DemonDave

I was at Family Day, and the guernsey presentations skipped from Number 8 straight through to Number 11 (With Neita being presented last as Captain). No surprise really that he was a no-show, but no mention was made of his absence disappointingly...

Not sure I agree there, if you were a regular fullback, Buckley would be too quick and clever for you (yes, even though he will have lost pace, a slowing midfielder is better than a behemoth full-forward for sustained pace not just over 10 meters.), If you put a flanker on him, he may be able to out-muscle them. Not that I'm a member of the Nathan Buckley fan club, I can't stand the arrogant sod. However as someone else has pointed out, he'll now play a Riciuto-type role probably for the rest of his career. I went and watched Collingwood play the Lions at the MCG (don't asky why!), and he got moved to Full-Forward and single handedly won the game for them. Not saying this will happen every week but he will be a handful for teams at times... Nothing i'm sure Riv or Fergs or Belly couldn't handle though!

Aah now you're taking me back! Standing in dirt in the outer, right near the ludicrously hard-to-get-into coaches box perched high on the Doug Hawkins wing. Standing on tip-toes to see everything, wondering what happened to Dollars after he got stretchered off. The roar when news came through on all the Panasonic transistors. THe sheer pandemonium and celebrations when the siren went. Probably also keeping track of 'G vs H' and "J vs K" score updates on the Western Oval scoreboard for completists sake too... Happy Days!

Hehe, he sure was! Me and a few mates are having a DVD night this Friday to relive that match in its entirety now its available on DVD from the club. To think that was 20 years ago is staggering, I remember it like it was yesterday! I think it was called the Panasonic Cup by that stage...

Danny Hughes and Jace Bode both played 15-20 games each for Sandringham, so surely you can form an opinion on the evidence presented in these games more constructively than you can one Escort Cup game. Remember, Andre Gianfagna also looked like a 'superstar' in that game, and he barely played a Sandringham senior game after that. Hughes reminds me somewhat of a more skilled and slightly bigger bodied Cam Hunter, he looks good for Sandringham, but would get slaughtered because of his body shape in the AFL. He'd have to have an absolutely stunning season for them to be promoted onto our senior list.

Agreed. Compared to most of the other aboriginal boys, he looked stupendously overweight. But most of those boys however are stick-thin. His impact on the game was minimal, but glimpses of the '06 model Pickett were definitely evident. He's not overweight, and yet he doesn't look trim and terrific either.

I watched the game last night too, and for the first quarter at least it did appear as if Davey and Krakouer were playing as the leading 'traditional' forwards. The sight of Davey leaping up on a lead, it going over his head and being smashed away by Mal Michael and/or Dustin Fletcher was laughable. His goal from deep on the bounadry line was a gem though. As for Pickett, he didnt seem to start on the ground, but the times that he was on he looked his usual swooping, menacing self. There's no question this game means a lot to the indigenous players, Jeff Farmer was unavailable because of injury, but paid his own way just to be there. The game was scrappy and fairly uninspiring, but it was the first competitive game of the year so I wasnt gonna miss it!

Do all you people work for Foxtel or something? Firstly, you'll need to stump up $100 or so for installation. At some times, Foxtel offer this installation for free, so essentially the fee would normally be pure profit for Foxtel anyway. Secondly, yes you could sign up for Foxtel, but you have to sign up for a minimum 24 months. Thats 2 years x $36.95, their minimum package. Almost $1000 which is a fair whack of money. If you want to stop Foxtel after the footy finishes in September, you'll need to stump up $290 or $380 as a cancellation fee, depending on which plan you're on. Thirdly, if you are giving up your weekly $13 movie ticket to get Foxtel instead, you wont be able to watch movies as part of that $36.95 a month. You'll need to cough up an additional $13 or so to watch movies. Call me cynical, but I think Foxtel's business model is fatally flawed, the lack of flexibility and choice for consumers is whats stopping them getting a bigger subscriber base. Me? I'll go down to my local to watch the games that are on Foxtel again this year, happily not giving the Murdochs and Packers of this world anymore of my hard earned than we are already forced to shell out. And I will continue to go see current movies at my local cinema house. /rant off. Dave

And a further round of applause for the Lions for digging in and ridiculing Eddie McChins and the rest of the Collingwood heirarchy's pig-headed and arrogant attitude to their alternate strip.

1. Melbourne - contenders or pretenders? Not yet, pretenders again. 2. (a) Where will the Demons finish after 22 rounds? 5th ( Where will the Demons finish after the finals? 5th 3. What will our season highlight be? David Neitz's 300th Game. 4. Will the Demons beat the Eagles at Subiaco? No. I expect a similar game to this year, we'll be in the game for 3 quarters and run out of legs. 5. Who is our best Brownlow chance? Cameron Bruce 6. After a loss do you take (a) a Bex Powder or ( a Panadol? Double the alcohol. 7. Your back page headline prediction. Best since '64 says Ridley after Round 11. 8. Will the Demons re-sign Neale Daniher? Yes 9. Who will be the first AFL coach to be sacked? Dean Laidley 10. Which Demons will make All Australian? Nathan Carroll, Cameron Bruce, Brock McLean 11. Would you be happy if we won the NAB Cup? Yes 12. Our biggest victory and against who? 72 points against hapless Kangaroos. Neitz kicks 8, Dunne Kicks 4, Davey 3. 13. Will Carlton go the Trifecta? No 14. Our win loss ratio? 14-8. 15. Will Mark Jamar have a stellar season? No, too much competition from Johnson and Neaves, and he's too injury prone 16. Will Sandringham make it a 4peat? No, too many good Melbourne listed players have gone that would otherwise play. Expect them to make the Prelim though. 17. Will Eddie discard the Versace and defect to Peter Jackson? Will Grant Thomas make a surprise return to the Saints? No to Both. Will Eddie continually pump the tyres of his underperforming Pies? Yes. 18. Who will be the MFC's first debutant for 2007? Michael Newton, ROund 7. 19. First MFC player reported and suspended? Moloney on Both. 20. Goal prediction tally - (a) Neita 62 ( Robbo 33 © Flash 36

They're not working? I was able to use the controls and the message appeared to send OK. No error messages or such. Can you confirm Mark if you got my PM??

Hi Mark, Wow I'd totally let this one slip, I think i was on the oriignal list to put my hand up for one but somehow forgot all about it. If I can put my name down for the next one, it'd be great! I can sort out transferring cash for a donation of somesuch pronto. Cheers, Dave

Another handy small book to have is the "Enyclopedia of AFL Footballers" Melbourne edition. Its nice and pocket sized and has a bio where possible on any player thats ever played for the club. Often a copy floats up on ebay for around $8, well worth it.

Hmm I got an email yesterday too, can't remember what number member it said I was, somewhere in the 12,900 region, and yet I haven't even paid for my membership yet! I needed to wait till my AFL Club Support was paid before i could get my reserved seat sorted, and I only paid my AFL today, so I don't know how they think I'm signed up already. Membership mixups, stickers fading, it all sounds so depressingly familiar...

Looks like Aarons brother Alwyn is carrying the family tradition well, this from Todays Age at Essendon training: "Having been desperate to inject pace into a treacle-like midfield, the club made no secret of its determination to recruit players of pace. Three players broke the club's 20-metre sprint record held by Courtenay Dempsey — Alwyn Davey (brother of Aaron and clearly also beneficiary of the family's speed), Bachar Houli and Dempsey himself."

Melbourne play the Hawks in the Ansett Cup on the evening of the 25th. I'd doubt people would want to miss this game.

Well, Here's one thats not that great quality, but a start. DD

"The Fat Kid, The Skinny Kid and the Hockey Player" For what its worth, I went along to what was a rather uneventful AGM compared to recent years, especially given that there was no members info night this year as had been in the past. The Info Night was quite an entertaining night, Neale with his powerpoint slides and the famous 'Premiership Clock'. Nevertheless, the club in question time last night stated that with the increased communications to members this year via email and dwindling numbers dictated that they did not have such a night this year, but that they did debate for long periods about whether it should occur. Onto the AGM, Paul Gardener opened the night welcoming everyone, some brief interlude that escapes me was followed by CEO Steve Harris presenting the financials, which looked to be continuing their positive climb. The club was expecting an advance of 2 Million dollars from the 6 Million they get from the AFL next year as part of the TV and New Media rights, and this would go towards bringing their bank debt down to zero, which is pleasing. Next year the club budgets to make 1 Million dollars, which is the same as what they budgeted for this year, however they fell $200K short of this figure due to a number of factors such as the Commonwealth Games impact. Next (I think) it was onto Life Memberships, Chris Fagan noted that in the clubs 149 year history only 148 people had achieved the honour of Life Membership, so it is quite a difficult and prestiguous thing to receive. First to receive this honour was James McDonald, who got probably the longest and loudest sustained applause of the night. He was introduced by Andrew Leoncelli, the much-loved ex-demon who had formed a great partnership with Junior in the midfield in the early noughties. Chells speech was enthusiastic, he spoke of the young skinny kid who first came to the club weighing 60kgs wringing wet, who was quiet and an exceptionally hard trainer and once you got to know him had a great sense of humor. James' older brother Anthony was also at the function which was good to see. James was very quietly spoken, but was very proud of the award he received. Next up was Russell Robertson, aka the fat kid from Penguin. Chris Fagan gave the introductory speech, he was a newly appointed coach of the Tassie Mariners when he went up north on the island to check out the talent he could grab for his team. His first impressions were of a fat kid with board shorts and LA Lakers shoes bobbing around at training. He liked the look of this kid, but the coach of the squad suggested Chris take another long-haired player who he described as 'the best of this lot'. Fages was doubtful, so pitted them 1-on-1 and Robbo won hands down. After having a tape pinched from his offices of Robbo taking some hangers, Fages next saw the footage, as we all did, on the Footy Shows Almost Football Legends segment. And thus the Robbo legend was born. He was drafted by Melbourne, at the same time Fages was recruited by the Dees as a coach, but was soon delisted and worked his way back onto the senior list and into the side to quickly earn himself a Rising Star nomination. A message was read out from an absent Adem Yze, stating all of Robbo's achievements which are I must say quite lengthy and impressive. Robbo gave a very emotional speech, thanking Fagan for his mentoring over the last 10 years, and saying it meant a lot to him. Big Alistair Nicholson, recently retired, was next to receive the award. David Neitz gave his speech, remembering him as the big gangly hockey player with a shock of curly hair who came across from WA. Neita described the pre-season battles they had had from the goal square over the years, and also mentioned Matthew Richardson could breathe a little easier now he was retired. Nicho seemed a bit overwhelmed up there on stage and remembered his first senior game, a cold, wet day at Waverley in which he got stationed in a forward pocket, and the last placed demons got whalloped by St Kilda to the tune of 86 points, wondering if this AFL caper he'd gotten himself into was a bit overrated. Chris Fagan also made an additional special presentation to Nicho of a large framed number 8 guernsey, stating just how many champions Nicho had taken on in 'the cage' over his career, such as Lockett, Lloyd, Richardson etc. Last up for Life Membership was trainer Spike Harris. His speech was given by Andrew Daff, and he noted how Harris came to the club as Under 19s Manager after his wife insisted he go for the job as he spent so much time talking about the Club he may as well work there. 18 years later, Harris is still giving his time to the club, and is 'Mr Organised', ticking players off as they arrive in the rooms, at the door of the team bus and at the front of the check-in desk making sure everything runs smoothly. Harris noted that one of his best pre-season trips was down to Tasmania, a fact David Neitz, in the Under-19 squad at the time, vouched for. Next, Board formalities and changes to the constitution were ratified, which is the boring but essential bit of the night. Such banalaties as changing the term 'Chairman' to 'Chairperson' in the constitution were all passed without issue. Question time was also rather uneventful, someone mentioned a new Archbishop was heading to Melbourne and had no football allegiances, so the Pres said he'll send out an invite to a game for him. It was asked if we could meet the new recruits, Craig Cameron got up on stage with the new kids, and simply read out their names as they put up their hand, no background info on them which was a little disappointing. And that was about it, the Reverend Daniher was not there, Chris Fagan let us all know he was floating down a river somewhere in Thailand on a well earned break. The crowd was quite small, maybe 150 people, so Paul Gardener called the meeting to a close. Myself and a couple of mates were having a cold beer afterwards, and we noticed Wheels wandering around the gaming area, so we asked him over and had a chat for a while, he said he had had heel spurs removed recently, as had Green, Godders and one other, but he was fair bit further behind those guys in terms of fitness. He then sauntered off to find Davey and Pickett who were feeding coins into the machines at the back of the room. With that, we returned to our beers, and our discussions about how excited we are for the new season, I can't wait!

Whispering Jack, It's gotta be remembered RDB played in the middle of Melbourne's greatest era. Whenever the club decides to make their own Hall of Fame, any number of players from that era will be inducted. Whereas Robbie played in one of our worst eras (for instance, winning our one and only game of the season against the Bulldogs off his own boot) and not many others from this era would be conisdered greats in the history annals. Of course Barass would have a lot of success given the players and staff around him, and that is why he is considered Melbourne's favorite son (and a successful coaching and media career only enhances his status). If Robbie had've had the cattle around him and had all those premierships, he no doubt would be considered our Number 1 (And he didnt defect to any successful clubs at the height of his powers). Don't get me wrong, don't wanna understate Barass, but for me and most Robbie would be the one who brings back the fondest memories (no, I'm not old enough to have witnessed a premership). I used to proudly wear the number 2 guernsey, and think it's great R. Flower is back as a mentor to the youngsters of today (I saw him standing around anonymously at a number of Melbourne games this year too). DemonDave