Lucifers Hero

A wary and sober assessment of the game by Garry Lyon. http://demonland.com/index.php/index.html Basically he says we have been crap for years but somehow managed upset wins against the bombers after we were thrashed the week before. He asks now that they are crap and were thrashed last week, can they reverse the tables and beat us? Players take note, he says! He says win and we have shown improvement, lose and it might be so bad for players to deal with that a repeat of last year, where we win no more games, might happen. I had to go and find the real paper to see who he tipped: Dees to win by 7pts. I guess that is a fair prediction as the weather and Roos' game style will ensure it is a low scoring game. But if we win, I don't really care what the margin is.

What a tower of strength and great leader is Travis Boak! He consoled Ollie and other players last night, looked after his coach during the week, did interviews before and after the game, gathered the whole club in the rooms to sing the song. (BTW, I thought it was neat they sang it as their tribute even tho AFL had asked clubs not to). He showed similar maturity after Port lost John McCarthy. Boak strikes me as an extraordinary young man. Not as experienced but up there with Hodge as one of the very best captains IMO. Not a bad player either

My observation on events: AFL: targeted Dank on enough of ASADA 'doping' charges to ban him for life but (rightly or wrongly) not enough to implicate players. (AFL targeted and sanctioned Hird/EFC on Governance) ASADA/WADA: targeted Dank as demonstrated by the number of infraction notices (35?) and appeal items (20?) to CAS (and none of either to Hird/EFC). ACC: Target is drug traffickers but no idea how this relates to Dank (Charter seems to be their guy) Gov: The EFC Worksafe 'inquiry' has a narrow scope on process (not in the administering of the long list of substances listed in the AFL charges sheet to Hird/EFC). That is not to say it could not be widened. They seem to have no interest in targeting Dank.

Your commentary thru this saga has been interesting but this post has a number of assumptions and a decent dose of wishful thinking rather than realistic/probable outcomes. Just saying... I would agree that the players were never the main game. But neither were Hird and Co otherwise they would have already received infraction notices. Can't see ASADA/WADA going after them for TB4. The real target was Dank (in addition to the integrity of the anti-doping rules/process). I don't have the same faith in Worksafe as you do but time will tell.

Apparently Hocking and Melscham have been withdrawn from the game. On paper it looks good for us. Just hope it does not lull us into thinking this will easy.

My understanding is that if the players are found guilty determining sanctions comes back to the AFL Tribunal where ASADA rather than WADA make a submission on penalties, so ASADA is the relevant party in this regard...I may be wrong tho.

The other good part is that Harmes, Vandenberg and Brayshaw bring fresh legs which the team will need after the Darwin game.

This might be a reality check to those who have been predicting armageddon for the EFC: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/court-of-arbitration-for-sport-case-against-essendon-to-be-held-in-sydney-20150709-gi90c1 My take is that if the AFL Tribunal verdict is overturned ASADA/WADA will be satisfied. Summary: - likely to be held in Sydney in mid Oct - ASADA accepts a token sanction to players if found guilty (quite appropriate in my book) - Michael Beloff QC has been appointed as Chairman of the CAS panel...a cursory glance at his background makes him eminently suited to the role. Some extracts: Education "A wise and brilliant lawyer, who is an outstanding advocate." European law Absolutely excellent." "His advocacy is always a masterclass in how things should be done." BB and Dees2014 you may need to prepare for a lot less than you hoped for. Hird may go down if players found guilty but that probably is as bad as it gets. Or Hird may just go down for incompetence if the bombers don't lift their game!

Aaron is also in back! So is JKH! That Jimmy is not named as an emergency...must mean he has work to do...

WOW. His excitement is jumping off the page! Really liked this: Harmes said Bernie Vince and Nathan Jones had taken him under his wing. “From day one, Jonesy was getting around me, so probably those two boys [have had the biggest influence on me],” he said. Comments like these (and that by Vand about Cross) show how good our leadership is now. Our senior guys are really mentoring the young guys as much as our coaches are developing their skills. At last we are becoming a professional club.

If I ever I needed another reason to loathe Sheedy this is it: http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-07-09/essendon-to-drop-three-or-four-for-melbourne-clash?utm_medium=RSS Sheedy recalled one of the worst days of his coaching career: August 1, 1992. "We got smashed by Hawthorn and, the next week, we played Melbourne and we won." The 160-point loss to the Hawks was followed by a 32-point victory over the Demons, which remains the Bombers' best form reversal to this day. You can just see them using this to rev up their players, trying to rub it in to us. I just hope Roos uses that quote to rev up our players and make them 'eat Sheedy's words' so to speak.

This is a good game to debut Harmes as it looks like Ess are going to 'play the kids' and ease out their 'dad's army', injured or not (Watson, Fletcher, Cooney, Chapman, Wunderlich). If its going to be kids vs kids then Stretch, ANB, Brayshaw (if fit), Hogan and JKH will make it a good battle. The games we have won or done well in have been where the opp has not had a half decent ruckman, which Ess don't have...and our kids will smash theirs! That would make it a Dees win

Amazing what a bit of on-field form can do. Speaks as he has been playing recently: smart, composed, confident, team oriented. Both on and off field he is showing a lot more self-belief. Great to see.

You may be right about us being too tall forward in the wet but in that case surely the first tall to go would be Dawes. Also, in recent week Jack has lined up on the wing where his smarts have been really valuable and his job has been to set up goals rather than kick them.

Good story...seems it will be a special day for his family as well: Harmes says his Demons allegiance runs deep. "My two pops went for Melbourne and my mum and dad also," he said. He says the day he pulls on the famous Melbourne jumper will be special. "It will be a proud moment for me and my family," he said.

(Also posted on the Changes vs Ess thread): SEN just announced that Harmes has been elevated to the seniors list. A sure hint that he will be selected! Wish him well for his debut.

SEN just announced that Harmes has been elevated to the seniors list. A sure hint that he will be selected! Wish him well for his debut.

I wondered about the same thing last night. During the StK game he couldn't move and had one kick. Then I remembered his 'very rare' torn muscle injury last year, which was high in the buttock and which sports medicos had only seen a few times in the whole world. So on Sunday, I thought it was a recurrence of that which stopped him moving and had him parked in the forward line. At the time of that 'rare' injury I couldn't help but think it could be related to the 'damaging' effect from any of the mysterious substances given him in 2012...only a hypothesis. Jobe may well have a shoulder injury but it may not be the only one. I hope the AFLPA are closely monitoring the injuries at that club.

Yes, the overreactions are just weird. We need look no further than Jack Trengove's situation to know how delicate foot issues are. I hope Frost takes as long as is necessary to be 110% OK before coming back.

If ever we needed reminding of the dangers related to mental health issues what happened in the Walsh home last Friday was incomprehensibly tragic. I am in no way comparing that to the Mitch situation. Simply saying mental issues take people to dark, dark places and no-one knows how those issues might play out. Its possible that some/many of us would have a personal connection to a situation where a person's mental health issues resulted in tragic consequences for them or people close to them So, I feel it is time we all found some compassion for Mitch and let him deal with his issues with privacy and dignity. We can't control what the media do or idiots like Sam say but we can control what we write in this forum. I would like to see our moderators shut down this thread.

Interesting Tribunal dialogue/commentary: “Baguley pleads guilty to intentional striking, but is seeking to have the contact downgraded from high to body contact. - He accuses Lonie of "faking it" when he went to ground after the strike.” “Lonie sticks to his guns when the suggestion is put to him that contact was more than "marginally" less to his neck.” “Adrian Anderson (for Baguley) … infers Lonie's evidence shouldn't be given the same weight as Baguley's.” Odd line of defence by Baguley…’played the man not the ball’ in my book. Lonie not having a bar of it! Good on him! Baguley will be very lucky if he gets off!

Given that Roos came after our eos and Sylvia was signed a few days after the free agency window opened I doubt Roos had anything to do with it all!

Have to agree 'a de c'. In fact Hird is still on his arrogant, self-preservation path. It astounds me that he is taking no responsibility for their woeful form. No comments like: the coaches have work to do, coaches will look at the game plan etc. It is all the players fault: 'they stopped playing' he said!!! Hird has abandoned his players. He is showing the same contempt as when he pumped them with chemical concoctions. The same contempt when he went overseas during the bye but told 'only a few leaders'. Stuff the rest of the playing group! (This may be the defining moment for 'the players to stop playing!') The players must feel rudderless. - Their captain wants to get out. - The coach shows them no respect, has no idea whats wrong but its their fault. - They look at their coaches box which is scaringly uninspiring: Harvey, Neeld, Craig... Can't see them getting out of this abyss anytime soon. I just hope we don't see (in share market parlance) a 'dead-cat-bounce' against us this week!

Yes, Goodwin has had a great training ground: Thompson, Hird, Roos, McCartney. He has seen the good, the bad and the ugly side of coaching and as you say will have learnt a lot from all. It could me more likely we lose McCartney than Goodwin. McC's name hasn't come up yet but 2/3 clubs are our looking for coaches (blues, crows and in time dons). McC's CV is not too shabby either! These two are a great combo who seem to be doing terrific player development to bring out their best. Would hate to see them separated before our team really gets going...a few years, maybe.

In the Age today Rohan Connolly (Ess supporter) tries to argue that Ess performance is basically a result of the mental burdens of the drugs saga. To support his case he asks: "...how do you then account for the current form of three more players involved now at other clubs?Stewart Crameri is stuck in the Western Bulldogs' reserves...Angus Monfries has kicked three goals in Port Adelaide's past four games and hasn't had more than 12 disposals in any of them. And Paddy Ryder has struggled all season..." Connolly is such a Hird apologist he can't see the answer is staring him in the face... ...Rohan! Hello!. The juice has worn off for them all!