The heart beats true

For sure. I agree with you. I’m more venting my frustration at how confusing this makes mental health issues for the general public, when they don’t hear about it except in these circumstances. You’ve got to wonder what the point of it being reported on actually is anyway. It’s certainly no good for him if it’s true, so why is it all over the papers? It just adds to the public cynicism.

I’ve had my fair share of mental health problems. I take meds everyday that really work for me, but I’ve also ended up in hospital from being in some fairly scary places inside my own head. I’m very upfront about it to anybody, as aside from being a Melbourne supporter, I appear to be a fairly well adjusted, well mannered and ‘in control’ person. I absolutely loathe the confusion that these kind of situations create for the general pubic around mental health issues. It really does come across, as others have noted, as a ‘card played’. I know for a fact that this has been the case in the AFL in regards to recreational drug issues in the passed. If it truly is the case that a player is having a mental health crisis then the AFLPA needs to have an agreement with the media that it doesn’t get reported on. It’s a better outcome for the player involved, and much better for the community - who can understand mental health problems as diverse and unique, but not feel like they are just a PR stunt.

They look like they are having a great time.

I believe it revolves around inter-office relationships.

Gees the off-season makes some get carried away. It’s like the further we get from our last loss the more the optimism grows. We just need the kid to keep improving. Nothing more.

Brett Lovett was an incredible footballer. He was skilful, determined and extremely consistent. He was a gun. I literally can’t say enough great things about him.

One of the things that’s very noticeable watching these highlights is the sort of ‘wave running’ style of the under 18’s comp. The pressure at the coal face is nothing like the intensity of the AFL (which is totally understandable given the age profile). Even the tackling pressure tends to be individual, where in the AFL you have much more team directional and front on pressure. It’s a huge gap to overcome, and it really speaks volumes of the guys who can step into the AFL system at 19 and have an impact. It looks like the under 18’s play a different sport.

He’s on with his wife. She’s reading him comments from Demonland so he can figure out who to take next.

Thanks for such an interesting and in-depth response Ron. I really hope he is the missing piece. ?

Why is there so much love for this bloke? I feel like he’s been telling the Dusty story to anyone who’ll listen for 6 years. I also think he benefits greatly from an association with Richmond when he actually wasn’t there when they came good. It’s very hard to tell from the outside what impact player development roles have. He might be amazing, or maybe Dustin Martin, the 3rd pick in the AFL draft, was always going to be a great footballer. Hope to be proven wrong, just find it really interesting that theres such a lovefest for him in such a nondescript role. Maybe I missed something?

It’s interesting to note the tone of the Mahoney thread in the context of the Williams thread. I think Josh was held in very high esteem until Bartlett brought Pert over. Then he became some what of a whipping boy until his role was diminished after this season, making his staying at the club virtually untenable. I think Josh worked very hard for the club, but the chips fell differently around him and it forced him out. Let’s see what happens with Williams. I sometimes feel like Demonland in the off-season is wildly optimistic simply because it’s been so long since we’ve seen the team lose, and fresh blood doesn’t bare the blame of past losses. Time will tell.

Melbourne supporters are eternally optimistic.

Kids these days.

It’s a strange time to be evaluating players. The players would argue that they never got a shot at it due to the lack of VFL. You could also counter argue that 1-2 of them wouldn’t have shown much at that level and would have been let go. It’s football purgatory, and we’ve decided it’s better the devil you know.

Green, Wheatley, Whelan, Bruce - 1999 Draft maybe? I hope to be proven very wrong ;)

I’m 42. If somebody said I could go back in time and play 80 games of footy for the Demons, but I’d have to put up with a few unhappy people having a crack at me over the internet, I’d say ‘sign me up’ every time. I’m jealous of what Oscar achieved, and I hope he knows that’s the ultimate compliment.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/essendon-boss-hits-back-at-gws-defends-dodoro-on-caldwell-deal-20201117-p56ffo.html This is interesting too. They continue to back in Dodoro even when they’ve just spent 12 months paying Joe Daniher 800k to rehab and got the same result at the end (with the possible exception of sending him to a much more powerful team). Nobody wants to deal with them, and as a result they get player scraps. It’s ridiculous, but it couldn’t happen to a finer bunch of muppets. They’ve been going nowhere for years.

Honestly, as Melbourne supporters we know this situation better than most. You can be heartbroken, disappointed, dismayed, angry and even betrayed... but when the team runs out and you see the jumper you still think ‘c’mon boys!’. Supporter fury in November can turn to optimism by March if the club handles itself well during the offseason. Maybe we can loan them our marketing and video department? That seemed to erase the memories of most around here.

There’s way too much sunshine and lollipops going on around here about TMac. He’s being paid like a guy who should be in our top 5 players, and he’s currently not in the best 22. That money is poorly spent. Purely from a business perspective he should be gone, and the fact that he isn’t tells you the rest of the industry agrees he’s massively over valued.

I think we did ok. I think the club did the best with what it could get given the hand they had. However for mine that doesn’t make up for the hole on the wing, and the other one in the forward pocket. I would have liked one of those plugged with a ready made player given our age profile and need to get a move on. I assume we are looking to the draft to solve those problems, but it doesn’t help 2021 - which is an interesting predicament given the open conversations had about the coaching staff’s KPI’s for next year.

Buckley again not covering himself in glory in regards to player management. His reputation is taking a hit as a result of poor salary cap management. If I was him I’d be pretty annoyed at other parts of his footy club. So many resources, and still in such a terrible situation.

He’s a bit like Rick Astley. Had a couple of big years but his best was a long time ago.

I’ve worked in a lot of organisations. Sliding people around and changing titles usually doesn’t amount to much. They either spend 12 months trying to figure out what is or isn’t their responsibility, or they realise they preferred the previous job and just stain the organisation. This feels a little half pregnant to me in regards to Richardson in particular. Had they not done a review before they brought the guy in they’d be able to recruit for the role we now need. I feel similarly about Mahoney - who definitely seems to have been demoted.

I’m really happy about this. You have to have a plan to beat the guy. No disrespect to Mitch Brown but he’s not exactly keeping the opposition defence coach up at night. He will definitely make us harder to defend against - which opens the doors for others. On ya Ben. Can’t wait to yell out ‘Bennnnnnyyyyyy!’ at the G for the next 5 years.