Dons get clubs' support for Ramanauskas bid

BERT · Post by **BERT** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 7:47 am

Dons get clubs' support for Ramanauskas bid

Stephen Rielly
October 30, 2006

ESSENDON has received important support from most of its rivals to retain Adam Ramanauskas next season as a mature-age rookie.

While permission to do so can be granted only by the AFL Commission, as many as 12 of the 15 other clubs in the competition have indicated to Essendon and the AFL that they back the campaign to keep alive a connection with their premiership wingman as he recovers from the removal of cancerous growths in his neck, shoulder and collarbone.

Ramanauskas was operated on a second time in March to remove the growths that were first detected and operated on in 2003 and he is having a course of chemotherapy that is expected to be completed in the next couple of weeks.

With a return to training after that expected to be a matter of months, it has been acknowledged by club and player that he is unlikely to play AFL football next year and if he is not delisted by tomorrow's first list lodgement deadline then it is expected that he will be removed from the primary list by the second deadline onNovember 17.

Essendon chief executive Peter Jackson wrote to the AFL last month asking for an exemption that would allow Ramanauskas to be rookied and, in the event of a full recovery, promoted back on to the senior list in 2008. He was obliged to do so because mature or over 23-year-old rookies are not meant to have been previously registered for a draft let alone played 111 games and played in a premiership.

Without the commission's blessing the only way the Dons can now keep Ramanauskas in their system is to retain him on the primary list, even though he is highly unlikely to play next year. If the 25-year-old is delisted without an exemption, and makes a recovery that allows him to return to the AFL, he would then have to make his way back through a draft that would make him available to every club.

Ahead of commission deliberation on the issue, the AFL wrote to all 15 clubs seeking their opinion on the request and according to Jackson the response was positive.

"Eleven of the 15 clubs have indicated to me in writing that they support it and a 12th has verbally indicated to me that they support it," he said. "We said all along that we hoped it was a proposal that would be seen for what it is, an issue of compassion if you like, and I think it has been."

A decision from the commission will be required within the next 18 days if the Dons are to be certain about Ramanauskas' status before the national draft on November 25. The club has opened up six positions on its primary list and to have a seventh, for use in either the national or pre-season drafts, then a decision will be needed by the second list deadline.

Naf Rebmob · Post by **Naf Rebmob** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 8:12 am

Wonder who the other 3 clubs are & whether they haven't responded yet or if they responded negatively to the proposal??

Filthy · Post by **Filthy** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 9:25 am

Naf Rebmob wrote:Wonder who the other 3 clubs are & whether they haven't responded yet or if they responded negatively to the proposal??

Now let me see...I'll take a stab at Carlscum, Collingfilth and Ninthmond.

Sol · Post by **Sol** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 10:16 am

Guarantee one of them is Collingwood. They wont approve anything that doesnt benifit thier club financially.

robrulz5 · Post by **robrulz5** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 12:37 pm

Would be funny if one of them was Melbourne.

jimmyc1985 · Post by **jimmyc1985** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 12:50 pm

I'm going to start the conspiracy theory that, in fact, all 15 clubs actually gave their support to the proposal. However, the AFL has simply claimed to the media that only 12 clubs have, which gives them a better grounding should they wish to reject the proposal on their on accord and carry on their vendetta against the EFC.

j-mac31 · Post by **j-mac31** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 1:15 pm

Hopefully this is allowed.

Stupid 3 clubs. What have they got to gain by not allowing Rama to stay "at" Essendon? Would not suprise me one bit if JC is right either.

BenDoolan · Post by **BenDoolan** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 6:55 pm

Naf Rebmob wrote:Wonder who the other 3 clubs are & whether they haven't responded yet or if they responded negatively to the proposal??

More than likely it will be interstate clubs like Brisbane and Sydney as pay back for AFL removing salary cap concessions etc, and West Coast as they are as anti -Victorian as they get.

Boyler_Room · Post by **Boyler_Room** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 7:25 pm

Interesting theory Jimmy. I wouldn't put it past the mob at the AFL... bunch of Nazis. (No offence to any Nazis we might have on the forum).

ealesy · Post by **ealesy** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 8:54 pm

f*** those three clubs.

if I had to guess which three they were I would say Melbourne, West Coast and the Flith.

Lets look at that f*** head who runs Melbourne: Gardiner and the fact he takes every opportunity possible to sink the boots in to EFC when he gets a chance.

The club states that they will look at all possible ways to avoided having to wear a clash jumper, and the f***wit takes it as some threat that the club is going to try and force the AFL into making Melbourne wearing their clash jumper against us in every single game. f***wit!!!

Also seems to have major issues with Sheedy. Wouldn't surprise me in the least if the spiteful ****** knocked back the idea simply because he has issues with Sheeds and the club.

Maybe Troy Simmonds was a former lover and he's still dirty about Michael Long smashing the tool into the 2001 season, in the 2000 Granny??!!

West Coast: they still seem to think that because Sheeds was pumped up after that win in 1993 and waved his jacket that there is some massive rivalry between the two clubs and that we should both hate each other and take every opportunity to screw each other over.

Personally I think our club has long got over West Coast, prehaps because they were so shit and inept in the late 90s and early 2000s. It's kind of hard to hate a club when they are so freaking pathetic on the field.

However, give it a year or two and they should be over, given our shithouse current form.

Finally the Flith.

They have to be one of them. As if Eddie MacGuire would do something for the good of the game unless it also directly benefited the Collingwood Footy Club.

Eddie loves to crap on about how it's the money that Collingwood brings in through gate receipts that keep clubs like the Roos, Bulldogs etc alive. Brings it up every freaking opportunity.

You reckon if the AFL gave Chins a choice he would still happily fork that money over. No f****** way.

I dare say we wouldn't either but then we haven't made a happy of jumping up and down about how we help keep the poor clubs alive for the past 15 f****** seasons.

All in all, the basic premise of this rant is the AFL goons should not be ******** and allow this to go through. 12 out of the 15 other clubs are happy to let it happen, the other 3 can go f*** themselves.

However, given the fact that the heartless ******** wouldn't even let the boys wear yellow armbands in one freaking game (only to turn around and let another club wear green freaking armbands 3 weeks later), I wouldn't be holding my breath in the hope Andy D and his little mate Anderson grow both a heart and a brain and let this occur!!