Jumping Jack Clennett

I noticed Neeldy GOAL-UMPIRING in AFL games. Has anyone else picked it up?

Thanks"GoDees". Young enough to follow up!

I agree with "Binman" that Tim Smith looks promising. Is it true he's only 18? A mate told me that but I doubt it. If he is young, we should do what the Eagles do, and keep him under wraps. Or perhaps make up some derogatory rumor about his behavior as they did with Darling to put others off the scent at draft time, then snap him up ourselves. He looked stronger and better than Cook at this stage.

Heard him interviewed tonight on SEN. What a great bloke!What a loyal Demon! Dammit....it's gnawing away at me that we've made a mistake with the 3 year contract though. He'd have been mad not to take it. He admitted that he hasn't been taking enough marks lately.... I'd say ever! Unfortunately he wasn't asked any questions about clearances, and "hit outs to advantage" He mentioned how much faster the game is this season compared to last, and how much further he has to run.(about 10% more! That made,me think....uh oh,..........immobile ruckmen are a thing of the past.

I'm not sure what you mean by "Wow", Jarka. Are you surprised by my description of Ridley's behaviour that night? Believe me, it was grossly intimidating. He set the pattern for a night of hatred, where rational discussion was not on the agenda.

It's all semantics. Forget the stats. Just watch the ruck contests. Mark Jamar does not find his midfielders with his tap outs.He taps the ball down to near his left foot. Even when the bounce favours him greatly, we rarely get an advantage from his tap. Wouldn't it stun everyone if he thumped the thing twenty metres occasionally. I wish he'd take more marks(i.e. 2 or 3). He's very wise to handball when he does get a free or a mark, because he can't kick for nuts.His movement is glacial. What he does have is a big heart, and he tries his guts out in the scrimmages.

My reason for contributing to this thread has been to propose the contention that perhaps the reason we get so few clearances is not entirely due to our midfielders' lack of ability. Perhaps we've assumed wrongly that they're getting good supply from Jamar. Last Monday's footy record quotes Jamar's hit outs to advantage as 19%.The AFL average is 24%. The 2011 figures quoted above are after Jamar's very best year(his all-Aust selection year). He's never mentioned by the experts as being one of the top ruckmen now, or in most other seasons.I could easily name 10 ruckmen at present who are indisputably better than him. I'd love to see how Moloney et al would perform with Cox, Sandilands , Maric,or Jolly etc feeding them. I suspect they'd do better than they are now. But we've committed ourselves for three years, and in my opinion it's going to hold back the four ruck prospects we have(Gawn,Spencer, Martin and Fitzpatrick.) I earnestly hope that my sentiments are incorrect, and we've done the right thing. Perhaps we should do what Hawthorn have done so effectively for many years. Instead of waiting for 5 years for a young ruckman to develop, they recruit a ready-made one(Byrne, Salmon, Everett, Rehn), and they've performed really well.

I found your article fascinating, Jack. Thanks. Also interesting for me was that I think I actually knew one of the players from that 1919 team! I played cricket at Hawthorn-East Melb in the late 60's and the "practice captain"was a club stalwart by the name of Lou Salvana. He was about 75 at the time, so that fits in with playing in 1919.I think he'd been a good player for HEM in cricket. I don't remember ever discussing footy with him.How I wish I did! He was a great guy, much loved by everyone at the club. Also, I'd love to know if Stan Huntington was related to Ian, the great MCC and Vic cricketer, VFL ump, and star all round MCC sportsman (also a fantastic bloke).

Every match the Champion data stats for hit out effectiveness are quoted in the papers the next day, with all the other stats. I haven't seen any cumulative stats, though they may be in the 'Footy Record". Jamar is quite consistent at about 19percent efficiency. From careful observation, I'm surprised it's that high. Good ruckmen have efficiency at about 35-40 percent.

Tom Sundberg from Collingwood seconds. Apparently had better stats than James last year, and has just returned from a broken foot to be Coll's best player against the Scorps last week. Aged 22. Dedicated to be an AFL player.

I don't consider one good year out of nearly ten at the club, a "short term form slump". I admire the guy for the effort he puts in, and what he'sachieved with(in my opinion) very limited talent. But look at the stats on his hit out effectiveness! It's deplorable!! But I don't care about the stats. It's obvious watching the game. He hasn't got the knack of finding his "rovers".

Ian Ridley was my favourite player in the late 50's,though Dico later replaced him in that role.Ridley had the great combination of extraordinary skill and courage, and played a large part in many premierships. BUT.......the bitterness at the merger meeting in '96 was stirred up by him. He stood on the dais yelling propaganda into the microphone like bloody Hitler! In the audience you couldn't help but get angry as he screamed the same things over and over again, with propaganda slogans blaring away on the screen behind him over and over again. Before the meeting, I queued up in the voting line to check that my proxy vote had been counted. The employee at the booth (like all the attendants at all the other booths )was a member of the MFC office staff,ie employees of Ian Ridley. They checked my name on the list and saw I'd voted against. They then said..."are you aware that you can CHANGE your vote?". Of course I declined to do so. I then waited beside the booth to see what was said if a proxy vote was FOR the merger. I waited for a while and noted that people who'd voted FOR the merger were NOT offered the option of changing their vote, whereas NO-voters were. I then realised that it was a dodgy arrangement. It was a complete disgrace that a supposedly reputable firm like Arthur Anderson would allow staff of the MFC, beholden to Ridley and his board, to be in what should be neutral position at voting tables. It was also rumoured that Bill Guest signed up a lot of his staff as members at the last moment to collect some more pro votes. As far as the turning away of people from the meeting was concerned, this shouldn't have precluded them from voting, but it did. All they had to do was queue up, enter the foyer to vote, then go, being told there was no more room to enter the hall. The above is my vivid memory of that unpleasant evening.

quoting "Titan" "Geelong is/was not a pack of Cs. Nor was Essendon in 2000. " _______________________________________________________________________________________________ WHAT,,,,,,,,,, You mustn't have seen Long trying to break Simmond's neck, or the guy holding Green while Wallis tried to fracture his larynx. There could easily have been two Demon fatalities in the first half of the 2000 GF. That's no exaggeration.

See the thread in"The Locker room". I've pointed out a few of Jamar's failings, but many posters seem to have unshakeable faith in him. There doesn't seem to be any optimism at all about the development of Gawn,Spencer,Martin or Fitzpatrick. I feel there' s a fantastic opportunity this season, now that the number of wins we have this year doesn't matter, to pump senior games into these emerging talls. We all know big guys take years to develop. Let's not waste the games on Jamar. He just can't get the ball to the mids, who are being forced to take the blame for our lamentable clearance rate.It may not be all their fault.

I noticed Troy was in the best players again last week. A possible replacement for Tappy?

What about the Wojinski precedent with the bye? Surely it's a bit tough on Tappy to have to miss 2 weeks because of the bye. The bye week should be counted as his suspension,for his minor infraction.The 2 VFL byes were included in Wojinsky's suspension despite his misdemeanor (and its outcome) being far worse.

I just checked Demon-wiki. Geoff Slade played Melb reserves only, but I think his company, Slade Recruitment, were sponsors of the Demons. He led a group trying to take over the Club in 1985, then went to Brisbane and Sydney. Interesting his son played for the Cats. He was pretty promising but cut down early with injury.

At least last Monday's winner was the son of a Melbourne player. Do any other Demonlanders remember "Porky Sinclair", from the 60's? About 30 games and now a leading dermatologist,slightly disillusioned with Melbourne's lack of success. Ben's step-brother Will Slade played for Geelong.(did his Dad play for the Dees,too?.....was it Geoff?)

At least last Monday's winner was the son of a Melbourne player. Do any other Demonlanders remember "Porky Sinclair", from the 60's? About 30 games and now a leading dermatologist,slightly disillusioned with Melbourne's lack of success. Ben's step-brother Will Slade played for Geelong.(did his Dad play for the Dees,too?.....was it Geoff?)

Every time Collingwood had a kick in , there was a range of options, usually leading to the ball ending up in their forward 50. In contrast, when we kicked in, no one moved to offer options. We ended up in desperate , and usually Coll had another shot for goal. This has been going on since Steve Febey , who was our last effective kicker-in. Is it the coaching, or the lack of skill or thought of our players? One basic principle to which we rarely adhere ,but the top teams never fail to do, is KICK IT IN QUICKLY, before the opposition organise their zone. I know Demonlanders think I'm ludicrously obsessed by this, but I'm convinced it's a vital and basic aspect of modern football tactics.

Aha!! Essendon and Carlton have both lost. That only leaves a Collingwood loss to create the perfect long weekend! It's up to us! ps....I don't mind Richmond losing,either!

Eddie Everywhere is trying to recruit Usain Bolt fora game for the Melb Stars in the Big Bash. I hope it doesn't come off. It would ruin the already tenuous appeal of this comp as serious cricket.

quoting Range Rover "He's a quality first ruck Jamar, in good nick physically and will provide three seasons of decent service." -_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ How I hope and pray you're right and I'm wrong. I fear they've re-signed him in haste after one decent game this year against the Bombers, and one good year in ten at the Club. Deep down I feel we're trapped with a slow, too short ruckman who can't kick, can't mark, and has less than 20% efficiency with his many hit outs. It often happens that low profile rucks show their quality when given the chance(eg Mumford, Maric, Bell-Chambers,Jacobs....and others. ) I reckon it could happen with Spencer and/or Gawn if given the chance. Martin himself looked the goods while Jamar was out injured last season...a really good example.With Martin as back-up, we could have risked relying on the dubious long term fitness of Gawn, and to a lesser extent, Spencer(who hasn't had a knee reconstruction, to my knowledge) However, we've committed ourselves, and I do like the principle of the Club rewarding long term servants . So I'll just hope for the best(and get off his case!)

KC, what did you think of Sundberg's game for Collingwood? I played cricket with his Dad, who was a top bat for Hawthorn-East Melbourne and a good footy player at He told me Melbourne showed a lot of interest in Tom last draft but chose Magner ahead of him at the last moment. Apparently his stats were better than Magner's as an "in and under" mid. He's just back playing after a broken bone in his foot. I'll be watching his progress with interest. Apparently, Lockear keeps encouraging him to keep trying to crack it at AFL level.

Thanks a lot KC. Well done, Scorps!