Lucifers Hero

He probably falls into the 'mentally scarred' category. Not mentally scarred from the burden of years of accumulated losses, tho. More from never being accountable for performance and being allowed to get away with cameos. He has never had to work for his spot! A difficult addiction to break! He would be about the only regular 22 player on our list that has shown no real improvement. Show him the door. For best deal available.

Grieving Walsh family thanks public for 'overwhelming kindness' We wish to thank everyone for their overwhelming kindness, sympathy and support during this most difficult time. We take comfort in knowing that so many people are thinking of Phil, and us. Phil loved and adored his family, just as much as we loved and adored him. He was a devoted father, husband, son and brother. He was a much-loved uncle, brother-in-law and cousin, and a close friend, mentor and colleague to so many. Our hearts are broken. How much we miss him is beyond measure. Our lives will never be the same, now that Phil is gone. But we will forever love and cherish him. Phil enriched our lives and the lives of so many, and for that we are eternally grateful. We are searching for the strength and will to deal with the loss of Phil. In the arms of those we love we are coping as best we can. We kindly request that our privacy be respected at this time so we can grieve as any family would wish to do in such circumstances. Please continue to keep Phil and us in your thoughts and prayers.

Great wrap for Leuenberger yesterday. http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-07-05/ruck-dilemma-looms-for-lions-after-leuenberger-finds-form?utm_medium=RSS Heard somewhere the Lions are interested in Howe. Straight swap, anyone?

Not much has been said about Phil's son, Cy except for a story with 'nomad' in the headline. Much has been noted about Phil rebuilding his relationship with Cy. While casually reading the sports reports I came across this from Alan Richardson: "I didn't have a lot to do with Phil. I had a lot to do with getting him to Port Adelaide. I met with Phil halfway through the year when he was with West Coast," Richardson said. "It was pretty clear his want was to get to Adelaide to get closer to his son." At the core of his being, whether drug affected or not, Cy would know that he was a much loved son. At some level he would know that his father was making up for lost time, the time lost with him. So it is unimaginable what Cy will go thru. He will have to live with his crime. More than that he will have to live without anymore time with his father. He has deprived himself of one of life's most precious gifts. That may be a greater burden than any the justice system can issue. Here is a young man who seems to have done no wrong in the past. But in a moment of frenzy has shattered his own world and the world of those he loves and love him. I feel great compassion for him. I hope he is treated well by the press as the story unfolds. And if there is to be a lesson from this tragedy it is to tell your family you love them. And, it is to spend time with them, to do things with them. This was so beautifully said in the song: 'Cats in the cradle':

I can usually dee-cipher your cryptic writing dee-luded but the ************************* was open to interpretation ! LOL! Howe is gone. Geelong was but a cameo game.

Freo doubled their own score in the last qtr to beat Lions by 6 goals. Freo have a tough game vs Hawks next week Hawks played fri night in perfect conditions while Freo had a tough, energy sapping, wet slog today. So Hawks have 2 days extra recovery. Then Freo have to fly to Tassie. Don't like their chances of beating the Hawks next week! If Freo lose it will bring them back to the field (top 4 speaking) a little.

I am itching to pot the Bombers but I don't want to mozz us next week. The only thing I feel ok saying is that at least when we lost by 100+ points it was to the reigning premiers not the reigning wooden spooners. Otherwise I will wait till next week to gloat or jump off West Gate bridge

Sadly, not much has changed in 4 years!!!

I was wrong... ...Howe didn't turn a corner...he kept going straight ahead...straight ahead to a new team He went back to selfish, lazy play last night. He wasn't alone, I know. But, ship him out! Don't care if he goes.

That will probably work out well. As the injured players come back ANB and Stretch might need a rest.

Our team still chooses when to turn up to play. 34 vs 15 shots at goal was disgraceful last night. I would like it if our team played hard for 120 min and won in Darwin before we sweat about the game after.

Hawks & Pies have said players will not run thru banners tonight as a show of respect. But, I think once the first siren goes it will business as usual for them. Having said that players/teams who know him will find a way to honour him. Remember, when our Jim died two players carried his playing jumper. Our game vs the Eagles may have players that want to show their respect as Mr Walsh was there for a number of years till 2013. The team may well decide or leave it up to each player so if it feels right for a player to make a show of respect after a goal or some other stage so be it. It will be a poignant game for the Eagles players. Just heard the winning club theme song will not be played at grounds after the games.

Very good pun, OD!

by or buy - it can happen so easily to all of us. No matter how hard I try I find that often a small grammar or spell error slips past. We are both but human.

Tragic for a family to be shattered like this. He also spent a long time at Port fc so they must be hurting deeply like Adelaide fc. Unexpectedly reunited with his very good mate Dean Bailey.

The ins/outs might show Garland replacing Lumumba. But from the list it looks like Toumpas is the on-field replacement and will have the 'run and carry' role. He runs well, is developing poise and in the St K game showed he has a good defensive game. Expecting Jimmy's role to be like Salem's early in the year, when Lumumba was in the midfield. Looks ok to me.

Micro-doping! Its a new phrase to me! It means: "players using tiny amounts of performance-enhancing substances such as testosterone and human growth hormone, which were undetectable". Its the next big AFL issue and the AFL have no idea about it! http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/microdoping-next-challenge-for-afl-warns-player-agent-peter-jess-20150702-gi3tet.html An interesting comment from Judd quoted in the article: "Therefore, the next generation of drug cheats will be caught via surveillance of gyms, anti-ageing clinics and internet purchases, not by urine or blood tests." His reference to anti-ageing clinics brings the whole EFC saga back into focus. Maybe the players were getting their micro-dope fix there! The performance improvement for an athlete is significant: "The micro-doping in the VO2 max [fitness] test, on average, improved the athlete's results by a massive 6.1 per cent. In the 3000-metre run, there was an average improvement of 2.8 per cent." It must be tempting for footballers (and other athletes) if they can't be found out. EFC aside, before long we will be assuming that no sportsperson is clean. A very sad day that will be.

Agree. GCS and AFL would have known. This saga may give insight into why McKenna was sacked and why a high-profile contender didn't get the gig. This week Mckenna and Ablett have said: they had no idea!! What the hell were they and their Player Welfare staff doing? Head in the sand! The AFL dropped the ball! They have fessed up to being so busy with the Ess saga to notice the Lions were imploding. Looks like they didn't act to stop the Suns imploding. Can the GCS recover? Possibly not. Maybe they then merge Lions and Suns? $100m down the drain!! Wasted top draft picks and the codes more talented players. Sour taste for us and other teams stuck at the bottom of the ladder!

You may be right in all that SWYL. My point was solely about the appropriateness of the HS 'exposing' one player. The 12 should be treated equally: Give the protection of confidentiality to all or to none.

Apparently 12 GCS players were named by Hunt. The HS have 'coincidentally' found 'incriminating', 2 yr old photos in their archives of one player. Thereby implicating the player as one of the 12. This is a very shallow and transparent way of getting around the AFL request for player confidentiality. They have set this young man up to be pilloried, humiliated and to be the fall guy. I wounder what else the HS have in their archives on AFL players and why they chose Harley for special exposure? Yes, he is talented, controversial and one of their best known players so makes good headlines. But the cynic in me wonders whether they would do this if he was not an indigenous player. Harley deserves the same protection as other players. Shame on the HS for 'exposing' him or any player. I hope my cynicism is misplaced but I wonder about the HS agenda.

Misson injury interview: - Newton, Garland & Hogan available. (Hogan was ok just being conservative with back and hamstring tightness) - Kent 3 weeks, starts training next week - Vand 2 weeks, did fast running yesterday - Salem 3 weeks, they are being cautious with him - Frost 6 weeks, first run tomorrow. Bursting to get back - Trengove has next scan July 24 which will determine if he can run - Petracca. been running for a week, no sign of a limp. I wouldn't be surprised to see those not available now, come back via Casey given that they would have lost match fitness. Forgot to mention they fly up today to train tomorrow and adjust to the heat.

Thank you.

That will be even better as a new 2 year contract signs him up till 2019! Be it to end of 2018 or 2019 it is another good sign that our young brigade are happy to sign up for several years, post Roos as coach.

This extract form rfpc's 'contract tracking' shows Tyson's contract to expire end of 2016 so 2 years takes him out to end 2018. 2019 Jones 27, 2018 Brayshaw 19, Petracca 19, 2017 Dunn 27, Hogan 20, Viney 20, Lumumba 28, Kennedy-Harris20, Salem 19, 2016 Trengove 22, Dawes 26, Grimes 25 (RFA), Watts 24 (RFA), Michie* 23, Vince 29, Tyson* 21, Kent 21, M Jones 27, Spencer 25 (UFA), T McDonald 22, Terlich 25, Jetta 25, Garlett 25, Stretch 18, Frost 21, Newton 22, Neal-Bullen 19, O McDonald 19 2015 Jamar 31 (UFA), Garland 26 (RFA), McKenzie 24, Howe 24, Gawn 23, Fitzpatrick 23, Toumpas 21, Pedersen 28, Hunt 19, Cross 32, Bail 26, Riley 23, Harmes ® 19, King ® 19, Vandenberg ® 23, White ® 18 The great thing about this is that most of our high end talent will be locked away for at least 2 or 3 years. A few more of our new kids and other talented players to sign up and the core team will be there for some years. It will be great when they get a full season to play together and really start to gel as a team!

For those questioning of Roos: "Assessing the performance of Paul Roos must be made in the context of his main objective which is to hand over a strong list, culture and team in 2017 to his successor Simon Goodwin. On that basis Roos is performing well. The side is more competitive, the players are being developed steadily and performing well when stepping up to the seniors and the team is functioning as a unit more often than not. There have been lapses – such as the last minute of the St Kilda game or the second half against the Magpies – but these can merely be filed into the valuable lessons category, particularly on the back of the win against Geelong. Roos is unlikely to mention the past again as the team has steadily built respect and is now a formidable opponent capable of kicking a winning score". http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-07-01/midyear-coach-ratings?utm_medium=RSS At the risk of sounding like a 'broken record'...Roos is doing exactly what he said he would do: Build the team and develop his successor! When he goes, at the end of 2016 it will be a shame to see him go but we will not be disappointed in the legacy he leaves.