IWAP

Not directly related to Melbourne, but my mail is that three Essendon players asked to be traded because of their loss of faith in the club with everything that happened this year. Zakarakis, Myers and Kommer. Apparently they managed to talk the former around (although i'd love for us to get into his ear). Crameri wanting out is due to money / oppurtunity, not the drugs scandal. At the right price, i'd be interested in getting Myers to our club.

The guy has to be doing something right. Survived the cull when Neeld came on board, and now survived an even bigger cull. Our longest serving football department member? Its nice that Jackson and co. have had a chance to evaluate him while he has been filling the role temporarily.

BrunoC - looking forward to the grand-final rematch. Both of us 4-0 heading into it, should be a classic!!!

Even if that is the case, its gross negligence on the behalf of Mark Neeld, Neil Craig and co.

I wasn't worried about any of this, until i saw the AFL tweets about wanting an explanation. Surely we would have fully disclosed all contant with Dank, innocent or not once the Essendon stuff came out. Even worse, what if the CEO / board didn't know about it.

Nice drafting! I ended up with about 6 or 7 autopicks cause i kept getting distracted on other things, but reasonably happy with my team!

Missed the start and got Cox on autopick. Not the way i would have gone about it - but i can work around it

Fine with me - i may have to still do some autopicks for some of the draft, but I'm pretty awesome at this game, so i think its only fair i have some sort of handicap :D

Sounds like one hell of a trip Furious D, and thanks, I enjoyed the read. Major jealousy happening here (especially with regards to going to the Dehli test). I'd love to go visit at some stage (pending approval from Mrs IWAP), and lets hope they don't get democracy so the place doesn't get ruined

So I reckon we should get 1 more person and cap it at 10, given the draft is next week. I just realised that i won't be able to make it to the draft (i might be able to pop in for a pick or two) but i'll set some pre-rankings.

Alexandra Ave, outside or near the tan (only a shortish walk)

Anyone else hear the Caro bit on AW just after the 6pm news? I didn't have the greatest reception at the time so didn't catch it all. There wasn't much new, just that we were working hard to get the 500k down (suspended amount), the Dean Bailey suspension would not be as large as initially thought (potentially all of it suspended), and much of the negotation is all about what the final wording of any charges will be.

After reading some of the reports from the intra-club today, i'm very interested to see where some of our players get drafted. I'm calling shotgun on Jack Viney. No one else should be allowed to draft him.

Surely not

I'm happy with all of your changes BrunoC. Signed up with the very modest username 'The reigning champ!'

Thanks Striker, BrunoC and Doc! Great to see lots of returning faces. BrunoC - very happy for you to take over the role of admin. I think the easiest way is for you to start a new league, and send us the code and password (either in this thread or via pms). Are you thinking of any rule changes (eg. captains) etc. ? Still plenty of room for the rest of last year's comp plus some newbies.

Great to have you back guys! Still awaiting the others from last season, and there is also some room for any new players that may wants to give it a go. I'd love to hear how your trip to Burma was when you return. I'd imagine it would be a pretty interesting place to tour. I'm thinking mid-March would be a good time for the draft.

Seeing that our little brother the Norm Smith league have started their thread, i think its about time for our one to start. Who is in for this year? Preference will go to those who participated last year, but i think there will be a few spots open for any others that want to join. Once you play ultimate footy, you'll have a hard time going back to dreamteam or supercoach. I want someone else to take over the admin this year. From memory Striker was willing to do it, but might be away for the start (Striker are you around???) or perhaps someone else if he is unavailable? Returning players IWAP - The reigning champ! furiousd - Flying eyeballs GM11 - Galahs 7-UP - 7-Up BrunoC - Dark Days Dr Mubutu - Disgruntled Goats Striker475 - Sporting GHRP-6ers robbo king - Saigon Saints

Ok, it sounds to me you are more worried about their public perception, then the fact that they were drinking. I'm curious, if this was all done in a box, away from prying eyes, would that make it ok? I don't see the link between elite performance and their perception in the media. You wouldn't be a true Melbourne supporter if you weren't bothered by our recent performances. And we are all tired of it. But I wish football success was as simple as enforcing a no booze policy. Its not. These guys are on their holidays from pre-season. This is not the AFL season, they do not have pre-season training to turn up to tomorrow. The detrimental effects of single sessions of binge drinking on their long-term physical condition is negligible. No one was arrested, no one [censored] on a police station wall, no one took drugs, no one sexually or physically assualted anyone. These guys did what most kids their age do, have fun, and given the stressful nature of their jobs, i don't blame them. As long as they commit 100% in their efforts, and don't pull these sorts of stunts during the season, or in the preparation of it, then i won't judge them. I did the same sort of crap when i was that age, just like most normal kids.

So what bothers you more? The fact that they were having a few beers on their break from pre-season training, or the fact that their names got mentioned in a media beat up?

I find this thread very disturbing, and i'm not referring to the behaviour of our players. Can't believe people get so riled up about such a non-issue.

Jimmy Toumpas ‏@JToumpas I'm gonna miss you Adelaide...But come at me Melbourne! #firstandforever #Melbourneboy Its almost like he is aware about how paranoid a lot of Melbourne supporters are about the go-home factor, and is doing everything he can to reassure he is here to stay.

I would have thought with the introduction of FAs, the pre-season draft will almost become a non-event.

I thought the line referring to supporters who ask why other clubs aren't receiving the same treatment as 'feral' was the worst line in the lot. Anyway, as others have mentioned, this comes off as a typical bigfooty-style troll. Whats the best way to deal with trolls, don't give them the emotionally charged reaction that they want. She knows the type of reaction the article would have generated, so the best response IMO is any that highlights any innacurracies in her reporting, anything that suggests her reporting skills are poor, that may embaress her. I'm sure we'll get other articles like this, and unless they are truly worthy of defamation cases, i think we are going to have to cop it.

I'm just repeating what he said.