Over-rated "boom" recruits, in alpha order:

[bush demon 2,039]

Ed Burston, George Lakes, Tom Scully, Kelvin Templeton and John Tilbrook. Good on the guy, whatever happens now, he has made it in life. Money buys just about everything. Having watched him last two years it is plain enough that he possesses nothing freakish at the highest level with kicks and handballs frequently ending in turnovers. Good on the MFC, we have signed everyone else and can now hope for a revivalist coach and a big attack on 2012.

Possible apologies to most of the above who either had chronic injuries, broke down over a chronic injury or changed clubs with a chronic injury.

[Prof 15]

Nice work! You must be as old as me. Ed Burston!! I watched him kick 6 goals against Hawthorn one day in 1966. He now lives on the Mornington peninsula. I bumped into him about 10 years ago. He couldn't beleive that I remember him. A couple of other boom recruits in my time: Tony Thiessen, Hugh Bromell, Graeme Molloy.

[gOLLy 401]

Luke Molan says hello

[bush demon 2,039]

Nice work! You must be as old as me. Ed Burston!! I watched him kick 6 goals against Hawthorn one day in 1966. He now lives on the Mornington peninsula. I bumped into him about 10 years ago. He couldn't beleive that I remember him. A couple of other boom recruits in my time: Tony Thiessen, Hugh Bromell, Graeme Molloy.

Ed Burston was slightly before my time but I used to always see him referred to as 'the boom recruit' around the time Barassi defected. i think he may have broken his leg.

[Freak 100]

Yeah, you can take your head out of the sand now. Scully is better than any young player on our list. Thats why GWS went after him and they got him. Not his fault though. It's the AFL's.

But just because he is gone now there is no need to trivialise his elite speed, elite handballing, awareness, reflexes, courage and elite endurance.

[Tony Tea 2,806]

Nice work! You must be as old as me. Ed Burston!! I watched him kick 6 goals against Hawthorn one day in 1966. He now lives on the Mornington peninsula. I bumped into him about 10 years ago. He couldn't beleive that I remember him. A couple of other boom recruits in my time: Tony Thiessen, Hugh Bromell, Graeme Molloy.

Hugh Bromell's career was wrecked by injuries & sickness.

[bush demon 2,039]

Yeah, you can take your head out of the sand now. Scully is better than any young player on our list. Thats why GWS went after him and they got him. Not his fault though. It's the AFL's.

But just because he is gone now there is no need to trivialise his elite speed, elite handballing, awareness, reflexes, courage and elite endurance.

Pity kevin sheedy doesn't possess the same traits in his business decisions. good on ts i hope he does well at tombstone football club.

[Webber 10,454]

Yeah, you can take your head out of the sand now. Scully is better than any young player on our list. Thats why GWS went after him and they got him. Not his fault though. It's the AFL's.

But just because he is gone now there is no need to trivialise his elite speed, elite handballing, awareness, reflexes, courage and elite endurance.

All of which put him clearly outside our best 22 for this season. His average possession tally was below average, his efficiency WELL below average, his contest abilities (tackles, contested possessions) ordinary at best. He was not the messiah for MFC, and won't be for GWS, but he's smart enough to jump on what is the most ridiculously undeserved 6 year contract in Australian football history. Truth is stranger than fiction.

[Surfer Rosa 15]

Yeah, you can take your head out of the sand now. Scully is better than any young player on our list. Thats why GWS went after him and they got him. Not his fault though. It's the AFL's.

But just because he is gone now there is no need to trivialise his elite speed, elite handballing, awareness, reflexes, courage and elite endurance.

His concerning knee troubles.

[McQueen 17,864]

Anthony Banik is [censored] you've not mentioned him.

[gOLLy 401]

Tambling says hi to Buddy

[Cheesy D. Pun 1,762]

Yeah, you can take your head out of the sand now. Scully is better than any young player on our list. Thats why GWS went after him and they got him. Not his fault though. It's the AFL's.

But just because he is gone now there is no need to trivialise his elite speed, elite handballing, awareness, reflexes, courage and elite endurance.

Spot on. There is every chance he will become the best player in the competition at some stage in his career. There is also every chance that Tom will miss out on playing in premierships with Melbourne and that's the only thing that matters from here on in.

[spiritof76 0]

Spot on. There is every chance he will become the best player in the competition at some stage in his career. There is also every chance that Tom will miss out on playing in premierships with Melbourne and that's the only thing that matters from here on in.

that will only happen if the players get their head out of their arse and have a coach that can demand respect and pull the leadership group into line - at the moment we resemble the basket case over at the punt road penitentiary.

This is the biggest issue to obtaining a 13th flag. Player power forced Bailey out and have performed shite ever since.

F.A. coming in could mean sweet F.A. for us unless we sort this shite out now.

[steve_f 40]

Tough on George Lakes I would say. What do you expect from a HFF on starvation corner?

Edited September 12, 2011 by steve_f

[monoccular 17,417]

All of which put him clearly outside our best 22 for this season. His average possession tally was below average, his efficiency WELL below average, his contest abilities (tackles, contested possessions) ordinary at best. He was not the messiah for MFC, and won't be for GWS, but he's smart enough to jump on what is the most ridiculously undeserved 6 year contract in Australian football history. Truth is stranger than fiction.

Maybe his heart just wasnt in it this year - which I must say says little for his professionalism.

[Whispering_Jack 29,826]

Ed Burston, George Lakes, Tom Scully, Kelvin Templeton and John Tilbrook. Good on the guy, whatever happens now, he has made it in life. Money buys just about everything. Having watched him last two years it is plain enough that he possesses nothing freakish at the highest level with kicks and handballs frequently ending in turnovers. Good on the MFC, we have signed everyone else and can now hope for a revivalist coach and a big attack on 2012.

Possible apologies to most of the above who either had chronic injuries, broke down over a chronic injury or changed clubs with a chronic injury.

Ed Burston was no boom recruit but like Scully, he was a different kind of cat. In fact, very much a different kind of cat to Tom Scully. If the legend is accurate, unlike Scully, he was no teetotaller but then again I base this on hearsay.

Burston was also a bit of a reluctant recruit and, unlike Scully, he played for the love of the game when he was Scully's age because in those days he played for one of the University teams in the ammos. He was probably around 22 years of age when he was finally persuaded to join the Demons in 1966.

Burston didn't do much of a preseason. He spent the summer before his debut season in Hawaii and flew in for the last practice match to play an intraclub game on the MCG. He was a ruckman and caused a bit of a sensation with his tanned good looks. The Demons were light on for ruckmen and Ed's form in that praccy match was enough to get a game in round 1 when we were thrashed by eventual premiers St. Kilda. I remember he kicked a goal that day (in a total of four). He was in and out of the side mainly with injuries but he was a source of frustration for coach Norm Smith.

I fondly remember the day he kicked six goals v Hawthorn. He was played in the forward pocket while regular full back Bob "Tassie" Johnson was being tried in the ruck. We won by 92 points - a surprise margin since we finished second last. The Hawks were the bottom side. The thing was that Burston played only two more games. The reason?

I can't say but the story was that Smith wasn't too happy with his attitude. Perhaps if he was the consummate professional non drinker hard trainer like Scully, he might have made it in the sport.

Still, I'll never forget the excitement he brought to the club that year and, in his one big six goal game, he promised a great deal. Perhaps, if he was playing today Sheedy might have offered him double or triple what he was worth too.

[bush demon 2,039]

Tough on George Lakes I would say. What do you expect from a HFF on starvation corner?

George Lakes got front page on a new football publication about '69 and got favourable reviews as our new recruit. Spoke with former demon Neville Stone last year about it, said, from memory that he got a bad leg injury and that finished him.

[Whispering_Jack 29,826]

George Lakes was a "boom recruit" signed by legendary MFC secretary Jim Cardwell. He hailed from Broken Hill and when he joined the club in 1968, he was considered one of the best young footballers in the country. He was slightly built and played mainly on a wing or a flank and was around the club for three or four seasons but for various reasons (including injuries), couldn't cut it in the big time and was cleared to the Swans.

He was no Scully but there were no true professionals in the game in those days. What he did have was some personality and that's something money can't buy.

[bush demon 2,039]

Ed Burston was no boom recruit but like Scully, he was a different kind of cat. In fact, very much a different kind of cat to Tom Scully. If the legend is accurate, unlike Scully, he was no teetotaller but then again I base this on hearsay.

Burston was also a bit of a reluctant recruit and, unlike Scully, he played for the love of the game when he was Scully's age because in those days he played for one of the University teams in the ammos. He was probably around 22 years of age when he was finally persuaded to join the Demons in 1966.

Burston didn't do much of a preseason. He spent the summer before his debut season in Hawaii and flew in for the last practice match to play an intraclub game on the MCG. He was a ruckman and caused a bit of a sensation with his tanned good looks. The Demons were light on for ruckmen and Ed's form in that praccy match was enough to get a game in round 1 when we were thrashed by eventual premiers St. Kilda. I remember he kicked a goal that day (in a total of four). He was in and out of the side mainly with injuries but he was a source of frustration for coach Norm Smith.

I fondly remember the day he kicked six goals v Hawthorn. He was played in the forward pocket while regular full back Bob "Tassie" Johnson was being tried in the ruck. We won by 92 points - a surprise margin since we finished second last. The Hawks were the bottom side. The thing was that Burston played only two more games. The reason?

I can't say but the story was that Smith wasn't too happy with his attitude. Perhaps if he was the consummate professional non drinker hard trainer like Scully, he might have made it in the sport.

Still, I'll never forget the excitement he brought to the club that year and, in his one big six goal game, he promised a great deal. Perhaps, if he was playing today Sheedy might have offered him double or triple what he was worth too.

Maybe the 'boom recruit' ref. was attributed to Hugh Bromell.

[Whispering_Jack 29,826]

Kelvin Templeton was past his best and injury prone when he joined Melbourne. We paid him far too much and my impression was that he played in his comfort zone at the club.

John Tilbrook had experienced multiple premierships at Sturt in SA and might be called a "boom recruit" but, like Templeton was overpaid and failed to produce.

So BD some of your boom recruits brought hope with them like Scully and left us deflated but there's really not much comparison.

[Craig Drinker 179]

Diamond Jim. Beautiful kick. Slow as Molasses!

[Whispering_Jack 29,826]

Maybe the 'boom recruit' ref. was attributed to Hugh Bromell.

If he was a "boom" recruit he went bust very quickly. He was a farmer and was chased by a few clubs. We finally got our man but he suffered a bad injury before the start of the 1964 season and didn't make his debut till the following year. He showed a bit of promise in his 13 games but when he came back in 1966 he was struck down by glandular fever and disappeared from the scene, probably ending up back on the farm.

Definitely no Scully.

[spiritof76 0]

Ed Burston was no boom recruit but like Scully, he was a different kind of cat. In fact, very much a different kind of cat to Tom Scully. If the legend is accurate, unlike Scully, he was no teetotaller but then again I base this on hearsay.

Burston was also a bit of a reluctant recruit and, unlike Scully, he played for the love of the game when he was Scully's age because in those days he played for one of the University teams in the ammos. He was probably around 22 years of age when he was finally persuaded to join the Demons in 1966.

Burston didn't do much of a preseason. He spent the summer before his debut season in Hawaii and flew in for the last practice match to play an intraclub game on the MCG. He was a ruckman and caused a bit of a sensation with his tanned good looks. The Demons were light on for ruckmen and Ed's form in that praccy match was enough to get a game in round 1 when we were thrashed by eventual premiers St. Kilda. I remember he kicked a goal that day (in a total of four). He was in and out of the side mainly with injuries but he was a source of frustration for coach Norm Smith.

I fondly remember the day he kicked six goals v Hawthorn. He was played in the forward pocket while regular full back Bob "Tassie" Johnson was being tried in the ruck. We won by 92 points - a surprise margin since we finished second last. The Hawks were the bottom side. The thing was that Burston played only two more games. The reason?

I can't say but the story was that Smith wasn't too happy with his attitude. Perhaps if he was the consummate professional non drinker hard trainer like Scully, he might have made it in the sport.

Still, I'll never forget the excitement he brought to the club that year and, in his one big six goal game, he promised a great deal. Perhaps, if he was playing today Sheedy might have offered him double or triple what he was worth too.

Your showing your age there WJ :-)

I remember a sprightly Colin Graham running down the right flank kicking a goal at the city end on a day in 76'. We were up and the centreline of Alves ,Wells and Flower was a promise of things to come. Sadly it never did.

Over-rated boom recruits? Can't go past Tilbrook, Carmen, Templeton surely.

[bush demon 2,039]

If he was a "boom" recruit he went bust very quickly. He was a farmer and was chased by a few clubs. We finally got our man but he suffered a bad injury before the start of the 1964 season and didn't make his debut till the following year. He showed a bit of promise in his 13 games but when he came back in 1966 he was struck down by glandular fever and disappeared from the scene, probably ending up back on the farm.

Definitely no Scully.

He was referred to in the media as a 'boom recruit', (from a friend's scrapbook) i just mixed him up with Burston. too young and too long ago! alright wj, what's your files say on vearing, catlin and dowsing, and ricky gervais wants to know whether you can throw a shoe over a house.

Edited September 12, 2011 by bush demon

[Jumping Jack Clennett 1,780]

All of which put him clearly outside our best 22 for this season. His average possession tally was below average, his efficiency WELL below average, his contest abilities (tackles, contested possessions) ordinary at best. He was not the messiah for MFC, and won't be for GWS, but he's smart enough to jump on what is the most ridiculously undeserved 6 year contract in Australian football history. Truth is stranger than fiction.

He squibbed it b badly running with the flight against (?) Richmond,after a long, accurate pass from Sylvia.