Dr. Gonzo

Whether or not you think we will make finals in 2015, it should at least be the AIM to make finals at the beginning of each season. To say our goal is to just make ONE final by the end of NEXT year is pretty poor PR if nothing else. I don't think we'll make finals in 2015 but it's not a foregone conclusion. Lots of things can happen in a season, look at 1987, 1994, 1998 - why put a ceiling on things?

They don't need a legally sound case to sack him.

But wasn't he asleep through all their team meetings? McVeigh said so, no wonder he thought it was TB4 and not vitamin B like McVeigh said, Reimers was off in lala land.

Well yeah I get that and I'm assuming he'd get a payout if sacked unless it follows an adverse finding by the AFL tribunal/ASADA/WADA. But the opinions I've seen have referred to lodging "unfair dismissal" cases if he's given the boot which is a bit different to the run of the mill sacking/payout for coaches.

I dont get this. Since when have professional sports clubs needed a reason to sack anyone let alone a coach?

How can they suspend Hird? He hasn't been issued an infraction notice.

Can anyone explain what a Memorandum of Understanding means in practical terms? I don't get what this announcement is about.

It's interesting to see how well we could go with some decent onfield performances to start the year. North hit the 40k mark last year and I have no doubt we would get to 40-45k with a half decent team and a few early win. The explosion in membership figures past the 40-50k mark has coincided with our extremely crappy onfield performances since 2007. If we can get some early wins you'll see a lot of people jump back on onboard - despite all the rubbish we hear against the us we are actually one of the better supported teams over the last couple of decades however due to MCC this wasn't always reflected in membership numbers. If we can get to 40-45k as a solid base we will go a long way to cementing our position in the national comp.

He wasn't ridiculed because of his salary it was because he was a turncoat dog.

You misunderstand the difference between a consumer and a member.

Not relevant to Demonland. But relevant elsewhere as are player salaries especially when thwir salaries are partly funded by our memberships etc. I seriously can't understand the argument for keeping the salaries hidden, who cares if a player comes under scrutiny for poor performance based on their wages - so they should! I think player salaries will eventually be made public and I think they should - but what should also be made public is third party arrangements, AFL ambassadorships etc. They are professional footballers and they get the perks of that but they should also get the scrutiny. Salary/list management, performance etc should all be held accountable by the supporters and media but can't be while salaries remain undisclosed.

120k Not that it's relevant.

Definitely should be made public and will at some point.

Also the fact the injection schedule marries up with the recommended schedule for TB4. The interesting thing in all this is how they've gone so hard after one substance when there were a number of questionable substances they could have pursued. Makes me think either this was the easiest one to marry up with the player statements or they thought this one was such a slam dunk they didn't have to worry about pursuing the others. Or the trail on the others went cold.

Yep that's of course the other variable. WADA code not adopted til 2006.

Love the article in The Age today quoting Galbally saying the players get off for the same reason Lynch did in the 90's. Completely different situations, I don't think any Essendon players suffered Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and also weren't acting on doctors advice.

Justin Charles wanted to spill the beans way back when and the AFL didn't want to know about it. Similar story with Dale Lewis.

The bookmakers disagree with you - 15 points is a small amount, an average spread for a favoured team would usually be 25-35 points 40-60 points is a heavy favourite and 60-80 points is GWS in 2012/13 territory.

GC $1.44 MFC $2.70 odds on Sportsbet

We are 15.5 points underdogs. They're hardly a 10 goal favourite.

Collingwood/Hawthorn whinging about salary cap concessions for Brisbane/Sydney isn't about off-field it's about on-field.

I agree but the point is they are all little more (or less) than 50/50 games.

Give me a break - the big clubs whinge about every second thing yet we don't say they are hampered by their mentality.

I agree however playing in Darwin is a different kettle of fish to playing at Docklands.

By the way just looking at the fixture why the [censored] do we play in Darwin AFTER the bye and why the [censored] do we play in NT both before the Collingwood and Essendon games? It's [censored].