The Panglossian

Can anyone else see likeness to the young Pendlebury? Wouldn't it be great if he develop;ed into a player of that class!

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It is crucial that we put in a request not to have(WA umpire) Dean Margetts when we play the Eagles in Perth. Did anyone else notice how he seemed intent on bringing WCE back into the game when they were way behind against Essendon last Thursday? Normally comments on umpires from me are not worth reading,since I’m so one-eyed Melbourne. I can’t stand Essendon, but I thought the umpiring in that game was disgracefully biased against them. I guess it’s not deliberate bias, but it’s a cowardly tendency of some umpires to be influenced by the “ crowd affirmation”, which is worse there than anywhere else....even Geelong. Margetts( why does that remind me of “maggots” )was the worst, and if he’s in charge again, I’m betting on the Eagles.

That’s the whole point. There will be no significant “ noise of affirmation”. There will be as many St K supporters as Melb supporters. Crowd influence on umpires will be evened out. This is one of the reasons we are at a huge disadvantage to the Interstate clubs and Geelong. We are at a similar disadvantage ( to playing interstate) on OUR OWN HOME GROUND against Collingwood, Richmond,Hawthorn, even Carlton...... but we have a chance of overcoming that in the long term future, IF we can become a strong club with greatly increased membership, and numbers of supporters at home games.( and NOT selling home games) To achieve this,the talented on-field group we have at present have to put together successive highly successful seasons to attract people to our club.

We haven't played at the MCG much in the last 6 weeks, and I think the Membership booth there is the best place to attract new members. I'm hoping for a big sign-up outside gate three next Monday. There has been a lot of publicity about what a great style of footy we play, and how we're likely to play deep into September. Surely that will attract a few late joiners.

Did you have a good day.? I sure did,and it only took me 10 min to get there,! You deserved it, coming down from PNG,! ut

Geelong seemed pretty "pumped" during their premiership years under "Bomber"

Oscar has beaten Hawkins, Roughead, , Riewoldt, and Daniher in succession. I've forgotten who he beat at Brisbane; they tried several on him. I thought he was good last season, and he has improved. A.A. in the near future.

What about Jordie McKenzie's role in that great team goal.!! (not bad for a much-maligned Demonland "list-clogger".) By the way....can anyone remind me of a time where we won with a kick after the siren? I can think of at least two where we lost,(87 prelim, and Clarkson's first game for North),but I can't remember us doing it. Another one close to the siren was Leoncelli in Adelaide.

But it’s all clear with the block chain.

There was a blatant free to us not paid immediately before the Neitz indiscretion. That was a memorably frustrating loss.

I think Harry's son, Brad, is a Dee supporter.

Does anyone know if Kristen Beams, the Aust women's team legspinner is Ben Beams' sister.? Ben was a talented cricketer who once made a triple century in a 50 over Club game in Hobart. Ben was a last minute replacement for Cam Bruce in the 2000 GF. I know Kristen is a Tasmanian, too. She's 33, and he's about 38.

I was so surprised that anyone could say OMac was "abominable" in the first half, I watched the replay again( for the third time). He played pretty well in Q1, then very well for the rest oft the he game. Yes, he had two hurried kicks in Q1 that did not end up to our advantage, but overall, he defended well. For he rest of the match,he disposed of the ball excellently apart from those two kicks, which were under great pressure, and far from "abominable". Twice his creative play from the backline ended up in crucial goals. My good mate that I sit next to each week reckons he's hopeless. Anything that goes wrong he ends up blaming Omac. You might be like him,jnrmac. ( by th way, Omac is another "jnrmac".)

I thought Jeff Hilton was potentially a genuine star. were there issues? Paul Prympke was a really good negative CHB,dogged by injury. Andy Lamprill won one game with a great mark, but I don't think he was a star!

We could have another Greg Williams or Sam Mitchell with Clarrie. I can't believe the quickness of his reflexes, and the awareness of his team mates' whereabouts. He can take a mark and kick well too, but those creative hand passes in close or at a distance are the hallmark. We've gone for years without genuine stars. We might have four by 2018. Oliver ,Hunt, Hogan and Petracca. Could Frost be up there,too?,and wouldn't it be great if Weideman develops as hoped. For decades we've had to worry about opposition stars. Soon they'll have to worry about ours. ( like '94 when we had Jako, Stinga, Lyon, Schwarta and Charles) By the way, most sides would love to have Tommy Mac back there, and I have high hopes for Oscar. It's getting very exciting.

The Bont

Leading wicket taker, at a good average ,in last year's Sheffield Shield. Deserved selection. Should get another chance.

I reckon he was the only one to think of this excuse. Or perhaps he was the only one not too ashamed to pretend he was scared of injections. Everyone seems to forget that Essendon players are probably still benefitting from the effects of the supplements three years ago.I compare it to the gradual build up of strength in recruits after several pre-seasons. The Bombers had an accelerated bulk-up,and it's still helping. Weve got two of them. I hope it helps us.

Despite this great start, I'm not 100% confident. I might have a nibble at the $12. for SA. As you suggest, Titan, the Aust batting is thin apart from Warner and Smith.

I was very impressed with"SOS"s form yesterday. I'd be very surprised if he's not upgraded next year. He looks to me as if he could be a very useful contributor to our backline next season. Could he play midfield? His attack on the ball, his decision making, and his disposal all impressed me. I was a great admirer of his dad Shaun's guts, standing his ground in "the hole" to be crashed by the likes of Lockett. Shaun Smith, like another brave Demon hero of mine, Steven Icke, was a fantastic transfer from North. I'm so glad we have Joel as a Demon.

We've been pretty competitive v. Port on the Adelaide Oval, though we haven't beaten them there yet. The first AFL game there (?2012 or 2013) we lost by about a point, but we actually won. The home town bias of the umpires that day was beyond belief.

Herath's a good bowler. It was a good tactical move to bring him on in gthe second over. It probably caught Burns by surprise. A poor shot, but I wouldn't write him off on the strength of that one dismissal. Warner's shot was a shocker, but I always think bat to pad to stumps is a bit stiff.

Are you sure that's right, Barrie? I reckon Danny played after the drop kick had faded out. But he could barrel them with a torp. And he was so tough! Tassie did the big drops.

Torpedoes are banned by coaches, yet they allow dribble "check side " kicks with players running into open goals. Players love practising those fiddly skills like curvy dribble kicks from impossible angles. You see AFL players (and kids in parks) spending lots of time having fun practising those things. I contend that training and practising in the special skill of spiral punting should be a routine part of AFL skills drills, which would be thoroughly enjoyed by the players. I think it could be worth 2 or 3 goals a match if all Melbourne players were the best in the league at torpedoes. Have a look at "Fork ''em's" You tube post above. See how inspiring those torps were !