Pennant St Dee

Adverse finding - what does that tell you we have witnesses who say Connolly said this Connolly now has right of reply 1) I said that word for word and it was a joke, on other occassions I have also said these things did these witnesses also tell you this. and are you investigating all things I have said in jest, because they are clearly as ridiculous as these comments I said during this meeting your referring to. The only meaning they have is of a joke or comments made in jest 2) This has been taken totally out of context You can not write off an inquiry till you first interview the person who is alleged to have said the comments in question. FFS as others have said don't panic, the sky is falling. I would really hate to be under the pump or in the trenches with a lot on this forum. And some of you have the cheek to question our players not responding well to pressure

Here we go again, more paranoia. Move along Deelanders nothing to see here!

I dont think 1977 to 1986 was anything but miserable or in my case as a Dees fan 1980 to 1986, they were hard times

I hate to say it but Mifsud falls into the same group as ALS and other idigenous freeloaders who take government handouts heading corporations for their people but providing nothing in return. He is a bollicks and the two years of no contact with a troubled kid like Garlett highlights his inadequadacies with his job. Michael Long, Andy Mcleod time to step up you have the heart for your people and the game and not just in it for a pay cheque

WYL biggest change I have seen in last months is hope in you and old dee and that to me is what's all about we have all (born after 1960) been hoping, but startin to see it buddy we are one big family and mate the big dance is coming may be 5 to 10 years away but i want to se a team of hardnuts more than anything else. I'm selfish but I have another 40 + years on the planet and all want is Casey experiment to grow Dees to be the absolute team to hate because they are hard bastards and fighting year in year out - my hope and legacy for my kids and grandkids

A lot of love for Meth Coast on here, they are still to reliant on Cox, Kerr & Glass. If these three go down they are in massive trouble, Nik Nat is not capable of rucking all day, Glass has fantastic positioning and organises the entire backline. Kerr is an absolute gun in and under who just loves the contest. Lecras back in is massive for them, but like other sides injuries to certain personell can hurt them really badly. Pies for me will be Top 2, Hawks Top 4 again and a lot depends on Lake and if he is affective enough to free Gibson up to play 3rd man up, Freo will be good well drilled and with Mundy & Barlow not being injured at start of pre season they are the smokey for Top 4. Not sure about the Tiges there defence is suspect, Blues will be better with greater accountability & a fit Murphy. Despite all the hype I think Sir James of Windy Hill may come under the mircoscope a bit they are not as good as they like to think, Saints to slide further again, Cats to struggle for the 8. Sydney will be themselves and just grind out results and come August we will say they are in the Top 4. North to fall out of the 8 9dont know about others but I hate Bra Scott and really want us to start dominating this side. Dees to improve but as WYL said we wont know by how much, the boys will click at some stage just a matter of when. 1Collingwood 2Hawthorn 3Sydney 4Fremantle 5Carlton 6Meth Coast (All depends on the 3 key players mentioned above) 7Adelaide (Good midfield and Tippett was inefectual most of 2012) 8Richmond and Cats to fight out this last spot however it is there for us if we improve enough and have the hunger, desire and want to make others pay for everything they inflicted upon the bulk of this playing group since 2009

Mainy's problems were well in grained before he was in the AFL, hell of a nice guy but really had his demons and also suffered from the black dog. Have to say I fully agree with you WYL. 1st strike club notified and strict monitoring, regular testing and some work with those affected by by drug use

As someone said before, if we progress the way we hope any kid coming in will be coming into a totally different environment from what others came into for the last few years. Been away for 10 days with no internet so doing some catching up, all I know is nobody took Dayle GARLETT, which was the right thing by all clubs. IMO he doesn't have the hunger but if something awakens in him and he grabs it by the throat he will go Top 20 next year. From u/18 & SANFL highlights I have seen James AISH looks pure class, WA kids are often late developers or more boters, most know of the metropolitan Perth & Mandurah (Peel) kids who have come through WAFL development squads but at 16 to 17 the country kids from the big regional centres and traditional development zones start becoming a bit more prominent. Perth get kids coming in from Northam, Claremont get theirs from Albany, East Fremantle from Geraldton and Swans get theirs from Bunbury. Add to this the PSA school kids who mainly play school footy till their draft year also come to attention late. I will again frequent WAFL through the season and see any new talent to come through or possible late bolters I'm just hoping a jet falls out of the Top 10 and we snare him ( well it is the season to be jolly)

Take it from me, it isn't the case. You are right we have a fairly good idea were to look, but drugs are easy to hide and can often be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Can't comment 100% on Victoria but I would hazard a guess that like most Forces the world over, Red Tape is a greater hinderence than lack of resources.

Are you serious the boys I have mentioned are all hard working, young and not an obvious star among them (can't comment on Toumpas or Viney) but they will be better than the front runners we were under Danniher and the culture he and Bailey allowed to grow, where reputations counted for everything. Trenners will be a very very good player he has the tools and he has the work ethic and never allows himself to get towelled up. And I will say it again that is what we need to create a strong team. The superstars can come along and provide the icing, but these boys will be the core. So please don't misquote me talking about champions and blindly mispplacing comments on our players for the last 10 years.

Listening to that [censored] Denham this morning couldn't believe how he would not give us credit for getting this kid becuase he can't play for us till 2014. In teh same breath however he had the audacity to compliment the Dogs on targeting young kids who would come on in a few years. It is one thing to have bias towards a club, but he beyond belief. Had the gaul to say even if we prove him wrong next year he will have egg on his face. No sign of any apology Wel done to Joan of Hawthorn and wherever Dave was from who phoned in to have a go at Dopey Denham

WYL he is an elite runner and was not slow in his first two years. He aint no speedster but he is not as slow as he looked at times this year. He has very good game sense and that counts for more than blinding speed. You will grow to love this kid, he is what we desperatley needed and along with Grimes, Viney, Jonesy, Howe, Chip and hopefully the 2012 draftees will become the hear and soul of this club and the reason why people will nominate us as preferred club of choice in the years to come. Get on board brother

Just couldn't help yourself WYL!

Not great news but could have happened at a worse time I suppose. Best of luck JT I know your made of strong stuff

You heard what you wanted to hear, Anderson did not commit either way and it was more a point of saying we will not be rushed in any way and basically media can bleat all they like it wont fast track the investigation

One thing we need to embrace old dee is our history, we are the only supporters in the world who can lay claim to being the oldest football club in the world. We need to remember our heritage and look to the future we can do both. Manchester United who I hate with a passion are currently in their most succesful period and have been since 1993, but those in Football who think of United think of the Busby Babes and the Munich Air Disaster, that is what they are most famous for. I'm all for left side being the past and the right being the future, maybe as a transition we can have Todd Viney and Jack Viney meeting in the middle.

As an investigator I can tell you even if there are no charges identified, before completion and write off every avenue of inquiry identified must be followed. The AFL will want this matter put to bed either way and even if as I suspect there will be no case to answer, Vlad will want to be able to answer all the journalists like Caro and Denham who lead the witch hunt. Look we have been through this before, a thorough investigation was undertaken by an experienced, qualified and world renowned investigative team. On completion of their investigation they issued a final report (which was made available to the media/public). On review of the report you can see the investigators found nothing of concern, which we are happy does not fall outside of list management and/or player experimentation. We are satisfied with the investigation and the process being complete and we have moved on and think it is time everyone in the media did the same. As I said above really for the investigator there is no difference in the process whether there is or isn't a finding of wrong doing. It's just a case of the previous inquiries into tanking allegations being a quick phone call yes/no end of story.

Would be surprised, Richardson is a good player, can he take the next step, not sure but he is very handy around goal and has a nasty streak. Honestly thought his time my have passed him by

Whichever draft it was Pre season or Rookie it was 2008 and Rockliff went in the same draft and had been training with us, our ethos around the period 2008-11 seemed to be Project over Workrate

Bluey the more you post the more it becomes clear what a fookin ejit you are. I'd say returning home may see him locked up for breach of bail. In regards to Jurrah costing us nothing that is true Iin a sense he was a Rookie pick and always was a risk, did he effect our culture well yes in part he did or should I say those who invested in him did, he was another in a long list of project players. Lets not forget we originally were looking at taking a hard working mid who could also play forward at the time. But we didn't and Rockliff went to Brisbane where his hard work paid off. He could have been a handy pick up and provided quality leadership but we will never know

Sorry Bing but what I was trying to say is we don't just fail next year if we lose more than we win there are other things which come into play. In short what I want is for us to be a side who when we start making finals regulalrly are not just there to make up the numbers, earlier this century we made it regulalrly but never threatened seriously. Thats where I see sides like North are at and I don't want to be that!

BB I'm kind of with you but like most on here probably the last 6 years have made me very cautious at setting the bar high. My mates have been asking me where we will finish and I am very non commital, because I have been bitten before. I can see 8 wins without a great amount of improvement on last season's output and realistically expect at least 10 because of the trade and draft period outcomes. The 8 is a distinct possibility and a number of factors will come into play and to be honest the ball is really in our court. I have said on another forum I think we can make finals but if we dont it fo rme is not automatically a failed year. if we ended the season around 12th with 10 wins unlucky to lose 8 (by unlucky I mean within a goal) never beaten by more than 4 goals ran out games strongly showed hardness throughout the team clear indicators the youngsters were stepping up for sustained improvement That for me would be a pass, all I want by the end of next season is no longer having to be optimistic about when and where the improvement were coming form but for it to be obvious it was upon us

Are you serious, There are plenty of kids out there who get up at 5.00am to take a 1 -2 hr hike to work get home around 7 play amatuer sport so train and I'm sure quite a few use drugs on their days off but others don't. And they would give away a limb to be have the opportunity to play AFL. AFL is just another part of society no different to others so they should be afforded no more slack to anyone else, life is hard for most of us but to condone drug use is wrong. With 17 years experience in the Police I have seen many heartbreaking stories from drugs, it kills, tears families apart and makes people do things they normally would not do. n top of that it curtails numerous talented sporting kids aspirations You will never stop them and the 3 strikes policy is about saving face for the AFL nothing else. So in a nutshell it is a problem it's like thinking you can drive because you have only had a few beers, you may be able to function but your reactions will be affected a bit. As for your comment about the hard life these players face, we all chose what we do in life, some of our choices are limited due to talent, ability, genetics and education so please don't take me down the track of how difficult it is. Yes I have done pre season's may be me but I love pain so had no effect on my state of mind made me fitter and sharper. Train hard play hard and enjoy a drink that was me in my younger days but that was a different era, never though did I ever dabble in drugs. Whilst the money is great and the buzz of playing in front of big crowds is attractive it is having such an affect on your health you are becoming depressed and using drugs then like teh rest of us in the workplace you need to be mature enough to make the decision to walk away for your long term benefits. Being in the AFL system did not create the situation for these players, their make up and characteritics were in grained well before they were drafted and is due to their parents, mentors, family and friends. All the AFL drug policy allows is for someone to be able to take the risks without fear of being subjected to public scrutiny or loss of employment that many of the rest of us face. In closing if you feel drugs are not harmful find a kid around 11 to 12 years of age who is a beautiful fun loving child and a bit of a larican, handsome, fit and full of life. Due to circumstances out of the kids control he gets in with the wrong crowd and mum and dad are to pre occupied to care or notice change, a couple of beers and smokes at 13/14 turns to Cannabis you meet the kid a few times over the years, he still seems the same on the outside, lost a bit of weight but seems to be still a bit of a lad. You try and discuss the Cannabis use affects ever person differently and to tread carefully. At 15-17 you realise the kid is out of control, he now looks 30, black circles around the eyes, clothes falling off him and he has no care for his appearance. You meet with the parents and they tell you they cant get through to their kid and he fell in with the wrong crowd, they try their best ( but in your heart of hearts you know they haven't). You offer advice and try and help the best you can. Then one night your working as a cop and you get the call to a collapsed person in a park. You attend and in the freezing cold is a skinny 18 year old up against the wall of a toilet block and a syringe and other drug paraphenalia beside him. You look at him and recognise him and realise this is the end of the line for him, you drive to his parents house and you think back to the 12 year old fun loving kid you met all those years ago. You have to break the news to his parents and there is no eay way to do it you comfort them as best you can but whilst there is no longer the constant worry for them they have lost their only son and you have your first son on the way and know they will never recover. So Tonotopia that story happened to me between 1999-2005 and I still think about that kid and see his face at 12 and the deceased face at the toilet block. It is one of many kids and adults I have seen go this way. I also still see some of the "wrong crowd" he got in with and some have got on with their lives for various reasons. All I'm saying is drugs are harmful no matter what you may think, the harm goes far beyond the user and IMO you need to think a bit more before posting such comments. Garlett does not need an AFL career at this stage, Garlett needs a wake up call, play WAFL for 12 months and realise the chance he has and the choice is his, play 4 good years of WAFL or take the opportunity you have been given, get your finger outof your arse and make them take you next year with no questions asked

Pretty much without trying to be to harsh on the kid he is a poor mans Ashley Sampi

One of the reasons I refer to Cox is the fact I live approx 1500m from Medibank Stadium and saw Cox regularly for East Perth playing and training and he looked like an absolute crab for two years at WAFL Level he played understudy for Gardiner and was nowhere near AFL Level. Gardiner did his PCL against Port in 2003 Cox struggled but by mid 2004 started to come good by 2005 he was excellent and by 2006 he was elite. On initial first appearances Mark Seaby was streets ahead but Cox surpassed him by hard work.Cox was a rookie to which is why I was dead against us using pick 3 or 4 this year on Grundy. So I agree on the cheap pick up of ruckmen