Demon17

Gaff wants $1.1m.

The club will not pay what gaff wants. 1.1m They recognise the need to bring a star studded young group up together a la geelong pay wise. No outliers paywise and the team has bought into this philosophy.

Exactly. My understanding from a club source is that hogan has been groomed as a high half foward utility type and that weideman was seen as the tall forward. Hence hogans up ground time this year and given his aerobic capacity. Nuts to trade such a quality player. I dont care who would come in. Goody trades out those who dont fit. Watts...... Hogan is a star.

And its a smart 10 year decision. Maxys 26 ish. Preuss is 23. This will add 3 years on maxys playing life and give our gun midfield team top service for that period too.

Oliver by a mile. 3 excellent games from the kid who was great from day 1 of the finals despite close atention. Agressive and gave as good as he got . Hugely advanced his reputation and no stage fright for one so young. Yesterday he was our best.

Great post full of resilience which is the true test at times like these. I belive the club has resilience in spades now. The great north teams of the 90s with Carey lost 3 prelims before making the gf. The journey to the next dees gf has now begin imo.

Agree but the jury on vdb is out for me unless he can consistently dispose of the ball. Unreliable kick and problematic handballs nit at afl standard. Cant fsult his vigour and ontent but needs to be more effective

Lewis last 1/4 in Round 22 was sensational under huge pressure at Optus against Eagles. He's a conundrum but I'd rather still have him around next year. He will or won't earn his spot. I believe based on last pre-season 17/18, that Goody will make hard decisions for the benefit of all (Watts, Fritsch yesterday etc. ) making the next 8 weeks or so fascinating. Full faith in this next period to set up 2019. One will be killing off any rumours about Hogan leaving for example.

So you didn' t see the previous 2 finals with Cats and Hawks staging comebacks, with hawks players saying " Don't choke" and yet overcome but still young and inexperienced team finals-wise? Huge steps taken this year, good platform for next year's assault and glaring deficiency which I acknowledge shown up yesterday as a good dose of reality (think Lewis, outside run, close in shots at goal, Tyson ...) All fixable. Soon as I heard the forecast yesterday I thought the season over. Ended up being 28 degrees.

I have a theory that when we lost Wowie in 2002 some soul left the club of that group. No-one leaves this cuurent team . Incl the rubbish talked about hogan. The tightness of the players cannot be overestimated.

9000 mcc reserved seats sold out yesterday in 10 minutes . Last week was much longer. Mcc will be packed again with red and blue

Jake lever???????

Its called relevancy deprivation for Boomer. Trying to build any profile when not a serious journalist (I'm looking at you Kane Cornes) is the textbook approach to build post game career. Too many ex players by far. Ex champ Jimmy Bartel is the worst. No idea on interviewing and getting info we don't already know. Just a head on the screen with nothing better to offer now retired.

I would be mortified if the Lever-less defence also had Lewis out. Maturity and a cool head needed and given his limitations sometimes Lewis does that role very well. Same for Bernie. They will help the transition with Oscar this year and one or both should be mandatory at present. Lever BTW seems to becoming a Ch 7 darling and was great with Daisy on their Sunday show today. Future skipper for sure.

Bartlett actually said: "... PROCESS has been going for quite a few weeks..." Not that Pert applied a few weeks ago. Didn't say "..short time...". Just that he achieved a lot in his time there, which he did, especially with where the Board wants to take the club. Very little discussion on it, except Bartlett refereed , as SF says, a non-leaking Board. As if to say the ' experts' were bind sided by appointment and a bit miffed they were not in the loop - that's you Damien Barrett.(who has no idea IMO) What does concern me is the constant sniping by John Rothfield on the non-transparency of the process. Dr. Turf needs to understand its confidentiality that' s most important and on Monday's Footy Classified, Chris Judd gave an excellent summary of his well sourced knowledge of what happened. Worth a listen, taking it up to Barrett.

Really good post. The fugazi will be coming from media and others who have no experience and or idea how CEO's are appointed under these circumstances, and the probity issues required. FUGAZI !!!!!!!!!!!!! Move on .

yes it does. and I agree, but the issue for me is the " what if..." The club clearly have a strong view on list quality which I agree with. No finals next year will be a bigger disaster than 2017

And the sky might fall too. Confusing post. We have a great list , and strong backlines win flags, but "...if we finish bottom 4..."

A really sensible post and an insight into Mahoney's thinking. As said earlier, they are backing in the talent there now, topping up, allowing Tom Mac flexibility and saying again - destination club.. This stat from MikeAlpha says we have pro rata 4 times as many good Under 22's than we should on average. Mission accomplished. Beating yourselves up over picks or whatever is meaningless and not how business gets done in real life. A key message there I reckon.

Thanks Stingray. Hibberd is a great ball distributor in defence allowing the not so good kicks to do their thing , but he provides great outlet, like Salem. Watching him end to end at Adelaide last week was insightful. Huge pick up by Goodwin.

I don't understand why Hibberd doesn't just take Essendon to court and have his contract terminated for the Bombers negligence and lack of Duty of Care to him as an employee.? And seek the court to order his costs payable by Bombers while he's at it. No brainer.

Good Post. Its about club success over here as he has stated etc. I am more rapt now with jack's re-signing this week and the team the recruiters have built. Give me a strong midfield any day. Hogan can be replaced and won't win us the flag. That's the mid fields job. This Sunday could be our watershed game!

If you think cash flow in a football club regarding player remuneration is isolated your'e more naive than I thought by this comment.

If Clarkson is a true professional and Melbourne throws the kitchen sink at him, he will take it. Issues about lists quality etc. over a 5 year deal - which is a lifetime offer for someone of his age - will not/should not count in his decison. Pickering will be telling him the same. This issue is a professional one, not that emotional - thats the angle for us fans to take. The cash comes from the Board's resolve, quite correctly, not to pay Scully an outrageous salary which would destabilse the team. Whatever happens this move says to me the Board/G. Lyon and Co. are seriously on this case for next year. I'm excited that there's a firm hand on the tiller.

Great advice. Also its best to pick up the dog droppings before mowing - especially in Winter.