Lucifers Hero

If that happens I will be the first to admit to egg-on-face and eat humble pie. I'm guessing that the hooha around this and the limelight he is getting (and will get forever more if he plays for another Vic club) may be enough for him to decide a comeback isn't worth the risk to his fragile mental health (which I do believe was genuine).

Would have to agree. The comparable one is our previous #1 p-ick. Doubt I will forgive him for lying to my avatar but a mitigating factor for him was the draft system forced him into a two year contract and AFL rules prevented him from being open. In MC's case the decisions and events are in his control. Yes, if MC is being offered to Vic clubs (presumably with his knowledge) then it would be the worst in AFL history.

We may not know for a while whether it is true if he will play again. But going on: Clark's management has been in dialogue with AFL officials about what would need to happen in the event of any comeback quote from the MFC website article, it seems very true that his management is investigating it.That his manager has had discussions with the AFL (and not HIS CURRENT football club) suggests it has gone beyond the rumour stage. I hate to say it even if Mitch doesn't play anywhere again that he/his management have taken it this far is enough! I feel for his illness but he has lost me.

http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2014-09-07/dees-want-say-in-clarks-plans-for-2015 The story is now on MFC website. I know that the Club does not control these articles. Thought this line telling: Clark's management has been in dialogue with AFL officials about what would need to happen in the event of any comeback. Very poor if he hasn't also spokent to the Club as Josh M seems to suggest. I'm feeling very cynical right now and unforgiving so it all looks a bit underhanded to me! My opinion of one MC is spiralling south faster by the minute!

I don't get why he deletes the MFC support tweets. Even if he goes to another Vic Club it doesn't make sense. Only makes sense if a) his brain is scrambled or 2) he had an EOS meeting with PR and it didn't go well and now he is spitting the dummy.

Thnx DN9 This plus the Twitter a/c comments above is stongly pointing to him, if he plays again it won't be with the MFC. Maybe another team has got to him. Afterall, he has already proven he can be bought! Has also proven he is not a man of his word. We fell for his charm fellow DL's. Shattered by the betrayal.

Wondering if he went to the B&F. As a listed player he was entitled to. If he didn't go that is also telling.

Can anyone tell from his twitter feed when it happened?

Maybe GNF was quite right. Going on Mahoney's comment about wanting Mitch to talk to the Club about his plans first, then it looks as if he may have blindsided the Club. If Mitch changed position doesn't mean GNF was wrong/misinformed.

Due to be considered at the next AFL Commission meeting early in Oct

Roos is a great speaker! Loved the passion and determination when he talked about the 2015 season. At the end he said something like - if you don't want to be here 'you know where you can go'!!! He knows who those players are!!! My take is he will delist/trade them along with those who can't/won't change their 'here we go again losing attitude'. He won't care how welll they can play because the mental stuff will always hold them (and the team) back. I already feel better about 2015 to think our list will be made up of only 'positive' attitude types.

I confess to not knowing of him. After reading this article by Emma Q http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/with-a-little-help-lewis-taylors-star-starts-rising-20140903-10c1f7.html I think he is a great human being. That he can play footy is a bonus. For a young man (boy of 16) say to his mother: "...that he loved her, but that she had to earn his respect back after he found out she had taken money from his bank account..." is awesome. To take a stand on a moral issue takes great courage. If I had a daughter this is the sort of guy I would want for her: One that understands respect. The odds were all stacked against him and he will make it. Good on you, Lewy! You deserve it. On this one article he has earn't my respect and I will keenly follow his career.

Very harsh. Totally unnecessary.

Can cope with Garlett but Robinson is a No, No No! He is the DH who attacked us for being a 'bruise free' team. This insult is not something I can forgive. I don't care how much aggro he can bring to the team he is still a NO!!

If this is the case he has only himself to blame for not making a decent effort on a regular basis. Right from the 3rd min mark of the WC game (rd 3/4 maybe) when he chased at a jog his true colours showed. Can play but shows poor attitude. Maybe they think he will be difficult to 're-program'!!

If he passes the team's medical and deemed fit enough to get onto a list he is therefore deemeed fit enough to play. If he is fit to play he is worth a high pick, closer to 10 than 20. Ross Lyon will do his due diligence and if he wants him he will move heaven and earth to get him. Ross may also need to include a player in the trade to make salary cap room. If going to Feo makes Mitch happy so be it but we should aim to get full value while still helping Mitch get to where he wants to be (both in football and health)

Freo's first rnd pick is somewhere in the 16-20 range. Mitch is worth a top 10 pick because a) we paid pick 12 for him and b) there is a premium on forwards like him...just look at what clubs are prepared to put up for Patton, Boyd or Cameron. Top 10 pick or their ist rnd (pick 16 to 20) plus a very good player! Nothing less!! Up to Freo then to find that top 10 pick or the right (midfield) player.

Maybe that is part of MFC's case for a PP. That we could have traded Mitch for a top 5/10 pick. Yes, this is higher than pick 12 that we traded him for but there is a premium on great forwards atmo in the AFL. So we may get a 'middle of first round' PP. Is this just wishful thinking.... Who knows, the way the AFL is showing great expertise at backroom deals there may well have been a discussion with them by PJ before Mitch was released from his contract. In the meantime, hope it all works out for Mitch. He still cares about the Club and if he should line up against us in Freo/WC colours then I would applaud him for gettting it all back together.

I did say this in the post.

On Talking Footy last night Gil said a structure that they are leaning toward is: - All teams play each other once in first 17 rounds. - Then the ladder is divided into groups of 3 and in rounds 18 to 23 the: - Top 6 play for the top 6 spots on the ladder. Incentive: top 2/top 4 spots - Next 6 play off for spots 7 to 12. Incentive spot 7 and 8 and playing finals - Last 6 play off for ????. Incentive: ???? - AFL may also look at changing the draft order to avoid the bottom 6 loosing all of the last 5 games - The pts a team has at the end of rd 17 will carryover. - In any group, those higher up the ladder have a slight advantage (if they have more points). - Other fixture structures also considered - Not sure whether he said a fixture change might come in in 2015 or 2016 It looks like a more formal way of having the better teams play more of the better teams and vice versa. So the last 5 weeks would be like mini finals for the top 6 before the 'real' finals start. Most of the rest may just as well pack up shop and go on holidays. Hopefully we will be playing well enough so that some day I will care about such a fixture change.

It is not only in the draft that the new franchises have hurt us. GCS have hosted home games at MS for nearly all the big Vic clubs: Richmond, Hawthorn, Geelong, Collingwood, Carlton. This means they are getting packed houses and great game day revenue from the gate etc. This is also great for their sponsors and of course good for membership. Of the big Vic clubs we hosted only Collingwood (and even that is considered a gratuity by some) and Geelong. The result is revenue that we may have and exposure that our sponsors may have is going to GSC (and probably GWS). Not to mention the impact on membership. We all know that off-field fixturing etc will only improve when on-field does but the AFL has done us no favours by taking home games against the big Vic teams away and givent them to the new teams. I hope they look at this when deciding a pp.

By the games that could have been won I think he means those where we were leading in the final qtr then fell away. Can't see any other sensible meaning. So we won 4 but could have won 6/7 others in 2014. Thats my take on it.

Gil said pp will be on Oct Commission mtg agenda (no mtg in Sept). He said Evans will look at: a subjective view of the list; # games won; # games that could have been won. (No mention was made of past performance) My immediate reaction was that there will be no PP. That could be Dee supporter pessimism but he didn't offer the hope that he did this time last year..

Ah...a long way for her to go from Philadelphia, unless you also live in the USA

If we don't have a very good list and a really good player development program with sustainable, on-field success (at or near top 8) at both AFL and Casey by the time Paul Roos 3 years is up I walk away from the Dees and AFL. If we haven't reached this by end of 2016 we will just be fodder for other clubs to poach any good players we get and the subject of eternal ridicule. Our beloved Dees deserve better than to rot at the bottom of the ladder. Better to put a dagger thru our hearts once and for all and shut us down.