Lucifers Hero

It seems WADA has new technology that can now detect illicit drugs a week after they were taken. It means players who indulge midweek in the hope they won't be detected on match day will now be caught. https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/afl-players-warned-of-long-bans-with-enhanced-asada-detection-20190308-p512q5.html It seems the AFL protects players with two strikes (who would otherwise be publicly named and officially suspended for 4 weeks) with a range of injuries or illnesses that take said players out of the game for some weeks. With ASADA, players do not have the 'mental health issues' loophole to escape testing and they don't have the protection of one strike, two strike etc. This development must be worrying one and all in the AFL world. I doubt ASADA will spare players, big names or not if they test positive for illicit drugs on game day.

Thankfully, I didn't write that! Direct quote (hence itallics) form: https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/melbourne-has-set-a-bold-target-for-2019/news-story/3b0549358694f0a908f9f668b9458a32 I enjoy posters, of which you are one, who use English correctly - such a shame that journo's can't!

The headline is a tad misleading. Pert says “We’d like to be approaching towards 60,000 members this year and if we are performing well we want to see it tick towards and up near 70,000,” Well, Pert has put in the resources to help make it happen: " It’s understood Melbourne has hired five new faces in its membership department in recent months in a bid to sign new members and re-sign lapsed ones". With that investment 60,000 is doable. For those that follow the 2019 Membership thread we are excited if we click over 50,000. 60,000 would be sensational. 70,000 - the stuff of dreams. Hope Pert can pull it off. How good would it be to be thought of as a Big Melbourne club ala Pies, Carlton, Rich, Ess and Hawks. (Carlton aren't deserving of the label by the way).

Well that little initiative didn't last long. The electronic boards have been scrapped and clubs can use there own boards. https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/afl-scraps-expensive-led-screens-after-brief-trial-20190306-p5128q.html Having spent $90,000 on them there off to the scrap heap. Pity the AFL didn't ask the clubs first.

Some interesting reading in this article https://www.afl.com.au/news/2019-03-06/six-milliondollar-men-as-player-salaries-go-up-again Interestingly, the player average is $362,471. The article shows how many players are in each income bracket. Author's Assumptions on who the top earning players were in 2018: Over $1.0m - Dustin Martin, Nathan Fyfe, Lance Franklin, Tom Lynch (Gold Coast), Jeremy Cameron and Tom Boyd. (6 players) $900k - $1.0m - Nic Naitanui, Scott Pendlebury (2 players) Other Highly paid - Dayne Beams, Patrick Cripps, Marc Murphy, Patrick Dangerfield, Joe Selwood, Sydney's Josh Kennedy, West Coast's Josh Kennedy, and Jack Steven. (8 players) Sizeable Deals - Steven May (@ Gold Coast'), Bryce Gibbs, Rory Sloane, Adam Treloar, Robbie Gray, Trent Cotchin, Alex Rance, Jack Riewoldt, Marcus Bontempelli, Luke Parker, Jarryd Roughead, Ben Brown, Jake Lever and Jesse Hogan also had sizeable deals in 2018. We don't have a player thought to be in the top 16 income earners. That is good salary cap management by Josh Mahoney and makes it easier to keep our young guys. Clearly we have a number of players could easily get that but thankfully have chosen to stay with us.

The bad news: Lever - another 3 to 4 months. That suggests a return to the field just before or after the bye ie round 12, 14. Hannah another 2 to 3 months. Not so bad news: KK - 3 to 4 weeks away. Garlett avoids surgery but is 4 to 6 weeks. Good news: Jones, May, Melksham and Viney are cleared of previous injuries and all expected to play some form of football this week. https://www.afl.com.au/news/2019-03-05/no-surgery-but-shoulder-sidelines-demon-for-a-month

The table for Melksham was updated on Feb 22. I usually wait til announcement is official but have now updated for Salem on the assumption it will happen.

Thanks. Here is the update for Salem (assuming the proposed 2 year contract extension eventuates). Salem has been limited to 70 games injury and form issues so he is yet to reach that sweet spot of 100-150 games. His best is yet to come - delightful prospect. Would expect Weideman to sign up again but not in a hurry as he would understandably like to prove himself to improve his contract value. The other that may take some time is Jones but in his case it may be injury issues which delay a contract. Understandably he would be looking for several years. A few others OOC this year maybe on their last chance if they can't break into the senior side for a regular game as we have had some good recruits in the last few years who will put pressure on those guys.

It was good to see Andy Brayshaw back out there and getting into the thick of it. Through himself to smother a kick which could have easily hit him in the jaw. Didn't blink. Fearless like our Gus (and I suspect other brothers).

Daytime because if we play I don't think I could cope sitting around all day waiting until evening/night. And, a day game gives plenty of time for fans to celebrate as one at or near the ground, bring the players out etc then let them go to their after game do while we paint the town red (and blue). Twilight or Night encroaches on the post game festivities.

No bb I haven't read it. Just some of my favourite pics. What connection do you make?

Absolutely rapt! One of my most favourite players. A two year deal it seems so this keeps him a Dee till the end of 2021. While his silky talents are oft talked about his value to the team goes under the radar a bit. Congratulations and delighted you will go round in red and blue! Edit: would have preferred longer as he will be a Free Agent when he comes out of contract at end of 2021. But if we win a few flags in the meantime, well...

If we had done that with Emma Kearney last week we would easily have beaten North and would be a shoe in for a top 2 spot. Letting Kearney play her own game and run around unattended for the whole 4 quarters cost us the North match and most probably a finals spot.

Freo play the Pies tonight. Will be interesting to see how being back home affects Jesse's approach and his game. Any loss for the Pies is a good loss, pre-season or otherwise. Wouldn't mind if Jessie has a day out!

Just for fun: Different camera angle, same action.

They have put a qualifier on it 'since the 70's'. I agree he is better than our last two Brownlow winners: Woewodin and Healy. Restricting the comparison to midfielders leaves out the sublime Robbie Flower who was a wingman but today would be considered a midfielder. Robbie didn't (but should have) won a brownlow so will be interesting to see how they would compare. I would be very happy if Oliver wins a Brownlow but I will be a lot happier if he wins the Norm Smith medal in a winning Demon team

My conclusion is based on probable round 6 results: 1. North and Freo to comfortably win their games so one of them end up in the top 2 after their round 7 'showdown'. North will probably thrash Coll which will give them a huge %'age again (it was 201% before this week). 2. The Crows to thrash GWS building on their 178.1%. 3. Dees to beat Bulldogs but by how much? Not sure it will be enough to bridge the %'age gap with the Crows or North after round 6. 4. So I expect to go into the final round vs Crows with a larger %'age gap than now. Also, they are a formidable outfit and can't see them letting us have a big win when a finals spot is up for grabs. They will know they don't have to win. They also know we are not accurate kicks for goal. Defend, defend, defend, will be their mantra. 5. If North thrash Coll and gain a huge %'age we will have to better that (even it they lose to Freo) to make top 2. Hence the conclusion 'statistically possible but very unlikely' that we will make the top 2. I desperately hope I am wrong as we have been a very good side for the last 3 years and I think we deserve to be there. If it wasn't for the silly finals structure we would be.

Sadly, it will take a miracle for us to get to top 2 of Conf A. Ladder is: While statistically possible, it is very unlikely that we will be in top 2 of Conf A to play in finals. Its a crazy finals system but not much we can do about it.

I also take back what my earlier comments :-) we fixed the goal kicking: 5.2 in the second half. A good win and a 39 point win will certainly help our percentage. Big game starting shortly: Nth vs Crows. Hoping for a big North win - they have the first finals spot sewn up so a big defeat of the Crows will really help us in race for second.

We totally dominated that quarter but kicked 2.5. Many easy shots missed. We needed to nail some of those to get some % to give us a fighting chance of the second spot on the ladder. Just winning won't be enough to make finals.

For those yet to renew, I just saw this on club website: Renew by Friday 22nd March and be in the draw to WIN You could WIN: - Return flights and accommodation for 2 people to our Round 18 game in Alice Springs - 2 x Tickets to attend Round 18 in the Territory Lounge - 2 x Post-match access Change room passes for Round 18 - VIP training experience in Alice Springs It might help the cause if the club put that in a story on the Home page rather than buried in a tab on the 'Membership' page. Membership is now 37,856 - 4,500 up on same time last year and 7,200 to break last year's record. And 12,200 to get to the magic 50,000 members! I reckon we can do it, especially if the MCC/MFC campaign goes well!

AFL is activating the Heat Policy: https://www.afl.com.au/news/2019-02-28/afl-to-enact-heat-policy-for-jlt-this-weekend The quarter-time and three-quarter time breaks will run for eight minutes (increased from six minutes), while the half-time changeover period has been extended to 22 minutes rather than the usual 20 minutes. Teams will also be permitted the following: Two additional water carriers Trainers permitted to enter the arena at any time during the match to deliver water (they must remain well clear of play). Only sensible thing to do! Edit. It looks like all teams in the JLT play with an extended bench. Tonight, Carlton have 5 on the bench and Ess have 8. https://www.afl.com.au/news/2019-02-28/final-teams-carlton-v-essendon

I see this thread is off the main board again. fwiw I thought the Round 4 thread got a good reception with quite a few 'non-regular' AFLW posters chipping with constructive comments and observations on the game. And approx 2,500 views is pretty good considering only 4 threads on the front page of the main board have exceeded that (excluding the pinned and No B$ threads). Or just an oversight perhaps.

It is very sad that the mental health issue loophole is being exploited. To my mind if you are well enough to play you are well enough to be drug tested. By condoning this loophole club doctors, AFLA, AFL etc are doing a great disservice to players with genuine issues. It may even get to the stage where such 'clean' players don't take time out for genuine mental health issues for fear of being labelled drug test avoiders. Can't help think that there are players with genuine and serious issues that are not seeking treatment. Majak comes to mind. This loophole does not help their cause.

The allegation is players are claiming mental health issues to avoid testing even if they have not stepped aside from the game. They keep playing without being tested.