Jumping Jack Clennett

Collingwood v. North North.....nearly 70 more possessions. Frees.....Coll 20, North 14. The Coll. crowd screeched hysterically, but successfully ,every time a North player was tackled.The umps have to wilt under the constant pressure every now and then.

I was very impreessed with Geelong's young players last night. Duncan,Walker and especially Murdoch, all looked terrific..And they have Menzel and Christiansen waiting in the wings. Where do they find this talent? If it was Adelaide or WCE, I'd suspect they'd kept them "under wraps". I guess it really helps having role models like Bartel and Selwood. Hawkins is still young, too, and really looks formidable, now. I remember thinking he'd never make it! Geelong's future looks assured, especially if you take into account their enormous advantage of opposition-supporter-free home games at the uniquely shaped Kardinia Park.

I hope it IS on ABC, but the programme guide says they're doing the Port Melb game.

Aren't we "locked in" with Casey for 30 years?

The votes have to be in by Monday, so now is the time for Demon supporting MCC members to vote for Wood and Yencken, who, we are told, have Demon sympathies. I think this is very important. Just think if the MCC Committee was Collingwood or Essendon dominated! Heaven forbid!

I was shocked at the umpiring in the St Kilda/Coll. game last Saturday night. The toothless hordes screeched for frees every time Coll. players tackled or went for marks, or the ball went OOB. The pressure mounted on the umpires, who would weaken repeatedly, and pay the 50:50 (sometimes 20:80) free to the Mudpies. The crescendo built in the last moments , and O' Brien was the recipient of a free resulting from a disgracefully poor adjudication from a nearby umpire. What a dramatic effect that error made, putting Coll. temporarily equal top, and severely damaging St Kilda' s finals hopes. Interesting to compare O'Brien's match saving free to the non- free to Petterd at the end of the '09 game . Identical incidents, neither worth the free. It would be lovely if St Kilda receive the same treatment next Saturday(14 frees to 25, despite getting more possessions). Unfortunately, the crowd influence will be the opposite way!

Good question to Josh, Satyricon! Good answer, too. I am hoping that our real motive is to bump up Cloke's asking price, in the hope that salary cap squeeze will force Coll. to release a midfielder(eg Sinclair, who should be with us anyway as the son of a former Demon.) Obviously Josh couldn't reveal it , if that's their real motive. I subscribe to the theory that Cloke is pretty inconsistent at Coll. , despite first class delivery. I reckon he'd be even more unreliable with us, apart from the fact that I worry about having so much of our sal. Cap devoted to one player.( as it is with Mitch, who has really justified it though.)

There was an unsubstantiated rumour emanating from the West ,that Scott's existence resulted from a dalliance between Prince Charles and a local when he visited that state in the seventies. There doesn't appear to be much family resemblance!!!But there are Olympic medallists in the Windsor family, so there must be some sporting ability there.Of course Charlie was a hotshot polo player. I guess Scott did have a reasonably protuberant proboscis,too!

Thanks,Tony. So they will be getting my vote, unless I hear conflicting information from other Demon supporters.

But please could Demonlanders consider my question before wandering off the topic.

There are 2 vacancies on the MCC committee with the election coming up on Aug 13th. The 4 candidates are Burns, Mugavin, Wood and Yencken. Do any Demonlanders know if any of these candidates have allegiance to the MFC? I think it's worthwhile us voting for those with MFC sympathies if possible.

Let's hope!

So what relation are you to the State cricketer?

"....it was universally accepted he was a lock for # 1" ____________________________________________________________________________________ Exactly my point, Viney 12.

You're SO right!The guy has never impressed me. Though I guess he's still quite young(?23), and we all know that big forwards take years to develop. We hit the jackpot with Mitch.

I'll try to help you get it straight.Not ALL the teams' recruiting managers inflate potential draftees' worth. I'm suggesting the managers without high draft picks might try to influence those that do. Melbourne wouldn't be the only victims. Other sides with picks 1 to 5 or 6 would be vulnerable too. Though lately it seems Melbourne's high picks have fared worse than some of our lowly peers. Not so improbable, or "fanciful"is it? Perhaps it contributes to the "bad recruiting". I agree that player development is a critical factor also. It is interesting how the "experts" all seem to agree on who are the top picks, and yet when, in the fullness of time, they show their worth,there often is a wide deviation from the outcome they all agreed on to be likely at draft time.

I agree with all your "ins" except Cook. Of course I hold a lot of hope that he'll develop into a superstar. But his form does not anywhere near warrant promotion. Not only could it rock his confidence , but it's a very bad principle to reward seconds players with promotion when they don't deserve it. How do players who've been performing well without promotion feel, when they're leapfrogged like that?(Davis, Williams and Morton all performed way better than Cook.) Really Lucas looked like he could be dropped from Casey, on the revealed form.

Im really referring to Scully, Trengove, Watts, Morton, and to a lesser extent,Sylvia and Maclean. I'm surprised you've forgotten them. You MUST be a very "old Dee"!

I think it's incredible that ALL the recruiting experts thought Scully was a worthy top 3 draft pick. Or did they? Is it possible that the recruiting gurus from the teams that know they don't have high picks manage to circulate "artificial" opinions on the best picks in the hope that their true preferences get passed over? We hear the summary of the thoughts of all recruiters via Kevin Sheehan on radio and Emma Quayle in the press. There appears to be no doubt that the recruiters chat amongst themselves, and the press are aware of the likely top picks. I hope this is wrong , because I fear we at Melbourne may be victims, but , as alluded to above, we may have escaped with Scully. I reckon Darling is a classic example. It seems rumors were circulated about his unacceptable behavior, and everyone was taken in. WCE calmly took him with a pickin the twenties.

Actually, Robert Flower's winning goal came a minute or two before the siren. We managed to hold on there at the Western Oval for Barrass's first win as coach. It was quite early in the season, so some of us began to get a bit optimistic!

Justin Madden, Dean Cox, and Aaron Sandilands all looked slower than Spencer when they started. None of them had the skill as youngsters to kick the goal he did to win the game for Casey as he did last Saturday.If he can turn out half as good as any of them, he's worth persevering with, and I reckon he's showing signs. He reminds me of Jacobs at Preston before he went to Adelaide.

I think Evans should be in the Seniors as soon as possible , on the strength of his game v. Bendigo. What surprised me was the way he's built up his body . Last year he seemed so skinny. Now he looks like a proper AFL midfielder. And what about the accuracy in those two goals! Both were team-lifting and changed the momentum of the game. He might not be fit enough yet, but promote him as soon as possible!

I refer Demonlanders back to my post (no.33 on this thread), with reference to the violent act he perpetrated on Nick Walsh. I think it shows the type of bloke this champion is. I really think the football community needs to know about the Walsh incident, but it seems I'm one of few people that do know about it. I sometimes wonder what other dreadful deeds he's done that not many other people know about. I'm ashamed that I so desperately wanted this former Melbourne supporter to play for our club. I want tough ruthless players, but not cruel thugs. I can't imagine hating someone enough to gouge their eyes, knowing, as an intelligent guy like him would, that it could result in permanent damage to the victim's eyesight. Similarly, stomping on an opponent's guts, which could quite possibly cause life-threatening rupture of a viscus. I'd really like Chris to read this thread.

KC ....have you met Mitch Gent?? Is he possibly the son of former Essendon player(and wounded Vietnam Nam veteran), Keith Gent? I think Keith lives up in Queensland now, and he'd be 67, so perhaps Mitch is even possibly his grandson. Do you know how old he is , and where he was recruited from?

Totally irrelevant. The guy has a malevolent streak for which he must pay, this time.