Lucifers Hero

Therein is the truth of the matter ET. We couldn't have both, so Watts had to go - the rest is window dressing!

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-03-15/star-dees-to-make-r1-bid-in-vfl-hitout AFL players to play match against Box Hill at Casey Fields on Saturday. "The Demons have decided to take the opportunity to get valuable game time into Jeff Garlett (rib), Neville Jetta (quad), Dom Tyson(calf niggle), James Harmes (head knock) and Dean Kent (shoulder) after interrupted pre-season programs due to injury". Sam Weideman and Joel Smith will also play for Casey. Other updates: Melbourne expects Jordan Lewis (calf) to be available for round 1. Tom McDonald will need to prove his fitness in a solid training session planned for the rest of the AFL squad at Casey Fields on Friday. Good to see that so many players are ready to take the field at some level. If they all get thru it should be a pretty good list to choose from for round 1. There will be a few unlucky players at the selection table next week.

I cant get behind the paywall but the headline contradicts the quoted text which says: The AFL has joined ASADA in fighting a Freedom of Information request made by a member of the public seeking access to doping control forms Why would the AFL side with ASADA to fight release of info and at the same time threaten to spilt from ASADA if info is released. Is there something in the article that explains the apparent contradiction? If not pretty dumb of the HS to run with it. Anyway, who is the AFL supposedly threatening? It is up to the courts to decide what to released. A confused and not very logical person wrote that headline - Robbo perhaps?

See this thread.

Updated for Petracca and Hannan recontracting Other important re-signings for this year: Jetta, McDonalds, Brayshaw and maybe J. Smith and Harmes. Hope Balic has a good year and gets a few more - it will be good to see what he can do if given a good go at it. As much as I love all the players in Red and Blue many of the others will need a bit of luck to continue.

I assume that is rather tongue-in-cheek. If not, I would expect Peter Jackson to shut the idea down quick smart. I could not support a team with him at the club. To me he is no better than the drug dealer on the street selling gear to young people. They do it for money. Hird selfishly used players, who were entrusted to his care, as guinea pigs for his own egotistical purposes. Unforgivable in my book. Anyway, he doesn't have much to offer - is in the 'great player/average coach' category. No thanks! Keep him away from my club.

That Salem is there suggests the coaches aren't satisfied with how the inside midfield is working. Perhaps, it is too one dimensional, lacking variety (excluding Oliver). FWIW, my thoughts are: Jones is quick but not clean as he tends to bomb it out to nowhere. Tyson is quick but not clean, bombs it out or gets caught HTB as he takes on the opposition. Viney, is Viney and takes on the opposition, sometimes gets away with it (and is a joy to watch when he does) but just as often gets pinned HTB. And I'm not sure any of them have a really high footy IQ. So our winning the hitouts isn't translating to winning the clearances often enough and immediately puts our defence under pressure. Salem is quick, clean, tough and has the footy smarts. He is one of those players for whom time stands still when he has the ball. He may yet end up our 'outside polish' player (he is only 22). Also, maybe the club is looking at one of the new recruits (eg Balic, Spargo) or even Hunt to take up that outside role. If Hunt learns to slow his last 2 steps just a fraction before kicking he will become a more accurate kick into the forward line. It is an interesting 'sub plot' to see how it plays out during the year.

Interesting, that he will be played as an inside mid as he was often touted as the outside, classy distributor. With his 21 centre bounce attendances, 5 clearances and 82.4% disposal efficiency, he will add class to the work engine and Max will love having his silkiness at his feet. It is a great move by the club to put him in there as Jones, Viney, Tyson are all bulls who can get the ball but often turn it over - either caught HTB or miss targets. Salem is not an eye-catching, 'flashy' player - he is the quiet achiever who many won't notice. He can do eye-catching things - his match winning, after the goal siren vs Ess in one of his first ever games. Cool as a cucumber. I forsee a very high performing consistent year from him and he is my smokey to rise up the B&F ranks this year. Salem lining up with Oliver will give other teams a lot of headaches in the middle! I'm rapt with this move!

Here is the clubs notice of Family Day next Sunday. http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2018-02-27/2018-family-day-guide It seems all our sponsors will be there with fun activities for kids: Enjoy badge making and colouring in at our Arts and Craft station! iSelect Obstacle Course Zurich photo booth Handball “around the world” at the China Southern Airlines handball target station Visit the Sporting Globe virtual kicking booth Additional activations from club partners including Fernwood, Hertz, Chisholm, New Balance, Haymes and VGRF Face painting, balloon animals, posters, giveaways and more! Melbourne's AFL and AFLW teams will be presented on stage at the conclusion of the day I suspect there wasn't enough space at Luna Park to host all these activities. The MCG brings people closer to our spiritual home and gives sponsors the rare opportunity to interact directly with members/fans. Good weather forecast so should be fun for all!

Does anyone know if the 'accussed' or their club can view the other club's medical report or submit info to the MRP before the decision is handed down? It seems not and their only course is to appeal the decision and risk a higher penalty... Tough spot for a player if the other club decides to go after him and submits evidence and medical reports that put mayo on the incident. I have vivid memories of how Carlton doctor's ensured the book was thrown at Jesse last year (with the delayed concussion claim) so he got the maximum rap when a lesser one (or none) was more appropriate.

dc, I think the club is trying to teach players to be disciplined and take responsibility for their behaviours so they won't appeal this and unless there is a lot at stake (eg key player missing finals) they won't appeal future decisions. It is a fair position by the club but I also think there are times when we should stand up for our players. What annoys me is the MRP has not stated what the 'incident' was so if it was a punch or a strike why not say so? If this fine is intended to deter others, it won't happen if the MRP doesn't say what the errant behaviour was. Crikey, the umpire was right there - I wonder what he had to say to the MRP? Poor performance by MRP on all fronts

What, an open handed tap to the chest that had no reaction! . It wasn't even a push!! What sort of medical report did they get? No wonder the MRP didn't describe the 'incident' - there wasn't one! I call BS!

I only noticed that line If the coach is that confident in Viney playing - I'm on board!!

But what did he do that was deemed to be 'misconduct'? Very odd that the MRP doesn't say what the incident was. 'Misconduct'. Maybe it is a new catch-all charge when they want to fine somebody! He needs to watch out. Two or Three fines like that and he gets a week on the bench.

There is nothing new in the article - just the HS re-hashing old news. Now, if he had re-signed that would be 'Great news!!!!' I do think it is only a matter of time before he does re-sign. If I recall correctly his manager, Paul Connors was quoted as saying he is going to make us pay top dollar for Christian's signature so it may take a while. But hopefully, it is sorted sooner rather than later - really don't want it to drag out.

You could well be right Js5. The Age article http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/mark-bomber-thompsons-port-melbourne-house-raided-20180108-h0f5th.html says the raids were conducted by the Geelong and Southern Metro Divisional Response Units. Re the multimillion dollar deal, The HS article in the 'biggestred' post says 'Last March Thompson pocketed $7 million after selling his stake in a farming property at Armstrong Creek' which is near Geelong. The Age article goes on to say 'Divisional Response Units investigate property crimes and illegal drug activity (including cultivate, manufacture and traffic), according to Victoria Police'. People can form their own theories but that line is certainly a leading piece of info.

Agreed, the slogan itself isn't really important. Maybe our PR group are also still feeling flat from rnd 23 and the slogan reflects that. To me the real issue is our apparent non-conversion (so far) of the Dees supporters among the extra 146,000 people who attended our games in 2017. Win a few games early in the season and it might change quickly but I'm not holding out much hope of increasing the 2017 membership figure. Even if it increases, Vic clubs are growing faster than us (except Roos and maybe Saints). Our club works really hard but while our numbers are flat/small growth, relatively we are falling further behind them. It will be a poor return if we can't convert say 10% of the Dees supporters among the extra attendees. To avoid falling further behind, this must be our 'breakout' year on and off the field!

Article on each club's latest membership http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-12-29/on-the-campaign-trail-your-clubs-membership-drive I've extracted a summary and added comparisons to roughly the same time in 2017'. I hadn't realised the Crows had so many members! Almost twice the capacity of Adelaide Oval. Our slogan 'Be a part of our journey' doesn't sound too inspiring nor aspirational! It sounds like we are just plodding along - the story of the last 10 years. Would have preferred something like 'Come Watch us Raise Hell' or 'Join our March Upward' or 'Bleed Red and Blue with Us'. Or anything that aspires to where we are going or reflects our passion! Clubs set to beat prior records are: Crows, Tigers, Bombers, Cats, Blues and maybe the Bulldogs. Mostly the so called big Vic clubs. Pies keep their numbers to themselves so hard to tell where they are at. We are on track to achieve last years total of 42,233. But it will be really disappointing if we cannot convert last year's bumper crowds to members, especially given the level of talent in the team. Based on those crowds, our talent and 2017 improvement, 45,000 would be a realistic 2018 ie a 6.5% increase. I suspect a lot of people haven't forgiven or aren't yet convinced.

29,053. Slowly creeping up to last year's pre Christmas number of 29,426. I would guess the club is disappointed to be behind last year after a seemingly improved 2017. But probably not surprised.

A few new faces on the calendar. In: Jetta, Hunt, Garlett and TMc. Out: Tyson, Vince, Watts, Brayshaw. Rapt to see Jetta there. To go from delisting, to rookie, to AA squad is a superb achievement. A loyal servant of the club who is the best he can be and still taking on challenges to improve himself. Respect. Have been a huge fan of Hunt since I first saw him play, early in 2016, so delighted to see him on the calendar. A player who did not come in with any fanfare but has worked damn hard to cement his place in the side and now a deserving fan favourite. Edit: Forgot to mention, Petracca gets the honour of the cover page.

Hope it isn't so, od. If we make finals for next 5 years, play off in a few prelims and not get to nor win the big dance then we can all go to AA to get over our addiction and memberships be damned. Couldn't bear another rebuild...

Judging by comments here on DL quite a few were 'holding off' their renewals due to disappointment at season's end, hence the early poor numbers. But some have commented they have since signed up anyway! Extrapolate that over the whole membership base and it adds up. Have often thought being a Demon supporter is like an addiction...we keep going back for more regardless of the hangover and a membership is part of the deal... Hopefully, we will be rewarded before too long.

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/the-age-and-experience-ladder-for-2018-where-your-club-sits/news-story/ec1626ea2a37e51263bd10b9084fc31d They have the Dees Total List Average Age as the 9th oldest on 24 years and 12th on Average Experience on 56.5 years. As noted in my post above I don't think the Average for the list is the best measure - I prefer the Median for the likely playing group. Nonetheless the article gives a reasonable indication where we sit approximately vs other teams.

I've extracted the Age and Game profiles: For the 'Playing Team' stats I've left out the 14 players who have played less than 10 games because our starting 22 will generally come form the top 30, especially in the first half of the year. Also if some of those 14 get games it is not going to change the average (unless Vince, Jones and Lewis don't play in the same game and youngsters replace them). To counter the impact of Vince, Jones and Lewis on the profiles the 'Median' is a better indicator than the 'Average'. Leaving out the 14 will help keep claims like the 'youngest team' and the 'least experienced team' in perspective. I am really pleased with our list profile! It is a long time (decades?) since we have had a core group around 25 years of age. Now the majority of our list is in that range. Ditto the experience profile - the majority of our players will be in the 50 to 150 game range next year. While there is still growth and experience to happen, at last we have a well balanced team with a lot of talent. At last the coaches can work with a team that will grow together. At last we have a list with some stars and a fair amount of depth and competition for spots. At last we can look forward with confidence!

On a side note, I noticed in the Financial Report last week that: '$1.847m was attributable to the growth in player payments limits following the finalisation of the industry’s Collective Bargaining Agreement'. Given that the CBA increase was about $2.1m pa I hadn’t expected the club to be able to spend most of it straight away. So, I would think Mahoney has been busy negotiating contract $ without changing contract length eg - - Big increase in contract $ for high performers like Oliver, Hibberd and Jetta with the increase being a large ‘upfront’ payment in 2017. - - Other players may not have received much of an increase in their overall contract $ but agreed to bring forward their payments to 2017. Also, players that renewed their contracts later in the season would likely have included a large ‘upfront’ payment in 2017 eg Hunt and Gawn. On this basis it is clear how we were able to fit Lever’s contract into our salary cap.