Ouch!

Martin was signed up last year, and Ablett was the main target so always going to behind Ablett in pecking order (and rightfully so) But when signing last year he signed for a period that took away the option GWS had to poach him. Not sure about Murphy but chose to reject perhaps because Carlton sold him on being able to win premierships... or green ambassador roles @ VISY perhaps. Kreuzer was offered the same type of money as Scully (1 Mil a year) from all reports, he just chose to stay and reject the money (See above with VISY) The ONLY reason Scully is getting 2 mil in the first year is because of front loading in their first year. They have to pay the minimum of 92.5 it's not like they wouldn't have given that deal to others if they chose to come on. Ward would be on probably $1.4mil or so as well if he is on a 800k per year package as well.... It's not a conspiracy, just business.

Couple of coaches I thought might be worth looking at might be: Mick O'Loughlin (currently an AIS AFL Coach I think) would be a good move. 300 gamer, played under Roos & Eade in Sydney, along side Plugger, & Hall, and have heard a few people rating him very highly with the work he has been doing at the AIS. Also thought maybe Justin Leppitch (currently defensive coach @ Richmond) might be worth taking a look at as well... I know Richmonds defence wasn't great this year, but I think a few of their key backs were out injured and the rest who played there are pretty young and learning. But it is the group and achieving synergy that is more important than person X, Y or Z.

Hi Andy, One thing that has me a bit confused (as to whether it is my end or server-side) is the post dates. I have my profile set up as Melb Time (even though Hobart based) which is +10 hrs but the time on all the posts is an hour ahead of actual time. For instance your post above says Posted Today, 12:57pm. I tried toggling DLS mode below it to see if it would trigger anything, but doesn't appear to have.... Am I missing something? Cheers, and I agree the new site looks great. Have done quite a bit of forum/message board development in the past and upgrades are never as smooth as they claim it to be, especially something this size.

Agree with Burns/Craig would be a good outcome, but I still have a bit of a hollow feeling that the club was public announcing it's desire to lure an experienced coach from another club, and we fell short...

Anyone find this strange? http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/afl/adelaide-goes-on-lyon-hunt/story-e6frecoc-1226136232908 Not sure if they are a little slow on the uptake.... I found it an odd article to release the day after he has apparently agreed to stay at the Saints.

Doesn't look like much will be said today about it. From some of the articles I have read they suggested that cos he has a year to play on his contract that they don't have to do anything except say through their management that they have agreed to coach next year, and over the next few days/weeks will work on the details regarding the contract extension (I presume a handshake deal for the length has already been determined) It feels like more should be coming out in the media than is actually being played out, but I guess cos Lyon isn't out of contract it's not urgent in anyway from his or the Saints view now. The urgency came from the MFC to land him

Yup I agree, I can't see him playing a lot of games. I hate to say it, but it's actually a smart move by GWS. Target some players on the verge of retirement who also are potentially going to get Asst Coach roles anyway. They have an extended list, and if you can play some of your coaching staff out there on the field (runners can't coach, but players have no such restriction) They also have a larger salary cap, and have to pay the minimum rate. None of the players would be under the illusion of being guaranteed a game, they would all be very clear that they are being picked up to assist develop, protect and apparently coach the younger players whilst out on the field, Junior, Power and Brogan etc would perhaps play a handful of games... it doesn't matter, except they won't stand in the way of developing the list. GWS is (and I hate to say it) looking quite shrewd in some of the things they are doing in regards to setting up a club from scratch. From the campus at breakfast point to this short term move of playing assistant coaches..... It would almost be admirable if Gubby Allan, and Sheedy weren't smirking so much in public. I think someone else on the board raised this, but it would be great to know if they are cheating the cap with any of this, are the players staying at this campus paying rent? or is that covered by the club (If we paid for our players rent, food, living expenses I am sure that would have to be declared under the cap) and is any portion of the cash for these assistants being covered in our outside of the cap. You can also see they are spending the BIG money on players that apparently none of the clubs expected them to, but then topping them up with players who are on the verge of retirement... So they have intentionally NOT focused where the compensation rules were "expected" to assist. When the Bears were set up they got given a bunch of guys at the end of their careers and hacks that the other clubs didn't want, we hear the AFL didn't want these new clubs to be set up like that. We can see that the GWS have intentionally targeted players at the end of their careers and then spent the big cash on the young stars. GC appears to have followed the rules moreso in the 'spirit' of how they were supposed to be used. (Players between say 50-150 games.) Scary that Gubby Allan was on the committee that set this all up isn't it?

http://one.com.au/one/newsarticles/AFL-Lyon-to-coach-Saints-next-AFL-season.htm Seems more definite it would appear.

... still wading through the Capital letters, be with you in a tick

... you could start a Scully thread up and see if that lures him out?

C'mon! All anyone seems to know is that Ross is meeting the players @ 11am Lets not get all RPFC/Range Rover over this!!

Do you find it strange that a story as big as this has not gone anywhere except effectively off one source that seems unsubstantiated. Seriously the AFL Media would be over this immediately if true and the Saints website would have announced it, but there is nothing on: AFL site / Saints site Herald Sun / The Age Fox Sports SEN Heck even Big Footy hasn't really taken it up (except one thread in Saints Board which just references this same thing from Ch10 which 3AW has run with.) Actually the Burns thing apparently referred to McLardy being over in Cottersloe talking with Scott Burns, so there "apparently" was a bit more than an opinion, and I was only taking the pi$$ with that one. it is just very light on for information... let alone something that is FACT or confirmed wouldn't you agree?

http://www.3aw.com.au/blogs/3aw-sport-blog/lyon-to-remain-with-saints-report/20110913-1k7kt.html Listening to this, Lyon is to speak @ 11am tomorrow to his players, it doesn't say FACT at all. It sounds "likely" I'll admit, but it's not definitive. By your interpretation it is FACT that Scott Burns will be coaching Melb next year. (I hope that comment doesn't come back to bite me! haha)

.... feeling the same here, none of the Herald Sun guys have tweeted (pretty quick of the mark!) Foxsports hasn't mentioned it, SEN has nothing, heck I couldn't even see anything on Bigfooty Just this reference to channel 10 news announcement. Would have thought on a fairly slow Tuesday (after yesterday) not saying it is not true just nothing on any media 'bout it.

You would think so... I mean how could a player deserve nearly what Demetriou is on

... listening to SEN. So, it's a 6 yr deal. I guess the bigger the deal the better the compensation is for us (given it is based on his contract, the pick he was drafted, and his age) Really can't see how AFL could not offer the same compensation as Geelong got for Ablett (I don't think he is worth the same as Ablett, but the compensation rules have already been set last year.)

Damn. You are a sad individual. OMG RR you were right, you are fantastic! congratulations!!! Hopefully that fuels your ego for the next 12 months, now go and crawl back into the hole you came out of.

... pretty gutted, won't begrudge him from taking the money as it is a stupid, ridiculous amount to throw at a kid with 30 games behind him. I DO begrudge the AFL, and Demitriou though, the way they keep claiming they didn't make the rules and the clubs signed off on it is pathetic and weak. I also begrudge how Scully and his management handled it. Ward and Davis have a lot more respect out of their way of handling things than our "former" player did. GO DEES!!!!!

.... to Sydney, to check out their facilities. If he is seriously weighing up all of the offers then this should be expected. If he has already made his mind up to go then why would you go through the charade of a visit?

I agree,.. if your mate is friends with a GWS dev coach, then without the name of that coach these comments are next to worthless sorry. MFC has NOTHING to gain from this. If something has been decided on Scully either way, MFC would announce it ASAP.

Hmmm interesting, but a few questions... If you can't guarantee Malthouse this year... how can you be sure of securing him in 2013? (Circumstances change... hence the predicament Malthouse finds himself in now) If you could perhaps make this occur, aren't you putting Neeld into exactly the same situation as Malthouse is in this year? Ask yourself this, if you were going for the Senior Coach @ Melbourne, and they come back and say "Congratulations, you are the best candidate, how does 12 months sound? Cos we want to make a play for Mick in 2013." I really believe that if Melb, the Dogs or Adelaide cannot secure Malthouse this year then you look past him to the next best available option. You cannot put the development of your club and players on hold for 12 months in the off chance that he could have a change of heart after 12 months... So go for the best coach and sign them up for three to five years... Any clubs without a coach going into 2013 would be looking at Malthouse no doubt, just as teams may have approached Roo's this year. IF and obviously it's a Massive IF, you could bring about what you are talking about sure it would be great... Just cannot see anyone taking the job on for 12 months... Viney included (If Malthouse and Neeld agreed to it and were planning such a thing, man can you imagine Eddie's Face But it would be a pretty massive betrayal of the Pies and all your former colleagues.)

I use both a HTC desire and an ASUS transformer, and demonland is pretty nice to work with just through the browser... however I have been playing with an app called Tapatalk forum app (look on android market) or check out Tapatalk ... apparently available for iPhone too.

If there is any truth to that article I love it!! Like others have said it's not really even about the likelihood of snaring Clarkson, but more about the fact that the MFC has the balls to try and rip a bloody good coach from another team in their prime with a compelling contract. Isn't that what we want this club to be seen to be doing???? If this is true then I don't have much doubt (i'd be 98% sure in fact ) that the MFC would be putting something similar in front of Malthouse's management, and others like Roos perhaps as well. Heck Worsfold might have also been sounded out!! We can afford to be bold at the moment, lets try and achieve the impossible, because if it fails then we have other candidates that will very likely to accept a senior coaching (Eade, Williams, Laidley .... and all the other assistants out there)

Fair argument, but 303 games, played alongside some great players in Lockett, Hall, erm Nick Daffy (kidding !!) but coached by Barassi, Roos, Eade. I suspect thats a fair pedigree... not to mention a premiership! It's all speculation here of course, Whelan is a hard nut for sure, but is still one of our "old boys" which is a little bit too close to home at the moment, I think our club should bring experience and knowledge in from what other clubs do and learn from them as well.

Perhaps as a mentor, but I don't think Whelan is coaching is he? I was trying to suggest that O'loughlin is actually pursuing a career in coaching. Not saying that Whelan couldn't do it, but: 1) the aim was to get a suitably qualified and capable coach who as an additional bonus could act as a mentor. 2) I like the idea of O'loughlin as I rated him as a player, 303 games, played at a team that was known for tough uncompromising footy, yet he had a good amount of flair, and tasted premiership success. I heard someone say a little while back that O'loughlin had the potential to be the first Indigenous AFL coach one day. I can't recall who or when or where it was even mentioned.... but again, it could be worth a punt, and I think our assistant coaches will be reassessed at years end so why not ?