Melbourne Watch 2023/24

[jeemak]

Cultures with a bit of looseness are all good and well when there's little expectation but since WCE there's been the Hawks in 08, ourselves in 16 and Melbourne in 21 that haven't really dealt with the expectations of excellence post flag.

Will be interesting to see how Collingwood go.

[Grantysghost]

Cultures with a bit of looseness are all good and well when there's little expectation but since WCE there's been the Hawks in 08, ourselves in 16 and Melbourne in 21 that haven't really dealt with the expectations of excellence post flag.

Will be interesting to see how Collingwood go.

How did the Tigers do it ?

Considering that initial Broad photo I'm pretty surprised.

[mjp]

How did the Tigers do it ?

Considering that initial Broad photo I'm pretty surprised.

Lynch arriving after premiership #1 had a fair bit to do with it.

[Testekill]

https://www.watoday.com.au/sport/afl...01-p5egqy.html

Melbourne forward Joel Smith is pushing to become the first AFL player to access a special anti-doping provision that would enable him to serve a ban of just one month after testing positive to cocaine on the day of a match.However, Smith’s prospects of having his case expedited by the AFL and Sport Integrity Australia are being frustrated by the lack of an AFL-approved drug treatment program needed to satisfy a requirement of the World Anti-Doping Code.
Smith is the first AFL player to test positive to a drug listed as a “substance of abuse”, a carve-out for commonly used recreational drugs adopted in 2021 by the World Anti-Doping Agency and all signatories to its code.
Under the provision, athletes who test positive to cocaine, ecstasy, heroin or cannabis or their metabolites are offered a three-month suspension instead of the mandatory, four-year penalty for other banned substances – as long as they convince anti-doping authorities they didn’t take the drug to gain a performance benefit.
The penalty can be further reduced to one month if an athlete completes a drug treatment program approved by the organisation with responsibility for managing their anti-doping infraction. In Smith’s case, that organisation is the AFL.
To make practical use of this provision, Smith needs the anti-doping system to move far more quickly than it normally does in Australia, where other recent cases involving AFL footballers and party drugs have taken between a year and 18 months to resolve.
Smith tested positive to cocaine and its metabolite, benzoylecgonine, on August 20 after Melbourne’s round 23 match against Hawthorn. He was formally notified of the test result on October 10 and has already served three weeks of a provisional suspension.
The AFL Players Association is representing Smith in his anti-doping case. Due to the confidentiality of anti-doping processes, sources from the AFLPA, AFL and Sport Integrity Australia declined to publicly discuss the case.
This masthead confirmed that Smith had waived his right to have a “B” sample analysed.
Discussions are continuing between the AFL and AFLPA and Melbourne player welfare officials to find a treatment course that will satisfy the anti-doping code.
To access the “substance of abuse” provision Smith must demonstrate that he ingested cocaine before 11.59pm on the day before the match and that, at the time he provided the sample, the concentration of cocaine in his system was below 10 nanograms, or one hundred-millionth of a gram, per millilitre of urine.
In the meantime, Smith is facing the opprobrium of his coach and club. Senior coach Simon Goodwin, in an interview recorded on Sunday, told SEN Radio he had not spoken to his player since the club was notified of his positive test.
“I can only go by how I feel, and when I first heard, I was incredibly angry, frustrated, to think that potentially we have a player in round 23 on the eve of a finals series not doing everything possible to help the success of our footy team,” Goodwin said. “I can only imagine that same feeling would be permeating through our supporter base.
“I haven’t spoken to Joel. I am going to let that process play out because I have a level of anger, of frustration towards it.”
Melbourne have indicated that Smith may face disciplinary action beyond any anti-doping penalty imposed by the AFL.
Smith, the son of retired Melbourne player Shaun Smith, had his most productive season with the club this year, playing 14 of 42 career games and establishing a regular spot in the senior team. At age 27, he is contracted until the end of next year.
Prior to his positive test, he was due to report for club pre-season training at the start of December.
CHIP LE GRAND

Feels a bit weird that he can just take his WADA suspension during his holiday. Also with how quickly cocaine goes through the system he either had to use it the day of the game or had a late night out on it the night before. You have to be absolutely COOKED for cocaine or amphetamines to be detectable after 48h.

[jazzadogs]

Winners of McLelland Trophy for best record in home and away season - Melbourne

Winners of 0/4 finals across AFL men's and women's - Melbourne.

[Grantysghost]

Winners of McLelland Trophy for best record in home and away season - Melbourne

Winners of 0/4 finals across AFL men's and women's - Melbourne.

Should be made to pay it back with interest. What kind of shizen idea is that. Couple of injuries in a ten game season and you could be done, your men's team could finish on top undefeated and someone else gets the million bucks. Give me strength.

[GVGjr]

Melbourne Demons midfielder Clayton Oliver will face court after reportedly being pulled over by authorities for driving with a license that was suspended on medical grounds. This happened after his seizure and it's the normal process that people have their license suspended until they have been given a clearance to resume driving.

[Testekill]

Doing this when that moron who killed 5 people in Daylesford is still in the news is absolute big brain stuff.

[ReLoad]

Doing this when that moron who killed 5 people in Daylesford is still in the news is absolute big brain stuff.

He’s clearly got significant issues for sure.

Would we take him at the dogs?

[Grantysghost]

He’s clearly got significant issues for sure.

Would we take him at the dogs?

Have to be a risk, however on the cheap : yes.

[GVGjr]

He’s clearly got significant issues for sure.

Would we take him at the dogs?

He's about one more questionable decision away from having to do some jail time. Driving with a suspended license is a serious charge and if other stupid decisions have been made in recent weeks and he's been caught he might catch an unsympathetic judge on a wrong day and pay a heavier price than just fines etc.

[ledge]

Melbourne are a carbon copy of us after 2016 .
Players not abiding by rules, Football club and the law.
They have a great list but not living up to it also seems familiar.

[mighty_west]

He’s clearly got significant issues for sure.

Would we take him at the dogs?

No, no way! the club already got rid of Hunter and Stringer for issues within' and out of the club, we wouldn't touch him with a 10 foot pole, besides, one player isn't the difference between winning and not winning a Premiership imo, Geelong and Hawthorn both showed that with Ablett and Buddy respectively, and whilst Clarry is a very good player, he's not in their class, not by a long way.

Unfortunately my wife and also a workmate have seizers, both have epilepsy and neither are allowed to drive for at least 1 year after a seizer (wifey doesn't drive anyway but still) before going through a barrage of tests, whilst having a seizer they can either completely blank out for a good few minutes (have witnessed that first hand at least 30 times in the space of 2 years) or even worse fall (workmate smashed her face taking her dog for a walk, she was a mess), face droops, frothing, shaking etc, couldn't imagine someone going through that whilst driving, so for Oliver to take that risk and put himself and others in risk is absolutely poor thinking, episodes seem to be completely random too, you never know when and my workmate has had a few driving episodes too after months of being fine, she just spent a week in hospital after being pulled over by police for driving all over the place 2 weeks back) and now can't drive for 12 months.

A mate of mine who works at the Herald Sun is a passionate Dees man, he is so over Oliver and all the issues at the club, you can see it killing him knowing after all those years of being down the bottom, tanking for draft picks etc, being destroyed by Geelong by 5000 points at Kardinia etc finally having one of the best lists and really should have another flag so soul destroying, i don't really bait him as being a lifelong Dogs supporter as we should all know what it's like to have that thrown at us for years.

The best thing they should have done was to trade Oliver, they really did go hard after the no.1 pick to get Reid and could have succeeded if they did dish him off.

[jazzadogs]

He would be very wrong to think this, but given the alleged rumours that his first seizure was related to drug use, he probably felt like the risk off him having another seizure without any drugs in his system was low.

Obviously it's still against the law and he needs to wait for his tests - but I think that would be the thought process of arrogant privileged white man.

[Rocket Science]

Would we take him at the dogs?

If we recruit one more objectionable head from that freakin mob ...