nomed

Congratulations to Stan on the award. As a youngster I also saw Stan play many times. I recall my dad really bagging him though, seems Stan had a bad habit of running in circles. Left, right, around, a bounce and around again. When he finally kicked the ball the forwards had stopped leading or been picked up. I believe that this was picked up on at North and he became a bit more direct.

Well, there you go. I once tried to convince a Sri Lankan friend to come and watch the Dee's. He refused point blank becasue they were "the demons, very bad, very bad" and instead took up with the Hawks. I thought he was just being weird. HAve we been missing a huge slice of the home market as well?

Umm, please see http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,18322666-2,00.html Threatening people with a knives isn't bad behaviour? I think there was an alcohol component to his behaviour as well. His Dad, Chris Sampi been on TV over here in Perth a few times. I think he is a school teacher in Geraldton, I believe he is anxious to see his son do well. The quote I recall is him saying he didn't want Ashely to walk away from the AFL, as its a chance in a lifetime, and one that he thought he would regret in later years. Ashley Sampi always seems well spoken in the media as well, so I dont think he's a dill, just another young guy unsure of what he wants from life. Interesting to note that Aaron Davey is mooted as the person to guide him. Clearly club ghas a high opinion of Aaron now he's a little older as well.

This is about the best thing I have heard from Melbourne lately (and applies to any of the 15 teams that did not win the flag!) Why is it ever acceptable to go into a season accepting that you will not succeed? What top level athlete enters an event thinking, "Well I can't win, so I'll just try" In my opinion, the terms and thought processes, that go with "Development year" or "Rebuilding phase" justify and embed a culture of failure in a team. Next years success "starts today" I hope so.

Because someone beat us to the URL....http://www.melbourne.com.au/

And his mate is a journalist who heard that .....

I was at Subiaco on Saturday, but was not going to post my thoughts as they were nearly all negative. I will qualify my comments as well with the admission that I am literally a one eyed Melbourne supporter, who can not see past the midfield due to my limited eyesight. As noted in the match summary from Melon22 not all of our woes are injury or fitness related. These are negative things that happen, things that in my opinion would be unacceptable even at a good local football level. Q2 Daniel Wards inexplicable turn over kicking out from full back, what was he thinking? More likely not thinking, dinky little kicks with no positive target seem fatal. Clear the zone at least if you are not sure! Lazy running, no pushing up on the break or pushing back on turn overs. Literally a player would win the ball on the half back line and take off, look up and see no Melbourne targets. Why not? Because they were all standing still in the centre square watching! As soon as we get possession they should be pushing forward to the "fat" side. Instead we kicked "down the line to a contest or worse to a Freo jumper. Cut the crap, get back to in one side / out the other, and push up in support. Ditto with turn overs, make a beeline for the back half. This is called gut running, you do it in support of your team, not hanging around "hoping" they will win the ball or a luck turn over will lead to a rebound. Its a sign of one of three things. 1) Laziness 2) Lack of fitness 3) Lack of concentration What were Colin Sylvia and Paul Johnson talking about when Solomon ran past them and kicked that goal? Neither player was watching the play; they were having a nice old chit chat. No concentration, no awareness=second to the ball. McPharlin, Tarrant and Pavlich stretched the backline to breaking point. We looked short and slow down back I am unsure if Carrol spent the whole game on Pav, but whoever did take Pav did a good job. McPharlin made Fergy look slow and short; he’s going to have stop marks all up and down his back this week. Q3) Great start a bit of vigor, push and shove. Excellent, but a goal or two to the Dockers soon made it look like false bravado. Well done Brad Miller for going in hard, he has nothing else to lose, so a bit of aggression at the man was fantastic. Bruce and Nietz having a crack too, but again Daniel Ward, where is your footy brain! We know Farmer is annoying but that shove resulted in a 50 M penalty and a certain goal. You were given a task, but you cannot concentrate, tagging means attention all day. Again, no pressure on turn overs, watched players running ahead of the ball carrier to "corral" them to a boundary or fill the zone. Very nice, but no support makes it meaningless, they just run further up the ground and have more time to spot/create an option. Q4) My main source of entertainment was the barking dog on ABC 720. Mouse doing the boundary line thing tracked down a blind man whose dog barked every time Freo scored a goal. The dog did not bark when the Dees scored, or when a point was scored. Pretty funny, but the RSPCA was called in late in the game because the dog was hoarse! I did see some good things, things you cannot see on the normal TV coverage only at live games. Nathan Jones. Awesome. How does that guy slip tackles? He looks like he is moving slowly and when tackled is quite prepared to take on the tackler, amazing amount of power! Brock McLean similar, but more in and under, looked slow and unresponsive to me, still injured? I stopped watching for him in the last quarter. Travis Johnston, good last half of football until about mid last quarter as well. Where was he in the first half? Jace Bode. Did some nice work in the first quarter, looked calm in the company. Funny thing, although I came away frustrated by things I would consider unacceptable on an AFL ground, I still think the Melbourne footy club is on the right track. There is enough on show to make me look forward to 2008. Bode, Frawley, Bate, Buckley, Jones all show a little. McLean, Sylvia and Jones all have upsides. Travis Jonhston, Sylvia, Jones and McLean when fully fit will one day absolutely destroy a team. Dunn and Newton are showing some versatility, Dunn as a tagger in the midfield thats flexible for a big KPP/forward. Get Newton into the gym and he will be a monster! Sadly, I reckon Wardy is gone, along with Bizzell. But there could be a few others in my opinon Brown, Pickett and Fergerson. Yze is fortunate he has a contract. I have a soft spot for Brad Miller but I reckon he is trade bait. There could be the odd shock retirment as well, perhaps James McDonald, will his body survive another full year in the midfield? Is it time for a role as a small forward/small running back? Ditto Jeff White and David Nietz, I accept they will both do a pre season, but what state will they be in by the end of 2008? Nomed

Would Davey be gone for the season? From the Hun: http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/com...5E19769,00.html Harvey may miss 20 August 2007 Herald Sun Daryl Timms "Speedster Aaron Davey, who strained a hamstring against the Magpies, will have minor surgery this week to repair a torn cartilage which he suffered against Adelaide in Round 10. Melbourne said Davey had shown great courage to continue playing, knowing the injury would eventually need surgery."

Similiar in WA. Poor old Demons fans had to sit through Sydney versus Freo on both 7 and Foxtel. I thought it was WA only due to the "parochial" nature of the local TV coverage.

Ive changed my choices nowe that the questions has changhed to "Melbourne players" 1) 3 (Melbourne) players from the past ten years who you hate/hated seeing in other team colours. Scotty Thompson Troy Simmonds Jeff Farmer 2) 3 current (Melbourne) players you would like to see in other team colours. David Nietz (deserves a flag) Adem Yze Aaron Davey 3) 3 current (Melbourne) players you would cry if you saw in other team colours David Nietz Brock McLean Russell Robertson

I have one as a MIDI file (*.mid), if your phone can load midis as a ring tone I think it could be sent it to you as an MMS mesage.

Funny comment about Adem Yze and Aaron Davey being disinterested, at the functions I have been to over the years, Aaron usually has to be peeled away from the kids, I suppose it does get demanding from time to time on the guy. I suspect Aaron is still pretty young at heart as well. Adem Yze (and Matty Whelan) spoke directly to my young bloke, so much so that Yze is now his favorite player, we now have to put no 13 on his jumper. Funny thing happened when Wheels asked my son if he was his favorite too, my son went "Nah" and walked off, Ooze cracked up at that!

As much as it hurts me to say it, we do not have a single player with the capacity to take a game by the scuff of the neck. Think about it, who could you seriously rate as a game turner? A player who literally makes the game his own? Not one. We have a few who can produce some, occasional, inconsistient and patchy moments of great play, or freak goals, most often when the pressure is off. But we don't have an Adam Goodes, Chris Judd or Jonathon Brown. The list says it all. Brock > often injured Sylvia > potential when will it be delivered? Johnston > every third or forth week Nietz > nearing the end and it shows White > fading Davey > the flash in name and nature (as in the occasional flash) JMac > a brave goer Miller > plodder Jamar > big and? Paul Johnson > free trip to WA to see mum and dad Godfrey > probably bleeds red and blue big hearted "clubman" Whelan > See above Bell, Dunn, Petterd, Bate, Bartram not one has made me sit up and think "wow, how ggod is this kid?" I now think we are in a world of hurt. I hope we dont hear the re-building phase bit.

Agree Bezulbub, we haven't got the full story here. Why suspend Byron for a week, with 4 weeks at Sandringham if he chooses to come back? Byron hasn't been left with much choice, 5 weeks total on the sidelines? That’s a round 13 return! Maybe his contract won't let management just sack him, if he is on match payments it’s a big pay cut, so they push him into a corner. If he comes back, well that's a real show of character. PS Is this the last year of Byron's? What sort of contract is he on?

Ah, memories. Playing junior football saturday morning and waiting for Dad to come home from work at 12. Mum dropping us off at Clifton Hill junction, the train to VP, Glenferrie, Footscray. tram to the Junction Oval or Lakeside. Huddling under dads coat when it rained, standing on the empty cans from Dad or his mate Norm. Near the wind sock at Windy Hill where my grandfather was the time keeper and a life member, or running onto the ground at 1/4 and 3/4 time at Arden Street, Prince Park or the Junction. Fitzroys Kevin Murray actually talking to me on the ground before the kickoff in his 300th game (even though I had my Demons jumper on). Doug Wade coming over the fence at Arden Street to actually slap an abusive crowd member, classic! Sitting in the Melbounre rooms before a game reading a magazine with Robbie Flower (How it Works, Magazine 1, The Atom bomb!). The silence at Glenferrie when Peter Hudson's knee buckled (was that a Barry Bourke tackle I cant remeber now). Those days are long gone, how can our sons ever understand the tribal passion that we have?

I disagree, they key message is "Its a game, enjoy it for what it is!" Winning is great, true, losing graciously is "nice" but the real thing is getting into something you enjoy. As a long term Demon tragic, it was drilled into me that we go to the football to enjoy ourselves. Same reason I played suburban football until I was 38, enjoy it! When times are tough, try this with the kids. Go and watch one player. For me it was Barry Bourke, then Laurie Fowler. Later it was Robbie, then O'Dwyer and G Lyon. If we were getting a real pasting (like say the day Longmire kicked 12 against us and Bennett was moved to full back on him) enjoy watching the form player. Move seats to be near the action,watch and learn. When I lived in Melbourne I also used to go to games just to watch players. eg Ablett, Hodges, Dunstall, Weightman, Moncrief. This works well if they are playing as well. Make it a learning experience. Cheer the marks, wince at the big hits and yes, live it up when the Dees win!

I wonder if we could come to the stage where we release some players from training and playing for the full year in order to completely recover. You then tell younger players, right, you have 10, 15 or 18 rounds to learn the game and have a crack. Or you line up Ooze, Bizzell, Holland, Wheatley, Ward, McDonald etal and say, right,its your last year, you are in for the season, give it everything you have. Down sides: Losing games Over exposing young bodies and minds to rigours of senior football before they are ready Damage player and team confidence Bludging (players who know they are safe "coast") Upsides: Young players have the confidence to make mistakes, they learn from bad games We get to see who has "it"rather than "potential" Players with long term injuries get completely rested.

Absolutely. Whats that old saying, "the bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of cheap price is forgotten" Its later than you think, now is the time to be counted, if they fold or merge they are gone forever!

Hey easy on the MCC members, we are not all rolling in money. I pay my MCC subscription, 3 MFC memberships, put in for raffles, attend club functions when I can and buy merchandise. I am a single dad and all of this takes a huge sacrifice to do. I need to budget to do this, and I do so by choice as the football is my main entertainment during the year. Sure there may be those better off in the MCC Reserve, but I would bet that they are in the same proportion as society (the old 5% of the people who control 90% of the wealth). We need to influence the "fence sitters" in a positive way, bagging them won’t do it.

Does anyone else think the "run and carry" game plan looks similiar to the Neil Balme game plan from 10 years ago. Remember how sucessful that was!

Brad Miller. At an after match function at Subiaco, Perth about three years ago. Just about everything was over and we were just hanging around having a few drinks. My 5 year old son was running around the social club and went "awol", found him sitting over against a wall with Brad Miller chatting away like they'd known each other all their lives. I think Brad said he has younger brothers and sisters (Brad is one of six??) and spent quite a bit of playing with him. Also took time to talk about holidays and other non football related stuff. Left very impressed that a 20 year old had his head so firmly screwed on and was so down to earth. The same night I also got to talk and have a few beers with Andrew Leoncelli and Stephen Tingay after the players had left. That was pretty cool. Best of all was talking to Brett Ratten (then mid field coach) and asking him if he was telling people he was a better player after he had retired, Ratten didnt get it and a couple of other people around us cracked up. He left us at the end of the season, was it something I said?

Sean Charles was awsome when up and going. Physically strong and fast. Not afraid of anybody. Think he suffered from osteoporosis, which resulted in multiple breakages of the wrist. Nasty. Bloody brave to play on with that arm guard with us then Carlton a year later. Sean and Jeff Farmer were tandem teamed at full forward by Balme for some time, working from the square. A dismal failure. I think I recall a final against Carlton where Sean Charles destroyed them almost single handed, he then repeated the dose a year later. Reckon that Sean Charles also kicked 18 goals for a Sunraysia representative team a few years back. Not bad for an old man.