warren dean

Trick question? No I taght him at Eumemmerring - Fountain Gate, he did Year 11 and 12 at the Hallam Campus. I'm not at Eumemmerring anymore, though.

Wouldn't mind seeing Dunn get a bit of a go at CHB. I thought he was ok as a midfielder earlier in theyear. Just wonder if he might turn into a Chad Cornes type defender. He'd want to improve overhead though.

They were beautiful things, weren't they! My great regret is buckling to peer group pressure and cutting the sleeves off mine so I could wear it to footy training - Gembrook under 11's! I wish I'd left it as it was.

I just wonder how many Demons fans were happy with his appointment at the end of 1952 - and how many were calling for his head after his first season in charge when we finished 11th (in a 12 team comp) in 1953?

Just a smaller version of the same sook we see today! Having said that, he could always play-not what we need though. I could imagine him and Colin enjoying life just a little too much.

I know Brendan well (used to be his school teacher!). He hasn't changed much since Year 9! My advice to the new coach and footy department - a leopard doesn't change its spots.

Sounds like a couple of other coaches we've had!

It's a jumper and it's part of our heritage, like it or not. My first Demon jumper, which I got when I was 10 years old in 1979 was the royal blue version. We were shithouse but I still have fond memories of it.

Fair enough. Agree that it is difficult to compare eras. Just making the point that success or failure at one club does not mean the same outcome at another. Although from the outside he doesn't seem to have been too successful with the Dockers, I must admit to getting around with the number 22 on my duffle coat in the mid 80's. I was devastated when he did his knee in round 5 of 1987 at Cararra against the Bears. It took him a couple of years to get back and then he did it again. He was a good player and I know why blokes like Lyon and Healy have a high regard for him.

Spot on! Cox is probably the best ruckman in the comp and was nearly an afterthought as a rookie pick. Jolly and Simmonds - both rookies. All better ruckman than Fraser who went number 1. Also re the heritage jumper, don't forget Rob Flower played most of his career in that guernsey!

Don't really see the logic. Are you saying Smith would have been no good in the present era of drafting, or that Connolly would have been more successful if he had a zone of half of WA? For a more modern comparison, Connolly's record far outstrips anything Malthouse produced at either Footscray or Collingwood, yet he was very successful with the Eagles. Just saying Connolly shuld not be dismissed out of hand -other than his first year (02), when they were coming off the wooden spoon, he has never had worse than a 50-50 season. People talk about the quality of the Dockers list, but he inherited an ageing rabble.

There appears to be very little support here for Connolly to coach the Demons. I must admit I'm not a fan based on his efforts with the Dockers. I had a look at Norm Smith's record with Fitzroy who he coached before he became Coach of the Century at the MFC. His record between 1949 and 1951 was 30 wins, 22 losses and 2 draws (no finals appearances). Connolly's between 2002-06 61 wins, 53 losses and finals in 03 and 06. If the club at the time had placed too much emphasis on Smithy's record at Fitzroy we may have missed out on the coach of the century! By the way, he had decent players at Fitzroy, including the Baron Ruthven who won the Brownlow in 1950! Just something to think about!

They showed it last night on "On The Couch". Sheahan and Walls seemed to think it was worth a week. I thought it was identical to Goodes on Godfrey - I wouldn't be too upset if he got off/reprimanded to be honest. Silly but not worth a week.

In the interest of moving on just thought I'd float this one. What's everybodys favourite moment from the last 10 years? I'd go for the 98 Final against the Crows where we belted them three weeks before they won the flag! I never thought we could win the flag in 2000, but I reckon that 98 game proved we were as good as anyone in the comp that season.

Spot on! We need a bit of creativity in the game - I love watching the creative and unpredictable players ( and we have had a few - Farmer, Jakovich, Schwarz, Davey, Robbo are just a few recent examples). A coach who does a great job on a psychological test is not likely to empathise too much with these types of players.

Remember it well, Ash! He was some player!

Hmmm! Galvanised the club? Maybe galvanised the players (us v them has been known to work before) - I'd suggest the "club" is far from galvanised! Time will tell.

Was listening to MMM yesterday when they replayed Neita's comments about "the process" Lyon said that he wasn't surprised as the players should always be loyal to the coach over the board. He mentioned that as Captain he had been very public in his support for Neil Balme after he got flicked mid-season. Sounds very much to me like Gazza's best use to the club might be as a board member. He understand's footy and footy clubs, unlike our present board which, correct me if I'm wrong, has little or no footy experience. As to who should decide on the new coach, it is interesting that a board can make a decision that the current coach might not be the right man for the job, but they employ a consultancy group to head hunt the short list of replacements. Maybe the consulants should have been consulted before the current coach was put in a no win situation. The irony is another club will probably employ the same consulants who will recommend that ND is the best man for the job!

Can't help but agree with everything you've said bjs. There are many plaudits for the Prez and his handling of the situation from people here, but what has he actually done? A process was put in place which was agreed to by all parties, or so it seems, and then completely abandoned after a poor half against Richmond. FWIW, I think ND new his time was up very early in the season, but at the time felt that he would at least be able to see the year out. This whole thing proves that the Prez cannot be taken at his word, and this mre than anything else would have rankled with ND, and subsequently Neita. I reckon the whole thing looks like a standard shoddy St Kilda operation, and our Prez comes out of it looking more than a little like the spin doctor in charge of the Saints!

It certainly has but I wonder who else will be paying the price from the Footy Department? I doubt very much that there is a coach at this level that has had a lot to do with recruiting for at least the last 10 years. No AFL coach would have the time to worry about recruiting-their job is to coach. Full time recruiting staff and networks have been part of footy departments since the late '80s. Weaknesses in lists are identified together, but it is the job of the recruiters to fill the holes adequately. CAC and his team receive a lot of plaudits on this site, and I believe they have done a reasonable job overall. It can't be denied however that the recruitment of KPP's has been a disaster. Hence my argument that ND did a great job with what he had. In fairness to the recruiters, the only early picks we had since 1998 have been either taken off us (1999), or occurred in a year when there wasn't much in the way of likely KPP's (2003). The only other year we didn't make the finals (2001), three other clubs received priority picks. Whoever coaches next year will have very little say on draft day - that work will have well and truly been done!

Interesting times ahead! http://www.afl.com.au/Season2007/News/News...px?newsId=46293

Bottom line here is that Healy is absolutely right! We have not recruited one genuine KPP of note that has had a decent impact for any length of time through the draft. Rivers has been great as an undersized key defender who often zones off or plays as third man up. Our best key defender in the Daniher era has probably been Anthony Ingerson, who was recruited from Adelaide in the Balme/Griffiths days. Shanahan was good for a year(1998), but was a veteran when we got him from St Kilda. Blokes like Al Nicholson, Matt Collins, the Biz, Chris Lamb, etc have all had deficiencies (some more than others). The truth of the matter is that the best key defender at Melbourne in the last 15 years is currently our full-forward. Until we build a goal to goal line we can't be anything more than competitive at best. I think it is an absolute credit to ND that we have been in finals 6 of the past 9 years given the structural limitations of the squad.

ND was a tough unit. Don't forget he finished the careers of blokes who probably didn't believe their time was up, such as Stynes and Schwarz. He moved Woewodin on, which caused much angst at the time but was proven to be the correct decision. As a consequence we got Bell who will be a very good player for this club. He made the hard decision on Yze (although it took a while longer than it should have!). I just don't buy into the line that he wasn't hard enough. You only drop players if you have somebody better to replace them, and for a lot of reasons, we haven't had the "better" option running around at Sandringham. That he has made hard decisions and is still so "loved" by the players speaks volumes for his leadership capabilities. This was the bloke who was appointed captain of Essendon at 20 - he was absolutely the right man at the right time for the Demons and the club owes him an enormous debt.

A wonderful coach and a great ambassador for the club!

Don't forget in Pagan's last year with North (2002) he held the club together after the "scandal" and with no Carey managed to get an ageing and imo not particularly strong list into the finals for the ninth time in ten years. Yes, his timing in heading to Carlton was not great, but he can coach! His record as a junior coach is indisputable, and nine finals appearances out of 10 years, including seven consecutive finishes of fourth or better (including 1997 when Carey missed over half a season after dislocating his shoulder in round 1 against us) tells me the guy is a winner. I doubt a DNA combination of Vince Lombardi, Norm Smith and Jock McHale could have done much with the Carlton rabble!