QueensBirthday

Could Luke Davis and Hal Hunter please step forward. We have some questions. Actually I have one. Does ASADA's powers abrogate any confidentiality agreements? Lawyer's, please discuss and so forth...

I thought that's all it was as well. DB did have a fair bit of contact with SD. There were also injections given to at least 7 players in January 2013. It may be related to WADA approved substances, but... Once the dog's are unleashed... Who knows...?

I can't lay claim to finding this, BUT... I think Essendon DID find the formula for premiership success. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/robinson-who-bucked-the-fitness-trend/story-e6frg7mx-1111114519497 Bomber absolved, unbelievable.

Did Vlad just say 'Full Cooperation'. I'm sorry I need to go and stem the flow of bleeding from my ears.

Without the tongue firmly planted in the cheek, I can see how you got that? It'd be easy to be taken seriously in the current climate. Journo's have sunk to new depths in their fight for "THE CAUSE". It's amazing how many sh!te opinions can go to print.

I don't know how many times this has to be covered titan, but you are completely wrong! Under WADA code, onus is on Essendon to conclusively prove they didn't and refute the sufficient circumstantial evidence. Essendon can't say that 'the dog ate my database' and get away with it. At the moment that's why they're being charged with Governance, because they are hiding the juicy stuff.

Ooh it's getting close to decision time. I think it's almost time to "call it a day". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmojxkRfaUA

So, infraction notices haven't been issued to the players. From all reports that's on its way. What I want to know, how would the players feel if the architect of the drugs program, James Hird, is given (or accepts) a 12 month ban and the players get 24 month sentences? It would be an interesting welcome back party for the players... wouldn't it?

I saw a clip last year of Toumpas in U18. In one game Toump got 3 receives on the outside of a pack. Guess who was on the inside...? It wasn't by breaking out Todd Viney style. Aish made his own space, Peter Matera style... He's a goodin'.

:-) I think you could take on advisory role at Essendon. Well after doing the erasing, is that what the Ziggy report was about. To see how their world would look from the outside. Maybe they thought that the lack of governance wouldn't have been looked upon so unfavourably. Think about it, if you're Vincent Vega, do want to be covered in blood or look like a dork?

Fitzy is a big signing for us. Club and player paying back the faith shown in each other. Well done Melbourne, well done Fitzy!

There's a point that nobody has brought up about Essendon's claim that Dean Wallis was responsible for keeping records of the injections. Spat my coffee out reading that. Dank said in an interview to the 7:30 Report that 'all the injections were logged on the Essendon intranet'. Those records have disappeared. I don't know how much credence can be given to that statement, because in the same interview Dank said that the only injections were Vitamin B and C. It's very convenient to have all records missing, or what is being labelled as 'poor governance'. "Tony I'll choose incompetent over shady"

Melbourne won't give up Watts and Fitz for sure. They probably won't hand over either imho. Yarran and Gibbs are worth something, but Carlton's predicament is that they are trading smalls. Unless elite, you get a second round pick at best. You go after a tall from another team, you pay overs. Big time! It's surprising nobody has picked this up. But, the draft picks are way too prized in most people's eyes. Think of how long it took to develop Fitz and Watts's strength, fitness and size to be competitive at AFL level. 4 years. You want to start again with a promising kid from the draft? Both Watts and Fitz have their best footy in front of them, not behind them. The same can't be said about Yarran and Gibbs. I'd argue both are going backwards because they rely on pace. Carlton, keep Yarran and Gibbs. We'll hang onto our draft picks and tall's and we'll see you on the ground next year with the most dangerous forward line in the league... (Dawes, Clark, Hogan, Watts, Fitzy back up). We'll see how much blood your mosquito forward line can spill.

We all know that there have been PR firms and 'spin-doctors' hard at work in the back ground. What is particularly concerning to me is the number of unfounded allegiances that have popped up in the media. Be it a Leigh Matthews quote, Chip Le Grand (who's he? Yeah, I know!) in the paper, Gerard Whately on the TV, even fringe media such as Samantha Lane have an opinion for once! Johns Laws would be walking up and down the corridors banging on doors trying to get a slice of that 'Cash-For-Comment' pie... Opinions are for sale Ladies and Gentlemen. C'mon, I'll take your money. I'll walk away with a very fond opinion of Ben Johnson, West Germany and Essendon for a fist full of pineapples. ;-)

In: Dawes, Clark, Viney, Out: Pedersen, Bail, Blease

Trengove - Obviously lacking pace Grimes - Turnovers ruined it (C'mon, AFL captains don't do that (censored)) N.Jones - Toweled up today (By Raines, of all people...) Watts - Talent, lacking fitness Frawley - Second efforts PLEASE! Byrnes - Good in patches Sylvia - Really impressed today McKenzie - Lacking touch, imagination Rodan - Tried heart out Blease - 5 minute performance (exactly) Garland - Very impessed, thankyou Terlich - Good defensive run Pederson - Dumb positioning, what the (censored) are you on? McDonald - Don't give ball!! (Otherwise good.) Evans - Excellent run all day. (Unsighted after first - He wasn't unsighted, Mark Neeld through him in defense to do the running others didn't want to do. Looking at you Jack Watts) Tapscott - Becoming a player (He's playing like an AFL player and will get better. Tough as nails!) Davey - Tried hard, unfortunate Gawn - Brilliant contested footy Howe - Tried all day Jamar - Game plan please. (Despite perceptions, the ruckman have to be very smart to hit to advantage and be creative with centre breaks. Just didn't have it.) Bail - Glory hound, selfish M. Jones - Ran for us!!

I'm sorry, but it's not a poor list. There are a lot of un-mined gems in our list. Poor development of our talent has been the down-fall. It's far from irreversible though. I use to run my eye's over the Collingwood list during the 2009 season and enjoy how average they looked. However, brilliant coaching, and the best player development in the league changed that. I guarantee Dayne Beams would be currently absolutely average under Melbourne's previous tutelage. We are capable of a sharp rise up the ladder. Poor fitness from the Bailey era, shocking training facilities (which has been addressed) from the Junction Oval era, a couple of spud draft picks. However, there is obvious talent on our list, just undeveloped. If a couple of our players had a good voice in their ear, good training, clever strategy, we could prove a lot of doubters wrong. Especially, f#$%in' Purple and Durr Durr Darcy. Oops, anger boiling over.

You're funny Stuie... You want to talk about something off topic again? Go for it!

There is a very disturbing thought I had about the direction of the MFC. It seems like Neeld's carte blanche has been about wrestling all control away from the playing group. The focus has been in turning them into pieces on a chess board. That's not a winning culture. That takes away there being any on-field leaders. The success that Geelong experienced was empowering the players. The total opposite. This problem was created by Schwab when he implored Bailey to role out the new payment scheme to the playing group. It lead to a rebellion that got Bailey fired. Schwab's the problem. First to go.

This is unbelievable!!! I've found vision of the conversation between Schwab and Bailey before Junior was asked to leave Melbourne.

Keep Neeld, until the end of the season. Schwab's gone now. He's brought the Dockers anchor and the Tiger's [censored]! Flush it out.

You know what I hate. He's turned us into Richmond in the 90's. Clearly toxic.

That's right, it's closer to getting the mind of a champion. Too many fig pluckers at the moment, just doing what their told. Very encouraging signs from JV. Awesome kid.

Cold... Cold... Colder...

Stuie, c'mon mate. I agree that he wasn't trying to pot the leadership group, but he did inadvertently. But, let's not get distracted because that's not my point... My problem is that he's not looking at himself... His comments highlight a glaring reality about the way that he see's himself, and unfortunately, the way that he see's his team mates. I really don't want to have a go at you mate, so I'll just say that your last post showed that we're not talking about the same thing. If you can be bothered re-read my posts, there's a consistent theme... I'm writing about getting the mindset of a champion. and not ever being caught staring in your neighbour's backyard. If you keep re-reading Jack's comments and coming back to me with what he meant to say, not what he did say, we're going to go round and round and round in circles bud.