Jumping Jack Clennett

Thanks a lot, KC. It was really interesting and infgormative to read your input.

Interesting to see George Giampaolo playing for N Ballarat. I wonder if he's related to early 70s Demon Frank Giampaolo(?no. 43)

He's not up to the standard at present, but must be given as much experience as possible this year. It's a huge opportunity for us this season(where the less wins we get the better) to give young big men(likeTom MacDonald,Spencer,Davis and Fitzpatrick) as much game time as possible.

Oh dear!!!!

Same again against Bulldogs. Official stats accredit Jamar with over 40 hit outs(only against Minson and Roughead). Watching the game it was obvious that his tap outs were of no benefit to Melbourne. In fact, the opposition roved his knockouts better than we did, they were so predictable. Even when favoured by the bounce he would do the soft tap down to the ground near his left foot, resulting in a 2 minute scrimmage. Only once did he tap it away from the pack.("tap", never THUMP!) Marking was difficult with the slippery ball, but he didn't do that either. We have very little hope of wins for two months now. Let's try to give Fitzpatrick some senior experience. He's definitely not up to it, but we're going to lose anyway,so let's get the games into him.

I was really proud of the absolute tenacious endeavour of our team today. They absolutely threw themselves in. That's how we managed to only lose by 20 -odd points despite being overwhelmed in possesssion of the footy. In fact, if we'd kicked straight early, and they'd been twice penalised in the forward line for failing to dispose legally,resulting in goals, we'd have beaten them. Somehow we stayed in touch despite them having the ball 100 more times. I think it reflects the way our guys gave their all. If our supporters didn't notice how hard and fearlessly our platyers went in, I reckon they weren't watching very closely. Also, I reckon the sombre pre-match function would not have helped our players to be in a positive state of mind. It had to be done, and was well done, but I felt it left us with a "flat" feeling.

I'm interested that very few Demonlandrs think this is worth consideration.

I wish I could just be erroneous, and not "self- serving",too. That' s a reprehensible fault. But I feel Jamar's slowness is not just his foot-speed, which has always been glacial. Perhaps there' s another explanation for his failure to find team-mates with his taps than his height disadvantage and lack of spring. Fast reflexes and hand-eye coordination are crucial in the hurley-burley chaos at the centre bounce. Mark doesn't fill me with confidence with respect to either of those features . I do try to watch closely both at the game, and on the Foxtel replays, because I really want to understand why we have so much trouble gaining clearances. Everyone blames the non-ruck midfielders. I'm offering an alternative suggestion.

We rarely clear the ball from the centre bounce. This failure is important in our poor results. One of the four Demons in the centre square is low-skilled, slow, and has no spring. He is invariably shorter and slower than his direct opponent. We blame the midfielders for their inability to clear the ball. Perhaps they receive less assistance than their peers. We are too much influenced by the hit- out statistics, though against Richmond they did highlight the lamentably low efficiency of ours. Forget the hit-out stats. Watch the game closely. We are rarely hitting the ball to our advantage. Perhaps Spencer or Gawn will one day be able to knock the ball to our advantage.

I am more worried about the likelihood of tragic injury to the diver than arguing about the reprehensible habit of staging for frees. If players are rewarded by umpires for diving head first into opponents' legs, they will continue to do it more and more. Another injury like Neil Sachse's would not only be a catastrophe for the individual involved, and the innocent player whose legs break the neck, but would be a huge setback for the development of Australian football. Gieschen must be aware of this and direct his staff accordingly.

Diving in head first to "draw the foul" is a bit different to staging for free kicks.Going in fearlessly is rightly perceived as laudable, whereas staging for frees is the other end of the spectrum . However I see your inference that it might be more proactive to actually penalise the diver,though obviously it couldn't be with a "sin-bin" with our current laws. Perhaps there should be a free against the diver for dangerous play, even though the danger is to himself.

The AFL should be very wary of the ever- increasing tendency of players deliberately entering contests head first. The umpires , with the misguided intention of protecting the head, award the free against the "tackler"who sometimes is stationary, with his hands well clear of the player diving at him. Superficially, this appears to be protecting the head, but the ultimate result is that it encourages players to dive in head first to "draw " frees(I can't stand that basketball terminology). If this naive interpretation of the laws continues, I foresee that another Sachse- like horrific spinal injury is likely to happen. In my opinion Gieschen and his co-horts could be legally liable. Likely victims are the fearless players like Selwood, who are prepared to have their head crashed if it means earning a free. Paradoxically, the Umpires will offer more protection to players by NOT paying frees to players who dive head first into the knees of their opponents.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- David Clarke is a pretty common name. I certainly hope it's not Bill Farrow's mate from Pyramid,whose ban from running a business would be well behind him now.There was a Geelong connection mentioned in another post.

I'm not so sure "Stretcher" played on Jason Dunstall in round 22 and then the Final. Wasn't it Tony Campbell that did well on him in successive weeks. Was it the end of the '91 season?

I thought there were some positives in our dreadful loss. Tommy McDonald looked like he' ll be a proper AFL player. Chunky gave his guts as usual. Magner.....how come no-one' s picked him up for so long.? Petterd...OK come back from injury. Mitch got 5 without taking any marks, which I'm sure he can improve on. Bail wasn't too bad. I thought Jack Watts showed a lot of footy nous with intelligent tap-ons, and disposal in general. I reckon the way the boys came out breathing fire showed Neeld can influence them to give their all.... The trouble is they tackled recklessly and gave away too many frees. Our boys should learn how to drop their bodies like Sellwood when tackled on the chest. In some ways I thought Bennel and Dunn declared themselves, and the selectors should have a good think about ever selecting th em again. Greenie and the Russian didn't distinguish themselves either. My impression overall was that there was a lot of endeavour shown in the first two thirds of the game, and against Richmond, on our ground, given normal umpiring, we' ve got a chance!

What a nuisance!

I was stunned to see Jamar mentioned as our best player last Saturday. Repeatedly he'd jump early, take his eyes off the ball, and fail to help the team at stoppages. Somehow the official stats accredited him with multiple hit outs. Were they the little taps over his shoulder about half a meter, where the ball ended up in a mass of players scrambling for it? How often did he get a clear tap to our advantage? It's time he varied his tactics. Occasionally, when favoured by the bounce he should thump the ball forward. I know it's not conventional wisdom, since it might land straight down an opponent's throat. However, at the moment, the opposition always can predict where he's going to direct the ball(back and to the left, about half a metre.) Also it's time he took a few more marks. Despite the learned remarks about his supposed accuracy in front of goal, I think most supporters would agree that he's pathologically inaccurate. When Jamar is in possession at a stoppage situation, Melb players should run past earlier than they do now , to take the hand pass. His foot disposal is lamentable. I have a depressing feeling we're living in a fool's paradise with this guy, and that he might be one of the reasons we underperform. Bring on Spencer and Gawn!!!

I think tribute should be paid to Bartram for the incredibly gutsy mark he took in front of the Members' Stand in ? Q3. As brave as anything J. Brown or Reiwoldt has done. Was punch-drunk for 15 min after it. I know we continued to play poorly after it, but it should have been an inspiration to the team from a member of the leadership group.

Can Demonlanders please give me some confidence in the value of our ex-All Australian ruckman. Does he take enough marks? Is he an effective kick? Why do we continually lose possession at centre bounces? Is it a lack of ability of our midfielders, or is it delivered in a predictable, and ineffective way? Occasionally a ruckman is favoured by a slightly askew bounce up. When it favours the Russian, my impression is that he rarely puts it down the throat of a nearby team-mate. He never thumps it forward. I'd say his best strength is negating the opp. rucks, but shouldn't we expect more? He's not very tall compared to ,say, Cox or Sandilands, but he appears far less mobile to me. Time after time his stats read well for hitouts, yet they're not very obvious to me. Does it count as a hitout if he touches it first and the ball drops into the pack? Does he give away too many frees, even against inexperienced opponents? Rucking is a complicated business, and it's easy to overlook effective buffetting work by big men.Perhaps that's where I'm wrong. Can people reassure me we have a good ruckman in the Russian? It'll take more than raw "hitout stats" to convince me, for the reason mentioned above.

Last Saturday at Etihad,I noticed the Umpires accidentally point the wrong way three times after awarding free kicks. This error is very likely to cost the offending side a goal, since they press forward when they should be creating defensive zones. The defence is torn wide open. Do the umpires realise the gravity of this simple piece of absent-mindedness?

You're correct ,Melb man. I reckon the posters above are rough on Steven Smith. I thought he was a very reliable spoiler on the talls in the back line. He was mobile enough to play on Matthews and frustrate him enough to smash his face in to shake him off.( very similar to Ablett sen. on Gary Lyon.)

Someone on SEN said there was a worrying "cracking" noise when it happened. Uh oh.

I've just forgotten whether any of Chris Mainwaring's contemporaries have been implicated. He was amazing the way he'd jump out of the blocks! Perhaps the "problem" extends even further back.