Demonland

THE 2007 PLAYER RANKINGS by Whispering Jack (with statistics and notes from Sam the Stats Man) There was a time when I seriously thought about abandoning the annual Demonland Melbourne Football Club player rankings for the end of the 2007 altogether. I was finding it difficult to seriously rank the entire playing list from 1 to 44 in light of the club's season from hell with injuries. In the end, I settled on a top ten but, even then, I wasn't altogether happy with that. When I finally decided on the make up of my top ten the spectre of old age and injury loomed large. The list which includes two thirty year olds and another nudging 29 years of age is far too heavy in terms of the veterans of the club for my liking. Another 30 year old in Nathan Brown, one of three retirees, came very close to making the top group. Over at Essendon over 30's in James Hird and Dustin Fletcher quinellad Essendon's best and fairest award and another oldie in Scott Lucas came fourth and was their top goalkicker and I know that experience is necessary on every list, but the Demons still have one of the AFL's oldest lists and, even allowing for the fact that we've had a few retirements and delistings from among the "oldies", it doesn't bode well for the future when you consider that Melbourne was out of contention early on and finished in the bottom four. To compound the situation, there were players who made the top ten notwithstanding that they missed games with injury or played hurt. You didn't achieve such a high ranking in 2006 unless you were free of injury for most of the season - if you were incapacitated for more than a few games, you generally found yourself in the bottom quartile of my rankings. This year, it was different with a few of my top ten having injury interrupted seasons and with so many others missing the odd games here and there as well. Jeff White was the only player to take the field for every one of the club's 22 matches. So instead of ranking players from 1 to 44, I'm accompanying my top ten with a few other groupings to encompass some information and notes on the entire list for 2007. There's a small group of rising stars, a couple of players getting special mentions, the list of the battle scarred from the infirmary and the rest. As you will see, some of the club's best players can be found in the latter two categories. The list was done and dusted before the outcome of Monday night's Keith "Bluey" Truscott medal winner was announced. It came as no surprise that James McDonald won the club's best and fairest. He also topped my rankings. However, one of the big surprises of the night was Matthew Bate's strong polling and his third place finish. He limped onto my list with a ninth placing but will be a regular at both the Blueys and on my list for years to come. He's also one of my rising stars along with best and fairest runner up Nathan Jones who I ranked fourth. I also want to make mention of two players who disappointed in 2007, the club's top draftees from 2003 in Colin Sylvia and Brock McLean. Yes, they have had their injury problems but on the evidence of this year, their performances both on and off the field haven't measured up to their high draft positions. That might be a harsh conclusion but new coach Dean Bailey will no doubt be letting them both know that they are now reaching the prime of their sporting lives and that they need to knuckle down over the off season to produce the form that the football world expects from them. Not that this fact will keep the critics at bay (I have no doubt that there will be debate about the rankings so is my usual word of warning about them) but please note my rankings are the personal opinion of one individual. It is not a best and fairest award but an assessment of where the players were at by the end of the season with major emphasis on how they performed in 2007. It will all change by the start of 2008 and I don't expect everybody to agree with me. THE TOP TEN 1. James McDonald MFC 21 games 3 goals – while he struggled to uphold the high standard he set in 2006, Junior was a consistent performer who led the club in kicks, handballs, clearances and tackles. The statistical evidence of his worth to the team is overwhelming and the football department recognised his efforts by voting him as the club champion for the second year in a row. Not bad for a kid who came off the rookie list! 2. Brad Green MFC 18 games 13 goals – after a slow start and a setback with a hamstring injury Green was a valuable contributor in the midfield with his game against the Crows one of the highlights. He also did well on the rare occasions when he was moved into the forward line and probably isn't used there enough. 3. Cameron Bruce 16 games 9 goals - whilst by no means a world beater this season, Bruce was a versatile member of the team who displayed a great work rate. His kicking however, has been awful of late and he will have to work on that area over summer. Also missed games with hamstring and other injuries. 4. Nathan Jones 21 games 10 goals - the rising star among the Demon young guns taking out third place in the NAB Rising Star Award and second in the "Bluey". He added great bite to the Demon midfield with his in and under efforts which were often a highlight of some otherwise dull games for the Demons. Makes up for a lack of pace with his huge engine, skills and endeavour. 5. Jeff White MFC 22 games 7 goals – still the club's number 1 ruckman and capable of some good football despite finding things tougher against the bigger opponents these days. The only Demon to play every game this season, he often battled in the ruck with little support despite giving away centimetres to his opponents on most weeks. 6. Travis Johnstone MFC 15 games 7 goals SFC Seniors 1 game 0 goals - was strongly tagged early, worked his way back into form but was then dogged by Achilles heel problems. A silky smooth performer who was to the fore in the final round with a season's high 42 disposals of the football. 7. Russell RobertsonMFC 15 games 42 goals SFC Seniors 1 game 4 goals – despite missing several weeks after hurting a knee late in the Round 2 game against Hawthorn, he was easily the club's leading goal kicker and played a significant role in the team's handful of victories for the year He was at his best against the likes of Carlton and Collingwood. Under the new coaching regime will be reminded that he can't do it all on his own. Has a new two year contract with the club. 8. Daniel Bell MFC 17 games 1 goal – has started to fulfil his early promise with some excellent games in defence where he combined strength, pace and endurance to advantage despite having to work under extreme pressure on a weekly basis. Injured a hamstring early in the Essendon game and was out of action for a month before coming back and displaying good form until Ben Johnson careered into him with an illegal head high hit to end his season a fortnight early. 9. Matthew Bate MFC 19 games 19 goals – an exciting prospect whose confidence and belief in himself grew. Played a number of roles and showed great maturity when moved to the centre half forward post. 10. Aaron Davey MFC 18 games 24 goals - not a sensational year from Davey. When he was good, he was very good and when he was bad, he wasn't much good. Was outed with suspension after a retaliatory strike cost him two matches through suspension. Needs to control his temper - especially against taggers. RISING STARS Matthew Bate – see TOP TEN. Lynden Dunn MFC 12 games 9 goals SFC Seniors 9 games 14 goals SFC Reserves 1 game 0 goals – suffered a setback early with a serious facial injury which kept him out of the first couple of rounds and was then hot and cold on his return to the AFL. Lifted a notch when moved into the midfield in a run with role, at the same time showing he has great capacity to improve. Nathan Jones – see TOP TEN. Ricky Petterd MFC 9 games 6 goals SFC Seniors 3 games 1 goal - a breath of fresh air, this young recruit showed that he is a quality player with enormous poise and ability in his nine games before suffering a punctured lung during the club's first Carlton walkover. SPECIAL MENTIONS - NUMBERS 30 & 31 Simon Godfrey MFC 17 games 7 goals – although delisted, one cannot help but admire the work ethic and dedication of this 100 gamer. Short a little on the skills of the game but his hard work as a tagger did not go unnoticed (especially by the likes of Adam Goodes and Scott West) and others with more talent could well take note of his determination to play the game at the highest level. Paul Wheatley MFC 14 games 4 goals SFC Seniors 1 game 0 goals – after an injury riddled 2006, he again had his share of injuries and appeared to be playing on with a problem shoulder, but excelled with some solid performances under fire in defence. THE BATTLE SCARRED Clint Bartram MFC 1 game 0 goals - had a limited pre-season after suffering an ankle injury in Round 22, 2006 against Adelaide, Bartram was recalled for the opening game of the season and was used sparingly. He injured a knee at training before Round 2 and then complications set in ultimately bringing his season to a premature end. Cameron Bruce – see TOP TEN. Travis Johnstone – see TOP TEN. Brock McLean MFC 14 games 4 goals - another early season casualty, McLean fractured a foot in the opening round. His return game in round 9 yielded 22 disposals but he had a flat patch for a few weeks and he disappointed when picked to lead the team in Neitz’ absence against the Tigers. He returned to form in a losing side against the Brisbane Lions but having lost two months conditioning, he was unable to produce the consistency expected from him. Brent Moloney MFC 10 games 5 goals SFC Seniors 2 games 0 goals SFC Reserves 1 game 0 goals - was close to Melbourne's best early in the season before a recurrence of groin problems took its toll. Slowly come back through the VFL and returned for a few games but failed to see out the season. David Neitz MFC 15 games 26 goals - missed early games with a knee injury and then a combination of knee, hamstring and broken finger kept him out after the Daniher farewell. Another who struggled to see out the season when he injured his knee against Fremantle in the penultimate round. His average of less than two goals a game was a poor return and it remains to see whether he will retain the captaincy next year. Ricky Petterd – see RISING STARS. Jared Rivers MFC 3 games 0 goals - a succession of injuries kept the club's most talented defender out of the team for all bar three games. A persistent groin problem put him out for the season well before it even reached the half way mark. Russell Robertson – see TOP TEN. Paul Wheatley – see SPECIAL MENTION Matthew Whelan MFC 5 games 0 goals SFC Seniors 3 games 0 goals – in the wars from the very start when he clashed heads with Luke Ball in round 1. Later, it was a foot injury and he missed the rest of the season with an ankle problem. His absence in defence really hurt the team. Adem Yze MFC 8 games 4 goals SFC Seniors 1 game 2 goals - his remarkable run of 226 consecutive matches dating back a decade ended when dropped to the VFL in round 2. Was slowly returning to form when injury struck again and a hernia operation after round 12 put him out for the rest of the year. THE REST Clint Bizzell MFC 10 games 0 goals SFC Seniors 9 games 3 goals - after missing all of last year with injury the veteran defender returned to form in the twilight of his career but lost favour and spent most of the latter part of the season at Sandy. Has now retired. Jace Bode ® MFC 4 games 3 goal SFC Seniors 12 games 3 goals SFC Reserves 4 games 1 goal – injury held him back in his first rookie year but he established himself with the Sandy seniors mainly as a defender or in a run with role and broke into the Demons team late in the season as long term injury replacement. Simon Buckley MFC 6 games 1 goal SFC Seniors 13 games 3 goals – faces a long learning curve as he works his way up through the ranks. Was finally given his chance against Carlton and showed some promise in his six AFL games. Nathan Brown 19 games 3 goals SFC Seniors 2 games 0 goals - the hard running defender was out of form early in the season and was dropped to the VFL a couple of times. In the latter part of the season he played like a man possessed and managed to finish on a high note with some good form in the last month or so of his career. Nathan Carroll MFC 21 games 0 goals SFC Seniors 1 game 1 goal - felt the pressure in a weakened defence but did some good things and led the defence by example and with plenty of courage. Ryan Ferguson MFC 8 games 2 goals SFC Seniors 8 games 8 goals SFC Reserves 2 games 8 goals - the injury prone defender couldn't take a trick during the season. When he finally gained a place in the Demons’ side against West Coast he broke a thumb and missed a month. Had to come back through the Zebra reserves and played well with the seniors before gaining an AFL recall late in the season. Might struggle to hold his place on the list. James Frawley MFC 9 games 0 goals SFC Seniors 1 game 0 goals SFC Reserves 1 game 0 goals - was on course for a Round 1 debut until stress fractures in the foot put him out for almost two months. Came back through the Sandy reserves was hospitalised after being concussed early and then impressed in the seniors at Sandringham. Showed some promising signs and looks capable of filling a key defender’s role when he fills out physically. Colin Garland MFC 2 games 0 goals SFC Seniors 17 games 5 goals - struggled in his two games at AFL level but looked good at times with Sandringham where he showed form at both ends of the ground. Daniel Hayes ® SFC Seniors 1 game 0 goals SFC Reserves 10 games 6 goals – missed much of the pre season due to personal family reasons and was under suspension until mid season as a result of his unavailability for training. Showed up at times in the Zebra reserves but struggled in his only game at VFL senior level and was delisted at the end of the season. Ben Holland MFC 10 games 11 goals SFC Seniors 6 games 9 goals – had a great game when he nullified Collingwood’s Anthony Rocca on Queens Birthday, but struggled at AFL level until late in the season when he rediscovered some form before badly dislocating his shoulder also against the Pies. Daniel Hughes ® SFC Seniors 8 games 7 goals SFC Reserves 4 games 7 goals – his career went into limbo after showing some early form at Sandringham before missing several weeks with a groin problem. Was restrained on return to the Zebra team late in the season. Mark Jamar MFC 10 games 4 goals SFC Seniors 6 game 5 goals SFC Reserves 1 game 0 goals – form as the second ruckman for the Demons was just average before he was dropped to Sandringham where he suffered a hamstring injury. Spent some time at Sandringham before pushing his way back into the Melbourne team but struggled and had a foot operation at the end of the season. Has been offered a two year contract. Chris Johnson MFC 8 games 0 goals SFC Seniors 13 games 5 goals – had a stellar pre season but failed to impress in his early games and was dropped to the VFL. After that he struggled to get a regular game with the Demons despite showing flashes of ability. His career is at the crossroads. Paul Johnson MFC 16 games 2 goals SFC Seniors 4 games 2 goals - grabbed the opportunity in the absence of Mark Jamar and was seemingly the main choice as second ruckman for most of the season. Brad Miller MFC 16 games 10 goals SFC Seniors 4 games 11 goals – another player who struggled early at both ends of the ground. A wrist injury saw him out of the team and he had to work hard for a few weeks at Sandringham before getting his call up as a defender against Carlton. Showed patches of form but not on a regular basis. Shane Neaves ® SFC Seniors 19 games 3 goals SFC Reserves 1 game 1 goal - a developing ruckman at Sandringham but was delisted from the rookie list at the end of the year. Heath NevilleSFC Seniors 5 games 0 goals SFC Reserves 13 games 3 goals – never really cut it at Sandringham and was delisted at the end of the season. Michael Newton MFC 10 games 14 goals SFC Seniors 11 games 31 goals – high flying forward who finally got his chance at the tail end of the Daniher reign as coach and showed that he has some ability winning mark of the year and also the club's most improved award. Byron Pickett MFC 9 games 7 goals SFC Seniors 9 games 9 goals SFC Reserves 1 game 1 goal - came into the season unfit, overweight and with family problems. Was suspended, confined to Sandringham for several weeks and failed to impress on his return against the Tigers. A shoulder injury kept him out for a while before he returned for his last harrah late in the season. SYLVIA, Colin MFC 16 games 12 goals SFC Seniors 1 game 3 goals – is starting to show the form that made him a high draft pick in 2003 as he shrugs off the effects of groin problems that plagued his early years at the club. Still needs to step up a few notches to justify his selection in third palce in the 2003 National Draft. WARD, Daniel MFC 18 games 3 goals SFC Seniors 3 games 0 goals - seized his opportunities with vacancies caused in defence due to injuries and loss of form and while his delivery and decision making is sometimes a problem, he was a valuable contributor. Delisted at the end of the year. WARNOCK, Matthew MFC 2 games 1 goal SFC Seniors 14 games 0 goals - had few opportunities at AFL level but performed consistently in the tight Sandringham defence. WEETRA, Isaac SFC Seniors 1 game 0 goals SFC Reserves 11 games 11 goals - injured hamstring during the preseason and was due to return when it went again. Then, when he recovered from that, he broke his wrist first up in the Zebra twos. He managed on senior VFL game late in the season but had no impact. THE KEITH “BLUEY” TRUSCOTT MEDAL 1: James McDonald 256 2: Nathan Jones 190 3: Matthew Bate 179 4: Brad Green 170 5: Aaron Davey 168 6: Cameron Bruce 167 7: Jeff White 157 8: Brock McLean 131 Equal 9: Nathan Brown 130 Equal 9: Russell Robertson 130 Norm Smith trophy for best team player: Brad Green Jim Hannan Memorial Trophy for best clubman: Lynden Dunn Ron Barassi Jr trophy for most improved: Michael Newton Ian Ridley trophy for Most Consistent: James McDonald Harold Ball Trophy for Best First Year player: Ricky Petterd Troy Broadbridge memorial trophy for most votes in Sandringham’s best and fairest by a Melbourne player: Ryan Ferguson.

From my point of view the final evictee is Mr. Judd himself. As you can see Juddmania has been given the flick and won't be reappearing on this site.

by Whispering Jack For three years from 2004 to 2006, Melbourne travelled along comfortably at just below the elite level of the AFL competition. The Demons finished among the top sides, winning the right to play off in finals and appeared to be moving forward on a path that was slowly but surely drawing them closer to the game's hot spots – the places where you go when your team's really on fire. They made the semi finals in 2006 and were considered by most of football's pundits to be on the right track for a top four finish or better in 2007. Then things went terribly awry and a train wreck happened. As in 2006, the team lost its early games to be sitting on a 0-3 record after defeats at the hands of St. Kilda, Hawthorn and Geelong. This time however, there was no stirring recovery as there had been last year. There was no cohesiveness in the way the Demons played their early games; they struggled at home and were worse away from home. By season's end, there had been too many dispirited efforts for supporters to look back on the season with so much as a glimmer of satisfaction. There were a few close calls but it took until the onset of winter and the tenth round of the season for the club to break the ice with a win over Adelaide at the MCG. That was closely followed by a rousing victory over the old enemy in the Queens Birthday match and suddenly there was renewed optimism evident at the club. The excitement didn't last too long however and the wheels fell off on a cold Friday night at the MCG when the team was thrashed by bottom side Richmond in a match that sealed Neale Daniher's fate. The mid season appointment of a caretaker coach in Mark Reilly consigned the club to a long period of aimless drifting without any discernable direction as the season meandered to a sad end. How does one explain such a disaster? Daniher was in his tenth year as coach, time was running out and he took what must now be regarded as a calculated risk. Melbourne had finished the previous year in fifth place but was ranked first among the Victorians. The problem was how to break into that top four grouping of West Coast, Sydney, Adelaide and Fremantle? The first premise was reasonably straightforward - in order to do so you had to beat them during the home and away season and you had to have a team capable of beating them on their own home turf. The Eagles had succeeded in breaking down the Crows’ early dominance of 2006 with what was described as the "run and carry" style and that was a direction that Melbourne took with its pre season training. The idea was to mould a team that was physically capable of carrying out this running style of game. Train them to be fit, sleek and capable of enduring a long season of run, run and more run. The problem was that you had to be capable of doing that as well as to use a football with a measure of skill. In this aspect, the football department not only miscalculated the team's capacity to adapt to the new style but also failed the flexibility test of changing course when it was clear that things weren't working out as planned. The pre season trial games (including the Nab Cup game against Hawthorn) demonstrated that the Demon side were not quite adept at carrying out the plan. When the season opened on a Thursday night in March, they stumbled, fumbled and bungled: they simply couldn't get it right. Players were hesitant, made errors and were brushed aside by stronger bodied opponents. Something was wrong! And if that wasn't enough, the injuries started to come and, when they came, they cut deeply and they never went away! According to the AFL Grand Final Record, "Melbourne's poor year was not helped by a horror run with injuries, with Jeff White the only player to play all 22 matches." Injuries are often a poor excuse for failure but in Melbourne's case, 2007 was a season so devastated by them that you don't have to look much further to find reasons for the club's dramatic demise. The extent of the injury plague comes into clear focus when you sit down and start looking at standout players for the season. So many of them were afflicted by some form of injury or other during the season that any ranking list of players is virtually meaningless in terms of looking at the future on field course of the club. Melbourne used 39 players in 2007 – a record since the clubs went to reduced senior lists after the introduction of the salary cap and national draft and, as mentioned above, White was the only team member to play in all games. Compare that with Port Adelaide which had nine such players in its grand final team and the Kangaroos which had 10 in their preliminary final team. Last weekend, Geelong had forty players in their combined AFL and VFL sides and only three players (one a rookie) were unavailable at the end of a long, hard season. The Demons had more than that missing for the opening round of 2007 and things reached epidemic proportions by the end of the year when the number of players unavailable was 15! There was very little encouragement or cheering on the score of individual players. For years, Melbourne fans have been lamenting the club's lack of champion players and more recently another concern has been that too many of its better players were closing in on veteran status. When the season began, the club's best chances for future stardom were Brock McLean and Jared Rivers. Unfortunately for the Demons both fell to the injury curse. McLean recovered from a foot injury sustained in round 1 to play in the second half of the year but he was unable to revisit his form of earlier seasons on a regular basis. Rivers wore the jumper on only three occasions during the year and was one of five men whose seasons were completely finished by the time the season's half way mark had ticked over. This left very few "rising stars" apart Matthew Bate who I describe as a "slow riser", Lynden Dunn who made a late charge in that area and of course, Nathan Jones who made his debut late last year and gained a Nab AFL Rising Star nomination in his short stint of seven games. This year, he notched up another 21 games and he was often among the Demons' best for the season. Jones was rewarded with recognition from the judges of the NAB AFL Rising Star award again this year and they ultimately placed him third for 2007 behind Joel Selwood and Scott Pendlebury. Ricky Petterd was the best of the debutants but his season was curtailed by a life threatening collapsed lung during the round 14 game against Carlton. Michael Newton's debut was much anticipated by many Demon fans and he was virtually the club's only prize winner in 2007 – taking out the mark of the year for his hanger against the Kangaroos in round 16. A year earlier I had witnessed him taking three such marks in the course of one afternoon in a VFL game at Casey Fields. His elevation to the team for Daniher's farewell highlighted the difference between Melbourne's then development philosophy and that of Mick Malthouse at Collingwood. The buzz phrase at the Pies is the fast tracking of players but in Newton's case, he was slow tracked. The jury remains out however, as to where his freakish talents will take him but he could become a very special player. The age factor remains a major area of concern for new coach Dean Bailey who is embarking on a youth policy. We have already seen player retirements and early delistings. There are sure to be more changes to the list. Bailey was a major factor behind Port Adelaide's return as a power in 2007 (notwithstanding its massive defeat in the grand final). He is strong on player development and that is encouraging because he has scope in a number of areas to move the club forward and out of the train wreck of 2007. Apart from introducing his own innovative coaching style and bringing a new broom to sweep the club clean, these include - Firstly, there are a dozen players on the list whose output in 2007 was curtailed or severely limited by injuries. Things will be different if and when the following can come back as regulars in the senior team with fit bodies and a full pre season behind them – names such as Clint Bartram, Cameron Bruce, Travis Johnstone, Brock McLean, Brent Moloney, David Neitz, Ricky Petterd, Jared Rivers, Russell Robertson (if he stays at the club), Paul Wheatley, Matthew Whelan and Adem Yze. These are effectively the club's first and best recruits for 2008. Secondly, there are a large number of players on the list who I consider as "undeveloped" footballers i.e. players who have yet to attain anything near their full potential. Players like Brock McLean and Colin Sylvia were top 5 draft picks four years ago but have not attained the high levels of consistent high performance of Collingwood pair Thomas and Pendlebury who gave them two year's start. If Bailey can fast track the development of this group then the club could be well on its way to a new era of success (there's some repetition of names from the first list here): - Clint Bartram, Matthew Bate, Daniel Bell, Jace Bode, Simon Buckley, Lynden Dunn, James Frawley, Colin Garland, Chris Johnson, Paul Johnson, Nathan Jones, Brock McLean, Brent Moloney, Michael Newton, Ricky Petterd, Jared Rivers, Colin Sylvia, Matthew Warnock and Isaac Weetra. There are nineteen players on this list although I'm not suggesting that all of them will make it or be star players at the club or that all of them are going to be around the place in twelve month's time (or even a month's time for that matter) but the club needs to work on this list to ensure that a significant number develop to their full potential in the next couple of seasons by which time at least half of them should form part of the backbone of the club. Thirdly and finally, there is the area of trading and drafting where the club appears to have adopted a far more aggressive tack than in the past year or so and that is an area that could lead the club to more exciting places in 2008 and beyond.

OUT OF THE TRAIN WRECK – THE 2007 SEASON by Whispering Jack For three years from 2004 to 2006, Melbourne travelled along comfortably at just below the elite level of the AFL competition. The Demons finished among the top sides, winning the right to play off in finals and appeared to be moving forward on a path that was slowly but surely drawing them closer to the game's hot spots – the places where you go when your team's really on fire. They made the semi finals in 2006 and were considered by most of football's pundits to be on the right track for a top four finish or better in 2007. Then things went terribly awry and a train wreck happened. As in 2006, the team lost its early games to be sitting on a 0-3 record after defeats at the hands of St. Kilda, Hawthorn and Geelong. This time however, there was no stirring recovery as there had been last year. There was no cohesiveness in the way the Demons played their early games; they struggled at home and were worse away from home. By season's end, there had been too many dispirited efforts for supporters to look back on the season with so much as a glimmer of satisfaction. There were a few close calls but it took until the onset of winter and the tenth round of the season for the club to break the ice with a win over Adelaide at the MCG. That was closely followed by a rousing victory over the old enemy in the Queens Birthday match and suddenly there was renewed optimism evident at the club. The excitement didn't last too long however and the wheels fell off on a cold Friday night at the MCG when the team was thrashed by bottom side Richmond in a match that sealed Neale Daniher's fate. The mid season appointment of a caretaker coach in Mark Reilly consigned the club to a long period of aimless drifting without any discernable direction as the season meandered to a sad end. How does one explain such a disaster? Daniher was in his tenth year as coach, time was running out and he took what must now be regarded as a calculated risk. Melbourne had finished the previous year in fifth place but was ranked first among the Victorians. The problem was how to break into that top four grouping of West Coast, Sydney, Adelaide and Fremantle? The first premise was reasonably straightforward - in order to do so you had to beat them during the home and away season and you had to have a team capable of beating them on their own home turf. The Eagles had succeeded in breaking down the Crows’ early dominance of 2006 with what was described as the "run and carry" style and that was a direction that Melbourne took with its pre season training. The idea was to mould a team that was physically capable of carrying out this running style of game. Train them to be fit, sleek and capable of enduring a long season of run, run and more run. The problem was that you had to be capable of doing that as well as to use a football with a measure of skill. In this aspect, the football department not only miscalculated the team's capacity to adapt to the new style but also failed the flexibility test of changing course when it was clear that things weren't working out as planned. The pre season trial games (including the Nab Cup game against Hawthorn) demonstrated that the Demon side were not quite adept at carrying out the plan. When the season opened on a Thursday night in March, they stumbled, fumbled and bungled: they simply couldn't get it right. Players were hesitant, made errors and were brushed aside by stronger bodied opponents. Something was wrong! And if that wasn't enough, the injuries started to come and, when they came, they cut deeply and they never went away! According to the AFL Grand Final Record, "Melbourne's poor year was not helped by a horror run with injuries, with Jeff White the only player to play all 22 matches." Injuries are often a poor excuse for failure but in Melbourne's case, 2007 was a season so devastated by them that you don't have to look much further to find reasons for the club's dramatic demise. The extent of the injury plague comes into clear focus when you sit down and start looking at standout players for the season. So many of them were afflicted by some form of injury or other during the season that any ranking list of players is virtually meaningless in terms of looking at the future on field course of the club. Melbourne used 39 players in 2007 – a record since the clubs went to reduced senior lists after the introduction of the salary cap and national draft and, as mentioned above, White was the only team member to play in all games. Compare that with Port Adelaide which had nine such players in its grand final team and the Kangaroos which had 10 in their preliminary final team. Last weekend, Geelong had forty players in their combined AFL and VFL sides and only three players (one a rookie) were unavailable at the end of a long, hard season. The Demons had more than that missing for the opening round of 2007 and things reached epidemic proportions by the end of the year when the number of players unavailable was 15! There was very little encouragement or cheering on the score of individual players. For years, Melbourne fans have been lamenting the club's lack of champion players and more recently another concern has been that too many of its better players were closing in on veteran status. When the season began, the club's best chances for future stardom were Brock McLean and Jared Rivers. Unfortunately for the Demons both fell to the injury curse. McLean recovered from a foot injury sustained in round 1 to play in the second half of the year but he was unable to revisit his form of earlier seasons on a regular basis. Rivers wore the jumper on only three occasions during the year and was one of five men whose seasons were completely finished by the time the season's half way mark had ticked over. This left very few "rising stars" apart Matthew Bate who I describe as a "slow riser", Lynden Dunn who made a late charge in that area and of course, Nathan Jones who made his debut late last year and gained a Nab AFL Rising Star nomination in his short stint of seven games. This year, he notched up another 21 games and he was often among the Demons' best for the season. Jones was rewarded with recognition from the judges of the NAB AFL Rising Star award again this year and they ultimately placed him third for 2007 behind Joel Selwood and Scott Pendlebury. Ricky Petterd was the best of the debutants but his season was curtailed by a life threatening collapsed lung during the round 14 game against Carlton. Michael Newton's debut was much anticipated by many Demon fans and he was virtually the club's only prize winner in 2007 – taking out the mark of the year for his hanger against the Kangaroos in round 16. A year earlier I had witnessed him taking three such marks in the course of one afternoon in a VFL game at Casey Fields. His elevation to the team for Daniher's farewell highlighted the difference between Melbourne's then development philosophy and that of Mick Malthouse at Collingwood. The buzz phrase at the Pies is the fast tracking of players but in Newton's case, he was slow tracked. The jury remains out however, as to where his freakish talents will take him but he could become a very special player. The age factor remains a major area of concern for new coach Dean Bailey who is embarking on a youth policy. We have already seen player retirements and early delistings. There are sure to be more changes to the list. Bailey was a major factor behind Port Adelaide's return as a power in 2007 (notwithstanding its massive defeat in the grand final). He is strong on player development and that is encouraging because he has scope in a number of areas to move the club forward and out of the train wreck of 2007. Apart from introducing his own innovative coaching style and bringing a new broom to sweep the club clean, these include - Firstly, there are a dozen players on the list whose output in 2007 was curtailed or severely limited by injuries. Things will be different if and when the following can come back as regulars in the senior team with fit bodies and a full pre season behind them – names such as Clint Bartram, Cameron Bruce, Travis Johnstone, Brock McLean, Brent Moloney, David Neitz, Ricky Petterd, Jared Rivers, Russell Robertson (if he stays at the club), Paul Wheatley, Matthew Whelan and Adem Yze. These are effectively the club's first and best recruits for 2008. Secondly, there are a large number of players on the list who I consider as "undeveloped" footballers i.e. players who have yet to attain anything near their full potential. Players like Brock McLean and Colin Sylvia were top 5 draft picks four years ago but have not attained the high levels of consistent high performance of Collingwood pair Thomas and Pendlebury who gave them two year's start. If Bailey can fast track the development of this group then the club could be well on its way to a new era of success (there's some repetition of names from the first list here): - Clint Bartram, Matthew Bate, Daniel Bell, Jace Bode, Simon Buckley, Lynden Dunn, James Frawley, Colin Garland, Chris Johnson, Paul Johnson, Nathan Jones, Brock McLean, Brent Moloney, Michael Newton, Ricky Petterd, Jared Rivers, Colin Sylvia, Matthew Warnock and Isaac Weetra. There are nineteen players on this list although I'm not suggesting that all of them will make it or be star players at the club or that all of them are going to be around the place in twelve month's time (or even a month's time for that matter) but the club needs to work on this list to ensure that a significant number develop to their full potential in the next couple of seasons by which time at least half of them should form part of the backbone of the club. Thirdly and finally, there is the area of trading and drafting where the club appears to have adopted a far more aggressive tack than in the past year or so and that is an area that could lead the club to more exciting places in 2008 and beyond. Coming soon: WJ's TOP TEN for 2007 ...

It's a pretty sloppily written article going from a statement that Carlton are still confident of snaring Judd to a Carlton lunch at which nothing happened and then back to Greg Swann's declaration of his confidence with nothing more concrete than that. A waste of space for mine although my Carlton friends still insist they are in with a chance. Personally, I'll be glad when the thing has been resolved one way or another and we can all get back to normal.

Right, there's no need for any of this. As I said above Demonology people are welcome here at any time. Last time I looked Demonland and Demonology both supported the same footy club.

His father and uncle both fought at the Battle of Hastings.

Back in June, we ran this article by the Professor on the Number Three at Melbourne. In the public interest, could somebody please supply an extra paragraph or two to the story ... THE BOOK OF NUMBERS - THE NUMBER THREE by The Professor Garry Lyon wore the number three throughout his entire career that stretched from 1986, when he emerged as a skinny young 18 year old from the Melbourne Football Club Under 19's via Kyabram to 1999 when a chronic back problem forced his retirement in the middle of that year. His was a highly decorated career with the Demons. He won the Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Medal awarded to the Melbourne Football Club player judged best and fairest for the season on two occasions (1990 and 1994), led the club’s goal kicking in 1994 and 1995 and gained interstate selection for eight consecutive seasons from 1988 to 1995. He was named in the All-Australian team in 1989, 1990, 1993, 1994 and 1995. Lyon's emergence as a player with the Demons coincided with the new respect the club gained in the late 1980's after more than two decades of struggle as a perpetual cellar dweller in VFL ranks. As a youngster he was an important player in his team's surge towards the final series of 1987- its first in 23 years but tragically, he missed out on the team's finals run due to a broken leg sustained in the final home and away game of the season at Footscray. There are many judges who would argue that had he been available during that finals series, the club might have been able to go all the way to a flag. Returning for the following year, the 193 cm 96kg forward displayed his match winning abilities and was a vital cog in the team's run to the 1988 grand final although that game resulted in a massive defeat for the club and is one best forgotten by all. Lyon’s agility, strength, speed, skill and football brain made him a formidable opponent for the opposition whether at centre half back or in a key forward position. He was appointed captain replacing Greg Healy at the beginning of 1991 and was an inspiring leader for seven seasons despite the latter part of his career from 1993 onwards being hampered by his chronic back problems. His ten goals against Footscray in a semi final in 1994 will long be remembered as one of the greatest individual performances at the club. The injury problems persisted however and he eventually lost the captaincy in 1998 when it was clear that his senior team appearances would be restricted due to a bulging disc in his back. He struggled to play only two matches in 1999 and retired in mid-season. Lyon was awarded Life Membership of the Club in 1995, and in 2000 he was named on a half forward flank in Melbourne’s Team of the Century. He was an inaugural inductee into the Club’s Hall of Fame in 2001 and he continues his association with the game as a star compere of television’s The Footy Show. Lyon is one of twenty-three players who have worn the number three at senior level with the Melbourne Football Club since 1912 when player numbers were introduced. The number has appeared in five premierships beginning with Edward Thomas in 1926 and ending with Peter Marquis in 1957. It has boasted three club best and fairests (Gerard Healy wore the number when he won the Truscott Medal in 1984 followed by Lyon in 1990 and 1994) and the leading goal kicker on seven occasions, three state team representatives, All Australian representation five times and of course, a representative in both Melbourne's Team of the Century and Hall of Fame. It all began with the burly Alf George, who was skipper in 1912 and 1913. The 183 cm 87 kg George was a half back who came to the club from Essendon via Numurkah and played 55 games (12 gaols) for Melbourne between 1911 and 1915. He wore the number three in 1912 and also wore the numbers 14, 29 and 31 at the club. In 1913, the number was taken by Jack D. Robertson, a brilliant but showy centreman/winger from Port Melbourne Railway United. Who played 60 games (16) goals between 1909 and 1913. Like George, he changed his number on a regular basis while at the club. The number went to Jack Huntington who only played one game in his debut season of 1914 and resumed after WW1 wearing No.19 in 25 games (21 goals) during 1919 and 1920. Jack "Dookie" McKenzie’s career began at Essendon in 1901 and he was rated by many as one of the greatest players of the early days of football. He played in the ruck in the Bombers’ premiership in his debut season and was associated with a number of different clubs in the VFA and elsewhere before taking on the captain coaching role at Melbourne where, despite having lost his pace and being in his veteran years, he led the club to its first finals series in fifteen seasons. He was a natural all-round sportsman who also played cricket for Victoria. Melbourne went into recess for the remainder of the war and in 1919, Percy Love appeared in the number three on 11 occasions (6 goals) that year. He was followed by Leo Little, who switched from 31 to 3 in 1920 during which time he played 6 of his 12 games with the club. Edward Thomas from Oakleigh was the first "long-term" custodian of the number three making his debut in 1921 and wearing that number as a solid half back flanker in Melbourne's 1926 premiership team. Thomas played 101 games before returning to his side which was now in the VFA in 1929 but he returned to add a further three games (wearing 12) in 1932. George Margitich arrived from South Adelaide in 1930 and wore number three for 5 years. Although he was not a robust player being neither tall nor solidly built, he was a smooth clever footballer who could get goals and successfully held down the full forward position. He led the club’s goal kicking in his first 3 years, setting the then club record of 73 for a season in 1930, a tally that was bettered a few season’s later by club great Norm Smith. Margitich played 75 games for the club and kicked a total of 267 goals. The jumper was rested in 1935 and was then awarded to former North Melbourne stalwart John Lewis who played his first game for Melbourne in 1936 at the age of 34 after a 150 game 142 goal career at Arden Street as well as stints at Hawthorn and Footscray. Lewis had been captain and coach at North and surprised the football world by taking on Melbourne’s offer to play at such a late stage in his career. Lewis was solid in his three seasons at the club, playing 46 games and kicking 18 goals. Melbourne recruited William Baxter from Werribee in 1939 and the brother of three time Carlton premiership player Ken, managed 20 games in three years as wearer of the number three Guernsey. He was replaced by a former Bulldog Robert Spargo who wore the number twice in 1942. Ken Molloy wore the number in four senior games in 1943 but didn’t make a senior appearance in 1944 before changing numbers and then played a further 8 games in 1945. Full back Ron Irwin also played a game in the number in late 1943 season and added a further 50 games as number three through to 1947. The number three been bypassed by Melbourne's triple premiership glory of 1939-41 but was worn in two grand finals in 1948 by its next owner Geoff Collins. The son of 1926 premiership wingman Jack Collins, Geoff was a tough courageous half-back who arrived from Yallourn as a 21 year old. He played on the half back flank in the drawn grand final against Essendon and then emulated his father’s achievement and became a premiership player for the club when the Demons won the replay. He won state selection in 1952 but missed the 1953 season serving as a pilot in the Korean War during which time he was cited for bravery. He was made captain when he returned for his final season in 1954 and wore the number eight in the team’s losing grand final of that year. The 178 cm 76 kg Collins played 88 games (8 goals) for the club. Tasmanian Peter "Trunky" Marquis was given the number three jumper when Collins went to Korea and he wore it for 99 games from 1953 to 1958 (7) goals. Marquis was a strong, solidly built full back who ran at the ball in a straight line, played in the 1955, 1956 and 1957 premiership teams and retired from league football after the club’s 1958 grand final defeat at the hands of Collingwood. He represented Victoria in 1957 but found himself starting on Melbourne’s bench for the following game due to the good form shown by his replacement in his absence. Then followed some lean years for the number three at Melbourne. None of the three players assigned to the number in the five years after Marquis' departure played a senior game while Maurie Bartlett, a strongly built ruckman/forward from Bentleigh managed only seven games and six goals as its wearer between 1964 and 1966, Young Sid Catlin from the club’s fourths had a meteoric rise to senior football and wore the jumper three times in 1966 and once more in 1968 before crossing to South Melbourne. Melbourne recruited Trevor Rollinson from country zone club Shepparton in 1969. The180 cm 74 kg wingman wore the jumper for a total of 49 games (1 goal) and his replacement number three was another player recruited from Shepparton in rover Barry Tippett who wore it in 18 senior games during the years 1976-78. Former Collingwood rover Henry Coles had crossed over to Melbourne in 1975 and wore numbers 45 and 13 before settling on the number three between 1978 and 1980. In 1978 he won the club’s goal kicking and he played 32 games for 50 goals in the jumper for a total of 77 games and 106 goals with the club. Since Coles relinquished the number three jumper it has been worn by only three players over a period spanning almost three decades and strangely two of them now have very public careers outside of football while the current holder seeks to have one in the future. Gerard Healy came to the club in 1979 from Edithvale-Aspendale as a 17 year old and played 130 games (189 goals) in seven seasons at the club before Dr. Geoffrey Edelstein lured him across to Sydney where he won the Brownlow Medal in 1988. The 184 cm 81 kg Healy was a composed, balanced and skilful footballer who was equally capable as a midfielder or a forward. He led the club goal kicking in 1982 with 77, made the Victorian State team in 1982, 1984 and 1985 and won the Club’s Best and Fairest in 1984. He is now carving out a career as a high profile TV and radio commentator. Had he stayed at the club, Healy would surely have become a team leader and a valuable member of the finals sides of the late 190’s and early 1990’s. As it was, his brother Greg gained captaincy honours immediately before the next wearer of the number three Guernsey - Gary Lyon. After Lyon's retirement, the number three was put into mothballs for a couple of years until it was claimed by its current holder and a Hollywood acting aspirant in Clint Bizzell. The talented Queenslander from Kedron Grange was recruited by Geelong in the 1995 National Draft, and he crossed over from the Cats after 75 games and 72 goals. The 187 cm 90 kg Bizzell has found his niche in defence with the Demons but his career was hampered by a broken bone his foot which kept him out of AFL contention for all of 2006. In the latter stages of his career, Bizzell is only now coming back to his best. At the Demons, he has played 81 games (7 goals) as the latest in the long and proud tradition of Melbourne Football Club number three jumper holders. [With thanks to the Melbourne Past Players and Officials Newsletter from which some of the information contained in this article was adapted]

Taken from a previous post put up by Whispering Jack to describe the MFC style of play from the Neil Balme era - And Umpire Robinson bounces the air conveyance. It hits the rubber knob and Jimmy Stynes palms the ball beautifully to his left where Todd Viney runs onto the ball, grabs it and handballs back to Dyson who goes to his right and finds Brett Lovett who chips it out to Glenn Lovett who handballs backwards and into the hands of the running Neitz who comes out of the centre half back position and spots Steven Febey on a wing. Febey accepts the lead and kicks the ball to the half-forward flank and finds Garry Lyon on his own. The captain marks and plays on kicking to the space between centre and centre half forward which Jimmy Stynes has run into. The Irishman's by himself and turns around to find Todd Viney who runs onto the ball, grabs it and handballs back to Dyson who goes to his left and finds Brett Lovett. Lovett chips it out to the other Lovett - Brett. He handballs left to the running Prymke who's come out of the centre half back position and he goes to the opposite wing where he spots Matthew Febey. The Mouse turns around and shoots the ball across to half forward where Shaun Smith takes an absolute speccy. He plays on and spots Jimmy Stynes by himself in the space between centre and centre half forward...

The TAC Cup Under 18 Grand Final will be played as an early curtain raiser to the Grand Final at 10:05 am (AEST) on Saturday. The game will be telecaset live on Fox Sports 1 with John Casey, Liam Pickering and Kevin Sheehan.

by Whispering Jack It was the springtime. I was young. I followed the Demons and life was good. It also happened to be a long, long time ago and I have come to learn that if life's about anything then it's about learning and changing ... nothing ever stays the same or, as the Greek philosopher Heraclitus put it, "everything flows, nothing stands still." The events of recent weeks have served to remind us all of how we underestimate this fact. The season ended, we chose a new coach and immediately the winds of change started sweeping across our football world. New appointments, retirements, delistings, talk of who we were going to trade, who would be recruited, the return of injured players, the anticipated improvement of our youngsters and new hopes and aspirations. Whatever would happen in the coming months we knew that with a new coaching regime our club was no longer fixed to a particular perspective and that the new broom was reviving our belief in the ability of the club to realise its untapped potential. That was before the earthquake named Chris Judd. The adulation and the speculation that football's best player might choose our club as his new home and that he could prove the catalyst to a revival of the club to its former glory has been so overbearing and powerful that all else has faded into virtual oblivion. The problem as I see it is that many of us regard his coming to the club he supported as a kid as being some sort of overall panacea to cure everything that is imperfect in a club that has failed to achieve its former glory and has wandered aimlessly through the football wilderness for more than forty years. That sort of thing won't just happen with the arrival of Judd – if he comes to Melbourne at all. There are those who point to the fact that when Ron Barassi crossed to Carlton it was the making of the Blues and the death of the Demons and that a similar thing would happen if Judd decided to throw his lot in with the club. However, the Carlton revival of the late sixties did not come about just because Barassi walked into Princes Park one day in late 1964. Their success occurred because of the men of strong will who led a hard working visionary committee and adopted new standards of professionalism that left the likes of the staid and conservative Demons in their wake. Similarly, if success comes to Melbourne in the near future, it won't be simply because of Chris Judd, or Brock McLean, or Nathan Jones or James Frawley for that matter. Other things have happened in the past week that should have shaken us back to reality. On Wednesday, 19 September we celebrated the forty-third anniversary of our last premiership flag. That date always brings back happy memories, the abiding one being of the goal kicked by back pocket player, the late Neil "Froggy" Crompton (wearing the number 5) that gave us back the lead in the dying moments of the game. Seeing Collingwood lose a final by the narrow margin of less than a goal always gladdens my heart and the fact that it happened again last night was a nice sweetener for the coming week. The memory of '64 also reminded me of how we celebrated premierships back in those days. I can recall watching an ABC screenplay of Alan Hopgood’s play "And the Big Men Fly". Long before the national competition and the Adelaide Football Club was even thought of, Hopgood wrote a play about an Australian Rules Football team called the Crows. They didn't have much of a team but they were determined to win a premiership so they set out to find their great white hope and they found him in Achilles Jones, one of "the great kickers". They discover however, that even with their new champion, life isn't so simple and things don't always go as planned. The play leaves unresolved the question of whether the Crows win the flag and much the same thing applies to us with the getting of Judd. There are questions that need to be answered; what will be the cost to the club, how will his groin stand up and will his coming be different to the false messiahs of the past – people like Jim Tilbrook, Kelvin Templeton and Peter Moore? This week also saw the passing of Collingwood's greatest ever ruckman Len Thompson, who died of a heart attack, aged 60. He played 268 games for the Magpies and won the Brownlow Medal in 1972. He was the game's first mobile tall man and he set the trend that we now see in players like the game's current champion tall in Dean Cox. My personal view is that a champion tall like Thompson or Cox might be just as important to our hopes of revival than a Judd but that's an aside that I should be keeping for myself. The game mourns the passing of its greats but Thompson's death brought home to me the reality of how desolate the Melbourne Football Club has become and how desperate we are to recruit a player like Judd to steer us on a new course and pehaps change our destiny (if it's possible to do such a thing). You see, Thompson made his debut as a fresh faced kid almost twelve months to the day after Melbourne last won a premiership. He played out his career in the days when the big men used to fly, he lived his life and he has now passed on. Everything has continued to flow. Nothing has stood still.

AND THE BIG MEN USED TO FLY by Whispering Jack It was the springtime. I was young. I followed the Demons and life was good. It also happened to be a long, long time ago and I have come to learn that if life's about anything then it's about learning and changing ... nothing ever stays the same or, as the Greek philosopher Heraclitus put it, "everything flows, nothing stands still." The events of recent weeks have served to remind us all of how we underestimate this fact. The season ended, we chose a new coach and immediately the winds of change started sweeping across our football world. New appointments, retirements, delistings, talk of who we were going to trade, who would be recruited, the return of injured players, the anticipated improvement of our youngsters and new hopes and aspirations. Whatever would happen in the coming months we knew that with a new coaching regime our club was no longer fixed to a particular perspective and that the new broom was reviving our belief in the ability of the club to realise its untapped potential. That was before the earthquake named Chris Judd. The adulation and the speculation that football's best player might choose our club as his new home and that he could prove the catalyst to a revival of the club to its former glory has been so overbearing and powerful that all else has faded into virtual oblivion. The problem as I see it is that many of us regard his coming to the club he supported as a kid as being some sort of overall panacea to cure everything that is imperfect in a club that has failed to achieve its former glory and has wandered aimlessly through the football wilderness for more than forty years. That sort of thing won't just happen with the arrival of Judd – if he comes to Melbourne at all. There are those who point to the fact that when Ron Barassi crossed to Carlton it was the making of the Blues and the death of the Demons and that a similar thing would happen if Judd decided to throw his lot in with the club. However, the Carlton revival of the late sixties did not come about just because Barassi walked into Princes Park one day in late 1964. Their success occurred because of the men of strong will who led a hard working visionary committee and adopted new standards of professionalism that left the likes of the staid and conservative Demons in their wake. Similarly, if success comes to Melbourne in the near future, it won't be simply because of Chris Judd, or Brock McLean, or Nathan Jones or James Frawley for that matter. Other things have happened in the past week that should have shaken us back to reality. On Wednesday, 19 September we celebrated the forty-third anniversary of our last premiership flag. That date always brings back happy memories, the abiding one being of the goal kicked by back pocket player, the late Neil "Froggy" Crompton (wearing the number 5) that gave us back the lead in the dying moments of the game. Seeing Collingwood lose a final by the narrow margin of less than a goal always gladdens my heart and the fact that it happened again last night was a nice sweetener for the coming week. The memory of '64 also reminded me of how we celebrated premierships back in those days. I can recall watching an ABC screenplay of Alan Hopgood’s play "And the Big Men Fly". Long before the national competition and the Adelaide Football Club was even thought of, Hopgood wrote a play about an Australian Rules Football team called the Crows. They didn't have much of a team but they were determined to win a premiership so they set out to find their great white hope and they found him in Achilles Jones, one of "the great kickers". They discover however, that even with their new champion, life isn't so simple and things don't always go as planned. The play leaves unresolved the question of whether the Crows win the flag and much the same thing applies to us with the getting of Judd. There are questions that need to be answered; what will be the cost to the club, how will his groin stand up and will his coming be different to the false messiahs of the past – people like Jim Tilbrook, Kelvin Templeton and Peter Moore? This week also saw the passing of Collingwood's greatest ever ruckman Len Thompson, who died of a heart attack, aged 60. He played 268 games for the Magpies and won the Brownlow Medal in 1972. He was the game's first mobile tall man and he set the trend that we now see in players like the game's current champion tall in Dean Cox. My personal view is that a champion tall like Thompson or Cox might be just as important to our hopes of revival than a Judd but that's an aside that I should be keeping for myself. The game mourns the passing of its greats but Thompson's death brought home to me the reality of how desolate the Melbourne Football Club has become and how desperate we are to recruit a player like Judd to steer us on a new course and pehaps change our destiny (if it's possible to do such a thing). You see, Thompson made his debut as a fresh faced kid almost twelve months to the day after Melbourne last won a premiership. He played out his career in the days when the big men used to fly, he lived his life and he has now passed on. Everything has continued to flow. Nothing has stood still.

We'll quote Judd as gone when we know that he has been officially traded.

WAITING FOR JUDDMAN by Randy M.M. Savage In case you're wondering about my absence over the past 18 months I will explain. I have been away in the U. S. of A. working in my chosen profession as a scriptwriter for my mentor, Mr. Moore, the man responsible for the award winning documentary "Fahrenheit 9/10/Foxtel" or "How George Bush, Eddie McGuire and the neocons are destroying football." Strangely enough the last production I worked on in the States was also about football. I co-wrote it with the author of the equally famous Hannabal Lechter series and it's a lovely little movie based loosely on reality about sports fans and their dreams entitled "Waiting for Juddman". The astute among you would no doubt recognise that the title is a play on the title of Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot." The plots also share enough similarities so that knowledge of Godot will reveal things about Juddman. Are the rest of you guys still with me? Waiting for Juddman is a loving parody of professional team sports, about the characters involved; the players, the coaches, the board members, sponsors, the journalists and commentators and most importantly of all – the fans. In many ways then it loosely reflects Beckett's Waiting for Godot. Set in the fictional town of Melblaine, Victoria, it chronicles the trials and tribulations of a handful of utterly delusional and long suffering supporters of the local team as they prepare to help their club recruit a star footballer in anticipation of the club's 150th anniversary celebration. The theme of the Sesquicentennial Year is "Red, Blue and Melblaine" and the supporters have high hopes that their club will recruit Chris Juddman, the home town's most celebrated sportsperson back to the club he supported as a child. Juddman is a professional footballer who has been the star player with an interstate club. The problem is that the Melblaine coffers are almost empty and Juddman is not only highly sought after but also the most highly paid performer in the country. The club's Board decides to put together a major fund raising production using the "Red, Blue and Melblaine" theme and its flamboyant playing list manager is assigned to invite Juddman to town in the hope that the glitz, glamour and sentimentality of the programme will be enough to entice him to sign a contract with the club of his childhood dreams. The programme itself is designed to relive the history of Melblaine but the production, put together on a shoestring by a group of buffoon supporters, is performed at a standard even poorer than that of the local team. How could it be otherwise when the performers have little talent and go by stange names like Whispering_Jack, Yze_Magic, Rhino Richards, Fan, belzebub59, Madness, Jaded and Clint Bizkit? Fortunately for the cast and crew Juddman never shows up, because his flight is cancelled due to bad weather. However, a late-arriving audience member is mistaken for Juddman, is convinced to sign a long term contract and is subsequently drafted with selection number 85 in the National Draft. He goes on to become one of the greats of his chosen sport and his name is … Are you guys still with me? FOOTNOTE: If you're interested in watching a pale imitation of Randy's latest movie then you can settle for Waiting for Guffman on Foxtel's The Comedy Channel at 8.30pm tonight or The Comedy Channel +2 at 10.30pm. Not as good as Randy's production but still well worth the watch if you have a sense of humour (then again if you didn't have a sense of humour you wouldn't have read this far).

by Randy M.M. Savage In case you're wondering about my absence over the past 18 months I will explain. I have been away in the U. S. of A. working in my chosen profession as a scriptwriter for my mentor, Mr. Moore, the man responsible for the award winning documentary "Fahrenheit 9/10/Foxtel" or "How George Bush, Eddie McGuire and the neocons are destroying football." Strangely enough the last production I worked on in the States was also about football. I co-wrote it with the author of the equally famous Hannabal Lechter series and it's a lovely little movie based loosely on reality about sports fans and their dreams entitled "Waiting for Juddman". The astute among you would no doubt recognise that the title is a play on the title of Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot." The plots also share enough similarities so that knowledge of Godot will reveal things about Juddman. Are the rest of you guys still with me? Waiting for Juddman is a loving parody of professional team sports, about the characters involved; the players, the coaches, the board members, sponsors, the journalists and commentators and most importantly of all – the fans. In many ways then it loosely reflects Beckett's Waiting for Godot. Set in the fictional town of Melblaine, Victoria, it chronicles the trials and tribulations of a handful of utterly delusional and long suffering supporters of the local team as they prepare to help their club recruit a star footballer in anticipation of the club's 150th anniversary celebration. The theme of the Sesquicentennial Year is "Red, Blue and Melblaine" and the supporters have high hopes that their club will recruit Chris Juddman, the home town's most celebrated sportsperson back to the club he supported as a child. Juddman is a professional footballer who has been the star player with an interstate club. The problem is that the Melblaine coffers are almost empty and Juddman is not only highly sought after but also the most highly paid performer in the country. The club's Board decides to put together a major fund raising production using the "Red, Blue and Melblaine" theme and its flamboyant playing list manager is assigned to invite Juddman to town in the hope that the glitz, glamour and sentimentality of the programme will be enough to entice him to sign a contract with the club of his childhood dreams. The programme itself is designed to relive the history of Melblaine but the production, put together on a shoestring by a group of buffoon supporters, is performed at a standard even poorer than that of the local team. How could it be otherwise when the performers have little talent and go by stange names like Whispering_Jack, Yze_Magic, Rhino Richards, Fan, belzebub59, Madness, Jaded and Clint Bizkit? Fortunately for the cast and crew Juddman never shows up, because his flight is cancelled due to bad weather. However, a late-arriving audience member is mistaken for Juddman, is convinced to sign a long term contract and is subsequently drafted with selection number 85 in the National Draft. He goes on to become one of the greats of his chosen sport and his name is … Are you guys still with me?

I think he means that in terms of players having the commitment and dedication to getting the best out of themselves. If every one of of our list of 36 had that then we wouldn't lose very often!

I wonder if he's going to do an Akermanis and actually name his favoured destination?

Every once in a while all internet sides experience problems. We do as well for technical reasons that are way beyond my understanding. Please be patient and I'm sure Demonology will be back on line. In the meantime, Demonology posters are welcome to post here (but please note that we have separate boards for other sports and general items.

by The Oracle We are barely into the second week of spring but have already said farewell to eight out of the forty-four players who comprised the Melbourne Football Club senior and rookie lists in season 2007. On the second day of the month the Demons saw September action although it was anything but a finals game; rather it was the very antithesis of what good clubs aspire to in our sport. That final MCG match against Carlton will be remembered for many things, most of them unsavoury, but the club did win the four points (however meaningless a result that happened to be) and it also put on a magnificent farewell to three of its warriors who went into retirement from the game. As was noted in the media, all three managed to leave the game on their own terms rather than being forced out through injury - a stark contrast to some of the other AFL retirements this season. The most emotional of the three farewells from a Demon perspective was that of Nathan "Doggy" Brown who leaves the club after ten fine seasons, 146 games and 35 goals, all of which make him eligible for life membership. Melbourne was entering a new era when Nathan Brown was plucked out of the AFL National Draft in late October 1997 at selection number 66. Neale Daniher was about to take up the coaching reins, the club had secured Jeff White in a trade with Fremantle, a teenage prodigy in Travis Johnstone was the number 1 draft selection and Jamie Shanahan was soon to cross over from St. Kilda as the first pick in the pre season draft. The winds of change lifted the team all the way to a preliminary final in 1998 but Brown, from West Adelaide, was barely noticed that year despite a promising debut at Princes Park against the Blues. This was mainly because the dogged hard running defender spent the early part of his career fighting off several soft tissue injuries and it took a few years to establish himself with the club. Brown played only three games in his debut season and he didn't play senior football again until 2000. He finally became a regular the following season but it wasn't until 2004 that Doggy took his game to another level. That was the year that he missed out by one vote to Jeff White on becoming the Keith "Bluey" Truscott club champion. It was a good year for the club and Brown was in the thick of things averaging more than 20 possessions a game and playing in a variety of roles where he was able to use his hard running and ferocious attack on the ball to his team's advantage. The following year he played his 100th game but in 2006 injuries struck again and his form dropped off. His disposal of the ball was never at the top end of the scale in terms of quality and this stood out particularly early in 2007 when the team was under siege with injuries to many key players. But even with his career coming to a close, Doggy never dropped his intensity at the ball and his last month or so was simply outstanding. Who could ever forget how long and hard he celebrated that last goal in his final against the Blues. He leaves the game a true Demon and his life membership is a well-earned reward for a decade of loyalty and sterling service to the club. Fittingly, Doggy will receive that award later in the year together with Daniher, his coach of all but the last half season of his career and another departing Demon in Daniel Ward. Clint Bizzell played 75 games for Geelong before he was traded to the Demons at the end of 2001. The player who was once described at the Cattery as the "next Gary Ablett" had to settle for a lesser career than that of the Geelong legend but for a couple of seasons he held together the Demon defence and deservedly earned the title of the "General" of his team's back line. He often took on bigger and taller forwards and did a great job marshalling the troops in defence. An Achilles injury and a fractured cheekbone incurred in 2004 curtailed his effectiveness and he suffered a further setback on the eve of the 2006 season when he fractured his foot. He missed the whole season but managed to play with Sandringham's VFL premiership side. The Biz struggled his way through 2007 before announcing his retirement on 163 games in total (10 in 2007). Byron Pickett will go down in history as one of the nation's greatest indigenous footballers. His career spanned eleven years, featured premierships with both the Kangaroos and Port Adelaide (where he won the Norm Smith Medal for his best on ground performance in the 2004) and a finals series with Melbourne in 2006, the year he crossed to the club in a speculative trade deal with the Power. The Demons were banking on his explosive strength, speed and aggressiveness to lift the team and the plan worked well for the first 15 rounds until he broke down with a hamstring injury. From that time onward, Pickett endured injury and personal woes and, having lost the fire in the belly, he retired from the game at the end of the current season. This week, the number of players off the club's senior list doubled with the announcement of the first delistings for 2007 and we now bid farewell to Simon Godfrey, Heath Neville and Daniel Ward along with rookies Daniel Hayes and Shane Neaves. Simon Godfrey is the type of player you would want to take with you to the trenches. He is all about courage, dedication and hard work and, in spite of the fact that his career has been curtailed by this week's delisting, it would not come as a surprise if he polled very well in this year's "Bluey" polling. Recruited from Box Hill as a number 14 pick in the pre season draft of 2000, he was generally used as a midfielder but was never known for having great disposal skills. He was used primarily as a tagger who focuses on shutting down his opponent. He was fifth in the best and fairest for 2003 despite his errant kicking. Godders notched up his 100th game for the club this year and he picked up some big scalps with his tagging roles earlier in the season. However, a knee injury put him out of the business of being a serial pest to the likes of Adam Goodes and Scott West and he leaves the club with 105 senior games and 23 goals under his belt. He is said to be the "greatest player to have ever worn the number 30 in the AFL whilst wearing a glove at the same time" but that's probably an unkind epithet to the career of a player got the very most out of himself – something that cannot be said for some of the more talented and skilful players in the game. Tasmanian Heath Neville spent two years at Melbourne after being selected at 68 in the 2005 AFL National Draft but his career never really got off the ground. He was injured for much of his first season and spent all but a handful of games this year with the reserves at Sandringham. Although Daniel Ward, never played senior football with the Fitzroy Football Club he started out as a supplementary list player with the Lions' reserves in the mid nineties and, as such, is technically the last of the "Roy Boys" to play an AFL game – Brisbane's Chris Johnson having finished up the night before the Melbourne v Carlton game. Wardy was also one of the first of the AFL rookies. He came to the club after Fitzroy's demise and was elevated to the senior list in 1998. In many ways, his career echoed that of retiring team mate Nathan Brown. He established himself in the team in 2001 as a fast running, long kicking half back with some stints one a wing and in the midfield and he played his 100th game in 2005. After a flat period, he has re-established his place in the side over the last two seasons but, at 30 years of age and with 136 games and 31 goals under his belt, it was felt he had to give way to the club's policy of developing its youth. The delisting of Shane Neaves as a rookie-listed player probably took some by surprise. He appeared to be developing well at Sandringham where he was a ruckman in its 2006 premiership side but there were some question marks about whether he had sufficient pace and athleticism to step up from VFL level to the modern demands of the AFL. Perhaps the writing was on the wall when he was dropped for one week late in the season to the Zebra reserves. Daniel Hayes is a player whose rookie season was beset by personal problems and he made a late start as a result. Without a pre season behind him, he struggled and looked all at sea when he received a late call to make his debut in the Zebra seniors as an injury replacement. There were also some question marks down at Sandy about his attitude and such things do not bode well when it comes to determining whether an individual has a future in the game. So two weeks after the appointment of Dean Bailey as coach and a little less than that since the last ball of 2007 was kicked in anger, more than 18% of the list has gone. With the exchange period coming up early next month, it is highly likely that we will bid farewell to some more familiar faces for that is the nature of the game these days. When you finish a disappointing fourteenth and fail to make it to the real September action then it is in the club's interests that changes take place. When that happens, something has to give and the day will come for those who reach the end of the line.

THE END OF THE LINE by The Oracle We are barely into the second week of spring but have already said farewell to eight out of the forty-four players who comprised the Melbourne Football Club senior and rookie lists in season 2007. On the second day of the month the Demons saw September action although it was anything but a finals game; rather it was the very antithesis of what good clubs aspire to in our sport. That final MCG match against Carlton will be remembered for many things, most of them unsavoury, but the club did win the four points (however meaningless a result that happened to be) and it also put on a magnificent farewell to three of its warriors who went into retirement from the game. As was noted in the media, all three managed to leave the game on their own terms rather than being forced out through injury - a stark contrast to some of the other AFL retirements this season. The most emotional of the three farewells from a Demon perspective was that of Nathan "Doggy" Brown who leaves the club after ten fine seasons, 146 games and 35 goals, all of which make him eligible for life membership. Melbourne was entering a new era when Nathan Brown was plucked out of the AFL National Draft in late October 1997 at selection number 66. Neale Daniher was about to take up the coaching reins, the club had secured Jeff White in a trade with Fremantle, a teenage prodigy in Travis Johnstone was the number 1 draft selection and Jamie Shanahan was soon to cross over from St. Kilda as the first pick in the pre season draft. The winds of change lifted the team all the way to a preliminary final in 1998 but Brown, from West Adelaide, was barely noticed that year despite a promising debut at Princes Park against the Blues. This was mainly because the dogged hard running defender spent the early part of his career fighting off several soft tissue injuries and it took a few years to establish himself with the club. Brown played only three games in his debut season and he didn't play senior football again until 2000. He finally became a regular the following season but it wasn't until 2004 that Doggy took his game to another level. That was the year that he missed out by one vote to Jeff White on becoming the Keith "Bluey" Truscott club champion. It was a good year for the club and Brown was in the thick of things averaging more than 20 possessions a game and playing in a variety of roles where he was able to use his hard running and ferocious attack on the ball to his team's advantage. The following year he played his 100th game but in 2006 injuries struck again and his form dropped off. His disposal of the ball was never at the top end of the scale in terms of quality and this stood out particularly early in 2007 when the team was under siege with injuries to many key players. But even with his career coming to a close, Doggy never dropped his intensity at the ball and his last month or so was simply outstanding. Who could ever forget how long and hard he celebrated that last goal in his final against the Blues. He leaves the game a true Demon and his life membership is a well-earned reward for a decade of loyalty and sterling service to the club. Fittingly, Doggy will receive that award later in the year together with Daniher, his coach of all but the last half season of his career and another departing Demon in Daniel Ward. Clint Bizzell played 75 games for Geelong before he was traded to the Demons at the end of 2001. The player who was once described at the Cattery as the "next Gary Ablett" had to settle for a lesser career than that of the Geelong legend but for a couple of seasons he held together the Demon defence and deservedly earned the title of the "General" of his team's back line. He often took on bigger and taller forwards and did a great job marshalling the troops in defence. An Achilles injury and a fractured cheekbone incurred in 2004 curtailed his effectiveness and he suffered a further setback on the eve of the 2006 season when he fractured his foot. He missed the whole season but managed to play with Sandringham's VFL premiership side. The Biz struggled his way through 2007 before announcing his retirement on 163 games in total (10 in 2007). Byron Pickett will go down in history as one of the nation's greatest indigenous footballers. His career spanned eleven years, featured premierships with both the Kangaroos and Port Adelaide (where he won the Norm Smith Medal for his best on ground performance in the 2004) and a finals series with Melbourne in 2006, the year he crossed to the club in a speculative trade deal with the Power. The Demons were banking on his explosive strength, speed and aggressiveness to lift the team and the plan worked well for the first 15 rounds until he broke down with a hamstring injury. From that time onward, Pickett endured injury and personal woes and, having lost the fire in the belly, he retired from the game at the end of the current season. This week, the number of players off the club's senior list doubled with the announcement of the first delistings for 2007 and we now bid farewell to Simon Godfrey, Heath Neville and Daniel Ward along with rookies Daniel Hayes and Shane Neaves. Simon Godfrey is the type of player you would want to take with you to the trenches. He is all about courage, dedication and hard work and, in spite of the fact that his career has been curtailed by this week's delisting, it would not come as a surprise if he polled very well in this year's "Bluey" polling. Recruited from Box Hill as a number 14 pick in the pre season draft of 2000, he was generally used as a midfielder but was never known for having great disposal skills. He was used primarily as a tagger who focuses on shutting down his opponent. He was fifth in the best and fairest for 2003 despite his errant kicking. Godders notched up his 100th game for the club this year and he picked up some big scalps with his tagging roles earlier in the season. However, a knee injury put him out of the business of being a serial pest to the likes of Adam Goodes and Scott West and he leaves the club with 105 senior games and 23 goals under his belt. He is said to be the "greatest player to have ever worn the number 30 in the AFL whilst wearing a glove at the same time" but that's probably an unkind epithet to the career of a player got the very most out of himself – something that cannot be said for some of the more talented and skilful players in the game. Tasmanian Heath Neville spent two years at Melbourne after being selected at 68 in the 2005 AFL National Draft but his career never really got off the ground. He was injured for much of his first season and spent all but a handful of games this year with the reserves at Sandringham. Although Daniel Ward, never played senior football with the Fitzroy Football Club he started out as a supplementary list player with the Lions' reserves in the mid nineties and, as such, is technically the last of the "Roy Boys" to play an AFL game – Brisbane's Chris Johnson having finished up the night before the Melbourne v Carlton game. Wardy was also one of the first of the AFL rookies. He came to the club after Fitzroy's demise and was elevated to the senior list in 1998. In many ways, his career echoed that of retiring team mate Nathan Brown. He established himself in the team in 2001 as a fast running, long kicking half back with some stints one a wing and in the midfield and he played his 100th game in 2005. After a flat period, he has re-established his place in the side over the last two seasons but, at 30 years of age and with 136 games and 31 goals under his belt, it was felt he had to give way to the club's policy of developing its youth. The delisting of Shane Neaves as a rookie-listed player probably took some by surprise. He appeared to be developing well at Sandringham where he was a ruckman in its 2006 premiership side but there were some question marks about whether he had sufficient pace and athleticism to step up from VFL level to the modern demands of the AFL. Perhaps the writing was on the wall when he was dropped for one week late in the season to the Zebra reserves. Daniel Hayes is a player whose rookie season was beset by personal problems and he made a late start as a result. Without a pre season behind him, he struggled and looked all at sea when he received a late call to make his debut in the Zebra seniors as an injury replacement. There were also some question marks down at Sandy about his attitude and such things do not bode well when it comes to determining whether an individual has a future in the game. So two weeks after the appointment of Dean Bailey as coach and a little less than that since the last ball of 2007 was kicked in anger, more than 18% of the list has gone. With the exchange period coming up early next month, it is highly likely that we will bid farewell to some more familiar faces for that is the nature of the game these days. When you finish a disappointing fourteenth and fail to make it to the real September action then it is in the club's interests that changes take place. When that happens, something has to give and the day will come for those who reach the end of the line.

Final Leaderboard James Byrne (Geel) 22 votes Shane Valenti (Sand) 20 " Travis Ronaldson (Cob) 17 " Charlie Gardiner (Geel) 14 " Al Neville (Cob) 13 " Josh Hunt (Geel) 13 " Djaran Whyman (N Ball) 13 " Ezra Poyas (Sand) 13 " Kyle Matthews (Casey) 12 votes Shannon Byrnes (Geel) 11 votes Paul Licuria (Will) 10 votes Apparently Valenti took the lead with one round to go but was beaten when Byrne polled the maximum in the final round. MFC players to poll 4 C Johnson 3 M Newton " M Jamar 2 B Miller " J Bode 1 C Bizzell " M Warnock " P Wheatley

This is the last of our match reports for 2007 but our writers will be back with plenty of features during the off season. Thanks to Whispering Jack, Scoop Junior, The Oracle, J.V.McKay, Barry and our many guest writers for their great efforts in 2007. We welcome anyone who wants to make a contribution ... THE END OF A DREAM by Barry from Beach Road TEAC Oval, Port Melbourne has been the scene of many Sandringham triumphs over the past decade or so but on Saturday, it was the place where the Zebras' dream of a record breaking four premierships in a row ended in a shattering 17 point defeat at the hands of North Ballarat in the knock out VFL first semi final. The front cover of this week's TRUenergy VFL Football Record said it all. Sandringham was under the gun after comfortably heading the ladder for most of the year. Last Saturday's narrow qualifying defeat at the hands of Williamstown and North Ballarat's miracle comeback from 59 points against the Bendigo Bombers had changed the face of the VFL finals. The Roosters were hunting for Zebra scalps and their ambush plans worked to a tee, assisted in no uncertain manner by the inaccuracy in front of goal that has plagued Sandringham over the past month. Sandy regained some handy footballers from the Demons' AFL side in the form of Jace Bode, Lynden Dunn, Ryan Ferguson, Chris Johnson and the high flying Michael Newton along with Chris Lamb in defence and it was thought that the influx of talent would be sufficient to get the side back on track after a some poor lapses of form from the side that finished the home and away season at the top of the table. After all, it was less than a month ago that the Zebras demolished the Roosters by more than 10 goals in similar conditions at Trevor Barker Beach Oval. However, this game was no mere formality and Roosters' coach Gerard FitzGerald and his men were determined to prove the majority of the football world wrong. They were banking on North Ballarat's running power as the key to eliminating Sandringham and the plan worked thanks to their small men led by Matthew Campbell and Lindsay Thomas who booted four and three goals respectively to dash Sandy's finals hopes. The Zebras began full of confidence booting six goals with the aid of the breeze in a high class opening term played out under perfect conditions in Melbourne's spring sunshine. However, the Roosters kept themselves in the game with goals against the run of play and they did well to keep the Sandy lead down to just 13 points. The second quarter opened promisingly for Sandringham with an early goal but North Ballarat started pushing men back into defence and made it hard for the Zebras to break through despite their ascendancy. The whole complexion of the game changed however, when the Roosters persisted with their pressure tactics, forced their opponents into error and then counterattacked through their running small men. Suddenly the goals flowed. Sandy gave away some stupid free kicks as a result of a lack of discipline and their game fell apart as they watched North Ballarat move to a 23-point lead at half-time after an eight goals to two second quarter. In past few seasons, the Zebras have shown strength in the "premiership quarter" but the third quarter of this game was a disaster for them as they managed a woeful 1.8 kicking with the aid of the breeze. Although they had more of the play, their wastefulness in front of goal was diabolical with Bode and Newton missing easy shots from close in and many other opportunities went begging. The Roosters got on top of key Zebras in Peter Summers, Ezra Poyas and Nick Sautner who were all kept in check and by the final break they held a handy 20 point lead. Sandy's never say die approach saw a desperate attempt to fight back in the final term but they remained wayward with their kicking in front of goal. While they missed some easy shots, North Ballarat's Thomas, caused the damage when he managed to conjure up the impossible goal with a kick that meandered from deep in the forward pocket right through the big sticks. When the final siren rang it was North Ballarat's 16.14.110 edged out Sandringham's erratic 12.21.93 of which only four goals were scored from 17 shots in the last half. To the Roosters' credit, it was the pressure they were able to apply that was part of the cause for Sandy's poor kicking and decision making up forward. They say, "bad kicking is bad football" but Sandy must created something of a record for waywardness in front of goal losing its last three games despite having more scoring shots than its opponents. It lost only one game this season against a team that had more scoring opportunities and that was against the Roosters at Ballarat in Round 8. Sandringham coach Mark Williams praised the opposition after the game for their well earned victory: "It's an end of an era and it's a bitter pill to swallow, but you have to give credit to North Ballarat, they were fantastic. "It was a very disappointing end to the season after we scraped our way to the top of the ladder with a young list." That young list will be the key to the club's fortunes in 2008 and beyond with many youngsters sharing in its successes during the season and gaining a blooding under the pressure of finals football. For that reason, 2007 may still be remembered as a key year in the club's history. HOW THE DEMONS FARED The inclusion of five Demons did not turn out to be the panacea for the team's ailing fortunes after its honourable fight back in the qualifying final. Some of the players seemed flat and tired after a long season and they found it difficult to adapt to the conditions just six days after most of their team mates fought out their final battles of a miserable AFL season. Jace Bode - one of the few players in the team with the pace to run with the smaller Rooster brigade. Needs to work on his ball handling and is a bit one sided but he has been one of the improvers of 2007 after an injury riddled debut year at the club. Simon Buckley - flashed in and out of the play without having much of an impact. Lynden Dunn - kicked a couple of goals and looked brilliant at times but his form overall was well below that which he showed in his last two or three games at AFL level. Ryan Ferguson - seemed a little lost up forward but was steady when sent down back and he gave the team a fair bit of drive in the second half. Colin Garland - a quiet game in the back line. Daniel Hughes - had few opportunities and, apart from a couple of strong marks, did very little on the day. Chris Johnson - worked hard all day and was one of Sandringham's best players. Showed great courage after bouncing back from a hard knock in the second half to be immediately back in the play. Shane Neaves - had an average game in the ruck breaking even with his North Ballarat opponents. Michael Newton - an erratic performance from a precocious talent. Took some great marks and was freakish at times but also committed some basic errors. A pre season of development under Dean Bailey should tell the tale as to whether he will go on to football stardom or fall by the wayside. Matthew Warnock - the best of the Zebra defenders who stuck to his task all day and got better as the game went on. Sandringham 6.5.41 8.8.56 9.16.70 12.21.93 North Ballarat 4.4.28 12.7.79 13.12.90 16.14.110 Goals Sandringham Sautner 3 Dunn Newton 2 Bode Buckley Ferguson C Johnson Liddell North Ballarat Campbell 4 Thomas Urch 3 Clifton 2 Goodes Grima Harding Spolding Best Sandringham Bode Valenti Ferguson Warnock Summers Johnson North Ballarat Sharkey Lower Goodes Campbell Clifton Moloney

by Barry from Beach Road TEAC Oval, Port Melbourne has been the scene of many Sandringham triumphs over the past decade or so but on Saturday, it was the place where the Zebras' dream of a record breaking four premierships in a row ended in a shattering 17 point defeat at the hands of North Ballarat in the knock out VFL first semi final. The front cover of this week's TRUenergy VFL Football Record said it all. Sandringham was under the gun after comfortably heading the ladder for most of the year. Last Saturday's narrow qualifying defeat at the hands of Williamstown and North Ballarat's miracle comeback from 59 points against the Bendigo Bombers had changed the face of the VFL finals. The Roosters were hunting for Zebra scalps and their ambush plans worked to a tee, assisted in no uncertain manner by the inaccuracy in front of goal that has plagued Sandringham over the past month. Sandy regained some handy footballers from the Demons' AFL side in the form of Jace Bode, Lynden Dunn, Ryan Ferguson, Chris Johnson and the high flying Michael Newton along with Chris Lamb in defence and it was thought that the influx of talent would be sufficient to get the side back on track after a some poor lapses of form from the side that finished the home and away season at the top of the table. After all, it was less than a month ago that the Zebras demolished the Roosters by more than 10 goals in similar conditions at Trevor Barker Beach Oval. However, this game was no mere formality and Roosters' coach Gerard FitzGerald and his men were determined to prove the majority of the football world wrong. They were banking on North Ballarat's running power as the key to eliminating Sandringham and the plan worked thanks to their small men led by Matthew Campbell and Lindsay Thomas who booted four and three goals respectively to dash Sandy's finals hopes. The Zebras began full of confidence booting six goals with the aid of the breeze in a high class opening term played out under perfect conditions in Melbourne's spring sunshine. However, the Roosters kept themselves in the game with goals against the run of play and they did well to keep the Sandy lead down to just 13 points. The second quarter opened promisingly for Sandringham with an early goal but North Ballarat started pushing men back into defence and made it hard for the Zebras to break through despite their ascendancy. The whole complexion of the game changed however, when the Roosters persisted with their pressure tactics, forced their opponents into error and then counterattacked through their running small men. Suddenly the goals flowed. Sandy gave away some stupid free kicks as a result of a lack of discipline and their game fell apart as they watched North Ballarat move to a 23-point lead at half-time after an eight goals to two second quarter. In past few seasons, the Zebras have shown strength in the "premiership quarter" but the third quarter of this game was a disaster for them as they managed a woeful 1.8 kicking with the aid of the breeze. Although they had more of the play, their wastefulness in front of goal was diabolical with Bode and Newton missing easy shots from close in and many other opportunities went begging. The Roosters got on top of key Zebras in Peter Summers, Ezra Poyas and Nick Sautner who were all kept in check and by the final break they held a handy 20 point lead. Sandy's never say die approach saw a desperate attempt to fight back in the final term but they remained wayward with their kicking in front of goal. While they missed some easy shots, North Ballarat's Thomas, caused the damage when he managed to conjure up the impossible goal with a kick that meandered from deep in the forward pocket right through the big sticks. When the final siren rang it was North Ballarat's 16.14.110 edged out Sandringham's erratic 12.21.93 of which only four goals were scored from 17 shots in the last half. To the Roosters' credit, it was the pressure they were able to apply that was part of the cause for Sandy's poor kicking and decision making up forward. They say, "bad kicking is bad football" but Sandy must created something of a record for waywardness in front of goal losing its last three games despite having more scoring shots than its opponents. It lost only one game this season against a team that had more scoring opportunities and that was against the Roosters at Ballarat in Round 8. Sandringham coach Mark Williams praised the opposition after the game for their well earned victory: "It's an end of an era and it's a bitter pill to swallow, but you have to give credit to North Ballarat, they were fantastic. "It was a very disappointing end to the season after we scraped our way to the top of the ladder with a young list." That young list will be the key to the club's fortunes in 2008 and beyond with many youngsters sharing in its successes during the season and gaining a blooding under the pressure of finals football. For that reason, 2007 may still be remembered as a key year in the club's history. HOW THE DEMONS FARED The inclusion of five Demons did not turn out to be the panacea for the team's ailing fortunes after its honourable fight back in the qualifying final. Some of the players seemed flat and tired after a long season and they found it difficult to adapt to the conditions just six days after most of their team mates fought out their final battles of a miserable AFL season. Jace Bode - one of the few players in the team with the pace to run with the smaller Rooster brigade. Needs to work on his ball handling and is a bit one sided but he has been one of the improvers of 2007 after an injury riddled debut year at the club. Simon Buckley - flashed in and out of the play without having much of an impact. Lynden Dunn - kicked a couple of goals and looked brilliant at times but his form overall was well below that which he showed in his last two or three games at AFL level. Ryan Ferguson - seemed a little lost up forward but was steady when sent down back and he gave the team a fair bit of drive in the second half. Colin Garland - a quiet game in the back line. Daniel Hughes - had few opportunities and, apart from a couple of strong marks, did very little on the day. Chris Johnson - worked hard all day and was one of Sandringham's best players. Showed great courage after bouncing back from a hard knock in the second half to be immediately back in the play. Shane Neaves - had an average game in the ruck breaking even with his North Ballarat opponents. Michael Newton – an erratic performance from a precocious talent. Took some great marks and was freakish at times but also committed some basic errors. A pre season of development under Dean Bailey should tell the tale as to whether he will go on to football stardom or fall by the wayside. Matthew Warnock - the best of the Zebra defenders who stuck to his task all day and got better as the game went on. Sandringham 6.5.41 8.8.56 9.16.70 12.21.93 North Ballarat 4.4.28 12.7.79 13.12.90 16.14.110 Goals Sandringham Sautner 3 Dunn Newton 2 Bode Buckley Ferguson C Johnson Liddell North Ballarat Campbell 4 Thomas Urch 3 Clifton 2 Goodes Grima Harding Spolding Best Sandringham Bode Valenti Ferguson Warnock Summers Johnson North Ballarat Sharkey Lower Goodes Campbell Clifton Moloney

But not everyone has pick 4!

New Melbourne coach Dean Bailey was interviewed today on Adelaide Radio Station 5AA by Ken Cunningham and Graham Cornes. Here's the transcript thanks to Krazy Jay:- 5AA: How did you go about applying for the job? DB: There was an ad in the paper, and like anyone who is looking for a job and looking to further themselves, I just applied for it. 5AA: Did you have someone to put in a good word for you or a personal contact? DB: Ha, ha ... nah … Nothing as sinister and as interesting as what people might've thought. Saw the ad, applied for it and thought I might have a bit of a chance. It was an email that I got with the advertisement and I rang the HR company in Melbourne and said I saw the ad, they said "We'll send out some questions and take it from there" 5AA: Well done, Dean you beat a hot field! DB: Yeah, there seemed to be a few people going for it (laughs). 5AA: Give us some idea of the process these days? DB: Well, they just asked some general questions at first. After I'd sent them back, Chris Harris and Chris Fagan said "Look we'd like to have a chat". It was a very informal chat at Steve's house with Chris Fagan and myself and we just talked footy for a couple of hours. It would be like us three sitting in a room having a quite red and just talking footy. Just a real "get to know you" and obviously the start of the process. 5AA: And what transpired from there? DB: The second interview they just went back to people and there were four. I guess you could call them questions, that we had to answer in a presentation form. Your week at training, what would you do, how would you set it up, perhaps some things that happened inside the coaches box. They didn't really touch on any game plan issues. That didn't really happen till the final interview. So I presented this in Melbourne … 5AA: And the final interview? DB: Then at the last interview you had to go through the pre-game discussion. It was actually an Adelaide game, as if I was coaching Melbourne. You had to look at the last two or three games Adelaide had played, analyse their strengths and weaknesses and come up with a strategy and a tactical meeting about who would you play on who and that was quite intense! Then to finish it up you had to do a post-game analysis of the Melbourne v Bulldogs game. 5AA: Goodness, gracious me. I should hope you had a chance to look at them thoroughly? DB: Yeah absolutely. You were given about a week and a bit to look at two or three of the recent games, in the case of the Adelaide one, it was Adelaide v Carlton, Adelaide v Richmond and Adelaide v Brisbane. The Bulldogs v Melbourne game was like, you play it, they give you a copy of the game to take home and look at, and then you present it. 5AA: So it was pretty intense! Did you have to talk to the panel as though they were your players? DB: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was very much in one sense a role play where you were trying to educate them off the screen, in both the pre-game and then of course the post-game. In the room was Gary Lyon, Nathan Burke and Peter Schwab and they asked some pretty good football questions. Also there was a psychologist in there who asked more of the psych questions regarding preparing player etc. Which was quite good. 5AA: Gee, Dean when you left that last meeting, how confident were you that you would get the job? DB: Umm … I was the third person on and Damien Hardwick was up after me. The guys in the room had been there for maybe five hours before my two hour interview so Damien coming in fourth maybe didn't get them quite as alert as I had 'em (laughs). Look, all I did was present, walked out and thought, "well, that seemed to go ok". But I didn't walk out of there thinking I had the job, No.... 5AA: Was there any one thing where you though "I've really got these guys" and you sensed that you had them in the palm of your hand? DB: Nah ... because there's so much information to talk about and the length of the preparation and the length of interview, it was really bouncing around. They'd bring you back to an issue and ask you "What are you gonna do with the match-up here?" or "What are you gonna do there?" So I never felt like "Yep I've got em!" They just kept throwing questions at me for just over an hour. They certainly kept us on our toes, well ... kept me on my toes that's for sure! 5AA: And how did you get the call? How did that happen? DB: Yeah well, Steve Harris rang me just to let me know that I was the preferred candidate and I said well "That's terrific". My wife was very happy, my two boys were jumping all over the place and so it was pretty exciting for about 30-40 minutes and after that we sort of settled down a bit (laughs) 5AA: Has it been a dream, since your playing days, to one day coach? DB: I think after I finished playing football in 1992 and I left the AFL and I came across to Glenelg, I found that the coaching, teaching and helping element while you're playing, I actually quite enjoyed it. Choco Williams was coaching for those two years and I got a lot of enjoyment out of watching the young fellas learn and just giving them little bits of advice that they would take on and they'd come up after the match, or the next few matches, and say "Thanks for that". It just felt very rewarding and I thought well, maybe coaching might be something I could be good at. 5AA: When do you move over there? DB: I think the first week of December after the kids have finished school, the kids and my wife will come over, but I'll be jumping sort of back 'n forth for the next few months. 5AA: What about your assistants? Is that the slate wiped clean and you re-build again or I guess Mark Riley deserves to be there. What about the others? DB: Well, Chris Connolly has just been made Football Operations so the structure that we wanna go down is probably a couple of weeks away from finalising it. But, I must admit, the Melbourne footy club over the last seven to eight weeks have held their head high and it's a testament to not only Mark but the players to continue on and still put the efforts in which gave them a chance to win games. So there are still some very good elements in the club. 5AA: They haven't got a home. How much of a concern is it to you and how do you overcome that? DB: Well, obviously two to three years down the track they're moving to the new precinct which I think is just starting to get built. But look, when I walked in at the Junction Oval it smelled like a footy club. It smelled like there'd been a fair bit of sweat on the floor and in the gym and I know it's not the most flashy facility going around, such as what Adelaide and Port Adelaide have got, but it really smelled like a footy club and I reckon' that's an important thing to have! A weight is a weight regardless of how shiny it is boys. It still weighs the same! 5AA: Dean, you met the players yesterday I think it was, How receptive were they? DB: Yeah, they were quite good. I did ask them whether they knew anything about me or wanted to ask me anything. But as all players do, over time I guess they will be a little bit harder with their questions of me. But look, I spoke to them for about 20 minutes and I spoke to Bohdan Babijczuk for a fair amount of time and I gave him my views on conditioning and how important the time off is and everything. But obviously that was really the first time I had spoken to the players and I spoke to a couple of them individually afterwards and they're fairly excited about next year! Which was a really good vibe I got off them and look some of the senior players are really disappointed about their year, and it was almost that they were embarrassed. (voice raises a touch) But look, there is a hunger amongst some of those senior players there and talking about how disappointing the year has been. Some of the senior boys are talking about coming back for the start of pre-season fitter than they have before and I think that augurs well for a strong break. 5AA: Dean, when will you, if we can use the word, "Overhaul" your list at Melbourne? DB: Well, Craig Cameron, our list manager and our "Recruiting Guru", I have already put a lot of pressure on him already! 5AA: Have you really? DB: Oh yeah! We'll sit down in the next couple of weeks and go through it again. Craig's been in the business a long time and he's very well respected and he's certainly got some views and we'll just need to nut those things out. But obviously with the list we'll certainly be making some changes. 5AA: And who do you try and pinch from Port Adelaide? Because you've seen it happen before with Clarkson, obviously you've worked with guys there who must have impressed you. Have you been warned off in that regard? DB: Ha ha! Maybe I'm gonna pinch 'em from Hawthorn! (A lot of laughing) 5AA: Were you disappointed that you didn't get an interview at Essendon? DB: No, not really. To be brutally honest with you, I rang them and asked them and they said "Look we don't think you're the sort of high profile coach we're after". Look, I was really impressed with their honesty and I hope they get a coach who best reflects their needs because that's what Melbourne's done. Seriously, I'm not bitter about it at all. I'm absolutely happy where I'm headed! The most important thing is they'll get someone who can actually coach I think! (I like this guy a lot already!) 5AA: And what about Chris Connolly who also applied for the job now becoming the football manager? DB: We spent a lot of time together Chris and myself. We must have spent four or five hours together. His experience of when he first got to Fremantle and building the club and all those sorts of things are very, very valuable! Particularly where Melbourne's at, so he was really good. Chris really has an enormous passion for the Melbourne Football Club. I know he is a past player and a life member and all that, but he just wants to see this club back to where it should be. And you know, after four or five hours, I spoke to Chris, (Steve) Harris and Paul Gardiner and Chris just ticked a lot of boxes. He was just so overly enthusiastic about it all.. I think he's gonna do a very, very good job! 5AA: Well, thanks very much Dean ... Good luck with the new job and we wish you every success.... DB: Thanks guys.... It's an exciting time for not only myself but for everyone involved at the club!