praha

What a lot of people forget is how drugs actually stay in your system. Yeah it's all random but players drink, some smoke. We know this. If a player as a joint after a match to unwind, I don't see anything wrong with that. It's better than them going out and downing 10 beers. But marijuana stays in your system for weeks. You can do cocaine on a Saturday, get tested on a Wednesday and be clean. Weed should be discouraged like alcohol and smoking. If a player has a BA reading of 1.0 they're not getting suspended are they? The only way to get 0% use of illicit (cocaine, ecstasy) drugs is to do testing every day. Or at least have set testing to maximise coverage. So tests every Mon Weds and Fri. Even having a strict 4-week ban on the first strike doesn't actually address the fact that most illicit drugs can be easily filtered out of the system in a fast and efficient way.

I'd say beating the Eagles in round 22 2019 was as happy as I'd been as a Melbourne supporter in about 18 years.

Egg, bacon and baked beans, pls.

The orange needs to be more distinctive. IMO it looks closer to Essendon than Melbourne.

Do you mean Looney Tunes? I bet you call social media, "The Facebooks".

About time some prestige was added to the jumper. We are a sleeping giant, with a small (comparative to the big clubs) support base, albeit a base that has a high purchase intent and attendance rate. This makes us exclusive. And will no doubt help in appealing to inner-city Chinese students and expats.

Interestingly we lost round 1 for a decade then managed 3 years in a row winning round 1. It took one last bout of round 1 misery last year before we could break through and play finals.

Suspect it was one of Carlton, Gold Coast or St Kilda. No half decent team is offering a depth midfielder 5 years.

There was a heated discussion on Reddit about this. Most of those in not in favour went along the lines of "MY PARK HURRR DURRR" and basically carried on like as if this would completely ruin the park.

Surely not...if that's then case, then a home game against Essendon (for once), or at least a second game against Collingwood and Richmond.

We would be looking to maximise profit by playing teams that are well supported in the NT. The WA and SA teams, particularly Crows and Eagles, ensure a full house. A Melbourne v St Kilda game would be awful.

Suspect Essendon will get the Thursday night slot and we'll be looking at 3-4 friday night games, including one against Sydney in Sydney in round 2.

Crazy talk. To lose money on an MCG home game you need a sub-23k crowd. We'll get 45k-50k imo.

We would have likely scored Port at the MCG at some point anyway but it's still not ideal. Geelong on a friday night at the MCG....YAAAAAAWN. Not great scheduling. And then Bulldogs v Sydney as the primetime game on the Saturday night? GIVE ME A BREAK! Regardless, I think we'll get 50k in round 1.

The way I see it: - 13 MCG games - 2 Marvel games - 2 NT games (vs Adelaide, vs Freo) - 1 QLD game (vs Brisbane or GC) - 1 Sydney game (vs Swans or GWS) - 2 SA games (Crows and Power) - 1 WA game (Freo) That leaves 9 home MCG games and 4 away MCG games. Home: - Collingwood - WC - Hawthorn - Geelong - GC/Brisbane - GWS/Sydney - Carlton - Then one of St Kilda or Bulldogs Marvel away games: - North - One of Saints or Dogs Away MCG games: - Richmond - Collingwood - Essendon - Carlton Teams we play twice: - Collingwood - Carlton - Crows - Freo

If you can *play* like a small forward, your height is irrelevant.

Gus squibbed a few times early as well...but he changed that really quickly and went from one extreme to the other. I think Andrew is a smart footballer, but unlike Gus he is taking longer to, erm, squib the squibs. Unless he does, he's just a Cale Morton 2.0

We are better defensively with a fit Lever and May, better by maybe 3-4 goals. Losing Hogan makes us 2 goals on average worse. However if we can keep the differential high enough, the total score is irrelevant.

Norf is trying very hard not to bottom out but imo they would be best served to. Build up and trade for draft picks, and manage that cap space accordingly. Throwing money at every single free agent is getting embarrassing for them. Imagine having your $200k p.a. better offer rejected.

I said on this forum once that he'll either be a solid forward-flanker that routinely kicks 40-50 goals a year, or he'll end up as Clive Waterhouse 2.0. The way people attacked me you'd think I'd killed their dog. Hogan both epitomizes and is the antithesis of Waterhouse's career so far.

The club probably would have had to let one of Brayshaw, Oliver, Harmes, Petracca, Mcdonald, and Hogan go at some point. Close to 0% chance we keep all together for the duration of their careers. Hogan leaving probably provides some flexibility, doubt they want to see him go but if they have an opportunity to get high value, of course they will do it.

He set the bar pretty high, no? You can either go the Adelaide or even the Carlton or WC route and pretend to be hard arses but end of the day the player will get to their destination. Our trade with Crows for Lever will stand as an important moment whenever we go to the trade table because that set the precedent.

Of course but i think it is bigger now than him being contracted, or a "player". if you're not motivated by the environment or your motivation lies elsewhere, it always falls down on management and stakeholders to find a way to motivate and instill belief. imposing rules or contractual obligations never works because no organisation in their right mind keeps someone around who doesn't want to be there. it's not just in football. the contractual element in sport is less about putting an explicit time window on the minimum obligation a player has: it is a safeguard for teams that, should the contract need to be altered, they have bargaining power. it's extremely rare that a contracted player that wishes to leave the team their contracted to doesn't have their wish fulfulled. I cringe when I hear teams say "they are a contracted player". The contract serves to protect the player's earning capacity first and foremost. If Hogan wishes to move, first intent is to ensure he is fully aware of how important he is. Beyond that, I believe the team has an obligation to him, fans and the team environment to get the best possible outcome in a trade.

My thoughts after some reflection: He was adament to stay and be part of something great. Getting injured and missing finals has changed his perspective. A young kid has seen his colleagues succeed without him. It can be demoralizing and can impact your own self worth. It happens to all of us. I am not the least bit surprised by this if it's all true. This stands as an important test for this regime. Scully felt he didn't belong. Then money weighed in. I don't think money is as big an allure for Hogan: he is getting the coin whether he stays or goes. The test for the club is to highlight to Hogan how important he is. To sit on the sidelines after being through so much, and to miss the excitement of finals...that must have really affected him. We need some perspective here. It is not about playing hardball. Or rejecting his request. It is about ensuring Hogan is mentally able to understand how important he is. We know he is a strong kid after what he has been through. But I feel his missing finals was kind of the cherry on top of a horrid 24 months. That he still kicked 80+ goals in that period is truly amazing. Club and fans need to get around him and let him know how important he is. Tell him on instagram. Don't be all "woe is me, please don't leave Hoges!" Give him support and tell him he's a star. These kids are so aggressively scrutinise in the social media era. We need to turn it around and make him one of us. We can't lose this kid.

A sign and trade with Gaff for Hogan.