Lucifers Hero

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-05-16/jesse-hogan-dignosed-with-testicular-cancer And our captain adds a bit more on how the players felt: "Jones said the news about Hogan was used as a motivating factor ahead of the club's 41-point win over Adelaide last Saturday night. ... "It was definitely mentioned, particularly when one of our mates is facing some of the things 'Hoges' has faced," ... "It was an opportunity for us to draw on some of that inspiration, particularly with how he's handled himself and the adversity he's faced. ... "It pales into insignificance the fact that we're playing a game of footy and we've got one of our mates going through the stuff he's been through. ... "Our best way of honouring that was performing on the weekend and making sure we keep a really positive vibe around the footy club and keep supporting him as well as he can." Its hard not to be emotional reading about Jesse's illness, adversity resilience. So glad the guys were able to did deep for Jesse vs the Crows - Lots to be proud of about our club and our team.

MFC Draft Picks: Round 1 (Pick 6), Round 2 (Pick 14), Round 3 (Pick 22), Round 4 (Pick 30) Carlton are dopey, daring or desperate: They have traded their first 3 picks (5, 13, 21) for Collingwood's 2017 B&F Nicola Stevens. http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-05-16/blues-trade-three-picks-to-snare-top-aflw-pie-stevens Putting a lot of eggs in one basket!

A bit more on the behind the scenes: http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/melbourne-forward-jesse-hogan-diagnosed-with-testicular-cancer/news-story/355c4b600b5293f0a8140ada716fbbb4 Mahoney's comments on Jesse: “... what we’re seeing is a young 22-year-old mature before our eyes,” ... “The way he’s handled the death of his father, returned to the club and the way he handled himself that week was a tremendous effort. ... “All we can do as a club at the moment is offer support and help him and his family through this. ...“We’re confident from what we’ve seen already he’s going to bounce back out of this. He’s a very resilient character.” Mahoney's comments on team mates: “You can imagine how emotional they were about the situation that Jesse’s going through,” ... “For them to perform the way they did on the weekend was all they could do. They said all they could do for Jesse was play the best they can. They’ve been tremendous with him ever since. ... “It’s inspiring what Jesse has been through this year to still perform and still be around the club. It’s one of those ones that when he does get back, everyone will rally around him and look forward to him getting back to playing.” Moving comments.

Mahoney didn't say where Jesse is. I'm hoping the surgery is in Perth so he is surrounded by his immediate family. I read somewhere that he is the youngest of 4 by 12 years in which case he will have a few nieces and nephews. Kids fussing over you can be very therapeutic! Having your Mum fuss over you is also pretty special! If there is any positive in this sad news it is that it may prompt others to be checked and more open discussions will benefit many people.

Mahoney was accompanied by the club doctor. Comments as best I could type: Jesse saw club doctor last week as had a lump Extremely early detection, is at a very early stage and has not spread. Jesse wanted to play last weekend. (God bless him) He is in good spirits and positive about the outlook. Doctor said he won't need chemo (I think that is what he said). Recovery 4 to 8 weeks. Best wishes Jesse and family.

Just for you! http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/brownlow-tracker-round-8-melbourne-youngster-clayton-oliver-begins-to-make-serious-run/news-story/0c0d03cb6875ee81848716319b47c310 Summary: HS - not in top 7 The Age - leads voting Triple M - 6th SEN - not in top 10...(what games are their vote givers watching!!) 3AW - leads voting Crownbet (Brownlow) - 7th on $21 Their voters must watch the 'name' players rather than who is performing and impacting games to not see what Clarrie is doing. Also there is an 'East Coast' bias - Elliot Yeo is leading the Coaches voting. The only one of the above to have him in their top vote getters is SEN where is 7th. Lets hope the umpires don't suffer the same biases as the media. On Clarrie's winning prospects, now that Viney has hit form he will start taking votes from him. Maybe they can be 1st and 2nd in everything!!

Not about censorship at all od - its about privacy imo. We now have the very sad, sad news that Jesse has testicular cancer. The club was absolutely right in protecting Jesse. In an ironic way your post is correct about not burying issues that should be talked about. Testicular cancer is a major health issue for men and if there is to be a positive to this sad news, prompting others to be checked and open discussion will benefit many people.

FOUR players in TOW: Viney, Hibberd, Petracca and of course Oliver with 72% of fans voting him on the bench, http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-05-16/team-of-the-week-r8-did-we-get-it-right Our guys are regularly featuring in TOW which is great for them and the club. Well done, guys!

Clean sweep of the coaches votes! 10 Viney 8 Hibberd 5 Oliver 5 Petracca 2 Vince That is a seriously dominant performance by our midfield (and Hibberd). Well done guys. Btw Oliver is now 3rd on the leaderboard with 36 votes, to Sloane (42) and Yeo (43), leading such luminaries as Ablett, Bontempelli, Selwood and on it goes.

Its only Monday, dimmy... ...there is still plenty of time for the anti-Mac's to come out of the woodwork

Correct which is why it isn't surprising Bernie got a fine even tho he was blindsided and it was the umpires fault. The problem is Guthrie literally manhandled the umpire and deliberately pushed him out of the way but was cleared. The inconsistency of interpretation is the issue. Which is what riles me as our players seem to get the raw deal more often than not.

Bernie gets a $1,000 fine for a blindsided hit with the umpire - deemed 'careless contact'. Guthrie gets off for pushing the umpire out of the way and he gets off - deemed "It was the view of the panel the contact was not unreasonable in the circumstances" http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-05-15/match-review-panel-full-statement-round-eight I'm convinced the MRP has it in for Demon players.

If anything I thought his right boot was over the line when he kicked it. Oliver's left foot is on the line and his right boot appears to take a divot on the outside of the line just before kicking. Impossible to tell tho' where the ball was at the point of impact. Benefit of the doubt to Clarrie As an aside, don't all goals get reviewed before the next bounce anyway? No complaints from the upstairs umpire. Clarrie's goal!

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/teams/melbourne/angus-brayshaws-fourth-concussion-in-12-months-just-dreadful-luck/news-story/da88096dccdd0cde8c185cd4243a5aa8 Gus's dad Mark: “Mild concussion is how I would describe it. So far his response has been consistent with that diagnosis and I am sure he will have to go through the tests tomorrow,” Mark Brayshaw told the Herald Sun. “He didn’t lose consciousness and it was a fair knock. It was part of the game and nothing untoward and it is just dreadful luck. “I was there and saw the hit and anyone else would have been stunned and had the same reaction. It is just really bad luck. “What happens now is up to the club but he seems to be OK. He could be worse.” Certainly, he would be worried about his son but it doesn't sound like he wants Gus to hang up his boots. I'll stick with him until we here otherwise.

Whatever the illness is I feel we should not speculate as it could be a personal matter. The more speculation on here the more likely the press will take the innuendo and make a story about it. Or in interviews, push the club or players for explanations. All it does is put more pressure on Jesse. The club is protecting Jesse and his privacy, I feel we should do the same and just let it go. That includes the posters who make 'he won't be back for a while' type comments. I am so glad we won without him - it helps take any pressure off him to hurry back to help the team win. He will play when he is well.

It seemed that Jacobs tapped the ball to where Sloane was supposed to be (Bernie knew where that would be from days of old). So Viney and co knowing where that tap would go and that Sloane was being stopped went straight to that spot. Result a clean clearance. The other crows mid fielders expecting Sloane to get the tap down didn't fill the space or back up. Nor did they do what the Hawks did: let us get the clearance, attack the ball carrier and run away with the spilt balled. So last week we won the clearances but couldn't get the ball out but this week we did. My conclusion is the Crows mid field isn't very smart. They didn't adjust during the game.

Plapp paints a darkish picture. http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2017-05-14/brayshaw-suffers-another-head-knock I wonder if he should just say 'we need to wait for a medical assessment' and leave it at that. It doesn't serve any purpose to say 'its not good', 'its not good' a number of times because he probably doesn't really know. And if he does know a post game interview isn't the right time to say it.

They played the Port club song instead of the Australian National Anthem. http://www.theage.com.au/afl/port-adelaide-song-played-instead-of-australian-national-anthem-at-shanghai-match-20170514-gw4ixk.html Farce on Farce!

AFL had lots of chest beating saying the China game was a sell out! Well, the stadium looks half empty. Did the tickets go to rent-a-crowd who couldn't be bothered or did the alcohol ban to the masses keep them away? I assume Gil and co are enjoying their wines and beers in their corporate boxes!! So hypocritical. So AFL!

In Bernie's interview he was asked about Jack Watts singing 'Sweet Caroline'. He said the boys love singing that song, especially Jack. The Hawks sang 'Horses' away from the cameras after special wins. 'Sweet Caroline' might be our equivalent. Has anyone heard of the boys singing it before? In case anyone needs reminding of it: I suspect it is the chorus that seems so apt. Certainly Jack knows what the dark times are like and why the 'good times never seemed so good'! Glad to here the boys might have their own 'special song' a bit of extra bonding.

I was going to be rather humble about my pre-game comments but you give me the perfect segway to bask in a little sunshine. I don't know how to quote a post from another (Match Preview) thread but here is my post #274: "When we played StKilda round 1, a turning point was when we stopped trying to take possession of the ball and moved it forward at all costs by any means eg push, tap, kick off the ground. It was very successful for us and a good way to get the ball out of the pack. Since then we have predominantly relied on handballs which results in overusing the ball. Hawks and Bulldogs are masters at moving the ball without taking possession - after all without possession you can't be tackled. Circular handball will play into the Crows' hands so I would like to see us move the ball without taking possession more often as it works to our advantage being the shorter side and allows our speedier players to go to work". OK I am showing off so will see myself out now...

Goodwin would be quietly chaffed about beating his old team on their home turf. Fair to say that he and Bernie had some inside knowledge on how to play that ground and many Crow players strengths and weaknesses. This game may the one people will look back and say 'Goodwin announced himself as a coach'. Awesome play by a coach who has been in the hot seat for a few months. Shows a steely resolve and confidence. He is doing so much right. I especially like that in many games this year he has made a lot of moves at half time. Makes it really unpredictable for op coaches to reset during the game. Loved the way the team really played for him last night. Proud night for all concerned.

Can we send a humble pie to SEN for Garry's enjoyment. With 'Not Mentally Brittle' iced on top. Hope he has the good grace to pump the team's tyres, this week!! Awesome win. One for the true believers! Go Dees!

That is true but in a season where the top 8 is wide open they will probably make it because they have won games they should have and thrashed the bottom teams to get a good %. Whether they deserve to make the 8 is a moot point. The cards are falling their way. I just wish it was us.

In 2015, coming 11th in the Bluey as a 19 yo first year player doesn't show anything at AFL level? Some people are hard to please!!