Lucifers Hero

Good to see some people are showing Hird that he is a persona non gratia in the industry. Firstly, the Vic Opposition Leader and now most of the AFL Coaches & Presidents. From a CW article in today's Age: 'A significant number of senior AFL coaches have continued to avoid meaningful talks with Essendon coach James Hird'...'McLachlan greeted Hird and the two men shook hands, although McLachlan has not yet held a meeting with Hird since his return from a one-year AFL ban'...'The Essendon coach,...left the AFL function early. Buckley was one of just three senior coaches of 17 who attended a meeting with Hird in September'...'Brayshaw would not comment on the coaches' lack of interest in entreaties to hear Hird's version of events that the Bombers' coach outlined to Buckley and the others at the September Brayshaw meeting'...'The lack of appetite held by a number of senior coaches regarding a meeting with Hird has been reflected by the vast majority of club presidents, who remain alarmed at the ongoing damage to the game's image as the fallout from the Essendon 2012 drugs program continues'. Obviously, the Ess BS machine isn't working where it counts! Loss of respect from one's peers must be the hardest pill to take in sport. James is getting some medicine!

Excuse me for stating the obvious...but these great points are stating the obvious. I think at this time of year we are all afflicted by the opposite of MFCSS. Something like 'Off Season,Trade and Draft Euphoria"! OFTDE!! (Except 'Old Dee' he has suffered from MFCSS for so long he doesn't allow himself to hope too much. ) I would be terrified if we didn't improve significantly because so will the other 17 teams. How many extra wins this translates to only time will tell. So I fluctuate between MFCSS and OFTDE regularly atmo. Am expecting for 2016 or 2017 to be our 'break-out' year. Just not enough talent/experience in the 23 to 25 age/100+ game group for it to be 2015.

Patrick Smith poignantly captures the great tragedy at the SCG: The picture of Abbott cradling the head of Hughes with the tender hands of a father nursing his new born is one of the saddest, most beautiful pictures sport has ever seen. It could have been a painting. It captures that moment when everybody on the ground knows a mate is fighting to live on. Very moving.

Yes - look at the draw! Our team in the 1st half will not be markedly different than 2014 when we beat only 1 of the teams in next years 1st half. 5 of 2015 first half teams were 2014 final 8 teams. Hard to see us winning those. Leaves 6 games which we could realistically win. So yes, 3-4 wins will be a good result at the 1/2 way mark. Will be delighted if we do better!

What were Carlton thinking taking taking Boekhorst with their first pick and letting Laverde go thru!!! Unfortunately to Essendon. Surely Boekhorst would have been there at their next pick of around 23 or even the next. Look a bit foolish. Glad we don't have their recruiters. Support an earlier post that our team did an 'Oscar' winning performance!

He can't lift his left arm...on the video at the 1.02 mark he uses his right hand to juggle the ball and his left arm is virtually motionless. Not to say he won't be available rnd 1 but he may be restricted in what he can do. O'Meara is also unlikely to play rnd 1. Would be unbelievable to win rnd 1 especially as rounds 5 - 9 are going to be pretty tough to win. A few wins in Rnds 1 -4 would really help fan enthusiasm and memberships. 3-4 wins at the half way mark is what I am hoping for.

2 - Matthew Hammelman - one of the best tall forwards 20 - Tyler Roos - after getting Billy Stretch and Oscar McD, I like the romance of continuing the 'family' affair of this draft.

Another midfielder (somewhat unknown): Neal-Bullen Damaging medium midfielder, particularly around stoppages. Uses his quick, clean hands to great effect. Key player for South Australia in NAB AFL Under-18 Championships, averaging 19 possessions, five clearances and four tackles in six matches. Courageous player with elite endurance. Played nine games for Glenelg in the SANFL, averaging 20 disposals. Third in 3km time trial (9:54) and equal-fifth in beep test (15.2) at NAB AFL Draft Combine. Think we need to trust the club, they did ok with JKH # 40 last year!

Well Done Emma! She got the first 9 order right! She got 19 of the first 20 players and wasn't far off with the order...the player she missed was Carlton's Boekhurst and Mckenzie dropped out of her top 20 (only to 22) Fantastic performance by the premier Draft guru!

Glad they are smiling!!

Go back to that post, place the cursor on any part of the text you put in and you will see 'edit' and 'delete' buttons appear in the bottom right corner of your post. Choose whichever you prefer.

Except that he recently had ankle surgery and can't get into training till after Xmas. Same ole, same ole for poor Col.

Emma Q's notes from her 'Draft Combine Harvest' series: Matthew Hammelmann (Morningside) Born 8.3.1996, 197cm, 88kg AFL biography: Tall Forward with strong hands in front, on the lead and overhead. Has good pace off the mark to get separation on his opponent. Can also play in defence. Showed promise in the NAB AFL Under-18 Championships, averaging 10.3 disposals, 7.3 marks and 2.3 goals in his three matches. Brisbane Lions Academy player. Adrian Fletcher, AFL Queensland: "Matty keeps building his game. He's a mobile forward who can get up on a wing, he has that ability to come at the kicker when they need him, then he can slide to the goal square and take marks down there. He's got to keep improving his contested stuff but that will get better as he gets stronger and builds more upper body strength. He's very mobile and really just that modern, hard-running forwrad who can help you coming out of defence." He is the 2nd tallest in her list of tall forwards (tallest is F/S pick Darcy Moore). A few cm taller than Jessie and 4 cm taller than Dawes...Matt would fit our forward line nicely. Would be a good get in terms of team structure and developing an excellent 'spine': Spine in 3-4 years: Frost, McDonald, Petracca/Brayshaw/Tyson, Hogan, Hammelman. A lot to like about that...only thing missing is a ruckman to match that talented spine. Either one of ours comes good or we will trade one in.

According to Demoneyes a few pages back there is some 'dispute' between our coaching and recruiting staffs as to who we take at pick 3. From Demoneyes' other posts Lever seemed to be the go at 3 as the coaches pick. I'm guessing that the recruiters want Petracca or McCartin. We will see tomorrow night which group 'won' the pick 3 battle. Whoever we take I hope it is who the recruiters want.

Can't find where I read it but I recall that the way the Dees are doing this diet thing is to follow a low-carb (note it is not no-carb) diet most of the time as the high protein helps build/keep muscle mass. However, the players would eat up on carbs before a game to give them the energy to play it out. This would be a small but significant difference to the typical low/no-carb diet. It times the carb intake to when the players need the energy. I just hope that they don't lose so much weight that it affects their body mass and strength.

If so it may affect our choice for pick 40/53. For one of those we may 'reach' for a forward, as apparently there aren't many in the drafts over the next few years. Here is Emma Quayle's Draft Combine for Tall Forwards: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/afl-draft-combine-harvester-tall-forwards-20141002-10pi7w.html%C2'> Only Lamb, McCartin & Peter Wright are in her Top 30 so there is a good chance a good Forward will slide to pick 40. Will study her form guide before I put a name up for pick 40.

I think the way it works is if Ess win they get zero points but if their opponents win eg Hawkes, then the Hawkes get the 4 pts. So it shouldn't affect the ladder position or % (Except that Ess end up on the bottom). This would work as long as their draft position for 2015 is based on their 'unpenalised' ladder position. Ie a 'shadow' ladder is kept showing where Ess would be if they were playing for points/%'age. This way they do not get the #1 draft pick in 2015.

Bruce, Ytze, Neitz and of course we should include Fagan as Manager. Love Neita. Wish him well. But a little part of me cried inside. A bit like the way it did when Junior went to GWS. I like to think Neita will be like Barassi - strayed for a while but eventually came home to where he belongs Good luck Neita and enjoy. Edit: Oops. forgot to add Clarkson to the list!

An interesting Freudian slip!

Thanks TDI. I don't have twitter to see your pics. Find that I can see twitter pics when the link is in a post. BTW any news about how Jack Watts has been training so far? From club website pics he looks the same size...not necessarily a bad thing. I'm desperate for him to have a great year. His sake as well as ours.

I assume that means 'good' surprised as in impressed? How did they impress you?

From Fos Footy: "RICHMOND has signalled plans to lock captain and free agent Trent Cotchin away on a monster long-term deal...and Cotchin would fetch as much as $1 million a year to remain at Richmond" While I rank Jones equivalent to Griffen I don't think he is as accomplished or as valuable as Cotchin. So if Cotchin is to get $m pa on a long term deal to sstay at Richmond, IMO the schedule I put above which gives Jones an average of $720 pa over 5 years looks reasonable. Hope the club are thinking along the same lines and we hear soon.

The Age is reporting that the Bulldogs will pay $800,00 of Griffin's 2015 salary (yes, even tho he no longer plays for them). This is of interest because it shows what he was being paid as captain of a bottom 4 club and may be a good indicator of what other club captains get and perhaps what Jones should get. I posted this earlier in this thread as a good option for MFC: I know year 1 looks crazy but think of it over a 4/5 year period: Post # 37: Yr 1 - $1.250m Yr 2 - $750K Yr 3 - $750K Yr 4 - $600K Yr 5 - $250K So $3.6m over 5 years. Averages @ $840K over 4 years and @ $720 over 5 years so may not be enough. Why is my suggested year 1 so high you ask: - we have the salary cap, - it gives us the sal cap in 2016 to go after an FA, - if Jones can't play out year 5 risk is quite small (this can be protected further by making it a 4 +1 contract) and - Jones' sal scales back as our young guns are looking for more. Knowing what Griffen was getting this type of schedule doesn't look too far fetched. From the Age: "He will earn close to $1million next season and about $1.5million over 2016, '17 and '18. He seems to have been on $1m for 2014 so that is $3.5m over 4 years. I doubt there is anyone who would say that Griffen to the Bulldogs is worth more (in $ and non-$ vaules) than Jones to the Dees.

Same problem with Curran delisted from North: http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-11-17/curran-not-giving-up?utm_medium=RSS%C2'> Seems to becoming an increasing problem. Eerily similar to Jack Trengove - 3 ops, screw problem and finally a bone graft which is what Jack just had. Wishing for a total recover but fear it will be tough for him to play footy again.

Closed training session today but here are some pics on club website http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2014-11-17/photo-gallery-monday-november-17 Looks like hard work, a few smiles (among the coaches!) and WOW check out the pic of Billy Stretch!! Jordie is looking good too.