Ouch!

Yup nothing from the Age. Interesting article in the Herald Sun from the betting agency perspective about the draft needing to be changed to a lottery to stop rewarding the weak. The guy goes on to say that the AFL created this issue re the Tanking affair with Melbourne. Nothing we don't already know I guess.

I might be wrong, but I think MJT isn't referring to the press conference where it was announced Dean was not going to Coach the MFC anymore. Dean ... or his lawyer made comments about him being innocent of all charges etc just recently didn't he/they?

I agree BB59, not only out of decency, but surely it strengthens any case that the club AND Bailey has in defending themselves. Whilst I understand the reasoning behind it, Bailey having his own council concerns me slightly if things turned for the worse, then their focus could change from defending the charges laid to laying the blame at the MFC's feet and saying he was forced into things. Don't think it will come to that, but still...

I guess the simple fact that they aren't being investigated suggests that they are better examples of tanking, but claiming that they are more guilty is different again, and I don't agree with that..

Neil Craig is an odd choice to be fronting the media in regards to this.... are we sure the presser is about the tanking allegations?

WYL, we all experienced and knew what was taking place in 2009, and it created a lot of conflicting emotions for all involved. Now these other clubs are not innocent, and I suspect if you looked at West Coast and their ability to secure a priority pick ... and as people have mentioned the Freo game against the Hawks is equally questionable in terms of actively doing your best to win a game of football. But to say they are more guilty then us... thats a little bit of a stretch.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/tanking-charges-against-the-melbourne-football-club-out-in-the-open/story-e6frf7jo-1226549291328 Update to the herald sun article, courtesy of Grant Thomas tweeting... ... always liked him

even before they went on Holidays Caro was *very* quiet... and she was still pumping out articles about Adelaide etc.

So just as a point of comparison, here is the herald sun article, and as you can see, it doesn't have some of the factual inaccuracies that The Age has regarding Brock's comments OTC and about "The Vault" http://www.heraldsun.com.au/afl/teams/tanking-charges-against-the-melbourne-football-club-out-in-the-open/story-e6frf9mf-1226549291328 The other thing that is noticeable at the moment is the absence of the senior AFL writers in regards to these articles. Caro has gone to ground, Robo, Mark Stevens etc... they all seem to be avoiding it, the Herald article has been crafted by "Staff writer". Either they are afraid to touch it until the AFL plays it's hand with regards to charges, or they have been warned/scared off by potential legal action. With the MFC potentially going to court, is there a risk that the loose standards they they have been able to adhere to under AFL protection could be also exposed?

The bit that doesn't make sense with Barretts tweet is that we have got the information and three weeks to respond before discovering whether the AFL 'WILL' lay any form of charges. Why would we say we are taking it to the supreme court until we respond and THEN find out what the AFL's next move is. Barrett = Muppett

Damn,.... I thought my line would be unique! haha

FFS the doomsayers predicting the cataclysm that will occur on the 21st of this month seem to have a more positive outlook on life than you mate!

Grimes and Trengove are almost a certainty to remain co-captains, Neeld and the board would not have ratified the decision to go with such young leaders only to remove one from the role a year later. That would do more harm to a player than good from a confidence perspective. Just because he is injured doesn't provide a reason to remove him from the captaincy. You could argue that he could work even more on his leadership skills, or do things off the field whilst in recovery. I do agree that Garland could drop out of the leadership group, but I don't expect to see too many changes to the group. Dawes might get in, but he has a lot to prove over the preseason. Just because he is interested doesn't mean that much to me. He needs to show something over the whole preseason.

I read someone say that Misson reckoned that the load they put onto the players last year was about 60% and this year would step up to about 80% of what they should be at, with them peaking at the load expected being in 2014, so this might be about right.I don't think it is as much that the club isn't optimistic, just that they can't load up on the players all at once and expect their bodies to be able to handle it (Essendon and Weapon anyone??) That said, I have no doubt that Neeld will be planning to go into every game with the expectation of trying to win the game, but the gameplan, the players required and the total commitment to the style etc, it's probably to be expected that it will take a little while yet.

Agree with you here Rogue, I'd be astounded in this day and age the clubs have to do things via Telstra staff... perhaps if they don't have appropriate staff on deck to do things then that could be the case and they have to go into a 'queue' as such and have X free updates that Telstra can provide on their behalf, but there would have to be some form of CMS that the club uses to update content as required. Most if not all clubs would have skilled staff that could update such content these days you would imagine.

No offence (and no pun intended) , but I don't think you actually took notice of what I was actually referring to either. Our defensive group is actually solid unit. But yes statistically it was not great last year. However, I think most clubs would generally be happy with the defensive make up that we have (Note... the players not the results) My point was a poor midfield actually contributed to the defence looking more ordinary than it actually is. You would also no doubt be aware that our defence regularly had players pulled out to provide targets up forward (Garland and Rivers) after Clark went down, meaning that the group wasn't that settled.

I think their defence is better, but not something that should be rated 2nd best defence in the league. Don't get me wrong, I think a fit Brian Lake will be an asset to any club, but at his age, I see his role being more like how Geelong played Scarlett, and actually I see Lake as being very similar to Gibson in how they play. Neither is a full back that could hold Jono Brown or Cloke, they don't have the size and would only be able to be effective with a double team with Gibson coming across to help out. Again for all the crap about Tippett, he kicked what 40 odd goals last year? Add that into the forward line for Sydney with Reid, Goodes, Jetta McGlynn etc... yet they can only be rated as 11th best in the comp? Yet two small forwards in Garlett and Betts with a wonky Waite somehow is rated 2nd best? The other bit that just doesn't work when you look at raw stats is pretty clear if you look at the MFC stats, our midfield being our weakness means that our defence is constantly under pressure, and therefore looks bad. Does anyone actually think we have a bad defensive unit with Frawley, McDonald, Garland, Watts etc? If our midfield can be shown to improve, our defence will get rated higher (purely by the fact of the ball not constantly being there.)

I am not so certain this is clear cut here Jnrmac. True that Clark was nominated for the AA, as a ruckman, but with the way Clark was travelling for us in 2012 I have no doubt he would have been pushing towards the top end of the coleman. and I think a lot of people actually took note of him more for his efforts for MFC in an ordinary team, than they did in that 2009 season. I get a feeling that Dawes is capable of doing a very similar thing in 2013... given his goal output isn't huge at CFC, but I get the feeling he is capable of more, especially if he, Clark and Byrnes can get a good understanding going.

Interesting when you read the article, that Ablett is the top rated midfielder, yet the GC midfield is rated 17th. Some of the ratings seem odd. How does Carlton have the second best forward structure in the game? Yet Sydney has the 11th best? Sometimes the stats are misleading! So the Hawks get to add Brian Lake to their defence and suddenly it's the second best defence in the league, Tippett must have apparently made the Sydney forward structure slide

Jordie Mac - With a full preseason, and players like Viney, Rodan and Trengove in there, I suspect he will have a good year Howe - Take things to the next level, and when I say that, not vertically but being an important cog in the midfield, and a goal kicking mid. Dawes - I think he is capable of improving as significantly as Clark did in his first year. Viney and Toumpas will be exciting to watch, but trying to keep excitement in check for these guys. Strauss and Terlich are two that I also will be very interested to see how they go.... I get a feeling that these two could slot in on the half back/back pocket, with Watts, Garland, Frawley and Tom Mac making up the back 6. Gives a good amount of height, and rebound, and some good footskills as well. Finally would love to see if Jones has another gear as well, or whether it is going to be a case of needing a better team around him before he gets mentioned as a potential AA type of player... loved what I saw from him last year. Ok I think I am done now!

We only have Jon Ralph's assumption that the investigation is continuing. Since AD came back from his holidays, the AFL and the MFC have been very tight with information. Jon Ralph wouldn't have a clue whether it's continuing or not if you ask me, all he knows is that nothing was to be bought up at the last meeting of the AFL Commission for the year. He then makes the assumption it will come up at the next one in February (at the earliest) it's pretty impressive deduction skills for a muppet to work such things out I know, but there you have it.... I'd be amazed if they are still going through stuff, I suspect the only work that these AFL investigators are probably doing at the moment is tying things up and writing up a report/recommendation stating that there is no case to answer for the MFC, and/or recommendations to the AFL on how to have a tighter policy to prevent such things occurring in the future.

Garland/Frawley are part of the group this year, I can't see why he wouldn't again be a part next year... Jordie Mac could get into the group as well. (Replacing Barty) Other than that I don't reckon we would have too many changes given the age of the group. Dunno if Byrnes and Rodan will get a spot, they bring experience and can help educate, but not sure if they need to be defined as leaders officially.

If they do try and use this on us, I think that suggests that they could not bring anything else against us. That being the case it makes me think that is why Don McLardy has been more vocal about defending the 'integrity' and 'honor' of the MFC. This is the sort of vocabulary you would use against such a claim. Also if it came to this charge and the MFC decided to contest it outside of the AFL jurisdiction (ie a court of law) I suspect that it would get torn down pretty quickly. Therefore I don't think the AFL would want to test this outside of it's own backyard. If anything, the AFL with the rules / incentives that they put in place are as guilty of that charge as any club that sought to take advantage of them (In my opinion)

Not only has damage control not occurred, but it's very telling that our President has changed position from "Of course we'll fully co-operate with the AFL on this matter" to a position of "Bring it on, we'll defend ourselves and take this as far as we need to do defend the honor of the MFC" Personally I don't think the club would take that position if you think you are about to get whacked. You take the submissive direction that AdelaideFC took through the Tippett affair, because you know you have done something wrong. You take up an aggressive stance when you have a dominant position. So not only has the AFL stopped all leaks on it's end, the MFC has taken it's more aggressive stance out to the media and you can bet that the club has been given a set of directives by it's lawyers on ensuring nothing goes out. Suddenly there is no story for the media to get a hold of, except for little Johnny Ralph who has yet again failed to raise his standards beyond those seen by 'Damo' and 'Hutchy'. That being gutter journalism.

Nice read BB. I had the theme to Indiana Jones going through my head as I read that.... but sadly seeing "A' with a the Hat and Whip didn't quite match the image of "A" couriering a few lattes and a Muffin for .... lets call him "D'. You might be drawing a little bit of a long bow, I think I could see more substance to this if "A" in falling on his sword was leaving effective immediately, rather than staying on until a replacement is found, that could mean he is still here for a few months yet. But I reckon there are a few truths in there nonetheless.