Jumping Jack Clennett

MCC/MFC members. Don't forget you're entitled to a free junior membership. If there's no-one you can think of in your family to give it to, perhaps you could use Demonland to seek a recipient! They all count!

I also recorded it on Foxtel IQ, WJ, and sped through it , only to see them give scant attention to our great sponsorship news. There was one segment which interested me though , where a few players were interviewed and asked if they could name 5 AFL umpires.Only Stuart Dew had a clue. Does it still happen where the umps come into the teams room(formerly to check safety of footy boot stops, and presence of sharp rings etc)? They did the only time I've been in the rooms before an AFL game(in Adelaide about 6 yrs ago.) If so, I think players should be informed beforehand who the Umps are, their first names, if it's a milestone game for them etc. They should be treated with respect, and wished luck, etc. Apart from being common decency, it could just add that one percent, which could end up being significant. (It strikes me that a lot of umpires are easily affected by outside influences!) I thought the way the players on the Footy Show talked about them was appalling(no Dees, I'm glad to say).

What about $100- ?

I've never liked this guy's attitude. It seems a little irresponsible to drive into a tram when over .05 then vamoose! Which Melb players does he manage?

I reckon Sean Charles was probably our best. Fast as lightning, with all the skills. But...built like a stick insect, and very fragile. I think his worst injury with us was his fractured scaphoid(wrist), which caused problems with non-union. A classic complication of the fracture of this bone. Apparently he had a bone-graft on it in the off-season, and was told to keep the plaster dry for 6 weeks. A few days later he went swimming in the Murray with his mates, and turned up at the doctor's with soggy plaster when he got home. It was never the same after that. We recruited him from Powelltown, which must have been bloody close to the recent fires. I think he's David Wirrapunda's cousin. I think he kicked 5 in his first game? v. the Mudpies. I remember seeing him kill the Pies at Vic Park one day(?that day)A potential superstar from whom we didn't get as much as` we would have liked.(like the Ox, Gazza,Stinga,Prymke,etc) I think he was in our losing Prelim final team in '94(unfortunately in WA v. WCE) when we had that dynamic forward line of Schwarz, Lyon, Jakovich and Charles.We should have won that year, with those stars. Could Watts, Wonna,Jurrah and Bate one day replicate that potent forward line?

quote 'why you little' . " Bumpy ride ahead Jack-Fasten your seat belt!" I'm used to bumpy rides, "W.Y.L.",I've supported the Demons for more than 50 years. I'm banking on Jimmy and his team to get us over this bump. Stick with them! Don't give up!! Have you read "The Red Fox"?? How does Demetriou dare to suggest that our Club stands for nothing!

quote 'why you little' "We are delusional if we believe we can survive this. Bumpy Ride is coming on-Severe turbulence!..." Let's get a bit of rational perspective into this. It costs about 30 million to field the Demons for a season. A good sponsor would provide us with ONE of those 30 mill.So only achieving "half a sponsorship " for a season isn't the end of the world. Granted we need every cent we can get. We could probably take on a "bargain basement" sponsor at $500,000. At present we're risking missing out on half a mill. against seeking the full value sponsor. The AFL know they've burnt us with the draw, and our inability to attract a sponsor is partly their own doing. They won't kick us out at this stage. I'm hopeful that the world economic situation will turn around in a year or two, and sponsors will be easier to find ....just when Grimes, Watts, Wonna , Cheney, Jurrah,Spencer, and Bails etc will be be hitting their straps. When the Demons win a flag, they have a tendency to proceed on to three in a row!!!!! It'll happen! Then the sponsors will be lining up!

Apparently O'hAilpin's turning out for "Talking Carlton". (Only place he can get a game!). Wear boxes, boys!

Wasn't Rohan Bail impressive! And the coach's comments about how he'd dominated senior footy in Qld., plus how he is 20 years old, and is showing more maturity than some of the other recruits. I feel optimistic about this kid! We're due for some luck, with one of these young boys turning into a durable superstar.

I am a keen fan of Ron Barassi, and am delighted he's getting behind our club. Howver, I reckon his comments showed how out of touch he is(as he was when he coached us). To contend that AFL is "not a business", is over-simplistic at best, and probably a trifle naive. Yes, passion is a big part of our survival hopes, but we've GOT to get the finances organised. Jimmy handled Barass well! Also, I thought there was unfair derision from the floor at Rod McLean(former seconds player), with his suggestion that we should argue with the AFl that the rotten draw they give us makes it hard to get a sponsor, hence we're justified in seeking extra financial assistance from them.

Poor old Carlton. Just when they're feeling happy and optimistic about 2009, o'Hailpin socks Cloke in the mouth, and kicks him in the tender area while he's on the ground.....in an intraclub practice match!!! There are two possible explanations. Either o'H. is a psycho, or Cloke did something inexcusable for which he tried to gain retribution.(I remember trying to defend a team-mate (and unsuccessfully seeking retribution) in a social footy match after the opposition ruckman punched him twice in the nose. I later found that our guy(my team-mate), had been kicking the other bloke in the groin every time they went up in the ruck. He was warned...."if you do that again, I'll smash your face in" He did it again. I was unaware of the preamble.... I just saw my team-mate getting what looked like unprovoked right jabs to the face). I wonder if something like that happened today. Whatever the outcome, I hope it causes disruption amongst the gang of disreputable cheats. I suppose another way of looking at it is to note that their intraclub practice match was pretty "fair dinkum!".

Welcome Jack!!!! Still up at 3.57am!!! Hope you have the same stamina on the footy field!

We just might be singing it after round 2, while we sign up our 30,000th member!

"Will be 32 next year" Those funny must cigarettes really make you age rapidly!!!

I'm jealous of Richmond. All that optimism and publicity. Next ,a major sponsor will jump on board to take part in all the exposure. Plus....they've picked up a champ. I hope we didn't have closed minds, and gave the drafting of Cousins a good think. In know a lot of posters to this thread discounted the possibility of recruiting Cousins with hardly any consideration of the pros and cons.

She groaned a bit. Easier on the ear than Rex.

I went to the opera "Madam Butterfly" last night. It was just like barracking for Melbourne!!! Initial optimism.....years of loyalty and endless frustration. Undying belief that better things are coming. Ignoring advice that expectations are unrealistic. Shattered hopes. Tears. Finally......Hari Kari. AAAAGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!! (Go Dees....you can do it!)

I think Carey was half-fit...and ? abit older than 30.

I keep thinking...... We need to get a winning culture back at the MFC. We're going to acquire 3 or 4 top draft picks, but they probably won't help till 2010. If we keep losing games, membership and sponsorship will dwindle. Just a minute!!!!! One of the best players in the last decade is available if we want him! He probably has 2 or 3 good years of contribution at high level left....even with a dicky hamstring. What should we do? I don't like Cousins, and deplore the WCE culture which won them a premiership. I just wonder if we've closed our minds too early. The money side of it, however, I don't know anything about. If he wants more than 400k., forget it.

quote 'Whispering_Jack' "committed to rebuilding the club with youth from the ground up." A well known fact. But how much could the youths benefit from close exposure to one 30y.o. superstar? What a pity we weren't more strict on the youth policy in '08. How much could we have saved by not paying Neitz,Yze and Holland last season? Perhaps we kept them on to influence the youngsters. But at what price!? The fact that they were contracted the year before emphasises the difficulty of such negotiations.

In my opinion two major factors have changed since we all wrote off any interest in wooing Ben Cousins to our club. 1. The incredibly stringent testing regime announced by the AFL today means he can't POSSIBLY contemplate using drugs if he seriously wants to come back. If he did transgress again, it'd be detected immediately, before his influence could spread in the Club. It wouldn't be our fault....we'd be the good guys giving a guy with a health problem a chance. 2.We absolutely MUST win more games in 2009. At one stage, some supporters were suggesting another year of less than 5 wins would be great from a drafting point of view. However it is becoming apparent that we need better on-field results to aid in our battle for survival as a club... to attract sponsors,spectators, free-to-air TV appearances, and members. Here's a guy who is an out and out champ. Not only would he be a winner on the field, he'd take pressure off Brocky etc., to say nothing of what he could teach them about footy(and winning flags!). How much publicity would our Club(and potential sponsors) get!!?? I'm not sure that I want him... I just think that we should take everything into consideration before writing him off completely.

I'd be interested to know if Wayne Oswald is the son of Lance Oswald, the top-class StKilda centreman of the late 60's.

"Hussey's was incredibly poor, especially for someone like Hussey" Hussey did get a grubber, though.