Jumping Jack Clennett

This morning on 3AW Andrew Rule said we should expect revelations soon involving "the best footballer in the land". WOW! I can't believe the comments of the Victorian WCE players' parents this morning in the papers, saying they're "not in the least concerned".

Newton should remain at Full Forward(I presume he was). Sautner to HFF(is there such a position?)

Thank heavens ... no injuries, knee reco's or reports. How mad are Hawthorn! Getting reported in Praccy matches! Crawford SHOULD have got more than a week and been out against us in round 2. Hopefully Hodge and Vandenburg(inj.) now out. But we'll kill 'em anyway!

Ex-Amcor boss.

When Joe Gutnick took over Melbourne , the press and the "big end of town" regarded him with distrust and suspicion, and emphasised the evil of a rich man taking over the reins of a club. Now Pratt takes over at Carlton and the press welcome him as a saviour of the "great club". This man has some question marks hanging over him which if true are far worse than anything Joe ever did. Ask people whose life savings were in Occidental. Ask the Securities Commission about allegations of his price fixing with Amcor. Ask them about Russell Jones? There is an unpleasant odour emanating from the leadership at Carlton, on and off the field.

So Newton can run as well as mark, Fan . Pretty promising!! Trouble is, he won't get a chance at FF because of Sauts. Is he big enough to hold down CHF? Running and creating is the big requirement at CHF, as well as marking. You do have to go in and get the ball, there, though, and from what you say, that's not his forte.

So Jarka, are you saying that his company manages players, but he doesn't have a hands on role? Or are you saying he has no input into player management.? Only the latter is acceptable. If he runs a sports management company that employs people to manage players, that's even worse than being the personal contact himself.

Am I correct in observing that Ron Joseph is an influential member of the Kangaroos' new Board? Am I also correct in observing that he is a player manager of many AFL players, including some Demons? If that is correct , am I justifiably perturbed that in his crucial dealings with players' contracts, he is duty-bound to extract as much money as possible from the players' Clubs? Given North's precarious financial position, is it not likely that his negtiations with players from other Clubscould be at a different level from those at his own? Even if he has no Kangaroos on his books, is he not in a position to cause list and financial disruption at rival clubs. Summing up my concerns ... I think there is a significant conflict of interest having a player manager on a Club Board. Especially a sleazy one like Joseph.

I agree with you, Mousey. OK , Miller did nothing on Sunday, but what about his form in the last couple of games last year, when it really mattered!

Hey Fan, can you email them to me? JJC

Congratulations, Josh!!! I'm a bit disappointed it took you 2 days to sign him up, though!! My little girl has just turned 5, but has her 7th MFC ticket! ASHO

Please tell me Sautner's torn his hamstring off the bone! I want Juice at full-forward.

I'll be hoarse on Sunday night!

The great times of '87 were in September(minus the injured Lyon), but it all started in March when we won the pre-season Cup(GO BAILS!!!), beating Essendon against the odds. A lot of our confidence in the big games came from thsat Pre-season GF win. We had team spirit that we haven't been able to replicate to that degree. We'd have won the premiership if Jimmy hadn't given away the 15m.penalty. In 1988 we beat Carlton THREE times, including in a cut-throat final. Do not extrapolate from this that I think we should go flat out in the NAB Cup, unless, as Danners said, we sort of..."accidently" find ourselves in the late rounds, then the extra million starts to smell good. I don't think this is impossible , given our depth.

Like you, Pinball, I liked Scottie Chisholm. On more than one occasion I confidently predicted a great future for him at Melbourne. I was wrong. His pace off the mark was unbelievable. His ball skills were mercurial. Perhaps he was a non-compliant trainer. Does anyone know?

Let's hope for another "typical, boring" nil-all draw on Sunday evening, so Victory's chances of living up to their name are reduced. How dare these so-called Demon supporters contributing to this forum suggest that these newchums( who performed so poorly last year, and have regained that form just in time for the finals) are ahead of our historic club in this city. Don't forget you're comparing a STATE side to a local team. To be a fair comparison Victory should be compared to our Victorian State of Origin team's attendances.(or perhaps to the total attendances of all the Melb based clubs).

Last night ,on the SEN "World Sport Overnight", after midnight, a caller named "Ben" ( I suspect a Demonland contributor), rang in. He is a contributor to the"Inside Football"magazine. He says he's been to training at a lot of the Vic clubs recently, and Melbourne's has been by far the most impressive. He's particularly impressed with Brock, and reckons we're a premiership chance this year! He reckons`Robbo will be tried down the backline this season. I remember that it was a trial down the backline in a preseason Cup match about 6 or seven years ago that helped Robbo to "arrive". He really sounded like he knew what he was talking about, so I hope he's not just another unrealistically optimistic supporter like myself!

[quote name='Franky_31' date='Jan 20 2007, Don't forget.....Wheatley is one of the best in the AFL at point kick-ins, a facet of our game often underestimated for its importance.

Oh NO!!!! Not Royal Blue!!!! You know we go better in Navy Blue!

It's a pity Sautner's still there from Melbourne (and Newton's)point of view.

[uote'Fan' "Thanks for the report DD". Yeah, thanks for the excellent summary. Wish I'd gone, now, knowing that three players I admire so much spoke. But it's great I didn't feel compelled to go, as, I have on occasions in the past, for a close-up inspection of what the board are achieving. My absence is a vote of satisfaction and encouragement to keep going as they are....but I hope, for heavens' sake ,they don't get complacent! If I was a Carlton supporter, there's no way I'd miss their AGM.!

QUOTE "Paul Gardner Squad" "Steve O'Dwyer had just clocked a Carlton player with a forearm to the head - bit of a fight on the flank - and we all remember what happened at the tribunal." That was a crucial incident, "Paul". Da Rui had just king-hit Greg Healy(I think it was him),without any censure from the Umps. Strawbs dashed in to remonstrate, and swung a haymaker, which basically missed, apart from a brush to the face with his forearm. Strawbs was suspended and missed the GF. The selectors took Danny Hughes out of the backline to fill the hole in the ruck. So we allowed O'Dwyer's absence to disrupt the backline, as well as the ruck. Hawthorn killed us, and the loss of our best and fairest (yep, Strawbs "fairest!!!")winner that year for the GF didn't help. An average tall forward(Abbott) kicked a poultice. He would have struggled with Danny down there.

Everyone's lost interest (since I got the answer wrong myself!!!) The guy I met was Rob Dowsing, son of Roy, grandson of Stan.

I saw Tony Campbell take a fantastic mark at Footscray in the late 80's. He was running back with the flight of the ball to the opposition goal line where a Footscray player was waiting to mark or shepherd it through. With his head turned back, eyes on the ball, Campbell put his knee on the guy's shoulder, flew, and marked it cleanly. Unaccountably, the Ump didn't pay the mark. Perhaps he didn't believe such a mark was possible!

A fanatical guru zealot ("Discworld D") has just informed me that the player I met was wrong!! Matthews pre-dated him!!!! However an interesting parallel exists, since in both cases the grandfather played for South and the grandson played for both Melb AND South! Who was this third generation VFL player I met?!! (sorry for getting the facts wrong, but I thought the guy would be correct when he volunteered the information.)