signed them etc. It would open a massive can of worms that the AFL simply could not afford. What if a player is drafted by his dream club, signs a contract and is then told that his contract is void and he needs to go in the draft again? I think he'd have a very good case to challenge that as well. Even if they somehow manage to find cause to penalise the club, they will not dare try to mess with this year's draft.
  4. No matter what the AFL do with this investigation, they can't punish us because no rules were broken. They can show that players were played out of position (as they were this year, incidentally), and that players may have been dropped, although we had a crippling injury list that year, as we did this season. What they can't prove is that players were instructed to not win, or that players did not try to win. Without that, they have no chance of making charges stick, and if they try, Melbourne have a number of lawyers ready and waiting to take them apart in court. Added to this is the fact that if the AFL try to take draft picks away from us in this years draft, they will face the scenario of the draft being delayed by the courts while our legal challenges are heard. In both legal and common sense arenas we win. The worst they can afford to hit us with even if they try to find us guilty is a fine.
  5. I clearly remember the first time I saw Strauss in action, a pre-season game at Princess Park (or is it Visy oval now?). I went with a mate who's a mad footy fan and watches everything he can get his hands on. He wanted to know who Strauss was, said he was one of the best kicks he'd seen.
  6. I'd contact the police just to be on the safe side.
  7. The problem with Strauss is that he's done a Morton. He needs to get his confidence back and start backing himself when he's kicking. His first few games playing in the NAB cup his kicking was superb, but he's had a hard time of it since, and now he keeps trying to finesse his kicks and drops them short. I hope that the coaches can get him winning his one-on-ones (sound familiar?) and that he'll derive a bit more confidence from this and back his skills to get the job done.
  8. Thanks. I was going to ask about the specific rules regarding delisted free agents. What this means of course is that the club needs to already be talking to these guys if we want them. Very good opportunity to grab another freeby, although we could well wind up with another player in the mold of those we just let go.
  9. Very nice effort, especially in the detail on each player. You've obviously watched a few games this year. Only thing I can question is upgrading Magner. He has another year on the rookie list, while Evans has to be upgraded or cut loose. I expect us to upgrade Evans and keep Magner and Couch as rookies for another year.
  10. Aside from Diabetes and CFS? He was sent in for some clean-up surgery after last season, before Casey played finals. This rather upset the Casey coach given he was their most productive forward.
  11. Oddly enough, I do have a white cat. She's not overly fluffy though.
  12. Interesting to think about this now, with the delistings announced as well. Also with the information we picked up in the interviews with our new players. Pedersen says he is playing a single role, basically a high half forward. Also, I'm wondering if we might not see Davis get a run at some point given that he was kept on. Of course, he could be treading water waiting for Dunn or Garland to get hurt and then step into the hole. I'd also love to see Taggert getting some game in and Tynan to take another step (love the build on the kid, look made to play footy). We do actually have some pretty good talent coming on with these young players. I can honestly say I have very little idea what our team will look like next year, and that kind of thrills me. I think we can safely say that the forward line will contain Clark, Dawes, Pedersen, Byrnes and Rodan, at least for some of the time. The rest I really can't say.
  13. OK, I confess. It was me. It's all my doing. I've been controlling the recruiting department of the MFC for years through a combination of bribery, blackmail, nepotism and in one case the gift of a custom-made fake rubber tree (don't ask). It is a small but necessary cog in my larger plan for world domination, the details of which would no doubt merely confuse other posters and as such will remain secret. I can however say that my confession of these acts, and indeed the OPs creating of this thread are all parts of the master plan.
  14. Very interesting this post. Hit the nail pretty firmly on the head.
  15. But with them gone, who is left for the people on here to complain about? All we'll ever hear is Dunn and Watts!
  16. So, we have 11 senior listed players gone and six coming in (including Viney). That gives us five live spots. Obviously pick 4 is used in the draft. Given that Evans isn't listed in the Rookie de-listings I would guess that he is going to be offered a contract, and obviously Nicho as well. That would leave us with two more spots, either late draft picks, PSD or de-listed free agents. I assume both Magner and Couch will be kept on the Rookie list for another season to fully judge whether they are up to the standard. Of course, this is only the first list lodgement right? We may yet make more cuts. Big surprises for me: Williams gone - He had a shocking year with injuries and a coma, but came back and started showing some real ability. I would have liked to keep him around for another year. Davis kept - I know he has a red hot go, but he hasn't managed to crack it for a single senior game in two years when half of our list was out injured and we were playing some of the worst football in living memory. Obviously his aggression and workrate appeals and he may have a chance to push for selection with Rivers gone. No-Brainers: Bennell - Has repeatedly failed to produce when we needed him to. Soft, gifted. Needed to learn that his speed and natural talents weren't enough on their own. Lawrence - Already walked Jurrah - See Lawrence.
  17. As I've said elsewhere, I'm torn on this trade period. We got in some very good players, in particular in terms of their experience playing in finals (would've liked Ray for this too), but we got absolutely screwed in trades all the way through. I honestly don't know what to think about it. Fortunately I'll get an answer to that problem by this time next year.
  18. I'm torn on this. On the plus side we got pretty much every player we wanted to the club. The inclusion of Dawes, Byrnes, Rodan and Paedersen will help both on and off the ground. We now have three players on our list who have played in grand finals, and two who have won them. That sort of experience is gold and they are there as much to pass on their knowledge to the kids as for what they can do on the field. In this sense we got exactly what we wanted and needed out of the trade period. On the negative, we paid a hell of a lot for Dawes and Pedersen, and got absolutely screwed on the trades. I don't understand how the swap of later picks with North Melbourne came out in their favour. How does their mature-aged rookie outweigh our no. 11 pick who lost a season to injury? Giving Cale up for a pick in the 80's is insane, although I suspect this was done because they wanted to de-list him (and couldn't because of his contract). 53 for Martin is an insult (and 73 doesn't count, what are the odds of us using it?) both to him and to us. It the very least if they wouldn't give up 33 it should have been 53 and a decent player. In this sense, we had a terrible trade period. I honestly don't know which way to look at this. I guess the thing to do is reserve judgement until I see what happens next year and possibly after that, whether the players we let go flourish or flop, and what the inclusions can add at our club.
  19. I vote HELL NO to this deal. Gys is worth far more to us than Pedersen. Stick with offering pick 49. If they bite fine, if not then they can keep him and we'll move on.
  20. Great pick up. Even if there are injury issues he'll have an impact in the game time he gets. Very happy to have him in the side.
  21. Watts - He finally clicked against the bombers and showed the world what he can do. He knows exactly how to get results now. An injury-free pre-season will set him up nicely and he should dominate off half back. Clark - I think people have forgotten just how impressive he was before his injury. The addition of Dawes and Byrnes to the forward line (and Rodan in bursts) wll take some of the pressure off and free him up to be more dominant. Trengove - Struggled this year to find a balance. He tried too hard to do the team acts and 1%ers while sacrificing his offensive game. Towards the end of the season he was playing a much more balanced game, still doing the hard things, but also attacking the ball and impacting games more directly. Was right up there in a number of stats this year and should improve further.
  22. From what I can see, they signed an official AFL contract and then signed a second contract which was kept from the AFL. The second contract said that after his official contract expired the Crows would trade Tippet to the club of his choice in exchange for a second round pick. This is the draft tampering bit, and to be honest I think it's a pretty weak case although the AFL will hit them with something for having a secondary contract that was not submitted to the authorities. There is also some indication that Adelaide agreed to give him a lump sum severance payout of some sort, hence the salary cap questions. If they have in fact agreed to do this, the amount would have to be included in this year's salary cap and as such they may well be found to be over the limit. I think this is where any real penalties could come from.
  23. It's also worth bearing in mind that Ray failed at his first club. He knows how to turn around a career that has stagnated, and that is something a few of our guys could really use. If he can help them to get moving in the right direction again it would be a huge boost.
  24. I think the big reason for Cale to leave is because too much has happened at this club for him to thrive here. How can he become a part of the team after two or three disastrous years, the constant barrage of That Footage, his teammates' lack of trust in him on the field and whatever other issues there have been? I honestly think he still has what it takes to be a quality player, but I don't think he can do it with us. Therefore it would be worthwhile to take what is offered for him, let him have a fresh start somewhere else and wish him well. The problem with this is of course, that if I'm right we will be criticised from all corners for letting such a talent go so cheaply when if we'd only stuck with him he could have been doing this for us. Nobody is going to think about the circumstances mentioned above. So while it could be seen as a win/win, in the long run I think we will come out poorly either way.
  25. I think that's taken from "The Weapon." Isn't that what he tried to do with the bombers? I find it interesting that everyone wants Gys to bulk up when this is no what the coaches are wanting him to work on. All year we've been hearing them say that he needs to work on his outside running and spread from the contest to go with his ability to extract. That would imply that they don't regard his strength as an issue.
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