Lucifers Hero

Surprise, Surprise - Luke Hodge is coming out of retirement https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/its-official-luke-hodge-is-coming-out-of-retirement-and-wants-to-play-for-the-brisbane-lions-in-2018/news-story/8fd413ce8af22b1a6843f64ed223790b Didn't the AFL ban this after a Brisbane player went to Ess and avoided being traded about 10 years ago? Brisbane missed out on a draft pick/player. I thought they made a rule that if you retire you have to stay out of the game for 3 years. Is the rule gone or conveniently forgotten? Edit: Hawthorn have since announced they will accept a late pick to enable Hodge to go to Lions. So rule of 3 years retired appears to still be in place.

I thought that WADA changed the rule after and because, of the Ess drug saga and their frustration at not being able to ban the perpetrators. Could be wrong tho.

The 2017 Keith "Bluey" Truscott Memorial Trophy is being held tonight at the Palladium Ballroom at Crown Casino. It will be streamed live on Monday night. http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2017-10-05/best-and-fairest-live-stream In past years I keenly watch this thread for updates from people that are there or watch the club twitter feed. Will enjoy seeing it live. Great initiative by the club. Who do you think will take out the Bluey?

I've had enough of how this club has publicly put Jack down, all year. Warranted or not no player deserves to hear his captain and coach regularly chastise him in public. If Jack stays against Goodwin's wishes, I can only see the diatribe from him and Jones to continue. It may even intensify. Very difficult to perform in a toxic environment. So, I would like Jack to go. Hold your head high Jack for having survived a toxic club for most of the nine years. As a human being you deserve better than what mfc and its supporters can give you. Get out while you can Jack. Go where you will be appreciated and where you are supported and 'set up for success'.

His premierships were in his first 2 years at the crows and his captaincy started 10 years later. So it could not be said that he was a leader of a successful team. Also, many excellent and decorated players are appointed to leadership positions eg captains that aren't good leaders; look no further than our beloved Demons. Individual success + Captaincy do not = Good Leadership When given the opportunity to show leadership he didn't: 1. At the age of 30 and about to be appointed Captain at the Crows he was taken to task by the AFL for gambling on an AFL game. After being appointed captain he had treatment for a long standing gambling addiction. Set good standards - I think not! Did not show leadership, especially of a young team that looked up to him. 2. At the age of 32 he was Ass Coach of a club that implemented an unprecedented doping regime over an extended period of time. He was not cited, probably because WADA rules didn't extend to support staff. Set good standards - I think not! Did not show leadership, especially of a young team that looked up to him and relied on him amongst others to look after their well being. He was a very successful player, average as captain, failed as an asst coach, average as first year senior coach and I can find no evidence that he is a good leader of any sort let alone a natural leader or a successful leader. So hopefully people will stop talking about his leadership skills.

With Lever's manager joining Colllingwood they are not in the race for Lever. They are the only team reportedly prepared to offer 2 1st round picks. It was probably a rumour to make out there is a bidding war to force our hand. So there isn't much competition out there for the price Adelaide is asking. The ink isn't dry but Adel don't have much bargaining power. And the AFL will step in to make it happen if it has to.

The irony is yesterday Jack made an impassioned public plea for the club to let him stay. I wish they would play it out a bit more privately but instead we have a public Mexican standoff. Things seem very icy! Our B & F next Monday should be interesting if Jack attends.

Normally, I would agree bing. But the clubs mentioned have high 1st round picks, and only Geelong has a pick around 20. The rest are mid to high 2nd round. http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-10-01/indicative-draft-order-post-grand-final So I was going on what currency they have rather than what Jack is 'worth'. It sounds like the club just want Jack out so my sense is we will do the best deal with the club he nominates. Would be delighted to be wrong and we get a pick in the 20's than the 30's.

Looks like pies are interested in Jack. http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-10-04/trade-wrap-magpies-enter-the-ring-for-watts Now that Stringer has nominated Essendon, Geelong's reported interest in Jack might ramp up. WCE, Port and Syd reported as also interested. And I recall hearing the Bulldogs have some interest. They all need a forward or a link man. Mahoney sounded almost angry this morning and my take was there was little chance of Jack staying. They will probably take whatever pick they can get and looking at the picks those clubs hold it could easily be a late second round. Methinks there is a fire sale coming up. Sad

WOW! No way Lever would stay at Crows after that. Not happy campers going into the GF. That mood may have contributed to the reported infighting during the second quarter and their lack of effort. Shame the team didn't play as well as Lever did - they might have a Premiership Cup.

We have had some honest dealings with GCS before so that isn't beyond imaginings. They were in the pick trades that helped us get Weideman and Oliver. That is a nice rumour to spread. Keeps Adelaide on their toes: Crows take 10 and 27 or get zip. Poker anyone...

Fascinating that he said the club has had no feedback from Adelaide on that offer. Not only did they reportedly walk out of the initial meeting, weeks later they have not responded. Very disrespectful and unprofessional. Mahoney said the trade offer stacks up well compared to other players. He specifically mentioned Tom Mitchell, Charlie Dixon, Jaegar O'meara and Jake Carlisle. Adelaide are trying to paint a picture that he is coming back for the money but other clubs have offered more. Very disrespectful to Jake. Last year GCS waited to 9 minutes to trade cut off time to agree to O'meara trade which forced Hawks to make some crazy pick trades which left StK with their 1st 2018 pick etc. Lets just hope it doesn't come to that for us. I would think if it drags out with no resolution the AFL will arbitrate. As an aside SEN reported that when Jake rang his teammates with his decision some senior players reacted poorly and Tex told him in no uncertain terms what he thought. Edit: They also reported that the Crows initial offer to Jake was around $300k and their final offer was around $550K. Somehow they are surprised when he decides to leave come out with 'fake outrage'. They are clearly smarting from their GF loss and are playing a hardball game in the media over Jake.

Not sure. I was thinking if it is ok for the AFL to put it on their website, why not for MFC website which is where Melbourne supporters would go to get info about the club, players etc. Clubs can choose what AFL material goes on their own website and it seems MFC has chosen to not put up the Jack article. I think I read Jimmy Bartel was there, promoting the TAB Spring Carnival but whether it was AFL branded/sanctioned I don't know.

What a terrible and contemptuous way to negotiate, not. It was a decent opening offer and they just up and leave! Bizzare. Burton sounded like a real dropkick on Trade Radio today. He was asked if other clubs had offered the Crows a similar trade as mfc has. He dodged the question and said something like 'he didn't want to discuss that as it wouldn't be helpful to the negotiations.' It makes me wonder if no other interested club has bettered mfc's offer. Burton had better get his priorities sorted and get back to the negotiating table.

It is telling that the club has put on the mfc website the AFL article where Goodwin puts the trade Jack story http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2017-10-02/-watts-cycle-hasnt-changed-goodwin Note: the issue is no longer about 'failing expectations' it is about 'being in a rut'. But it has not put up this AFL article where Jack states his love for the club: http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-10-03/i-love-the-club-watts-not-keen-to-leave Articles usually go up on club websites within a few hours of the AFL issuing them eg The Lever story is on the mfc website so there is no reason why the Jack story isn't there. I'm not liking how our club is handling this. If they put up one side of the story they should put up the other. It seems the club is reluctant to do that. I think supporters should be provided access to Jack's position whether the club likes it or not.

Hmmm - methinks you underestimate his manager - Paul Connors, the best in the business. On SEN today it was reported a number of Vic clubs showed interest including Bulldogs and Geelong (depending what happens with Stringer, who Connors also manages) and I have forgotten the other clubs. Re: comfort of his home surrounds. Jack is a well rounded individual and his friends and family are an important part of his life (just as they are for Lever which is why he is coming home). Whether people are a Jack fan or not, surely he has the right to decide where he lives without being chastised for it.

I suspect that comment was not as accidental as it sounded. Thought it a nice counter move to Burton's irreverent comment: "Crows will deal with the 10 Vic clubs...it is irrelevant to us where he wants to go..." Lever just raised the stakes for the Crows - he is probably as good at Poker as he is at football.

Jack looks like he is holding on very tight and isn't letting go. How more poignant can two words be: 'Last drinks'.

He sounds a compassionate and thoughtful young man. He genuinely looked happy when talking of joining the Dees. Will be a terrific asset for us on and off the field. Should also go well with sponsors - quite articulate.

And in the next breath he invites other clubs to bid for him!!!! They are not happy and are really going to play hard ball. Posturing. They are determined to get those two 1st round picks from the Demons!!. Crikey! Now the club will be embroiled in two public stoushes over player trades.

Sorry UH it was Goodwin/Jones. To recap the sequence: A few weeks ago Goodwin did a spot on RSN and made his spiel on 'expectations' re Jack and it was clear he wasn't supporting Jack. Smoke for the media to stoke the fire. A few days later on SEN Jones repeated 'expectations', not working hard enough away from the club and expecting more from senior players. He also was not supporting Jack. Again smoke for the media to stoke the fire. A few days later Ch 7 interviewed Jack reenacting the QB goal and he talked about his love of the club and would like to stay but didn't seem to know he had to find a new club. Last week he was seen in Adelaide. Last Friday someone supposedly overheard Jack telling a child 'he wanted to stay but its hard when being kicked out'. On Ch7 on Saturday Goodwin was very specific about Jack being asked to look elsewhere. Several weeks ago Jack was committed to the launch of the Spring Carnival. And his comments today were made at that launch - he did not seek out the media. He was doing a job for TAB. Bit hard for him to deny he had to look elsewhere when Goodwin had already said that is what the club wanted. If you doubt this sequence go back about 20 pages of this thread. Each event is extensively discussed.

Quite right. Under Roos' reign, Mahoney was our spokesperson post season. Roos let people do their jobs. Goodwin may be falling for the trap of trying to control everything. As a supporter it was terrific to hear one person give a consistent mfc message regardless of what was happening behind the scenes. Goodwin has been RSN, SEN, Ch 7 for a variety of reasons but always included mixed messages about Jack staying/going and a negative narrative. Yes, he was asked the question about Watts but failed to use a 'straight bat' approach. Now we have a [censored] for tat building between player and coach. Whatever the outcome is, it is not good for our image. Season is over, time for the coach to step back, get off air and let Mahoney do his job - one he does so well.

The rules of Misson's injury report: 1 to 2 is really code for 4.2.6. They really don't know how long soft tissue injuries take. In Jack's case he had had back spasms, a problem ankle and hamstring tightness in the weeks prior but kept playing. So these probably complicated his recovery.

Transcript here:https://twitter.com/traderadio Jack very strong on wanting to stay. Clearly different view than the one Goodwin is trying to portray - that they have a great relationship, he wants to look at options, Jack is welcome to stay etc etc. He and the club are trying to paint a picture that it was Jack's decision to go so that they can appease supporters. Jack is bucking that and letting supporters know he desperately wants to stay. He wouldn't take Goodwin on like that if there was a chance of him staying.

Kennedy - Gone Spencer - Gone Kent - said to be gone. JKH - one year contract renewal just before suspension. Not sure any of them were in our future plans but they certainly didn't help their cause.