DEE fence

The AFL think we tanked, INCLUDING match day, but knew it would be difficult to prove and didn't want a court case, or to cripple the club over a flawed draft system they implemented. They had enough evidence and a determination to do something, especially when the whole football world thought we tanked, but were able to facilitate an outcome where all parties walk away somewhat satisfied under the circumstances. Except, of course, some supporters that you'd never please.

No draft sanctions is massive.

I agree it could have been worse, it just really feels like we rolled over in the end. I would rather we spent 500K on legal fees than a fine. I guess I'm a supporter that cannot be pleased...sorry.

If you believe that you believe in the tooth fairy.

Congratulations to the MFC legal team for a brilliantly crafted settlement.

As expected, we never tanked and Caro is totally p1zzed.

How is this a brilliantly crafted settlement, it doesn't feel like it. I mean maybe it is but please explain, I honestly feel gutted and very bad for DB. To me it's a case of 'Charge Proven-No conviction donation to the court box'. For ever and a day all that will be remembered and written about is the 500k fine, that's the stain on the cIub I don't like.

Former Melbourne star David Schwarz yesterday told the Herald Sun a negotiated settlement would save the league from significant fallout.

"This is such a hard decision for the AFL. This would have gone to court. Melbourne doesn't have to pay for legal representatives, because it has more lawyers than supporters."

Am pondering my feelings about being the club of choice for lawyers (please don't take offense WJ)

...shorter i'm guessing

i wonder how this thread would look if we used our real names?

During the years 1987-1991 we were a legitimate power team. The only sustained period of dominance since the days of ron barassi crashing packs.

You better shut up now before the Israelites around here start wailing that we have only been crap for the last 40+ years, yeah we all wish there had been a flag or three, but I reckon we've had two periods where we played good footy (and possibly even had a good culture).

PS: sorry to hijack your point... and yes might even be off topic...

I never really saw any concerted effort by melbourne players to run interference or assist in blocking taggers to break him free.

I always thought this is one of the more unforgivable sins of a footy player and something I've hated about our team. The other bloke might be a better kick than you, but a VFL player can shepherd. One of the things that I hope is fixed about our new beut team is backing each other up. I was so rapt when Watts and Rivers did it on the boundary last season.

edit: have no clue how to spell bewt colloquially.

Claims he was lined up by certain elements at the MFC. Hopefully, that side of the story will now start coming out ... we await some interesting developments.

Valid Point - While it throws the credibility into doubt of the accusers if you explain the political nastiness that was going on at the time, I really think we would be better served by sticking fast as a club and presenting a united front, even to those that have left the fold.

This is brilliant news, a fit Davey would be such a blessing as he is not a might/may be a star, he is a star when fit and right, I was sure he is cooked, happy happy joy joy, if he's not done yet.

Dom Barry certainly looked silken and reminded me of a young Aaron Davey. Aaron Davey BTW also looked the goods.

While I totally agree with Martin Flanagan's comments about US style sports hype having no place in our game, and don't want songs after goals or halftime, I feel the club song should be reserved for a win, to sing it before the game always felt like a jinx. So I wouldn't mind a run out song as long as it is:

1. Australian

2. Not metal (and friends, I respect your love of Slayer et al. but not everyone quite gets it)

3. Not pop, not opera, am sorry but this needs Bass, no Ride of the Valkyries. (I love Paul Kelly, MFTCC etc but its not a run out song)

Maybe a PM should be sent to RR to organize a special poll for this.

I reckon there have been some ace suggestions, but am with Deeludued and BB59 - Thunderstruck is timeless, I would love the Dropkick Murphys, reckon its a ripper song but not Aussie, same goes for some others like RATM, White Stripes (Icky Thump), so many others

As a smoky Midnight Oil has a few good riffs that always get me fired up on a run. Thought about Spiderbait etc but again don't think it would grab enough of the mob (also as much as I like 'fuckin awesome' as a song if we had a poo game... well the puns I can live without)

1990 really killed me when the pies cracked it for another flag, we have been a slow moving target for their crap ever since and I have a list 22 years long that I'm going to get back to when we finally have some of our own success

I also received mine yesterday. Pleased to report that the new pooch who came to live with us last week arriving with his favorite toy (a Collingwood football) loves the Demon pet pillow. That football is destined for the bin once he has settled in. I will make a Demon supporter out of him yet!

you have to forgive the poor little fella, he does actually only see in black and white, you need to get a cray fish for red and blue

Has anyone 'cough' bought a membership for their cat/dog, non football loving family members... i might have am just curious I always thought the actuals would be about 90% of what ever figure is garnered, but that's just an opinion

I think Rivers, while a different character, will do a Pike and have a great run at Geelong.

Good luck and thanks to Mrs Jones for supporting the lad it worked.

My wife's a dietitian and she reminds me all the time how much exercise it will take to burn off the beers I've had over the weekend. It's quite a bit regardless of how fit you might be. Bing was making that assertion with the best intentions.

But seriously mate you need to get over yourself a bit. I appreciate your experience but your chest beating is getting a little tiresome.

Just trying to back my opinion with facts from what I've observed and can be measured, wasn't stating that I had anything like those levels of fitness. If its chest beating to talk about experience well then blow me down I'm a hairy arsed gorilla, I've seen a lot of people stuff up on the grog after being under real pressure, including some people I consider decent and upright in every important way, that's why I mention Somalia. Am sick of people slagging these players with very little evidence and I'm saying BS because I think a lot of the opinion posts are based on little real life experience on what was a minor incident. The reason I have posted extensively on this subject is because I think the forum has been too harsh and I feel like defending the players on the evidence presented to date.

As for your wife go for it, lets hear what she says about a big day out on mid strength beer against the backdrop of their training environment and regular diet, I'd say a dietician is a subject matter expert do some chest beating of your own. Personally I think your fitness (and mine) are probably much more susceptible to beer than the players.

At least someone gets it.

What do you get? I'm willing to bet that these guys are not remotely having enough beer to affect any of their endurance, fitness, or strength levels. A day out in what will be a long season for them (which I'm reasonably sure will be quite dry) will only help them in terms of mateship and dealing with stress, something a stupid day at the cricket helps with.

I have worked with elite military and police officers, tier 1 types, that would punish just about any footy player in terms of fitness and they enjoy a beer when they get a chance, and they have the discipline to go six months or even twelve when the occasion demands but the occasional big sip does not hurt their fitness or professional attitude. A human being is not a machine even if they are getting a six figure pay check.

Often people including our hero Woewodin, eschew alcohol as part of a lifestyle choice, I totally respect and find the discipline impressive however I have not seen that the alcohol is the deciding factor in their abilities, they are just very motivated people who have set up a framework that works for them, but this must be a choice not something imposed. If our players have fallen off any targets set for them then I am happy for them to be sanctioned, if they broke a team rule re booze then sanction them, but if they did not then lay off.

I am not condoning this behaviour week in and week out or even monthly but your and many other responses are OTT.

It was dumb, could be smarter, not a good look etc but no more than that and I have never heard of these guys having priors for bad behaviour so I think they deserve some grace and definitely not the harsh unfounded judgement they have copped here.

So Bing get back to me with your medical expertise and tell me how your going to quantify how much they did in fact drink, measure this against their standard alcohol consumption combined with their diet versus their training loads and we'll see if any agreed expert will allow for a discernible effect.

I also live with a code of conduct that extends to my private life and can be terminated for bringing my organisation into disrepute just from private non criminal actions, (I also have to enforce and arbitrate this with colleagues) so have had some practise with the follies people can get up to, especially after say 8 weeks working in Mogadishu Somalia.

It was dumb..simply that.

I agree with that.

Showed extreme poor judgement not only for themselves but for the club they represent.

'Extreme' is too strong for me.

Like it or not whilst they accept the paychecks they will ALWAYS be representatives of the MFC and ought to consider that before embarking on such folly.

in regards to criminal actions yes, or actions that are in breach of a policy like race/gender/sexuality yes, but on this they were on the line and didn't wobble to far over in my opinion, so agree to disagree.

The club is attempting to instill a better culture and part of that goes to all manner of things, not just the 100 mins on a field.

I can sing TISM's 'all homeboys are d1c&heads' by heart and would vote for anyone that wanted to fine people who wear mullets, but that said I think they were within sight of the boundaries even if it not a behaviour I would choose.

The club has called for a 'please' explain'..and rightly too.

This is where I just think we could make sure we don't go OTT.

Having spent 12 years dealing with drunks at the G and other venues and locking up many I can say the following, they passed the attitude test and went quietly so my expert opinion is not drunk, just 'affected by alcohol', very smart decision to leave without trouble, and that is what I'd focus on as the coach. No fights, no drunk driving, no sexist behaviour reported just beers watching the cricket and then going peacefully when told... After a few shennanigans.. I have seen lawyers, politicians, senior civil servants, teachers, CEO's and others who would all make the news if someone chose to dob on them.

Could they have got drunk in private and kept up some sort of BS choir boy appearance, of course they could and it would have made people here happy obviously. I always found the people pouring out of the super boxes the most shabby after a long day.

Now we either have an extraordinary over representation of the temperance society amongst Demon supporters or a truck load of hypocrites everyone has been bent out of shape sometime and it's what happens at that point is key. Footballer player had a drink!!! don't make me laugh, more than a few premiership players who have done that.

I can also say that I found the security at the G to be cowards and snipers (up until 2006, so if they have improved since then i'm sorry) and that on more than one occasion they were either charged or close to being charged with assault, including a 14 year old girl getting pummelled by four 90kg+ blokes one time. I reckon they'd be nervous of the footy players as in their dreams they couldn't touch these guys and most of the guards are on our power trip, as bad as G4S guards at an airport.

And finally so what if its in the paper, can we stop being so frigging scared of the media and just stare them down at least once or twice. God our politics would be better if the pollies didn't live by every sound bite.

Would love to know how our team stacked up against the army guys on some of the obstacle courses, are we par, above or below a commando squad? Wouldn't think we're at SAS level yet

Just occurred to me that if you are going to have a closed session where else would be better than an army barracks surrounded by the best security the country could supply.

Like to see opposition scouts get some info on this one.

Darwin, that'd be where someone waltzed onto a Navy boat and stole weapons right....

LFR , I could live with fixed cameras if the spider cam was a problem, my main point is the production managers need to pull their fingers out, coverage can improve. Especially with the definition available on our televisions, btw what's up with HD in Oz, whenever I watch a match on ESPN It's fairly grainy compared to the other content.

What the film footage (as wonderful as it is) cannot convey is the whole-ground impact he had. When he got the ball, or was moving to where he would get it, even as the roar went up your eyes would leap 80 metres down the ground. You didn't want to miss a thing he did, but no way would you get any sense of it if you just watched him. Forwards (Biffin especially) would take off, defenders must've felt panic, everyone changed gear in the instant and the whole game would split open. To see this stuff is what TV cannot give you, and it is the best.

Cameras follow the player with the ball, but the really great players instantly impact half the ground when they take possession - and while everything suddenly moves faster, at the same time they seem to have all the time in the world.

My chief grumble about footage, well identified, with the large screen HD tellies we have now days i really think the studios could do some more work with how they show the game. Some sort of spider cam sitting above the boundary so you see the player with the ball and where the play is likely to go so that you can see more of the tactics and leads etc. I notice how useless most of the footage is when I try and explain the game to people with You Tube videos, while they like the pack mark and bumps etc, they do not get the sense of how it is played out.

Maybe but if more games are played interstate are you still going to consider your membership good value?

Sorry but when has membership ever been about value, we need as a club, to go through a period of growing the club's supporter base, games against port, GWS, GC at the G are not going to do that. when we are in our next period of sustained success we can start dictating terms and make it more about the G. it is not a good look 18-20k at the best stadium on earth.

I would love to try and see the club reach out across the land and become the 1st amongst equals I.e. ' the team that identifies 'Australian football' getting Darwin on board would be part of that, if we start playing well we have a tradition that we can use in marketing that is unparalleled , even by the filth. Richmond could do the same if they got their poo in one sock but that's not going to happen, The bombers are hampered by their name, seriously they should be sponsored by Al Quaeda with a name like that. Hawthorn will always have a jumper sponsored by werribee. Carlton I guess but they have been almost for a while now (the AFL got those penalties right).

So go Darwin, free tickets to the marines and soldiers based there, mining companies and freight forwarders (does anyone know how expensive property is up their now?). Townsville as well, getting ADF links will not hurt us and ties two great aspects of Australian identity together the club needs to grow beyond the 32k brilliant people who already love the club and the zealots on this forum (and I do get the desire for g games, we're just not doing them justice yet.)