Jumping Jack Clennett

I used to have Brian Dixon's no. 9 on the back of my footy jumper in the early sixties. He was a top player! 5ft 9",and 11stone 7, but a good mark. Really quick from hand to the left foot, which meant he didn't look like a good kick, but he wasn't caught with the ball very often, and got hold of it over and over again. He did nice 45yard drop kicks when he didn't have to rush. Apart from his wonderful on-field feats(including a Tassie Medal, which was forgotten in the Sun this morning),this man was instrumental in saving the Demons as we know them. Very few other past players stood up when it really mattered. I know he was (incorrectly) rumoured to be involved in the catastrophic Norm Smith blunder, and that his strong personality gets on some peoples' nerves. I reckon true Demon supporters should revere Brian Dixon as an absolute hero of our club. Congrats on your well deserved honour of admission to the AFL Hall of Fame, Dico! (I'd love to know if you read "Demonland".)

I think we SHOULD appeal.

You call that batting, HG!!?? I haven't wasted my time posting every time the side batting first has won!

My mate made a suggestion for countering the "zones". Instead of avoiding an area covered by an opposition defender, kick a high one straight above him, making sure one of our guys who can"ride" his back is within range behind him,i.e....set him up to have a "hanger" taken on him. The player leaping from behind should be able to put the opponent out of the play, and play-on downfield. Meanwhile, the "zoner" will have second thoughts about leaving himself so vulnerable again. Demons who have shown they know how to "ride" a back include Jamar, Petterd, Trengove and Jurrah. I'm not saying we should do this every time, just keep it in mind when options are limited. We still don't seem to have caught on to the absolute necessity of kicking in quickly, before the opposition get organised. Also, too often after a point, 2 or 3 of our guys wander around behind the goals looking to retrieve the ball, as if hoping to be the kicker-in. Meanwhile, the opponents are able to outnumber us upfield, making zoning easier. I refer readers to my previous post on a similar topic where I suggested we have volunteer ball-retrievers behind the goals at each end.(even if they had to masquerade as photographers!) Any other suggestions, Demonlanders?

And obviously far too difficult for us to emulate, or try to counter. We must have had far more important tactical considerations in mind.

I noticed on Saturday that WCE were able to kick 55m. from the goalsquare to an unattended player who had plenty of time to spot up a target upfield. When we kicked in, there appeared to be no options. This resulted in enormous pressure on our defenders , over and over again. Did anyone else notice this?

Very important to win toss tonight and BAT!!!! I'm sure HG agrees!

Fantastic to look forward to seeing Jack in Demon colours again! Dunny stiff to go, seeing he kicked the winning goal!

I am really impressed by this Eagles CHF.(not the Sydney player, or the Socceroo). At 194 cm and 99kg, he is big enough to assert himself, yet mobile enough to continually present, and is an accurate kick. Who springs to mind??? Jack Watts!!! JW is 2cm taller, but weighed 88kg at season's start. If Jack ends up as good as Josh when he's bulked up, I'll be delighted. I think it's likely he will. Happy days ahead!!! I hope our fans don't boo Kennedy too much on Sat. because of the Sylvia incident. It'll just fire him up. He'll be a big challenge for Warnock or Frawley.

[quote name='titan_uranus' date='11 May 2010 - 10:59 AM' "Our kick ins this year have been fine, other than the occasional screw up." _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Just enough "occasional screw-ups" on kick-ins to present the Bulldogs with 20% of their goals!

POINTS FOR PLAYING JW Extra 5000 at our home game, with all the publicity. More money for our ailing coffers. Gets experience(game time) at top level. Becomes accustomed to Scully/Trengrove/Davey/Grimes etc gameplan. We should win this one...good game to get into the swing of it. POINTS AGAINST. Just getting confidence at VFL level. Extra pressure because of comparison to Nic.Nat. Who to drop? Probably can't replace a ruckman(PJ). Hughes and Dunn....deserve another game.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Absolutely correct, Robbie F. And what about the act of sheer courage that caused his injury!

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________It's no wonder Geelong have won 2 of the last 3 premierships(should be all 3). They have a huge advantage playing so many games at Kardinia Park. It's not fair that they play at a stadium that holds 25000 when they have over 30000 members. It's very hard for the visiting opposition supporters to get in. So they play in front of a completely Geelong audience so often. We all know what an influence a partisan crowd has on the players....and the umpires! Also it is such a long, narrow ground that familiarity with it is more important than any other regular AFL ground. Even though we travel there almost every year, our players STILL kick it out on the full on the south side because of the unusual narrownessIt must be even harder for interstate sides to have to catch a long bus trip after flying over. Geelong's got great players, but they've got by far the biggest advantage in the AFL. No AFL games should be played there till it can hold at LEAST 35000.

" _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________My My sentiments exactly, DEEZEE. I read the vitriolic criticism of Cam Bruce on this forum, and I think..."am I deluding myself that he's a consistent contributor to our efforts?" So I watch him more closely the next game, and sure enough, he puts in, and is going as hard at the end as at the start. I think..."they won't knock him this week!" But the critics always come back. Sure, he doesn't shirtfront people, and his kicking's risky, but he runs all day,marks well, and is creative with his handball. What a great Demon he's been!

Once again we lost a game because of 2 goals resulting from errors kicking in. Jack Grimes in q1, and Chip Frawley in q2(though the bloke on the mark hardly seemed far enough away). In a low scoring game, a side CANNOT afford to surrender 2 goals so easily. Both these players have excellent disposal, and can normally be trusted in kick-ins. But with the wet ball , I think the "defensive fall back tactic", i.e. the long kick as wide as possible to the pack, should be considered even more than usual when there are few options upfield.

[quote name='JUMPING JACK CLENNETT' date='09 May 2010 - 11:32 AM' timest "Green's goal....who says the benefit of the doubt dictates that the ump gives a point? " I have just been informed by a mate that the laws actually state that in the event of doubt, the lower score stands. I didn't know that. BUT, I don't think the goal umpire was in doubt. It was only when the distant field umpire failed to give the all clear that the doubt arose. The umpires seemed to try to use any means they could to negate Demon goals.(another eg. was Trengove's goal when the Ump refused to pay the advantage, so the first-gamer Hughes was forced to take the high-pressure set shot.)

[quote name='big tuna' date='25 April 2010 - 08:15 PM' t "Most costly free against us that I can recall was the Neitz too high on Farmer vs the Dockers... Farmer kicks the winning goal after the siren. It was there but still gut-wrenching." Yes Farmer was infringed, but a split second before that he blatantly threw the ball away. That loss cost us a top 4 position, in the long run,if my memory serves me correctly. Yes, I think Ump 24 was in his first game, but that doesn't excuse him for making provocative calls that cost goals. He obviously has poor judgment, or is ignorant.