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Good luck paying Jeremy Lin 760,000$ next year

He's playing on Saturday night with Casey so think it's just an issue of not being updated

That's my take as well DL. Felix I cannot even pretend to understand your situation and have great respect for those who have fought for better rights for all. Matt Rendell however, in my take made it very clear... He has never ever drafted using the one white parent policy he simply stated without amendtments this is a path that MAY end up being taken by clubs. He didn't say it was the right one just a possibility. To me that shows him showing more care for the Aboriginal community that those who sit idly by and let it happen. If we continue to live in a world where people will fear touching sensitive issues for fear of reprocussions we will never see advancements for those who deserve it. I was always taught if something hurts you don't smile and ignore it ask for an explanation. If Mifsud was upset this was as easy as asking Rendell one question and never having an issue here. He has let his friend down.

Born and bred a Demon but died a Saint. RIP Jim our world is now a worse off place. Love you mate!

Could Jason Mifsud be the world's worst friend? #throwingabrotherunderthebus

Well he's certainly not coming. But one of the best interviews I've seen. Not for the interviewee's- Hutchy and Caro especially are a joke but Rendalls passion was fantastic

There's never any 'good' in hearing things like this. But here's my good. I've heard gravely ill and Jim Stynes together 100 times and we still stand here today idolising the man who after so many tumours, still has a beating heart. Jim Stynes will be forever change anyone who has met, listened too or even just heard about the man in a way no politician, actor or billionaire ever well. He gives hope to those who should have given up, he gives life to those who should have run their course and courage to those who never knew they had it. The story of Jim Stynes will live on, and when the fateful day where whatever it is he fights finally beats him, not just us as Demons but the community and society as a whole will be indebted to a man like no other. So many people around the world dream that when they grow up they will change the world in some way- Jim has completed that and that is a feat no illness, no cancer will ever take away from Jim Stynes and the people he has touched. Until I hear the words he has been lost, you know he won't give up fighting and it's a life lesson that so many of us can applaud.

Nah I think you're pretty close to bang on. One defender I like is Tomas Bugg from GWS, I think he will play alot and get consistent touches. Have a look but none of your players jump out at me as poor. Dangerfield is one of my mid rangers he'll turn himself into a top 25 player this year. Reading has led to me believe he's taken about 3 minutes of his 4km time, and that fitness base was holding him back. Grimes is a risk. TBH I'm leaning towards ignoring him because wasting a trade on a player you want to hold on to for the year is costly but he could be a good point of difference to other teams therefore give you a hand up. Guess you have to take risks haha!

JT my team looks very similar. I am also undertaking the guns and rookies approach similar to you. Got a few mid range players I'm confident with though. Do you know if you trade people in to your team between the GWS game and the next week if it'll use a trade. Certainly hope not or we'll all stuffed.

Absolutely not. Some stability is important in this club the off-season has been turbulent and it's ultra important up top remain how it is for the imminent future because they are not failing. I am a strong advocator of Schwab, most of all for his performance in the Jurrah situation but I don't think business is his forté. All press reports released by Melbourne went from brushing aside thoughts of a sponsorship deal with a Chinese company, than when it appeared we were getting close he acknowledged it and the rumours begin to service it was nearly done. Now statements such as this are the norm and I for your satisfaction will highlight my favourite parts. Second Major Sponsor: One thing I can say - I'm glad some of you guys aren't negotiating contracts on our behalf! We have explained the strategic importance of the sponsorship 'property' and we will do a deal when the deal is right, and by strategic we mean long term and having a significance beyond the revenue itself. We have locked away some very important deals over the last few years (in particular EnergyWatch) that now underpin our sponsorship revenue, and we have a number of contingencies from both a revenue and cost perspective in the event that we don't achieve our preferred outcome. We will not compromise the value by agreeing to a sub-optimal long term deal because of external or perceived time pressures. In the meantime, we proudly wear the Reach Logo on our jumpers. As for the first sentence of that statement. Sarcasm isn't very funny when it's taken you 4+ months to find one. He may well be hiring one of us soon . The tone has gone from a positive 'we're hammering out the final points of the deal' to we'll do a deal when it is ready to be done. If that doesn't spell out broken down talks nothing will. 'Some very important deals over the years' consist of many below-par sponsorship deals so I do not feel that optimism yet. The second bolded topic consists of many contingency plans. If confident of a deal these wouldn't even be required so we as a company are either being played by these guys hard, or talks are on a decline. Either way, in the event that we don't achieve our preferred outcome we have a backup plan... It seems to be completely contradictory to the whole sentiment. Here we are going for the best and only the best- but if we fail to achieve preferred outcome we have some shitty backup plan. At which point, do we undertake the backup plan, when do we cut our losses? Is Reach on our guernsey that plan? What have we forgone to miss other alternatives? What will be the implications on other sponsors in the future- will they hold us to ransom? These are questions that must be thought about. It's one thing to stand tall to the 100 losers who according to Cam would just make terrible businessmen but what about when the media heat comes on come Round 12 and a poor club has no FOJ income stream. Is waiting for the right one still a worthy answer? If we sign a 3 year deal Round 21 this year for the next 3 years for $1mil per year great... but what about the 600,000 one year deal we could have had since the NAB Cup and we could already be negotiating a deal for the next 3 years starting 2013. Who knows? At the end of the day all of our points mean nothing but from both an image and income perspective I don't see how this situation can be taken as a positive.

Bingo. Just like we heard Scully's situation was progressing nicely. We too naive. The irony of a club who so desperately needs money to survive, not having the ability to sew up a second sponsor and having the decision accepted by members, which according to WYL is saving us from death is absolutely lost on me. It was suggested by members we take on a new and in my opinion excellent phrase that we need to take on which is "no more excuses". Us being told talks broke down with the Chinese company so we're back to square 1 with a week before the start of the season is making excuses.

Thats absolutely correct. Colin will be feeling alot of pain yesterday, today and tomorrow primarily through the muscles attached to the area but players have played with this injury after a week. In this circumstance I see him missing about 3 weeks. Fair assessment in your opinion Webber or you expecting the full 6?

If the reports are true and Strauss does play Round 1 it would have to be the most remarkable comeback I've heard in my short career of supporting the Demons.

It's the Pre Season.. What are you judging on, last year? Come back to this at the end of the year.

Hypothetically, you'd be satisfied Round 12 with the no FOJ sponsor? I was impatient when I found out they were expected to have lined the sponsor up over the Holiday period. Then it became late January. DemonShop are still expecting jumper deliveries by 'mid to late Feb'.. well that's passed too. This isn't an issue about the 'Melbourne of Old' we've all worked out the club is no longer the dark and poor club we used to be. We finished 13th last year and lost one game by 186 points whilst sacking our coach and losing our latest number 1 draft pick. There's a reason 'the best' aren't sponsoring us at the moment. Energy Watch sponsor the Melbourne named club in Soccer (Victory), AFL and Rugby Union (Rebels) - that deal was as much as them flooding the market as it was the Demons specifically. We will go into Round 1 with Reach and it'll be a great look adjusting the jumper half way through a season when they finally get someone to pay us the big bucks. Don't hold your breath though- I've been waiting since November.

Maric had another 18 possessions on the weekend but even still he hasn't changed one bit. His stat sheet read 18 kicks 0 handballs. At Melbourne he was a selfish footballer and at Richmond he still is. I watched he wasn't terrible but he was still selfish. They can keep him and I'll be happy to watch him do u-turn after u-turn in Round 3 while we [censored] them.

Can confirm its not the case during the regular season.

Demon31 just because you choose to disagree doesn't make Thomo's points wrong. I'm not as critical as him but I too am confused about the sponsorship. We're not exactly packed full of money and can afford to sit back with no sponsor. I really like Cam and I trust he is doing the right thing for the club but his comment didn't really answer any questions. He just said we're waiting for the right one.. Well I've been waiting for the Jessica Alba to knock on my front door doing a naked crab walk for 20 years, sometimes you just need to take what you can get.

Pay him now and cover you're losses Cowboy. I'll buy you 5 if he wins.

There's a killing amount in the shop. Still selling them at the moment for 124$. If we don't find a sponsor we'll be using the Reach logo for the entire year and have been using them for 4 weeks so there's certainly a few of them out there. Irish one's were a one-time thing..

I dont understand it but I'm guessing 50 were made of the Irish ones whereas there is probably 1000 Reach guernseys. But believe me the costs do get a bit out of hand.

If you bought a guernsey through the Demon Shop yesterday it was $199. I figure they reckon worn and with a signature means its value is greater than that of just the jumper thus will have to go for more... I was lucky enough to grab my one yesterday

Absolutely RR. If 7 games in we are 0-7 with insipid performances my tone will be very different but after 3 meaningless games the previous 4 days reading have been laughable. Just looking over some quick comparisons there's nothing to say we shouldn't be following a WCE pathway to success. Our core and spine have similar attributes to theirs. Rucks- Dean Cox and Mark Jamar- Both All-Australians. Cox a better player but not giving away much. Key Mids- Matt Priddis/Daniel Kerr & Brent Moloney/Sylvia.Trengove- Moloney and Priddis are similar. Tackling, Clearance machines. Priddis more consistent but both ultra competitive. Where we lack is a Kerr. Which one of our midfielders will turn into the attacking, flair midfielder. This is our biggest need for development in 2012. Who will step up..? Key Backs- James Frawley and Darren Glass- Whilst Glass took out AA honours for me Frawley is the far superior player. An asset that is invaluable to the Dees. Key Forwards- Josh Kennedy and Mitch Clark- Kennedy is proven whereas Clark is not but the signs from Pre-season have been excellent. If Clark can kick 45-50 goals and provide a target for each contest we are in the right direction. Obviously he was not with us last year so it's a great asset to have gained. Next Forward-Darling/ LeCras vs Watts/ Jurrah (Davey). This is the category. We need a second forward and we need a crumber. Watts has an excellent opportunity to step up this year with less responsibility. I don't expect him to be the saviour, I don't give 2 poo's over whether he is better than Hurley or Natainui. I care whether he steps out on our turf and makes his presence felt and gives him all. If he does that I know his skills will make him valuable to our cause in 2012. The crumber is harder now Jurrah will be out for half the season that said they've lost LeCras. But going off last year now Davey will have the chance to come in and be that player. We need forward pressure and someone who as soon as a marking contest is over doesn't make it a rebound 50. Davey CAN do this. It's whether he wants too. The X- Quentin Lynch and Cale Morton- The most berated player at every club is generally the player everyone is just angry at because they know them playing well will make a team better. The big Q was often thought to be a liability and had to be close to trade bait in 2010 with poor attitude and performance. His lift in 2011 changed the dynamic and started the culture change. Cale Morton can do this for Melbourne. If he can solidify a spot in our best 22 we will become a better team and free up other players. Him finding form will give confidence to Daveys and Watts to show they can lift their game like Lynch did for Butler, Nicoski and Chris Masten; 3 players who before last year I'd prefer to be dead than have in my team. I'm not for a second saying our 'best' equal their 'best'. I'm saying we have the footwork thanks to Dean in the past and Neeld in the current to produce something. As someone suggested our motto this year should be 'no more excuses'. It's one thing to not have the talent on your list (years 07-10) but when you have the talent and aren't getting the best from it...... well there are literally no excuses.

Everyone keeps saying this... West Coast had basically the same list in 2011 as it did in 2010. It's called Player Development and new structures. Just because we have the same players doesn't mean we should accept the same result. They added a few pieces most notably Jack Darling and players came on like Butler, Masten & Nicoski. We added Clark and are hoping players like Tapscott, Strauss, Bennell, Blease, Morton, Petterd, Watts all move along with development. Not to mention also adding Magner, Couch and Sellar. We have so much potential upside this year and not for a second am I expecting to finish 4th but the same list is absolutely no excuse.

Floated you an offer Robbo have a look! Been impressed with you getting on the trade early gets everyone excited for the season!