Lucifers Hero

The Ess injection pattern matching TB4, players knowing TB4 on the premises etc no wonder Hird wants the ASADA/AFL investigation be declared unlawful! The players may get off lightly but if they are suspended at all and unless Hird wins the Fed court case he is gone and he knows it!! Isn't that what we all really want (even Ash 35 perhaps) to see Hird get his due and hopefully wipe that horrible smirk off his face...

This appears to be the 'Roos Trademark'. He includes families. The first thing he did when appointed coach was jumped on a plane to visit Jessie's family. Also Salem(?) before drafting. Stretch and Brayshaw more recently? He gets family comfortable with their son coming to the Dees (no we won't stuff his career Mr & Mrs ...) and understands the players home life etc... I think we will see very few 'want-to-go-home' and more 'committed to AFL level footy' players at the Dees. Over 3-4 drafts Roos will have selected about 30 new players. Therein lies the culture change!! Roos goes up in my estimation every day.

i must have dozed off! But I don't think he would show our hand so obviously. Reckon he was going with the flow and I wouldn't be surprised if they pull a surprise pick at 3.

Hmmm...that isn't what I heard. I thought he said we've narrowed it down to 3 or 4. Just said StK will do what is best for them and we will end up with 2 mids or a mid and and a tall but wouldn't be drawn on names...

Because a golden boy idol threw his mate, David Evans, under a big bus to try and save his own skin. Evans would have had it all wrapped up at end 2013 and would have accepted club ousted from the finals, coach suspended, club fined $$ and draft picks without much ado. Had it run its course players would have missed a few games in Aug/Sept 2013, preseason 2014 and (maybe a few in season 2014 games). Now ASADA/WADA will try and throw the book at them (we hope). Irony: James Hird did not save his own skin!!!! Fool!!!!

It works only when the club delists the player but if the player refuses to sign a contract and resigns from the club he isn't a DFA and therefore can't choose a club. Risky for a player to refuse to sign contract, hope he gets delisted so he can be a DFA and go to club of choice.

I cant remember where or much of the detail, felix as it was quite early in the piece. The gist was that ACC has far reaching powers and can collect info from any source (eg bikkie gangs) via unusual means (eg phone taps), seizing computers and records, raids, commanding phone records etc but apparently there are strict controls on how that info can be used and how/when it can be shared with other gov't agencies. Edit: forgot to mention-I think ACC interviewed Danks very early in the process so have collected more 'facts'. Other DL's may be able to confirm (or otherwise) via there general/professional knowledge etc. Dees2014 seems well informed on ASADA/Ess subject so he might also be able to add to the info sharing thing. ps big fan of felix the cat

Therein lies a problem ... from what I recall the ACC has the evidence to totally sink EFC and players. ASADA know what it is but they are not allowed to use it in court (can't recall why).I'm guessing Essendon also know what it is and it has spooked them ...

Bit of a surprise that we had so few players traded out and only 2 (3 if Tapscott goes) primary list spots. Guess we expected to trade out a few players which didn't happen. I suspect the lack of trade-outs wasn't for lack of trying. If contracted players get delisted we will know our list management hasn't gone to plan. BTW we can probably take an extra rookie as we are allowed 4 which I'm guessing we will do in case Jack Trengove goes onto the LTI list. So atmo we have 2/3 primary list spots plus 2 rookie spots.

GREAT NEWS! Looks like we will get the ANZAC Eve game vs Richmond: "Richmond and Melbourne also appear to have been successful in their joint push to play each other on the eve of Anzac Day, with the Tigers hosting what both clubs hope will become a regular fixture on the night of April 24. Next year that game falls on a Friday night". http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/tigers-to-play-14-home-and-away-games-at-mcg-in-2015-20141023-11at1h.html Would love to see Eddie's face as he vigourously fought this suggestion!! Would expect us to host in alternate years. Really excited for our club on getting this fixture going!

Is this allowed? I thought if we delisted Jack (or any other contracted player eg Evans, McKenzie, Bail) we must payout their contract on delisting. At this point 'normal' AFL rules re DFA or draft nominations apply. Happy to be corrected.

He came in as a bit of insurance against Frawley leaving. Had we not been able to get some good defenders in this years trade/draft he would probably still be rookied next year. Roos and co were able to find better defenders so sadly had to let Alex go. He can go with his head held high.

If StK didn't want Petracca they would have traded pick 1 to GWS for pick 4 and 7 as one/both McCartin/Wright would be there at pick 4. Logic therefore says StK take Petracca @ pick 1.

If we delist Jack, he would have every right to nominate as a Delisted FA and he could go to the club of his choice without going thru any draft. Risky for a club to take him? Yes, but there would be takers as they only need a list spot for him and don't use any picks. We took Riley as a DFA while he had a broken leg... Delisting Jack on a rookie promise doesn't seem very smart. BTW the Newton situation was pre FA so not relevant anymore.

His shoulder is still dodgy. Couldn't lift his arms at Brownlow to put medal over Priddis's head.

Jetta: “If I can get my fitness up another ten per cent, then I’ll be really happy going into 2015 because I’ll know that I can run the smaller forwards off their feet.” Love that comment. I reckon he will get that 10%!! Imagine our team if all our players were 10% fitter. Happy days!

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!

Totally agree, it will be endeavour that counts. A real test for us as we will have an almost new forward line for game 1. Dawes out, Frawley gone, Hogan (I hope) first game, Garlett new. Others who played forward weren't permanently there. Will be interested to hear Saty and others training reports to know how our forward line is shaping up. Given the new forward line, if we win round 1 it will be a fab result for us. Being a game on a Sat afternoon @ the G will hopefully bring all the Dee's supporters out in force, especially if Hogan lines up. A game really worth going to

Because we will probably have trouble paying the minimum sal cap Jones won't need to accept less to land a big fish...we have to pay it someone, can't think of anyone else who we should pay it to in 2015...front end his contract...

Imagine our club if we can't sign Jones: unlikely to get FA; MFCSS goes off the richter scale; player morale goes down; struggle to win games; members stay away/drop off further. While he is not a 'game changing superstar' of the game he the superstar of our team and he is a must keep player. He can almost name his price because his value cannot be measured in $. We will probably struggle to pay the min sal cap in 2015 and if any player deserves a premium it is Jones. I can't see any reason to not use the sal cap available in 2015 to not reward Jones then taper it as my post above suggests. He seems a fair person and to put his salary in context re-read WJ's post above. He will not hold the club to ransom.

From another thread posted on Saturday in response to potential sal cap available for an FA: Savings: - Clark $600K - Frawley $350K (because his contract had been front ended). - Delisted players $1.6m (8*$200K) - Savings from other front ended contracts eg Dawes/Trengrove but these probably offset by renewed contracts eg Dunn/McDonald Savings of approx $2.5m Cost of new players Frost $250K), Lumumba ($450K) , Garlett ($350K) = approx $1m; Cost of new draftees: $500K. Total New Costs approx: $1.5m Other variations: AFL allow pay't up to 105% of cap if offset in other years; sal cap will go up for 'inflation'; savings from contracted delisted players (if any) On the basis of this 'back-of-the-envelope' calc at least $1m for an FA (front ended so that it tapers off when our young players need to be paid more) Oh, forgot an additional cost: Big increase to N Jones when he signs new long-term contract but I would hope his is front ended into 2015.

I would have thought Tom Hawkins would be equal no 1 on that list along side Danger Hawkins has 3 premiership medals...he may now want $$$$. Will cost Geelong a pretty penny to keep him...Tommy contract has snuck under the radar so far In the wake of the Boyd deal every football manager in the country is redoing its sums for salary cap problems...a rude awakening for some. To some extent we are fortunate that we haven't had any stars commanding big $. For mine, Hawkins is the one to watch!

Best guess: 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. Scaling helps us and him. Pay big chunk next year before our star FA arrives then taper off for when our home grown stars need more dough He will be almost 33 at end of year 5. He will become what we all want: a one-club player...an increasing rare breed...

He missed the point that the receiving club gets the FA for free: Sydney gave up zip for Buddy. Same for Carlton/Thomas, Hawthorn/Frawley. No draft picks no players given up! This is the problem with AFL FA. Gill just chose to conveniently overlook this fundamental flaw!

I suggest working backwards (with a bit of guesswork): Savings: - Clark $600K - Frawley $350K (because his contract had been front ended). - Delisted players $1.6m (8*$200K) - Savings from other front ended contracts eg Dawes/Trengrove but these probably offset by renewed contracts eg Dunn/McDonald Savings of approx $2.5m Cost of new players Frost $250K), Lumumba ($450K) , Garlett ($350K) = approx $1m; Cost of new draftees: $500K. Total New Costs approx: $1.5m Other variations: AFL allow pay't up to 105% of cap if offset in other years; sal cap will go up for 'inflation'; savings from contracted delisted players (if any) On the basis of this 'back-of-the-envelope' calc at least $1m for an FA (front ended so that it tapers off when our young players need to be paid more) Oh, forgot an additional cost: Big increase to N Jones when he signs new long-term contract but I would hope his is front ended into 2015. Hope this helps your thinking! ps couldn't open HS article so can't comment on it