Lucifers Hero

An article on the club website about Petracca's training and 2016. A very measured appoach: http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2015-12-06/petracca-ready-to-go-in-2016 Mahoney says: '"We've seen over the last few years that we don't have any expectations set on our young players, but having said that we don't have any limits put on them either," Mahoney said. What a change a few years makes on our approach to development! Almost as an afterthought he adds that we are having 'on-going' discussions with Jesse to extend beyond 2017. No news is good news, I guess. I feel quite relaxed about just enjoying Jesse play and wait till he is ready.

In my study days we applied 'deductive reasoning' (a legitimate tool of logic when facts are not available) to draw a conclusion. In those days when discussing risk we also talked 'probability'. Therefore my logic on Goodwin's position is: - Bomber (Senior Ass Coach) and Dr Reid did not know of the 'good stuff' and injection regime until long after the program started. Given that Goodwin was junior to them there is a high probability he did not know. - that he took a substance that was legal does not implicate him in any legal or illegal substance regime. - he was interviewed by ASADA and they did not find cause to issue sanction notices (nor did the AFL fine him) - the WADA rules at the time were not broad enough to implicate (some) support staff. Therefore, my reasoned conclusion on risk: As a relative 'junior' at EFC there is a very low probability that Goodwin will receive any suspension. To the MFC decision: To state the obvious: Everything has a risk! But, smart operators make rational decisions. ie 1) identify a risk 2) evaluate whether the risk has a low or high probability of occurrence and 3) take out 'insurance' via contingency plans and/or contract clauses to mitigate the risk. ie exactly what we do in our everyday lives!! MFC is run by smart people. Yes, it is true!! I have absolutely no doubt the club did those 3 things. They made a rational decision in hiring Goodwin. We have smart operators running our club and to pot them is just plain silly...

Not challenging those thoughts 'Macca' just putting some context around my earlier post on support staff: here is the ASADA document referencing WADA changes at 01/01/15 https://www.asada.gov.au/rules-and-violations/anti-doping-rule-violations 'Complicity' was broadened in its application to support staff to include more people and activties. My recollection is it was not broad enough pre 01/01/15 to catch EFC staff. But could easily be wrong.

From the article it is difficult to tell when the offencse occurred. It refers to a 'new rule'. My recollection is that WADA changed the rules as at 01/01/15 to: - increase player suspension maximums from 2 yrs to 4 for offences after 01/01/15...hence why EFC players face a max 2 years - support staff could be banned, or at least the circumstances under which they are banned was broadened (again I think it was for sins after 01/01/15) but not entirely sure of how it works for support staff. Even if Goodwin is suspended (which I doubt) we have McCartney at the ready.

I make the extra revenue to be $900k to $1m! Increased revenue will help pay for the much needed increase in football department spend, which has been Jackson's # 1 spending priority (rightly so). He recognises that better player facilities, development and welfare support are a critical part of keeping and attracting good players...little steps but we are getting there...the building blocks are almost all in place. ...as always win a few more games (especially early in the season) and things get a lot better a lot faster.

I like how you 'adopted' the new club logo! Looks terrific!

All the more reason to give Caro credit for putting it out there. She would definitely have told Gil the story was going to print. 'No surprises' is rule # 1. He may or may not have asked her to reconsider. Either way she published!

The closest comparison I can find to last year is 21,118 as at Dec 1, 2014. 24,402 so far, bodes well!

WOW, WOW!! It seems the players 'forgot' to mention 'Thymosin': " Essendon players have struggled to explain why they omitted to mention they had been injected with substances including Thymosin when they were questioned by drug testers during the 2012 season....Several of the seven past and present Bombers players summoned last month to appear before the Court of Arbitration for Sport were cross-examined as to why — if they believed they were taking legitimate drugs — they neglected to mention those drugs and the injections" http://www.theage.com.au/afl/cas-concern-over-why-bombers-omitted-to-mention-thymosin-injections-20151204-glfnbm.html "The three-man panel of independent arbitrators indicated they found the omissions troubling." Those 'omissions' certainly aren't 'co-operation' so can't help their chances of reduced penalties, if found guilty. It also pours cold water on their claim that they were 'duped'!! Caroline also writes: "Uncertainty and in some cases blatant pessimism followed the hearing with several player managers confirming the 34 Essendon players charged would certainly mount legal action against the club and potentially the AFL if found guilty and suspended". Not looking good for the players. Hoisted by their own petard, I would say!

That is a great insight into a young man's journey so far. Thank you. He has shown real determination and desire. Will look forward to watching him play at Casey. Really, hope he gets his dream to play AFL...with the Dees of course!

Thanks for the new site. Great work. What could reduce some white is if the 'profile' detail under each poster's avatar was removed each post would be smaller (and more posts would fit on a screen 'page'). Also, the 'box' with the post being quoted is almost white so this could be darkened in some way. ...If people want to see 'profile' detail they can point the cursor at the avatar for a summary or click on it to see the detail. For mine, seeing the detail repeated for each post is more of a distraction...don't know about other posters.

Agreed...any other club but Essendon! After the supplements/drugs disaster they should be at the bottom of the list. They have a sense of entitlement where they think they can just waltz in and do as they please. Can't stand them!

EFC are going after a licence! http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-12-01/dons-to-bid-on-licence-for-2017-womens-league?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=RSS+feed%3A+AFL+Latest+News From The Age on the same topic: "The Bombers hosted a training session at their Tullamarine training facility on Tuesday evening for 80 young women from the AFL Victoria Women's Academy Program". Of all the Vic teams they least deserve one. They have done SFA for the women's game and are now jumping on the bandwagon. I will be really filthy if they get one.

They are probably sick of the AFL being a law unto itself and whitewashing issues to suit the 'spin' it wants to put out there, be it tanking, be it the Talia boys. But they have chosen a 'small fry' issue to take the AFL to task on. If EFC players are found guilty by CAS the State gambling watchdog would have a case for investigating AFL, EFC et al!!!! Of course we know that will not happen: neither side of politics have the stomach for it!

It is the players that get a suspension from the CAS appeal. It is unlikely that the AFL will take any action against support staff at EFC (they cleared Goodwin in 2013). Nonetheless, we have McCartney an experienced AFL coach, known to the players and the club, to step straight in.

Roos might take the wrap for the trade of Melksham but in a pre-draft interview Garry Lyon asked Goodwin if Melksham was a 'captains pick'. Goodwin side-stepped the question and said something like he had worked with Melksham and could add to the discussion etc. I interpreted the answer that it was Goodwin's call. But does it matter who pushed for him? If Melksham performs well when he plays it was worth while. We will just have to pretend that he is injured, if suspended. As a footnote, I'm quite surprised that the WADA chief would give those opinions while deliberations are still happening.

With only pick 6 it was either Weideman or Oliver not both. We had to get our Forward this year as there aren't any goodies next year at our likely 1st round pick next year. So with only pick 6 this year we miss out on Oliver. We have lost nothing but gained a top player one year early.

I know he belongs to another club but Nat Fyfe is an awesome person. http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-11-26/nats-maldives-mission-brownlow-medallist-builds-a-bridge?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=RSS+feed%3A+AFL+Latest+News Holidaying in The Maldives he helped a mate repair a bridge that was seriously dangerous which the local people really needed. Thoughtfulness and effort like that puts football into perspective. Great pics of their work His effort is worth recognising I thought.

21,794 today - 1,500 up from last week! Possibly the effect of the new 'Melbourne' campaign...lifting awareness/memberships Tracking about 1,000 ahead of same time last year. I'm optimistic that with all the good news coming from the club and no bad news (as I cross fingers and toes) that we will beat last year's figure and maybe give the 40,000 target a decent nudge!

Given the stuff in that ABC story, I am amazed, staggered, perplexed and baffled that the AFL Tribunal could not be 'comfortably satisfied' that TB4 was administered or intended to be administered to at least some players. Just WOW!!

Having heard this week that Grandpa Weideman and our Barassi are great mates reminds me of the 50 year GF celebration the players had at the Bentleigh Club last year. When the GF players were on the stage reminiscing I recall one (Brian Dixon, maybe) saying the GF he remembers the most was the one we lost in 1958!! The players are still livid about that. So I would love to be a fly on the wall when Grandpa Weideman and Barassi get together for a few beers!

With you all the way there, Mr Hemingway! Just one thing to add to the underlined sentence: Goal after the siren, in the Grand Final would be just perfect! Payback!! ...altho I don't think I could cope with the suspense...

Here is an early AFL list of 2016 draftees http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-11-26/the-next-batch-whos-the-pick-of-the-2016-draft-crop?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=RSS+feed%3A+AFL+Latest+News Not necessarily top 10 but 10 that will probably be in the 1st round. Notice no tall forwards in that 10. That I think is the key to the trade of next years 1st rnd pick for an extra top 10 pick this year. With all the Academy players (again) and a mid ladder finish our 2016 1st pick would be around # 13-15 and any decent tall forwards will be long gone by then. We had to get our tall forward this year!!!! I now wonder if Weideman was the reason for trading up to pick 3. Then when Oliver stormed home, we knew he wouldn't get to #7. We took a punt...it paid off and we got both! Next year the draft is touted as running deep for mid-fielders. We should be able to pick up another with some speed next year. That is about all we need to finish off a balanced 'best 22' plus some decent depth. The foresight and forward planning by the Club this off-season has been exceptional.

This article from Jake Niall discusses the random selection of the players asked to testify (@ CAS's request) http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/how-and-why-essendon-players-were-called-up-to-hearing-20151125-gl7t2e.html It looks like the AFL's and player's submission have pushed really hard 'for the players to miss no games', if found guilty. It would be really interesting to know what position WADA have taken on this. If 'Dees2014' is reading this, could you shed some light on the WADA response to the AFL submission on penalties ie if they supported, modified or opposed it? The article says as submissions on penalties have already been made any penalties will be announced at the time of the verdict and if imposed will be effective immediately. EFC are hoping for verdict pre Xmas but CAS have said they don't know so could be Jan.

Sorry 'hoopla', I need to reword that sentence: I just hope he quickly comes to terms with the fact that he is now an AFL player who will be given the development and opportunity to be the best he can be and does not need to be the messiah people hope for ...and is not burdened at being a high draft pick as it means zip.