Lucifers Hero

Sadly, all the big clubs are monitoring Gus! Like you they are watching the other young stars we are developing. They are simply waiting to cherry pick them out of our list so that we can wallow at the bottom of the ladder forevermore. Hope died today.

Dawes' 2 terrible 1st qtr kicks to inside 50 and his missed goal were total morale killers. Must be totally demoralising for young players see a senior guy dribbling the ball to a free team mate and shortly after miss an unpressured goal from 20 mtrs out!! He gave up any chance of getting momentum back our way. We never recovered! So much for his leadership skills. Simply put, he must go. No need to trade him - just give him away, at least it will clear his massive salary from our cap! We can then use it to reward a younger play or fund Prestia/another player we trade in. We must get better value from the money we are spending on Dawes so sorry to repeat: He must go.

Swans are on a slippery slope: 52 pt loss to WC 89 pt loss to Hawks 21 pt ordinary win vs Lions 10 pt win vs Port 18 pt loss to Richmond Only 3 teams in race for premiership now and 4th spot on the ladder is now up for grabs.

Both coaches talked about the 52 midfield turnovers to the Saints. Yes, 52!! Lucky that wasn't a 15 goal loss!

Hird is such a bad loser and very poor sport. He said: "I thought Ryder was held for three quarters; I thought he was lucky," Hird might think it but it does not need to be said, even if it was true which it wasn't. I didn't think Hird could sink lower in my estimation. But 'playing the man' like that is disgraceful!

Just curious, which seats did you choose?

Have to agree with you LaD. In this case the legal process is yet to be played out on the question of 'guilt'. I prefer that process, the appeal, be heard rather than it be thrown out on a technicality.

It is inconceivable that the players may get off on a technicality: "...WADA can’t go to CAS on a matter that is still before the AFL appeals board. The key question, one being examined by lawyers on all sides of this dispute, is whether Dank, the 34 footballers and ASADA were parties to a single proceeding before the AFL tribunal or whether the case against the players and the case against Dank were separate proceedings heard together for practical reasons. Although the distinction appears prosaic, it could be the difference between doping allegations against the footballers being reheard this year, next year or not at all..." extract from LeGrand's http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/afl/asadas-re-run-of-dank-case-raises-doubts-on-wadas-pursuit/story-fnca0u4y-1227453100717 This sounds like the was-it/was-it-not a 'joint investigation' by AFL/ASADA all over again!! Its conceivable that 'testing' whether the two cases were 'separate proceedings' could be tied up in the courts for yonks. I wouldn't be surprised if Hird's legal entourage men were behind the Dank appeal...bog it down in the courts is their mantra! And EFC seem to have some influential monied people who helped before and may now support Dank. Le Grand has a history of writing pro Ess articles so lets hope this is a 'storm in a teacup' and that the 'separate proceedings' issue is just desperate people clutching at straws!

Looks like Jared Rivers will call it quits at the end of the year. http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-07-21/rivers-runs-dry-as-cat-concedes-season-may-be-his-last- Extract: "He (Rivers) said he was aware he needed seven games to reach the 200-game milestone..."It’s a big thing for some people, and for me, who has had an up and down career with injuries and also playing at two different clubs, I’d love to try and get to 200," Rivers said. "It’s been a battle, but there’s still a chance to get there and it would be a proud moment for me." Jared was a great servant of our club, gave his all in the worst of circumstances. As the 200 games mean so much to him, I hope his injuries stay away so the Cats can get him those 7 games. Its a shame their last game isn't against us...we could give him an MCG farewell and beat the Cats, again!

There are many things the AFL can do to 'equalise'. But they seem to favour the bigger Vic clubs at every opportunity. This year the AFL introduced a lot more 'old fashioned' time slots (ie 2.10pm start). Well take a look at which teams got most of them, as their home games no less! Given that we (and) others have been banished from the lucrative Fri night here was was a golden opportunity for the AFL to give us a bit of a leg up with lot of 2.10pm times. They didn't. It would have cost them nothing. They just don't give a damn. Next year there will be a lot of stand-alone Thursday night games (as well as the Friday night ones). No prizes for guessing which teams will get those prime spots! Not good enough, AFL!

Here is the rnd 14 player reviews: http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2015-07-22/vfl-player-review-round-14 Quite frank as always. Really valuable commentary to see how players are tracking in the coach's eyes. A few extracts on our younger players: Jayden Hunt: Jayden’s been a real find for us and he’s developed really quickly and he’s played three really solid games in the VFL now. His impact around the footy, particularly when he had some space was very, very exciting. Max King: Kingy had seven possessions and the one thing I really liked about his game was his ability to compete and bring the ball to ground. He was able to compete and create opportunities for our smaller forwards. I thought from a compliant point of view, he was good. Oscar McDonald: Every week he seems to get better in the areas we need him to focus on. Ben Newton: We wanted to challenge Ben with his work around the contest and his tackling...Ben’s playing his role, but we’ve got some things we’re really encouraging Ben to continue to improve on. Jimmy Toumpas: It was the second week in a row that he had high tackles. It’s an area of his game that we’re really encouraging Toump to improve in. These are selective extracts on my part. Its easy to see the parallels with how Roos is coaching the seniors eg Max King. I really like that each player is being given specific things to work on and assessed accordingly and not so much on stats. Real player development, at last!

At the end of 2013 they lost 5 players wanting to 'go home', including at least 2, 1st round draft picks. Mostly they got crap picks back from the home state clubs eg Docherty (Blues), Polac (Port), Yeo (Eagles)...have forgotten the others. I reckon they will base their case on this mass exodus (which was caused by their crap development and crap player welfare management). Their position is no different to us losing high draft picks (Cook, Blease, Morton, Gysbert etc) because of our crap development and crap player welfare management. Other similarities are AFL sent Swann in (Jackson for us), put money into the club (debt for them, Roos for us), supported a Board revamp. However, the AFL need Lions/Queensland to be 'successful' more than they need us to be. The similarities between the current Lions situation and ours will be conveniently forgotten. I reckon, they will get draft assistance...while its hard to see a contract for Leunberger being big enough for a high1st round compo pick, I can see the AFL using their 'discretion' to make it so. And no will give a damn what Melbourne supporters think!!

Perfect description of the issue: "So in a nutshell the AFL thinks this way; we will maximise attendances by matching up (large) teams to play certain (blockbuster) events and we will appease the ignored (small) clubs by other means. This may appear to end up as “roughly” the same end result financially but the greatest error in this judgement is there is zero consideration for ongoing brand development, marketing, sponsorship and advertising – let alone trying to attract generations to follow your team." No more to add, really!

New gets better: Salem will play in VFL on Sunday.

Jack: CT scan shows bone continuing to heal Surgeon said he can run over next few weeks They will build a program for the nexy few months Jack is very Happy!

Plenty of chat today in footy media that Danger is about to sign with the Crows. If true, very happy to see Geelong miss out on another FA...Frawley being the other!

You might just get your wish M5...plenty of serious chat in footy media today that Danger is about to sign with the Crows. I wonder how Motlop will react given that the Cats were about to give him up. He might walk to another team, which will continue the Cats slide down the ladder without him and Danger. Like you I would be happy to see them slide! Would also be very happy to see Motlop come to us!

Awesome news! Great to see that Jack and Christian have become such good buddies. Similar to the man-love between Nat and Gus. The two young guys could not have better role-models!

As others have mentioned our young guys are due for a rest: Brayshaw, Stretch, ANB, Harmes, JKH (only 2nd year). I can see Roos rotating 2 at a time at Casey and 2 of those that are in the seniors sharing the sub vest. We have only 7 games left so that 'kids rotation' approach gives the coaches a good chance to look at some other players to decide eos contract positions (and/or bring Kent and Salem back).

Go back and read my post and the original article! It is very obvious what Roos said: a tall and a midfielder...not 'more bloody mids'; not 'maybe a tall if Howe leaves!' So, who is over-reading Roos' comments!!!! His comments hardly seem a 'spur of the moment' response as the whole article (and this thread) are based on Roos' assumed intention that a current A+ midfielder will be targeted this year. The titles of the article and this thread are misleading!

In the article in the op post, Roos is quoted as saying: We can't have enough good players full stop – I'm happy to get a tall and a midfielder. "To take the next step, we'll evolve naturally as a group, but it would still be great to add an A+ midfielder." Roos does not say he is going after an A+ midfielder this year. My interpretation of the quote is that if an A+ midfielder falls in our lap this year, great but we target a tall and a midfielder this year (Prestia??) and then the A+ midfielder in a few years. I reckon by then we will have one or two of our own A/A+ midfielders but they will be just 21 to 23 years old. That will be the time to get the then 25 to 26 year old A+ midfielder, when we are in finals contention. So would be surprised to see us recruit someone that is already an A/A+, player this year.

Jack has his scans today. Would love to see him in the red and blue again. He would relish playing again especially with so many other good players around him. I think the results come back in a few days. Keeping fingers and toes crossed that the news is all good, for Jack.

Yes, it was an ugly win but why are so many people complaining? Haven't we had enough ugly losses to last 10 lifetimes! I thought Cross summed it up well: “Winning ugly and winning pretty – it doesn’t matter, four points is exactly what we’re after.” Cross added the education from this win will be invaluable for the emerging Demons. “We’ll learn from it again and the coach (Paul Roos) has been great at educating us through the week, whether we win or whether we lose. Would imagine this (ugly) win will be great for player's morale, confidence and experience. Belief will build, the pretty wins will come. Like others on here, I will take any win we get

Cross was very glowing of Rawlings: "We’ve got some real chemistry going down there....“Jade is doing a terrific job with us, but we’re taking over that group now and coming up with vision and looking at other teams and how we want to perform as a unit – not just as individual. This sounds like the back six are taking ownership and leadership of themselves and coming up with their own work, research, tactics and not rely on the coach (Rawlings) to have all the ideas...a real sign of team maturity. This is where the real benefit of experienced players, with the right attitude, who have played in successful (finals) teams kicks in. Lumumba and Cross will leave a legacy far more than we can see on any game day.

I like that Roos kept the same (losing) team and backed them in. Great for player and team belief. They repaid the faith today.