Demonland

by Whispering Jack Luke Norman was drafted by the Melbourne Football Club as a 22 year old from Wangaratta at selection 68 in the 1994 National Draft. He made his debut (along with a 17 year old Jeff Farmer) in the opening round the following year at the MCG against Geelong at Kardinia Park in the first of six losses on the trot for the Demons. Norman was a burly defender who was a real goer but he was always going to battle at the elite level after making a relatively late start at the age of 23. He played the first nine games of 1995, but after that, his career stalled and he struggled even to get a game in a team that was decimated by injuries to key players in David Schwartz, Garry Lyon, Stephen Tingay and Paul Prymke and the temporary defection to the tennis coaching circuit of Todd Viney. Norman played the last of his 16 games on what could have turned out a sad night for the Melbourne Football Club - the final round of the 1996 when the Demons took on the Hawks in what might have been the swansong for both of them had the merger not failed. Nevertheless, it was the end for Luke Norman's brief stint in the AFL. He disappeared off our radar but has re-emerged as the coach of SANFL club Sturt where he has them in the finals in his first senior year. And like his former teammate Graeme Yeats, who coaches Tom Scully at the Dandenong Stingrays, one of Norman's charges is an exciting prospective early draft pick who might also be headed to the Demons via the national draft. That player is Jack Trengove was skipper of SA in the recent Under 18 National Championships and was picked alongside Scully as an on baller in the Under 18 All Australian team. Last year, Norman was reserves coach with the Double Blues and he guided them to a premiership. Trengove was in the team which won that flag, having been plucked out of the Under 17 team that tasted a grand final victory the week before. Sturt won 14 games during the regular season this year but school and state duties kept Trengove out of the senior side until after the Under 18 championships. Since making his debut in July, the youngster has missed only one game (due to school duties at Prince Alfred College) and has averaged well over 20 disposals per game in the midfield and on a forward flank. He picked up the SANFL equivalent of a rising star nomination with a 30-possession effort in just his second game. The Double Blues were unlucky in last week's qualifying final against Central District. With three time SANFL leading goal kicker Brant Chambers missing through injury, they led for most of the day and were locked together late into time on when a Bulldog forward kicked the winning goal. Thanks to a friend from Adelaide I was able to view a tape of the game in which Trengove was a solid contributor all day and was named in his team's three best playing in the graveyard half forward flank position. The game was a dour struggle, tough and hard and was a great test for the young teenager. He wasn't as prolific a ball winner as his previous statistics suggested but he showed great composure under finals pressure and still managed to get the ball 15 times, displayed clean hands, crisp disposal and a cool head and booted two goals at vital stages of the game. Both of them were gems. He was right at home playing against the men and has the engine, the skills and the body to move straight into AFL next year. Just to add a little to the Melbourne connection, one of Trengove's teammates was former Demon Jace Bode who played on a half back flank. Today, they will be back at AAMI Stadium playing in the first semi final against Norman's old side Woodville-West Torrens. For viewers who catch the game on SA's ABC1, one of the commentators will be former North Melbourne, Collingwood and Melbourne player Robert Pyman who had a season with the Demons in 1997. Melbourne and Sturt have a little bit of history. In the late 1960's the Demons were reported to be chasing two Double Blues stars in ruckman Dean Ottens and speedy Aboriginal winger Michael Graham but, despite the time and effort put in by Melbourne Secretary Jim Cardwell, neither of them could be tempted across the border. The Demons did however, manage to snare a multiple Sturt premiership player of the sixties in John "Diamond Jim" Tilbrook in 1971 but his career was brief and unspectacular. Graham's cousin Colin played around 30 games for the club in the mid seventies and one of Ottens' sons Luke also had a short injury interrupted stint at the club in the late nineties. They could have drafted the other Ottens, Brad who will be playing for a second premiership with Geelong next Saturday, with first pick in 1997 but chose Travis Johnstone instead. The Demons even drafted a midfielder by the name of Judd from Sturt but unlike his namesake, Ben Judd who was drafted at 39 in the 1992 pre season draft, never played a single game of AFL football. The Demons did manage to strike it lucky with the recruitment of midfielder Todd Viney who came across from Sturt in 1987 who played 233 games with the club, won the best and fairest in 1993 and 1998 and was skipper in 1998-9. His brother Jay, also from Sturt, joined him for a while in late eighties and early nineties. Although one can't say with certainty at this stage whether Jack Trengove will join the list of Sturt players who have gone on to play for Melbourne, he must be a fair chance to be taken with the club's second pick in the national draft (I've already pencilled Scully in as #1 without consulting Barry Prendergast). However, I think it could be said without much fear of contradiction and with all due respect to his current coach, that this youngster's career at the elite level of the game will be longer and more successful in terms of team and personal achievement than that of his current mentor Luke Norman who battled through some of those dark days during his time at Melbourne.

THE COACH AND THE DISCIPLE by Whispering Jack Luke Norman was drafted by the Melbourne Football Club as a 22 year old from Wangaratta at selection 68 in the 1994 National Draft. He made his debut (along with a 17 year old Jeff Farmer) in the opening round the following year at the MCG against Geelong at Kardinia Park in the first of six losses on the trot for the Demons. Norman was a burly defender who was a real goer but he was always going to battle at the elite level after making a relatively late start at the age of 23. He played the first nine games of 1995, but after that his career stalled and he struggled even to get a game in a team that was decimated by injuries to key players in David Schwartz, Garry Lyon, Stephen Tingay and Paul Prymke and the temporary defection to the tennis coaching circuit of Todd Viney. Norman played the last of his 16 games on what could have turned out a sad night for the Melbourne Football Club - the final round of the 1996 when the Demons took on the Hawks in what might have been the swansong for both of them had the merger not failed. Nevertheless, it was the end for Luke Norman's brief stint in the AFL. He disappeared off our radar but has re-emerged as the coach of SANFL club Sturt where he has them in the finals in his first senior year. And like his former teammate Graeme Yeats, who coaches Tom Scully at the Dandenong Stingrays, one of Norman's charges is an exciting prospective early draft pick who might also be headed to the Demons via the national draft. That player is Jack Trengove was skipper of SA in the recent Under 18 National Championships and was picked alongside Scully as an on baller in the Under 18 All Australian team. Last year, Norman was reserves coach with the Double Blues and he guided them to a premiership. Trengove was in the team which won that flag, having been plucked out of the Under 17 team that tasted a grand final victory the week before. Sturt won 14 games during the regular season this year but school and state duties kept Trengove out of the senior side until after the Under 18 championships. Since making his debut in July, the youngster has missed only one game (due to school duties at Prince Alfred College) and has averaged well over 20 disposals per game in the midfield and on a forward flank. He picked up the SANFL equivalent of a rising star nomination with a 30-possession effort in just his second game. The Double Blues were unlucky in last week's qualifying final against Central District. With three time SANFL leading goal kicker Brant Chambers missing through injury, they led for most of the day and were locked together late into time on when a Bulldog forward kicked the winning goal. Thanks to a friend from Adelaide I was able to view a tape of the game in which Trengove was a solid contributor all day and was named in his team's three best playing in the graveyard half forward flank position. The game was a dour struggle, tough and hard and was a great test for the young teenager. He wasn't as prolific a ball winner as his previous statistics suggested but he showed great composure under finals pressure and still managed to get the ball 15 times, displayed clean hands, crisp disposal and a cool head and booted two goals at vital stages of the game. Both of them were gems. He was right at home playing against the men and has the engine, the skills and the body to move straight into AFL next year. Just to add a little to the Melbourne connection, one of Trengove's teammates was former Demon Jace Bode who played on a half back flank. Today, they will be back at AAMI Stadium playing in the first semi final against Norman's old side Woodville-West Torrens. For viewers who catch the game on SA's ABC1, one of the commentators will be former North Melbourne, Collingwood and Melbourne player Robert Pyman who had a season with the Demons in 1997. Melbourne and Sturt have a little bit of history. In the late 1960's the Demons were reported to be chasing two Double Blues stars in ruckman Dean Ottens and speedy Aboriginal winger Michael Graham but, despite the time and effort put in by Melbourne Secretary Jim Cardwell, neither of them could be tempted across the border. The Demons did however, manage to snare a multiple Sturt premiership player of the sixties in John "Diamond Jim" Tilbrook in 1971 but his career was brief and unspectacular. Graham's cousin Colin played around 30 games for the club in the mid seventies and one of Ottens' sons Luke also had a short injury interrupted stint at the club in the late nineties. They could have drafted the other Ottens, Brad who will be playing for a second premiership with Geelong next Saturday, with first pick in 1997 but chose Travis Johnstone instead. The Demons even drafted a midfielder by the name of Judd from Sturt but unlike his namesake, Ben Judd who was drafted at 39 in the 1992 pre season draft, never played a single game of AFL football. The Demons did manage to strike it lucky with the recruitment of midfielder Todd Viney who came across from Sturt in 1987 who played 233 games with the club, won the best and fairest in 1993 and 1998 and was skipper in 1998-9. His brother Jay, also from Sturt, joined him for a while in late eighties and early nineties. Although one can't say with certainty at this stage whether Jack Trengove will join the list of Sturt players who have gone on to play for Melbourne, he must be a fair chance to be taken with the club's second pick in the national draft (I've already pencilled Scully in as #1 without consulting Barry Prendergast). However, I think it could be said without much fear of contradiction and with all due respect to his current coach, that this youngster's career at the elite level of the game will be longer and more successful in terms of team and personal achievement than that of his current mentor Luke Norman who battled through some of those dark days during his time at Melbourne.

Here are the teams for the games:- Eastern Ranges vs. Calder Cannons Saturday 19th September Visy Park at 11:15 AM Eastern Ranges B: Mirra Crowle Kinder HB: O'Shea Kennedy Young C: Harper Cass Barnes HF: R. Wilson Moore Dyson F: Gysberts Griffiths Scott Foll: Burnage Minahan Mullett Interchange: Cope La Marca Post Harvey Johns Fent Fitzgerald Phelps Calder Cannons B: Ezard Fahey Guthrie HB: Long Mitchell Wallis C: Prestia Schroder Hine HF: Lucin Carlisle Hunter F: Duhau Temel Hicks Foll: Fewster Liberatore Melksham Interchange: McLeod Davies Daniher Wall Thompson Kefford Lawton Watson J. Tydell McCallum Dandenong Stingrays vs. Geelong Falcons Saturday 19th September Visy Park at 2:00 PM Dandenong Stingrays B: M. Hallahan Roberton Cottrell HB: J. Hallahan McInnes Shaw C: Treloar Bastinac Andrews HF: Heddles Casboult Allen F: Millard Pitt Parker Foll: Harrison Petropoulos Scully Interchange: Baumgartner Batchelor Mitchell Clifford Kerr Sheppard Amalfi Gent Geelong Falcons B: Fisher Dare Smedts HB: Christensen MacKenzie MacLeod C: McMillan-Pittard Cunnington Ledin HF: Rock Rohan Dahlhaus F: Tutton Bright Grabowski Foll: Hollmer Sodomaco Hussey Interchange: McCormack Semmens Simpson Buchanan Ruggles Flanagan Williams And for those following things from interstate: Sturt v Woodville-West Torrens B: Wark Thurstans Fittock HB: McGlone Coad Bode C: Gum Sheedy Evans HF: Jaensch Johncock Trengove F: Herring Plant Vassal Foll: Kurtze Nelson Crane Interchange: Bowen Cubillo McLeay Payne Sharples In: McLeay Nelson

When Hutchy's TAC Cup show started Kevin Sheehan was pumping him up as a possible top 5 in the mould of Cyril Rioli. He has royal football bloodlines with Michael Long an uncle on one side of the family and the Christensens played at Geelong and North. Afl.com.au gave him a good write up: "Christensen adds his name to the draft pecking order Geelong Falcons midfielder Allen Christensen reminded recruiters of his midfield prowess and leadership abilities to notch 31 disposals in a best on ground performance in the Falcons' 41-point win over Gold Coast at Visy Park yesterday. Falcons coach Garry Hocking said the evasive and quick thinking on-baller took over the leadership responsibilities of skipper and top 10 draft prospect Ben Cunnington, who struggled to shrug off a hip injury. Cunnington is expected to be right for Saturday's preliminary final against Dandenong Stingrays. 'Our captain was a bit down today,' Hocking said. 'Allen can fill the breach leadership wise and can also perform well on the ground.' 'He was terrific. Through the middle, half back, up forward. He plays in many spots. He was terrific over the footy. He uses it very well,' he said." I agree he's a good chance to go to Geelong.

We'll be using Sean's really interesting assessments as the basis for our daily player assessments starting with Simon Buckley - feel free to post your thoughts on the individual player threads and please keep it civil and constructive.

You can add 2009 Pick 18 if we don't trade it away.

THE PROTÉGÉ II by Whispering Jack There used to be a great little Italian restaurant in Hardware Lane in the heart of the city where they served superb pastas with vino, delicious lemon granitas and decent coffee. Campari attracted a mixed clientele of lawyers, office workers, sporting personalities and shoppers. At lunchtime, it was always crowded, noisy, full of atmosphere and lively conversation. Then one day about five years ago it just closed down never to reopen its doors although, for a long time, a sign on a window carried an unfulfilled promise that it would reopen "after renovations". That was the venue where, back in the early eighties, we completed our great recruiting "coup" for the Melbourne Football Club. Our little group, made up mainly of young lawyers, had a regular lunchtime table at Campari. There was "Redleg" who posts here on Demonland and who was on the MFC board at the time, "Night Life" who fancied himself as a cricketer and who has since passed on and an assortment of other characters including yours truly. From time to time, we had visitors to the table including VFL footballers and even the occasional County Court judge. One of our guests was a young bloke by the name of Mark Louis who was coach of the Prahran Thirds in what was then known as the VFA. He assured us one day that he had a player who would make it all the way to the highest level in the game. His protégé was, he claimed, a "bloody good footballer." Well that was enough for me. I pointed out to Redleg that Prahran was located in Melbourne's metropolitan zone and there was a fair chance that this "bloody good footballer" was tied to the Demons. We bent his arm a bit and Redleg promised to arrange for someone from the club to come down to watch one of his games. That promise was duly kept and the following year Graeme Yeats was wearing red and blue instead of Prahran's two blues. That's how they used to recruit players before the days of drafts, trades and list managers. From the early fifties to the seventies, the MFC secretary Jim Cardwell was a one man recruiting department and that was only one of the many jobs he single-handedly carried out at the club. Today, clubs have about three different departments doing Jim's job. By the eighties there were a few part timers helping out but often the club relied on word of mouth advice from supporters and other spotters. In many ways therefore, it was a stroke of good fortune that a lunchtime chat at Campari in 1983 with the Prahran thirds coach led to the securing of his protégé as a player of a dozen years' excellent service and standing. Melbourne and Yeats got a taste of finals football four years later and while the month of September 1987 was an exciting time, it ended in tragedy when Jimmy Stynes was penalised for crossing Gary Buckenara's mark as he lined up for the last kick of that year's Preliminary Final. September was also an interesting time for the lunch time crew at Campari. Someone had come up with the idea of doing a radio show on 3CR to fill in a vacancy on their Thursday night programming so for about six months we were required to turn up to the Fitzroy studios and talk nonsense about sport. We were tucked in between a reggae music show and a lesbian discussion group and I reckon we might not have fitted in with the station's image. Mind you, I always thought the banter on our programme was easily the most coherent on their roster. The week after our dramatic final loss to Hawthorn I made up a news item reporting that the Melbourne Football Club had successfully obtained an injunction in the Victorian Supreme Court to force a replay of the preliminary final because the 15 metre penalty against Jimmy Stynes was "unjust" and "unconscionable". We thought nobody listened to our show but the switchboard fairly blew up that night as our receptionist fielded dozens of calls from irate Hawthorn supporters. The excuse we gave the station boss was that I had become somewhat disoriented by the lingering fumes from whatever the reggae boys had been smoking in the studio during the hour before we came on air. Anyway, my feeble attempt to win some justice for Jimmy, Yeata and the boys fell flat. and eventually 3CR gave us the flick and replaced us with a group of people who rambled on mindlessly about some national liberation movement in South America. Several months into their stint they were still getting phone calls halfway through their programme from a bloke who wanted their tips for the coming weekend's races. Redleg and I bumped into Mark Louis at Etihad this year on 1 July and watched the Under 18 championships games with him. He's still involved and does some coaching at one of the APS schools. Like all of us, he was suitably impressed by his protégé's protégé. It's uncanny when you think that more than two and a half decades afterwards, not only is Yeata coaching the young footballer who is likely to be taken by the Demons at #1 in this year's draft, but somewhere else there's someone else's protégé running around in a two blues guernsey who might well be selected at number two. Not only that but from what I've seen and heard about them, they're both "bloody good footballers". FOOTNOTE "Night Life" whose brother had played a few games for the Dees in 1981 suddenly and tragically passed away in 1989 from an aneurism still in his thirties. It was only a few hours after he'd watched his beloved Demons win a game at the MCG against the Swans. He would have loved Demonland and I dedicate this article to his memory even though his role in Yeata's recruitment was rather limited on account of the fact that he was more interested at the time in quaffing Campari's fine house red while the rest of us were busy recruiting a Demon.

by Whispering Jack There used to be a great little Italian restaurant in Hardware Lane in the heart of the city where they served superb pastas with vino, delicious lemon granitas and decent coffee. Campari attracted a mixed clientele of lawyers, office workers, sporting personalities and shoppers. At lunchtime, it was always crowded, noisy, full of atmosphere and lively conversation. Then one day about five years ago it just closed down never to reopen its doors although, for a long time, a sign on a window carried an unfulfilled promise that it would reopen "after renovations". That was the venue where, back in the early eighties, we completed our great recruiting "coup" for the Melbourne Football Club. Our little group, made up mainly of young lawyers, had a regular lunchtime table at Campari. There was "Redleg" who posts here on Demonland and who was on the MFC board at the time, "Night Life" who fancied himself as a cricketer and who has since passed on and an assortment of other characters including yours truly. From time to time, we had visitors to the table including VFL footballers and even the occasional County Court judge. One of our guests was a young bloke by the name of Mark Louis who was coach of the Prahran Thirds in what was then known as the VFA. He assured us one day that he had a player who would make it all the way to the highest level in the game. His protégé was, he claimed, a "bloody good footballer." Well that was enough for me. I pointed out to Redleg that Prahran was located in Melbourne's metropolitan zone and there was a fair chance that this "bloody good footballer" was tied to the Demons. We bent his arm a bit and Redleg promised to arrange for someone from the club to come down to watch one of his games. That promise was duly kept and the following year Graeme Yeats was wearing red and blue instead of Prahran's two blues. That's how they used to recruit players before the days of drafts, trades and list managers. From the early fifties to the seventies, the MFC secretary Jim Cardwell was a one man recruiting department and that was only one of the many jobs he single-handedly carried out at the club. Today, clubs have about three different departments doing Jim's job. By the eighties there were a few part timers helping out but often the club relied on word of mouth advice from supporters and other spotters. In many ways therefore, it was a stroke of good fortune that a lunchtime chat at Campari in 1983 with the Prahran thirds coach led to the securing of his protégé as a player of a dozen years' excellent service and standing. Melbourne and Yeats got a taste of finals football four years later and while the month of September 1987 was an exciting time, it ended in tragedy when Jimmy Stynes was penalised for crossing Gary Buckenara's mark as he lined up for the last kick of that year's Preliminary Final. September was also an interesting time for the lunch time crew at Campari. Someone had come up with the idea of doing a radio show on 3CR to fill in a vacancy on their Thursday night programming so for about six months we were required to turn up to the Fitzroy studios and talk nonsense about sport. We were tucked in between a reggae music show and a lesbian discussion group and I reckon we might not have fitted in with the station's image. Mind you, I always thought the banter on our programme was easily the most coherent on their roster. The week after our dramatic final loss to Hawthorn I made up a news item reporting that the Melbourne Football Club had successfully obtained an injunction in the Victorian Supreme Court to force a replay of the preliminary final because the 15 metre penalty against Jimmy Stynes was "unjust" and "unconscionable". We thought nobody listened to our show but the switchboard fairly blew up that night as our receptionist fielded dozens of calls from irate Hawthorn supporters. The excuse we gave the station boss was that I had become somewhat disoriented by the lingering fumes from whatever the reggae boys had been smoking in the studio during the hour before we came on air. Anyway, my feeble attempt to win some justice for Jimmy, Yeata and the boys fell flat. and eventually 3CR gave us the flick and replaced us with a group of people who rambled on mindlessly about some national liberation movement in South America. Several months into their stint they were still getting phone calls halfway through their programme from a bloke who wanted their tips for the coming weekend's races. Redleg and I bumped into Mark Louis at Etihad this year on 1 July and watched the Under 18 championships games with him. He's still involved and does some coaching at one of the APS schools. Like all of us, he was suitably impressed by his protégé's protégé. It's uncanny when you think that more than two and a half decades afterwards, not only is Yeata coaching the young footballer who is likely to be taken by the Demons at #1 in this year's draft, but somewhere else there's someone else's protégé running around in a two blues guernsey who might well be selected at number two. Not only that but from what I've seen and heard about them, they're both "bloody good footballers". FOOTNOTE "Night Life" whose brother had played a few games for the Dees in 1981 suddenly and tragically passed away in 1989 from an aneurism still in his thirties. It was only a few hours after he'd watched his beloved Demons win a game at the MCG against the Swans. He would have loved Demonland and I dedicate this article to his memory even though his role in Yeata's recruitment was rather limited on account of the fact that he was more interested at the time in quaffing Campari's fine house red while the rest of us were busy recruiting a Demon.

Like the story WJ but a little birdie tells me that you have an indirect connection with Yeata.

THE PROTÉGÉ by Whispering Jack Graeme Yeats was born in September 1964 on the Monday after the Melbourne Football Club won its last premiership. The Demon fans of the time who were still celebrating their team's triumph on the very day when he came into the world would not have been aware but young Yeats' sporting career was to become closely intertwined with the game's oldest club. Yeats played his junior football with VFA club Prahran and joined the Demons in 1984 under coach Ron Barassi. He enjoyed a 182 game (45 goals) senior career over a dozen seasons. He was a clever and reliable wingman who started at the club during a period when the Demons were strugglers who hadn't tasted a finals appearance in his entire lifetime. But things were on the up and up and it was not long before a new coach, John Northey, would lift them to a Preliminary Final in 1987 and then to a Grand Final (albeit a losing one in 1988 to Hawthorn) and for the remainder of Yeats' career they would be regular finalists. By the time it was over at the end of 1995, the man who wore the number 8 had made a successful move to a back pocket, a position in which he excelled. He was revered by Demon fans of his era as great defender who gave everything for his club. With his AFL senior career over, Yeats found a new home at Springvale as a player and assistant coach with the VFL Scorpions which later moved to Casey and this year entered into an alignment with the Demons. In the 1996 grand final, he famously kicked the goal that gave the Scorpions the premiership. In 1997 Yeats returned to Melbourne as Reserves Assistant Coach and in 1999 he began a five year stint as coach of Sandringham. A year later Sandy entered a union with the Demons that met with instant success in the form of the 2000 VFL premiership. From 2000-03 his role as Zebra coach was doubled up with the position of Melbourne FC Development Coach. Since 2004 Yeats has been coach of the Under 18 TAC Cup team, the Dandenong Stingrays. Current Demon midfielder Nathan Jones was drafted to the Demons after playing for the Stingrays in their losing grand final of 2005. Three years later Yeats was the unlucky losing coach in yet another TAC Cup grand final. One member of that team was a youngster below draft age but who even then looked to have a big future in the game. That player is with Yeats and the Stingrays again this year - a player who may well soon extend the Yeats link with the Melbourne Football Club. He is The Protégé. Last Saturday afternoon, the TAC Cup competition put on a double header at Visy Park. The first game was an Elimination Final between Guy McKenna's Gold Coast and Dennis Pagan's Northern Knights. My own association with this competition dates back to its inaugural season when my oldest son was in the first squad for the Central Dragons (later Prahran and now Sandringham). He never made it thanks to a shoulder reconstruction on the eve of the season. A few years later my godson played a season with the Dragons. I remember witnessing a superb game at the Junction Oval between that side and the Eastern Ranges. The highlight was the brilliance of two Indigenous footballers in David Wirrpunda and Justin Murphy. To my memory the standard of the competition was far higher than it is now but it's a different ball game these days so my judgement might be open to debate. However, there's one thing for certain. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that I could witness a team from the Gold Coast running around or that such a team would employ flooding and tagging tactics. Given that I came to watch future draft prospects, I wasn't particularly interested in them but Luke Shreeve kicked five goals, Alik Magin looked good and beanpole Charlie Dixon was dangerous as a ruckman/forward. For the Knights, the player who interested me was Dylan Grimes. He impressed with his decision making and run out of defence and while he's not quite a key position player, I think he's a good enough potential to warrant consideration for a family reunification programme with brother Jack if available with a late draft pick. Kane Lambert was good as was Dixon's opponent Sam Grimley for the Knights who lost by 14 points. The second game was the Qualifying Final between Gippsland Power and the Dandenong Stingrays and it was decided by the same margin of 14 points although it was played with greater intensity and was also graced by The Protégé. This game was a replay of last year's Preliminary Final which I reported here - TAC OF THE TOWN. "Gaertner spent a fair amount of the game on tall Gippsland youngster John Butcher who is being hailed as next year's number one draft pick but he was off his game a little yesterday. He took one or two strong marks but lived up to is name with his kicking. While promising, he still has a long way to go and will benefit from the extra year in Under 18 ranks. On the other hand, Dandenong youngster Tom Scully is the one who looks like challenging Butcher for the # 1 favourite spot next year. He showed out with some clever play on a half forward flank and will probably be a premier midfielder by the time he gets the call at the highest level." Twelve months down the track and Tom Scully has cemented his place as the one most likely to be drafted at number 1 in November but I still have the same queries over John Butcher and I question his capacity to fit into the top ten in a draft containing so many talented medium sized players. He'll play AFL but I wonder how long it will take him to be in a position to compete with the competition's big boys and I wonder if he'll make it all the way to the top. The Gippsland boys looked superior for most of the first three quarters - they were bigger and stronger, turned the ball over less than the Rays and seemed to be able to answer all challenges. They had their backs to a slight breeze for the last term but they looked like winners. Scully was playing on a wing with licence to roam up and down the flanks and there were few forays for him onto the ball. He didn't dominate but you could see he was good. He knew instinctively where to place himself and his disposal, mainly by hand was crisp and clean, devastatingly quick. He had some interesting team mates. Levi Casbolt is a likely looking left footed forward type. Defender Dylan Roberton saw off his smaller opponent who was supposed to be a bit of a danger man. His kicking was also spot on as was that of Ryan Bastinac, a midfielder with class and good balance who blends in well with The Protégé. For the Power, clever small forward Tim Northe kicked a few goals and Nathan Vardy was the best ruckman on the ground. Although not a beanpole 200cm type, I can see him attracting interest in the second round of the draft. Jack Weston was impressive. Butcher just didn't get into the action enough although it was said that he's been playing injured. At three quarter time, a now grey haired Graeme Yeats approached the huddle to address his players. Pointing at the players' positions on a whiteboard he read out The Protege's name. The potential number 1 draft pick, was named as the "rover". Nowadays, you don't hear the word " rover" as much as you would in "the good old days". They're all midfielders and on ballers and such. But Scully is a true rover of the tradition of the game. He glides across the ground and does everything, gains the hard ball, wins the clearances, gets the contested footy, gives it off by hand and sends bullet like passes down the ground. He reads the play brilliantly, can work inside and outside and has an enormous engine. So he accumulated the ball 14 times in that final quarter as a rover and finished the game with 34 disposals. His team turned a two goal deficit into a 14 point win. He gave the ball perfectly to team mates on 25 occasions but I can't recall him getting an easy one once. So what makes a player The Protégé? On Sunday, Hutchy had Melbourne Football Club list manager Tim Harrington on his TAC Cup Future Stars programme on Channel 9. They were discussing the stars of this game and in particular the one who got Graeme Yeats' team across the line with three steady quarters and one super quarter of football. There was of course, no need to mention him by name: "A particular person dominated the second half and did really well." When they don't even have to identify you by name, then you've become The Protégé.

by Whispering Jack Graeme Yeats was born in September 1964 on the Monday after the Melbourne Football Club won its last premiership. The Demon fans of the time who were still celebrating their team's triumph on the very day when he came into the world would not have been aware but young Yeats' sporting career was to become closely intertwined with the game's oldest club. Yeats played his junior football with VFA club Prahran and joined the Demons in 1984 under coach Ron Barassi. He enjoyed a 182 game (45 goals) senior career over a dozen seasons. He was a clever and reliable wingman who started at the club during a period when the Demons were strugglers who hadn't tasted a finals appearance in his entire lifetime. But things were on the up and up and it was not long before a new coach, John Northey, would lift them to a Preliminary Final in 1987 and then to a Grand Final (albeit a losing one in 1988 to Hawthorn) and for the remainder of Yeats' career they would be regular finalists. By the time it was over at the end of 1995, the man who wore the number 8 had made a successful move to a back pocket, a position in which he excelled. He was revered by Demon fans of his era as great defender who gave everything for his club. With his AFL senior career over, Yeats found a new home at Springvale as a player and assistant coach with the VFL Scorpions which later moved to Casey and this year entered into an alignment with the Demons. In the 1996 grand final, he famously kicked the goal that gave the Scorpions the premiership. In 1997 Yeats returned to Melbourne as Reserves Assistant Coach and in 1999 he began a five year stint as coach of Sandringham. A year later Sandy entered a union with the Demons that met with instant success in the form of the 2000 VFL premiership. From 2000-03 his role as Zebra coach was doubled up with the position of Melbourne FC Development Coach. Since 2004 Yeats has been coach of the Under 18 TAC Cup team, the Dandenong Stingrays. Current Demon midfielder Nathan Jones was drafted to the Demons after playing for the Stingrays in their losing grand final of 2005. Three years later Yeats was the unlucky losing coach in yet another TAC Cup grand final. One member of that team was a youngster below draft age but who even then looked to have a big future in the game. That player is with Yeats and the Stingrays again this year - a player who may well soon extend the Yeats link with the Melbourne Football Club. He is The Protégé. Last Saturday afternoon, the TAC Cup competition put on a double header at Visy Park. The first game was an Elimination Final between Guy McKenna's Gold Coast and Dennis Pagan's Northern Knights. My own association with this competition dates back to its inaugural season when my oldest son was in the first squad for the Central Dragons (later Prahran and now Sandringham). He never made it thanks to a shoulder reconstruction on the eve of the season. A few years later my godson played a season with the Dragons. I remember witnessing a superb game at the Junction Oval between that side and the Eastern Ranges. The highlight was the brilliance of two Indigenous footballers in David Wirrpunda and Justin Murphy. To my memory the standard of the competition was far higher than it is now but it's a different ball game these days so my judgement might be open to debate. However, there's one thing for certain. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that I could witness a team from the Gold Coast running around or that such a team would employ flooding and tagging tactics. Given that I came to watch future draft prospects, I wasn't particularly interested in them but Luke Shreeve kicked five goals, Alik Magin looked good and beanpole Charlie Dixon was dangerous as a ruckman/forward. For the Knights, the player who interested me was Dylan Grimes. He impressed with his decision making and run out of defence and while he's not quite a key position player, I think he's a good enough potential to warrant consideration for a family reunification programme with brother Jack if available with a late draft pick. Kane Lambert was good as was Dixon's opponent Sam Grimley for the Knights who lost by 14 points. The second game was the Qualifying Final between Gippsland Power and the Dandenong Stingrays and it was decided by the same margin of 14 points although it was played with greater intensity and was also graced by The Protégé. This game was a replay of last year's Preliminary Final which I reported here - TAC OF THE TOWN. "Gaertner spent a fair amount of the game on tall Gippsland youngster John Butcher who is being hailed as next year's number one draft pick but he was off his game a little yesterday. He took one or two strong marks but lived up to is name with his kicking. While promising, he still has a long way to go and will benefit from the extra year in Under 18 ranks. On the other hand, Dandenong youngster Tom Scully is the one who looks like challenging Butcher for the # 1 favourite spot next year. He showed out with some clever play on a half forward flank and will probably be a premier midfielder by the time he gets the call at the highest level." Twelve months down the track and Tom Scully has cemented his place as the one most likely to be drafted at number 1 in November but I still have the same queries over John Butcher and I question his capacity to fit into the top ten in a draft containing so many talented medium sized players. He'll play AFL but I wonder how long it will take him to be in a position to compete with the competition's big boys and I wonder if he'll make it all the way to the top. The Gippsland boys looked superior for most of the first three quarters - they were bigger and stronger, turned the ball over less than the Rays and seemed to be able to answer all challenges. They had their backs to a slight breeze for the last term but they looked like winners. Scully was playing on a wing with licence to roam up and down the flanks and there were few forays for him onto the ball. He didn't dominate but you could see he was good. He knew instinctively where to place himself and his disposal, mainly by hand was crisp and clean, devastatingly quick. He had some interesting team mates. Levi Casbolt is a likely looking left footed forward type. Defender Dylan Roberton saw off his smaller opponent who was supposed to be a bit of a danger man. His kicking was also spot on as was that of Ryan Bastinac, a midfielder with class and good balance who blends in well with The Protégé. For the Power, clever small forward Tim Northe kicked a few goals and Nathan Vardy was the best ruckman on the ground. Although not a beanpole 200cm type, I can see him attracting interest in the second round of the draft. Jack Weston was impressive. Butcher just didn't get into the action enough although it was said that he's been playing injured. At three quarter time, a now grey haired Graeme Yeats approached the huddle to address his players. Pointing at the players' positions on a whiteboard he read out The Protege's name. The potential number 1 draft pick, was named as the "rover". Nowadays, you don't hear the word " rover" as much as you would in "the good old days". They're all midfielders and on ballers and such. But Scully is a true rover of the tradition of the game. He glides across the ground and does everything, gains the hard ball, wins the clearances, gets the contested footy, gives it off by hand and sends bullet like passes down the ground. He reads the play brilliantly, can work inside and outside and has an enormous engine. So he accumulated the ball 14 times in that final quarter as a rover and finished the game with 34 disposals. His team turned a two goal deficit into a 14 point win. He gave the ball perfectly to team mates on 25 occasions but I can't recall him getting an easy one once. So what makes a player The Protégé? On Sunday, Hutchy had Melbourne Football Club list manager Tim Harrington on his TAC Cup Future Stars programme on Channel 9. They were discussing the stars of this game and in particular the one who got Graeme Yeats' team across the line with three steady quarters and one super quarter of football. There was of course, no need to mention him by name: "A particular person dominated the second half and did really well." When they don't even have to identify you by name, then you've become The Protégé.

WOW. Just think. One more month of this and then another six weeks to the draft and another couple of weeks to the pre season and rookie drafts. I'm already showing signs of fatigue!

BOOKENDS by KC from Casey The scoreboard at the end of yesterday's VFL Second Elimination Final told most of the game's narrative: Collingwood 26.21.177 Casey Scorpions 9.8.62 The match up for the game was just as Scorpions coach Peter German described it - a real "David versus Goliath" battle. The Scorpions have overcome such adversity on previous occasions but this time the Davids from Casey arrived without a slingshot and were barely able to do any damage to a rampant Collingwood. There was a wide gulf between the two clubs in terms of AFL credentials because of the widely different status of the lists of their AFL aligned entities. The Scorpions had one senior listed player in Michael Newton plus two rookies in Shane Valenti and Trent Zomer. Of the 13 Demons eligible to play finals, ten had been forced out by post-season operations and other injuries. Newton managed to recover in time from an Achilles injury that kept him out of action for three weeks but other eligible players like beanpole ruckman Jake Spencer, Kyle Cheney, Jordie McKenzie and Paul Wheatley who all played against St. Kilda last week failed to make it across the line this week. On the other hand, the Magpies had 15 AFL senior listed players and six rookies in their side and they even had the luxury of leaving out Sharrod Wellingham for emergency duties in the AFL Qualifying Final The only non AFL listed player was former Bomber Damien Peverill whose AFL 144 games alone exceeded the entire Casey total by in excess of 100 games. All that aside, the Scorpions have laboured under the weight of injury for several weeks but only a fortnight ago they were able to knock then top placed Williamstown off its perch in a thriller at Casey Fields with just two Demons including one rookie lister. This time they hit a brick wall. Casey fielded the following team: - Backs Stockdale Chivers Taylor Half backs Panozza Faulks Lees Centreline McGough MacReadie Wall Half forwards Matthews Waite Creed Forwards Scanlon Newton Smith Followers Mohr Silvagni Valenti Interchange Blaser Collins B McDonald Zomer The game was a struggle for Casey right from the opening bounce. Collingwood's Cameron Wood was dominating the ruck duels against the Scorps undersized "big man" brigade and this gave his team control of the contests in the middle of the ground. In addition, the differential in terms of experience, physical strength, fitness and overall ability was telling early. With several Magpies in contention for places in their senior team's finals campaign, they exploded out of the blocks with a 4.7.31 to 0.1.1 first quarter. Casey tried hard to regain some composure and a goal in the opening minute of the second term from Ben Waite was a momentary team lifter but the Pies were not going to allow their grip on the game to loosen and they came back with two quick answering goals. Casey fought back with an opportunistic goal off the ground at the 17-minute mark followed by a mark and goal a minute later. When James Wall goaled to make it three in a row the Scorpions had narrowed the deficit to 27 points but Collingwood came back to stretch their lead to 35 points at the main break. There a brief moment of optimism after the main break when a pass from Valenti hit Ryan Creed for first blood of the second half but there was to be no miraculous recovery this time around. Half an hour later, Creed roved a pack to kick his second for the term but in between, the Maggies had booted eleven unanswered goals with the aid of the breeze to completely ice up the game and end Casey's season. The only interest in the final quarter was whether Casey could avoid a 100-point defeat. There were goals to Blaser, Taylor and Newton but it was all junk time as Collingwood coasted to a 115-point victory. Despite the size of the defeat, the Scorpions had some hard workers. Shane Valenti put in a gutsy 28 possession effort, captain Kyle Matthews (24 touches) and James Wall (27 disposals) were consistent as usual while Evan Panozza toiled manfully all day. A frustrated Peter German told reporters after the game: "If I knew that was going to be the story of the day, you'd actually rather not make the finals because I just think it's really done some harm to our footy club today." Despite the fact that his team played poorly against the odds, he will realise in the clear light of day that he has achieved some great things in 2009. After all is said and done, the season ended for the Casey Scorpions in the same way it started. Way back in Round 1, the team ventured out to Trevor Barker Beach Road Oval and received a 103 point caning at the hands of the Zebras. A week later, the team regrouped but fell tantalisingly short of victory against Port Melbourne in the first of four defeats for the season by a margin of less than one solitary goal. Last week, they also lost by a similar margin at Box Hill and on Saturday, it was another 100 point plus thrashing. In between those bookends however, Casey would have made German immensely proud. The other side of the coin when you are suffering from a glut of injuries is that opportunities are given to young players. The Scorpions successfully integrated many new faces into their team in 2009 and the dividends for that will be reaped in the years to come. HOW THE DEMONS FARED From Peter German on Melbournefc.com.au Michael Newton – In a lot of ways we put all of our eggs into one basket with our forward line, as we felt that was one area we had an advantage over Collingwood. We felt there wasn't really anyone who could match-up on Michael, and in the end that proved to be the case because he kicked 3.3, but we didn't get the ball down there often or quick enough to expose that match-up. But I was really pleased with his game and I've been pleased with his season, to be quite honest. He's been terrific when he plays for Casey. He chases and tackles, but as I said to him after the game, his attention to detail is really important and he's got to make the most of his chances. Shane Valenti – Shane played in the midfield and like a lot of our midfielders, we were up against it. Collingwood won the tap-outs, so it was hard for Shane to have an influence. One thing about Shane is that he always gives a good account of himself. He always works hard in the clinches, and he did that. Having his experience around was important, and he played a serviceable game. Trent Zomer – Trent has had a tough season in a lot of ways, having to try and prove himself. He played in the ruck for the majority of the game and he went forward a bit as well. Trent won some ruck taps and followed up around the ground, and he tried hard. Casey Scorpions 0.1.1 4.3.27 6.4.40 9.8.62 Collingwood 4.7.31 8.14.62 19.20.134 26.21.177 Goals Casey Scorpions Newton 3 Creed 2 Blaser Taylor Waite Wall Collingwood Dick 5 Stanley 4 Blair Corrie 3 Bennell Cook Rounds 2 Barham Blight Bryan Dawes Reed Best Casey Scorpions Panozza Valenti Matthews Wall McDonald Faulks Collingwood Stanley Blair MacAffer Reid Dick Cook

by KC from Casey The scoreboard at the end of yesterday's VFL Second Elimination Final told most of the game's narrative: Collingwood 26.21.177 Casey Scorpions 9.8.62 The match up for the game was just as Scorpions coach Peter German described it - a real "David versus Goliath" battle. The Scorpions have overcome such adversity on previous occasions but this time the Davids from Casey arrived without a slingshot and were barely able to do any damage to a rampant Collingwood. There was a wide gulf between the two clubs in terms of AFL credentials because of the widely different status of the lists of their AFL aligned entities. The Scorpions had one senior listed player in Michael Newton plus two rookies in Shane Valenti and Trent Zomer. Of the 13 Demons eligible to play finals, ten had been forced out by post-season operations and other injuries. Newton managed to recover in time from an Achilles injury that kept him out of action for three weeks but other eligible players like beanpole ruckman Jake Spencer, Kyle Cheney, Jordie McKenzie and Paul Wheatley who all played against St. Kilda last week failed to make it across the line this week. On the other hand, the Magpies had 15 AFL senior listed players and six rookies in their side and they even had the luxury of leaving out Sharrod Wellingham for emergency duties in the AFL Qualifying Final The only non AFL listed player was former Bomber Damien Peverill whose AFL 144 games alone exceeded the entire Casey total by in excess of 100 games. All that aside, the Scorpions have laboured under the weight of injury for several weeks but only a fortnight ago they were able to knock then top placed Williamstown off its perch in a thriller at Casey Fields with just two Demons including one rookie lister. This time they hit a brick wall. Casey fielded the following team: - Backs Stockdale Chivers Taylor Half backs Panozza Faulks Lees Centreline McGough MacReadie Wall Half forwards Matthews Waite Creed Forwards Scanlon Newton Smith Followers Mohr Silvagni Valenti Interchange Blaser Collins B McDonald Zomer The game was a struggle for Casey right from the opening bounce. Collingwood's Cameron Wood was dominating the ruck duels against the Scorps undersized "big man" brigade and this gave his team control of the contests in the middle of the ground. In addition, the differential in terms of experience, physical strength, fitness and overall ability was telling early. With several Magpies in contention for places in their senior team's finals campaign, they exploded out of the blocks with a 4.7.31 to 0.1.1 first quarter. Casey tried hard to regain some composure and a goal in the opening minute of the second term from Ben Waite was a momentary team lifter but the Pies were not going to allow their grip on the game to loosen and they came back with two quick answering goals. Casey fought back with an opportunistic goal off the ground at the 17-minute mark followed by a mark and goal a minute later. When James Wall goaled to make it three in a row the Scorpions had narrowed the deficit to 27 points but Collingwood came back to stretch their lead to 35 points at the main break. There a brief moment of optimism after the main break when a pass from Valenti hit Ryan Creed for first blood of the second half but there was to be no miraculous recovery this time around. Half an hour later, Creed roved a pack to kick his second for the term but in between, the Maggies had booted eleven unanswered goals with the aid of the breeze to completely ice up the game and end Casey's season. The only interest in the final quarter was whether Casey could avoid a 100-point defeat. There were goals to Blaser, Taylor and Newton but it was all junk time as Collingwood coasted to a 115-point victory. Despite the size of the defeat, the Scorpions had some hard workers. Shane Valenti put in a gutsy 28 possession effort, captain Kyle Matthews (24 touches) and James Wall (27 disposals) were consistent as usual while Evan Panozza toiled manfully all day. A frustrated Peter German told reporters after the game: "If I knew that was going to be the story of the day, you'd actually rather not make the finals because I just think it's really done some harm to our footy club today." Despite the fact that his team played poorly against the odds, he will realise in the clear light of day that he has achieved some great things in 2009. After all is said and done, the season ended for the Casey Scorpions in the same way it started. Way back in Round 1, the team ventured out to Trevor Barker Beach Road Oval and received a 103 point caning at the hands of the Zebras. A week later, the team regrouped but fell tantalisingly short of victory against Port Melbourne in the first of four defeats for the season by a margin of less than one solitary goal. Last week, they also lost by a similar margin at Box Hill and on Saturday, it was another 100 point plus thrashing. In between those bookends however, Casey would have made German immensely proud. The other side of the coin when you are suffering from a glut of injuries is that opportunities are given to young players. The Scorpions successfully integrated many new faces into their team in 2009 and the dividends for that will be reaped in the years to come. HOW THE DEMONS FARED From Peter German on Melbournefc.com.au Michael Newton – In a lot of ways we put all of our eggs into one basket with our forward line, as we felt that was one area we had an advantage over Collingwood. We felt there wasn't really anyone who could match-up on Michael, and in the end that proved to be the case because he kicked 3.3, but we didn't get the ball down there often or quick enough to expose that match-up. But I was really pleased with his game and I've been pleased with his season, to be quite honest. He's been terrific when he plays for Casey. He chases and tackles, but as I said to him after the game, his attention to detail is really important and he's got to make the most of his chances. Shane Valenti – Shane played in the midfield and like a lot of our midfielders, we were up against it. Collingwood won the tap-outs, so it was hard for Shane to have an influence. One thing about Shane is that he always gives a good account of himself. He always works hard in the clinches, and he did that. Having his experience around was important, and he played a serviceable game. Trent Zomer – Trent has had a tough season in a lot of ways, having to try and prove himself. He played in the ruck for the majority of the game and he went forward a bit as well. Trent won some ruck taps and followed up around the ground, and he tried hard. Casey Scorpions 0.1.1 4.3.27 6.4.40 9.8.62 Collingwood 4.7.31 8.14.62 19.20.134 26.21.177 Goals Casey Scorpions Newton 3 Creed 2 Blaser Taylor Waite Wall Collingwood Dick 5 Stanley 4 Blair Corrie 3 Bennell Cook Rounds 2 Barham Blight Bryan Dawes Reed Best Casey Scorpions Panozza Valenti Matthews Wall McDonald Faulks Collingwood Stanley Blair MacAffer Reid Dick Cook

I had a few shockers with the Dockers Remind me to never select Fremantle to win a game again. Congratulations on winning High Tower and thanks to all participants.

It wasn't all that long ago that Casey played Collingwood at Trevor Barker Beach Oval and gave the Pies a bit of a towelling. Backs Chivers Silvagni Cheney Half backs Whelan Faulks Panozza Centreline McGough Valenti Wall Half forwards Matthews Miller Hughes Forwards Stockdale Newton Watts Followers Johnson McKenzie Creed Interchange Collins Donchi* MacReadie Mohr Scanlon * 23rd man Of course back in those days they had a few handy AFL players.