pantaloons

I'd be interested to know if the 1 in 2 players from the first round to play 50 games stat is from the draft's inception or a more recent time sample. Because that figure surprises me, and I'd expect that we continue to see an upturn in first round picks having longer and more 'successful' careers.

Thanks for sharing. I think all clubs would have their success stories of the odd gem selected outside the top 25 or so. Where we've fallen down is using our top 20 picks. If we just look at prendergast's time, he's had picks 1, 1, 2, 11, 12, 17, 18 and 19 to work with in the space of three years, and failed to draft a superstar with that haul. That's where you are supposed to get your best players, and he made an absolute meal of it. Sure, we don't know how good some of them are going to be, but the fact that we are still wondering that about players after four years (watts, Strauss, blease) is a worry. Cook was probably the second worst pick in club history behind Molan. Gysberts has looked promising but through injury or whatever failed facets of his game has been spilled in the paper as trade bait. I don't know if it counts for or against BP, but besides Trengove and possibly Watts, all of those picks have had a fair by of injury to deal with. Yes, he's nailed Howe and McDonald, but there were plenty of later picks that haven't come on, and the addition of these two hasn't compensated for his performance drafting inside the top 20. As much as CC's idea sounds fair, we have to demand more. Other clubs are nailing their top picks and finding the odd gem.

"Dowler, Oakley-Nichols, Drum - they've taken all the good ones. I guess we're stuck with Nathan Jones." There is always plenty of debate over whether drafting or development has been poorly this site. I think we can almost all agree that both have been subpar at best this millennium. I just hope that with new people in place we an get both right. I have no doubt that the roadmelbourne took the last 5 years was the right one, we just picked poorly and didn't get the best out of what we did get.

"Dean, it says here we WERE allowed to bring in our cheat sheet with the names of players we've seen this year."

I love that we put random stuff like 'slam dunk champion' and 'prep player of the year' on his bio. Might as well put 'Disneyworld annual pass holder' on there. Jodie Meeks was another good signing, which followed a day after Howard. $3M 2 year deal, so he's come for less than offered elsewhere and provides the good long-range shooting we've lacked off the bench and a capable backup for Kobe, who pretty much had to take all the SG minutes because he had no backup last year. Phoenix picked up J O'Neal on the weekend. Hopefully for their sake he can resurrect his game.

Hahahaha! Seriously, where do people find these memes? Classic. Yes, absolutely thrilled with the trade. It's been an incredible offseason from lakers GM Mitch Kupchak. Well over the cap and with next to no wiggle room, to get Howard and Nash for three first round picks and Bynum, as well as Jamison for less than 10% of what he earned last season and re-signing Hill for well under minnesota's offer, is insane. Yes, they all chose to play for the Lakers, but it's still got to be pulled off, so kudos to him. Massive stuff.

Good value out of this story. I think it's been re-heated and served at this time every year since 2008. Hopefully we can use free agency to address this quick smart.

Good to see the Russian pole vaulter is wearing his throwback 1980s Melbourne guernsey in honour of Brad Green. The Cuban vaulter Borges snapping his pole was impressive too. Speaking of near calamity, how the German weightlifter overnight avoided serious harm is beyond me.

Pretty sure I saw Barry Prendergast asleep in the background of one of those scenes.

And so, the last remnant of the 2000 Grand Final team departs. Thanks for 13 terrific years. His heroics in the 2000 QF are permanently etched in Melbourne folklore. Green sits 7th on our all-time goal kicking list and in two games time will be outright 6th on the games list. He's been a very good and clean player, and one of my favorites. I'm glad he chose footy over cricket or soccer, even if he'd still get a game with either of those national teams. Look forward to his send-off against Adelaide.

Featuring in the grand final day sprint against Brock McLean I hear.

Thanks for the daily schedules, Macca. Better than the official website. Any chance we could get some live sailing tonight? Compulsory viewing given that we're almost guaranteed gold. The way we're going though, Slingsby will be eaten by a giant squid and finish with silver. Also compulsory viewing.

I sit in the MFC reserved seats near the bench and it happened in front of me to my right. I don't recall any jeering. Let's not be too precious about our response to opposition players getting injured. While in almost all cases of injury, the player will be treated to silence or mild applause if they have averted decapitation, I recall Melbourne supporters booing Wayne Carey off the ground on a stretcher in round one, 1997. And let's face it, if Tom scully ever did his knee against us, he'd quite rightly be lucky to escape with a mere ACL tear instead of being speared through the heart with a fan's plastic trident as he left the ground.

For me, Bate, Dunn, Jetta and Bennell go without hesitation. Unfortunately for Jamie, the decision is made simple by virtue of his knee injury. Jetta - delist. He doesn't excite me at all, and doesn't have one outrageous talent that makes up for his general average ability and size. We've seen over 8 years what Bate and Dunn give us. Looking at the OOC list, you could throw a blanket over a few of these blokes. I mean, I would delist both Bartram and MacDonald. Bartram, for all his courage, just butchers the ball by foot and we can't lament our horrid foot skills and retain one of the worst offenders if we are fair dinkum. Neeld may have a fancy for him based on the gritty type of player he is, so that could save him. He will need to make a full recovery from his injury to stay. MacDonald has been serviceable, but is usually good for one or two horrendous clangers a game that cost the team a goal and/or change momentum. You could keep one or both of them on one year contracts, but I wouldn't. Spencil gets a reprieve based on his freakish human frame. All of our ruckmen, including jake, have injury issues, and I see him as an inexpensive backup ruckmen still with his best football ahead of him. Green. My judgment on this is clouded because I've always liked him. When your fondest football memory is set up by one player in particular, I find that tough to forget. The case for Green is that he is still a good forward target, is a proven goal kicker in a side bereft of them, and is experienced, which given my other delistings is a factor. To be honest, I don't pay close enough attention to his chasing to know if hs defensive shortcomings make him more of a liability. I'm leaning towards giving him another year on the vets list. I don't discount the importance of treating our veterans with some respect in light of recent grumblings about our treatment of other vets like McDonald. Not that we should now hand out charity contracts, of course, but it shouldn't be dismissed instantly. Jurrah obviously gets re-signed pending his legal outcome. Big loss for us this year. Blease, Rivers and Strauss to stay also. Petterd to get the chop. What happened to that guy? Fitzpatrick to get the guillotine also. He's the opposite of Green for me. I first saw him at the under-18 carnival where he put in a laughable performance and then watched in horror as Barry "Crocker" Prendergast drafted him. I didn't expect a big man to dominate after three years, but he's been nowhere near it. Bail. Well, he can stay if the price is right. I've got 8 delistings from the senior list so it depends how deep we go into the draft and how we attack free agency and trading. Not keen to upgrade any of the rookies. Got to hope we can do better with the draft.

Due to not having the car until 12.45, I arrived at my seat 3 minutes into the second quarter with the score 48-2, so if it felt like a loss to me, it's because we were outscored 64-60 in my presence. I take full responsibility for the last three quarters.

James Tomkins is commentating the rowing. Victory is assured.

Ha! Well I'd anticipated it being a lengthy sit-in. I don't know how long I could stay if it was the other.

Well, our men's waterpolo team got done 13-9 so that's curtains there. Close tussles taking place in the hockey and basketball as we speak.

In my one Little League appearance on the MCG (for Melbourne against Fitzroy in 1989), the game started with my teammate winning the clearance and booting the ball the wrong way, setting up a Lions goal. Not quite the same, but clearly I've never forgiven him.

Again, this needs to be prefaced with the fact that it's extremely unlikely we will be punished, but there would have to be some serious response from the club and supporters. I'm thinking anything from rogue manure dumping on the doorsteps of AFL House, to a coordinated Demonland ground invasion at the MCG on Grand Final day, to underground acts of rebellion - cream pies in the face of Andy D at luncheons, random acts of violence against Sherrins, and a sit-in protest on Greg Denham's front lawn.

We look at each other with a knowing glance, and promise to never talk about this again.

Well played. Can't believe I didn't read it that way first time - thinking cap clearly not attached. Good work.

What an exclusive I can break to you all on demonland. Andrew Demetriou's email addressing all things tanking to Adrian Anderson. Major news. Here we go: Yo Adrian, How's it going? Things are pretty sweet up here at the Olympics in London. I went to the badminton last night - awesome. Got some autographs at the basketball. But I could go on and on about the awesome time I'm having. I hear there have been some dramas around tanking in the last couple of days. Boy, thought we'd heard the last of this one. Oh well, I wrote this letter during the men's 100m freestyle final, so if you could put this out as a press release that'd be just great. Just edit where necessary. Try to make me look funny. "Dear media members, AFL fans and employees who are back home enjoying our great game while I conduct important business in London. It is with great sadness that I must inform you that the AFL has today decided to administer some penalties in light of public comments made recently by Northern Bullants player Rock McLean. As a consequence, we have decided to harshly penalise the Melbourne Football Club for their flagrant tanking in, well, pretty much any game between 2007 and 2012. But more on that later. Sadly, while strenuously digging around for evidence of Melbourne's foul play, we have discovered that they were not alone. It is with a heavy heart that the AFL hands down the following penalties to various clubs for breaches of the newly created Tanking Act: Carlton: The Blues appear to have been the trailblazer for Melbourne's rorting. You can't tell me the Cruiser (look, I can't spell his name - you don't think having to deal with the pronunciation of bloody R Nahas on Brownlw night is enough?) Cup wasn't a little fishy. I seem to remember T Johnstone having something like 67 possessions and 6 Brownlow votes on the night. Total debacle. Where was Fev? No, not literally - I couldn't care less what he was doing at Crown that night - why was he dropped for the last 9 games? As a penalty, Carlton will be forced to swap their #1 pick from 2007, the aforementioned Cruiser, with Melbourne's #4 pick, Cale Morton. My apologies to Cruiser and his family. Collingwood: It's very sad (but hilarious when considering what Eddie's reaction will be) to acknowledge, but Collingwood have been found guilty of some shenanigans of their own. Hmm, losing the last 9 games of 2005 while stuck on 5 wins eh? Didn't think we'd pick up on that one, did you? And just two years removed from back to back grand final chokes no less. Collecting Thomas at 2 and Pendlebury at 5 was a hefty return. Given that Pendlebury won the 2010 Norm Smith, and no one was fooled by calling him Embleberry up there on the stage, we've decided to strip the Pies of the 2010 premiership. (Adrian, let me know when it's safe to come home. PS. Don't read that last bit out.) Hawthorn: Like Collingwood, the Hawks will have to surrender their most recent premiership triumph. Such was their willingness to send players off for season-ending operations in 2004 in great number, numerous children missed out on hospital beds for life-saving operations. Please note, steel reinforcement has been added to the walls of the MCG coaches boxes. West Coast: See the last two. 2006 premiership cup: gone. Blatant malarkey required to get into position to draft Chris Judd, let alone NicNat. Couldn't get em for 'recreational reasons' in 2006, nailed em here. Adelaide: the Crows will be forfeiting the 1997 premiership. Before half of SA chokes on a Farmers Union iced coffee, squealing about not doing anything wrong, ask yourselves - how many times has Shane Ellen played in the forwardline before or since the '97 Grand Final? Positional experimentation is for after hours, not grand finals, thank you very much. St. Kilda and the Bulldogs: One premiership each? Really? Nice try. You now have zero each. Richmond: like the last two, you are an embarrassment to the competition, and not just for introducing the roar-o-meter to the AFL. Two finals appearances since 1982, and this in an era when we've rigged it so half the teams make the finals. We punish Richmond and its supporters by allowing the club to continue as is. Brisbane: You weren't fooling anyone with the 'we only want 8 Fitzroy players' shtick. What, couldn't find a spot for Jason Ramsey or Brent Frewen? Could have been a five-peat (we would have bankrolled it too). You lose the 2001 premiership. Well, no, we need the game in Queensland. Just change your logo, would you? It makes me hungry. Essendon: since 2008, only Richmond and Essendon have disgraced the stae of Victoria by losing to Melbourne. You want to debate that Michael Hurley s better than Jack Watts? Fine, he's a Melbourne player now. Fremantle: LOL! All the advantages afforded to an interstate club in an AFL-mad city and you've made the finals thrice? For being the perennial skidmarks on the AFL's underpants for 18 years and without any accomplishments to remove the Dockers must revert to their original clown suit uniform. Port Adelaide: playing the kids eh? Hmm, Chad Cornes and Dean Brogan excelling at GWS - clearly flogging players off before their use by date. AFL license is hereby revoked. (Adrian: phew, that was easy - I've been wanting to do that for a while). Geelong: one of the more I sickening cases of tanking I've seen. The corruption not only of the sport, but of the female womb. How long did it take to establish this "father-son academy"? How many women tanked themselves out of regular relationships to take part in this production line of prodigies? All three premierships from the modern era are hereby removed. Sydney: (just leave this bit out, Adrian. No one will count the teams anyway). And so we come to Melbourne. This hotbed of treachery and tanking is met with the swift hand of the law. All premiership points for 2012 to be stripped, and their #1 pick from 2009 taken away. They will however be given an additional priority pick at the start of the first round in consequence of their third wooden spoon in five years. We hope this is a warning to all teams, not just Melbourne, of the seriousness of tanking. Yours sincerely, Sir Andrew Demetriou (just watched the equestrian with the Queen - think I talked her into it)" Thanks Adrian -AD

Does 'deliberately lose' mean giving the ball to the opposition, or just only putting in 90%? And is it every player?

What a few days. Madness. At least it puts out in the open the people who should be stripped of journalist accreditation and/or the right to have children. This is an absolute fool's issue. I tear my hair out wondering how people make this into such a black and white issue. Well, perhaps it was in 2005 when a certain team lost their last 9 games to finish on 5 wins and qualify for a priority pick to snare Thomas and pendlebury. This is not last night's badminton where players blatantly lost on purpose. This centres on a club that has been incredibly poor on-field for six years and seeks to make an example of one or two games in 2009 where the club conducted itself consistently with how it has done so over the whole six years. Experimentation with playing positions, dropping players for disciplinary reasons - these have been happening consistently for Melbourne during the rebuild. There is no possible way that the AFL could find Melbourne guilty of any ongoing short of hiring someone to torture the players, coaches and officials from 2009 into falsely spewing out a confession, probably after being locked in a room watching every Melbourne game from 2007-2012 with their eyelids taped open. Seriously, what do people think is going to happen if Melbourne is punished? That no team is ever allowed to send a good player off for season-ending surgery with a broken hand if they're going to miss the finals? That Adelaide will be stripped of the 1997 premiership for farcically playing Shane Ellen in the forward line on grand final day? That we cannot delist Matthew Bate because EA Sports' AFL game gives him a higher overall value than Lucas Cook? Can we please have some common sense around this. Clubs need to have the ability to best prepare for the future, and at times this will involve experimentation of various sorts. Until the day comes when someone runs the length of the field in the wrong direction to boot the winning point for the opposition, we are making a mountain out of a molehill.