Green Demon

Hird is following the Lance Armstrong trail. Blame everyone else but himself. Jimmy's ego is bigger than EFC and the AFL, it would appear. I would be booking in Oprah, or more likely Tim Watson, to interview him, when he confesses and tells us how hard it has been on his family. Dr. Bruce Reid's letter is damning, yet Little and Hird pretend the players have nothing to worry about. I would expect right minded bomber fans to stop defending the Golden Boy, once they read that. If Hird and Co. happen to be still running Essendon at the next draft, will draftees be able to refuse to go there? The AFL has a duty of care, so I think it is likely that there will be no drafts to Essendon until this is all sorted. I do like the fact that Tim Watson asked for clarity from the AFL, well, he has got a lot more info now. The whole 'AOD 9064 isn't going to harm the players' line was always rubbish. Do we know what doses the players were given? We don't, therefore, we don't know the impact. Timmy, tell us how all the other stuff that the players were given is known to be safe. I want Shane Charter's work with Hird, while Hird was still playing, to be investigated. I want the work of Dank/Robinson/Thompson at other sporting clubs to be investigated. Finally, I would like the 2000 Premiership to be awarded to us.

I want ASADA to question Dank..........about all the other clubs he has been involved with (including Melbourne). I want ASADA to question Shane Charter about his dealings with anyone involved in AFL - coaches, players (including Woey, Hird), 'sports scientests', etc. I don't want a whitewash. As others have said, a soft response to this cheating will result in other strong clubs thinking they can get away with it, too. Of course, none of them have ever taken part in cheating.

I want to compare Lance Armstrong and James Hird. LA was arrogant, bullied everyone who questioned him, was involved in the most successful doping program in cycling, told the biggest lies in order to cover up his doping, created the image of someone who cares about others, seemed to believe his own hype, thought he was untouchable (was protected by the UCI). James Hird ..........time will tell how he compares to LA.

So, you have heard of James Joyce, bully for you! I have to concede, all the other Irish people and half-Irish people, are stupid. Thanks for educating me. Now, tell me what percentage of the Irish have a sense of humour. You can provide me details of your research. I am fascinated by the quality of your theories.

When you said "and the Irish are not that smart", I think you meant to say "and I am not that smart". I take it you are one of the old buggers who is a casual racist. Good luck and please don't claim to be Irish or half Irish if your post is typical of the tripe you write.

I am Irish born. I have lived in Australia for over 20 years. When I first came here, I copped a lot of the old "The Irish are stupid" rubbish. Irish jokes and derogatory statements about the Irish, were common Aussie TV. expected anti-Irish racism from the British but not from Australians. The most recent incident I can remember was about 6 months ago in country Victoria. A man, about 60, on learning I was Irish, had no problem in telling me that Irish people are not that smart. I told him that he was showing his age. On the footy front, Big Jim Stynes, through his actions, proved the racist stereotypes were wrong. He was a hero to the Irish. The opposition supporters used to hurl racist abuse at our Jim. I remember an incident at a game against Essendon. Some Bombers supporters were shouting racist abuse at Jimmy. I stood up for my countryman and my nation. There was almost a physical altercation. I think a lot of progress has been made since then. I applaud Adam Goodes for standing up for himself and his people.

1116 SEN are saying they will play it in full, as soon as they can.

Injecting a group of healthy young men with unproven substances, where the safe dosage levels are not known,where the interactions between the different substances are not known, is outrageous. Those responsible will be shown the door. AOD - Anti-Obesity drug - if anyone in the team has an obesity issue, they should be delisted. Even if the letter of the WADA code isn't against its use, then the spirit of sport is against it. As mentioned earlier, the players might be unhappy to have been experimented on, or they may think that all the Permiership points will be taken off us anyway, so why bother.

This is disappointing. The only thing that was keeping me going, was that at least we weren't Essendon. Now, we are injecting our players with experimental drugs, or untested combinations of drugs. Technically, they may not be banned by WADA but the health of the players has not been paramount. As other have posted, we should be asking for our money back from Dank.

The key point for me was Dermie saying the appointment of the two young captains had caused a division within the team. I know that is an opinion/speculation. It would be a predicatable reaction of senior players, when they see 20yos get the captaincy, to become disillusioned, lose confidence. Whoever made the decision to have 2 20yos as captains, should be fired. There is a reason it has never happened before, because it is stupid. I don't buy OX saying it can't be changed. I say it can. Make Nathan Jones the new captain, if need be, retain these kids as co-captains, otherwise, make them vice-captains.

Consider this, last year I didn't bother going to the GWS game, because I knew we would win easily. This year, I am planning to go to the GWS game because it is probably the only game we will win.

The Dublin Demons. I see their guernsey is a bit more adventurous than the Melbourne Demons: http://www.dublin-demons.com/index.php?module=News&func=display&sid=69

Lance is a scumbag, the UCI are not much better. I amembarrassed that Pat McQuaid is a fellow Irishman. I am proud of Paul Kimmage and David Walsh for fighting the good fight for all these years. Funny how SKY team dropped Dr. Leinders in recent weeks - Job done I would say. Wiggo and Froome, when will they be exposed?

Au contraire, I recommend that you wear lycra, with as many different colours as you date. Head to Beach Road, there is safety in numbers. Keep left - pretty sensible. It is good to avoid busy roads, because some drivers seem to blame cyclists for the roads being busy, rather than all the other vehicular traffic in front of them!

The Hawks have also taken a promising yound Dubliner : http://www.hawthornfc.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/4742/newsid/148796/default.aspx - I would like to see the Demons trying the young Irishmen, rather than the Hawks/Blues/Pies/Saints/Lions/Swans. Young Irish lads would love to come to the team that Jim Stynes was part of. I would be happy to see Melbourne try potential players from other codes and countries too.

Hi Bingers, I had a quick look at the specs of both bikes. One appears to have disk brakes, the other doesn't. I strongly recommend the one with disk brakes. They are far superior, especially in the wet. The Shimano components on the Scott appear to be at the same level, or superior to the ones on the Avanti. Therefore, the Scott would be the one I would choose, based on components. You should try to ride both, to see if both are comfortable. GIANT usually give great value for money, so it might be worth checking out what you can get for the same money in their range. Good luck!

Hi Folks, You may be interested in this Irish report into how Big Jim's life has been remembered back in Ireland. http://www.independent.ie/national-news/jim-stynes-comes-home-as-wife-sam-recalls-battle-with-cancer-3226644.html

Hi Good Times Grimes, Michael Evans is #32 this year: http://www.melbourne...io/default.aspx According to those stats, he is 5cm taller and 5Kg lighter than me....A 180cm footballer wearing a small size does seems surprising. I hope he is the Norm Smith medalist of our next premiership team!

I have one of the Irish Guernseys which were auctioned in March. I want to wear it but it is size SMALL. I didn't think there would too many players smaller than me in the team! If you have one of these Irish Guernseys in a larger size, and you would like to swap for a small one, please reply to this post. You can message me (Green Demon) on this forum. I will get back to you quickly. I will swap for MEDIUM/LARGE/XL. Large is the size which will probably suit me best but I will be very happy to take one of the other sizes too. My current guernsey has #32 on the back. I am not fussed about the number on the back of a jersey I swap with. Thanks for reading. Go Dees!

Here is a pic from Sunday's Tribute game, which has been posted on an Irish sports website: http://www.balls.ie/2012/04/22/the-banner-at-the-jim-stynes-tribute-match/ Jim and Sean Wight are the reasons many of us Irish in Melbourne barrack for the Demons, so we will miss them both.