Lucifers Hero

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.

The thing that worries me is if we are seen to 'stuff Jones around' and ask him to take one for the team, then pay a 'silly' amount for an FA ($1m was rumoured for Dangerfield) our credibility with players will take a hit (hypocritical?) - won't help club morale/culture either. We may need to pay our club champions that are integral to our culture a premium (doesn't have to be 'silly') from time time. I think they will work it out but the longer it takes the more worried I become about 'silly' offers from other clubs.

Just wondering, why an offer of $750k to Jones (or anyone) by Richmond/Carlton vs the Demons offer of $x is different to $750K by a franchise club? Club shouldn't matter: Silly is silly... 'Silly' offers are being made all the time: Swans/Buddy, Bulldogs/Boyd, GWS/Scully, Lions/Beams, Demons/Dangerfield (based on rumours). 'Silly' offers are part of the new world. Don't like it. I'm tipping the club will make the right offers to players the club needs to take us upward and onward.

So, you want him paid the same as Grimes...3 B & F's, good brownlow polling, hardly ever missed a game thru injury? Really? Really? Nothing against Grimes but they aren't in the same salary bracket, IMO. $10m & 40+ players = average $230 - 240k each. Obviously a lot of young players on less (there always will be) allows other players to be paid more. You do the maths on what we can afford. (Especially if we heavily front-end his contract into 2015 when we have heaps of salary cap available). GC would be circling for a replacement for Ablett as their seniour midfielder. They will give him 5 years and top $. Jonesy should be paid whatever it takes to stop him even thinking about a FA offer.

Good point, going on her extra 12 there is a fair chance Oscar McD might slip to us!

The players want a closed hearing! Well of course they do! To stop the dirty laundry being aired. This annoys be as no-one stopped to think twice about airing Jack Trengrove's name and trashing his reputation. Player Agent Jess: "Every player and every player manager has to take a considered view if there is any loss or damage, then they have to quantify it. "In this case, there would be high-profile players who would have suffered significant loss and damage." http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/essendon-players-want-closed-antidoping-tribunal-hearing-20141115-11nexm.html Oh dear: Players get off - ASADA/WADA probably appeal. Players don't get off - players sue for damages. Far from over, folks...groan.

Emma Quayle has nominated her top 30 in her usual very well reasoned way. Her top 5 on performance (not necessarily pick order): 1 Heeney (head and shoulders above the rest) (N.A. Academy pick) 2 Wright 3 Petracca 4 McCartin 5 Moore (NA. F/S pick) She does say it is a very close race between 2 to 5. Brayshaw is at 6. Also mentions hard for a team to use a high pick on a player like Lever who hasn't played all year and has him at 11. All credit to her for not focusing on who has which pick and simply ranked the players as she sees it. One of the few unbiased journos around! AFL draft a level playing field for recruiters

He seems to have been talked up more by DL posters than by the club. Lever named on here (and the press) as a strong possibility along with several others (Laverde, Cockatoo, De Goey) then we all jumped on the bandwagon. Not sure the club had much to do with fanning the flames.

Lumumba is back! From Club website: HERITIER Lumumba has started training with his new club – a few days earlier than expected. The 2010 Collingwood premiership player was set to start with Melbourne on Monday, but fronted up for Friday’s training session at Gosch’s Paddock. Lumumba looked sharp as he joined in with his new teammates. The 199-gamer crossed from Collingwood during the October trade period. The 2010 All-Australian finished fourth in Collingwood’s best and fairest in 2014. Lumumba looms an integral part of Melbourne’s prospects next year and in the coming seasons. Fab pics of players training today: http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2014-11-14/exclusive-lumumbas-first-training-run The shoulder injury (naturally) seems to have caused Bernie some muscle loss but all the players look in good nick!

Repeat of my post (#98) earlier in this thread: I'm staggered MFC is even debating this! We have plenty of cap room in 2015 so front end it!! The average payment with a $10m cap is $250K. I could give payment patterns to show the cap is not an issue going forward. Suffice to say there will always be new low paid players to offset valuable high paid players and the cap will automatically go up over time. On the contract 'term'. He will be 27 next Jan. 4+1 years takes him to 32 in his last year. So 5 years seems a very small risk to the club. Jonesy will (rightly IMO) be mighty peeved if he has to accept high 500's so we can get a 'star FA' @ $1m for 5-7 years. I wouldn't blame Jonesy for walking away - Crikey he does all the hard yards just so some FA comes along and collects. No way Jose! If we think that Jonesy can't get more than the high 500's + 5 years somewhere else we are kidding ourselves. eg. GCS would take him in a heartbeat to support young midfield (Ablett will be 32 in 2016). Plenty of surfing up there! Lets remember, if Jonesy walks next year and we get a 'star FA' there will be NO FA compo pick for Jonesy!! The FA's more than offset. Pay what it takes to keep him, MFC and stop mucking him around! Still think the same today.

Unless a Dane Beams, Paddy Ryder or Allen Christensen situation arises where the player nominates their preferred club and they eventually get there, usually at less than their 'true' trade value. I am yet to be convinced of MFC desire to play hard-ball in trade situations. Anyway, I think its only conjecture.

Sigh, another year of second guessing a player's contract status. Howe distracting...Now we will have hundreds of DL pages putting every Howe move/game under a micro-scope. Sigh.

Did they offer any source/credible info? Or just some wild line based on GWS last minute offer?

According to Caroline Wilson: 'No one associated with Thompson is ruling out a claim against the Bombers although predicting Thompson's next move is never a simple matter'. More court cases? There seems to be no end to EFC's ability to shoot itself in the foot! Interesting read: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/mark-thompsons-exit-highlights-the-dysfunction-at-essendons-core-20141113-11m659.html

I would tip that ND53 will be used for a DFA or a PSD pick for someone around 25 age with about 100 games, to start to rebalance our skewed age/experience profile...we currently have only 9 players with over 100 games., two of which are Lumumba and Garlett.

I'm pleased the club was able to achieve its list management/recruiting goals without de-listing Trengrove. He will be on the LTI and one of our rookies will be promoted at the start of the season. Gives the rookies are real incentive to work their butts off during the pre-season.

Infraction notices on the way! "Current and former Essendon players have been placed on the register of findings by an anti-doping panel, with the AFL expected to take the next step and issue infraction notices against those 34 players." http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/essendon-players-placed-on-register-of-findings-20141113-11lswp.html

My main point was that MFC were not the only team losing indigenous players wanting to go home - you conveniently eliminated this from my post which you quoted. I was backing up Dom's point about not enjoying his footy anymore and hypothesising why it may be so and losing such classy players is sad. It is all very easy to throw accusations like yours around and it may say more about you as the reader than me as the writer. All I will say is that since I was a child I have been the target of much racial abuse and would never think of others this way. DL's should stop and think that other posters come from all races and creeds before they start labelling them as 'racist'!!

Good pun there BB!!

The bizzare thing is Ess won't pay the measley sum of $30K fine but they paid Hird a $1m to take a year off and paid for the course in France! Thompson saved their bacon this year while golden boy was leading the high life in France!! Bottom half of the 2014 ladder for EFC without Bomber! I'm gobsmacked! Bomber isn't just a sh-t kicker at the club. Champion. Premiership Captain. Reluctant but successful 2014 coach. He deserves better from the club he has served so diligently. He is entitled to be mighty mighty peeved and tell them to GAGS! EFC is a bizzaro club!

It isn't just us loosing classy indigenous players - Dayle Garlett walked out on Hawthorn last year to go back to WA. Maybe it is modern footy that makes it hard for these guys. In the past when offence was the go and doing the exciting stuff was the go it worked really well. But now 'two-way-running', defence, fitness, structures etc etc it just isn't enjoyable for them. So they end up going home. Sad trend for AFL footy.

Emma Quayle has just posted an article about him: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/nakia-cockatoos-sensational-sevenday-season-20141111-11kadc.html Everything about him sounds terrific! Only reservation is that he missed most of the season due to a foot injury. Not saying we shouldn't draft players who have had a lengthy time out for injury but our track record of managing player foot injuries hasn't been good. Hope we have a specialist medical team to support our recruiters in player assessments...perhaps more than those we have recently relied on.

Crickey, we have been complaining about our lack of player development for years. Now that we are doing something about it some people think it is OTT!! Both McCartney and Brynes have other roles besides development! Byrnes at Casey will help the young kids train/play the Roos' way so when players step up to the seniors or are coming back from injury the transition is seamless: Consistent messages, consistent rules, consistent drills, consistent set-ups etc etc. This has all the hallmarks of Roos' style; smooth transitions, believe in people, succession plans, consistency and develop our own (coaches and administrators as well as players...think Mahoney, Miller, Plapp and now Byrnes). Roos is quietly setting up a 'dynasty of succession' across the whole organisation. I am in awe of the man's ability to see the big picture and be able to implement it. We may not see the benefit of this work for a 2/3 years but then the 11 current 18 to 21 year old players will be in the 50 to 100 game range and (along with the older players of course) will take us to finals!

Thanks for putting it up Hellfish! Look forward to more of 'All the Jacks' lyrical reports.

Thanks, great report...factual, insightful and quite entertaining! Dare I say it...there could be some serious competition for Saty as our #1 training reporter!