Grapeviney

Absolutely stoked for the boys - they deserved it today.

We stuck our tackles, our disposal was 150 % better than it has been, and we didn't overuse it.

Thought the forward line worked really hard - the scoreboard showed 25 marks between Frawley (14) and Dunn (11), and Dawes kicked the clutch goals when he needed to, in addition to at least 2 goal assists.

Grimes had his best game in ages and Jack Viney is just a gem; his ability to break through pack and use the ball well under pressure is a pleasure to watch. Was a key factor in the our second quarter comeback, one of those players who just wills himself into the game.

Was scared that perhaps we wouldn't know how to win but we played out the game well, slowing it down, holding them up, and keeping the ball in tight at the stoppages.

Hopefully the win will boost the confidence of the boys and help regenerate some of that self-belief which we all know is so important

Well done Demons.

Meh, it's the media's need to always frame things in terms of winner and losers.

Even without seeing Salem yet, I reckon this will be a win-win. Tyson's form so far speaks for itself.

I would love to see the boys be more physical tomorrow, I think they have a bit to prove after being labelled "bruise-free" last year.

It wasn't last year, it was 2011

I hope the Blackie/Ironmonger stand is restored and not demolished in the process.

It is a beautiful ground

You only want the stand 'restored' because that's where you crash when you're locked out of the Gat late at night...

I agree it's a beautiful ground though.

Reading the papers this morning it seems Dutton might not reappoint all the expired panel members; his office is claiming that a 4th has been added and that the panel can meet as a properly constituted quorum with just 3 members.

I don't doubt that the Labor Government used the drugs in sport for their own purposes.

However, Cronulla and Essendon are two of the biggest clubs in the two of the most popular sports in the country. Therefore, history will show that there was substance to the "Blackest day".

I believe that those two clubs are the tip of the ice berg. Where there is money/glory/power, there will be corruption and cheating. There were probably a lot of 'supplement' programs suspended that day.

I don't deny there was substance to it - I guess we are arguing over just how much.

There's been no evidence / action on match-fixing, or the involvement of organised crime, and the doping saga was basically confined to one club each from just two of the five sporting codes represented that day.

We can speculate all we like about the possibility of corruption and cheating - and we know that it has happened in cricket - but without proof it's hard to ascertain just how 'black' the 'blackest day in sport' was.

And who would have thought a politically impartial, fine upstanding quality journal like the Daily Tele would attack the Labor Party....wow

If you think Rupert's henchmen were the only ones to question the motives behind that press conference then - in your words - "wow"..

Here's another quote from ASADA a week or two after the presser:

Last Friday ASADA Chief Executive Aurora Andruska released an official statement outlining how they expect to interview a total of 150 players, support staff and administrators from the two codes.

She later admitted to the Nine Network that the number of 150 was a guess. "I had a lot of pressure on me to say lots of sports stars were implicated in the drugs scandal and I thought 150 sounded like a good number."

Found that in the very partisan political journal The Roar: http://www.theroar.com.au/2013/02/23/was-acc-drug-report-our-darkest-day-or-just-handy-spin/

You are splitting hairs if the Government would even do as you suggest. It has the same impact.

I disagree that changing the personnel nobbles the investigation. incoming governments do it all the time with departmental and agency heads, life keeps ticking over.

anyhoo, only said it was a possibility; they may well reappoint the existing members and the only impact will be a short delay (barrett said end of june now at earliest)

this was an interesting piece on the machinations behind the 'blackest day' presser.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/how-labor-hijacked-sports-bosses-at-organised-crime-and-drugs-in-sport-report-press-conference/story-e6freuy9-1226580675107

The ACC report was about the importation and distribution of illegal substances within sporting clubs. The evidence found about Essendon and Cronulla has damaged their respective codes and put Australian sport under question globally.

It was also about organised crime and match-fixing, but what's eventuated out of that? Nothing.

Soccer, rugby union and cricket were also at that presser. Any evidence or investigations into those sports, or where they there for window-dressing?

And I'm not sure why you keep talking about closing down and removing resources from ASADA; nowhere did I say the Government was doing that.

The blackest day in sport was a quote from the human mouthpiece Richard Inge. This whole issue highlighted by the ACC is an embarrassment for Australian sport and sporting bodies impacted. It had nothing to do with the previous Government who only did what it should have done.

I am not sure about panning ASADA until the review is completed.

Regardless of what went before it, the current Government is responsible for ASADA and are responsible for the conduct of ASADA now.

They can't walk away from ASADA without global sporting condemnation.

If the Goverment were to bizarrely walk way from ASADA then why did it appoint a federal court judge to assist in the review and assessment of the accumulated evidence?

Inge only got a soapbox to make his claim because the Government needed a distraction and thus organised that notorious all-code press conference to launch the ACC report.

And for all the brouhaha and the "blackest day" claim, what's happened as a result? 3/5ths of SFA. A handful of NRL officials / players have been penalised, and Cronulla as a club, and then the Bombers in AFL. And who knows how that will end? Hardly enough to justify the impression created that doping was rife in every sport and all leagues.

Perhaps I should have been clearer when I referred to gutting ASADA - I didn't mean walking away from it or shutting it down, I meant cleaning out old personnel and putting in their own people.

smacks of political interference

members were not re-contracted, replacements not available...............hmmmmm

Will be interesting to see the response from Dutton's office but I wouldn't rule it out.

The whole "blackest day in sport" was an embarrassment for the Labor Government and ASADA have hardly covered themselves in glory since then either.

It's quite possible the new Government wants to distance itself from ASADA and is in the process of gutting it to do so.

For example:

You have my utmost sympathy. You trained like a demon for that race.

This is known as the Melbourne example: "I have pity for you. Your training was elite but you still came last."

Talk about Keystone Cops

What's going to happen to the vault? They should preserve it and put it on display at the Museum of Sport

Confucius say: Problem with line in sand is that on other side ... there's just more sand!

And it's hard to draw lines in quicksand..

I think for the time being, he'll probably want to be as far away from the club as possible.

Tough job being foreign minister

WTF

I was at a Comedy Festival gig tonight and didn't laugh as much as I just did reading that.

Talk about hypocrites.. they went berserk and said national security was at stake when the same sort of trivial nonsense was released by Wikileaks, and yet here he goes and writes a book full of it. And then has the audacity to say it's better than Wiki and Snowden!

Half tempted to buy it just for the laughs but I'm sure the HS have extracted every single one of those nuggets for their yarn.

In contrast to the above this is a shot at Clark

- I wonder if he could've braved a media conference and delivered some words and emotion for all us.

I understand this is a sensitive time for him but I think he missed an opportunity to help himself and for the club to close a significant chapter in a bold way.

Can you pls explain how a press conference is an opportunity to help himself?

And why the need for "some words and emotion" from Mitch himself? Do you need to see him burst into tears before you believe it?

FMD

This is not a shot at Mitch or MFC

But:

I'd like someone to say that Clark is retiring as it's what he wants or has been advised to do to overcome his depression: The club has all but done this, the words they have used are not that different to the ones you have used..

Andrew Robb the federal trade minister had depression, stayed in politics and now just inked a trade deal with Japan: Each to their own - what works for one won't for another.

It's wrong to assume depression itself is a career ending injury however it has been viewed that way in this case. Disagree that it has been portrayed this way.

The other thing is often the best way to overcome depression is to continue in work even in reduced capacity to create routine etc. Again, each to their own. There's no one single magic bullet that works for everyone.

Players retiring through depression boosts the profile of the illness, but players stepping away or modified duties before returning to full AFL is what would really help.

Do we play for the Ron Barassi Cup here, with the Vin Catoggio medal?

Actually it's the Brent Heaver Trophy that's up for grabs.

I still remember the headline the day after his five-goal debut against the Blues: "Heave a ho for Heaver"

Credit where it is due... this govt has done very well in getting free trade deals with both Korea and Japan that could be a major boon to our agriculture/farming sector.

hmmm the reaction was a bit mixed today from what i saw.. dairy farmers in particular not happy.

in any case, the credit shouldn't be all this governments.. these (and other trade deals) were being pursued by labor, and even howard before, they just take time.

Changes? Change the effing lot.

B. Steam'n Demon, Biffen, WYL.

HB. Stuie, BBO, TSFKAs

C. Django, Redlegs, SteveTMJordan.

HF. Cudi420, JumboR, Nasher.

F. BobbyMc, WhisperingJack, Old Dee

R. Deespicable, JVineyFan.

R. Maggot77 (of course)

INT. 45HG, Steam'nDemon, IvaWarneSmith.

Sub. Gorgoroth.

If ya not picked, tuff luck, I didn't even give myself a game....

Hang on, Steam'n Demon has been picked in a back pocket and on the bench.. yet I'm running around in the twos or something?//

I still think Pedo looked okay in the backline.

He's no star, he's agricultural, no finesse, but he's accountable, can be coached and has a decent kick on him.

Time to stop bagging him methinks....

Was just relaying what I heard.

I'm not a fan, but agree he went OK the other day.

On a side note, Gerard Healey on 3aw tonight basically revealed that Byrnes wanted to retire last summer but we talked him out of it.

Heard that too. Then they had a good chuckle at the fact that Byrnes and Pedo were commanding $$ way in excess of anything they'd get elsewhere, if indeed other clubs would have them..

Simon Eishold says hello!