Demonland

Here's the Demonland match review from that game written by WJ - http://demonland.com/forums/index.php?/topic/4636-the-boxing-match/

This is the sad chronicle of 1974, another year we would prefer to forget ... [WARNING: this is not for the fainthearted] 1974 by Whispering Jack I am reluctant to reveal the story of the last former Swans player to take on the coaching reins at Melbourne but history records that South Melbourne great Bob Skilton, who was captain-coach at the Swans for two inglorious years in 1965-1966, was at the helm at Melbourne from 1974-1977. His best finish was sixth in 1976 but his debut season was a horror year for the Demons. Here's how it unfolded. Round 1, 1974 Carlton v Melbourne Saturday, 6 April Venue: Princes Park Attendance: 16,724 Carlton 1.3.9 5.4.34 8.8.56 14.13.97 Melbourne 3.3.21 5.5.35 5.7.37 6.12.48 Goals Brewer 2 Baker Clennett Giampaolo Wells 1 The first up game under new coach Bob Skilton against competition power house Carlton was too much for the young Demons to handle. After a competitive first half in which Footscray recruit Garry Baker dominated the ruck, they fell away badly to lose by 49 points. Veteran Graham Osborne did a fine job on Alex Jesaulenko but Carl Ditterich failed to fire. Round 2, 1974 Melbourne v St. Kilda Monday, 15 April Venue: MCG Attendance: 36,708 Melbourne 3.6.24 7.12.54 10.16.76 11.20.86 St. Kilda 1.4.10 2.8.20 9.12.66 14.16.100 Goals Baker Flower Tilbrook 2 Brewer Clennett Owens Slade Wells Playing on their home track and holding a 34-point lead at the main break, the Demons folded in the second half to the fast-finishing Saints and went down by a disappointing 14 points. Flower, Clennett and Baker were Melbourne's best. Former Demon Paul Callery, who was best on ground in his first match against his old side, wrote a scathing article in The Age and earned the displeasure of the Demon faithful from that day on. Round 3, 1974 Melbourne v Geelong Saturday, 20 April Venue: MCG Attendance: 21,041 Melbourne 3.2.20 7.5.47 9.7.61 16.10.106 Geelong 7.2.44 10.6.66 14.9.93 16.14.110 Goals Clennett Keenan 3 Baker Collins 2 Alves Brewer Chamberlain Smith Tilbrook Wells Melbourne conceded a four goal lead at quarter time and trailed all day but came back strongly to miss out by only four points in the end. Alves, Clark and Wells were the team's best players while ruckman Peter Keenan booted three goals in the last quarter canceling out the three goals he gave away from frees earlier in the day. Future captain Steven Smith played his first game for the club and kicked a goal in his first game. Round 4, 1974 Richmond v Melbourne Saturday, 27 April Venue: MCG Attendance: 28,080 Richmond 3.5.23 7.9.51 10.12.72 13.16.94 Melbourne 2.6.18 4.8.32 6.10.46 9.15.69 Goals Hardeman Smith 2 Brewer Collins Ditterich Flower Wells Richmond was in its way to a second successive premiership and was simply too strong in the wet for Melbourne. The experienced Wells, Hardeman and Alves were the Demons' best on a day when Garry Baker limped off the field with a strained medial ligament. Round 5, 1974 Melbourne v North Melbourne Saturday, 4 May Venue: MCG Attendance: 23,616 Melbourne 2.2.14 5.6.36 5.8.38 13.11.89 North Melbourne 4.3.27 11.8.74 15.12.102 19.15.129 Goals Keenan 4 Fitzsimmons Hardeman 2 Clark Ditterich Slade Tilbrook Wells This was North Melbourne's first win against Melbourne on the MCG since 1969. The Kangaroos were heading for the finals and held a 64-point lead at the final break before Melbourne came home with an eight goal final term but still went down by 40 points. Best for the Demons were Clark, Alves and Wells while their woes with injuries continued as Gary Hardeman broke his toe. Round 6, 1974 Collingwood v Melbourne Saturday, 11 May Venue: Waverley Attendance: 25,157 Collingwood 4.4.28 7.8.50 9.10.64 13.11.89 Melbourne 5.1.31 8.3.51 11.3.69 12.7.79 Goals Tilbrook 5 Wells 2 Alves Fitzsimmons Hardeman Osborne Slade A game against the old enemy used to bring out the best in the Demons and this game at Waverley was no exception, The Magpies held Melbourne out by 10 points after trailing at every interval. John Tilbrook kicked the first two goals of the day on his way to five for the day after earlier announcing his intention to play gridiron in the USA. Runner Sam Allica was reported for abusive language and suspended for eight matches on a day when the Dees' best were Alves, Owens and Clennett. Round 7, 1974 South Melbourne v Melbourne Saturday, 18 May Venue: Lake Oval Attendance: 11,204 South Melbourne 4.9.33 7.12.54 11.14.80 13.16.94 Melbourne 4.3.27 8.5.53 9.6.60 11.10.76 Goals Tilbrook 6 Wells 2 Baker Fitzsimmons Moore After a close opening half, the Demons trailed by a point but they disappointed their Skilton on his return as coach to the Lake Oval to lose by three goals in wet conditions after several days of record rainfalls in the Melbourne metropolitan area. Best were Clarke, Brewer and Alves and Tilbrook booted six goals. Round 8, 1974 Melbourne v Hawthorn Saturday, 25 May Venue: MCG Attendance: 18,030 Melbourne 2.4.16 4.7.31 5.9.39 6.15.51 Hawthorn 4.7.31 7.13.55 11.19.85 13.21.99 Goals Alves Baker Brewer Clennett Dullard Keays The Demons were never in the hunt against the strong Hawthorn team. A verbal altercation between Skilton and Hawthorn player Don Scott gave the otherwise dull encounter some life while Demon youngster Neil McMullin was admitted to hospital with a broken jaw after a clash with Leigh Matthews. It was not the first nor the last time Matthews was involved in an unsavoury incident with a Melbourne player. Alves, Wells and Clennett were the best players for their side. Round 9, 1974 Footscray v Melbourne Saturday, 1 June Venue: Western Oval Attendance: 15,115 Footscray 5.3.33 8.11.59 12.13.85 13.16.94 Melbourne 2.3.15 4.4.28 6.6.42 8.8.56 Goals Alves Owens 2 Flower Slade Smith Wells The Demons were desperate for a win and turned to two youngsters for their first games against the Bulldogs in Bill Barham (whose father was a bush champion who the club tried to recruit in the 1950s) and Greg Wood from Wallan who had kicked 176 goals in the previous year. However, it didn't help and Melbourne lost its 17th game on end, this time by 38 points drawing criticism from the Age which described every Melbourne forward move as "an aimless meander into strange territory". Ditterich, Alves and Baker were Melbourne's best. Round 10, 1974 Melbourne v Fitzroy Saturday, 8 June Venue: MCG Attendance: 12,414 Melbourne 1.3.9 6.5.41 13.7.85 19.10.124 Fitzroy 3.5.23 8.8.56 10.13.73 13.15.93 Goals Brewer Williamson 5 Flower 3 Smith 2 Alves Baker Wells Wood On Bastille Day 1973, the Demons were still a chance to make the finals but their loss that day put paid to that and eventually saw off Ian Ridley as coach. Now, after 19 game consecutive losses, the run of defeats came to an end against the Lions who were also the last side they had tasted victory against. Sullivan, Flower and Delmenico were the best players for the Demons who would have been encouraged by the form of their younger players in the windy conditions. The team overcame a poor opening half to run out victors by 31 points. Round 11, 1974 Melbourne v Essendon Saturday, 15 June Venue: Waverley Attendance: 21,396 Melbourne 3.3.21 5.4.35 9.5.59 10.10.70 Essendon 5.5.35 7.7.49 12.10.82 15.15.105 Goals Brewer 5 Flower 3 Alves Williamson The Demons couldn't repeat the dose the following week when they confronted the Bombers at Waverley. Carl Ditterich sat on the bench for most of the day recovering from injury but when he came on, he had little influence. Wells, Brewer and Giampaolo were the team's best in their 35 -point loss. Round 12, 1974 Melbourne v Carlton Saturday, 22 June Venue: MCG Attendance: 23,336 Melbourne 2.2.14 5.4.34 8.7.55 11.13.79 Carlton 4.5.29 9.10.74 12.15.87 15.18.108 Goals Brewer 3 Baker 2 Williamson 2 Clark Flower Smith Wells Wells, Hardeman and Baker were the best of a Demon combination that battled manfully against the odds as the Blues coasted to a near 5 goal victory. Round 13, 1974 St. Kilda v Melbourne Saturday, 29 June Venue: Moorabbin Attendance: 13,854 St. Kilda 4.3.27 4.4.28 7.10.52 11.13.79 Melbourne 0.2.2 5.4.34 9.6.60 13.10.88 Goals Flower 4 Williamson 3 Wells 2 Alves Clark Ditterich Wood The Demons overcame a slow start and a 25-point quarter time deficit to overrun St. Kilda in the final half to win by 9 points. They were helped by some inspired play from young defenders Adrian Dullard and Frank Giampaolo while Carl Ditterich, finally played in a win over his old side. Round 14, 1975 Melbourne v Richmond Saturday, 6 July Venue: MCG Attendance: 21,146 Melbourne 2.6.18 4.13.37 7.17.59 11.24.90 Richmond 3.4.22 9.10.64 19.12.126 23.15.153 Goals Ditterich 3 Baker Williamson 2 Brewer Clark Scott Wells The Tigers dominated this fixture after quarter time. Melbourne had no answer to their free-scoring dominance and did not help matters with their errant shooting at goal. Again, it was left to the more experienced players in Sullivan, Ditterich and Hardeman to add some respectability after a 10 goal Richmond third term. Round 15, 1974 Geelong v Melbourne Saturday, 13 July Venue: Kardinia Park Attendance: 10,881 Geelong 2.4.16 5.5.35 8.7.55 12.11.83 Melbourne 4.2.26 6.5.41 6.7.43 9.9.63 Goals Barham Chamberlain Ditterich 2 Flower Smith Williamson Melbourne gave Geelong a run for its money and led at half time before the customary third term fade out put paid to their chances of winning the game. Round 16 1974 North Melbourne v Melbourne Saturday, 20 July Venue: Arden Street Attendance: 9,094 North Melbourne 1.0.6 7.3.45 11.5.71 19.14.128 Melbourne 4.5.29 5.5.35 8.7.55 9.10.64 Goals Baker 3 Brewer 2 Barham Scott Smith Wood It was Greg Wells' 100th game but the occasion wasn't enough to lift the Demons whose final score was doubled by the Kangaroos on their home turf at Arden Street. After a slow start, North recovered to take the lead at half-time and extend their margin at three-quarter time before running away with the game in the final term. Best for the losers were Giampaolo, Wells and Baker. Round 17, 1974 Melbourne v Collingwood Saturday, 27 July Venue: MCG Attendance: 22,893 Melbourne 3.9.27 8.16.64 12.16.88 15.21.111 Collingwood 5.2.32 7.7.49 12.7.79 17.13.115 Goals Hardeman 4 Barham Brewer 3 Wells 2 Baker Flower Wood An inaccurate Melbourne gave finals contender Collingwood a fright at the MCG and was unlucky to lose by 4 points. Elder statesmen Hardeman, Wells and Alves were Melbourne's best. Round 18 1974 Melbourne v South Melbourne Saturday, 3 August Venue: Waverley Attendance: 13,188 Melbourne 2.6.18 5.10.40 8.11.59 11.17.83 South Melbourne 2.2.14 6.7.43 7.11.53 14.13.97 Goals Flower 4 Wells 2 Baker Barham Brewer Carroll Ditterich The Demons three away another winning opportunity with poor kicking for goal after leading at the final break. Their best at Waverley against the Swans were Ditterich, Flower and Wells. Round 19, 1974 Hawthorn v Melbourne Saturday, 10 August Venue: Princes Park Attendance: 8,754 Hawthorn 3.6.24 7.11.53 14.17.101 17.20.122 Melbourne 1.2.8 5.6.36 8.10.58 14.13.97 Goals Baker 5 Brewer 4 Alves Barham Ditterich Hardeman Wells Melbourne put in a brave effort which could easily have been even more flattering but for the fact that they hit the post three times on their way to a 25-point loss. A hamstring injury to centreman Denis Clark saw Tony Sullivan moved into the middle where he put in an outstanding performance. Greg Wells was also in fine form while Chamberlain and Baker were also good. Round 20, 1974 Melbourne v Footscray Saturday, 17 August Venue: MCG Attendance: 17,951 Melbourne 1.1.7 3.6.24 7.11.53 10.15.75 Footscray 6.7.43 11.10.76 15.18.108 23.21.159 Goals Brewer Scott 2 Alves Barham Biffin Chamberlain Ditterich Flower The Demons copped a mauling from the Bulldogs for the second time in the season. This time the margin was 14 goals in a game played in front of the faithful at the MCG. The Dogs were aiming for the finals and coach Bob Rose demanded a percentage booster, which is exactly what he got from his charges as they produced their team's biggest winning margin yet against the Dees whose only winner on the day was Stan Alves. Of the others only Barham and Sullivan could hold their heads up high. Round 21, 1974 Fitzroy v Melbourne Saturday, 24 August Venue: Junction Oval Attendance: 7,803 Fitzroy 2.4.16 4. 7.31 10.15.75 14.16.100 Melbourne 3.2.20 6.6.42 13.8.86 20.13.133 Goals Wells 4 Barham Brewer 3 Baker Giampaolo Smith 2 Ditterich Dullard McMullin Osborne Stung by their pathetic effort against Footscray, the Demons struck back against Fitzroy at the Junction Oval. Wells, Ditterich and Giampaolo were their best in a fiery game which reached fever pitch after Ditterich clashed with the Lions' ruckman Dean Farnham. The wild brawl that ensued involved almost every player on the field. Fitzroy veteran Kevin Murray broke the VFL record for the most games played to that time. Round 22 1974 Essendon v Melbourne Saturday, 31 August Venue: Windy Hill Attendance: 13,561 Essendon 5.4.34 12.6.78 17.9.111 20.17.137 Melbourne 5.2.32 5.6.36 10.12.72 15.13.103 Goals Brewer Dullard 3 Giampaolo Wells 2 Alves Barham Hardeman Keenan Smith Melbourne completed its nightmare season by going down to the Bombers at Windy Hill in the final game. The wooden spoon was already secured and Melbourne was really only in the hunt for a win in the first quarter. Essendon piled on 7.2 to 0.4 in the second quarter and the 1974 nightmare was over for Melbourne. It was left again to seasoned players in Wells, Sullivan and Biffin to hold their team together with some dignity in the second half. Two years later, Melbourne which had improved dramatically under Skilton's coaching and beat a now lowly Collingwood in a must-win final round. However, the Demons were deprived of a place in the top five when the Bulldogs managed a draw against top side Carlton after a Blues' shot for goal was touched on the line seconds before the final siren allowing the Bulldogs to edge the Demons out by just ½ a game. It would then be another 11 years before Melbourne would have the opportunity to taste finals action.

You got married. I nearly died.

This is the sad chronicle of 1974, another year we would prefer to forget ... [WARNING: this is not for the fainthearted] I am reluctant to reveal the story of the last former Swans player to take on the coaching reins at Melbourne but history records that South Melbourne great Bob Skilton, who was captain-coach at the Swans for two inglorious years in 1965-1966, was at the helm at Melbourne from 1974-1977. His best finish was sixth in 1976 but his debut season was a horror year for the Demons. Here's how it unfolded. Round 1, 1974 Carlton v Melbourne Saturday, 6 April Venue: Princes Park Attendance: 16,724 Carlton 1.3.9 5.4.34 8.8.56 14.13.97 Melbourne 3.3.21 5.5.35 5.7.37 6.12.48 Goals Brewer 2 Baker Clennett Giampaolo Wells 1 The first up game under new coach Bob Skilton against competition power house Carlton was too much for the young Demons to handle. After a competitive first half in which Footscray recruit Garry Baker dominated the ruck, they fell away badly to lose by 49 points. Veteran Graham Osborne did a fine job on Alex Jesaulenko but Carl Ditterich failed to fire. Round 2, 1974 Melbourne v St. Kilda Monday, 15 April Venue: MCG Attendance: 36,708 Melbourne 3.6.24 7.12.54 10.16.76 11.20.86 St. Kilda 1.4.10 2.8.20 9.12.66 14.16.100 Goals Baker Flower Tilbrook 2 Brewer Clennett Owens Slade Wells Playing on their home track and holding a 34-point lead at the main break, the Demons folded in the second half to the fast-finishing Saints and went down by a disappointing 14 points. Flower, Clennett and Baker were Melbourne's best. Former Demon Paul Callery, who was best on ground in his first match against his old side, wrote a scathing article in The Age and earned the displeasure of the Demon faithful from that day on. Round 3, 1974 Melbourne v Geelong Saturday, 20 April Venue: MCG Attendance: 21,041 Melbourne 3.2.20 7.5.47 9.7.61 16.10.106 Geelong 7.2.44 10.6.66 14.9.93 16.14.110 Goals Clennett Keenan 3 Baker Collins 2 Alves Brewer Chamberlain Smith Tilbrook Wells Melbourne conceded a four goal lead at quarter time and trailed all day but came back strongly to miss out by only four points in the end. Alves, Clark and Wells were the team's best players while ruckman Peter Keenan booted three goals in the last quarter canceling out the three goals he gave away from frees earlier in the day. Future captain Steven Smith played his first game for the club and kicked a goal in his first game. Round 4, 1974 Richmond v Melbourne Saturday, 27 April Venue: MCG Attendance: 28,080 Richmond 3.5.23 7.9.51 10.12.72 13.16.94 Melbourne 2.6.18 4.8.32 6.10.46 9.15.69 Goals Hardeman Smith 2 Brewer Collins Ditterich Flower Wells Richmond was in its way to a second successive premiership and was simply too strong in the wet for Melbourne. The experienced Wells, Hardeman and Alves were the Demons' best on a day when Garry Baker limped off the field with a strained medial ligament. Round 5, 1974 Melbourne v North Melbourne Saturday, 4 May Venue: MCG Attendance: 23,616 Melbourne 2.2.14 5.6.36 5.8.38 13.11.89 North Melbourne 4.3.27 11.8.74 15.12.102 19.15.129 Goals Keenan 4 Fitzsimmons Hardeman 2 Clark Ditterich Slade Tilbrook Wells This was North Melbourne's first win against Melbourne on the MCG since 1969. The Kangaroos were heading for the finals and held a 64-point lead at the final break before Melbourne came home with an eight goal final term but still went down by 40 points. Best for the Demons were Clark, Alves and Wells while their woes with injuries continued as Gary Hardeman broke his toe. Round 6, 1974 Collingwood v Melbourne Saturday, 11 May Venue: Waverley Attendance: 25,157 Collingwood 4.4.28 7.8.50 9.10.64 13.11.89 Melbourne 5.1.31 8.3.51 11.3.69 12.7.79 Goals Tilbrook 5 Wells 2 Alves Fitzsimmons Hardeman Osborne Slade A game against the old enemy used to bring out the best in the Demons and this game at Waverley was no exception, The Magpies held Melbourne out by 10 points after trailing at every interval. John Tilbrook kicked the first two goals of the day on his way to five for the day after earlier announcing his intention to play gridiron in the USA. Runner Sam Allica was reported for abusive language and suspended for eight matches on a day when the Dees' best were Alves, Owens and Clennett. Round 7, 1974 South Melbourne v Melbourne Saturday, 18 May Venue: Lake Oval Attendance: 11,204 South Melbourne 4.9.33 7.12.54 11.14.80 13.16.94 Melbourne 4.3.27 8.5.53 9.6.60 11.10.76 Goals Tilbrook 6 Wells 2 Baker Fitzsimmons Moore After a close opening half, the Demons trailed by a point but they disappointed their Skilton on his return as coach to the Lake Oval to lose by three goals in wet conditions after several days of record rainfalls in the Melbourne metropolitan area. Best were Clarke, Brewer and Alves and Tilbrook booted six goals. Round 8, 1974 Melbourne v Hawthorn Saturday, 25 May Venue: MCG Attendance: 18,030 Melbourne 2.4.16 4.7.31 5.9.39 6.15.51 Hawthorn 4.7.31 7.13.55 11.19.85 13.21.99 Goals Alves Baker Brewer Clennett Dullard Keays The Demons were never in the hunt against the strong Hawthorn team. A verbal altercation between Skilton and Hawthorn player Don Scott gave the otherwise dull encounter some life while Demon youngster Neil McMullin was admitted to hospital with a broken jaw after a clash with Leigh Matthews. It was not the first nor the last time Matthews was involved in an unsavoury incident with a Melbourne player. Alves, Wells and Clennett were the best players for their side. Round 9, 1974 Footscray v Melbourne Saturday, 1 June Venue: Western Oval Attendance: 15,115 Footscray 5.3.33 8.11.59 12.13.85 13.16.94 Melbourne 2.3.15 4.4.28 6.6.42 8.8.56 Goals Alves Owens 2 Flower Slade Smith Wells The Demons were desperate for a win and turned to two youngsters for their first games against the Bulldogs in Bill Barham (whose father was a bush champion who the club tried to recruit in the 1950s) and Greg Wood from Wallan who had kicked 176 goals in the previous year. However, it didn't help and Melbourne lost its 17th game on end, this time by 38 points drawing criticism from the Age which described every Melbourne forward move as "an aimless meander into strange territory". Ditterich, Alves and Baker were Melbourne's best. Round 10, 1974 Melbourne v Fitzroy Saturday, 8 June Venue: MCG Attendance: 12,414 Melbourne 1.3.9 6.5.41 13.7.85 19.10.124 Fitzroy 3.5.23 8.8.56 10.13.73 13.15.93 Goals Brewer Williamson 5 Flower 3 Smith 2 Alves Baker Wells Wood On Bastille Day 1973, the Demons were still a chance to make the finals but their loss that day put paid to that and eventually saw off Ian Ridley as coach. Now, after 19 game consecutive losses, the run of defeats came to an end against the Lions who were also the last side they had tasted victory against. Sullivan, Flower and Delmenico were the best players for the Demons who would have been encouraged by the form of their younger players in the windy conditions. The team overcame a poor opening half to run out victors by 31 points. Round 11, 1974 Melbourne v Essendon Saturday, 15 June Venue: Waverley Attendance: 21,396 Melbourne 3.3.21 5.4.35 9.5.59 10.10.70 Essendon 5.5.35 7.7.49 12.10.82 15.15.105 Goals Brewer 5 Flower 3 Alves Williamson The Demons couldn't repeat the dose the following week when they confronted the Bombers at Waverley. Carl Ditterich sat on the bench for most of the day recovering from injury but when he came on, he had little influence. Wells, Brewer and Giampaolo were the team's best in their 35 -point loss. Round 12, 1974 Melbourne v Carlton Saturday, 22 June Venue: MCG Attendance: 23,336 Melbourne 2.2.14 5.4.34 8.7.55 11.13.79 Carlton 4.5.29 9.10.74 12.15.87 15.18.108 Goals Brewer 3 Baker 2 Williamson 2 Clark Flower Smith Wells Wells, Hardeman and Baker were the best of a Demon combination that battled manfully against the odds as the Blues coasted to a near 5 goal victory. Round 13, 1974 St. Kilda v Melbourne Saturday, 29 June Venue: Moorabbin Attendance: 13,854 St. Kilda 4.3.27 4.4.28 7.10.52 11.13.79 Melbourne 0.2.2 5.4.34 9.6.60 13.10.88 Goals Flower 4 Williamson 3 Wells 2 Alves Clark Ditterich Wood The Demons overcame a slow start and a 25-point quarter time deficit to overrun St. Kilda in the final half to win by 9 points. They were helped by some inspired play from young defenders Adrian Dullard and Frank Giampaolo while Carl Ditterich, finally played in a win over his old side. Round 14, 1975 Melbourne v Richmond Saturday, 6 July Venue: MCG Attendance: 21,146 Melbourne 2.6.18 4.13.37 7.17.59 11.24.90 Richmond 3.4.22 9.10.64 19.12.126 23.15.153 Goals Ditterich 3 Baker Williamson 2 Brewer Clark Scott Wells The Tigers dominated this fixture after quarter time. Melbourne had no answer to their free-scoring dominance and did not help matters with their errant shooting at goal. Again, it was left to the more experienced players in Sullivan, Ditterich and Hardeman to add some respectability after a 10 goal Richmond third term. Round 15, 1974 Geelong v Melbourne Saturday, 13 July Venue: Kardinia Park Attendance: 10,881 Geelong 2.4.16 5.5.35 8.7.55 12.11.83 Melbourne 4.2.26 6.5.41 6.7.43 9.9.63 Goals Barham Chamberlain Ditterich 2 Flower Smith Williamson Melbourne gave Geelong a run for its money and led at half time before the customary third term fade out put paid to their chances of winning the game. Round 16 1974 North Melbourne v Melbourne Saturday, 20 July Venue: Arden Street Attendance: 9,094 North Melbourne 1.0.6 7.3.45 11.5.71 19.14.128 Melbourne 4.5.29 5.5.35 8.7.55 9.10.64 Goals Baker 3 Brewer 2 Barham Scott Smith Wood It was Greg Wells' 100th game but the occasion wasn't enough to lift the Demons whose final score was doubled by the Kangaroos on their home turf at Arden Street. After a slow start, North recovered to take the lead at half-time and extend their margin at three-quarter time before running away with the game in the final term. Best for the losers were Giampaolo, Wells and Baker. Round 17, 1974 Melbourne v Collingwood Saturday, 27 July Venue: MCG Attendance: 22,893 Melbourne 3.9.27 8.16.64 12.16.88 15.21.111 Collingwood 5.2.32 7.7.49 12.7.79 17.13.115 Goals Hardeman 4 Barham Brewer 3 Wells 2 Baker Flower Wood An inaccurate Melbourne gave finals contender Collingwood a fright at the MCG and was unlucky to lose by 4 points. Elder statesmen Hardeman, Wells and Alves were Melbourne's best. Round 18 1974 Melbourne v South Melbourne Saturday, 3 August Venue: Waverley Attendance: 13,188 Melbourne 2.6.18 5.10.40 8.11.59 11.17.83 South Melbourne 2.2.14 6.7.43 7.11.53 14.13.97 Goals Flower 4 Wells 2 Baker Barham Brewer Carroll Ditterich The Demons three away another winning opportunity with poor kicking for goal after leading at the final break. Their best at Waverley against the Swans were Ditterich, Flower and Wells. Round 19, 1974 Hawthorn v Melbourne Saturday, 10 August Venue: Princes Park Attendance: 8,754 Hawthorn 3.6.24 7.11.53 14.17.101 17.20.122 Melbourne 1.2.8 5.6.36 8.10.58 14.13.97 Goals Baker 5 Brewer 4 Alves Barham Ditterich Hardeman Wells Melbourne put in a brave effort which could easily have been even more flattering but for the fact that they hit the post three times on their way to a 25-point loss. A hamstring injury to centreman Denis Clark saw Tony Sullivan moved into the middle where he put in an outstanding performance. Greg Wells was also in fine form while Chamberlain and Baker were also good. Round 20, 1974 Melbourne v Footscray Saturday, 17 August Venue: MCG Attendance: 17,951 Melbourne 1.1.7 3.6.24 7.11.53 10.15.75 Footscray 6.7.43 11.10.76 15.18.108 23.21.159 Goals Brewer Scott 2 Alves Barham Biffin Chamberlain Ditterich Flower The Demons copped a mauling from the Bulldogs for the second time in the season. This time the margin was 14 goals in a game played in front of the faithful at the MCG. The Dogs were aiming for the finals and coach Bob Rose demanded a percentage booster, which is exactly what he got from his charges as they produced their team's biggest winning margin yet against the Dees whose only winner on the day was Stan Alves. Of the others only Barham and Sullivan could hold their heads up high. Round 21, 1974 Fitzroy v Melbourne Saturday, 24 August Venue: Junction Oval Attendance: 7,803 Fitzroy 2.4.16 4. 7.31 10.15.75 14.16.100 Melbourne 3.2.20 6.6.42 13.8.86 20.13.133 Goals Wells 4 Barham Brewer 3 Baker Giampaolo Smith 2 Ditterich Dullard McMullin Osborne Stung by their pathetic effort against Footscray, the Demons struck back against Fitzroy at the Junction Oval. Wells, Ditterich and Giampaolo were their best in a fiery game which reached fever pitch after Ditterich clashed with the Lions' ruckman Dean Farnham. The wild brawl that ensued involved almost every player on the field. Fitzroy veteran Kevin Murray broke the VFL record for the most games played to that time. Round 22 1974 Essendon v Melbourne Saturday, 31 August Venue: Windy Hill Attendance: 13,561 Essendon 5.4.34 12.6.78 17.9.111 20.17.137 Melbourne 5.2.32 5.6.36 10.12.72 15.13.103 Goals Brewer Dullard 3 Giampaolo Wells 2 Alves Barham Hardeman Keenan Smith Melbourne completed its nightmare season by going down to the Bombers at Windy Hill in the final game. The wooden spoon was already secured and Melbourne was really only in the hunt for a win in the first quarter. Essendon piled on 7.2 to 0.4 in the second quarter and the 1974 nightmare was over for Melbourne. It was left again to seasoned players in Wells, Sullivan and Biffin to hold their team together with some dignity in the second half. Two years later, Melbourne which had improved dramatically under Skilton's coaching and beat a now lowly Collingwood in a must-win final round. However, the Demons were deprived of a place in the top five when the Bulldogs managed a draw against top side Carlton after a Blues' shot for goal was touched on the line seconds before the final siren allowing the Bulldogs to edge the Demons out by just ½ a game. It would then be another 11 years before Melbourne would have the opportunity to taste finals action.

If you're a subscriber, turning off the channel isn't really the answer but yes ... a letter to management might help although it's easier for their budget to just run the same stuff on rotation over the off season. I would expect that a station dedicated to one sport could at least have a weekly programme covering what's happening in the sport. Anyway, the NAB Challenge starts next month. Let's hope they can afford to take a camera crew to Traeger Park, Alice Springs.

At the start of every year, we go back in time four decades. 1974 was a bleak year indeed ... 1974 - A RETROSPECTIVE by Whispering Jack For season 1974, former South Melbourne champion Bob Skilton took over the coaching reins at the Melbourne Football Club from Ian Ridley. The club was already in free fall having lost their last eight games of 1973 to finishing in 10th place but the carnage continued and it lost the first nine games before winning against Fitzroy on 8 June, 1974 ironically against the same club that it beat before its long losing run began eleven months earlier. Melbourne tasted victory only two more times for the season - including another win over the Lions - and finished a game and a half adrift at the bottom of the table. THE DETAIL Coach: Bob Skelton Captain: Stan Alves Finishing Position: 12th Best and Fairest: Stan Alves Leading Goal kicker: Ross Brewer (40) Best First Year Player: Gary Baker PREMIERSHIP SEASON ROUND BY ROUND Premiership Season Round Opposition Result 1 Carlton LOSS 2 St. Kilda LOSS 3 Geelong LOSS 4 Richmond LOSS 5 North Melbourne LOSS 6 Collingwood LOSS 7 South Melbourne LOSS 8 Hawthorn LOSS 9 Footscray LOSS 10 Fitzroy WIN 11 Essendon LOSS 12 Carlton LOSS 13 St. Kilda WIN 14 Richmond LOSS 15 Geelong LOSS 16 North Melbourne LOSS 17 Collingwood LOSS 18 South Melbourne LOSS 19 Hawthorn LOSS 20 Footscray LOSS 21 Fitzroy WIN 22 Essendon LOSS LADDER Richmond 17 5 0 129.3 68 North Melbourne 16 6 0 138.8 64 Hawthorn 15 7 0 125.4 60 Collingwood 15 7 0 104.6 60 Footscray 13 8 1 108.8 54 -------------------------------------------- Geelong 11 11 0 93.4 44 Carlton 10 11 1 105.8 42 Essendon 10 12 0 97.6 40 South Melbourne 9 12 1 83.7 38 St. Kilda 7 15 0 88.7 28 Fitzroy 4 17 1 71.3 18 Melbourne 3 19 0 77.1 12 PLAYING LIST [Number, Player, Games, Goals] 1. Gary Baker 20 24 2. Robert Flower 18 22 4. Tony Sullivan 18 0 5. John Clennett 14 6 6. Ross Brewer 22 40 7. Graham Osborne 7 2 8. Peter Keenan 15 8 9. Stephen Kerley 10 0 10. Carl Ditterich 19 22 11. Greg Wells 22 26 12. Mike Collins 9 3 14. Neil Chamberlain 9 2 15. Stan Alves 21 11 17. Denis Clark 18 4 18. John Tilbrook 11 15 19. Ray Biffin 19 1 21. Graham Molloy 3 0 22. Charles Pagnoccolo 1 0 23. Shane Fitzsimmons 5 4 24. Wayne Delmenico 9 0 26. Graham Scott 8 4 27. Greg Wood 11 4 28. Tony Dullard 17 5 29. David Murray 6 0 30. Peter Williamson 14 14 31. Billy Barham 9 13 32. Dennis Payne 1 0 33. Gary Hardeman 20 11 34. Mal Owens 12 3 35. Steven Smith 17 12 37. John Reid 2 0 38. Peter Slade 15 4 39. Kevin Moore 8 1 40. Neil McMullin 7 1 42. Peter Keays 7 1 42. Ted Carroll 2 1 43. Frank Giampaolo 12 5 54. Mike Power 2 0 TROPHY WINNERS MELBOURNE FOOTBALL CLUB, 1974 Best and Fairest Trophy (M.C.C. Trophy and Keith "Bluey" Truscott Memorial Trophy) STAN ALVES Runner-up Best and Fairest Trophy (Sid Anderson Memorial Trophy) CARL DITTERICH Third Best and Fairest Trophy (Ron Barassi Snr. Memorial Trophy) GARY HARDEMAN Special Trophy donated in the memory of the late Ivor Warne-Smith and awarded for outstanding service GREG WELLS Special Trophy donated in the memory of the late Dick Taylor and awarded for outstanding service TONY SULLIVAN Best First Year Player GARY BAKER RESERVE EIGHTEEN TROPHY WINNERS Best and Fairest (Stan Brownbill Mem­orial Trophy PETER WILLIAMSON Second Best and Fairest IAN McGUINNESS Outstanding Service Trophies SHANE FITZSIMMONS PETER KEENAN NEIL CHAMBERLAIN UNDER 19 TROPHY Best and Fairest JAMES AHERN Second Best and Fairest PHILIP FRIEDMAN Outstanding Service CHRIS MUNDAY GREG WOODS Best Clubman RAY POTTER Equal Highest Votes in Morrish Medal PHILLIP FRIEDMAN* Played in Senior, Reserve and Under 19 Teams, 1974 MICHAEL POWER [* PHILLIP FRIEDMAN who originally lost on a count back was subsequently awarded the Morrish Medal - ed] UNDER 17 TROPHY WINNERS Best and Fairest STEVE HILTON Second Best and Fairest ROBERT SANTAGADA Outstanding Service GEOFF OSMAND PETER GABRON IAN SUTTON Tribunal Round Player Charge Sanction Round 6 Sam Allica (runner) Abusive Language 8 matches THE PASSING PARADE Former players Roy Dowsing and JP "Shane" McGrath passed away in 1974. THE BOTTOM LINE After posting a profit of $4,382 in 1973, the club announced a loss of $24,137 attributed largely to the senior team's poor on field performances. ANNUAL REPORT 1974 In presenting the Annual Report for Season 1974 we record a drop from 10th position in 1973 to wooden spooners in 1974, the last of the twelve clubs who make up this competition, a position that is hurtful and humiliating to all concerned. Not since 1951 has the team found itself in this position and we are most unhappy in it. When one remembers the greatness that once was Melbourne, and reflects on some of our performances this Season, we are saddened. Without any desire, other than to pinpoint our failure, the lack of players has been the major cause in our downfall. Over the past few years in many matches played by our team, we have found something to console ourselves. Sometimes a performance that gave us hope to believe that our team might well go on and be a Final Five contender, but injuries have intervened and our newer players did not perform as well as expected, and our older and talented players failed to perform as we knew they were capable of performing. Too much was left to too few, and basically it has become quite obvious that in the players who comprise our final list, we do not have the necessary depth in talent to succeed. Therefore, it is quite simple, we have to recruit better players, and at a much faster rate than we have been doing after the past few years. Despite the inbuilt difficulties one is bound to experience in an operation of this type, we can honestly report to you that every endeavour is being made to overcome our shortage of recruits. Broadly speaking, recruits are available from four areas, the first from interstate. In this category in 1973 we signed Peter Carey and Michael Graham, two outstanding players from South Australia. Numerous interviews have been conducted with these two players and we hope to successfully conclude their transfers. Carey is an outstand­ing Centre-Half Forward and will mean a great deal if recruited, whilst Michael Graham who starred in the championship match against Rich­mond would be equally valuable to us. In 1974 we signed a young Full-Forward from Tasmania in Peter Hamilton, and we are holding our final 'Form 4' to use on an even more attractive interstate player in the near future. We can and will obtain players from our country zone, which we are canvassing to limit, but the talent in the abundance we need does not appear to be coming through at this stage, but we are doing every­thing to cover our areas. The same remarks can be applied to our metropolitan zones, and never in our Club's history have they been covered so intensively. If the youngsters are there we will present them to our selectors in due course. We conducted a Clinic on the M.C.G. this year over a three day period on which we had young stars from all over Australia billeted with good supporters of our Club. As a result the talent we unearthed will play a part in helping our Club up the ladder. Listed below are the names of some of the recruits that we anticipate seeing in action during the 1975 practice games: Mark Alves Utility Edithvale/Aspendale Murray Black Half Back Nagambie Peter Carey Centre Half Forward Glenelg Ian Cordner Centre Half Forward University Blacks Geoff Delaney Half Back Seymour Michael Graham Wing Sturt Gary Guy Centre Carrum Peter Hamilton Full Forward Ulverstone Marty Lyons Half Forward Sandringham Peter O'Keefe Half Back Seymour Francis O'Keefe Half Forward Seymour Ross Perrett Rover University Blacks Bruce Reid Full Forward Romsey Barry Tippett Rover Shepparton David Warming Full Forward Xavier Chris Woodman Ruckman Shepparton United These are plain statements of fact, and we can only ask for your support and patience. We are doing all we can to ensure that our position at the moment will not occur again. However, we have to operate within the limits laid down by our country and metropolitan areas, and at the moment die players are not there in the numbers required to rapidly lift us from the bottom of the ladder, so under the constitutional confines laid down by the Victorian Football League, we can only ask for your patience whilst we set about our task of recovery. It was hard on Bob Skilton to face a situation as outlined in his first year. Bob could not have tried harder to lift the team and made a great impression on players and officials alike, and we sincerely trust that his efforts may be rewarded to a greater extent in 1975. Another new face on our coaching scene for 1974 was Reserve Eighteen and Assistant Coach Roy Simmonds. We were privileged indeed to recruit Roy to Melbourne, but similarly with our First Eighteen it failed because basically its players lack talent. As with Bob Skilton, if Roy is to succeed then he requires more players. We can only thank Bob and Roy for their dedicated and friendly approach to their respective tasks, and encourage them to further apply them­selves in 1975. This year saw the introduction to the Club of Ivan Moore as Administration Manager. With the pending retirement of Secretary Jim Cardwell, your Club saw fit to appoint Ivan to succeed and work with Jim over the remaining months he has with the Club. Ivan has brought with him a fresh approach to the Club which will prove of great benefit in the years ahead, we are fortunate to have his enthusiasm and cheerfulness working in our Club's interests. All this backed up by a sound knowledge of football administration makes him a most wel­come addition. Brian Gray again acted as Coach of our Under 19 team, which finished in seventh position. This team's performance was dictated very often by the demands of the Reserve Eighteen, and with a heavy crop of injuries troubling our reserve and senior Eighteens, the Under 19's were continually called upon to help out, with a consequent loss of performance by our Under 19's which accounted very often for this team's display of both brilliant and at times disappointing football. The Under 17's again competed successfully in their competition and were again in the Final series finishing in Third position. The team was again coached by Gordon Duff who has enjoyed great success. We are hoping still of course that the V.F.L. will introduce a fourth Eighteen competition in the not too distant future, which we feel will be of considerable benefit to all Clubs. Our Best and Fairest awards were conducted in public at the M.C.G. As in 1973 with Carl Ditterich, it was obvious from the outset in 1974, Stan Alves was to be the winner of the M.C.C. Medal and that is how the voting progressed. Stan Alves became a runaway winner and the happy crowd at this function were delighted to be the first to congratulate him on his well deserved award. Stan has been a grand sportsman for Melbourne and a great example to all who play football. Young players could do well to model themselves on Stan, both on and off the field, he is well qualified to have his name appear on the Honour Board of the Melbourne Football Club as Best and Fairest player. Runner-up Best and Fairest was Carl Ditterich, and in winning this award Carl again showed the tremendous value he is to our team. The confidence Carl inspires in players around him cannot be measured and we are indeed fortunate to have him playing with us in the manner that he has done. In winning our Best and Fairest in 1973 and now second Best and Fairest in 1974. Carl has shown what a great acquisi­tion he has been to Melbourne. Third Best and Fairest was that outstanding player Gary Harde­man. This year Gary distinguished himself by being Runner-up for the Brownlow Medal to Keith Greig of North Melbourne, and it was not until the final few votes that Gary failed to win this illustrious award. A great team player, Gary set an example of endeavour and deter­mination to all his team-mates. Fourth Best and Fairest was Greg Wells who slightly departed from his form in 1973. but on occasions provided brilliant and exciting football for supporters. Fifth Best and Fairest was ever dependable and reliable Tony Sullivan, whose consistent play on the Half-Back line won him the admiration of all. Best First Year Player in 1974 was Gary Baker, who was origin­ally secured on a transfer from Footscray. We are certain the judgment of the Club will be vindicated by the form of Gary Baker, who is destined to play many years with the Melbourne Football Club. Our Club did not have a very good financial year, details of which are given elsewhere in the report, and we can only hope that with the easing of the demands being made on Clubs by the Victorian Football League, in its desire to develop V.F.L. Park, Waverley at an almost unbecoming rate will be somewhat slowed down. Only then will all V.F.L. Clubs be able to improve their Club finances to any degree. CAPTAIN AND VICE-CAPTAIN Special thanks must be conveyed to Stan Alves and Gary Harde­man who were our leaders on the field. Stan by his tremendous enthusiasm plus the magnificence of his play was an inspiring leader, there were many weeks when one felt that Stan most certainly would be unable to play, and yet he would train on the Thursday with such enthusiasm and purpose that the Selectors would have no hesitation in nicking him. It has been a long season for Stan who has been troubled by many painful injuries throughout the year, and yet Saturday after Saturday played inspiring football. It was obvious to most of us that Stan Alves had won our Best and Fairest award long before the season finished. In Vice-Captain Gary Hardeman we have another player who set a splendid example to the rest of his team-mates. Continually moved from his favourite position of Centre-Half Back, Gary at all times showed no disappointment, but went about his task with cheerfulness and with dedication. He won his usual place in the Victorian Team and distin­guished himself yet again by being in the best players in the interstate matches. He was Runner-Up in the Brownlow Medal in 1974 after being third in that award in 1973. Gary has shown himself to be one of the greatest players to have played football with the Melbourne Football Club. OUR COMMITTEE Dr. Duffy again presided as Chairman of the Melbourne Football Club for Season 1974. Again he was not to enjoy the success that his efforts should provide. The Committee that he led worked continually throughout the year, and the time and effort that they expended deserved greater success on the field, however, this was no to be. The Committee must receive criticism, and we expect it, but it would be infinitely better for the Club if those critics were to put their words into action and nominate for position in the onerous and demanding situation. During the year the following Sub-Committees operated Finance and Executive with Dr. D. Duffy as Chairman, the Match Management Sub-Committee with Mr. J. R. Mitchell as Chairman, the Business Sub-Committee with Mr. Neil Lockwood as Chairman, Recruiting with Mr. Ken Carlon and the Selection Committee with Rev. P. K. Melville, whilst our Entertainment and Organisation was under the control of Mr. Geoff Swan. The work of these respective Sub-Committees must be mentioned. The Business Sub-Committee were continually meeting arid were called upon to raise a considerable amount of finance on behalf of our Club. They co-ordinated the Entertainment and Organisation Sub-Committee and it was rare indeed for this Group not to meet weekly, sometimes twice a week throughout the season. Our Match Management and Selection Committees that operate together were continually reviewing the team's performances and the number of times they were called to meetings were very considerable. The Recruiting Officers and Chairman Ken Carlon were ever on the alert, covering metropolitan and country areas in a continuous search for recruits, and we are certain the effect contributed by each individual made it all the more disappointing to see so little result from their very considerable efforts, which deserve a better reward. COMMITTEE ATTENDANCES (Meetings held during year15) K. Carlon 15 D. G. Duffy 11 D. Ferguson 13 R. S. Geary 15 A. L. V. King 15 G. A. Lenne 12 N. Lockwood 14 J. P. McGrath 13 C. McLean 14 K. Melville 14 R. Miller 8 J. R. Mitchell 13 G. W. Patterson 10 P. Rhoden 14 G. M. Swan 9 Secretary 14 Administration Manager 15 CONGRATULATIONS We are again pleased to report that the Right Hon. Sir Henry Bolte, K.C.M.G. consented to act as our Number 1 ticket holder for 1974, and that our Number 2 ticket holder was again the Lord Mayor of the City of Melbourne, Cr. Allan Whalley. We are pleased to record the support of these two gentlemen and we are very proud to have them associated with our Club. Our congratulations on winning the Premiership of the V.F.L. must go again to the Richmond Football Club and to its Coach Tom Hafey and its enthusiastic and hard working officials in President Ian Wilson and Secretary Allan Schwab. The completely professional approach of Richmond was seen to its greatest advantage in the Final Series when it dominated the matches played and won in a most decisive manner against North Melbourne in the Grand Final. The team followed the pattern of 1973 when it reached even greater heights in defeating Sturt in the Australian Championships played in Adelaide. The manner of its victory and the performance of every player led to it being com­pared to our championship teams of 1955/56/57 and it does bear comparison as its players showed tremendous discipline and control in their performance, which reflects greatly on the wonderful ability of its great Coach, Tom Hafey. Congratulations must also go to North Melbourne, its hard work­ing Executive and its wonderful Coach, Ron Barassi, for their success in finishing Runners-up to Richmond in 1974. When one also considers that this team won its second Brownlow Medal with Keith Greig, who receives our congratulations, it can be seen what a great year North Melbourne Football Club has really had. CHAIRMAN'S ADDENDUM General dissatisfaction must follow the poor showing of the Mel­bourne Football Club in the season just completed. For despite changes in Committee, Coaching Staff and Training List we were again unsuccessful. Our future is entirely dependent upon the acquisition of players of sufficient calibre to win matches and the sooner this is accomplished the better. Lack of success on the field is reflected in crippling financial loss to the Club and great difficulty is experienced in essential fund raising activities. The M.F.C. Committee has striven throughout the year to meet this problem and I wish to express my thanks to all those who have tried so hard to "lift" the Club, whether they be players, staff members, Committee or loyal Melbourne supporters. RESERVE EIGHTEEN AND COMMITTEE Once again we were fortunate in the strength of our Reserve Eighteen in 1974. The Reserve Eighteen who controls our Under 19 and Under 17 teams were held by Noel Parkhill as Chairman of this Committee and who also acted as Manager of our Reserve Eighteen, ably supported by Mr. W. A. Rodriquez, who in a completely satis­factory manner occupied the position as Secretary of the Reserve Eighteen and Manager of the Under 19's. Mr. Stevens was again Manager of our Under 17 grade team and although the team finished third in its section it gave hope to senior officials in the talent of some of its players. Gordon Duff as its Coach again proved satisfactory in every respect. Our Under 17 team suffered badly by the demands made of them by the Under 19 team. The Best and Fairest winner of the Reserve Eighteen (Stan Brownbill Memorial Trophy) was young player Peter Williamson. We feel that Peter could in a short time be a regular member of our senior Eighteen. Second Best and Fairest was Ian McGuinness and Outstanding Service trophies were won by Shane Fitzsimmons, Peter Keenan and Neil Chamberlain. Our Under 19 Trophy winners were Best and Fairest James Ahern, who played many games with the Reserve Eighteen whilst Phillip Friedman, who tied for first in the Morrish Medal for Best and Fairest of the Under 19 Competition, had a splendid year. Outstanding Services Trophies were won by Chris Munday and Greg Woods while the Best Clubman Trophy was won by Ray Potter. A special award was given to Michael Power who achieved fame in that he played with the Under 19, Reserve 18 and Seniors, all in the one season, a very commendable effort. Our Under 17 Best and Fairest was won by Steve Hilton with Robert Santagada runner-up, a position he has occupied for two years in succession. Outstanding Service Trophies were won by Geoff Osmand. Peter Gabron and Ian Sutton, LIFE MEMBERSHIP It is recommended that Life Membership be conferred upon two members of our very excellent staff, and they are Dudley Phillips and Graham Simpson. Dudley Phillips has been associated with our Social Committee for over fifteen years and has been a tireless worker on our behalf, nothing has been a trouble for Dudley to perform, and his loyalty and assistance to our cause fully entitles him to this honour. In Graham Simpson we have an official who has been associated with our Club as Property Steward of great efficiency for over fifteen years. He originally began with our Reserve Eighteen and after a short time transferred to senior training ranks. He is truly deserving of this award, and we thank both these gentlemen for the service they have rendered to our Club. SERVICE CERTIFICATES The Committee has much pleasure in awarding Five Year Service Certificates to: Peter Keenan Graham Molloy SOCIAL ACTIVITIES Our Social Committee again made a great contribution to the happy and successful running of our Club. The Committee still func­tions in the same efficient manner and Geoff Swan and Dudley Phillips deserve thanks for the enthusiasm and dedication they show and the time they devote to social activities on our behalf, it leaves us heavily in their debt. Special thanks must be conveyed to Mr. Bert Andrews who still continues to be an outstanding worker for our Club. We are grateful to the following members who comprise our successful Social Com­mittee: Mr. G. Swan (Chairman) Mrs. J. Alves Mr. S. Alves Mr. L. Black Mrs. J. Black Mr. K. Chalmers Mr. G. Hardeman Mrs. J. Hardeman Mrs. L. Gibb Mrs. M. Keane Mrs. M. Lenne Mr. R. McHutcheson Mrs. R. McHutcheson Mrs. G. Massey Mr. D. Phillips Mr. W. Spurrell Mrs; J. Parkhill Mr. W. Thomson Mrs. J. Thomson DONORS Mr. L. Amalfi Mr. A. E. Chadwick Mr. S. Edwards Mr. H. Ebling Mr. D. Ferguson Mr. D. Heywood Mr. F. V. Hughes Mrs. E. Hunter Mr. A. E. Langley Mr. D. H. Knight Mr. J. Lewis Mayne Nickless Ltd. Melbourne Cricket Club M.F.C. Social Committee Mr. C. S. McCutcheon Mr. R. Steele Mr. N. O'Donohue Sir F. Richardson Mr. G. Sheppard Mr. R. Seddon Mrs. M. Taylor Mr. T. Taylor Taylor Ferguson & Co. Pty. Ltd. Mr. C. Weickhardt FINANCE Our financial results for Season 1974 presented a very dismal picture. This year saw a loss to the Club of $24,137. Our receipts for the year were $163,824 and our expenditure $187,961. Once again it is emphasised that one can only expect a good financial return when the team is successful. It is vital that we should establish ourselves as a Final Five contender before our financial position can materially alter. An amount of $7,040 was credited to the Melbourne Football Club Provident Fund for Season 1974. This represents a payment of $16.00 per match. THE REDLEGS The Redlegs were again a prominent feature of our social life at Melbourne and assisted the Club to a very considerable degree. The after match functions conducted by this fine band of indivi­duals were a great attraction to players and supporters alike and arc a vital part of our entertainment at die Melbourne Cricket Ground. They are led by a most capable Chairman in Mr. Tom Jackett with Mr. David Jones again acting as Hon. Secretary and Mr. R. B. Church continuing hi his role as Hon. Treasurer. This hard working Committee comprises the following personnel: Mr. Ian Dunlop Mr. Glen Harwood Mr. Murray Morris Mr. Ken Rollason Mr. David Rosback Mr. Rudy Werner Mr. Richard Seddon Mr. Vol Heath To this band of gentlemen we again express our sincere thanks. Your efforts were much appreciated by players and officials alike. OBITUARY It is with deep regret that we report the passing during the year of Mr. J. P. "Shane" McGrath and Mr. Roy Dowsing. Shane, a former champion full-back of the Club, played 117 games with the Demons from 1940 to 1950 in a career which was interrupted by World War II. He was a member of the Melbourne Premiership sides of 1941 and 1948 and served as a member of our Committee from 1954 until his death on 1st November, 1974. To his wife Mary and his children, Paul, Mary-Ann and Margo, we extend our Club's deepest sympathy. Roy Dowsing was also a former player of the Melbourne Football Club and participated in matches from 1939 to 1947. Roy later acted as Assistant Secretary of the Club From 1948 to 1957; at the time of his death he was an active member of the Former Players' Association. Sympathy is also extended to members of his family.

At the start of every year, we go back in time four decades. 1974 was a bleak year indeed ... For season 1974, former South Melbourne champion Bob Skilton took over the coaching reins at the Melbourne Football Club from Ian Ridley. The club was already in free fall having lost their last eight games of 1973 to finishing in 10th place but the carnage continued and it lost the first nine games before winning against Fitzroy on 8 June, 1974 ironically against the same club that it beat before its long losing run began eleven months earlier. Melbourne tasted victory only two more times for the season - including another win over the Lions - and finished a game and a half adrift at the bottom of the table. THE DETAIL Coach: Bob Skelton Captain: Stan Alves Finishing Position: 12th Best and Fairest: Stan Alves Leading Goal kicker: Ross Brewer (40) Best First Year Player: Gary Baker PREMIERSHIP SEASON ROUND BY ROUND Premiership Season Round Opposition Result 1 Carlton LOSS 2 St. Kilda LOSS 3 Geelong LOSS 4 Richmond LOSS 5 North Melbourne LOSS 6 Collingwood LOSS 7 South Melbourne LOSS 8 Hawthorn LOSS 9 Footscray LOSS 10 Fitzroy WIN 11 Essendon LOSS 12 Carlton LOSS 13 St. Kilda WIN 14 Richmond LOSS 15 Geelong LOSS 16 North Melbourne LOSS 17 Collingwood LOSS 18 South Melbourne LOSS 19 Hawthorn LOSS 20 Footscray LOSS 21 Fitzroy WIN 22 Essendon LOSS LADDER Richmond 17 5 0 129.3 68 North Melbourne 16 6 0 138.8 64 Hawthorn 15 7 0 125.4 60 Collingwood 15 7 0 104.6 60 Footscray 13 8 1 108.8 54 -------------------------------------------- Geelong 11 11 0 93.4 44 Carlton 10 11 1 105.8 42 Essendon 10 12 0 97.6 40 South Melbourne 9 12 1 83.7 38 St. Kilda 7 15 0 88.7 28 Fitzroy 4 17 1 71.3 18 Melbourne 3 19 0 77.1 12 PLAYING LIST [Number, Player, Games, Goals] 1. Gary Baker 20 24 2. Robert Flower 18 22 4. Tony Sullivan 18 0 5. John Clennett 14 6 6. Ross Brewer 22 40 7. Graham Osborne 7 2 8. Peter Keenan 15 8 9. Stephen Kerley 10 0 10. Carl Ditterich 19 22 11. Greg Wells 22 26 12. Mike Collins 9 3 14. Neil Chamberlain 9 2 15. Stan Alves 21 11 17. Denis Clark 18 4 18. John Tilbrook 11 15 19. Ray Biffin 19 1 21. Graham Molloy 3 0 22. Charles Pagnoccolo 1 0 23. Shane Fitzsimmons 5 4 24. Wayne Delmenico 9 0 26. Graham Scott 8 4 27. Greg Wood 11 4 28. Tony Dullard 17 5 29. David Murray 6 0 30. Peter Williamson 14 14 31. Billy Barham 9 13 32. Dennis Payne 1 0 33. Gary Hardeman 20 11 34. Mal Owens 12 3 35. Steven Smith 17 12 37. John Reid 2 0 38. Peter Slade 15 4 39. Kevin Moore 8 1 40. Neil McMullin 7 1 42. Peter Keays 7 1 42. Ted Carroll 2 1 43. Frank Giampaolo 12 5 54. Mike Power 2 0 TROPHY WINNERS MELBOURNE FOOTBALL CLUB, 1974 Best and Fairest Trophy (M.C.C. Trophy and Keith "Bluey" Truscott Memorial Trophy) STAN ALVES Runner-up Best and Fairest Trophy (Sid Anderson Memorial Trophy) CARL DITTERICH Third Best and Fairest Trophy (Ron Barassi Snr. Memorial Trophy) GARY HARDEMAN Special Trophy donated in the memory of the late Ivor Warne-Smith and awarded for outstanding service GREG WELLS Special Trophy donated in the memory of the late Dick Taylor and awarded for outstanding service TONY SULLIVAN Best First Year Player GARY BAKER RESERVE EIGHTEEN TROPHY WINNERS Best and Fairest (Stan Brownbill Mem­orial Trophy PETER WILLIAMSON Second Best and Fairest IAN McGUINNESS Outstanding Service Trophies SHANE FITZSIMMONS PETER KEENAN NEIL CHAMBERLAIN UNDER 19 TROPHY Best and Fairest JAMES AHERN Second Best and Fairest PHILIP FRIEDMAN Outstanding Service CHRIS MUNDAY GREG WOODS Best Clubman RAY POTTER Equal Highest Votes in Morrish Medal PHILLIP FRIEDMAN* Played in Senior, Reserve and Under 19 Teams, 1974 MICHAEL POWER [* PHILLIP FRIEDMAN who originally lost on a count back was subsequently awarded the Morrish Medal - ed] UNDER 17 TROPHY WINNERS Best and Fairest STEVE HILTON Second Best and Fairest ROBERT SANTAGADA Outstanding Service GEOFF OSMAND PETER GABRON IAN SUTTON Tribunal Round Player Charge Sanction Round 6 Sam Allica (runner) Abusive Language 8 matches THE PASSING PARADE Former players Roy Dowsing and JP "Shane" McGrath passed away in 1974. THE BOTTOM LINE After posting a profit of $4,382 in 1973, the club announced a loss of $24,137 attributed largely to the senior team's poor on field performances. ANNUAL REPORT 1974 In presenting the Annual Report for Season 1974 we record a drop from 10th position in 1973 to wooden spooners in 1974, the last of the twelve clubs who make up this competition, a position that is hurtful and humiliating to all concerned. Not since 1951 has the team found itself in this position and we are most unhappy in it. When one remembers the greatness that once was Melbourne, and reflects on some of our performances this Season, we are saddened. Without any desire, other than to pinpoint our failure, the lack of players has been the major cause in our downfall. Over the past few years in many matches played by our team, we have found something to console ourselves. Sometimes a performance that gave us hope to believe that our team might well go on and be a Final Five contender, but injuries have intervened and our newer players did not perform as well as expected, and our older and talented players failed to perform as we knew they were capable of performing. Too much was left to too few, and basically it has become quite obvious that in the players who comprise our final list, we do not have the necessary depth in talent to succeed. Therefore, it is quite simple, we have to recruit better players, and at a much faster rate than we have been doing after the past few years. Despite the inbuilt difficulties one is bound to experience in an operation of this type, we can honestly report to you that every endeavour is being made to overcome our shortage of recruits. Broadly speaking, recruits are available from four areas, the first from interstate. In this category in 1973 we signed Peter Carey and Michael Graham, two outstanding players from South Australia. Numerous interviews have been conducted with these two players and we hope to successfully conclude their transfers. Carey is an outstand­ing Centre-Half Forward and will mean a great deal if recruited, whilst Michael Graham who starred in the championship match against Rich­mond would be equally valuable to us. In 1974 we signed a young Full-Forward from Tasmania in Peter Hamilton, and we are holding our final 'Form 4' to use on an even more attractive interstate player in the near future. We can and will obtain players from our country zone, which we are canvassing to limit, but the talent in the abundance we need does not appear to be coming through at this stage, but we are doing every­thing to cover our areas. The same remarks can be applied to our metropolitan zones, and never in our Club's history have they been covered so intensively. If the youngsters are there we will present them to our selectors in due course. We conducted a Clinic on the M.C.G. this year over a three day period on which we had young stars from all over Australia billeted with good supporters of our Club. As a result the talent we unearthed will play a part in helping our Club up the ladder. Listed below are the names of some of the recruits that we anticipate seeing in action during the 1975 practice games: Mark Alves Utility Edithvale/Aspendale Murray Black Half Back Nagambie Peter Carey Centre Half Forward Glenelg Ian Cordner Centre Half Forward University Blacks Geoff Delaney Half Back Seymour Michael Graham Wing Sturt Gary Guy Centre Carrum Peter Hamilton Full Forward Ulverstone Marty Lyons Half Forward Sandringham Peter O'Keefe Half Back Seymour Francis O'Keefe Half Forward Seymour Ross Perrett Rover University Blacks Bruce Reid Full Forward Romsey Barry Tippett Rover Shepparton David Warming Full Forward Xavier Chris Woodman Ruckman Shepparton United These are plain statements of fact, and we can only ask for your support and patience. We are doing all we can to ensure that our position at the moment will not occur again. However, we have to operate within the limits laid down by our country and metropolitan areas, and at the moment die players are not there in the numbers required to rapidly lift us from the bottom of the ladder, so under the constitutional confines laid down by the Victorian Football League, we can only ask for your patience whilst we set about our task of recovery. It was hard on Bob Skilton to face a situation as outlined in his first year. Bob could not have tried harder to lift the team and made a great impression on players and officials alike, and we sincerely trust that his efforts may be rewarded to a greater extent in 1975. Another new face on our coaching scene for 1974 was Reserve Eighteen and Assistant Coach Roy Simmonds. We were privileged indeed to recruit Roy to Melbourne, but similarly with our First Eighteen it failed because basically its players lack talent. As with Bob Skilton, if Roy is to succeed then he requires more players. We can only thank Bob and Roy for their dedicated and friendly approach to their respective tasks, and encourage them to further apply them­selves in 1975. This year saw the introduction to the Club of Ivan Moore as Administration Manager. With the pending retirement of Secretary Jim Cardwell, your Club saw fit to appoint Ivan to succeed and work with Jim over the remaining months he has with the Club. Ivan has brought with him a fresh approach to the Club which will prove of great benefit in the years ahead, we are fortunate to have his enthusiasm and cheerfulness working in our Club's interests. All this backed up by a sound knowledge of football administration makes him a most wel­come addition. Brian Gray again acted as Coach of our Under 19 team, which finished in seventh position. This team's performance was dictated very often by the demands of the Reserve Eighteen, and with a heavy crop of injuries troubling our reserve and senior Eighteens, the Under 19's were continually called upon to help out, with a consequent loss of performance by our Under 19's which accounted very often for this team's display of both brilliant and at times disappointing football. The Under 17's again competed successfully in their competition and were again in the Final series finishing in Third position. The team was again coached by Gordon Duff who has enjoyed great success. We are hoping still of course that the V.F.L. will introduce a fourth Eighteen competition in the not too distant future, which we feel will be of considerable benefit to all Clubs. Our Best and Fairest awards were conducted in public at the M.C.G. As in 1973 with Carl Ditterich, it was obvious from the outset in 1974, Stan Alves was to be the winner of the M.C.C. Medal and that is how the voting progressed. Stan Alves became a runaway winner and the happy crowd at this function were delighted to be the first to congratulate him on his well deserved award. Stan has been a grand sportsman for Melbourne and a great example to all who play football. Young players could do well to model themselves on Stan, both on and off the field, he is well qualified to have his name appear on the Honour Board of the Melbourne Football Club as Best and Fairest player. Runner-up Best and Fairest was Carl Ditterich, and in winning this award Carl again showed the tremendous value he is to our team. The confidence Carl inspires in players around him cannot be measured and we are indeed fortunate to have him playing with us in the manner that he has done. In winning our Best and Fairest in 1973 and now second Best and Fairest in 1974. Carl has shown what a great acquisi­tion he has been to Melbourne. Third Best and Fairest was that outstanding player Gary Harde­man. This year Gary distinguished himself by being Runner-up for the Brownlow Medal to Keith Greig of North Melbourne, and it was not until the final few votes that Gary failed to win this illustrious award. A great team player, Gary set an example of endeavour and deter­mination to all his team-mates. Fourth Best and Fairest was Greg Wells who slightly departed from his form in 1973. but on occasions provided brilliant and exciting football for supporters. Fifth Best and Fairest was ever dependable and reliable Tony Sullivan, whose consistent play on the Half-Back line won him the admiration of all. Best First Year Player in 1974 was Gary Baker, who was origin­ally secured on a transfer from Footscray. We are certain the judgment of the Club will be vindicated by the form of Gary Baker, who is destined to play many years with the Melbourne Football Club. Our Club did not have a very good financial year, details of which are given elsewhere in the report, and we can only hope that with the easing of the demands being made on Clubs by the Victorian Football League, in its desire to develop V.F.L. Park, Waverley at an almost unbecoming rate will be somewhat slowed down. Only then will all V.F.L. Clubs be able to improve their Club finances to any degree. CAPTAIN AND VICE-CAPTAIN Special thanks must be conveyed to Stan Alves and Gary Harde­man who were our leaders on the field. Stan by his tremendous enthusiasm plus the magnificence of his play was an inspiring leader, there were many weeks when one felt that Stan most certainly would be unable to play, and yet he would train on the Thursday with such enthusiasm and purpose that the Selectors would have no hesitation in nicking him. It has been a long season for Stan who has been troubled by many painful injuries throughout the year, and yet Saturday after Saturday played inspiring football. It was obvious to most of us that Stan Alves had won our Best and Fairest award long before the season finished. In Vice-Captain Gary Hardeman we have another player who set a splendid example to the rest of his team-mates. Continually moved from his favourite position of Centre-Half Back, Gary at all times showed no disappointment, but went about his task with cheerfulness and with dedication. He won his usual place in the Victorian Team and distin­guished himself yet again by being in the best players in the interstate matches. He was Runner-Up in the Brownlow Medal in 1974 after being third in that award in 1973. Gary has shown himself to be one of the greatest players to have played football with the Melbourne Football Club. OUR COMMITTEE Dr. Duffy again presided as Chairman of the Melbourne Football Club for Season 1974. Again he was not to enjoy the success that his efforts should provide. The Committee that he led worked continually throughout the year, and the time and effort that they expended deserved greater success on the field, however, this was no to be. The Committee must receive criticism, and we expect it, but it would be infinitely better for the Club if those critics were to put their words into action and nominate for position in the onerous and demanding situation. During the year the following Sub-Committees operated Finance and Executive with Dr. D. Duffy as Chairman, the Match Management Sub-Committee with Mr. J. R. Mitchell as Chairman, the Business Sub-Committee with Mr. Neil Lockwood as Chairman, Recruiting with Mr. Ken Carlon and the Selection Committee with Rev. P. K. Melville, whilst our Entertainment and Organisation was under the control of Mr. Geoff Swan. The work of these respective Sub-Committees must be mentioned. The Business Sub-Committee were continually meeting arid were called upon to raise a considerable amount of finance on behalf of our Club. They co-ordinated the Entertainment and Organisation Sub-Committee and it was rare indeed for this Group not to meet weekly, sometimes twice a week throughout the season. Our Match Management and Selection Committees that operate together were continually reviewing the team's performances and the number of times they were called to meetings were very considerable. The Recruiting Officers and Chairman Ken Carlon were ever on the alert, covering metropolitan and country areas in a continuous search for recruits, and we are certain the effect contributed by each individual made it all the more disappointing to see so little result from their very considerable efforts, which deserve a better reward. COMMITTEE ATTENDANCES (Meetings held during year15) K. Carlon 15 D. G. Duffy 11 D. Ferguson 13 R. S. Geary 15 A. L. V. King 15 G. A. Lenne 12 N. Lockwood 14 J. P. McGrath 13 C. McLean 14 K. Melville 14 R. Miller 8 J. R. Mitchell 13 G. W. Patterson 10 P. Rhoden 14 G. M. Swan 9 Secretary 14 Administration Manager 15 CONGRATULATIONS We are again pleased to report that the Right Hon. Sir Henry Bolte, K.C.M.G. consented to act as our Number 1 ticket holder for 1974, and that our Number 2 ticket holder was again the Lord Mayor of the City of Melbourne, Cr. Allan Whalley. We are pleased to record the support of these two gentlemen and we are very proud to have them associated with our Club. Our congratulations on winning the Premiership of the V.F.L. must go again to the Richmond Football Club and to its Coach Tom Hafey and its enthusiastic and hard working officials in President Ian Wilson and Secretary Allan Schwab. The completely professional approach of Richmond was seen to its greatest advantage in the Final Series when it dominated the matches played and won in a most decisive manner against North Melbourne in the Grand Final. The team followed the pattern of 1973 when it reached even greater heights in defeating Sturt in the Australian Championships played in Adelaide. The manner of its victory and the performance of every player led to it being com­pared to our championship teams of 1955/56/57 and it does bear comparison as its players showed tremendous discipline and control in their performance, which reflects greatly on the wonderful ability of its great Coach, Tom Hafey. Congratulations must also go to North Melbourne, its hard work­ing Executive and its wonderful Coach, Ron Barassi, for their success in finishing Runners-up to Richmond in 1974. When one also considers that this team won its second Brownlow Medal with Keith Greig, who receives our congratulations, it can be seen what a great year North Melbourne Football Club has really had. CHAIRMAN'S ADDENDUM General dissatisfaction must follow the poor showing of the Mel­bourne Football Club in the season just completed. For despite changes in Committee, Coaching Staff and Training List we were again unsuccessful. Our future is entirely dependent upon the acquisition of players of sufficient calibre to win matches and the sooner this is accomplished the better. Lack of success on the field is reflected in crippling financial loss to the Club and great difficulty is experienced in essential fund raising activities. The M.F.C. Committee has striven throughout the year to meet this problem and I wish to express my thanks to all those who have tried so hard to "lift" the Club, whether they be players, staff members, Committee or loyal Melbourne supporters. RESERVE EIGHTEEN AND COMMITTEE Once again we were fortunate in the strength of our Reserve Eighteen in 1974. The Reserve Eighteen who controls our Under 19 and Under 17 teams were held by Noel Parkhill as Chairman of this Committee and who also acted as Manager of our Reserve Eighteen, ably supported by Mr. W. A. Rodriquez, who in a completely satis­factory manner occupied the position as Secretary of the Reserve Eighteen and Manager of the Under 19's. Mr. Stevens was again Manager of our Under 17 grade team and although the team finished third in its section it gave hope to senior officials in the talent of some of its players. Gordon Duff as its Coach again proved satisfactory in every respect. Our Under 17 team suffered badly by the demands made of them by the Under 19 team. The Best and Fairest winner of the Reserve Eighteen (Stan Brownbill Memorial Trophy) was young player Peter Williamson. We feel that Peter could in a short time be a regular member of our senior Eighteen. Second Best and Fairest was Ian McGuinness and Outstanding Service trophies were won by Shane Fitzsimmons, Peter Keenan and Neil Chamberlain. Our Under 19 Trophy winners were Best and Fairest James Ahern, who played many games with the Reserve Eighteen whilst Phillip Friedman, who tied for first in the Morrish Medal for Best and Fairest of the Under 19 Competition, had a splendid year. Outstanding Services Trophies were won by Chris Munday and Greg Woods while the Best Clubman Trophy was won by Ray Potter. A special award was given to Michael Power who achieved fame in that he played with the Under 19, Reserve 18 and Seniors, all in the one season, a very commendable effort. Our Under 17 Best and Fairest was won by Steve Hilton with Robert Santagada runner-up, a position he has occupied for two years in succession. Outstanding Service Trophies were won by Geoff Osmand. Peter Gabron and Ian Sutton, LIFE MEMBERSHIP It is recommended that Life Membership be conferred upon two members of our very excellent staff, and they are Dudley Phillips and Graham Simpson. Dudley Phillips has been associated with our Social Committee for over fifteen years and has been a tireless worker on our behalf, nothing has been a trouble for Dudley to perform, and his loyalty and assistance to our cause fully entitles him to this honour. In Graham Simpson we have an official who has been associated with our Club as Property Steward of great efficiency for over fifteen years. He originally began with our Reserve Eighteen and after a short time transferred to senior training ranks. He is truly deserving of this award, and we thank both these gentlemen for the service they have rendered to our Club. SERVICE CERTIFICATES The Committee has much pleasure in awarding Five Year Service Certificates to: Peter Keenan Graham Molloy SOCIAL ACTIVITIES Our Social Committee again made a great contribution to the happy and successful running of our Club. The Committee still func­tions in the same efficient manner and Geoff Swan and Dudley Phillips deserve thanks for the enthusiasm and dedication they show and the time they devote to social activities on our behalf, it leaves us heavily in their debt. Special thanks must be conveyed to Mr. Bert Andrews who still continues to be an outstanding worker for our Club. We are grateful to the following members who comprise our successful Social Com­mittee: Mr. G. Swan (Chairman) Mrs. J. Alves Mr. S. Alves Mr. L. Black Mrs. J. Black Mr. K. Chalmers Mr. G. Hardeman Mrs. J. Hardeman Mrs. L. Gibb Mrs. M. Keane Mrs. M. Lenne Mr. R. McHutcheson Mrs. R. McHutcheson Mrs. G. Massey Mr. D. Phillips Mr. W. Spurrell Mrs; J. Parkhill Mr. W. Thomson Mrs. J. Thomson DONORS Mr. L. Amalfi Mr. A. E. Chadwick Mr. S. Edwards Mr. H. Ebling Mr. D. Ferguson Mr. D. Heywood Mr. F. V. Hughes Mrs. E. Hunter Mr. A. E. Langley Mr. D. H. Knight Mr. J. Lewis Mayne Nickless Ltd. Melbourne Cricket Club M.F.C. Social Committee Mr. C. S. McCutcheon Mr. R. Steele Mr. N. O'Donohue Sir F. Richardson Mr. G. Sheppard Mr. R. Seddon Mrs. M. Taylor Mr. T. Taylor Taylor Ferguson & Co. Pty. Ltd. Mr. C. Weickhardt FINANCE Our financial results for Season 1974 presented a very dismal picture. This year saw a loss to the Club of $24,137. Our receipts for the year were $163,824 and our expenditure $187,961. Once again it is emphasised that one can only expect a good financial return when the team is successful. It is vital that we should establish ourselves as a Final Five contender before our financial position can materially alter. An amount of $7,040 was credited to the Melbourne Football Club Provident Fund for Season 1974. This represents a payment of $16.00 per match. THE REDLEGS The Redlegs were again a prominent feature of our social life at Melbourne and assisted the Club to a very considerable degree. The after match functions conducted by this fine band of indivi­duals were a great attraction to players and supporters alike and arc a vital part of our entertainment at die Melbourne Cricket Ground. They are led by a most capable Chairman in Mr. Tom Jackett with Mr. David Jones again acting as Hon. Secretary and Mr. R. B. Church continuing hi his role as Hon. Treasurer. This hard working Committee comprises the following personnel: Mr. Ian Dunlop Mr. Glen Harwood Mr. Murray Morris Mr. Ken Rollason Mr. David Rosback Mr. Rudy Werner Mr. Richard Seddon Mr. Vol Heath To this band of gentlemen we again express our sincere thanks. Your efforts were much appreciated by players and officials alike. OBITUARY It is with deep regret that we report the passing during the year of Mr. J. P. "Shane" McGrath and Mr. Roy Dowsing. Shane, a former champion full-back of the Club, played 117 games with the Demons from 1940 to 1950 in a career which was interrupted by World War II. He was a member of the Melbourne Premiership sides of 1941 and 1948 and served as a member of our Committee from 1954 until his death on 1st November, 1974. To his wife Mary and his children, Paul, Mary-Ann and Margo, we extend our Club's deepest sympathy. Roy Dowsing was also a former player of the Melbourne Football Club and participated in matches from 1939 to 1947. Roy later acted as Assistant Secretary of the Club From 1948 to 1957; at the time of his death he was an active member of the Former Players' Association. Sympathy is also extended to members of his family.

2013: THE YEAR THAT WAS by Whispering Jack Most of us heaved a sigh of relief late last year when 21st December came and went and nothing happened. The end of the world as predicted in the ancient Mayan calendar failed to materialise and life went on as usual in the aftermath, although for the Melbourne Football Club there was no respite as the clock ticked on into 2013. The troubled times continued both on and off the field for the Demons, the situation deteriorating badly when the real football matches began at which time they plunged headlong into their season of darkness The so called "tanking enquiry" ended in February with a negotiated outcome that had farce written all over it. After a seven month process in which 58 current and former players, coaches, administrators and officials were interviewed, the AFL found: ■ There been no directive from the Melbourne Football Club board or executive management that the team should deliberately lose matches in any game during the 2009 season; ■ The club's coaches and players did not set out to deliberately lose any matches during the 2009 season; ■ Former football operations manager Chris Connolly had made comments during a football department meeting concerning pre-game planning that were "prejudicial to the interests of the AFL"; ■ Former coach Bailey, in regard to Connolly's comments, had also acted in a manner prejudicial to the interests of the AFL. Connolly was banned from football for 11 months, Bailey (now at Adelaide) suspended from coaching for 16 rounds and by virtue of being their employer, Melbourne was fined $500,000.00. President Don McLardy described it as "the price we had to pay" meaning that although both Melbourne and the AFL had legal opinion that a "tanking" case could not be sustained against the club, the club and the individuals concerned accepted the situation because the cost of defending themselves in court for doing what AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou had, often in the past given his approval and was common practice among several clubs (but never subjected to exhaustive investigation) would have been crippling. There was a victim from the AFL side but it was not Demetriou. Adrian Anderson who instigated the investigation and was in charge of integrity at the AFL had already lost his job by the time the result was announced. Meanwhile, Demetriou barely had time to blush at the outcome because he was already knee deep dealing with a graver issue - the peptides fiasco that continues to engulf two football codes; one of a number of scandals likely to see him gracefully depart the scene in the short to medium term. The Essendon Football Club's supplements programme, overseen by sports scientist Stephen Dank, involving injecting players who had signed "waiver agreements" with supposedly unknown substances took the main focus from an AFL perspective. However, the Demons were also implicated by revelations in April on the ABC's 7.30 Report of a series of text messages between Dank and Melbourne's club doctor Dan Bates that suggested Dank had given him advice about the treatment of players. The Demons eventually suspended the doctor who no longer works for the club. The immediate effect was that the club administration, already under pressure because of the team's early season performance, came under more fire from the AFL which was said to be less concerned about what may prove "legitimate substances" being administered to players than about being allegedly misled by the Demons. The club's explanation was that it investigated the matter from its side and found Bate had acted alone in dealing with Dank. Those dealings and the possible use by Melbourne players of prohibited substances remains the subject of ASADA's ongoing investigation. By this time, the club's wheels were well and truly off and the issues confronting the club, it's Board and CEO both on and off the field were taking their toll. The team had opened its 2013 campaign with a creditable performance against North Melbourne going down narrowly in the first of the NAB Cup double headers at Etihad Stadium before tiring in the steamy heat and losing to Richmond in the second. A skeleton side made up mainly of younger players had a narrow win against Port Adelaide at Renmark and things even looked somewhat promising until a couple of dismal losses in NAB Cup Challenge matches to St. Kilda and Gold Coast dented the confidence of the playing group. Both games were played in conditions of intense heat and humidity but Port Adelaide which had a shocking record at the MCG awaited the club in round 1. Hopes of a good start remained high. Nobody, let alone the coach saw what was coming. It took until the 17 minute 38 second mark of the first term for a Demon score - a goal to Mitch Clark - but the visitors held a comfortable 29-point lead at half time. Melbourne managed a single goal after the main break and capitulated by 79 points. They weren't to know that their conquerors would make the finals and beat Collingwood at the same ground in the second week of September, but it was as bad a start as anything in recent experience including those floggings in the early days of the Bailey regime. Worse was to come the following Saturday night when Essendon decimated a heartless Melbourne team that had no run and put in little effort. The final scoreboard painted a picture of the carnage at 28.16.184 to 5.6.36 and it was every bit as bad as 186. The fans heckled and booed their own players and the sky fell in. Neeld had been intimately involved in developing the hard press that contributed to Collingwood's premiership success in 2010 but at Melbourne he lacked players like Swan, Pendlebury, Thomas, Sidebottom and Beames who made that all possible. To the contrary, the leadership in place when he arrived was not of a quality necessary to support the task; they did not take kindly to his methods and he failed to garner their unqualified support. Instead, he turned to a young leadership that was barely ready for what turned out an intolerably heavy burden. That night at the MCG against Essendon was the breaking point. Neeld's failures exposed, his career as coach was effectively over although it would be another 9 rounds before he would face the guillotine for the actual beheading. The first victim of the club's deteriorating situation was CEO Cameron Schwab who was forced to take responsibility for what was happening both on and off the field and, as one does in these circumstances, he resigned. The miserable onfield performance was playing havoc with financial projections. A long-hoped-for major sponsorship with a Chinese airline was put on the scrapheap a week earlier and a commercially disadvantageous fixture combined with pathetic on field performance spelled financial disaster. McLardy and Schwab met on the Tuesday morning and fronted a media conference at the MCG in late afternoon. Vice-president Peter Spargo was appointed acting interim chief executive officer but he soon made way for an appointee who bore the AFL's imprimatur - former Essendon CEO Peter Jackson who officially took over on mayday, an entirely appropriate date for the changing of the guard. Board members started falling off their perches and resignations followed until McLardy himself, having with Jackson overseen an assistance package from the AFL, stepped down on 14 June to be replaced by Spargo this time as interim president. High profile lawyer Glenn Bartlett who joined the Board a month later was elevated to the role of President on 16 August. The changes at the top had little effect on the team's performance which remained insipid. An encouraging first half against West Coast in round 3 was offset by another bad fade out that turned a half time deficit of 10 points into a 95-point rout at the end. Incredibly, a week later, a club record 12 goal final term saw off the Greater Western Sydney youngsters but the club lost forward Mitch Clark for the rest of the year. The irony for the hapless Neeld was that he had recruited Chris Dawes to act in tandem as the twin towers in the forward line. Dawes was still injured when Clark fell to his injury and they have yet to play together in the same team. The final quarter heroics against the Giants were all too short lived. A promising performance (by previous standards that is what one calls a 28-point defeat at the Gabba) was followed by more embarrassment and bloodletting with two ten goal beltings at the hands of Carlton and Gold Coast, a passable effort against Richmond and decimation at the hands of Fremantle, Hawthorn and Collingwood. Those last three efforts that saw beatings averaging in the order of 15 goals were more than enough. Neeld was delivered to the execution which took place neatly in the middle of the season and he was replaced by his former mentor Neil Craig. The wash up from Neeld's term is that he proved in the end to be a poor choice. His brief was to reform an inconsistent, "bruise-free" combination that was below the required fitness levels of the top sides in the competition. His task was initially made more difficult by the well documented events that afflicted both the club and he in his first year and he struggled to handle the difficult tasks that faced him throughout his term. He was far too inflexible with a game plan that relied on an innocuous midfield, one which depended far too much on one player. Neeld's match day coaching performance was generally below par and, in the end, he lost the confidence of an already brittle playing group. An older and wiser coach might have better been able to deal with division within the ranks, a dysfunctional leadership and a soft culture but there was a scarcity of quality experienced men available for the task at the time he was appointed. Hindsight is wonderful but given the situation at Melbourne in the post 186 landscape, one might argue that most of the other coaches available at the time of his appointment (experienced or not) would also have failed in the same circumstances. On the credit side, while Neeld failed to see out the three year programme established with fitness guru David Misson to develop a team with a harder edge, the club will benefit in from an improved list brought about by the necessity of ringing in change after a decade of poor recruiting, list management and player development and with his work in improving player fitness levels and bringing about a more professional training regime. Craig immediately set about to project a different style to that of his predecessor and he enjoyed a brief honeymoon period. His debut as coach resulted in a 35-point loss to the Saints who jumped to a big early lead but were contained for most of the remaining three quarters. A major improvement was seen for three and a half quarters the following week at the MCG against the Western Bulldogs. At the 15 minute mark of the final term, a reinvigorated Melbourne led by 44 points. Seven unanswered goals to the visitors saw the Dees limp home with by 3 points. The taste of victory was sweet but there was to be no magical revival, only nine consecutive losses to end a season of horror. Many of those defeats were dismal like the 122-point loss at Etihad Stadium to North Melbourne and the even more humiliating 37-point defeat at Skoda Stadium to concede the Giants' only win for the season. There was the odd face saving performance here and there but in the final analysis, Craig's less severe form of coaching made little difference. Melbourne finished in 17th place with two wins and a percentage of 54.07. After seven years in the wilderness, the AFL considered this insufficient to warrant special draft assistance. In a betrayal of its independent charter, the AFL bowed to the pressure of clubs who had an interest in protecting their own draft positions. I have yet to mention the players. Undeniably, many tried hard but just as many were not up to the task or not fit enough to have a great effect on the club's season. The major exception was Nathan Jones who, for the second year deserved to take home the Bluey Truscott Trophy. He had a brief stint as captain and is a strong candidate to take the role on a permanent basis in 2014 along with Jack Grimes. Both Grimes and co-skipper Jack Trengove suffered long term injuries at different times during the season and performed below par. Trengove withdrew from the captaincy at the end of the year. Colin Garland also stepped up in 2013 and showed excellent leadership potential in a defence that was forever under pressure. Three mature age players in Dean Terlich, Matt Jones and Mitch Clisby all proved valuable recruits while Jack Viney underlined his potential with some strong performances during the year. Some of the older heads at the club would have done well to follow his example of toughness and courage. Then there was Jesse Hogan, the 18 year old best and fairest winner at the Casey Scorpions, a very special key position prospect recruited a year ago but due to start his AFL career in 2014. Off the field Jackson scored a coup in snaring as major sponsor, Australia's largest motoring group, AHG which operate 103 motor vehicle dealerships across 4 Australian states and New Zealand. The deal was said to be worth $6 million over three years. That achievement paled next to the appointment in September of Paul Roos as senior coach for a term of at least two years. The ascension of Roos was seen as a beginning of the spring of hope; he went straight to work with new recruiter Jason Taylor picking up five midfielders in the trade and free agency period including Dom Tyson, Bernie Vince and Daniel Cross and collecting more young talent in the drafts. Together with the emerging Hogan and the changing of the coaching guard, there is a new optimism sweeping through the club as 2013 comes to a close. There are still many concerns for supporters of the club which is seen by many as an adjunct of the AFL. In the long term, Melbourne needs to regain its independence and to stand once again on its own two feet. And while Roos has diligently gone about the task of restructuring the list from the midfield up, there is the question of the effect of long term onfield failure on the club's stability and financial viability. Does the club have the time to restore the team to competitiveness and strength on the field to enable it to sustain a place in the competition?

Most of us heaved a sigh of relief late last year when 21st December came and went and nothing happened. The end of the world as predicted in the ancient Mayan calendar failed to materialise and life went on as usual in the aftermath, although for the Melbourne Football Club there was no respite as the clock ticked on into 2013. The troubled times continued both on and off the field for the Demons, the situation deteriorating badly when the real football matches began at which time they plunged headlong into their season of darkness The so called "tanking enquiry" ended in February with a negotiated outcome that had farce written all over it. After a seven month process in which 58 current and former players, coaches, administrators and officials were interviewed, the AFL found: ■ There been no directive from the Melbourne Football Club board or executive management that the team should deliberately lose matches in any game during the 2009 season; ■ The club's coaches and players did not set out to deliberately lose any matches during the 2009 season; ■ Former football operations manager Chris Connolly had made comments during a football department meeting concerning pre-game planning that were "prejudicial to the interests of the AFL"; ■ Former coach Bailey, in regard to Connolly's comments, had also acted in a manner prejudicial to the interests of the AFL. Connolly was banned from football for 11 months, Bailey (now at Adelaide) suspended from coaching for 16 rounds and by virtue of being their employer, Melbourne was fined $500,000.00. President Don McLardy described it as "the price we had to pay" meaning that although both Melbourne and the AFL had legal opinion that a "tanking" case could not be sustained against the club, the club and the individuals concerned accepted the situation because the cost of defending themselves in court for doing what AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou had, often in the past given his approval and was common practice among several clubs (but never subjected to exhaustive investigation) would have been crippling. There was a victim from the AFL side but it was not Demetriou. Adrian Anderson who instigated the investigation and was in charge of integrity at the AFL had already lost his job by the time the result was announced. Meanwhile, Demetriou barely had time to blush at the outcome because he was already knee deep dealing with a graver issue - the peptides fiasco that continues to engulf two football codes; one of a number of scandals likely to see him gracefully depart the scene in the short to medium term. The Essendon Football Club's supplements programme, overseen by sports scientist Stephen Dank, involving injecting players who had signed "waiver agreements" with supposedly unknown substances took the main focus from an AFL perspective. However, the Demons were also implicated by revelations in April on the ABC's 7.30 Report of a series of text messages between Dank and Melbourne's club doctor Dan Bates that suggested Dank had given him advice about the treatment of players. The Demons eventually suspended the doctor who no longer works for the club. The immediate effect was that the club administration, already under pressure because of the team's early season performance, came under more fire from the AFL which was said to be less concerned about what may prove "legitimate substances" being administered to players than about being allegedly misled by the Demons. The club's explanation was that it investigated the matter from its side and found Bate had acted alone in dealing with Dank. Those dealings and the possible use by Melbourne players of prohibited substances remains the subject of ASADA's ongoing investigation. By this time, the club's wheels were well and truly off and the issues confronting the club, it's Board and CEO both on and off the field were taking their toll. The team had opened its 2013 campaign with a creditable performance against North Melbourne going down narrowly in the first of the NAB Cup double headers at Etihad Stadium before tiring in the steamy heat and losing to Richmond in the second. A skeleton side made up mainly of younger players had a narrow win against Port Adelaide at Renmark and things even looked somewhat promising until a couple of dismal losses in NAB Cup Challenge matches to St. Kilda and Gold Coast dented the confidence of the playing group. Both games were played in conditions of intense heat and humidity but Port Adelaide which had a shocking record at the MCG awaited the club in round 1. Hopes of a good start remained high. Nobody, let alone the coach saw what was coming. It took until the 17 minute 38 second mark of the first term for a Demon score - a goal to Mitch Clark - but the visitors held a comfortable 29-point lead at half time. Melbourne managed a single goal after the main break and capitulated by 79 points. They weren't to know that their conquerors would make the finals and beat Collingwood at the same ground in the second week of September, but it was as bad a start as anything in recent experience including those floggings in the early days of the Bailey regime. Worse was to come the following Saturday night when Essendon decimated a heartless Melbourne team that had no run and put in little effort. The final scoreboard painted a picture of the carnage at 28.16.184 to 5.6.36 and it was every bit as bad as 186. The fans heckled and booed their own players and the sky fell in. Neeld had been intimately involved in developing the hard press that contributed to Collingwood's premiership success in 2010 but at Melbourne he lacked players like Swan, Pendlebury, Thomas, Sidebottom and Beames who made that all possible. To the contrary, the leadership in place when he arrived was not of a quality necessary to support the task; they did not take kindly to his methods and he failed to garner their unqualified support. Instead, he turned to a young leadership that was barely ready for what turned out an intolerably heavy burden. That night at the MCG against Essendon was the breaking point. Neeld's failures exposed, his career as coach was effectively over although it would be another 9 rounds before he would face the guillotine for the actual beheading. The first victim of the club's deteriorating situation was CEO Cameron Schwab who was forced to take responsibility for what was happening both on and off the field and, as one does in these circumstances, he resigned. The miserable onfield performance was playing havoc with financial projections. A long-hoped-for major sponsorship with a Chinese airline was put on the scrapheap a week earlier and a commercially disadvantageous fixture combined with pathetic on field performance spelled financial disaster. McLardy and Schwab met on the Tuesday morning and fronted a media conference at the MCG in late afternoon. Vice-president Peter Spargo was appointed acting interim chief executive officer but he soon made way for an appointee who bore the AFL's imprimatur - former Essendon CEO Peter Jackson who officially took over on mayday, an entirely appropriate date for the changing of the guard. Board members started falling off their perches and resignations followed until McLardy himself, having with Jackson overseen an assistance package from the AFL, stepped down on 14 June to be replaced by Spargo this time as interim president. High profile lawyer Glenn Bartlett who joined the Board a month later was elevated to the role of President on 16 August. The changes at the top had little effect on the team's performance which remained insipid. An encouraging first half against West Coast in round 3 was offset by another bad fade out that turned a half time deficit of 10 points into a 95-point rout at the end. Incredibly, a week later, a club record 12 goal final term saw off the Greater Western Sydney youngsters but the club lost forward Mitch Clark for the rest of the year. The irony for the hapless Neeld was that he had recruited Chris Dawes to act in tandem as the twin towers in the forward line. Dawes was still injured when Clark fell to his injury and they have yet to play together in the same team. The final quarter heroics against the Giants were all too short lived. A promising performance (by previous standards that is what one calls a 28-point defeat at the Gabba) was followed by more embarrassment and bloodletting with two ten goal beltings at the hands of Carlton and Gold Coast, a passable effort against Richmond and decimation at the hands of Fremantle, Hawthorn and Collingwood. Those last three efforts that saw beatings averaging in the order of 15 goals were more than enough. Neeld was delivered to the execution which took place neatly in the middle of the season and he was replaced by his former mentor Neil Craig. The wash up from Neeld's term is that he proved in the end to be a poor choice. His brief was to reform an inconsistent, "bruise-free" combination that was below the required fitness levels of the top sides in the competition. His task was initially made more difficult by the well documented events that afflicted both the club and he in his first year and he struggled to handle the difficult tasks that faced him throughout his term. He was far too inflexible with a game plan that relied on an innocuous midfield, one which depended far too much on one player. Neeld's match day coaching performance was generally below par and, in the end, he lost the confidence of an already brittle playing group. An older and wiser coach might have better been able to deal with division within the ranks, a dysfunctional leadership and a soft culture but there was a scarcity of quality experienced men available for the task at the time he was appointed. Hindsight is wonderful but given the situation at Melbourne in the post 186 landscape, one might argue that most of the other coaches available at the time of his appointment (experienced or not) would also have failed in the same circumstances. On the credit side, while Neeld failed to see out the three year programme established with fitness guru David Misson to develop a team with a harder edge, the club will benefit in from an improved list brought about by the necessity of ringing in change after a decade of poor recruiting, list management and player development and with his work in improving player fitness levels and bringing about a more professional training regime. Craig immediately set about to project a different style to that of his predecessor and he enjoyed a brief honeymoon period. His debut as coach resulted in a 35-point loss to the Saints who jumped to a big early lead but were contained for most of the remaining three quarters. A major improvement was seen for three and a half quarters the following week at the MCG against the Western Bulldogs. At the 15 minute mark of the final term, a reinvigorated Melbourne led by 44 points. Seven unanswered goals to the visitors saw the Dees limp home with by 3 points. The taste of victory was sweet but there was to be no magical revival, only nine consecutive losses to end a season of horror. Many of those defeats were dismal like the 122-point loss at Etihad Stadium to North Melbourne and the even more humiliating 37-point defeat at Skoda Stadium to concede the Giants' only win for the season. There was the odd face saving performance here and there but in the final analysis, Craig's less severe form of coaching made little difference. Melbourne finished in 17th place with two wins and a percentage of 54.07. After seven years in the wilderness, the AFL considered this insufficient to warrant special draft assistance. In a betrayal of its independent charter, the AFL bowed to the pressure of clubs who had an interest in protecting their own draft positions. I have yet to mention the players. Undeniably, many tried hard but just as many were not up to the task or not fit enough to have a great effect on the club's season. The major exception was Nathan Jones who, for the second year deserved to take home the Bluey Truscott Trophy. He had a brief stint as captain and is a strong candidate to take the role on a permanent basis in 2014 along with Jack Grimes. Both Grimes and co-skipper Jack Trengove suffered long term injuries at different times during the season and performed below par. Trengove withdrew from the captaincy at the end of the year. Colin Garland also stepped up in 2013 and showed excellent leadership potential in a defence that was forever under pressure. Three mature age players in Dean Terlich, Matt Jones and Mitch Clisby all proved valuable recruits while Jack Viney underlined his potential with some strong performances during the year. Some of the older heads at the club would have done well to follow his example of toughness and courage. Then there was Jesse Hogan, the 18 year old best and fairest winner at the Casey Scorpions, a very special key position prospect recruited a year ago but due to start his AFL career in 2014. Off the field Jackson scored a coup in snaring as major sponsor, Australia's largest motoring group, AHG which operate 103 motor vehicle dealerships across 4 Australian states and New Zealand. The deal was said to be worth $6 million over three years. That achievement paled next to the appointment in September of Paul Roos as senior coach for a term of at least two years. The ascension of Roos was seen as a beginning of the spring of hope; he went straight to work with new recruiter Jason Taylor picking up five midfielders in the trade and free agency period including Dom Tyson, Bernie Vince and Daniel Cross and collecting more young talent in the drafts. Together with the emerging Hogan and the changing of the coaching guard, there is a new optimism sweeping through the club as 2013 comes to a close. There are still many concerns for supporters of the club which is seen by many as an adjunct of the AFL. In the long term, Melbourne needs to regain its independence and to stand once again on its own two feet. And while Roos has diligently gone about the task of restructuring the list from the midfield up, there is the question of the effect of long term onfield failure on the club's stability and financial viability. Does the club have the time to restore the team to competitiveness and strength on the field to enable it to sustain a place in the competition?

And the lyrics of the song ... ACROSS THE UNIVERSE by Lennon & McCartney Words are flowing out like Endless rain into a paper cup They slither wildly as they slip away across the universe. Pools of sorrow waves of joy Are drifting through my opened mind Possessing and caressing me. Jai Guru Deva. Om Nothing's gonna change my world Nothing's gonna change my world Nothing's gonna change my world Nothing's gonna change my world Images of broken light, which Dance before me like a million eyes, They call me on and on across the universe. Thoughts meander like a Restless wind inside a letter box They tumble blindly as they make their way across the universe. Jai Guru Deva. Om Nothing's gonna change my world Nothing's gonna change my world Nothing's gonna change my world Nothing's gonna change my world Sounds of laughter, shades of life Are ringing through my opened ears Inciting and inviting me. Limitless undying love, which Shines around me like a million suns, It calls me on and on across the universe Jai Guru Deva. Om Nothing's gonna change my world Nothing's gonna change my world Nothing's gonna change my world Nothing's gonna change my world Jai Guru Deva. Jai Guru Deva. Jai Guru Deva. Jai Guru Deva. Jai Guru Deva. Jai Guru Deva.

This was Whispering Jack's tribute to Troy on the first anniversary of his death:- ACROSS THE UNIVERSE WITH TROY by Whispering Jack Three hundred and sixty-five days ago the earth moved, the seas split and a wave was sent across the ocean leaving a trail of devastation that took with it a quarter of a million lives across two continents. We were touched by the tragedy; we felt its sadness and then life went on. Soon after, we could have been forgiven for thinking that despite the enormity of the event, the world remained unchanged. Seemingly, nothing did change our world in 2005. People still died whether by natural causes, by natural disasters like earthquakes, floods and hurricanes, by epidemics such as AIDS or by mans own hand everywhere on the planet but most notably in the deserts of Darfur, in the streets of Baghdad and even in the London Underground. "Nothing's gonna change my world" These are the words of the late John Lennon. Perhaps a single individual in a vast universe may feel that there is nothing he or she can do to change our world. But we are not totally helpless - we can make a difference. Trish Broadbridge, the Melbourne Football Club and friends proved this at Phi Phi Island - at the very place where their fallen husband and comrade Troy perished in the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004. Their persistence and endeavour enabled the building of a school for the children of the devastated island - the finishing touches were applied with their own bare hands. That generations of young Thai children to come will benefit from their labour bears testament to the fact that all of us can make a difference. We can change the world.

Jayden Hunt is a the subject of our latest special feature ... THE HUNT FOR ANDY'S NEPHEW by Whispering Jack When the Melbourne Football Club introduced the concept of a scholarship squad in the mid 1970s the first player to graduate from there to the senior team was half forward flanker Andrew Moir from Beaumaris who played in the Demons' Under 19s in 1976 and made his debut as an 18 year old in round 1, 1977 against South Melbourne at the MCG. Coach Bob Skilton placed the Mentone Grammar graduate on the wing in his debut game which saw a bad loss for the Demons who struggled throughout the season and finished second last. Moir played the next four matches (2 goals), all of them defeats and then lost his place in the team to Tom Flower, brother of champion player, Robbie. He didn't reappear in the senior team until the opening round of the following season under new coach Dennis Jones. That season was a disaster for the club but Moir established himself as an elusive half forward who could take a grab and kick goals, playing 18 games (13 goals) in his team's wooden spoon season. Moir remained a regular under his third coach Carl Ditterich (1979-80) and again in Ron Barassi's first year at the helm but he played his last game in round 22, 1981 against Hawthorn at Princes Park to finish with career statistics of 73 games for 68 goals. He remained at the club in 1982 but failed to play a game and was traded to North Melbourne in a straight swap for Rodney Wright at the end of the year. He did not manage a game for the Kangaroos. The 183cm, 74.5kg Moir's best season was 1979 when he kicked 25 goals including a career best five goals against North Melbourne in round 9. He was fortunate to be missing injured later in the season when the club recorded its worst ever result in its history - a 190-point loss to Fitzroy at VFL Park. Times were tough around the club during Moir's career. He didn't play in a winning team until his second year at the club, had four coaches, the team took two wooden spoons and he personally tasted victory only 12 times, a winning percentage of only 16.43%. Fast forward three decades into the future and Andy Moir, as he was often called and who wore guernsey number 29 during his time at Melbourne, will fittingly passing on that jumper number to his nephew Jayden Hunt who was drafted at number 57 in last month's national draft. While Jayden's uncle made his path to the club via its scholarship squad and under 19 team (now superceded as a talent pathway by the TAC Cup), Hunt came onto an AFL list quietly, without any fanfare. He is the quintessential smoky. He played his junior football with East Sandringham and at Brighton Grammar where he was small but dogged in his early teens. Then, between school years 10 and 11 he grew over a foot in height. His growth spurt which has taken him to his current 187cm and 76kg caused him to miss a lot of football (he captained the school tennis team instead) and he was far off the radar when he tried to make the Sandringham Dragons Under 18 squad earlier this year. The youngster who has amazing talent, dexterity and pace missed out, meaning that he was never in the AFL's main talent programme. Instead, he was confined to school football at Brighton Grammar and a couple of games for the old boys under 19 team in the VAFA. He was impressive enough at that level to make the APS representative team where he starred and that effort earned him a place in the Young Guns squad that played in the week before the VFL grand final. Hunt was the only member of two teams of hopefuls who was TAC Cup age and he impressed enough to be selected in the main draft. A top sprinter who has run an 11.1 second 100 metres at APS level, his pace makes him a stand out. Those attributes must have impressed some of the talent scouts who came to watch his more fancied schoolmates. On the night of the draft, SEN's Mark Fine described him as an outstanding prospect. He told of how he went to an APS game to watch co-commentator Robert Shaw coach Brighton Grammar at Caulfield Grammar. Shaw's team contained two top 10 draft prospects in Josh Kelly and Christian Salem but it was speedster Hunt who caught his eye. He took kick outs playing off half back and ran and carried all day. Shaw was equally effusive calling him a "revelation" in his team when asked about Hunt but added that he was light and would need plenty of time. Shaw explained that the down side with Hunt was that "he's never run a lap or lifted a weight". In that respect, his story is not dissimilar to that of Collingwood's Paul Seedsman. If Hunt is to follow in that player's footsteps, he has also has some good football genes. Apart from his former Demon uncle, Jayden is said to be a descendent of five-time Collingwood premiership player Harold Rumney, who was part of the Magpie era when they won four successive flags from 1927-1930. And his mother plays golf with the mother of another celebrated Brighton Grammarian Jack Watts. It might be a while before we see the raw youngster in Melbourne colours, but Demon fans are a patient lot. We've waited thirty years to see the next coming of Andy Mohr wearing the number 29. Let's hope Melbourne is more successful in Hunt's time at the club.

When the Melbourne Football Club introduced the concept of a scholarship squad in the mid 1970s the first player to graduate from there to the senior team was half forward flanker Andrew Moir from Beaumaris who played in the Demons' Under 19s in 1976 and made his debut as an 18 year old in round 1, 1977 against South Melbourne at the MCG. Coach Bob Skilton placed the Mentone Grammar graduate on the wing in his debut game which saw a bad loss for the Demons who struggled throughout the season and finished second last. Moir played the next four matches (2 goals), all of them defeats and then lost his place in the team to Tom Flower, brother of champion player, Robbie. He didn't reappear in the senior team until the opening round of the following season under new coach Dennis Jones. That season was a disaster for the club but Moir established himself as an elusive half forward who could take a grab and kick goals, playing 18 games (13 goals) in his team's wooden spoon season. Moir remained a regular under his third coach Carl Ditterich (1979-80) and again in Ron Barassi's first year at the helm but he played his last game in round 22, 1981 against Hawthorn at Princes Park to finish with career statistics of 73 games for 68 goals. He remained at the club in 1982 but failed to play a game and was traded to North Melbourne in a straight swap for Rodney Wright at the end of the year. He did not manage a game for the Kangaroos. The 183cm, 74.5kg Moir's best season was 1979 when he kicked 25 goals including a career best five goals against North Melbourne in round 9. He was fortunate to be missing injured later in the season when the club recorded its worst ever result in its history - a 190-point loss to Fitzroy at VFL Park. Times were tough around the club during Moir's career. He didn't play in a winning team until his second year at the club, had four coaches, the team took two wooden spoons and he personally tasted victory only 12 times, a winning percentage of only 16.43%. Fast forward three decades into the future and Andy Moir, as he was often called and who wore guernsey number 29 during his time at Melbourne, will fittingly passing on that jumper number to his nephew Jayden Hunt who was drafted at number 57 in last month's national draft. While Jayden's uncle made his path to the club via its scholarship squad and under 19 team (now superceded as a talent pathway by the TAC Cup), Hunt came onto an AFL list quietly, without any fanfare. He is the quintessential smoky. He played his junior football with East Sandringham and at Brighton Grammar where he was small but dogged in his early teens. Then, between school years 10 and 11 he grew over a foot in height. His growth spurt which has taken him to his current 187cm and 76kg caused him to miss a lot of football (he captained the school tennis team instead) and he was far off the radar when he tried to make the Sandringham Dragons Under 18 squad earlier this year. The youngster who has amazing talent, dexterity and pace missed out, meaning that he was never in the AFL's main talent programme. Instead, he was confined to school football at Brighton Grammar and a couple of games for the old boys under 19 team in the VAFA. He was impressive enough at that level to make the APS representative team where he starred and that effort earned him a place in the Young Guns squad that played in the week before the VFL grand final. Hunt was the only member of two teams of hopefuls who was TAC Cup age and he impressed enough to be selected in the main draft. A top sprinter who has run an 11.1 second 100 metres at APS level, his pace makes him a stand out. Those attributes must have impressed some of the talent scouts who came to watch his more fancied schoolmates. On the night of the draft, SEN's Mark Fine described him as an outstanding prospect. He told of how he went to an APS game to watch co-commentator Robert Shaw coach Brighton Grammar at Caulfield Grammar. Shaw's team contained two top 10 draft prospects in Josh Kelly and Christian Salem but it was speedster Hunt who caught his eye. He took kick outs playing off half back and ran and carried all day. Shaw was equally effusive calling him a "revelation" in his team when asked about Hunt but added that he was light and would need plenty of time. Shaw explained that the down side with Hunt was that "he's never run a lap or lifted a weight". In that respect, his story is not dissimilar to that of Collingwood's Paul Seedsman. If Hunt is to follow in that player's footsteps, he has also has some good football genes. Apart from his former Demon uncle, Jayden is said to be a descendent of five-time Collingwood premiership player Harold Rumney, who was part of the Magpie era when they won four successive flags from 1927-1930. And his mother plays golf with the mother of another celebrated Brighton Grammarian Jack Watts. It might be a while before we see the raw youngster in Melbourne colours, but Demon fans are a patient lot. We've waited thirty years to see the next coming of Andy Mohr wearing the number 29. Let's hope Melbourne is more successful in Hunt's time at the club.

For the sake of balance, the list of players recruited in Neeld's time was quite impressive but your response to that would no doubt be that he wasn't the recruiting officer so he shouldn't get credit for Clark, Dawes,Viney, Toumpas, Hogan, Kent and those mature age players we picked up last year. As for the blokes you say he shouldn't have gotten rid of, you'll get plenty of debate on players who were variously retiring anyway, washed up, inconsistent, uninterested, lazy and not good enough. The latter applies equally to your above post. Terrible terrible terrible

Boxing Day 2013 marks the 9th anniversary of the death of Melbourne's Troy Broadbridge at Phi Phi Island during the tsunami. We commemorate his passing every year on Troy Broadbridge Day. Troy Broadbridge: No. 20 Born: 5 October 1980 Recruited from Port Adelaide Magpies (SANFL) Died: 26 December 2004, Thailand Playing Career: Debut Round 8, May 20, 2001, Melbourne vs. Essendon, at Melbourne Cricket Ground Team: Melbourne (2001-2004) 40 games, 2 goals Melbourne Most Improved Player 2001 Sandringham Premiership Team 2000 & 2004 Looking forward to your tributes.

If you want to discuss climate change then there's a general board you might want to try.

According to the club website there are two more training sessions to go before the end of year break up and both are at Gosch's Paddock, the first tomorrow and then the break-up on Friday. Please let's not stray from the topic and in particular, no derailing as we've seen with the last two training threads. Reports are most welcome. Thank you.

It [censored] looks like some sort of [censored] malfunction in the [censored] system.We're [censored] looking into it. Thanks for [censored] us know. [censored]

I only included the Hawthorn match because the practice match games on that weekend were just released and they are not apart of the NAB Cup challenge.http://afl.com.au/fixture/nab-challenge

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2013-12-16/wa-preseason-feast 2014 PRACTICE MATCH FIXTURE Sunday, March 2 Gold Coast v Collingwood at Metricon Stadium, time tbc Thursday, March 6 West Coast v Fremantle at Patersons Stadium, time tbc Friday, March 7 Geelong v North Melbourne at Simonds Stadium, time tbc Greater Western Sydney v Adelaide at Blacktown, time tbc Carlton v Western Bulldogs at Visy Park, time tbc Richmond v Essendon at Punt Road Oval or Craigieburn, time tbc Saturday, March 8 Port Adelaide v St Kilda at Alberton Oval, time tbc Melbourne v Hawthorn at Casey Fields, time tbc Brisbane Lions v Sydney Swans at Burpengary, time tbc

http://heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/former-afl-player-nathan-carroll-on-assault-charges/story-fni0fee2-1226772464774

The list of players who are now under the watchful eye of new Melbourne coach Paul Roos is a far different one to that which began two years ago under Mark Neeld in late 2011. The list had already been pared to make way for the new regime but since then, more than half of the list has been turned over - a testament to the necessity of changing a list that performed so poorly in a turbulent period for the Melbourne Football Club. The following players have departed over the past two trade/free agency/draft periods:- ► End of 2012: Matthew Bate (delisted) Jamie Bennell (West Coast) Lucas Cook (delisted) Brad Green (retired) Jordan Gysberts (North Melbourne) Liam Jurrah (delisted) Kelvin Lawrence ® (delisted) Stefan Martin (Brisbane) Brent Moloney (Brisbane FA) Cale Morton (West Coast) Ricky Petterd (Richmond) Jared Rivers (Geelong FA) Jai Sheahan L® (delisted) Leigh Williams ® (delisted). ► End of 2013: Tom Couch ® (delisted) Aaron Davey (retired) Troy Davis (delisted) Tom Gillies (delisted) Joel Macdonald (retired) James Magner ® (delisted) David Rodan (retired) James Sellar (delisted) Nathan Stark ® (delisted) Colin Sylvia (Fremantle FA) Rory Taggert (delisted) Josh Tynan (delisted). Twelve months ago, in CHANGES 2012 - EMINENTLY COACHABLE (pardon the headline), I described the frenetic period of trading and drafting at the end of 2012 that left many breathless in its scope but produced what was without doubt the most disappointing season in the memory of the majority of Demon fans. The club's playing lists for 2013 were:- PRIMARY LIST: Rohan Bail Dominic Barry Sam Blease Shannon Byrnes Mitch Clark Aaron Davey Troy Davis Chris Dawes Lynden Dunn Michael Evans Jack Fitzpatrick James Frawley Colin Garland Max Gawn Tom Gillies Jack Grimes Jeremy Howe Mark Jamar Neville Jetta Matt Jones Nathan Jones Dean Kent Joel Macdonald Tom McDonald Jordie McKenzie Dan Nicholson Cameron Pedersen David Rodan James Sellar Jake Spencer James Strauss Colin Sylvia Rory Taggert Luke Tapscott Dean Terlich Jimmy Toumpas Jack Trengove Josh Tynan Jack Viney Jack Watts ROOKIE LIST: Mitch Clisby Tom Couch James Magner Nathan Stark The club also had Jesse Hogan in reserve from the GWS Minidraft but he could not play AFL during 2013 and was restricted to NAB Cup games and VFL at Casey where he was best and fairest winner. It was always known that the task of replenishing the list was fraught with difficulty as the club jettisoned fifteen players from the previous year. The recruits included a blend of young, mature age and old and while the jury will remain out for some time, there are good signs for the future about many of the club's new breed of 2003. The disappointments may have been in some of the recycled players but when you turn over 14 players in one season, these things not only happen but are magnified when the team performs so poorly. In September, the Demons were boosted by the appointment of senior coach Paul Roos and, together with the club's new national recruiting manager Jason Taylor and his team, they embarked on the task of rebuilding the club's midfield, acknowledged as the most ineffective in the competition and the source of much of its pain and suffering over the past seven years. The trade and free agency period gave the club five new midfielders as covered here, here, here, here, here, here and here. Even before the recent national and rookie drafts the club's list had taken on a much improved look with Dom Tyson, Bernie Vince, Daniel Cross, Viv Michie and Aidan Reilly coming on board - adding size, strength, skill, depth and and a mix of experience. The drafts introduced the following players and once again there was a preponderance of midfielders:- Alexis Georgiou ® Norwood SA 1/1/90 H: 187cm W: 88kg Widely considered the best shut down Fullback in the SANFL Georgiou was instrumental in leading the best defence the comp to the 2012 Premiership. Georgiou will again be the Vice Captain to Kieran McGuinness for the 2013 season NorwoodFC website James Harmes ® Dandenong Stingrays 5/10/95 H: 185cm W: 78kg James developed this year as an inside/outside midfielder who competes hard but his lack of speed might hold him up a little bit. He's got a good vertical leap, a good engine, neat skills but just has to sharpen up in a couple of areas to knock the rough edges off." - Dandenong coach Graeme Yeats [inside Football] Jayden Hunt Brighton Grammar 3/4/95 H: 187cm W: 76kg Hunt is from Brighton Grammar. He played in the APS v AGS representative match. Hunt is a quick midfielder/half-back. He is a good kick both sides - MFC bio Jay Kennedy-Harris Oakleigh Chargers 21/3/95 H: 173cm W: 68kg "He took on a joint-leadership role this year with Will Maginness and he's acquitted himself really well. He only played 12 games due to Vic Metro duties and came second in our best and fairest. Last year he was a genuine small toward close to goal but he pushed up as a high half-forward this year and sometimes as an extra midfielder and provide some good leg speed and run and carry. He's got a great skill set; he's brave and applies good defensive pressure, so there is a role for him at the next level." - Oakleigh Region manager Mart Smart [inside Football] Max King ® Murray Bushrangers 24/9/85 H: 200cm W: 89kg "We only saw Max post-Christmas as he was coming in from Wagga. He is really raw in terms of the time he has spent In a good system, but in terms of his skills - his hands, his ruckwork, the impact he can have as a tall forward, his skills, are all terrific. Where he needs to work is his body size, and his fitness and conditioning. He improved vastly throughout the season and at 200cm he's got some things to offer that others don't" - Murray region manager Andrew Carson [inside Football] Christian Salem Sandringham Dragons 15/7/95 H: 183cm W: 81kg "He's one of the excitement packets who can play just about anywhere and even showed that he can play as an inside midfielder after some time in a full-time program. He's been played predominantly outside as people have wanted to make full use of his elite kicking, but he seems to have handled the microscope pretty well he revels on playing on a big stage and when the chips are down he is the one to really lift. He should go pretty early, we would think" - Sandringham region manager Ryan OConnor [inside Football] [Neville Jetta was delisted and later selected in the rookie draft] Salem and Kennedy-Harris are highly rated, Hunt is the smokey plucked out of Brighton Grammar, Harmes a Melbourne supporting mid, King a tall project ruckman and Georgiou a mature, medium-sized defender who might be ugly in looks and kicking style by is regarded as a highly effective stopper. When you add Jesse Hogan the class of 18 year olds on the list is highly impressive. Taylor was pleased with the overall outcome and told melbournefc.com.au - The playing lists for 2014 are:-PRIMARY LIST: Rohan Bail Dominic Barry Sam Blease Shannon Byrnes Mitch Clark Mitch Clisby Daniel Cross Chris Dawes Lynden Dunn Michael Evans Jack Fitzpatrick James Frawley Colin Garland Max Gawn Jack Grimes Jesse Hogan Jeremy Howe Jayden Hunt Mark Jamar Matt Jones Nathan Jones Jay Kennedy-Harris Dean Kent Tom McDonald Jordie McKenzie Viv Michie Dan Nicholson Cameron Pedersen Aidan Reilly Christian Salem Jake Spencer James Strauss Luke Tapscott Dean Terlich Jimmy Toumpas Jack Trengove Dominic Tyson Bernie Vince Jack Viney Jack Watts ROOKIE LIST: Alexis Georgiou James Harmes Neville Jetta Max King INTERNATIONAL ROOKIE LIST Maia Westrupp

The list of players who are now under the watchful eye of new Melbourne coach Paul Roos is a far different one to that which began two years ago under Mark Neeld in late 2011. The list had already been pared to make way for the new regime but since then, more than half of the list has been turned over - a testament to the necessity of changing a list that performed so poorly in a turbulent period for the Melbourne Football Club. The following players have departed over the past two trade/free agency/draft periods:- ► End of 2012: Matthew Bate (delisted) Jamie Bennell (West Coast) Lucas Cook (delisted) Brad Green (retired) Jordan Gysberts (North Melbourne) Liam Jurrah (delisted) Kelvin Lawrence ® (delisted) Stefan Martin (Brisbane) Brent Moloney (Brisbane FA) Cale Morton (West Coast) Ricky Petterd (Richmond) Jared Rivers (Geelong FA) Jai Sheahan L® (delisted) Leigh Williams ® (delisted). ► End of 2013: Tom Couch ® (delisted) Aaron Davey (retired) Troy Davis (delisted) Tom Gillies (delisted) Joel Macdonald (retired) James Magner ® (delisted) David Rodan (retired) James Sellar (delisted) Nathan Stark ® (delisted) Colin Sylvia (Fremantle FA) Rory Taggert (delisted) Josh Tynan (delisted). Twelve months ago, in CHANGES 2012 - EMINENTLY COACHABLE (pardon the headline), I described the frenetic period of trading and drafting at the end of 2012 that left many breathless in its scope but produced what was without doubt the most disappointing season in the memory of the majority of Demon fans. The club's playing lists for 2013 were:- PRIMARY LIST: Rohan Bail Dominic Barry Sam Blease Shannon Byrnes Mitch Clark Aaron Davey Troy Davis Chris Dawes Lynden Dunn Michael Evans Jack Fitzpatrick James Frawley Colin Garland Max Gawn Tom Gillies Jack Grimes Jeremy Howe Mark Jamar Neville Jetta Matt Jones Nathan Jones Dean Kent Joel Macdonald Tom McDonald Jordie McKenzie Dan Nicholson Cameron Pedersen David Rodan James Sellar Jake Spencer James Strauss Colin Sylvia Rory Taggert Luke Tapscott Dean Terlich Jimmy Toumpas Jack Trengove Josh Tynan Jack Viney Jack Watts ROOKIE LIST: Mitch Clisby Tom Couch James Magner Nathan Stark The club also had Jesse Hogan in reserve from the GWS Minidraft but he could not play AFL during 2013 and was restricted to NAB Cup games and VFL at Casey where he was best and fairest winner. It was always known that the task of replenishing the list was fraught with difficulty as the club jettisoned fifteen players from the previous year. The recruits included a blend of young, mature age and old and while the jury will remain out for some time, there are good signs for the future about many of the club's new breed of 2003. The disappointments may have been in some of the recycled players but when you turn over 14 players in one season, these things not only happen but are magnified when the team performs so poorly. In September, the Demons were boosted by the appointment of senior coach Paul Roos and, together with the club's new national recruiting manager Jason Taylor and his team, they embarked on the task of rebuilding the club's midfield, acknowledged as the most ineffective in the competition and the source of much of its pain and suffering over the past seven years. The trade and free agency period gave the club five new midfielders as covered here, here, here, here, here, here and here. Even before the recent national and rookie drafts the club's list had taken on a much improved look with Dom Tyson, Bernie Vince, Daniel Cross, Viv Michie and Aidan Reilly coming on board - adding size, strength, skill, depth and and a mix of experience. The drafts introduced the following players and once again there was a preponderance of midfielders:- Alexis Georgiou ® Norwood SA 1/1/90 H: 187cm W: 88kg Widely considered the best shut down Fullback in the SANFL Georgiou was instrumental in leading the best defence the comp to the 2012 Premiership. Georgiou will again be the Vice Captain to Kieran McGuinness for the 2013 season NorwoodFC website James Harmes ® Dandenong Stingrays 5/10/95 H: 185cm W: 78kg James developed this year as an inside/outside midfielder who competes hard but his lack of speed might hold him up a little bit. He's got a good vertical leap, a good engine, neat skills but just has to sharpen up in a couple of areas to knock the rough edges off." - Dandenong coach Graeme Yeats [inside Football] Jayden Hunt Brighton Grammar 3/4/95 H: 187cm W: 76kg Hunt is from Brighton Grammar. He played in the APS v AGS representative match. Hunt is a quick midfielder/half-back. He is a good kick both sides - MFC bio Jay Kennedy-Harris Oakleigh Chargers 21/3/95 H: 173cm W: 68kg "He took on a joint-leadership role this year with Will Maginness and he's acquitted himself really well. He only played 12 games due to Vic Metro duties and came second in our best and fairest. Last year he was a genuine small toward close to goal but he pushed up as a high half-forward this year and sometimes as an extra midfielder and provide some good leg speed and run and carry. He's got a great skill set; he's brave and applies good defensive pressure, so there is a role for him at the next level." - Oakleigh Region manager Mart Smart [inside Football] Max King ® Murray Bushrangers 24/9/85 H: 200cm W: 89kg "We only saw Max post-Christmas as he was coming in from Wagga. He is really raw in terms of the time he has spent In a good system, but in terms of his skills - his hands, his ruckwork, the impact he can have as a tall forward, his skills, are all terrific. Where he needs to work is his body size, and his fitness and conditioning. He improved vastly throughout the season and at 200cm he's got some things to offer that others don't" - Murray region manager Andrew Carson [inside Football] Christian Salem Sandringham Dragons 15/7/95 H: 183cm W: 81kg "He's one of the excitement packets who can play just about anywhere and even showed that he can play as an inside midfielder after some time in a full-time program. He's been played predominantly outside as people have wanted to make full use of his elite kicking, but he seems to have handled the microscope pretty well he revels on playing on a big stage and when the chips are down he is the one to really lift. He should go pretty early, we would think" - Sandringham region manager Ryan OConnor [inside Football] [Neville Jetta was delisted and later selected in the rookie draft] Salem and Kennedy-Harris are highly rated, Hunt is the smokey plucked out of Brighton Grammar, Harmes a Melbourne supporting mid, King a tall project ruckman and Georgiou a mature, medium-sized defender who might be ugly in looks and kicking style by is regarded as a highly effective stopper. When you add Jesse Hogan the class of 18 year olds on the list is highly impressive. Taylor was pleased with the overall outcome and told melbournefc.com.au - The playing lists for 2014 are:-PRIMARY LIST: Rohan Bail Dominic Barry Sam Blease Shannon Byrnes Mitch Clark Mitch Clisby Daniel Cross Chris Dawes Lynden Dunn Michael Evans Jack Fitzpatrick James Frawley Colin Garland Max Gawn Jack Grimes Jesse Hogan Jeremy Howe Jayden Hunt Mark Jamar Matt Jones Nathan Jones Jay Kennedy-Harris Dean Kent Tom McDonald Jordie McKenzie Viv Michie Dan Nicholson Cameron Pedersen Aidan Reilly Christian Salem Jake Spencer James Strauss Luke Tapscott Dean Terlich Jimmy Toumpas Jack Trengove Dominic Tyson Bernie Vince Jack Viney Jack Watts ROOKIE LIST: Alexis Georgiou James Harmes Neville Jetta Max King INTERNATIONAL ROOKIE LIST Maia Westrupp

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