Whispering_Jack

The VFL is a complete sham of a farce. It’s not their fault but Southport is currently in second place with nine games for eight wins. That sounds like a fantastic record in any competition and the Sharks could not have done much more to get into that position. But ... They were drawn to play the lowly Northern Bullants this week in what I considered a danger game for them. Why? The Bullants have won a few games of late and are playing with great spirit and look at who Southport have played to date - Round 1 Carlton (14th) win by 1 point Round 2 Apsley (21st) win by 14 points Round 3 UWS Giants (8th) lose by 30 points Round 4 North Melbourne (18th) win by 107 points Round 5 Apsley (21st) win by 109 points Round 6 Gold Coast (15th) win by 83 points Round 7 Northern Bullants (17th) postponed Round 8 Sydney Swans (19th) win by 15 points Round 9 Bye Round 10 Brisbane Lions (16th) win by 107 points Round 11 Gold Coast (15th) postponed Round 12 Bye Round 13 Brisbane Lions (16th) win by 109 points Round 14 Northern Bullants (17th) postponed/bye To come Werribee (10th), Coburg (13th) Frankston (6th) and (for the third time this year) ... Brisbane Lions who they’ve beaten twice by more than 100 points. This needs no further comment.

I love puzzles with a bit of a twist. ?

1. Can we assume that one of the wingmen is an appendage? 2. Does this have anything to do with the author, Charles [censored]ens?

I believe the Casey v Box Hill game will be shown on 7.

Sunday as per the tag.

Titus’ books are classic. Highly recommended.

I have no problem with him being picked by another club. Quite frankly, he would have to improve a lot in my view to get to top 10 as Neitz the Great is suggesting and even if he did that, I couldn’t imagine Melbourne giving up the number of draft points needed to match a bid under the old rules given that we have Max Gawn and Luke Jackson in the #1 and 2 ruck positions at the club. The point I’m making is that a number of clubs used the mid season draft to pick up ruck prospects, a few of who I rank more highly than Mac Andrew. Let’s see how it pans out.

The book already commands pride of place on my bookshelf (although I haven’t read it yet because I’m finishing “The Boys Club”). Every Demon fan should go out and buy the book to have on hand for our next hurrah come September. After that, it’s the Nobel Prize for Literature!

Injury Report | Rosman in the clear after VFL concern

Let’s try to throw some logic in as well. The experts might be salivating at the thought of Mac Andrew being snatched out of Melbourne’s grasp with a top 20 pick in the November draft but the question as to what are the odds of it happening? The argument about best pick available vs club needs has been going on since the early days of the national draft. I think it’s fair to say that unless a ruckman is considered in elite company, clubs would be reluctant to risk a high draft pick for a developing tall. That’s why many clubs with ruck needs were falling over themselves to add to their ruck stocks at the midseason draft. I was reminded of this watching the NAB Boys League game between Sandringham Dragons play the Calder Cannons at the weekend. The Dragons played 204cm ruck/forward Max Heath who was selected in the mid season draft by St Kilda at pick 7. They also produced the #1 pick Jacob Edwards who went to North. A number of other clubs also drafted ruckmen - Gold Coast, Carlton, Sydney, Brisbane and Collingwood. The Bulldogs are well stocked for tall timber but will be taking father/son prospect in Sam Darcy. Then there’s the question of who will be in a position to pick Mac Andrew in the draft? Let’s assume that he remains in the current range suggested by the pundits at somewhere between 15 and 25. Let’s look at the clubs that would be in a position to select him and for the sake of the exercise, let’s start at pick 12. Based on current ladder positions the picks with which he could be nominated are - 12. Fremantle 13. Sydney 14. Port Adelaide 15. Brisbane 16. Richmond 17. Western Bulldogs 18. Brisbane 19. Gold Coast 20. North Melbourne Obviously, these will change over the remainder of the season and with trading in the post season but I think that in reality the number of clubs looking to pick a Mac Andrew in that range is going to be very limited.

From AFL Draft Central, their scouting notes on Friday's game (#36 was Mac's jumper number) Scouting Notes | 2021 U19 National Championships: Vic Country vs. Vic Metro "#36 Mac Andrew (Dandenong Stingrays) 12/04/2003 | 200cm/70kg | Tall Forward/Ruck Pushing himself up draft boards after another big game performance, Andrew showed a lot of eye catching traits throughout the contest. Starting up forward, early on Andrew wasn’t holding a lot of his marks due to the pressure, but would treat aerial contests almost as ruck situations in open play, tapping the ball straight down in front of teammates and putting them in dangerous spots inside 50. He kicked the opening goal of the contest after getting separation and taking a mark on his chest, slotting it from about 50 out. Andrew used the ball well through the game, handballing into the right spots and taking safer shorter kicks more often than long bombs, keeping Country in possession. He looked to be the best ruck on ground when rolling through there as well, placing taps well for his midfielders and having moments where he followed up his own taps and won the ball at ground level. The highlight from Andrew’s game was his aerial work around the ground however, demonstrating his positional awareness and athleticism with some high leap contested marks, plus the ability to quickly get separation when up forward. He took one of his most impressive marks when stationed up forward, where at full pace on the lead he was nudged from the side, but managed to hold his balance and juggle the ball with one hand to take the mark. So strong was his aerial work, that Metro started to double team him down the line in an effort to body his leap and nullify his impact."

And a big heads up for some great commentary from Demon star Libby Birch. Channel 7 should sign her up immediately and get rid of some of the boring boofheads they have on their panel!

Well, they certainly stepped up the required gear but not before almost losing their lead. Tom Sparrow and Jake Melksham are handy reserve depth for the Demons, Bowey is going to be a beauty and I think the selectors will definitely have a look at Declase at some stage, if not this year, then next.

Love Bowey’s game and Declase and Turner look to be handy additions. Weideman looks good at this level but there’s very little fire power or marking strength up forward or pressure to keep the ball inside 50. They lost last week when the Giants played the same type of defensive game. They need to step up a gear - especially those striving to break into the Melbourne team.

This would have to rank as the most bizarre major football competition going around. Made up of 22 different teams across the eastern seaboard and you only play 14 matches over 19 rounds before the finals placing are decided. In the case of the Casey Demons this has resulted in a fixture where they play Box Hill twice in the season and miss out completely on playing no less than 9 of the others. So forget about missing out on the big clashes with Apsley and Southport (admittedly we could play them in the finals if we get there) but what about your regular traditional VFA clubs of old like Coburg, Frankston and I simply cannot accept the fact that there’s no visit this year to Port Melbourne. Are the organizers of this farce of a competition aware how long we’ve had to endure without consuming their famous burraburger?

Having watched the game, I still think it’s far too early to be casting judgment about most of the prospects including Andrew who looks very raw and played in a team that struggled from the start. This was Callum Twomey’s view of his efforts in yesterday’s game. “His athleticism and ability across the ground means he is forming to be selected inside the first 15 picks on draft night, with Friday’s effort again solidifying his standing among the leading talls in the crop as he compiled 15 disposals and a goal.” We already know that only the highest calibre of talls will get picked in the first round of any given draft and that the recent mid season draft saw a number taken from that crop. There’s only going to be a limited number of clubs left on the lookout to spend a pick in the 10-20 range on a project ruckman who needs two to three years to develop. There are diverse opinions about most prospects (including Nick Daicos who was clearly the star of the show yesterday) so the discussion about Mac Andrew is going to be a long drawn out debate, especially if he continues to play in teams that get thrashed which has been the case in his last few outings.

This one shouldn’t trouble the memory too much as it wasn’t all that long ago. THE TEAMS HAWTHORN B: C. Jiath 29 K. Hartigan 28 B. Hardwick 15 HB: D. Howe 17 Sam Frost 8 J. Impey 4 C: J. Scrimshaw 3 T. Mitchell 3 L. Shiels 26 HF: D Moore 36 T. O'Brien 23 S. Burgoyne 9 F: L. Breust 22 J. Koschitzke 34 C. Wingard 20 Foll: B. McEvoy 7 J. Worpel 5 J. O’Meara 10 I/C: C. Nash O. Hanrahan H. Morrison T. Phillips Sub: J. Cousins Emerg: T. Brockman J. Ceglar M. Hartley In: O. Hanrahan J. Koschitzke C. Nash Out: T. Brockman (managed) J. Ceglar (omitted) M. Hartley (omitted) M. Lewis (suspended) MELBOURNE B: T. Rivers 24 H. Petty 35 A. Tomlinson 20 HB: C. Salem 3 J. Lever 8 J. Hunt 29 C: A. Brayshaw 10 C. Oliver 13 E. Langdon 15 HF: K. Pickett 36 T. McDonald 25 N. Jones 2 F: A. Neal-Bullen 30 L. Jackson 6 J. Melksham 18 Foll: M. Gawn 11 C. Petracca 5 J. Viney 7 I/C: M. Brown 38 M. Hibberd 14 Jordon 23 C. Spargo 9 Sub: T. Sparrow 32 Emerg: O. Baker 33 M. Daw 28 N. Jetta 39 In: M. Brown M. Hibberd H. Petty Out: B. Fritsch (hand fracture) N. Jetta (omitted) S. May (facial fracture) T. Sparrow (omitted)

Our home ground in the NT is Alice Springs. Looking forward at our fixture, it would hardly be feasible to change any of our future 2021 home games there, leaving aside unexpected pandemic circumstances. It’s too late to move the Hawks game and you wouldn’t move the Bulldogs fixture away from the G as it looms as a major blockbuster. Moving the Adelaide game to Alice Springs would mean you go into a finals series having not played at the MCG and likely finals site for a month.

Daicos dazzles as Metro thumps Country at Windy Hill

Mac Andrew is an 18 year old ruck/tall utility who plays for the Dandenong Stingrays and Vic Country Under 19s and is sort of tied to Melbourne as a Next Generation Academy player. "Sort of", because any club can take him without challenge if they nominate him in the top 20 of this year's national draft. If nominated beyond that selection, the Demons could opt to take him by matching his points value at that pick. Andrew is 200cm but lightly built at 70kg. He's somewhat enigmatic in that his athleticism and great leap make him an eye catcher - he can play ruck or in key positions but after a brilliant opening burst early in the season, he's been hot and cold and also missing through injury. He returned to the field in today's game for Vic Country against a strong Vic Metro team that dominated over their rivals from the bush. Andrew showed sparks of promise but that wiry build needs a lot of work and time for development. Most judges have him on the fringe of top 20 selection. AFL Draft Central currently rates him just outside that range at #21 so it's likely to be an interesting point of conversation over the next 4½ months before that big day late in November when his footballing future and those of many others will be decided. From the latest AFL Draft Central Power Rankings: July 2021 "Eyes quickly turned to Andrew after he collected 22 disposals, three marks and 11 hitouts on his NAB League debut, before going on to prove it was no fluke by impressing across another three outings. He found himself spending more time forward against the Sandringham Dragons in Round 4 and kicked a goal, but has some development left in his decision making and disposal by foot at times. He boasts clean hands and was better aerially than his averages of three marks and 14.5 hitouts suggest. The same could be said about his game for the AFL Academy, where Andrew was tried up either end before excelling in the ruck during term four, throwing his 200cm frame into each centre bounce with a phenomenal vertical leap." Here's an article about the player and his background - Mac time: Demons’ academy star inspired by Sudanese pioneers And here’s the full footage from that game he played for the AFL Academy -

The player numbers for the game - VIC COUNTRY 1. Sam Conforti 2. Ben Hobbs 4. Joshua Rachele 5. Cooper Hamilton 6. Connor MacDonald 7. Judson Clarke 9. Noah Gribble 10. Will Bravo 12. Noah Gadsby 13. Sam Breuer 14. Jamieson Ballantyne 15. Campbell Chesser 17. Charlie Molan 18. Tom Brown 19. Miller Bergman 21. Joshua Gibcus 23. Jai Serong 27. Hamish Sinnott 28. Mitchell Knevitt 34. Oscar Morrison 35. Justin Davies 36. Mac Andrew 39. Josh Rentsch 40. Toby Conway VIC METRO 1. Youseph Dib 2. Corey Preston 3. Jake Soligo 4. Zac Taylor 6. Josh Ward 7. Lachlan Rankin 9. Darcy Wilmot 10. Sam Clifford 11. Paul Curtis 12. Nick Daicos 13. Marcus Windhager 16. Josh Sinn 17. Karl Worner 18. Ben De Bolfo 23. Luke Cleary 24. Joshua Goater 26. Blake Howes 30. Dominic Akuei 32. Cody Raak 33. Samuel Paea 34. Tyreece Leiu 36. Sam Darcy 38. Dante Visentini 39.Liam Podhajski

Enjoy it here - Father-son guns headline Metro v Country U19 battle at Windy Hill

Time to step up to the plate.

As a footballer, Melbourne NGA prospect Mac Andrew is an absolute genius. He has not had a kick or a handball in the past month but has risen six places in the Draft Central Power Rankings: July 2021. The NAB Boys League went into recess for a couple of weeks at the beginning of June for the city clubs including the Stingrays during the lockdown. Andrew played his only game for the month of June for the Stingrays against the Pioneers on 20 June and was concussed in the opening moments (stats - 2 tackles, 2 hit outs). This is how the AFL Draft Central power ranking guru sums him up:- “#15 Mac Andrew (MEL NGA) Dandenong Stingrays/Vic Country | Ruck/Tall Utility 12/04/2003 | 200cm | 70kg June Ranking: #21 Snapshot: A raw tall prospect who has proven his worth in each post, Andrew’s vertical leap and fast-developing craft really catch the eye. Another key position type who rocketed up draft boards with a promising start to the year, Andrew will have Melbourne recruiters a little nervous with his performances to date. He now sits inside our current top 20, boasting raw athleticism and bucketloads of upside given his ever-improving ability to be utilised at either end of the ground, or in the ruck. While he has proven his versatility, the Demons Next Generation Academy (NGA) talent looks most comfortable in the ruck, where his leap and clean follow-up work stands out. Last month: Andrew was set to add to his exciting opening rounds with a return to NAB League action, but unfortunately fell to injury early in his outing against Bendigo. Having gone down in a heavy contest, Andrew hasn’t been sighted on-field since and also missed the Under 19 trials.” On that basis, but for the injury, Mac probably would be sitting at #1 right now and we wish him good luck at either North Melbourne or Hawthorn in 2022.

Do we assume that young Riak is also in the Melbourne NGA?