Demonland

by The Oracle What do you make out of a game played in the energy sapping conditions of a hot autumn night; where the rules are more than a bit quirky, both sides are at about two-thirds their capacity and utilising some very rusty players clearly displaying the fact that they are in the early stages of their preparation three or four weeks out from a six month long season? Apart from the entertainment value and the performances of a few youngsters – not much. That's how the Melbourne v Brisbane Lions affair turned out at Telstra Dome although one has to add that it was gratifying from a Demon viewpoint that, for the second week running, the team came from behind in trying conditions to nose their way in front, hold on to a slim lead and move further into this silly pre-season competition. These are experiences that will hold them in good stead as the season wears on. The visitors were without skipper Michael Voss, Nigel Lappin, Jonathan Brown and Chris and Brad Scott but they still managed to slip their way to a narrow lead at quarter time before the Demons, with Aaron Davey and Russell Robertson shining up forward wrested the lead halfway through the second term and went away to a 14 point lead at the main break thanks to a Paul Johnson's after the siren goal. Melbourne was also without a good few of its better performers including (in number order) Clint Bizzell, Ben Holland, Brock McLean, Daniel Ward, Adem Yze, Daniel Bell, Brent Moloney, Cameron Bruce and Ryan Ferguson. Despite that, the half time lead would have been greater but for some appalling kicking for goal with at least three easy set shots from within the fifty metre arc going begging. Not to mention some sloppy ball handling and judgment errors - but let's not get to critical because, after all, it’s early March and we still have to get through the Commonwealth Games and bits of the Formula One Grand Prix before we can think serious football. Melbourne forged further ahead in the first six or seven minutes of the third quarter thanks to some strong marking and two goals from Brad Miller and suddenly it had opened up a 26-point lead. It would take a lot of indiscipline, sloppy football and some very ordinary umpiring decisions to reverse that situation but that’s what happened and by early in the final quarter, the Lions were in front. To their credit, the Demons who at that stage looked spent after last week’s Darwin sauna, fought their way back and it was none other than the stars of the game Aaron Davey and Russell Robertson who booted the clinching goals. The Demons had started with a stellar line up on the bench including ruckman Jeff White, last week's hero Travis Johnstone, Miller and Paul Wheatley but coach Neale Daniher worked the interchange overtime taking overheated players on and off the ground in the hot and stuffy conditions. One of last week’s stars in Matthew Bate was having a shocker and was dragged a few times in the first half. Luckily for the youngster, this was not a fair dinkum riggidy didge game because, in normal circumstances, I think he might have sat out the second half. As it was, he was given another opportunity and finished the game off quite well although a tape of the first half will not remain long in his pet collection. Still the lad is just 18 years of age and has a definite future. Another youngster who has come from the clouds is Clint Bartram who was drafted last November at number 60 from Geelong Falcons. The 18 year old was given the task of shadowing Brownlow Medallist Jason Akermanis. He scrapped and scragged and kept his mind on the job all night and, although Akker had his moments, it's suffice to say that the Brisbane star wasn't doing cartwheels or bragging to the media after the game. Colin Sylvia was brilliant in the midfield and around the ground. As with last week, he got the first clearance and then he was tough, hard at the ball and kicked beautifully most of the time. He's coming on in leaps and bounds as are the two Johnsons Chris and Paul. Chris showed some silky skills and class and booted two crucial goals while Paul played the agile big man role beautifully. The highlight of the game was his pack mark and goal from a difficult angle after the half time siren. As good as Sylvia was on the night, there were four others with whom he shared the night's honours. Robbo was brilliant up forward covering for an out of sorts David Neitz who lacked a run or two. His marking and evasiveness on the ground were terrific and he could easily have ended with eight goals if he took his kicking boots with him to the ground. Aaron Davey was at his elusive best. He stands a lot taller these days with Byron Pickett and Daniel Motlop around and his understanding with the Byronator was simply sensational. Travis Johnstone put on another display after starting slowly when coming off the bench halfway through the first quarter. His kicking and evasion skills were a delight. The other hero was slightly unsung on the night – Matty Whelan hardly put a foot wrong in defence and saved the game on so many occasions it wasn’t funny. But then again, there’s not much funny about football in early March. In fact, the game wasn't all sweetness and light – the club still has some problems in its key defensive positions. Hopefully Jared Rivers elbow injury is not as bad as it looked when he trudged off the ground in agony because he was the best of them. Alistair Nicholson was out bodied one or two times too many by Daniel Merrett (although he chimed in with some timely punches at times and Nathan Carroll, despite his Chopper Read looks, didn’t scare the Lions' attacking players and seemed a bit overawed by the occasion. by The Oracle What do you make out of a game played in the energy sapping conditions of a hot autumn night; where the rules are more than a bit quirky, both sides are at about two-thirds their capacity and utilising some very rusty players clearly displaying the fact that they are in the early stages of their preparation three or four weeks out from a six month long season? Apart from the entertainment value and the performances of a few youngsters - not much. That's how the Melbourne v Brisbane Lions affair turned out at Telstra Dome although one has to add that it was gratifying from a Demon viewpoint that, for the second week running, the team came from behind in trying conditions to nose their way in front, hold on to a slim lead and move further into this silly pre-season competition. These are experiences that will hold them in good stead as the season wears on. The visitors were without skipper Michael Voss, Nigel Lappin, Jonathan Brown and Chris and Brad Scott but they still managed to slip their way to a narrow lead at quarter time before the Demons, with Aaron Davey and Russell Robertson shining up forward wrested the lead halfway through the second term and went away to a 14 point lead at the main break thanks to Paul Johnson's after the siren goal. Melbourne was also without a good few of its better performers including (in number order) Clint Bizzell, Ben Holland, Brock McLean, Daniel Ward, Adem Yze, Daniel Bell, Brent Moloney, Cameron Bruce and Ryan Ferguson. Despite that, the half time lead would have been greater but for some appalling kicking for goal with at least three easy set shots from within the fifty metre arc going begging. Not to mention some sloppy ball handling and judgment errors - but let's not get to critical because, after all, it's early March and we still have to get through the Commonwealth Games and bits of the Formula One Grand Prix before we can think serious football. Melbourne forged further ahead in the first six or seven minutes of the third quarter thanks to some strong marking and two goals from Brad Miller and suddenly it had opened up a 26-point lead. It would take a lot of indiscipline, sloppy football and some very ordinary umpiring decisions to reverse that situation but that's what happened and by early in the final quarter, the Lions were in front. To their credit, the Demons who at that stage looked spent after last week's Darwin sauna, fought their way back and it was none other than the stars of the game Aaron Davey and Russell Robertson who booted the clinching goals. The Demons had started with a stellar line up on the bench including ruckman Jeff White, last week's hero Travis Johnstone, Miller and Paul Wheatley but coach Neale Daniher worked the interchange overtime taking overheated players on and off the ground in the hot and stuffy conditions. One of last week's stars in Matthew Bate was having a shocker and was dragged a few times in the first half. Luckily for the youngster, this was not a fair dinkum riggidy didge game because, in normal circumstances, I think he might have sat out the second half. As it was, he was given another opportunity and finished the game off quite well although a tape of the first half will not remain long in his pet collection. Still the lad is just 18 years of age and has a definite future. Another youngster who has come from the clouds is Clint Bartram who was drafted last November at number 60 from Geelong Falcons. The 18 year old was given the task of shadowing Brownlow Medallist Jason Akermanis. He scrapped and scragged and kept his mind on the job all night and, although Akker had his moments, it's suffice to say that the Brisbane star wasn't doing cartwheels or bragging to the media after the game. Colin Sylvia was brilliant in the midfield and around the ground. As with last week, he got the first clearance and then he was tough, hard at the ball and kicked beautifully most of the time. He's coming on in leaps and bounds as are the two Johnsons Chris and Paul. Chris showed some silky skills and class and booted two crucial goals while Paul played the agile big man role beautifully. The highlight of the game was his pack mark and goal from a difficult angle after the half time siren. As good as Sylvia was on the night, there were four others with whom he shared the night's honours. Robbo was brilliant up forward covering for an out of sorts David Neitz who lacked a run or two. His marking and evasiveness on the ground were terrific and he could easily have ended with eight goals if he took his kicking boots with him to the ground. Aaron Davey was at his elusive best. He stands a lot taller these days with Byron Pickett and Daniel Motlop around and his understanding with the Byronator was simply sensational. Travis Johnstone put on another display after starting slowly when coming off the bench halfway through the first quarter. His kicking and evasion skills were a delight. The other hero was slightly unsung on the night - Matty Whelan hardly put a foot wrong in defence and saved the game on so many occasions it wasn't funny. But then again, there's not much funny about football in early March. In fact, the game wasn't all sweetness and light - the club still has some problems in its key defensive positions. Hopefully Jared Rivers elbow injury is not as bad as it looked when he trudged off the ground in agony because he was the best of them by far. Alistair Nicholson was out bodied one or two times too many by Daniel Merrett (although he chimed in with some timely punches at times) and Nathan Carroll, despite his Chopper Read looks, didn't scare the Lions' attacking players and seemed a bit overawed by the occasion. So we march on to the nabcup semi finals and Neale Daniher, whilst pleased at the results so far, still has a lot of work to do. Melbourne: 0.2.3, 0.7.7, 0.10.10 0.13.12 (90) Brisbane Lions: 0.2.5, 0.5.5, 0.9.7, 0.12.9 (81) 9 point goals: Melbourne: Nil Brisbane Lions: Nil 6 point goals: Melbourne: Robertson 5 Davey 3 C Johnson Miller 2 P Johnson Brisbane Lions: M Clark Merrett 3 Notting 2 Akermanis, Attard Harding Best: Melbourne: Johnstone Robertson Davey Whelan Sylvia Green Brisbane Lions: Black Power Merrett Rischitelli Fixter M Clark Injuries: Melbourne: Rivers (elbow) Brisbane Lions: M.Clark (thumb) Reports: Nil Umpires: Head McLaren Wenn Woodcock Crowd 11,612 at Telstra Dome

Is it too late to include Bater?

by Whispering Jack There were not many real characters and even less of a plot to Friday night's battle between two different casts of players - for these purposes we shall call them the "Bulldogs" and the "Demons". The two groups were sent northward to the far reaches of the land and, after the setting of the sun, they played a funny game in a fairyland setting by a forest of mangroves. The place was known as Marrara Oval in a town called Darwin and there they endured late summer heat and humidity followed by driving rain. Ultimately, after a night of high drama, it was the Demons who, against unlikely odds, survived to move on to the next round in their quest to win a golden cup and two hundred thousand or so pieces of silver. Enough of the pixies, the fairies and the lousy poetic licence! Back in the world of reality surely the opening round of this nabcup wasn't meant to end the way it did with a Melbourne victory? It was on Wednesday afternoon when I was travelling home from work in that other world, trapped in a snarling traffic jam, that I caught the middle of a conversation on SEN radio in which an irate David Schwarz was berating the Melbourne Football Club selectors about them not taking this whole nabcup seriously. The ex-Demon champ was most incensed as he told the story of how he, as a young Hawthorn fan, had cried when his club lost one of their pre season night games. The supporters take these things seriously you know and besides, Melbourne isn't out of the financial woods yet and it should be trying its darndest to win the money. I didn't get to see the named squad until much later but it was already obvious that Neale Daniher was going to leave a number of the club's leading lights at home and that conversely, the Doggies were running with a near full strength line up. As we saw on the night however, that doesn't always matter - particularly in the unfamiliar conditions endured in the Top End. It was never going to be a game for your talls and, as a consequence, Melbourne was wise to leave out most of its experienced big men. The Bulldogs don't have much of that commodity anyway so we were left with a game for the mainly super fit midsize players who were able to run and create space in the slippery conditions. Daniher's selection gamble therefore wasn't much of a gamble at all and the Demons had plenty of goers who could handle the situation admirably. The final squads saw them fielding eight players (including four rookies) who had no senior AFL experience while the Doggies had just one and he was their first round draft pick from last year. Melbourne opened full of running and the dangerous Aaron Davey was full of dash as he snaffled the opening two goals. His mate, Shannon Motlop was showing the benefit of a full AFL pre season as he cut a swathe through the Bulldog midfield and but for a nine pointer from Ryan Murphy, his team's quarter time deficit would have been positively embarrassing. Byron Pickett kicked off the second term with a nice goal for his new club and the Dees could easily have gone to a handy 34-point lead when a long kick from Russell Robertson from outside 50 metres just shaved the woodwork. The Bulldog counter attack was devastating as they came down the ground for a quick rebound goal and then another to narrow the deficit to just 14 points in what was almost the blink of an eye. Melbourne's inaccuracy wasn't helping but ironically, it was Davey who was so wayward with his kicking for goal last year, who booted the steadier to see the Demons to a handy half time lead. Neal Daniher would have pleased with the performances of some of the younger brigade - especially Matthew Bate who had the ball on a string, Colin Sylvia (coming good at last?) and Paul Johnson who formed part of a winning ruck with Mark Jamar for most of the night. The third quarter was a bit of a disaster for Melbourne as the Western Bulldogs experienced midfielders in West, Giansiracusa, Johnson and company took over and ran the ball long and direct into their forward line. Some of the younger (and not so young) Demons appeared to be tiring and errors began to creep into their game. They gave up possession too easily with some costly turnovers and free kicks and suddenly the Doggies were in front and in the ascendancy with a 5 point three quarter time lead that was stretched to 11 one minute into the final term. It was at this stage where the older, wiser heads came to the fore for Melbourne. The class and skill of Adem Yze, Travis Johnstone, Matty Whelan and Russell Robertson saw the team come back and it was Robbo, who in the end sealed the game with his third goal. Pleasing aspects of the game from Neale Daniher's point of view would have been the way the players teamed together in the conditions, the performance of the two young ruckmen, the return to form of Jared Rivers in defence, Shannon Motlop and Byron Pickett and the continued promise of the youngsters. Bate was a special with a team high 17 disposals up to three quarter time (it's early days yet but the decision to draft him and a couple of others very young and underage at last year's draft is really looking good from where I sit), rookie Matthew Warnock was very good early in defence and Clint Bartram was a bit of a surprise packet with his endeavour and willingness in the contest. Lynden Dunn didn't have too many opportunities early but got better as the game went on and he will gain a lot from his participation at this level. Rookies Daniel Hughes and Andre Gianfagna didn't look out of place among their AFL rivals but All Australians Nathan Jones and Jayce Bode were used sparingly and were quiet. I did like the way Daniher played the youngsters - he knows their capability and isn't going to burden them with too much work too early in their careers. So at the end of the late summer's night, the team is alive and moves on to a quarter final next Friday night at Telstra Dome against the Brisbane Lions. As far as the events in Darwin are concerned, they're now history and we don't really have to ask whether they were real or if it was all a dream. It may well have been a case of 'much ado about nothing' and we mere mortals may all be fools but if the results of the 2006 season can be as pleasing as this one was, then perhaps we aren't making up numbers this time and something good will happen when summer passes to autumn and through the winter into springtime. Melbourne: 0.4.4, 0.6.12, 0.6.13, 0.9.15 (69) Western Bulldogs: 1.0.1, 1.3.4, 1.6.9, 1.7.12 (63) 9 point goals: Melbourne: Nil Western Bulldogs: Murphy 6 point goals: Melbourne: Davey Robertson 3 McDonald Motlop Pickett Western Bulldogs: Murphy 3 Faulkner Giansiracusa Johnson Minson Best: Melbourne: Johnstone Davey Yze Robertson Bate Motlop Rivers Western Bulldogs: Giansiracusa Murphy Johnson West Morris Gilbee Injuries: Melbourne: Bizzell (back) Western Bulldogs: Gilbee (leg) Reports: Nil Umpires: Ellis Donlon Woodcock Grun Crowd 6000 (approx) at Marrara Oval Darwin.

A HISTORY OF THE MELBOURNE FOOTBALL CLUB: PART 9 IN THE WILDERNESS ... by the Professor Melbourne's 1964 premiership pennant was unfurled before the opening game of 1965. Missing from the lineup were Ron Barassi (who had been lured to Carlton as its captain coach) and "Bluey" Adams (retired) as the Demons struggled to win by 6 points against co-tenants Richmond who had been mauled by 113 points when they met in round 10 of the previous season. Although Melbourne won their first eight games straight to hold premiership favouritism, the times were a changing. Carlton and Richmond were emerging with new forms of professional administration that was to considerably alter the football balance of power. When the crash came, it hit Melbourne with a vengeance. Melbourne was thrashed on the MCG against St. Kilda on Queen's Birthday. The team's form slumped over the following weeks and then came the shock sacking and reinstatement of Norm Smith. Considering Smith's record - 4 premierships as a player and 6 as coach - the dismissal was an incredible blunder. This was recognised by the club when Smith was re-appointed after just one week. To his credit, Smith "ate humble pie" and resumed his duties for another year and continued to coach until the end of the 1967 season. By that time Melbourne had lost its magic touch in recruiting and the golden era was over. By 1969 the once mighty Demons could win only three games and claimed the dreaded wooden spoon. Melbourne suffered a number of reversals of fortune during the 1970's. In 1971, former great player Ian Ridley was appointed coach. Under captain Frank Davis the team began the season in brilliant fashion winning 8 of their first 9 games. With the talent available including Stan Alves, Gary Hardeman, Greg Wells, Ross Dillon, Greg Parke, interstate stars Graeme Molloy and John Tilbrook and a young giant in Peter Keenan there was a great deal of optimism in the camp. But a wet winter and a drop in form put paid to Melbourne's year and the team slumped to finish seventh. This decline continued in 1972 and again in 1973 despite the recruitment of St. Kilda star Carl Ditterich. By 1974, with triple Brownlow Medallist Bobby Skilton as coach, the team finished last. Melbourne's ability to improve was restricted by unproductive recruiting zones and a lack of initiative in recruiting as its unimaginative administration lagged behind its more progressive counterparts. The doyen of Club Secretaries, Jim Cardwell, retired from his post after 25 years in 1975 as the Demons began to make a little headway under Skilton's coaching. A new young star in Robert Flower was emerging as a football of exquisite skills and Melbourne also gained from the toughness of Laurie Fowler who crossed from Richmond to win the club best and fairest. The advent of colour television led the club to alter the club's colours to royal blue in place of navy blue - a decision that was reversed in 1987. By 1976, Melbourne was ready to return to the finals but luck dealt the club a cruel blow. After a reasonable start was followed by a mid-season slump, the Demons hit their straps to win the last four games by big margins. They had only to win their last match against Collingwood and hope for an in-form top team Carlton to defeat Footscray to topple the Bulldogs out of the final five. History records that Carlton and Footscray drew meaning that Melbourne missed out by two premiership points. The Demons were doubly unlucky because the Bulldogs had won their previous game with a goal after the siren. Captain Stan Alves was lured to North Melbourne at the conclusion of the season and Melbourne plummeted to the depths once again. New coaches Dennis Jones and then Carl Ditterich (as captain-coach) could stem the tide. Melbourne was hampered by poor administration, poor recruiting zones and a lack of direction. By 1981 it was time for Ron Barassi to return to the fold. During 1980 the Melbourne Football Club began a total rebuilding process which saw a partial break between the Melbourne Football Club and the Melbourne Cricket Club with the football club becoming a public company limited by guarantee. Ron Barassi - Melbourne's greatest son - had been successful as a coach at Carlton and North Melbourne and supporters were clamouring for his return as coach. Barassi did return to Melbourne but his task was a difficult one. The team disappointed in 1981 to collect the wooden spoon but showed some promise under Barassi's youth policy to improve to eighth position in 1982. North Melbourne recruit Brian Wilson won the Brownlow Medal after a stellar season. Gerrard Healy and Mark Jackson were emerging as promising forwards. Despite the recruitment of Brownlow Medallists Peter Moore from Collingwood and Kelvin Templeton from Footscray, the Club was unable to improve its position on the ladder over the ensuing years and, apart from a second Brownlow to Peter Moore the Demons made no headway and Barassi resigned at the end of 1985 having failed to lift the club in five seasons. The club was thrown into turmoil after the 1985 season when a reform group attempted to overthrow the existing Board headed by Sir. Billy Snedden. The high cost of legal action dampened the spirit of the challengers. Barassi's replacement was a low profile coach in John Northey who was disappointed after the team struggled to finish in eleventh position in 1986 - the same position it occupied in the previous season. There were whispers during the season of Melbourne's possible participation of a merger with another V.F.L club. The face of football was now changing rapidly as teams from Western Australia and Brisbane were invited to join the former South Melbourne (now Sydney) as the competition's interstate clubs for the 1987 season. It was clear that with the inclusion of new teams there would be pressure on a number of Victorian teams to improve their performance. The Demons had to emerge from the rut of more than two decades of failure if they were to survive in the new national competition.

by Scoop Junior While it has been made clear that the NAB Cup is not a priority for the Demons this year (and nor should it be), at least weather wise the team will have had a decent build up to their opening match in Darwin. After match practice last week on the Gold Coast, the Dees had their first four-quarter hit out today at Victoria Park in hot conditions, which should help them adapt to the searing conditions they will have to face in the Top End. In what was a fairly relaxed intra-club match, which featured a number of Sandringham players after half time, several youngsters put their case forward for an appearance in the NAB Cup, while last year’s goalkicking dynamo Russell Robertson put in an impressive display which included some trademark grabs. Simon Buckley, Ben Holland, Brock McLean, David Neitz, Daniel Ward, Brent Moloney, Heath Neville and Phil Read were non-starters, while Brad Miller, Colin Sylvia and Byron Pickett only played a half each. There didn’t appear to be any injury in the first half to the latter three, so presumably their reduced game time was planned before the match. Here are my observations of the players: Nathan Jones – very promising performance. Improved as the game went on and showed that he can already match it at this level (although the second half was littered with Sandringham players). Played mostly in midfield and displayed good skills and the ability to find the footy. Did not look overawed or uncomfortable at this higher level and just gives that impression that he will be a player. Got the crowd cheering with a lovely smother to turn the ball over. Gritty ball magnets with good skills are not easy to find but we may have one here. Should play in Darwin. Clint Bizzell – played on Bate on the wing before being switched. Found a fair bit of the footy but his red-headed opponent was more prominent and damaging in the first half. Looked fit and moved around the ground well, but perhaps spending time out of defence may be an indication that he will need to lift again to reclaim his spot in the back six after losing it late last season. Matthew Bate – in sizzling form early on a wing. Found the ball in midfield and delivered some lovely long passes into the forward line, with one resulting in a goal to Robertson. Faded after that but lifted again in the last term, including a 5-minute purple patch where he found lots of possessions and kicked a nice goal on the run. Impressive performance and should be a certainty for next week. Brad Miller – only played a half. Presented well and took a few marks in the first quarter. Missed a set shot from straight in front in the first term and was quieter in the second. Couldn’t read too much into his performance. Alistair Nicholson – battled manfully but seemed to fumble quite a bit. Was honest in the one-on-one contests and was solid defensively, but just lacked polish when the ball hit the deck or was in his hands. Almost successfully engineered a baulk around Flash, but just as the impossible appeared possible, Flash stuck out a hand and slapped the ball out of bounds. Paul Johnson – switched between full forward and ruck. Took a nice mark in a contest…albeit on his chest…and then dropped a regulation mark out on the lead. Finally took an overhead grab in the third quarter which almost brought the house down. PJ again looked good roaming around the ground with his mobility and foot skills. It’s a broken record but unless his marking can improve, he is not a forward threat. Kicked 2 goals. Colin Sylvia – played a half. Switched between midfield and half forward. Got a bit of the ball and laid a crunching tackle in the middle of the ground. Like Miller, it is difficult to assess his performance given his limited game time. Adem Yze – played across half back, went off for a spell and then finished in the midfield. Appeared to be more prominent when his fellow defenders had the ball, as he would run to create space to receive a pass. Didn’t really notice him defensively; whether that means he did his job without much fuss or was not really involved in the play was unclear to me. Lynden Dunn – played up forward. Limited impact. Had a chance to snag a goal in the last term but his stab kick from 15m on the run was touched on the line. He probably should have tried to kick it into Lulie St, but he will learn from that. Conjured up a nice piece of play just before the siren when he gathered the footy, spun and hit CJ with a lovely pass. May be a chance for next week. Still only young but would like to see more impact. Nick Smith – disappointing for mine. Looked fairly slow and ungainly on the lead and struggled to have any influence. Was blitzed by Carroll in the first half and didn’t have much success when switching teams for the second half. Intercepted a kick in from full back and slotted a nice goal from the resultant set shot, but other than that was largely anonymous. Travis Johnstone – solid four quarter effort from Trav. Set up play well for his team, brought others into the game and kicked 2 goals. Looks set to continue on from last year’s best and fairest form. Chris Johnson – not particularly busy, but just so classy when in possession of the ball. Started at half back and finished up forward. This kid has loads of ability and can really take some strides forward this year. Took a classical mark second in line in a pack on the forward flank in the last term and kicked a goal later on. Looking forward to his progress this year. Brad Green – had a heap of the ball in the second term. Was almost playing the style of a central defensive midfielder in soccer. For those unfamiliar with that role, Green was planted defensive side of midfield (near the defensive line on the centre square). He was often the first to receive the ball coming out of defence and picked up numerous kicks. Did not notice him as much in the second half. Would still like to see him improve at winning his own ball, though. Clint Bartram – outpointed by Davey early but displayed his persistence in fighting back on other opponents. Played back pocket and midifield and showed a good appetite for the game. Made a number of errors under pressure but didn’t let it get to him and kept persisting. Raw and skinny but displays competitiveness. Daniel Bell – slightly disappointing, particularly because I’ve got a very high opinion of Belly. Gave away free kicks a little recklessly and perhaps didn’t find as much footy as he would’ve liked to. Seemed to spend most of his time in defence. Has built up significantly over the off-season and has the body to cause genuine damage to the opposition. Kicked a goal after a 50m penalty. James McDonald – started well in midfield and faded towards the end. Played a decent game and was in the thick of things as usual. Same old honest performance from Junior. Russell Robertson – clearly the best forward on the ground. Outplayed his opponent in Warnock and booted 3 goals. Should have kicked more but for some wayward kicking. 2 of his goals were preceded by strong pack marks that you now take for granted from Robbo, while he managed to pull down his customary screamer in the second term. It is amazing how this bloke has improved from a hot-and-cold flanker to a consistent potent forward threat in his time at Melbourne. At the peak of his career now. Nathan Brown – this bloke is amazing, just runs hard all day and finds the footy. Still preferred to use the chip kick option coming out of the backline, but his work rate sets a great example for the younger players. Took a typically gutsy mark running back with the flight of the ball deep in defence. Jared Rivers – solid performance defensively, but made a couple of kicking errors early and wasn’t at his best with the ball in his hands. Didn’t have a great deal to do with Neitz in the stands and Miller on his team. Will be keen to see him next week as I’m confident he can get back to his brilliant 2004 form. Michael Newton – showed good mobility for a bloke of his size but had limited impact. Kicked a goal early but didn’t really impose himself onto the contest. Like Dunn, though, his age needs to be taken into account. Appeared to play in defence in the last quarter. Slim chance for next week I would presume. Simon Godfrey – played mostly around the midfield. Was a surprise to see him in as I've read from the training reports that he had been hampered by a leg injury. Did not really notice Godders that much and there’s little doubt that he’ll find it difficult to break into the senior side if everyone is up and running. Paul Wheatley – also didn’t see much of Wheatley. Played in the backline early and barely saw him in the second half. Cameron Bruce – started like a house on fire in the first quarter before fading out of the game. Started in midfield and was dominant and switched to a position deep in the forward line. Hopefully he can build on his pre-season and get back to the form of early 2005 when he was BOG three weeks in a row. Byron Pickett – only played a half but showed a touch of class in stints up forward and in the midfield. There was a situation where he could have run through a player, but obviously Byron was having none of that. Had it been an opposition player, the poor bloke may have ended up in row G in the Collingwood members stand on the wing. My only concern was his body shape – seemed overweight and not in peak condition. Will be interesting to see next week to say the least. Jeff White – rucked and spent time forward in the last quarter. Wasn’t his usual busy self around the ground and didn’t have much impact up forward. No concern though as the season has barely even started and White won’t be playing next week. Ryan Ferguson – I think he started on Miller at centre half back. If so, he was beaten early, but played a decent game after that. In the second half he was pitted against Smith and clearly took the honours in that contest. His presence further up the ground at centre half back (away from the last line of defence) may be an indication of where he will spend more time this year. Aaron Davey – started brilliantly on youngster Bartram, kicking an early goal and was lively during the match. Missed a few shots, though, which should be converted from a player of his ability. Not at his best but a decent performance. Matthew Warnock – had the unenviable task of minding Robbo and was outgunned. Just didn’t have the nous to go with him. It was possibly too big an ask for him to play on a bloke who booted 70-odd goals last year, but I’m sure it was a good learning experience for him. Daniel Hughes – impressive performance from the former Zebra. Hughes played up forward and showed an excellent pair of hands and good pace off the mark. He times his leads well, is a nice size (but will need to add muscle to his frame) and appears to be quite smart around the goals. Also has a decent leap and pulled down a couple notable grabs. Kicked 2 goals. Shane Neaves – spent time deep in the forward line and had no impact. Didn’t look all that mobile chasing his opponent out of defence on one occasion. Young and raw. Mark Jamar – his ruckwork was good but didn’t seem to have much of an impact around the ground. Spent time forward, but looked more comfortable in a rucking role. Will have the number one ruckman’s spot next week and it will be interesting to see whether he can step up to the task. Nathan Carroll – too good for Smith early, the man with the appalling hairstyle/moustache combination showed glimpses of his late 2005 form with a solid defensive performance. Will need to be tested by stronger opposition before any statements can be made on how much he has improved over the off-season. Andre Gianfagna – displayed speed and a neat left foot. This rookie performed well, booting 3 goals, including one on the run from deep in the pocket. Appears to be an outside type who likes space to work in, but shows that he has class and an ability to find the big sticks. Played across half forward and on the wing. Jace Bode – quiet early but got better as the game wore on. He is a big and strong midfielder and ran through the lines well. Not a classical left footer’s kicking action, but nevertheless a nice long kick of the ball. Kicked a great goal on the run in the third term and perhaps is some chance of playing next week. Along with Hughes, he was the most impressive of the rookies. Shannon Motlop – very good game. Found plenty of the ball in midfield and generally used it well, either spotting up a teammate or kicking long with plenty of penetration. Booted a nice goal from 50. Has that touch of class which is important and could be one to improve during the season. Matthew Whelan – really didn’t seem to notice Wheels too much. He had a quiet game. Not one of his best performances. I just want to make it clear that you cannot read too much into intra-club games. I have provided my observations to inform those who couldn’t attend the game today and shed some light on players’ performances. It’s only February and there’s a long way to go before the real stuff begins…and, ultimately, that’s what counts. Yellow 4.4.28 6.7.43 8.12.60 10.14.74 Blue 3.1.19 4.2.26 6.3.39 10.4.64 Goals: Yellow Robertson 3 P Johnson 2 Bate Bell Davey Motlop Smith Blue Gianfagna 3 Hughes Johnstone 2 Bode C Johnson Newton Best Robertson Johnstone Bate Carroll Jones Hughes

by the Oracle There's a spring in my step as I walk to the bus stop on my way to work these days. No. I haven't fallen in love again - just that it's the right time of the year for a football tragic like me. The last tennis ball of the Australian Open has been volleyed away, the international cricket season is virtually done and dusted, the Winter Olympics is a non-event as far as I'm concerned (unless a miracle and all of the fancied competitors in the 1,000 metre short track speed skating crash into each other leaving another stunned Aussie to take the gold medal) and I don’t really give a rat’s about the forthcoming Commonwealth Games, let alone the Formula Grand Prix. The thing that's tickling my fancy again is the rapidly approaching commencement of the football season. In the blink of an eye, the first practice match will be upon us – this coming Friday if you count intraclub practice matches (as I do!). I love this time of year. Your footy team starts out on an even footing with all of the others. You're undefeated and, quite frankly if you happen to be beaten in any of the pre-season competition games, who really cares? After all, Carlton won the Wizard Cup last year and where did they finish in the Big Show? Stone motherless last! Come to think of it where's the Wizard Cup now? The 16 AFL clubs will be competing for a different prize in 2006 - the NAB Cup - and even the rules are going to be a bit different. Still, there's plenty to speculate about when push comes to shove during the pre-season. What the football tragic is looking for at this time of year are some changes taking place within a football club that will ultimately translate into improved team performance overall bringing hope for a better overall result in the forthcoming regular season. Some of those changes will be subtle, almost indiscernible while others will hit you right square in the middle of the face. So what can we look for in the coming weeks before the start of the regular season? Neale Daniher has already flagged the fact that, with his team's greater maturity and the club's slight financial improvement, this time of year will be used to give his younger charges some exposure. The veterans in David Neitz, Jeff White and Adem Yze are probably going to be held back while we get a chance to see how our younger brigade can handle things. I'm really looking forward to seeing how the likes of Nick Smith, Chris Johnson, Paul Johnson (who have all seen a bit of senior AFL action) and the as yet untried Matthew Bate, Lynden Dunn and Nathan Jones travel in the NAB Cup. Hopefully, one of them might step up to the plate as Jarrod Rivers and Aaron Davey did two years ago when their impressive early season form was a precursor to a 1-2 finish in the NAB Rising Star award. Then there are our Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse - Brent Moloney, Brock McLean, Colin Sylvia and Daniel Bell. Not wishing to put any pressure on these guys but they now have a bit of experience in their legs and should be ready to answer the big question we've been asking for the last couple of seasons. Can they continue their steady improvement to the point where their presence lifts our midfield to the rarified atmosphere level of the big boys? Our defence has come under criticism as being too brittle when the pressure's on. Many pointed their fingers at this area when the club went into freefall in midseason last year. We certainly need Rivers and Clint Bizzell back in form but will Nicho, Ferg and Nathan Carroll be good enough to hold the top forwards in the competition or are we going to be forced to bring Brad Miller back into defence to help them out? And if so, who takes his spot on the forward line? And what of our over-dependence on ruckman Jeff White in recent seasons? Can Mark Jamar come to his aid and kick on in this department? What about Liston Medal winner Paul Johnson? Have his suspect marking abilities improved to qualify for AFL tall standard or can he make do as a big man who really has the attributes of a midfielder in terms of pace and agility? And will Byron Pickett single handedly destroy the rest of the AFL without attracting the attention of the Tribunal or the faceless men with their calculators defining whether a strike was in play or out of it if the ball's 50 metres away? Or have they changed the rules and moved the goalposts again? I can't remember any more because it all seems to be made up as they go along. In any event, I think Byron might be one of those changes I alluded to above that hit you right square in the middle of the face but don’t get me wrong. I’m talking metaphorically here – not literally. The Reverend has promised us that the club won't change its attacking style of play despite Sydney's finals success playing its dour brand of football. That's fine as long as he has a few different plans in place just in case Plan A isn't working and the wheels start falling off as they invariably do from time to time even at the strongest of clubs. While we need to remain positive at all times, we need to be able to arrest the type of slumps the club has fallen into in the past two seasons just when the attainment of the Holy Grail was in sight. What about the changes in the rules and their interpretation? I hope that we can get our kick in strategies right – we haven’t looked totally comfortable in both defence of the opposition kick ins or in our own movement from the minor score. We have to get it right this year. I like the change in interpretation that requires umpires to be stricter on players who hold on to opponents going for the ball. If they're fair dinkum about this then Neita could become the first Demon to kick 100 goals in a season (leaving Kelvin Templeton aside because he got them playing for the Doggies). The disadvantage of all this is that in order to police this rule (and I bet there will be numerous complaints about inconsistency when it's applied) they will trial an extra field umpire and give goal and boundary umpires the power to make decisions. Great! That's all we need. Four, five or six white maggots or orange maggots or whatever to vent our spleens upon. Away from the Demons and the football field itself, possibly the biggest change we’re going to see will be in the media with the new TV rights having been issued to Seven and Ten and the situation with the Footy Show which will be without compere Eddie McGuire for the first time. This means that the programme might become suitable for viewers other than Collingwood fans. The announcement that Eddie is to become Nine’s head honcho has certainly made it a big week in football. From now on, every week is only going to get bigger. Bring it on!

A HISTORY OF THE MELBOURNE FOOTBALL CLUB: PART EIGHT: WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD ... by the Professor In the aftermath of the Second World War mankind witnessed staggering technological developments in all fields of endeavour. Extensive progress was made in communication; trade and economic developments and the emergence of television, space flight and nuclear power attended an ever-changing world picture. But the explosive force generated by the detonation of a nuclear device would never match the impact of the Melbourne Football Club under Coach Norm Smith and Secretary Jim Cardwell. In 1952 - his first season as coach - Smith had a small nucleus players at his disposal with which to fashion a competitive combination. His better players were Denis Cordner, Stuart Spencer, Noel McMahen and John Beckwith. In 1953 Smith was able to add such young players as Ron Barassi Jnr., Frank "Bluey" Adams, Geoff Case, Peter Marquis and Don Williams. The following year Bob Johnson, Brian Dixon, Clyde Laidlaw and Ian Ridley got the chance to taste V.F.L. football. Melbourne improved greatly to finish fourth at the end of the home and away series and made the Grand Final only to be defeated by a strong Footscray side. This was the first of the Club's record seven consecutive premiership pay offs. At the beginning of 1955 Noel McMahen was appointed captain. The Demons won 15 of the 18 first round matches and accounted for Collingwood twice in the final series. The physically stronger Melbourne team harassed their opponents all day and while the Magpies were persistent the Demons kicked the last four goals of the match to win the Grand Final. RESULTS - GRAND FINAL 1955 Melbourne 2.3.15 3.10.28 4.13.37 8.16.64 Collingwood 2.2.14 2.5.17 4.6.30 5.6.36 Goals Clarke Ridley 3 Laidlaw McKenzie Best Cordner, Barassi Melville McLean McMahen Marquis THE TEAM B Beckwith Marquis Trev Johnson HB Williams McGivern McMahen C McLean Melville Case HF Mithen Laidlaw McKenzie F R Johnson Clarke Ridley R Denis Cordner Barassi Spencer 19 Adams 20 Gleeson Melbourne went from strength to strength in the Olympic year to finish on top of the ladder with 16 wins. The Magpies were again the main rivals for the Demons' crown but Melbourne again recorded a big premiership 73-point victory over Collingwood. A big crowd of 115,902 flocked to the MCG and paid a record gate to watch Spencer and Webb kick 5 goals each as the Demons routed the opposition. Melbourne also recorded 19 consecutive wins from mid-1955 and well into 1956. The team went on to defeat the premiers of South Australia and West Australia to achieve recognition as Australian champions. RESULTS - GRAND FINAL 1956 Melbourne 2.4.16 6.11.47 10.16.76 17.19.121 Collingwood 3.3.21 4.3.27 5.6.36 6.12.48 Goals Spencer Webb 5 Barassi R Johnson 3 Ridley Best Spencer Barassi Adams Cordner Beckwith Melville THE TEAM B Beckwith Marquis Trev Johnson HB Williams McMahen Carroll C Dixon Melville Adams HF Mithen Laidlaw Sandral F R Johnson Webb Ridley R Denis Cordner Barassi Spencer 19 Gleeson 20 Lane The loss of McMahen, Cordner, Spencer and Melville before the start of 1957 did not prevent the club's domination of V.F.L. competition as new blood in John Lord, Geoff Tunbridge, Ian Thorogood and Denis Jones emerged to replace them. John Beckwith was appointed captain and Ron Barassi his deputy. Melbourne was recognised as the team to beat with a dominant centre line of Dixon, Mithen and McLean, a dynamic ruck rover in Barassi, a solid ruckman in Bob Johnson and pacy rovers in Adams and Ridley. Despite this, the Demons received a scare when they lost to the Bombers in the second semi final. However, they bounced back with a ten goal plus victory against Hawthorn and then made it three flags in a row to end their centenary year with a grand final win against Essendon by 61 points. Barassi's ruck roving position had been moulded to perfection by coach Norm Smith and his best on ground display in the grand final was outstanding. RESULTS - GRAND FINAL 1957 Melbourne 6.2.38 9.9.47 12.11.83 17.14.116 Essendon 2.3.15 4.4.28 7.8.50 7.13.55 Goals Barassi 5 Ridley 4 Webb 3 R. Johnson Tunbridge 2 Case Best Barassi R Johnson Fenton-Smith Lord Williams Ridley THE TEAM B Beckwith Marquis Fenton-Smith HB Williams Lord Carroll C Dixon Mithen McLean HF Case Trev Johnson Tunbridge F Barassi Webb Ridley R R Johnson Wilson Adams 19 Brenchley 20 Throrogood Melbourne achieved top ladder position for the fourth year in a row in 1958 and another premiership seemed a formality for the Demons who were looking to equal Collingwood's record of four consecutive flags. However, the Magpies who had received a drubbing in the second semi had other thoughts and despite a great opening quarter the cocky Demons were battered into submission in a grand final that proved to be one of the great upsets of football history. The addition to the ranks of Bob "Tassie" Johnson and "Hassa" Mann in 1959 reinvigourated the Demons who were keen to prove that they were still the dominant football power. Barassi who was subdued in the 1958 final starred as did Dennis Jones whose career had been hampered by constant injuries. The Demons won the flag after a slow start with a 37-point victory over Essendon. RESULTS - GRAND FINAL 1959 Melbourne 1.4.10 8.5.53 11.10.76 17.13.115 Essendon 3.3.21 7.8.50 10.10.70 11.12.78 Goals Barassi Rowarth 4 Adams R Johnson 3 Mann Ridley Tunbridge Best Barassi McLean R. Johnson Dixon Jones Beckwith THE TEAM B Beckwith "Tas" Johnson Lord HB Case Jones Thorogood C Dixon Mithen McLean HF H Mann Laidlaw Tunbridge F Barassi Rowarth Ridley R R Johnson Fenton-Smith Adams 19 Crompton 20 Williams The club continued to go from strength to strength in 1960 as Ron Barassi took over the captaincy. Beckwith remained as his deputy. For the sixth successive year Melbourne topped the ladder and the team went on to destroy Collingwood in the grand final win of 8.14.62 to Collingwood's miserable 2.2.14 - the lowest ever grand final score. Melbourne's dominance was assisted by the continual unearthing of new stars. Bryan Kenneally and Brian Leahy were introduced to the club in 1960. RESULTS - GRAND FINAL 1960 Melbourne 4.3.27 5.5.35 7.12.54 8.14.62 Collingwood 0.0.0 1.0.6 2.0.12 2.2.14 Goals Adams 2 R Johnson H Mann 2 Tunbridge Rowarth. Best Lord Mithen L Mann Dixon R Johnson Tunbridge. THE TEAM B Beckwith "Tas" Johnson Trev Johnson HB Case Lord Thorogood C Dixon Mithen Kenneally HF H Mann Laidlaw Tunbridge F R. Johnson Rowarth Adams R L Mann Barassi Ridley 19 B Leahy 20 Nillson The next three seasons saw a weakening of the great combination but there was sufficient in store for two thirds and a fourth placing before a return to the top in 1964. The team could no longer boast the high standards of strength and brilliance it had achieved in the fifties but still commanded a share of luck. Freak goals by "Hassa" Mann (to win a late season game against Hawthorn and secure a finals berth) and Neil Crompton (to allow the Demons to steal a grand final victory over Collingwood) assisted in capturing the club's twelfth flag on 19th September 1964. Ron Barassi and Bluey Adams played their last games for Melbourne that day and celebrated their participation in six premiership teams ... RESULTS - GRAND FINAL 1964 Melbourne 2.6.18 5.7.37 7.10.52 8.16.64 Collingwood 2.5.17 5.9.39 5.11.41 8.12.60 Goals Townsend 3 Lord 2 Bourke Crompton H Mann Best Adams Dixon Tas Johnson Wise H Mann Williams THE TEAM B Crompton Massey "Tas" Johnson HB Anderson Roet Davis C Dixon Williams Adams HF Kenneally Jacobs Vagg F Lord Bourke Townsend R Wise Barassi H Mann 19 Emselle 20 McLean

by Whispering Jack The Melbourne Football Club 2005 AGM was finally held seventeen days into 2006 at the Bentleigh Club and it was all very refined, matter of fact and businesslike. It could well have been the AGM of any other listed public corporation. Yes, it was that dull, colourless and boring! I used to love the AGM's of old when Melbourne was just a football club that was run on the smell of an oily rag (the late '60's through to the '70's). When you'd sit in the Long Room at the MCG and the same old codger would get up every year and ask long serving club secretary Jim Cardwell to give us a "run through on the recruitin' for next year". Jim would get up, smile and tell us how he's just come back from some dusty old bush town and that he'd just signed up this kid Bobby McDonald or Johnny Sparks (depending on the year) who happened to be the best thing since sliced bread and then we'd vote in favour of the treasurer's report (even though we couldn't make head nor tail of the figures presented in the glossy annual report), listen to a ten minute soliloquy from the coach about why next year was going to be different and then we'd hoe into a feast of party pies, sausage rolls, drinks (all free) and mingle with the players and committee members. We'd all be happy for the next three months as we waited to see Bobby or Johnny in action in a practice match. Sometimes, Bobby or Johnny never appeared but by then they were mostly forgotten. Jimmy Cardwell was one of football's all time greats as an administrator (he built our golden era team that won six flags in a decade) but by the mid '70's he was doing the job of four or five people at other clubs; just one example of why we were on such a downward slide as a football club. You couldn't help but be cynical about the hype that they used to dish up at AGM's. I remember one questioner asking a club chairman if the club would retain one of its controversial stars for the following season and the response was something like, "as long as I'm still here, we'll never clear the bloke." The following morning's Sun Newspaper carried a story about the bloke being cleared to another club. My AGM highlight was descending down the MCG lift on the way out from one of these events and finding myself in the illustrious company of a very merry club Chairman in Sir Billy Snedden. The club had just endured another ordinary season on the field and was selling assets to make ends meet off the field but Sir Billy was bundle of joy singing (I'm not sure that "singing" was quite the word for it) "It's a Grand Old Flag" all the way down to the ground floor. The atmosphere in the elevator was so charged that on the drive home I was stricken with concern that if I was stopped and put on a breathalyzer I might register in excess of .05 even though I'd only drunk lemonade. I wasn't sure whether "passive drinking" would be a sufficient defence in court. After Sir Billy's untimely departure we had two former players (Stuart Spencer and Ian Ridley) at the helm and the party atmosphere of AGM's continued until the merger debacle overtook us and we wound up having an altogether different character in Joe Gutnick as chairman. The AGM of 1996 was a memorable occasion for a club that had months earlier voted itself out of existence. It was held at the old Olympic Pool (ironically now the home of the mortal enemy and known as the "Lexus Centre"). I remember sitting up high in the gods and looking down at sweeping vista of the premises dressed up with palm plants and thinking "well, the club's gone and we're in heaven". I was brought back to earth by Joseph's opening line, "Welcome to the Melbourne Football Company!" I suppose that was it. We were now officially a football company rather than a football club and all would be well in Demonland. Well, we know now it wasn't and that we were in for lots more turmoil. The first signs of disgruntlement with the new regime came early with the bloodletting of the CEO, the coach and assorted others in 1997. A couple of years later when Joe was halfway through shelling out the $3m donation towards the club revival plan there was a weak and desperate challenge to his leadership but he shrugged it off. The plotters withdrew to the Bentleigh Club car park (I heard some of them on the way out sounding much like last month's Cronulla Beach crowd) and went underground in 2000 as the team made the grand final. The 2001 AGM marked the end of the Gutnick era. Joe finally bit off more than he could chew, was deposed at board level during the season and vowed to come back with his own team that was ultimately beaten at the polls by a well organized campaign that managed to convince the majority of members that their proxy votes would deliver stability to the club both on and off the field. The spin doctors had used a fog of innuendo and accusation to turn the saviour into an evil and disruptive hobgoblin and the members voted for a team vision that was, in fact, an empty mirage. The highlight of the night however, was the sight of the Gutnick team entering the hall, heads erect to a standing ovation from the Melbourne throng. Those who had voted for new chairman Gabriel Szondy were dining on their lobster mornay elsewhere. And that's where Szondy was two years later when the heat was on and it all hit the fan at the 2003 AGM – elsewhere! The club's debt had spiraled out of control, several millions were lost, unpaid tax bills sat wedged in office drawers and the club was at its lowest ebb ever. That was our saddest AGM. Which brings us to last week's AGM where the atmosphere had cleared, we're reducing our debt, making a $1,035,298 profit (albeit thanks to a generous AFL handout which can be justified) and the club's management appears to be in highly competent hands. Stability has finally come to the board, we're on budget and, in the words of chairman, Paul Gardner, we've made "a turnaround of $3.2m from 2003." The club is guaranteed at least $1m for the next three seasons from the AFL but the various clubs receive grants and benefits from the AFL for a number of reasons and we shouldn't regard it as a handout because the MFC doesn't get the inherent home ground and other fixturing benefits of some of the other clubs. Just by way of one example I'd say that Collingwood and Essendon get an enormous financial "handout" from the AFL thanks to their exclusive right to an MCG game on Anzac Day every year. This and many other benefits still apply to these clubs despite their current bottom four status. Melbourne, on the other hand, demonstrated its capacity to draw big attendances with three of the top ten crowds of the 2005 home and away season but still gets shafted when the fixture comes out (my words – not the club's). Gardner spoke about the inroads made by the club in achieving its aims on the 4 P’s – "progress, progressive, performance and partnership" and how he was proud that we were able to gain recognition in the community even though we didn't achieve ultimate success on the field. The way the club handled the tragedy of the loss of Troy Broadbridge, its embracing of cancer awareness with the Field of Pink evening, its stand on the illicit drug issue, involvement in Michael Long's walk and Russell Robertson's role in bringing to public notice the domestic violence problem were all examples of the club's part in highlighting social awareness to the community. Membership continues to grow strongly to a record of 24,508 AFL recognized members including a record number of MCC members while 2006 membership sales stood at 13,294 – up 8% on this time last year. In addition to outlining the club's improving financial position which sees our net asset deficiency clawed back to under $4m, CEO Steve Harris presented some exciting plans for the club's new administration and training base within the Melbourne and Olympic Park precinct where our players are expected to take part in their first training run in November 2007. Club Director John Phillips informed us that the club had adopted the ASX "Principles of Good Governance" and also outlined the way the Red and Blue Foundation would b the vehicle to assist the club in its aim of raising $8m by 2008 to help its transaction from the Spartan conditions at the Junction Oval to the state of the art development at OP. Later in the evening, Director Peter Dorhmann spoke of the club's ongoing process of constitutional reform and raised one new amendment concerning the expulsion of members. This was aimed specifically at a situation which had arisen where a member had been accused of stalking and sexually harassing staff members. One speaker made an impassioned plea with his concerns that the amendment might give the Board power to expel opponents and the Chairman noted this would be discussed at Board level. Gardner introduced new Board member Sue Nattrass, and recent Board appointees Karen Hughes and Charles Sitch (any relation to The Panel’s Rob Sitch?) - all very businesslike and appropriate to Company business but there were still some throwbacks to the good old days when we were just a footy club. Paul Gardner was happy that the club had made the finals back to back but I was a bit disappointed that no mention was made of our shocking slump after the mid season break. I know it's been addressed elsewhere by Neale Daniher but it was a blight that the club's football department must address if we are to match it with the big boys and achieve the ultimate in success. (OK - off my soapbox) Steve Harris announced that Cameron Bruce had become engaged to Julia Pietryk and Lleyton Hewitt had won his first round Australian Open clash in the fifth set (fat lot of good that did him). Garner handed out well earned presentations to two tireless volunteers in Diane Mountney and Ruth Fleming and then came the time for life memberships awards to Andrew Daff (club doctor since 1988) and Garry Marchant (long serving volunteer organiser and statistician). It was clear from their acceptance speeches that both recipients were clearly touched by their well deserved awards. Guy Rigoni was also given a special presentation on his retirement after 107 games (a first at the MFC for a player wearing the #43 jumper) to great applause. He spoke of the fact that he was already enjoying not having to go through the pre season training grind but still looked forward to helping the younger breed of Demons this year at Sandringham. By way of preparations for the club's forthcoming 150th anniversary celebrations, several retrospective life memberships were given to members of families of players and officials dating back to the late 19th century. Those whose family members accepted life memberships were Jack (Johnny) Leith who played in 1897-1903, 1905-08 and 1911-12, Bobby Monk 1907-14 (career shortened due to war service), George Moodie pre VFL to 1905, Charlie (Brum) Streeter 1920-28 (also club secretary in 1932), Arthur Mueller (Joe) Pearce 1904-13 (killed at Gallipolli and a relative of Jack Mueller), Charles Young pre VFL to 1904 and first Melbourne player to reach 100 games. The following awards were made but no relatives can currently be located – Ned Keyburn (over four decades of match day assistance - 1872-1912), Les Jones 1933-41 (career shortened due to war service), J. O. Smith 1886-1930’s (long service to the club and involved in coming up with the club song). It was a fascinating part of the evening to relive some of the club's history but I guess we're really about creating our own history now and Andrew Daff hit it on the head when he said there's a place on his desk for a photo of himself, some Demon players and a particularly large piece of silverware some time in the very near future. If that happens in 2006 then I'm hoping that the Melbourne Football Company will at least accommodate us long time AGM goers and put on a spread of party pies, sausage rolls and free drinks this time next year.

A HIGHWAY OF DEMONS by Whispering Jack CHAPTER ONE - MY BACK PAGES "Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now." - Bob Dylan [My Back Pages] If you live in a world that consists of just three dimensions then you may not appreciate or even understand my story. It began a long, long time ago and I'm not sure that it's over... On a crisp morning in the spring of '64 I was a bundle of nerves, the stress made no less bearable because of the thought that today I would not be at the Melbourne Cricket Ground where my team was about to fight it out for the Victorian Football League premiership against the most dreaded of all enemies - the evil black and white army of Magpies! You're in your teens. You don't have a ticket to the big game in town and your team is playing off in the grand final. Life can be tough for a young kid but sometimes you just luck it out. All you need is patience and a benefactor. Every Saturday morning at seven o'clock I would load milk bottles into the refrigerator of Mr. McShane's milk bar where I worked on weekends. My mother had played a major role in convincing him to give me the job as a store assistant. She had insisted to him that she was also a native of his old home city of Manchester although her broad Polish-Yiddish accent gave the lie to that tale. To my knowledge there was no Manchester in Poland. Only in England. By eight o'clock I had swept the floors, loaded the pie warmer, dusted the counter, cleaned the windows and prepared the ice cream canisters so that all would be in readiness for another busy morning. The customers would begin to stream in and every one of them would head, almost as if by remote control, in the direction of the stack of newspapers at the back of the store. Most of them would select the early morning edition of the Sun News Pictorial and invariably they would ignore the front page headlines and turn to the sports reports on the back page. Of course, the boss regarded such behaviour with contempt. He was one of the others - he listened to the ABC and he avidly followed the politics of a faraway world. Mr. McShane was a teenager when he fought at Gallipoli in a war he often described as a "useless exercise." I often worried about him because whenever he referred to his war experiences he would take on an agonised look. Often he would recite poetry. Much later, I discovered that someone from the other side, a Turkish poet, had written the words he favoured - "Stop, passer-by! The earth you have just unknowingly trodden is the spot where an era ended and where the heart of a nation beats." Now, half a century later, he tuned into the wireless for news of another war; one that was being fought somewhere in Indo-China. He agonised over the fact that so few knew or even cared about what was happening in the faraway jungles of Asia. Sometimes, he became agitated and blared out the warning that "if they listened to me we'd get out of that godforsaken place before it tears us apart." You didn't argue with Mr. McShane but you sometimes wondered why on earth he bothered with such things as politics - especially during the football season. Mr. McShane was disappointed this particular morning because even the ABC news was all about the VFL Grand Final between traditional rivals Melbourne and Collingwood. By exactly three minutes past eight o'clock, frustration had the better of him. He shook his head in resignation, sighed deeply, rolled his first cigarette of the day with those gnarled yellow-brown fingers and hands and went out to the back for a smoko leaving me to deal with the customers and with my own sense of heightened tension. The time for the game was slowly approaching. The moments lingered and I spent them listening to the newsreader as he moved on to the weather report. I almost lapsed into a dream when the news ended and merged into background music. There were still three months to go to Christmas but the tune they were playing was unmistakeable. "Silent Night" sung in sweet harmony by two males but with another deep American voice reading in the background, the volume slowly rising to a crescendo: "In Washington the atmosphere was tense today as a special subcommittee of the House Committee on Un-American activities continued its probe into anti-Viet Nam war protests. Demonstrators were forcibly evicted from the hearings when they began chanting anti-war slogans. Former Vice-President Richard Nixon says that unless there is a substantial increase in the present war effort in Viet Nam, the U.S. should look forward to five more years of war. In a speech before the Convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in New York, Nixon also said opposition to the war in this country is the greatest single weapon working against the U.S. That's the 7 o'clock edition of the news, Goodnight." The front door buzzed and the man who would be my saviour entered the store. Charlie was the doorman at the nearby television studio, a regular customer who came in on cue at the same time every Saturday morning to purchase his newspaper and his three packets of Turf Filter Tipped. Today he noticed the forlorn look on the face of the kid decked out for work in a red and blue guernsey. Charlie knew at once that the sad countenance could only be the result of the lack of an entry ticket to the match of the year. "It's not the same as being there but if you come to the back door of the studio before the start, I'll let you in," he told me. "You can watch the live feed coming in from the outside broadcast van at the ground. "We show it every year for all the local old age pensioners and there'll be room for one more if you come along". The studio was near the picture theatre where I used to hang out with my mates on holidays. If you walked there from the shopping strip you passed the local police station and courthouse. We were once picked up and questioned by a young copper who claimed we were "jaywalkers". He never pressed charges against us; a fortunate circumstance that might have been a result of the fact that we gave him false names and addresses. I was Brian Dixon and my friend Frank Mills, who supported Essendon, called himself Johnny Birt. I always felt a trifle uncomfortable whenever I passed the local cop shop and on this day, as I marched towards the ABC studios, I had a particularly uneasy feeling even though the young constable was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, the street fell silent and I sensed a strange vibration accompanied by a high-pitched whine that lasted only seconds before everything was back to normal. In an instant, the birds twittered, a dog barked mournfully in the distance and even the old blue London bobby's police box outside the station glistened in the sunshine. A police box! I was wondering why I had never noticed it before and was about to dismiss it from my mind (after all, there were more important things happening today) when a grey haired old man jumped out of the doorway and nearly bowled me over in the process. He was clearly distressed. "Pardon me son but I'm here about the demons. You must take me to see them at once," he said. I noticed him brandishing a copy of the Sun newspaper with a preview on its back page of the day's grand final written by football writer Lou Richards. "Yeah. Sure," I replied. "Follow me". It was clear that this old man was not fully in control of his faculties. He claimed he was a doctor but he seemed nervous and was muttering about the urgency of his visit; repeating that it was all about the demons. He went on and on about losing his supersonic screwdriver and how he had been put off course on account of the high power transmission lines of the television studio. I did what had to be done. I delivered the old doctor into the safe arms of Charlie at Channel 2 and then sat down to relax and watch the footy in peace. The arrival of the visitor took Charlie by surprise but I was relieved to discover that the old man appeared to be known to our doorman. "Welcome Mr. Hartnell. I wasn't aware that you were visiting our city. I love the series. Look, why don't you sit yourself down here?" I noticed that Charlie hadn't called him "doctor". Inside the auditorium where the game was being screened there was very little sitting room available. Charlie gave my companion a seat next to mine, a decision that was to prove disastrous for a young football supporter who simply wanted to see his team playing off in the most important game of the year. The television monitors flickered in monocolour as they treated us to the first sight of our champions running onto the field before the start of the game. Streamers swayed gaily in the light breezes that circled the Melbourne Cricket Ground and, for those who supported one of the competing teams, the moment was one of high tension. Still, there was not a single person in the room who looked more nervous and agitated than the doctor. Without warning, he rose and shook me violently by the shoulders complaining that I was letting him down. I wasn't helping him to find the demons. He insisted we should be there in person searching for "them" instead of wasting our time in a room "full of old fogies" and, grabbing me by the arm with great strength, he led me outside. The captains were tossing the coin under puff-white clouds interspersed with sunshine. We stood by the sidewalk squinting in the sunlight as the doctor grappled about in his pockets in a desperate search for the key to the blue police box. I should have been worried. I was missing the opening moments of the grand final and I was with a delirious old man who had a mad fixation about finding the demons. But I wasn't nervous at all because, after all is said and done, a man with a key to a police box couldn't be a bad person. Could he? My disposition changed entirely when we entered what should have been a cramped little police box but the inside of this contraption was like ... well, some sort of space ship. Over time, I would come to understand that this was the TARDIS. Time and relative something in space smells sweet by any name but this was a quite weird spaceship. It could travel anywhere. In space. In time. In your imagination. Of course, I was unaware of all of this when I walked through its doors for what was the first time to see a large control room with screens, bright flashing lights, levers and pulleys. I was too stunned to think and I didn't really believe this could possibly be a vehicle capable of taking us half way across town to the football ground even as the doctor continued to insist it would. You can imagine my chagrin therefore when he took to the controls and announced that the search for the demons was not going to take us to the M.C.G after all. At least not yet. The autumnal equinox was a matter of a day or two away and we were off to Stonehenge! It was at this point in time, that I think I blacked out. [TO BE CONTINUED...]

by Whispering Jack Three hundred and sixty-five days ago the earth moved, the seas split and a wave was sent across the ocean leaving a trail of devastation that took with it a quarter of a million lives across two continents. We were touched by the tragedy; we felt its sadness and then life went on. Soon after, we could have been forgiven for thinking that despite the enormity of the event, the world remained unchanged. Seemingly, nothing did change our world in 2005. People still died whether by natural causes, by natural disasters like earthquakes, floods and hurricanes, by epidemics such as AIDS or by man’s own hand everywhere on the planet but most notably in the deserts of Darfur, in the streets of Baghdad and even in the London Underground. "Nothing's gonna change my world" These are the words of the late John Lennon. Perhaps a single individual in a vast universe may feel that there is nothing he or she can do to change our world. But we are not totally helpless - we can make a difference. Trish Broadbridge, the Melbourne Football Club and friends proved this at Phi Phi Island - at the very place where their fallen husband and comrade Troy perished in the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004. Their persistence and endeavour enabled the building of a school for the children of the devastated island - the finishing touches were applied with their own bare hands. That generations of young Thai children to come will benefit from their labour bears testament to the fact that all of us can make a difference. We can change the world. ACROSS THE UNIVERSE by John Lennon (sometime in the late 1960's) Words are flying out like endless rain into a paper cup They slither while they pass They slip away across the universe Pools of sorrow waves of joy are drifting thorough my open mind Possessing and caressing me Jai guru deva om Nothing's gonna change my world Nothing's gonna change my world Nothing's gonna change my world Nothing's gonna change my world Images of broken light which dance before me like a million eyes That call me on and on across the universe Thoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letter box they tumble blindly as they make their way across the universe Jai guru deva om Nothing's gonna change my world Nothing's gonna change my world Nothing's gonna change my world Nothing's gonna change my world Sounds of laughter shades of life are ringing through my open ears exciting and inviting me Limitless undying love which shines around me like a million suns It calls me on and on across the universe Jai guru deva om Nothing's gonna change my world Nothing's gonna change my world Nothing's gonna change my world Nothing's gonna change my world Jai guru deva

A HISTORY OF THE MELBOURNE FOOTBALL CLUB: PART SEVEN: WARTIME, RECOVERY AND REBUILDING FOR A GOLDEN ERA by the Professor With the ravages of war uppermost in the people's minds, interest in football declined dramatically by 1942. Every club was affected by the war but Melbourne was hit particularly hard. When the season began the list of players missing from the previous season included J. Atkins, H. Ball, R. Barassi, J. Furniss, G. Jones, J. Maher and K. Truscott. Fighter pilot ace Keith "Bluey" Truscott returned for one game against Richmond to unfurl the 1941 Pennant and received a remarkable reception from a large crowd. But he was to lose his life less than one year later in an air accident and former coach Checker Hughes later donated the Truscott Cup, in his memory for the best and fairest player at the club. The inaugural winner was champion ruckman Don Cordner in 1944. In the same year, Fred Fanning topped the V.F.L. goal kicking with 87 goals in only 14 games. Checker Hughes returned as coach in 1945 and set about rebuilding the side. The team made significant headway in 1946 when it finished in second position and ruckman Don Cordner, whose father had played for the club in the pre World War One years, won the Brownlow Medal with 20 votes. Although, 1947 was a disappointing season and the team missed out on the finals full forward Fred Fanning provided most of the highlights with his goal-kicking prowess. In the final game of the season Fanning booted 18 goals against St. Kilda - a record which still stands today. He kicked 97 goals for the season to head the V.F.L. goal kicking for a third time but retired after his record breaking goal feat. Hughes brought out the best of veterans Smith and Mueller in 1948. Together with the Cordner brothers Don and Denis and promising youngsters Bob McKenzie and Noel McMahen they were prominent in the first drawn grand final. Essendon's atrocious kicking cost them the game as they could only score 7.27.69 to Melbourne's 10.9.69. In the replay Melbourne easily defeated Essendon by 39 points and Checker Hughes stepped down as coach on a winning note once more. RESULTS - GRAND FINAL 1948 [THE REPLAY] Melbourne 6.2.38 9.3.57 11.6.72 13.11.89 Essendon 0.3.3 5.5.35 6.6.42 7.8.50 Goals Mueller 6 Arnold Rodda 2 Dullard McMahen Smith Best Smith Mueller McGrath Spittle Bickford Arnold THE TEAM B Deans McGrath Rule HB Collins Denis Cordner McLean C Dockett Bickford Spittle HF McMahen Arnold McKenzie F Mueller Smith Craddock R Don Cordner Dullard Rodda 19 Bowman 20 Jackson The club managed to reach the first semi final in 1950 before collapsing to take out the wooden spoon in 1951. Waiting in the wings and ready to coach his old club was Norm Smith who had been coaching Fitzroy after his retirement as a player three years previously. Under him, the team was about to undergo a massive rebuilding process that would reap a golden harvest ...

by The Oracle Youth was the byword of the Melbourne Football Club's recruiting push at the end of 2005. Apart from Byron Pickett, aged 28, who was came to the club in trade deal with Port Adelaide in October, the remaining eight newcomers are teenagers. Three of the four draftees in the 2005 National Draft are 17 year olds, the other (Simon Buckley) is aged 18. The club decided against picking up any recycled players through the Pre Season or Rookie drafts and went with three more 18 year old rookies plus Zebra Daniel Hughes who has only just turned 19 last week. Unlike last year when finances were tight, the Demons were able to select a full complement of rookies. They opted for Jace Bode from Sturt, Daniel Hughes from Sandringham Zebras, Shane Neaves from Calder Cannons, and Andre Gianfagna from the Northern Knights. They join Matthew Warnock who is serving his second year in rookie ranks. The selection of Bode was something of a coup in that he was an All Australian winger at the National Under 18 Championships in July. At the time, Kevin Sheehan commented about him as follows:- "Jace Bode (South Australia) - 17 years, 186cm, 84kg, Sturt/Kenilworth Medium midfielder who was South Australia's leading possession winner against Vic Country and Western Australia averaging 21 disposals. Works hard to win the ball and runs well to link up. Among his side's best few players in games against Vic Country and Western Australia." His drafting means that the club has picked up two current All Australian midfielders (the other is Nathan Jones) and that’s always handy given the Demons play their home games on the MCG. Inside Football magazine quoted Steve Rechner, Sturt's development manager as follows:- “Jace is a half back-wingman who is very strong, has a penetrating left foot and he's a bit quicker than people might think.� Bode had a great national carnival averaging 21 disposals in the three games. He spent most of 2005 in the SANFL reserves but broke through for a senior game late in the season. He was also an elite junior athlete. It seems that Melbourne did its level best to keep Daniel Hughes out of the limelight in the weeks leading up to the Rookie Draft. Hughes is a lightly built player who broke through for four games with the Zebra seniors in 2005. His coach, Mark Williams, described him in Inside Football: - Daniel Hughes (Sandringham) Height: 183cm Weight: 81kg DOB: 10-Dec 1986 "Daniel's a flanker-forward who is a strong mark, hard at the footy, has some pace and neat skills. He's doing a pre-season with Melbourne and won our reserves best and fairest." Another National Carnival representative to be rookied by the Demons was right footed ruckman Shane Neaves who fought a tough battle to overcome a fractured collarbone before cementing a place in the 2005 Victoria Metro side where he played all three games as a second string ruckman to Fremantle draftee Robert Warnock, brother of fellow Demon rookie Matthew. Shane Neaves (Calder Cannons) Height 198cm 97kg DOB: 11-May 1987 "Played in the ruck at the national carnival his size means he will create some interest. Has plenty of improvement to come." - Calder Cannons regional manager, Chris Gleeson in Inside Football. Neaves was a member of the Cannons' 2004 premiership team where he was a team mate of Lynden Dunn. He went to the 2004 Draft Camp but wasn't selected in the draft and returned to the Cannons for 2005. His 2005 TAC season was affected by that collarbone fracture suffered in Round 4. He has also represented his state in junior cricket ranks. Andre Gianfagna celebrated his 18th birthday on 4 December and less than a fortnight later was a Demon rookie. The left footer was regarded as the quickest player in the TAC Cup competition this year, was an AIS/AFL scholarship holder in 2003 and represented Australia against Ireland Under 17's in 2004 where he was a teammate of Richmond's Brett Deledio. He is a multi-talented sportsman having played cricket and competed in athletics at the elite junior level. The drafting of the four rookies closes the club's list for the 2006 season. For the final word on the rookie draft this is what MFC General Manager of Recruiting and List Management Craig Cameron said: - "We're happy with the players that we selected in today's draft and hopefully with some development and guidance they will prove to be good footballers. "Both Jace Bode and Andre Gianfagna are very quick players, with Jace already playing senior football at Sturt. We've seen Daniel (Hughes) play some very good football with the Sandringham Zebras and we know he's very clever. And big Shane Neaves is a great mark and has good skills. He will need some time to develop as they all will." MELBOURNE FOOTBALL CLUB - PLAYING LIST (SEASON 2006): SENIOR LIST: Matthew Bate, Daniel Bell, Clint Bartram, Clint Bizzell, Nathan Brown, Cameron Bruce, Simon Buckley, Nathan Carroll, Aaron Davey, Lynden Dunn, Ryan Ferguson, Simon Godfrey, Brad Green, Ben Holland, Mark Jamar, Chris Johnson, Paul Johnson, Travis Johnstone, Nathan Jones, James McDonald, Brock McLean Brad Miller, Brent Moloney, Shannon Motlop, Michael Newton, Heath Neville, Alistair Nicholson, Byron Pickett, Phil Read, Jared Rivers, Russell Robertson, Nick Smith, Colin Sylvia, Daniel Ward, Paul Wheatley, Matthew Whelan, Jeff White, Adem Yze. VETERAN LIST: David Neitz. ROOKIE LIST: Jace Bode Andre Gianfagna Daniel Hughes Shane Neaves Matthew Warnock

by Whispering Jack Melbourne has seen nothing like it since the 1956 Olympics. There they were in the early Saturday morning gloom at the Trevor Barker Oval - a group of strong, fit, young athletes representing nations from the far-flung corners of the earth. There was Russia, The Philippines, Bolivia and South Africa and all of them were going at it hammer and tongs to win some sort of trophy that was on offer. I'm not sure what that prize was but the competitors, all 41 one of them members of the Melbourne Football Club senior and rookie lists, were going hard at it from 8 am as part of the club's varied pre season programme. The games were entitled "Conditioning Competition" and it was certainly as fiercely competitive and as impressive as any Olympic or Commonwealth Games competition. Well, perhaps I exaggerate a little here ... The minute I got out of my car in the TBO car park, I was assailed by a couple of the international groups as they flashed past me during their warm up but it was the Aussie accents that gave it all away. The familiar face of Travis Johnstone was prominent among them and he nodded a "g'day mate" in my direction as he whisked his team mates away in the direction of the embankment around the oval whose scoreboard still carries the scores of Sandringham's 2005 Premiership winning result. Some very clever person has devised a series of contests for the players involving running, crawling jumping and agility work with a points prize at the end for the winning "nation". It was highly competitive and I was immediately impressed with Johnstone. He seems to be attacking this pre season in a different manner than his approach in the past. Perhaps it’s simply that he’s matured and he now sees himself as a potential leader but he certainly has put his recent elbow operation behind him and he looks really fit. Travis was shouting out words of support for his team mates as if their team was playing for sheep stations or real Olympic gold medals. His enthusiasm was infectious because the others were soon following suit. The competitive work was on in earnest. The spirit of the group was terrific and Port Adelaide recruit Byron Pickett was in the thick of things. When I made it down to training a few weeks ago he had appeared to have put on a bit of condition since the Power bowed out of the finals but he was looking good this morning. He has settled in well and looks a popular addition to the group. The "Byronator" has a wry sense of humour as well because during one of the races he noticed that the club's General Manager of Football Operations Chris Fagan was jogging along the boundary and he yelled out an encouraging "go Fages!" as he went past the group. There were very few players missing from Melbourne's recently expanded list of 44 players. By my reckoning the absentees were Colin Sylvia and Heath Neville who are both managing the effects of osteitis pubis and Phil Read was missing but from what I've heard, he's been pretty full on at recent training sessions so there appears to be nothing to worry about on that score. James McDonald was there but appeared to have some minor problem and he didn't take part in all of the events. Skipper David Neitz looked terrific - trim and taut and raring to go as he begins the new assault in what will be an important year for him. Injuries have kept Neita out of the finals action for the past two seasons and his strength and leadership were sorely missed as the Demons were bundled out in the first week both times. He looks keen and determined and was setting a great example for the rest of the squad. Russell Robertson was another whose enthusiasm for the contest was infectious and, at one stage, he took the rivalry to the limit when he warned Adem Yze to do everything "by the book". Actually, I don't think there is such a thing as a "book" when it comes to games that involve players chasing a yellow ball on hands and knees but it was all good fun. Another who impressed me was Mark Jamar. I know that it's easy to get carried away with players at this time of the year and they weren't doing anything that remotely resembled football work (unless you're an advocate of the international game and you count the soccer match that was part of the programme) but the Russian is really looking good. When he first came to the club, he was a big lump of a lad who was probably carrying a bit too much "puppy" fat. The next year, he was clearly carrying some problem through his pre season. Over the last two years however, he has managed to change his body shape into something that better resembles the modern day ruckman and the subtle physical changes have seen a more confident and driven player. His pinpoint soccer goal saw him celebrate frenetically as practitioners of that sport are wont to do - he was the perfect ambassador for the Russian team in more than name only! Then there was Shannon Motlop who upstaged Jamar with a brilliant header goal that would even have put Ronaldinho to shame - and didn't he let everyone around know about it? It will be interesting to see how Motlop goes this year with a full pre season under his belt and with the spectre of Byron Pickett in the vicinity to intimidate the opposition. Matthew Bate is a player who seems to be coming on in leaps and bounds after his introductory season at the club. Both he and Lynden Dunn are looking more comfortable and at ease in the elite environment of AFL footballers this year. Speaking of elite, Jeff White is back and his face looks unscathed after its close encounter with Steven King’s boot in the elimination final. There was no sign however of new ruck coach John “Sammy� Newman but for all I know, Sam might have had another facelift and he could be totally unrecognisable these days. I suppose you're all wondering what my impressions are of the newcomers. I have to confess that the hardest part of the morning was to identify who was who but once the group started calling out names it wasn't all that hard to work out. Nathan Jones was an easy one but I'm not going to say all that much about him because I think the club wants to keep a lid on him so as to avoid the same sort of mass euphoria that surrounded Colin Sylvia's arrival two years ago (besides which I'm writing a separate piece on him in which I might break this rule anyway). Suffice to say that he's fitting in very nicely and was as competent, competitive and enthusiastic as anyone else on the Beach Road Oval. And he looks ready to go. Simon Buckley must think that all of his birthdays have come at once. According to the Sandringham Dragons’ website, the kid has always been an avid Demon fan and now he's training with his heroes and he looks good; taller than I thought and very athletic. Most of the other recruits are going to require time to develop. Calder Cannons ruckman Shane Neaves is a big lad but a bit reminiscent of the Russian when he started. Clint Bartram and Andre Gianfagna are young athletes straight out of Under 18 competition and will need to build themselves up before tackling the big guns of footy. I didn't see enough of Jace Bode and Daniel Hughes to be able to make much of an assessment – as I say it was hard enough working out who was who with forty plus footballers going about their work. As I left the ground I was reflecting on how vastly different the game is to when I first used to wander into pre season training in the "old" days. Just as I was thinking this I noticed veteran trainer and former club runner Sammy Allica going about his duties. I know that history is history and that we should be living in the present but what a great story it would be if this bloke - who was Norm Smith's runner when the Demons won their last flag in 1964 – can be part of another Melbourne premiership more than four decades later. Such a prize would be infinitely more satisfying to all of us than even an Olympic gold medal.

A HISTORY OF THE MELBOURNE FOOTBALL CLUB: PART SIX: A NEW DEALby The Professor The rigours of the Great Depression caused enormous pain and suffering in a world which had experienced a decade of prosperity after the First World War. Football was one pastime that was still within the reach of many but the Melbourne fans were clamouring for changes. Ironically, the changes came as a result of the introduction of two Richmond stalwarts. History was about to repeat itself in 1933. Melbourne's fortunes had been turned around years earlier with the appointment of former Tiger Andrew Manzie as club secretary. The club hierarchy was able to repeat this by convincing Percy Page to transfer from Richmond to take the secretarial post. Page brought with him F.V. Checker Hughes who was appointed coach for the 1933 season. Checker had played in two premierships at Richmond and later coached them after a stint in Tasmania. Together Page and Hughes set about changing Melbourne's lilywhite image from "Fuschias" to "Demons". In 1934 the club showed significant improvement to finish in sixth position as some famous Melbourne names such as Alan La Fontaine, Jack Mueller and Maurie Gibb made their V.F.L. debut. The further inclusion of Norm Smith, Ron Baggott, Ray Wartman and Wally Lock allowed the club to move back into the finals for third placings in 1936 and 1937 and after being strong contenders for a few seasons, Melbourne finally won their third flag in 1939. In that year, Alby Rodda, Roy Dowsing, Adrian Dullard, Shane McGrath, Harold Ball and Syd Anderson all made outstanding debuts for the club. The latter two were killed in the Second World War, as was Keith "Bluey" Truscott, who made a brief return to the club as its captain shortly prior to his death in an accident off the West Australian coast. The Grand Final win was a sweet one. The stars of the day Percy Beames and Alby Rodda who booted four goals each as the Demons drew away from arch rivals Collingwood after an even first half to win by 53 points. RESULTS - GRAND FINAL 1939 Melbourne 3.5.23 10.10.70 15.14.104 21.22.148 Collingwood 6.5.41 10.6.66 13.9.87 14.11.95 Goals Beames Rodda 4 L Jones Ball Mueller Truscott 2 Baggott La Fontaine Smith Wartman Best Roberts Beames Anderson Wartman Truscott Smith THE TEAM B Emselle Mueller Fischer HB Hingston G Jones Roberts C Wartman La Fontaine Anderson HF L Jones Baggott Truscott F Ball Smith Rodda R Furness Kimberley Beames 19 O'Keffe Melbourne recorded its second successive premiership with a 49 point victory over Richmond despite losing players to injury before the grand final. One of the team's heroes was ruckman O'Keefe who shadowed Richmond captain Jack Dyer all day and somewhat limited his effectiveness. Norm Smith booted a record goal tally of seven for a grand final in a dominant performance at full forward. The 19th man in the 1940 premiership team was Ron Barassi - yet another football to be later killed in action. Barassi's son Ron Barassi Jr. was to become "Mr. Football" in the 1950's and 60's and was selected captain of the Demon's team of the 20th Century. RESULTS - GRAND FINAL 1940 Melbourne 4.8.32 10.11.71 13.15.93 15.17.107 Richmond 5.4.34 6.5.41 10.6.66 10.8.68 Goals Smith 7 Baggott Beames O'Keefe Fanning Truscott Best Baggott Beames La Fontaine Mueller Ball Smith THE TEAM B Emselle Roberts Ball HB Hingston G Jones McLean C Wartman La Fontaine Anderson HF Gibb Baggott Truscott F Fanning Smith Rodda R Mueller O'Keefe Beames 19 Barassi Melbourne's domination of the competition continued in 1941 as the team made it a hat trick of grand old flags with a comfortable 29 point win over Essendon. Despite fielding a depleted side the Demons overcame hot weather and a blustery north wind as they bade farewell to coach Checker Hughes with an emphatic premiership victory. The team opened up with all guns blazing as they blitzed the Bombers to lead by 57 points at half time and then coasted to victory. Hughes' full forward Norm Smith, who was later to take over the coaching reins at the club in an even more successful era, topped the goal kicking for the year with 89 goals. Hughes was to return as coach twice again. Ironically, his last appearance in the role came many years later in 1965 when he replaced Smith who was sacked for one week in mid-season. RESULTS - GRAND FINAL 1941 Melbourne 6.6.42 11.9.75 14.11.95 19.13.127 Essendon 1.1.7 2.6.18 6.12.48 13.20.98 Goals Beames 6 Mueller Smith 3 Wartman 2 Anderson Daly Dullard Gibb O'Keefe Best Lock Heal Mueller Beames Dullard La Fontaine THE TEAM B Emselle, McGrath O'Keefe HB Lock E Cordner McLean C Heal La Fontaine Anderson HF Gibb Baggott Wartman F Dullard Smith Daly R Don Cordner Mueller Beames 19 Lewis

by Whispering Jack The Melbourne Football Club Members Information Night 2005 was held on Tuesday 6 December at the Camberwell Civic Centre with the whole of the playing group in attendance except for Jeff White who is on "long service leave" playing and watching some golf (he will be back on deck however, later in the week). While we had a chance to see almost the entire playing group, the attendance of members was disappointingly well down on previous years - perhaps because for the first time in a while there was no real controversy surrounding the end of the year. Those who did attend were taken through many aspects of the club's operations - particularly its core activity i.e. the football team. After a brief introduction from Club Chairman Paul Gardner, we heard from CEO Steve Harris and the football department people in Chris Fagan, Craig Cameron and of course the coach Neale Daniher who spoke almost exclusively about football this time which was a refreshing sign after having to spruik up other aspects of the club in past years due to our parlous financial state. Fortunately, things are improving in the fiscal area and the Reverend was able to concentrate on dealing with many of the issues that faced the club on the field in 2005 and with how he and his team intend to generate further improvement in the quest for ultimate success. Demonlanders will be pleased that the coach has high expectations for the popular Four Horsemen at the club in youngsters Brent Moloney, Brock McLean, Colin Sylvia and Daniel Bell who he expects to step up as midfielders in 2006. That's not to say that he doesn't also have expectations of improvement from the others but Daniher said that he will give the youngsters an opportunity in the pre season competition and we shouldn't expect Jeff White, David Neitz or Adem Yze to saddle up for the National Bank pre season competition opener in Darwin against the Western Bulldogs. What we can expect is the likes of Chris Johnson, Matthew Bate and possibly even newcomer Nathan Jones to get a run in the pre season games. Neale also gave a big wrap for rookie Matthew Warnock and of course, he reckons dual premiership player Byron Pickett will play a big role at the club as a mature age recruit. And of course, the clock was back in all its glory! I'll deal with the evening in a number of parts and begin my report with Paul Gardner's opening and Steve Harris' report. PAUL GARDNER - WE'RE IN THE MONEY WITH A MILLION BUCKS PROFIT Club Chairman Paul Gardner opened the night with a welcome to the members. He pointed out that this was the first time for many years that there were no internal issues at Board level and similarly the club had made a profit in successive years as well as making the finals in 2004 and now 2005. The profit figure was in excess of $1m but that needs to be looked at in the context of the AFL's handout of a similar sum. He also announced that the date of the AGM had been changed to 17 January 2006 due to a delay in posting the requisite notice to members. The club's new Board member elect Sue Natrass was in attendance, she will officially join the board at the AGM. The man she replaces, former Demon star Garry Hardeman was also thanked for the long years of service he has given to the club going back almost forty years to the mid 60's when he joined as a player. STEVE HARRIS - OLYMPIC PARK DREAM BECOMING A REALITY Melbourne CEO Steve Harris noted that 2005 was a good year in terms of profits, record membership, rising attendances particularly at the MCG, improved relations with the MCC and developments in securing our future home in the Olympic Park precinct. However, there is still a lot to be done in terms of achieving sustained success. The club is nearing its 150th anniversary in 2008 and negotiations are continuing with regard to the Olympic Park project which should be ready by that date. Some of the early plans are really exciting as they would give us the opportunity to have one place for training and administration and a place where supporters can celebrate after games. Our current facilities at the Junction Oval fall well short of those of the wealthier AFL clubs like the interstate powers, Collingwood and Essendon. The Olympic Park proposal is probably our last opportunity to have a home where we want it - close to the MCG (connected to it by a walkway), close to the City of Melbourne and with a training ground plus gym, pool and admin facilities all under one roof. The club is planning extensive fund raising to make this all happen - "Make it 8" referring to the $8m the club needs to raise. A number of initiatives will be involved in this regard, a bequests programme, a 150 Club whereby members will be asked to contribute a figure of over $12,000 over the next 3 years to raise $1.858m. Every member can make it happen in some way - e.g. If all supporters put in $1 a day, the club could raise over $11m in just 2 years. In excess of 8,000 members have already re-signed for 2006 memberships and Harris asked for members to find one other new member each to ensure they signed up and helped us achieve even better membership figures for next year. CHRIS FAGAN - YEAR IN REVIEW AND WHAT HAPPENS TOMORROW Chris Fagan, General Manager – Football Operations took the floor and spoke about the club’s review of 2005 and its forecast of what was needed to put the club into the top 4 for 2006. After the team was pushed out of the finals in September, the club undertook a review of all aspects of the football department. This review process involved the valuable input of CEO Steve Harris, and two board members in John Phillips and Michael Coglan. Neale gave an overview of the team performance, Craig Cameron reported on the processes of his department, the assistant coaches reported on their respective areas e.g. defence, attack, midfield as well as giving a run down of their respective roles at the club. The review looked at team playing styles, time management and team leadership and they came away with a clear understanding of where the club stood – an across the board overall improvement of at least 5 to 10% is required to get the team into the top 4. In order to achieve this the following needs were identified (and some initiatives are already being implemented to cater for these needs): - # The need to continue to improve list by trading and drafting smartly, # The need to put more time and effort and resources in developing our current crop of players (we have12 staff in this area compared to the rich clubs which have double that number). Fortunately, the football department has been allocated an additional $425,000 whereas last year there was a reduction of over $200k. # The need to restructure the football department to enable a focus on individual and team development. In this regard the club has appointed former Eastern Ranges TAC Cup premiership coach Barry Prendergast as a full time opposition analyst. A full time IT Coordinator has been also been appointed (this year Mark Williams doubled this up with his job as Zebras coach - now he can fully concentrate on his role). Part time coaches Danny Frawley and Paul Broderick have been added to the staff along with three player mentors Garry Lyon, Robbie Flower and Phil Krakouer. There have also been changes in the physical education department. # The need to keep the list fit and healthy. An example was the purchase of GPS tracking devices to monitor player workloads, # The need to collect information about other teams (Barry Prendergast’s appointment as above as well as, for the first time, a new scout in Queensland, which is starting to produce some good footballers), # The need to identify and the most effective player owned team leadership model for the club, # The need to improve facilities and equipment such as new systems and computers, # The need to improve the ability of the whole team to defend, and # The need to draft a full compliment of rookies. The club has retained Matthew Warnock from last year’s rookie list and has the capacity to rookie list a further four players in next week’s rookie draft. The team is training well after the break and is striving to get better in 2006. Chris concluded by introducing Ralph Lawrie of the Ballarat Demons and Julie Lockhart of the Eastern Demons who raised funds to purchase two portable massage tables for use on away trips, an improvement on the trestle tables used previously. CRAIG CAMERON - NEW FACES Craig Cameron. General Manager, Recruiting & List Management spoke about the recruiting period which involved the trades and the national draft. Craig believes that ultimate team success requires sustained high performance. If you look at this year's premiers Sydney and Port Adelaide, Brisbane and Essendon before that, these clubs had a number of years in a row of consistently high performance prior to achieving a premiership. The club's aim in the trade period was to recruit the most talented player available and Craig believes that it achieved this in securing Byron Pickett, a dual premiership player with the pace and aggression and who can have an immediate impact. In the National Draft our ongoing philosophy is to bring in the best available young talent to put pressure on the older players and to take their places when they retire or leave. On the issue of passing over previously listed he referred to the 2001 draft when the recruiting team debated over the club’s last pick at 55 as to whether the club would go for a player with previous AFL experience who might be good for a few years at best or whether to go for a young player from Queensland. In the end the decision was made to recruit Brad Miller. There is a risk in this policy but if the untried player comes good then it's well worth it. Craig then introduced the club's 2005 National Draft selections: * Nathan Jones was our first pick at # 12, an All-Australian U18 player, clean, tough, nuggetty and a high-possession winner who had 36 possessions in the TAC Grand Final with the Dandenong Stingrays. He is a triathlete who has done a 15.4 beep test and has a big motor. * Simon Buckley was taken at # 53 from the Sandringham Dragons. He is tall, quick, versatile, with good skills and he showed plenty of improvement late in the season. In his last 5 TAC Cup games, he averaged 20 possessions and was his team’s best in an end of season game for Victoria against the Allies. * Clint Bartrum was pick 60. He was an AIS Academy member this year and has excellent speed, aggression and endurance. * Our last selection, Heath Neville was selection 68 who is quick, courageous and good overhead. He played at CHB in Tasmania for Clarence (TFL Seniors) and played in the Grand Final against men. With respect to the rookie list, the club has retained Matthew Warnock and has four available players for next week’s rookie draft. If we think the right players are there we will use all four selections. The overall philosophy in that draft will be to look for players with an upside in pace and athleticism. NEALE DANIHER - AIM FOR THE SKY AND WATCH THE CLOCK Coach Neale Daniher presented in his own inimitable style interspersing his discussion points with some player interviews. I'll deal with the interviews in a separate segment. His presentation looked at the MFC entering 2005, how the club went in 2005 and then going forward into 2006 - ENTERING 2005 The club's aims going into 2005 were: # We had to back up and play in the finals again to break the up and down cycle of odd and even years. # With the tragedy of the loss of Troy Broadbridge at Phi Phi in the Boxing Day tsunami we had to deal with the emotional aspect of his death which was always going to be difficult. This was handled well by the club and the players and we played in a manner that Troy would have been proud of. # Develop the last line of defence. Neale referred to those who "play in the cage" i.e. who rotate in the full back position. These players include Nathan Carroll, Ryan Ferguson, Alistair Nicholson and rookie player Matthew Warnock. Carroll was complimented for the way he played late in the year and the promise that he showed, Fergs also played some great games especially his performance in round 1 while Warnock was singled out for his development this year as a rookie with Sandringham. It was a big wrap for someone who is still on the rookie list and in the normal course will only play in the AFL team in exceptional circumstances. # Develop tough "inside" midfielders. The coach stated that after the disappointment of losing to Adelaide in the 2002 semi final, it had been decided that there had to be a change in the structure of the midfield. Three years later a new midfield is emerging - specifically in the form of four young players Brock McLean, Brent Moloney, Colin Sylvia and Daniel Bell as the players who are being groomed to eventually assume midfield roles (adding that he expects recruit Nathan Jones to join this group). Interestingly, these are the players referred to by Demonlanders as "The 4 Horsemen" of the club's future tough midfield. He added that there were a few older players who also fit the mould of this group, namely Junior, Godders and Phil Read. # Develop a culture of big-bodied players who can win the hard ball. We need to be bigger and stronger as a team. # Continue to develop a multi-dimensional forward line. Neale sees the likes of David Neitz, Russell Robertson, Adem Yze, Brad Miller, Paul Johnson, Ben Holland, Nick Smith (only 21), Brad Green, Cam Bruce, Byron Pickett, Aaron Davey and Shannon Motlop. There's a lot of variety there. # We need to work on finishing off a season - we were just not fit (healthy) enough at the end of the year to compete effectively in finals. # Continue to play running football but also be able to win ‘ugly’ when necessary. We need to play a contested brand of football and sustain it through the year. # Develop and evolve our game style. # Continue to identify develop leaders – with players voting for the composition and members of the leadership team. In 2006, it has been decided to have a smaller leadership group. THE "ACTUALS" - How The Club Went in 2005 Daniher said that each club treats the pre season differently e.g. Carlton won the pre season competition last year. Where were Sydney? The MFC will be giving its younger players every chance this year. David Neitz, Jeff White and Adem Yze may not play. We started well winning the opening match of the season - The Tribute Match - and had a great win in round 3 against Geelong of which Neale said we haven’t played a better game of football under him. In many ways it had a lot to do with the respect the group has for Neita in his 250th AFL game, one in which he also kicked 500th AFL goal. It was important to win games on the road, which we did against Sydney and the Kangaroos and in the middle of the year, which we did against Richmond, the Kangaroos and Collingwood to go 9-4 after 13 rounds and hold second spot. Our challenge was to sustain this form but we fell away badly in rounds 14 to 19 starting with the game against the Eagles after a 5-day break and then performing badly on the road and when injuries hit in the game against St. Kilda. We showed great spirit to come back with fighting victories in rounds 20 to 22 to make the finals. We played exciting, gutsy football in those three games even if we weren’t playing great footy. Daniher credits the turn around to the leadership of the players when they went away to Queenscliff. A lot of the things that affected us during our downward spiral were all in the mind and now that we’ve had the experience, we’ll take the lessons with us into next year. The final against Geelong was disappointing but we were always struggling with Neita and Belly out and with players going down with injury during the game. Jeff White is on the mend and is looking OK. The competition is so even that we simply need to be healthy during the finals so that we can do better at that end of the season. THE CLOCK TICKS A Members Information Night wouldn't be complete without The Clock which came back in its full glory (after all, the members were demanding it now). Neale uses it to demonstrate the evolution of a premiership team. The clock indicates how very competitive things are at the AFL. You have Carlton and Hawthorn in the rebuilding phase in the early hours while Brisbane and Port Adelaide who won premierships from 2000 to 2004 are still hanging on just on midnight but still capable of winning a flag if things went their way. Out on its own and on the way up is Richmond which is like Melbourne was circa 1998 - still gathering experience. Then there is a group at about 7 to 8 o’clock including Essendon, The Kangaroos, Western Bulldogs, Fremantle and Collingwood. The main contenders for the top 8 (in alphabetical order) are Adelaide, Geelong, Melbourne, St Kilda, Sydney and West Coast. What are the attributes a team needs to win a premiership? The MFC is gaining maturity and experience - starting to get the right mix. Three players with 200 games plus - David Neitz, Adem Yze and Jeff White, Five players over 150 games - Russell Robertson, Ben Holland, James McDonald, Clint Bizzell and now Byron Pickett, Eight players over 100 games - Brad Green, Travis Johnstone, Cameron Bruce, Nathan Brown, Alistair Nicholson, Matthew Whelan, Phil Read and Daniel Ward Four players with over 50 games - Paul Wheatley, Simon Godfrey, Shannon Motlop and Brad Miller. In other words the side is rapidly gaining the necessary experience for the attainment of success. To achieve premiership success, you need to: # Play in consecutive finals series, # Finish top 4 (to give yourself a realistic chance to go the next step), # Be ranked top 4 in defence and attack, # Have an "A" Grade goal to goal line, # Have a quality defence with a good range of options, # Have at least one "power" forward and a multi-faceted forward line, # Have three or four "A" Grade midfielders (the young players need to step up and Neale sees Matthew Bate fitting into the midfield group) # Have key ruckmen. He expects big things from Mark Jamar (uninjured and doing a good pre-season) and Paul Johnson should also lend support after a great year in the VFL, #Have three or four enforcers ENTERING 2006 Team Defence - this applies not just to the back six but everyone needs to be able to defend, Continue to develop inside midfielders Focus on winning more contested ball in the midfield and at stop plays Continue to develop multi-faceted forward line Implement multiple game styles Identify and develop "on-field leadership" Neale reported that the club was faring well so far as injuries were concerned at the moment and highlighted only three injured players: - Colin Sylvia - is over the shoulder but need to control and manage groin soreness (a hangover of osteitis pubis), Travis Johnstone - operation on an elbow ligament which he played with during 2005 and Matty Whelan - calf. Wheels is now back at training and going well. The main injury worry at the club is assistant coach Anthony Rock who has a broken leg but Neale thinks we can cover for him until he’s fully recovered. MEMBERS INFORMATION NIGHT INTERVIEWS During Neale Daniher’s presentation at the Camberwell Civic Centre, he interviewed some of the playing group. 1. Byron Pickett Daniher is beginning to rival his old mentor Kevin Sheedy in his appreciation of the sporting ability of our indigenous people and he welcomed Byron Pickett to the stage to what was probably the loudest applause of the night. He was clearly happy to have on board this 28-year-old dual premiership player of 170 games experience who can win the contested ball. They joked together about how well Pickett was coping in his new environment. Byron said he was getting to training with his new mate Matty Whelan and that he was getting along with most of the blokes including Aaron Davey but joked that he was keeping his distance from Shannon Motlop. He said the white blokes were OK too and that Wheats was a good bloke. Daniher then called up Nathan Brown who had been cleaned up by Pickett in a game at the MCG in 2003 and Doggie assured us that everything was now fine between them and that hopefully he would clean up someone from the opposition in the future. He was joking, wasn't he? When asked where he thought he played his best football these days, Byron nominated half forward flank or wing and said he didn't mind kicking goals - in fact he hopes he can kick more than Flash or Shannon. 2. Matthew Bate Twelve months ago Matthew Bate was the youngest player on any AFL list and he came across then as a shy, quietly spoken young man. He seems to have gained a bit of confidence after his twelve-month apprenticeship at the club playing mainly at senior level with Sandringham. Bate said that he really didn't know what to expect when he came down after playing Under 18's when he went straight into the VFL playing against men. It's a big jump and you have to work hard gaining experience and he said it took him a while to get used to the transition. Daniher noted the improvement in Bate by VFL finals time. The youngster has played in a number of positions from key forward to key back to wing, the flanks and midfield and he is looking to possibly play him in midfield in the pre season competition, which would be an asset for a player of his size. The coach said that both he and Chris Johnson, another young left footer will get their opportunities next year. 3. David Neitz The skipper spoke of the post season trip to Phi Phi and how the experience was necessary in a way to bring closure to the tragedy of Troy's loss. The group worked as a united group and put in a great effort to help complete the building of the school. He rated this as one of his major achievements in his involvement with the sport. He is now into his 15th pre season at the club and feels that the club is in a good position for the coming season. He spoke of his highs and his lows in 2005. The high being his 250th game when he played well against a top full back in Matty Scarlett when he kicked his 500th goal and the team was going well. The lows being the frustration of the finals and his injury for the second year in a row at that vital time of year. There is a need for the group to grasp their chances now, all players had to live up to their responsibilities and there are many potential leaders to help him at the club. 4. Travis Johnstone We rarely hear publicly from Travis Johnstone so it was perhaps significant that Neale called on Travis for an interview. Travis spoke of his recent elbow operation to repair a medial ligament that was half off the bone. He is now recovering well, his brace is off and he has rejoined training. He expects to be ready to go flat out in a couple of weeks time. He said he is trying a few things differently including Pilates and a new physiotherapy programme which is working well. 5. Nathan Jones Daniher stated that the club had been aiming to get as many tough inside midfielders as we could get and our first round draft choice Nathan Jones was in that category. The 17 year old looks the goods but wasn't going to do much talking - he looks the type who prefers to let his deed on the field do that! Nathan comes from the Mount Eliza football club where the senior coach is former Demon Paul Hopgood but he didn’t have much to do with Hoppy other than the odd session when he was with the Under 18’s. He has also spent the last three seasons with the Dandenong Stingrays under another former Demon defender Graeme Yeats who impressed on him the need to play hard footy. He has played mostly on the ball but was also played down back for Victoria Metro in Under 16 and Under 18 representative games. The Jones boy has already had a tough initiation in competitive work when Phil Read welcomed him in a tough skills session that left the youngster with a split eye. It looked like water off a duck’s back to a tough young man and I get the feeling that he will definitely see some AFL action in his debut season at the club. QUESTION TIME When question time comes around at functions such as the Members Information Night, one usually has half an eye on the exit door and half a mind on the food and drink to come. I was thinking of a nice cool, frothy Heineken myself but still found some of the questions and answers equally as refreshing. The first question was about the team's fall away in the midfield in 2005 compared to 2004 and Neale Daniher responded by saying that this was partly due to the new centre circle rule which saw Jeff White struggling with in the initial stages. This was particularly apparent early in the Hawthorn game when he was towelled up by Spida Everitt. Jeff worked hard with some specialist training and got better at it but the club still performed poorly at the clearances after the half way mark. We really need our young tyros to step up in the midfield. They were brilliant at times but they have to step up next year as must everyone in the midfield. The next questioner asked where does the club benchmark itself against the reigning premiers – the Sydney Swans. Neale Daniher said that when the club undertakes its internal review it benchmarks against the top 4 sides - this year including West Coast, Adelaide and St. Kilda as well as the Swans - to identify where our improvement can come. We need to improve team defence – we tend to concede too many points when the flow of the game goes against us. We need to match the top sides all over the ground but particularly the midfield at the contested balls and stop plays. Importantly, the top four sides have resilience – they don't fall away as we did in 2004 and 2005. The Swans in particular were able to cover their injuries going into the finals in 2005 but we shouldn't forget that when they played St. Kilda in the 2004 semi final, they lost a couple of players just before half time and they fell away as well. All of this does not necessarily mean that the club should emulate Sydney or any other club in its playing style. Neale believes that despite the toughness of the competition, we’re not that far away. Chris Fagan said the club was studying how the Swans kept their team fit and healthy in the latter part of the season. The club has acquired GPS tracking meters to monitor the workload of players as has been done by the Swans. A questioner remarked that there were more journalists covering the AFL than Federal Politics in Canberra and asked how, in the light of the media spotlight, the club deals with the many player management issues these days. Chris Fagan said that the AFL and the club has put several processes in place including a forum for education on issues such like drugs and sex. There are support structures in place for draftees but even before that the club does a lot of work in screening its recruits in terms of their character. We look for people who will not only be good footballers but also better people who have respect for others. Neale Daniher said that the players are professionals and have represented the club really well and is sure that they will continue to do so in the future. A question was asked about the managing the future with a key player like David Neitz in particular getting older. Daniher said that a succession plan has been in place for a while. Back in 2001 we drafted Brad Miller, in 2002 Jared Rivers, Nick Smith and Ryan Ferguson, and in 2004 we took three talls. These players are all maturing and will fill key roles but sometimes you might to have to trade to get the talls you want as well. The perennial question came up about whether Jeff White could be used in a forward role and Daniher said that this was a possibility. Paul Johnson might also be used up there. He was considering using Jeff in more of an Adam Goodes role at times next year. On a similar note, a question was asked about rotating David Neitz to preserve him and to win matches. Neale said he has already been trying this. There are times when we need to get him further up the ground and we have played different players in the full forward role – Robbo, Yze and Green. In response to a question about using Brad Miller in the ruck Daniher called out our tall guns like Mark Jamar, Paul Johnson and Nick Smith to stand next to Miller and Robbo and it was visually clear why we shouldn't expect Brad Miller to much ruck work at any time in the near future. Other questions related to the development of Team Melbourne i.e. some loose alignment with other sporting clubs carrying the Melbourne brand name and associated with the new Olympic Park Precinct and the possible threat of soccer to our game with the national team in the World Cup Finals next year. Chris Fagan does not see this as a threat but said we need to work hard at keeping our game in the forefront wherever it is played. The final question related to Guy Rigoni. The club will mark his retirement at the AGM and he has addressed the players on his retirement. Thanks were given to outgoing players Steven Armstrong, Chris Heffernan, Cam Hunter and Luke Williams. It was announced that Riggers will not be lost to us altogether as he has been appointed as a playing assistant to Mark Williams at Sandringham. (Mind you we heard about this on Demonland a while ago). FOOTNOTE: It seems the Zebras are leaving no stone unturned in their efforts to make it a threepeat in 2006. Apparently, they have signed former Demon Chris Lamb who spent last year travelling the world. His last game was the 2004 grand final when he shared the premiership with his good mate, the late Troy Broadbridge. His last piece of play in that game was a matchwinning save that prevented a Port Melbourne game in the dying minutes.

by The Oracle "For every face that disappears from the club scene, another new one will emerge to replace it." I wrote those words a little while ago about Melbourne's list and now, following the trade period, the delistings and the National Draft, the Demons' Senior List for 2006 has been finalised with five new faces replacing four delistings and a retirement. Gone from the scene is Guy Rigoni who has retired while Steven Armstrong, Chris Heffernan, Cameron Hunter and Luke Williams have been delisted. Rigoni has not left the scene entirely as, in an excellent move by the Zebras, he has been picked up by to fill an assistant coaching role, which also involves playing for Sandringham in 2006 where, he can keep an eye on the young up and coming Demon midfielders. Of the others, Armstong, Heffernan and Hunter are still hopeful of AFL selection in the Pre Season Draft while Williams might also chose to continue with Sandy where he is already a triple premiership player (2000, 2004-5). Byron Pickett's fearsome shadow looms large among the new faces on the scene at Melbourne. The Demons gave up their second round draft pick and made a few adjustments to their later selections in order to secure the dual premiership player. Pickett is a big occasion footballer having won the Norm Smith Medal for his brilliant game for Port Adelaide in the 2004 grand final when he picked up 19 kicks 1 handball, 8 marks and kicked three goals from a half forward flank. Before that he was named in the best players in the Kangaroos premiership team of 1999 where he played on a defensive flank. In between and since, he has struck fear in the hearts of many an opponent and, if his training form is any guide, he is set to continue wreaking havoc for a good few years yet. Four youngsters plucked last weekend out of the NAB AFL National Draft by the club's list and recruiting manager Craig Cameron will join Pickett and it's no surprise in view of the departures that all four a medium sized. Speaking on radio SEN immediately before the draft meeting, Cameron had this to say about his club's needs in its coming draft selections: - "We need a range of things - we need to keep building up our midfield stocks, we need to keep bringing some tall defenders through to help guys like Jared Rivers and Ryan Ferguson and we probably need a developing ruckman somewhere along the line" It seems that his main wish was addressed given that all four of the selections have the capacity to fill a medium midfield although one or two may also get a defender's role somewhere and sometime along the way. The other requirements will hopefully be addressed in this month's rookie draft. Nathan Jones was the almost universal choice for Melbourne of the draft pundits and many Demon supporters (including yours truly). His appearance on the training track has confirmed the excitement and expectation felt for this extremely fit and tough inside midfielder who dominated both the National Under 18 Championships for Victoria Metro and the TAC Cup finals series for the Dandenong Stingrays. There's been a lot said and written about Jones but the best summary I can come up with is that of draft guru Colin Wisbey said in his profile of the youngster - "Indestructible, indefatigable self-made tank who runs hard all day, never gives up, is very clean, and drives the ball forward relentlessly. Ultra-consistent, running, inside ball magnet with great work rate. Routinely runs hard and smart to get, to link and to apply pressure. Hits the contest hard and with purpose and efficiency. What you are buying is not just a hard working genuine footballer with physical presence but an impact player - impacts for 4 quarters each and every week like clockwork. And a quality kid with leadership potential. " Just for the record, here is the profile from my pre draft article where I correctly tipped him as Melbourne's pick at 12):- Nathan Jones (Dandenong Stingrays) Height: 178.7cm Weight: 84.5kg DOB: 20-Jan-88 Position: Small Midfielder "A super fit hard it midfielder whose 36-possession game in the TAC Cup Grand Final for the Stingrays raised his stocks considerably. Before that however, he gained All Australian honours averaging 20 plus possessions in the three games including 27 for Vic Metro against WA. A player who is ready to go." And his coach's comments from Inside Football:- "Nathan ... had a massive impact at the national carnival. Possesses an enormous work ethic ... he's one of the hardest working kids I've ever seen and he's only 17." - Graeme Yeats, former Demon player, Sandringham premiership coach and now coach of Dandenong Stingrays. After the club's first selection of the draft meeting at 12, we had to sit through what seemed to be ages as another forty names were called out before Melbourne's next pick at 53 (Collingwood passed at 52). The three final names all pretty well represented what you would call "speculative" selections. Like Jones and like Matthew Bate, Lynden Dunn and Michael Newton from a year ago, two of them were bottom age players who had another year at TAC Cup level in front of them had they not been drafted. The other draftee, Simon Buckley, came good with a rush for the Sandringham Dragons late in the 2005 season and was best on ground for a Victorian side that played an Allies team in Grand Final week. He also remains in the speculative category because he has not shown the same consistently strong form in the TAC Cup of the higher selections. But despite this, there is a strong potential upside with such players and that makes them smart selections as late draft picks. Each and every one of the club's draftees is an athlete. And, as Bomber coach Kevin Sheedy said recently, the new rules are geared towards the more athletic types. Jones is a super fit triathlete, Buckley and Neville have pace to burn and Bartram held a 2005 AIS Scholarship. Here is a rundown of the Demons' selections 53, 60 and 68: - Simon Buckley (Sandringham Dragons) Height: 189cm Weight: 77kg DOB: 18-Apr-87 Position: Small Midfielder This natural right footer came on in leaps and bounds in the latter half of 2005 and picked up 9 votes in the TAC Cup Coaches Award: He averaged almost 17 possessions a game and was named in the best for the Victorian team against the Allies match during grand final week in September. "He played in the All Stars v Allies game and did very well. He's a wingman and a beautiful kick of the footy and is improving every time he plays." Sandringham Dragons Coach Gary Colling. in Inside Football. Clint Bartram (Geelong Falcons) Height: 182cm Weight: 73.5kg DOB: 16-Feb-88 Position: Medium Midfielder Another supremely fit youngster who travelled to Ireland with the AIS team, Bartram is a hard-working midfielder who still qualified for another year in the TAC Cup competition.. "Clint went to Ireland and despite having a lot of injuries this year he finished the year off very strongly. He's tough, courageous, quick and has a 15.8 beep test. Plays on ball and on the wing. His weakness is his kicking but the positives far outweigh the negatives. A great prospect as a run with player at AFL level." Geelong Falcons Regional Manager Michael Turner. in Inside Football. According to Neale Daniher he's "a good young player, only a young bloke but he'll add to our midfield and he's got the time to develop. He's going to be very good for us, he was on our high priority list and luckily he fell through to us." Heath Neville (Tassie Mariners) Height: 186cm Weight: 83kg DOB: 2-Feb-88 Position: Small Midfielder/Small Defender A player who was described on the SEN draft day broadcast as having "exceptional pace". According to an independent report from Tasmania he may have a touch of osteitis pubis. "A 17-year-old wingman-cum-defender who did some good jobs minding some big name players at the national championships. Trained for a week at St. Kilda as part of his TIS Scholarship this year." Hamish Ogilvie Tasmania U18 Coach in Inside Football The club now goes into the Rookie Draft on 13 December on the lookout for four more rookies to round off its playing list for 2006:- MELBOURNE FOOTBALL CLUB - PLAYING LIST (SEASON 2006): SENIOR LIST: Matthew Bate, Daniel Bell, Clint Bartram, Clint Bizzell, Nathan Brown, Cameron Bruce, Simon Buckley, Nathan Carroll, Aaron Davey, Lynden Dunn, Ryan Ferguson, Simon Godfrey, Brad Green, Ben Holland, Mark Jamar, Chris Johnson, Paul Johnson, Travis Johnstone, Nathan Jones, James McDonald, Brock McLean Brad Miller, Brent Moloney, Shannon Motlop, Michael Newton, Heath Neville, Alistair Nicholson, Byron Pickett, Phil Read, Jared Rivers, Russell Robertson, Nick Smith, Colin Sylvia, Daniel Ward, Paul Wheatley, Matthew Whelan, Jeff White, Adem Yze. VETERAN LIST: David Neitz. ROOKIE LIST: Matthew Warnock plus four vacancies to be filled in the Rookie Draft.

A HISTORY OF THE MELBOURNE FOOTBALL CLUB: PART FIVE: SECOND FLAG - THEN TIMES GET TOUGH by The Professor A different world was emerging in 1919 when the war to end all wars would draw to a conclusion. People were left with the task of observing the consequences of the hostilities and then trying to forget them. The Melbourne Football Club had lost a number of its playing members during The Great War and in 1919, when the team the field again after a break of three seasons, it lacked the experienced players to be competitive losing all of its matches. But 1920 saw the introduction of an intensive recruiting campaign. Albert Chadwick, a strong young ruckman made his debut in the opening round. Charlie Streeter, Hugh Dunbar, Dick Taylor, Colin Deane, "Bunny Wittman" and Ivor Warne-Smith soon joined him. As a consequence of this influx of talented youth, the club's fortunes improved gradually. By 1925 Melbourne reached the finals recording thirteen wins. It was the club's first finals series in a decade and Melbourne was headed only by Geelong and Collingwood in the new twelve team competition that had emerged as a result of the inclusion of Footscray, Hawthorn and North Melbourne. The impetus of having played in a finals series and the recruiting of additional talent in Bob Johnson, a tall centre half forward and Herbie White, a rover enabled Melbourne to scoop the pool in 1926 under the guidance of captain coach Chadwick. In a memorable grand final which foreshadowed the great future rivalry of two famous football clubs, Melbourne ran away from Collingwood in the third quarter and went on to win by 57 points to record their second premiership. Vice captain Ivor Warne-Smith capped off a great season winning the Brownlow Medal with nine "first votes" and other highlights included the goalkicking performances of Moyes, Johnson and Davie (each kicking 50 goals or more) and the team's general high scoring throughout the year. Among the spectators at the eventful premiership win were Henry Harrison - one of the game's co-founders and Dick Wardill, captain of the 1900 side. The old club song "It's a grand old flag" was revived for this historic occasion. After the grand final, W.C. McClelland stepped down as chairman capping off a long career with the club. RESULTS - GRAND FINAL 1926 Melbourne 4.5.29 7.7.49 14.9.93 17.17.119 Collingwood 1.1.7 6.4.40 7.6.48 9.8.62 Goals: Johnson 6 Moyes Wittman 3 Duff 2 Deane Taylor Vine Best: Johnson Wittman Moyes Streeter Abernethy Warne-Smith THE TEAM B: Streeter Coy Abernethy HB: Timms H. Dunbar Thomas C: Taylor Warne-Smith Collins HF: Wittman Johnson Davidson F: Vine Duff Moyes R: Chadwick C. Deane White In 1927 Melbourne had a disappointing season due to illness and injuries to key players but came back to finish third in 1928 when Ivor Warne-Smith replaced Chadwick as captain and won his second Brownlow Medal. Chadwick remained as vice captain. But the club was to begin a downward spiral and sunk in much the same was as the stock markets and the world economy, which fell into the Great Depression. The strength of the team dissipated and even Warne-Smith's elevation to coach in 1932 could not save the club from sinking to ninth. During this period one of the few highlights was the goalkicking of diminutive full forward George Margitich but even his fine 73 goal tally in 1930 was far below the amount required to win the VFL goalkicking. It was time for a change...

by Whispering Jack (26 November 2005) I'm sitting here on a Saturday morning in an internet café on the Gold Coast. Strewn around me in the streets are the bodies of literally hundreds of creatures known in the outside world as "schoolies" - those wretched almost lifeless figures whose chemical composition at this point in time is made up of 100% proof alcohol. They are totally oblivious to the importance of this day and indeed, will almost certainly not regain their collective consciousnesses - let along their senses - until the morning's highly significant events have been well and truly written into the annals of history. It's the morning of the 2005 AFL National Draft. The choices that will be made today by men like Melbourne's Craig Cameron will most likely help to shape the destiny of their football clubs and with that, will play an enormous role in how we behave, how we feel and whether we can somehow experience and celebrate the attainment of the Holy Grail - the thing that is most scared in the lives of all of us football tragics. I wish CAC1963 and his team the best of luck this morning - even though I know that luck isn't a factor. Not today. Today is all about the culmination of a long period of hard work put in by each club's recruiting staff. Our club is not Collingwood, West Coast or Brisbane - we don't have the wealth of their resources to pump into our football operations but we do have a group of dedicated hard working people in all areas including recruiting. Those of us who were at the Demonland/Demonology Sponsors Day during the Under 18 National Championships in July have met them and can attest to this fact. Today is their day (and, of course, that of the players who get selected and their families). The luck comes tomorrow and the day after and then the days, months and years after that. As we've seen in the debates on past drafts, lady luck plays her part since we can't foresee injuries and personal tragedies among players. And naturally, there's a lot of hard work involved along with the luck. Thankfully, we are not lacking the highest qualities among our recruiters and even in the absence of a swathe of top 20 picks, it's good that we have faith in Craig's ability to choose wisely today. As the amount of internet time available to me dwindles down to seconds and the schoolie on the floor beside me begins to stir and commences to dry wretch (why is it that the female gender of this species finds it necessary to fight what in most cases is a desperately losing battle to emulate Paris Hilton in appearance?) I can only finish off by again saying to Craig and co - "Good luck and go Dees! ..." [Later that morning, Melbourne selected Nathan Jones, Simon Buckley, Clint Bartram and Heath Neville at the 2005 National AFL Draft]

A HISTORY OF THE MELBOURNE FOOTBALL CLUB: PART FOUR: HARD TIMES AND WAR CLOUDS by The Professor The Commonwealth of Australia was born at the turn of the Century. The fledgling nation was still one of the remotest outposts of the British Empire and the British Monarch remained the head of the country. At least in this respect little was to change for the nation over the next one hundred years. But in the early 1900's Australia was a nation in waiting. Little more than a decade of its existence was to pass by before it would be thrown into a bloody war that would shape its nationhood. In the State of Victoria, the citizens remained keen on sports as the cricket, football and horse racing all draw large crowds and maintained strong interest among all levels of the population. The game of football advanced in leaps and bounds and even managed to survive its first bribery scandal involving the Carlton Football Club which had emerged as a power during the first decade of the new century. But the Melbourne Football Club, which had won its initial premiership in 1900, was soon to fall on lean times. With the exception of seasons 1902 and 1915 (when the club achieved fourth placing) the club was disappointing. There were few honours to be attained this period apart from the efforts of A. V. Couttie in 1904 and H. Brereton in 1912 when they topped the V.F.L. goal kicking with 39 and 56 goals respectively. A downtrodden Melbourne was even forced to travel to Geelong by boat as a result of a rail strike in 1903. While success on the field was proving to be elusive, the Melbourne Football Club was able to celebrate its Jubilee in 1908 in fine style. The first interstate carnival (including representation from New Zealand) was organised as part of the celebrations. Richmond and University were admitted to the VFL in that year. The club slowly began to emerge from the doldrums in 1912 following the appointment of former captain W. C. McClelland as Chairman. Andrew Manzie (formerly of Richmond) was enlisted as club secretary and the importance of administration was highlighted by his hard work. When the University club disbanded at the end of 1914, Manzie was able to persuade several University players to cross over to Melbourne. With the addition of players such as "Dookie" McKenzie in 1915 the team was able to extend eventual premiers Carlton in a semi final but the promise of this performance could not be improved upon. The Great War had begun and Melbourne was not able to field a side again until 1919. At that time the club's great contribution towards the development of the game assisted it in gaining readmission to the VFL. When the club returned to the fold in 1919, it welcomed a future great in Ivor Warne-Smith who made his debut for Melbourne during that year. Like the rest of the world, it was a time of rebuilding for the Melbourne Football Club ...

by Alpha 33 I've finally managed to put together the transcript of the Cameron Bruce interview on 3AW from last Saturday and the delay was well worth it because the interview gives an interesting insight into Melbourne's pe season training on a group level and has become even more relevant in view of the story about Lance Whitnall coming back after the break 8kg overweight. I somehow think after hearing what Cameron Bruce had to say that Big Red might have eaten less Big Macs, french fries and souvlakis over the past month or so: Dwayne Russell: Welcome to the programme Cam. How are you? Cameron Bruce: G’day guys. Good, how are you going? DR: Yeah good. Did you have a day off today or is already noses to the grindstone? CB: No we’re getting flogged. We had a session this morning. It’s been six days this week and we get a rest tomorrow. DR: Is it getting tougher each year? CB: Well, this year’s definitely been the toughest start to a pre season that we’ve had. That I’ve had... Rohan Connolly: Well, hang on; we’ve got to finish the cliché here.Are you the fittest you’ve ever been? CB: No I said I’m feeling fit (laughs) but this is definitely the toughest pre season that we’ve started anyway. RC: And why do you think? CB: I’m not sure. I think they were pretty happy with the way we came back as a group. Our fitness levels – they put on a bit of a demand on us to come back with pretty good skin fold levels so we didn’t waste the first couple of weeks getting some of the guys back into some form of fitness to train well. So they've just basically come out all guns blazing and yeah, we’re getting flogged. Tony Shaw: Now Cam. Normally in pre season sides have a specific philosophy that they want to base their pre seaon on that goes into the next year when you’re going to play. Can you give us an inkling about which direction it’s taken with Melbourne? CB: Well, last year it was unfinished business that we were trying to rectify and I’m sure it’s just the same this year. We wanted to get into the finals and make an impact into the finals and we weren’t able to do that again. So it’s all about continuing to improve. We have got a list that has improved and can only get better with the average age of the group being pretty low. DR: Are you doing more competitive work than last year or not? CB: Personally or as a group? DR: As a group. CB: Definitely. The way the guys came back after the off season, I think they said our average skin folds is down by 10 or 12 mill on the previous year which is a fair result. I’m one who’s keeping the average a little bit high. It’s the one thing you don’t want to be above average but we are. RC: Cam, you guys would be a bit dirty on yourselves given the way you started last season. I mean for the first month of the season you guys were clearly the best team in the competition so you’ve shown you can match it with any team in the comp. Would you blokes look at yourselves as a group and concede that you haven’t been hard enough either physically or mentally? CB: I’m not too sure about the physical side of things but definitely the mentally we have to be a lot tougher. It wasn’t just last year but also the year before as well. We finished last year really poorly. That’s something we’re going to work on. When you look at the stats it’s evident that the reason we had that poor run is that we weren’t getting our hands on the ball. RC: My next question was going to be how do you improve your mental hardness? How do you go about doing it? CB: Well I suppose it comes with experience and maturity as a group and maturing as individual players. We’ve also obviously got to get fitter and tougher to be able to play out a full season. It’s all well and good being on top of the ladder 15 rounds in but it’s not going to win you finals, which obviously showed with our group. We’ve got to keep continuing to get physically tougher and fitter to be able to play out a full season and finals. DR: Cameron, thank you for joining us, thanks again.

by the Oracle In a little under a week's time the 16 AFL clubs will get together to take part in the National Australia Bank AFL Draft sponsored by the National Australia Bank. The hopes of all 16 clubs will be that a goodly number of the players they select, will by September 2006 have shown their wares in the National Australia Bank Cup during the pre season, made auspicious debuts in senior ranks, received National Australia Bank Rising Star Nominations (one of them probably will be crowned the winner of the National Australia Bank Rising Star Award sponsored by who else?) - and why not? Most of the players coming under consideration for the draft have already played in the National Australia Bank AFL Under 18 Championships, some made the National Australia Bank All-Australian team and the majority would have attended the National Australia Bank AFL Draft Camp. The players who do get nominated will become bankable commodities and some of them, even those not yet 18 years of age, will be laughing all the way to the bank. You can bank on that! There is a problem however, with the forthcoming draft. There simply aren't any real stand out players and most of those who look good are currently in the not quite right basket. Many of the pundits are been talking down the pool of players available for selection but one shouldn't conclude that it's a draft full of duds. As one respected drafting expert, Colin Wisbey said on the Magpies Extreme Bulletin Board, the "... 2005 draft has been talked down and I've been one of those doing so. However, no-one should read into that that there won't be many good players coming out of it." The Wiz believes that it's an even field but it's going to be tough identifying who the top 8 - 10 will be and in what order they will be drafted. "Plenty of kids who have shown a bit here and a bit there or who, if they can get fitter (or whatever) might have more to offer than they have shown." The "not quite right" aspect arises for a couple of reasons - some of the better prospects who otherwise would be definite top ten chances are carrying injuries while others have had question marks put against their names because of problems with attitude or availability for next season. The most highly publicized of the injuries was the situation of Eastern Ranges key position forward Beau Dowler who suffered three fractures to his pelvis as a result of a recent car accident. The most likely prospect for number one selection, Vic Metro captain Marc Murphy who also won the Larke Medal at the championships, has experienced slackness in a shoulder. Another highly regarded key position prospect, Josh Kennedy from East Fremantle recently underwent a shoulder reconstruction, fellow Sandgroper, Travis Varcoe has also had surgery to repair a serious foot injury. Another highly rated prospect, Beau Muston, a 189cm tall midfielder from the Murray Bushrangers had a knee reconstruction early this season and was recently told he needed further arthroscopic surgery which will put him out of action for at least a further six months. Queenslander Michael West is another highly ranked junior who required a knee reconstruction after being injured late in a lead up game to the Under 18 Championships after kicking 13 goals. The fact that players have had corrective surgery shouldn't prevent these players from having successful careers in the long run (Chris Judd had two shoulder reconstructions before he was drafted) but doubts about their short term health must surely be a consideration if a club is faced with deciding between two “best availables� otherwise considered to be about equal in ability. To add to the "not quite right" component in this year's draft is the fact that there have been suggestions that some of the more highly regarded draft prospects are tainted by certain flaws in their make up. There have been comments passed about some along the lines of "lazy", "skinny", "physical but can only play forward", "not very smart on the field", "likes to smoke and drink all day" and "more an athlete than a football player". There are stories around during every national under 18 carnival that certain players have "tanked" in order to put interstate clubs off the scent. These are far fetched and smack of conspiracy theory but they're out there and were again in 2005. I'm not naming names at this point but some of the above comments have been corroborated from a few different sources. A measure of how the clubs regard this draft is the fact that the trading period saw them trading early draft picks for very ordinary players without so much as a second's hesitation - a sign that there is not a great deal of faith among some clubs in the supposedly highly regarded top selections in this year's draft pool. I've put together a bit of a "mock" draft for the top twelve selections (which gets us to Melbourne's first round draft selection) but before I start, it should be noted that the Demons drafting last year of three of the four youngest players in the 2004 National Draft - Matthew Bate, Lynden Dunn and Michael Newton might yet prove to be a successful piece of speculative recruiting. It's arguable that had this trio not been drafted last year as bottom age players, they might have had spectacular carnivals for the respective Victorian teams and could well have been in line for top ten selection at the end of this month. The fact that Melbourne has put these players, "in the bank" so to speak, may well put the club in a very strong position with respect to this year's draft. THE ORACLE’S PHANTOM DRAFT Bearing in mind the comments I've made about the quality of players in the national draft pool, here’s my crack at how this year's draft will pan out. After the event, I'll probably end up with lots of egg on my face but, at least I don't have to explain where I've gone wrong. Spare a thought for the AFL club recruiters - if they choose poorly, then it's their job that might possibly be at stake! [i've also added quotes by coaches and /or managers from Inside Football’s excellent Draft Liftout] 1. Carlton - Marc Murphy (Oakleigh Chargers) Height: 179.1cm Weight: 74.7kg DOB: 19-Jul-87 Position: Small Midfielder. Murphy is the son of former Fitzroy great John Murphy who shunned the Brisbane Lions' overtures to join them under the father/son rule. The popular view is that a deal was done at the time with Carlton which has the first pick and this classy and creative rover with clean hands is therefore a near to certainty to be the number one selection this year. He has all the credentials having won the Larke Medal at the NAB AFL U18 Championships and also gained All-Australian honours. Performed well at the NAB AFL Draft Camp. "Gets heaps of the footy but is also very good defensively. He has good body size despite being relatively small height wise. I can see him playing senior footy this year." – Rohan Welsh – coach of Oakleigh Chargers... 2. Collingwood - Xavier Ellis (Gippsland Power) Height: 186.3cm Weight: 71.7kg DOB: 28-Feb-88 Position: Medium Defender A graduate of the AIS/AFL Academy in 2005 and an All-Australian at U18 level, Ellis is likely to spend most of 2006 playing schoolboy football at Melbourne Grammar while he completes Year 12 of his schooling. He is a superb reader of the play, is a superb natural athlete and finishes off well – usually with the left foot. "A left footer who is a very classy player. Reads the play very well whether its down back on the wing or half forward." – Peter Francis team manager of Gippsland Power. 3. Hawthorn - Patrick Ryder (East Fremantle) Height: 195.7cm Weight: 85.6kg DOB: 14-Mar-88 Position: Ruckman A strong mark who can play in the ruck or as a key position goalkicking forward who has already made his senior debut at WAFL level. Another All-Australian whose versatility makes him a certain candidate for early selection. "Patrick is a tall aboriginal boy who plays in the ruck but can play key position. He’s very athletic, a good mark and kick and has had a terrific year with us." – Andrew Lockyer coach of East Fremantle Colts. 4. Carlton - Josh Kennedy (East Fremantle) Height: 195.1cm Weight: 92.3kg DOB: 25-Aug-87 Position: Tall Forward This tall player from the West has impressed with is strength in marking contests and good reading of the play. Like Ryder, Kennedy has already played at senior WAFL level but his pre season will be limited as a result of a shoulder reconstruction. "A very athletic player who played both centre half forward and centre half back. Has very solid hands, is a really good kick and had a great national carnival." – Andrew Lockyer coach of East Fremantle Colts 5. Collingwood - Beau Dowler (Oakleigh Chargers) Height: 194.6cm Weight: 84kg DOB: 16-Dec-87 Position: Tall Forward Was favoured early as a possible # 1 choice but others jumped ahead in the queue during the season and the broken pelvis incurred in that car accident didn’t help his cause. Medical reports suggest he will make a full recovery and because he has all the attributes, the wait will be worthwhile for this tall forward who takes a big grab and is an accurate kick for goal. "A key forward who is a good mark and a really good kick for goal. His running capacity is spot on so you could play him anywhere." - Rohan Welsh coach of Oakleigh Chargers. 6. Hawthorn - Shannon Hurn (Central District) Height: 188cm Weight: 92kg DOB: 04-Sep-87 Position: Medium Defender This strongly built youngster is ready to go at AFL level having played in the last two premierships with SANFL club Central District. A booming kick for goal who has good hands, Hurn was also a top cricketer but selected football ahead of a possible Test career. "Shannon’s a long raking right foot who is a ready-made senior footballer." – Simon Arnott development assistant at Central District. 7. Essendon - Mitchell Clark (East Fremantle) Height: 198.1cm Weight: 91.3kg DOB: 19-Oct-87 Position: Tall Forward Yet another tall forward from East Fremantle, Clark was rated more highly than both Ryder and Kennedy in early draft discussions but a poor Under 18 Championships has seen him fall back in the rankings. He was a joint winner with Brett Deledio of the Sheehan Medal for best player at NAB AFL U16 Championships in 2003 and will be taken early. "Can play all key positions as well as in the ruck. Very athletic, can take a good mark and is a great kick when he gets it." – Andrew Lockyer coach of East Fremantle Colts 8. Richmond – Marcus Drum (Murray Bushrangers) Height: 189.7cm Weight: 79.7kg DOB: 01-May-87 Position: Medium Defender An accomplished and versatile young player with good disposal, Drum was an All-Australian as a bottom age player in 2004 but too young for last year's draft. Can play anywhere, has good pace and skills and is a dedicated player who prepares himself well. "Marcus is a consummate professional – the most professional player I have ever coached. Leaves no stone unturned, trains the house down, captained our side and was a great leader" – Xavier Tanner coach of Murray Bushrangers 9. Brisbane – Austin Lucy (Caloundra) Height: 193m Weight: 91kg DOB: 04-Sept-87 Position: Defender All Australian Under 18 key defender who attacks the ball strongly, is prepared to back his judgement and run with the ball and can kick it long. "Austin ... is a big, strong, hard player who played against men for the Suncoast Lions all year. Rarely gets beaten one-on-one and is a really attacking player who loves to run off and bomb the ball forward." – Craig McRae coach of Queensland Under 18’s. 10. Fremantle - Andrew Swallow (East Fremantle) 183cm Weight: 76.5kg DOB: 02-Jun-87 Position: Medium Midfielder A ball magnet who works hard and has pace and strong leadership credentials having captained WA at Under 16 and U18 level. Showed out with some excellent performances at the NAB Draft Camp and if there is a question mark about him, it is his delivery of the ball. "Andrew is a midfielder who can play defensively or offensively as an onballer. Very, very quick, very strong over the ball and has good hands. Might be a bit suspect with his kicking but that can be rectified and I reckon he’ll go top 10." – Andrew Lockyer – coach of East Fremantle Colts 11. Western Bulldogs - Cleve Hughes (Norwood) Height: 191.9cm Weight: 84.4kg DOB: 15-Jan-87 Position: Tall Forward Hughes is a strong marking mobile key forward who is an excellent kick and a strong mark. Won All Australian honours in 2005 and has played at reserves level in the SANFL. "A tall forward who is a good mover and a beautiful kick when he gets it." - David Oatey development manager at Norwood 12. Melbourne – Nathan Jones (Dandenong Stingrays) Height: 178.7cm Weight: 84.5kg DOB: 20-Jan-88 Position: Small Midfielder A super fit hard it midfielder whose 36 possession game in the TAC Cup Grand Final for the Stingrays raised his stocks considerably. Before that however, he gained All Australian honours averaging 20 plus possessions in the three games including 27 for Vic Metro against WA. A player who is ready to go. "Nathan ... had a massive impact at the national carnival. Possesses an enormous work ethic ... he's one of the hardest working kids I've ever seen and he’s only 17." – Graeme Yeats coach of Dandenong Stingrays I don't propose to go beyond pick 12 but would add that others who impress are Geelong Falcons midfielder Shaun Higgins, exciting Gippsland utility Dale Thomas and livewire aboriginals Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls of East Perth and Travis Varcoe. After that it's a long way to Melbourne's second and subsequent draft selections at 53, 60 and 68. Once you're in that territory, you're looking at the smokeys and recycled players who have been tried and often found wanting elsewhere. Recently delisted Magpie Brayden Shaw could be picked at this level and if there is a dark horse for a Demon selection, it could be young SA ruckman Hugh Minson who is a huge 200 cm plus and is said to possess every bit as much talent as brother and young Bulldog Will Minson. Although you can never ever bank on dark horses, I have a feeling we might see this kid in an AFL guernsey some time soon. Perhaps in next year's National Australia Bank Pre Season Competition? FOOTNOTE: This blog is not sponsored by a Bank.

HISTORY OF THE MELBOURNE FOOTBALL CLUB: PART THREE: FIRST PREMIERSHIP by the Professor As the 19th Century drew to a close and the formation of the Australian Commonwealth neared, major changes were becoming apparent in the life styles of the latter day colonials. Even in sport the new spirit of ruthless commercialism developed as the leading clubs tired of propping up the "outer city" teams. They formed the Victorian Football League in October 1896. At the inaugural meeting held in the rooms of Buxton's Art Gallery in Collins Street, six clubs were represented - Collingwood, Essendon, Fitzroy, Geelong, Melbourne and South Melbourne. By the start of competition in May the following year, Carlton and St. Kilda had been added to the list of those fighting for the first ever VFL premiership. Melbourne had an excellent introduction to League ranks with a win in its first match over South Melbourne - 6.8.44 to 2.4.16. The team went on to string together six successive victories before lowering its colours to eventual premier Essendon and finally finishing in fourth place. After a two-season lull, Melbourne was able to win its first ever VFL premiership on 22nd September 1900 with a grand final victory over Fitzroy 4.10.34 to 3.12.30. In an earlier final they had disposed of Essendon by 2 points. RESULTS - GRAND FINAL 1900 Melbourne 2.3.15 2.5.17 4.8.32 4.10.34 Fitzroy 1.4.10 2.7.19 2.7.19 3.12.30 Goals Geddes Leith Ryan Wardill Best McGinis Moodie Cumberland Wardill Purse Langley Parkin THE TEAM B Herring Scholl L Rippon HB Parkin Purse McClelland C C Gardiner Young H Hay HF Lewis Leith Langley F Wardill Geddes Ryan R Moodie Cumberland McGinis The captain of the side was Dick Wardill and its heroes included George Moodie, Fred McGinis and Vic Cumberland who made up a formidable ruck combination. The win was a shock defeat for Fitzroy who were aiming for a hat trick of premierships. Melbourne frustrated their opponents in the last half with the negative tactic of keeping the ball as close to the boundary line as possible. The premiership win was not followed by further success and Melbourne was to languish for a long time in the early years of the new nation - the Commonwealth of Australia which came into existence on 1st January, 1901. Within a month after that, the monarch after who the State of Victoria was named had died. A new era was about to be ushered in ...

A HIGHWAY OF DEMONS by Whispering Jack PRELUDE - Tardis Landing It started with a word. "Tardis" The Tardis landed back on earth last night, a return that revived many long-forgotten memories of a past life when the boys were young. Back then, the major domestic task entrusted to me was to pack them off to bed at night but not before a half hour's dose of The Doctor and friends, a ritual often followed by storytelling that ended when sleep captured and entangled both of them in dreams of far away planets set under the lights of many distant moons. The storytelling was difficult at first but I managed to get it right; the root of my success being the credibility of the story lines achieved by recalling events of a past in which I was always an integral part of every plot. My role was normally one of subservience to the great Time Lord, a wise being whose identity underwent dramatic changes from time to time. The spice of every tale was that we were always led down untrodden paths of distant worlds but the quest forever remained the same. A searching for The Holy Grail under the guidance of the Doctor with the assistance of an assorted group of humans, animals, alien beings and mechanical creatures some of which were part animal, part robot. The Holy Grail? There was only one thing this strange cast of individuals could conceivably be seeking in the distant reaches of the universe of my creation. This was a place where time moved in a mysterious and eternal circle into a dimension where the prize always went to the worthy and what could be more worthy than the winning of the Melbourne Football Club's 13th premiership? There were problems on the journey. My assumed personal acquaintanceship with The Doctor was put to test when the incumbent Time Lord turned up in town to appear before his adoring fans at the Southland Shopping Centre one Saturday morning. We went off to meet Tom Baker and discretely lined up in a queue for his autograph. The Doctor was here to save the earth but nobody was supposed to discover that I actually worked with him. Thankfully, as we closed in on the good Mr. Baker he winked in our direction. It was enough to convince the lads. I took a photograph, he signed their autograph books and we were soon out of there. Hush, hush. Our secret was kept intact. The same Doctor was also instrumental in shaping their musical tastes. Have you ever seen the cover of Dylan's Blonde on Blonde? There was just enough resemblance between Tom Baker and the Great Troubadour complete with scarf to convince them that they were one and the same person. Soon they were being serenaded off to bed with sounds of harmonicas wailing and an out of tune voice screeching "Ramona" deep in the background. This opened a fertile oasis of story lines as we moved from tales of the Rainy Day Women who triumphed over evil Daleks (with casings striped black and white and voices resembling twittering magpies) to the Tambourine Men who stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains in their vain attempt to save some distant planet from destruction. How did this tie in with the winning of a football premiership? Well, I admit I had some difficulty in establishing in their minds an understanding of what it meant to win a grand final. After all, it was the early 'eighties and these tackers barely knew what it meant to win a game let alone to savour a premiership victory. So the story had to start back in time. Before they were born when I really did travel with the Doctor on the Tardis ...

by Whispering Jack "Good evening listeners and welcome to Sportstalk2006. Our main story tonight is yesterday's AFL Grand Final and throughout the programme we'll be saluting the premiers and some of their long suffering supporters who have had to wait 42 years between drinks..." Hmmm. An imaginary radio programme a little under 12 months into the future. It's one of those things that we dedicated Demon supporters can only look forward to and dream about in hope as the weather warms and we approach yet another long, hot summer of cricket, tennis, horseracing, surfing and sailing. So what does it take for an AFL team to build itself up in order to become THE AFL power again? There's no doubt whatsoever that you need a talented list of footballers, a good coach, a supportive staff and a stable administration and these things are all within the control of the club. I really believe that in Melbourne's case we're slowly getting there but unfortunately, these things are not enough. The one thing that we've learned about modern day football is that you need a fair bit of the "L" factor when September comes around. "L" for LUCK! They say you make your own luck with a combination of talent, hard work, dedication and inspiration but if you want to make it to that laudatory radio programme at the end of a long hard season, then you also have to the breaks going your way. I recall listening to an American commentator describing the World Series victory of the Boston Red Sox earlier this year as having broken a long run of misfortunes on the part of that club running all the way back for almost a century. On listening to this, I had a vision in my heart of hearts that by the end of the year, my own football team – which also wears red socks – would have good fortune smiling down at it in order that it could put an end to its own long run in the wilderness. That you need to have luck flowing in your direction has been something inherent in most sports for a long time but since the start of "modern day football" – which I date at the start of this century – it has become an essential ingredient in the premiership winning formula. The Bombers of 2000 (the last year of the 20th century) were the dominant team of the year and I would suggest that every one of their players could have gone into the final series with one hand tied behind their backs and they would still have been a chance to take the flag. From then onwards however, it's been a case of which team got it all right at the business end of the season. Brisbane won three consecutive flags in 2001 to 2003 but not once did the Lions finish on top of the premiership table at the end of the home and away series. In 2001, the Bombers were still the top side. They destroyed Richmond in the qualifying final, just squeaked past the Hawks in the preliminary and went into the Grand Final carrying injured players. The Lions powered their way through with consecutive finals at the Gabba including an easy preliminary at night against the Tigers and simply ran over a tired looking Essendon outfit in the third quarter of a warm day to end the hopes of a Bomber dynasty. The Lions' run continued as they played Collingwood in the next two grand finals when the ladder leaders in each season, Port Adelaide, choked both times after recording imposing 18 to 4 win-loss ratios. In Brisbane's case it was certainly a case of getting the entire team together for the big day. Clark Keating became legendary for missing large slabs of the regular season with injury and then coming up cherry ripe and dominant when it mattered the most. The Magpies also had their share of luck with injuries as they fielded near full strength sides in both grand final seasons. However, their luck ran out at the Tribunal when they lost key players (Jason Cloke in 2002 and Anthony Rocca in 2003) for indiscretions on preliminary final day. When Collingwood's luck finally dissipated entirely and injuries struck in the following two seasons, their lack of depth was tried, tested and found wanting. They plummeted down the ladder. Meanwhile, the Power finally got their act together in 2004 and ended Brisbane's dream of a record-equalling fourth successive flag with a runaway 40 point victory. The week before, they got the breaks and snuck home against the Saints at AAMI Stadium by a single goal in a game where the result could have gone either way. And then there were the Swans of 2005. Before the season started, who would have given them a chance of taking out the AFL premiership? Not many, I’d bet. After six rounds Paul Roos' boys were sitting in 12th place with just two wins. Things would have been worse had they not managed to just pip the Bombers by a solitary goal up in Sydney. On top of that, the "experts" had written them off because their style of play was unattractive, boring, defensive and tedious. Even the AFL's head honcho broke with protocol and gave them an absolute bagging for the way they played the game. Ten rounds into the season and the Swans still weren't in the top eight. They didn't slip into the top four until round 16 and even after 19 rounds they had a tenuous hold on the double chance only by virtue of their superior percentage lead over the Kangaroos. Both clubs were on 12 wins and 7 defeats. By that stage however, things were starting to run the way of the Swans and they were not required to make any compulsory changes to their line up from that point onward. The only team change made in the last seven weeks of competition including the finals was the naming of Paul Bevan on the interchange instead of Luke Vogels. An extraordinary piece of good fortune which I doubt has ever occurred in the past or that it ever will happen again. Sydney came damn close to winning a final at Subiaco and, but for a couple of dubious umpiring decisions, they might have made it the easy way into a preliminary final. Perhaps they were lucky even on that score. History records however, that the good fortune meter certainly turned the way of the Swans after that game. They were three seconds away from oblivion in the semi final when a tiring Geelong defence allowed them to steal the winning goal. A week later, they overran a tired and injury riddled St. Kilda. Who knows what might have happened had Sydney beaten West Coast in the first final and come up against the ladder leading Crows in a preliminary final instead? Things continued to flow the way of the Swans when the AFL made a puzzling ruling which prevented a 2002 suspension against Barry Hall from counting against his record when calculating his demerit points in the Matty McGuire case. A few days later, the Tribunal came up with another beauty when it deemed that his strike on McGuire forty yards off the ball as being "in play". Hall belted the Guy in the guts. It hurt his opponent and he should have missed the grand final. But such things don't happen in "modern day football". Do they? The West Coast Eagles were nowhere near their full strength on grand final day. They couldn’t play Michael Braun or Peter Matera because of injury, Michael Gardiner and Travis Gasper were underdone and Brownlow Medal runner up, Daniel Kerr, injured his ankle in the opening minutes. The Eagles hit the post four times and the laissez faire style of umpiring also played into the Swans’ hands. Even before Leo Barry’s outstretched arms grabbed that fateful, final mark of the year, you could sense that fate was conspiring a way to ensure the ball would land in his safe hands. I wish them all the best - they waited a long time for the moment. So as fate would have it, my vision was partly right and partly wrong. The part about the players wearing the red socks drinking champagne from a premiership cup was right. It was just the team that was wrong and that left me with the hope and the vision that next year … "... long suffering supporters who have had to wait 42 years between drinks. It was indeed a magnificent performance from that young midfield led by Brent Moloney who had great support from Brock McLean and Colin Sylvia. And what a magnificent performance from Byron Pickett to play such an instrumental role in his third premiership – every one of them at a different club..."

HISTORY OF THE MELBOURNE FOOTBALL CLUB: PART TWO - THE COLONIAL BOYS by The Professor Colonial Victoria had thrown off the shackles of its infancy by the late 1870's. Culturally, politically and economically it was becoming a major force among the handful of far-flung colonies that would, by the turn of the century, unite in Federation. In 1877 large tracts of land had been developed and settled; Ned Kelly and his band of bushrangers were making ready to cause havoc in the countryside and the first ever test cricket match was played on the Melbourne Cricket Ground between Australia and England. Within two months of that historic match, the other big sport achieved a major boost with the formation of a controlling body to administer Australian Rules in Victoria in May 1877. The Victorian Football Association had as its foundation members Albert Park (later South Melbourne), Carlton, East Melbourne, Essendon, Geelong, Hotham (North Melbourne), Melbourne and St. Kilda. The Melbourne Football Club played its first VFA match against Hotham on Saturday 2nd June 1877, a game that resulted in a draw. In the early seasons of the competition, the club was barred from using the MCG, as it was feared that the footballers would damage the ground. Melbourne maintained a position of strength without attaining premiership success finishing runners up to Carlton and Geelong respectively in 1877 and 1878 before dropping to fourth in the following season. In 1880 the Melbourne Football Club was finally allowed to use the ground for half the season and the first football night match was played there that year. The Melbourne Cricket Club was already beginning to notice the financial benefits that could be derived from football. The 1880's were not kind to the Melbourne Football Club. The team was still able to hold onto fourth position for three of the first four years of the decade before gradually slipping to rock bottom in the crisis year of 1889. Earlier, club finances had taken a severe jolt when the stand, which could hold 3000 people, was destroyed by fire in 1884. The year 1889 was crucial to the development of the Melbourne Football Club. Its financial and administrative situation was disastrous and its on field performances were lagging. At this point the Melbourne Cricket Club stepped in and took control of the football club - a move that was to save the Redlegs, as they were now known, from extinction. The takeover and the resultant strengthened administration brought significant improvement to the team's fortunes. The influence of the MCC helped recruit footballers who could find jobs on various grounds controlled by the Club. As the nation moved into a period of economic uncertainty, this was a boon to the young man who could play football and the club returned to the top echelon finishing fourth with ten wins in 1892 and then second to Essendon in both 1893 and 1894. One of Melbourne's stars of the late 1890's was Tasmanian Fred McGinis - a favourite of supporters and one of the first of a long line of champion players with the club. Melbourne remained strong with third and fourth place finishes in 1895 and 1896 respectively - performances that cemented a place for Melbourne in what was to emerge as the new major competition - the Victorian Football League ...