P-man

Trade Radio played audio of Tex Walker teeing off on Lever on Triple M Adelaide. Did not hold any punches. Said he has chosen "money over success". Had some respect for Adelaide as a club but they are not handling this situation with much dignity,

Hard not to get the warm and fuzzies when a quality player singles out the club as his preferred destination.

Interesting he said that McCartney told him to pick a player as a mentor to help model his professionalism. He chose Billy Stretch.

Congrats also to Petracca who came in third behind Menegola.

Finals or bust for sure. No grey area next season. I know people won't like hearing it, but it is still the third youngest squad in the league. The two that were younger than us were fighting to avoid the wooden spoon in Round 23. Depth almost always comes into play so the age of the entire squad is relevant. Whilst it is four years into this rebuild they haven't all been there for the entire four years. Oliver in his second year. Petracca essentially in his second year. Brayshaw in his third year after lengthy concussion interruptions. Hogan still a youngish player with numerous setbacks. Lewis and Hibberd brand new to the system. I'm not wanting to make excuses but these things need to be noted when talking about where we are at and where we should be at. There is no excuse for how they finished the season, but it's worth nothing there is a lot of scope for improvement. We will be extracting the last drops out of Vince and Lewis next season as best 22 players. Pending on who we replace them with, there will be a gap in experience left in their wake. Their time is now. I'm happy setting 16 wins as a pass. Even if I think it probably won't be reached. They must aim high and they must let 2017 be a lesson that is never repeated. When everything is on the line, play like it is.

Hold the phone. He liked a post of opposition players celebrating a win after essentially knocking us out of the finals? That surely can't be right. Extremely poor form if so.

Daniher has every right to feel dudded by that offer. It's worth keeping in mind that in Essendon's case there was the $4.5m in compensation payments to banned players which was counted by the AFL as falling outside of the salary cap. So players were being financially compensated and then entering into separate (in principle) contract renegotiations. New contract amounts were not allowed to fall under the market rate, but it would be naive to think that the settlements paid to players did not factor at all into those renegotiations. "Loyalty" may well have been a factor there too. Essendon's ability to retain so many of its returning players and have enough left in the kitty to chase Dustin Martin is enough to raise an eyebrow. Meanwhile Daniher, who was not one of the dozen banned players and therefore has received no additional compensation, seemingly has to accept unders. That doesn't pass the fairness test. However they have chosen to sort this mess out, Daniher shouldn't be the one getting the short end of the stick.

I think the head explosions over Oliver not being in everyone's votes were a bit OTT. Of course you could mount a case for him being in the best 5 or 6 players. Similarly though I thought the likes of Harmes and Hannan, the lesser lights, deserved some recognition for the role they played in the win. Hannan especially has been a tremendous pick up and is playing his role well. Then you have Melksham who I am not a fan of but played his best game for e club so far by a street. That deserves recognition. After that you're left with Jones, Garlett and Hibberd. All excellent on the day. Oliver will probably win it at this rate. It's not as though he's not polling well. And I think the vast majority of Melbounre supporters are well aware of the talent he possesses and how lucky we are to have him.

The conjecture around whether it hit the post or not will work against him. Flogs like KB made sure there was plenty of doubt placed in people's heads.

They had a topic on 360 discussing how "unlikely" it was at the start of the season that Yeo would be leading the Coaches award. Yeo is playing in his sixth season with 92 games. Oliver is 7 votes behind Yeo in third place. He's playing in his second season with 21 games. I couldn't help but think Gerard and Robbo were overlooking the more unlikely event. Yeo might be unlikely. Oliver is defying all logic.

He's coming second in the coaches award behind Sloane. That is flat out taking the [censored]. Are the media giving him his dues? He's 19 ffs.

Very few showed any interest in him at all, let's be honest. I don't get bragging rights very often (or at all) so I'm milking that one to the last drop.

Some fun reading on the first two pages

@praha - please appease my pedantry and put a line through the entire heading like you have done with the others.

He has a fair bit of Cripps about him. More skilful though. He's a hugely exciting prospect. Once he develops a tank, look out.

His argument is basically a bunch of legal gymnastics, mainly centering around how the AFL Regulations are interpreted and whether the powers to strip the Brownlow can be enacted for a case dating back to 2012. Its a situation where the right thing to do is smacking everyone in the face, and he's trying to worm his way around it by looking for a legal loophole. It's actually a bit sickening. The rest of his argument isn't even worth noting. He infers there is no precedent by doing what every desperate Bomber fan does - referencing Cousins. A player not found guilty of doping and therefore lirrelevant to the discussion. Although he tops that by referencing Hird's Brownlow, as though his involvement in the scandal should mean his Brownlow as a player should come under greater scrutiny. Simple deflection. This is almost the definition of an open and shut case. If they manage to find a loophole that enables Watson to keep his Brownlow, I hope the integrity of the sport's highest individual award and therefore the sport as a whole is worth it. Because that's what the cost will be.

Ultimate so bad it's good is Surf Nazis Must Die. Biggest disappointment was How I Won the War. The novelty of John Lennon on screen wears off after two minutes and you're left with a desthly boring film. Worst movie (also coming under the banner of "what did you expect?") is Adam Sandler's Little Nicky. It's buyer beware with anything of his but Little Nicky has to be seen to be believed.

Just happy to get it done. The upgrade softens it slightly given our ability to find players around that pick. Dodoro was never going to budge. I wouldn't have put it past him to keep Hibberd on for next season if we didn't play ball. Hopefully that's the last we have to deal with them for a while.

I truly hate Essendon with every fibre of my being. I just needed to get that off my chest. Cheers.

In an alternate universe somewhere, there is a Demons supporter forum talking about Fyfe being lured to Melbourne by his childhood best mate in Cale Morton.

Good to know the condescending crap written about Melbourne hasn't dried up just yet. Not many (if any) other clubs would have an article purely trying to make sense of why a player wants to go there. Take a breath. Melbourne is a destination club. At least that’s Michael Hibberd’s perspective as the defender seeks to join the Demons ahead of the 2017 season. Translation: Preapre yourself for something shocking. Players actually want to go to Melbourne. I know right? At least that's what Hibberd reckons. Lol good luck Michael.

Okay, so we're officially a destination club now (lulz at that entire exchange). Hiibberd and Salem in 2017 I'm excited. Not quite at Big Kev level but in that vicinity.

As I said, I get that 55's groupings are conditional. I guess it depends on how many of those options were enacted. The sum of the parts so to speak. It also is hugely contingent on what we actually are getting in return. White's performance against Footscray doesn't do him in any harm in his quest to remain on the list, but I don't think we'd suffer too greatly from moving him on. My delistings would be Newton, Terlich, Dawes, King(R) and maybe White(R) with Lumumba retiring potentially. I agree that only one of Dunn or Garland should be traded, as trading both would be a crazy given the depth of our key defensive stocks. Out of the two I'd say keep Dunn. I'm resigned to the fact that Grimes will likely seek greener pastures which I think is a shame as I honestly believe he has some good years ahead of him. They will probably be played at another club and so be it. I wish him luck. With Grimes and Newton going I'd keep Michie. He has assets as a player that are undersold and he hasn't had ample opportunity at AFL level in roles that suit him. I understand I'm pretty much on my Pat Malone there and I'm okay with that. ANB and JKH might be on the trade table but I'd want them used only as part of a deal for a certified gun in return. I believe in both being able to become quality players, ANB moreso. Harmes won't be going anywhere and I doubt Wagner will either. M Jones and Pedersen provide points of difference. Their spot would want to be filled by a player that betters them in those areas. My underlying point is I'm obviously okay with strenghtening the list, but we are in a precarious position with the ages of the players being thrown up for delisting and trade. A lot of them are senior players in an already VERY young squad. If we are replacing these guys with speculative picks in the 50s and 60s then I'm not okay with that. We have stability and we have a Casey side about to challenge for a flag. I don't want to see that stability disrupted unnecessarily.

Not going into this. Safe to say we disagree on the quality of certain players. Minimal list changes are required. There is no cause for a panicked slash and burn.

Yep, on the condition they're not replaced. Honestly I'd keep Pedo regardless. More than handy role player to have at our disposal.