Spirit of the Demon

Sounds exciting and hopefully, we'll see his skills during the Nab Cup or practice matches. Can't wait to see the new boys and it's less than 2 weeks away now.

Judd has already cottoned on to the Carlton culture. Apparently, his progress from groin surgery is slower than was originally hoped for and there are some question marks about whether the type of surgery was appropriate. Seems that more radical surgery might have been called for but he took a punt on the Sydney surgeon. Could the man be tanking his own recovery?

The beat goes on. Fremantle wins in Pretoria conceding a few late goals to make the Champs of Tanking look respectable.

Great. Now let's start winning some games on the footy field!

Welsh should try the Bulldogs.

Maybe its for the big donors at the club and not monkeys like us?

If he's that bad then how on earth did he become a top 10 draft pick in the first place?

Jonathon who?

If CJ is going to the Saints then why on earth is the club publishing this stuff? "I’m hoping to get a few more opportunities under the new coach. I want to have a big pre-season and go from there." And you gotta love the conclusion - “Last year our pre-season was more to do with run and carry. We focussed on that so much that we didn’t really get in to play the game and win the ball,” he said. “Because of that we couldn’t get the ball inside 50 and our scoring opportunities were limited.”

Terrific stuff Oracle and very encouraging about Dean Bailey who comes across at this stage as a person who knows where he's going. Interesting point about Ratten seemingly out of place. I wonder whether he's going to be able to handle a cocksure star player whose the highest paid football ever and keep the rest of his team in check. It's going to be a tough balancing act and one that Bailey is not going to have to worry about. It's so important these days to have even team performance.

Agreed. You don't undertake the cost of sending a young bloke like him to China to give him away for what would be an ordinary offer from the Saints anyway. He has far more upside than many of us think and I have a feeling that, under a new coach, this kid will go places (other than to China) with his football.

Our next Jimmy Stynes and Sean Wight will come from Shanghai or Beijing Demons to take away Chinese

So over at Carlton, Judd will be getting more than 20% of the salary cap?

It's Carlton and the state of the art facilities at MC Labour Park that's attracted Judd. That and the fact that he'll play half his games at the Teslra Dome which should do wonders for that groin of his. It was the money all the time and whatever shred of integrity was left in that tool has now evaporated into thin air.

Is there any substance to the story that the Fonze will investigate Carlton's arrangements with Judd?

A caller to 3AW last night said he was going to be paid $9m over five years. There are also whispers about him getting an executive role at some stage in the future with Pratt's company. The same club was getting handouts from the AFL earlier this year.

You do know what happened to Martin Luther King not long after he made that speech, don't you?

Agree 100% about Neitz as skipper. Yesterday was his last for the club in that post. It was bad enough when his body was up to it but when he's playing at well below full capacity there's no way he can lead by example as a captain should. If he plays next year he should be rank and file. Even in that capacity he would give leadership but someone else has to take up the reins.

I dar say he might prove atractive to someone in the trades.

Without a doubt, Mark Riley has one of the toughest jobs in football trying to coach a decimated rabble passing itself off as a football team at the moment but he's surely not ahead of the likes of Guy McKenna and Chris Bond when it comes to his ability to coach a team. The mob out there yesterday played with no discipline, no nous and some of the things that went on in terms of accountability etc were simply horrendous. Ward kicking in pffffft. Jamar? Bruce on Tarrant after being out for a month? OMG. This is all starting to remind me of the script for the Producers.

There's a lot to be said for the emotion of the game. I have my fingers crossed for Neita and hope he has a big night!

Nice work on that [censored] Sheahan WJ. I'm thoroughly sick of the Monday experts in the media who enjoy kicking clubs when they're down. Sheahan is doubly so when it comes to Melbourne, perhaps because he's supposed to be a Melbourne supporter?

Agree with the article. It was an eerie feeling at the start of the game. There was no atmosphere and none of the usual noise you hear at the start of a game.

This article from today's Age Newspaper Smirking disrespect makes life hell for Demon faithful just about sums it up.

Chris Connolly's resignation was inevitable thanks to comments made in recent days by the Fremantle president about his position as coach. However, I heard someone make a statement on SEN (I didn't get his name) that Fremantle treated the situation differently to Melbourne which should have taken note of the way the Dockers treated Connolly. The implication was that Melbourne handled the Daniher situation badly while, by way of contrast, Fremantle handled it professionally. The guy's talking rubbish and is a complete imbecile. The Dockers stabbed Connolly in the back and acted IMO poorly. Does anyone know who this bloke is?