Whispering_Jack

Austin Bradtke, the 204cm ex-basketballer with an amazing sporting pedigree has been delisted. He was drafted in late 2018 as a Category B Rookie but the constant interruptions to the VFL football program gave him little time to develop as planned and he never got to play on the AFL stage.

There would not be a more unlucky player in the land than South Australian Aaron Nietschke who was delisted today after three seasons at the club. Drafted at number 53 in the 2018 National Draft, he suffered an ACL early in 2019 after playing just six games in the VFL with the Casey Demons. More setbacks were to come with two further ACL injuries in the following two years, the last one coming early in the preseason just as he was starting to show some good signs in practice matches. It would have been a tough assignment for him to have broken into such a strong team and it’s unfortunate that he leaves the club with little to show but some scars on his knees. Hopefully, he finds a niche wherever he goes next and it’s fair to say we’ll all have our fingers crossed that he stays healthy in the years to come.

It’s back again and here are some of the highlights of today: — * "After seeing Luke Jackson's impact at Melbourne, perhaps clubs will be more willing to use high draft picks on a ruckman" — Kane Cornes * "Everyone in footy is aware he's going to finish his career in Melbourne..." — Mitch Cleary on Ben King. * "I think Peter Ladhams needs to find a club where he will be the number one man, rather than going to be a second ruckman" — Brendon Goddard * "It's been amazing. It's been such a long time coming, trying to rebuild and get the club to the position it is now in. There's been moments where I'm just driving and it hits me and even a few tears start to come" — Todd Viney * "Geelong are going to go again... they need to fill a legitimate void in defence and Daniel Talia could be that man for the next couple of years." — Brendon Goddard * "The issue for Jarrod Brander is West Coast's list will change dramatically next season... if he waits a bit longer he's the next man in." — Nick Dal Santo * "Rival clubs, including Essendon have started to pick up the phone on St Kilda contracted player Ben Long". — Mitch Cleary • "Brisbane has shown an interest in Levi Casboult." — Sam Edmund * "Collingwood are really confident they will get Patrick Lipinski from the Bulldogs and Nathan Kreuger from the Cats" — Sam Edmund * "He thinks he'll be playing elsewhere if given a chance, Port Adelaide are one of the clubs interested." — Sam Edmund on out of contract Hawk Tim O'Brien. * "The rookie list should be there for the rookies, the AFL needs to clean it up, clubs are bringing in players who've played over 200 games on the rookie list." — Stephen Silvagni * "They don't need to panic. They just need to hold their nerve as they can trade picks on the night to get what they need to match." — Stephen Silvagni on the Pies situation with Nick Daicos * "My information is Mac Andrew goes in the top five - I think to GWS. A shame for Melbourne as he is in their NGA." — Matt Rendell * Rival clubs have started to make enquiries on contracted Saint Ben Long — Mitch Cleary

Due to Covid19 restrictions, I watched the grand final alone. My wife watched upstairs but due to one of my superstitions (I had watched Melbourne’s undefeated streak since Lockdown 6.0 began by myself wearing the same top and I wasn’t going to change anything). But I wasn’t watching alone because I had this original poster by the wall watching the proceedings with me. Back on 19 September, 1964 I watched the grand final at the Elsternwick ABC Studios as a “guest” of their doorman. I remember all of it from the monochromatic monitors in their auditorium. Dicko’s heroics, Galloping Gabbo’s goal that brought us to the edge of despair, Hassa’s missed shot, Froggy’s goal and Bourkey’s saving mark. Ron Barassi holding up the premiership cup after what became his last appearance in the red and blue. Loved all of it. I can’t remember if they had a replay that night but I watched TV until fairly late and then I suddenly felt inspired. I snuck out of home and walked to the milk bar/newsagency on the corner of Hawthorn and North Roads in East Brighton. The store was closed and the lights were off but at the front of building sat one of those metal grilles that usually housed newspapers sheets with the headlines of the day. Only on this night, it encased the Weg ‘64 Premiership banner. Unashamedly, I “liberated” the banner from its cage and it’s been with me for the past 57 years. Actually, it sat for many years at the back of a cupboard but I took it with me when we married and years later, had it framed. Its 2021 counterpart has been ordered and will also be suitably framed to sit alongside my 1964 find. The postscript to the story is that about five or six years later, I was walking past the same milk bar and bumped into an old mate so we ducked inside to buy a pack of cigarettes (I gave up a long time ago). Afterwards, as we smoked our Alpines at the front of the store, I told him about my Weg poster and he remarked, “I can’t believe you stole something!” As he uttered the words, a copper walked past and I swear he heard them. The copper was none other than Melbourne Footballer and high flying key forward Greg Parke, looking ever so tall with the stern look that figures of authority have when carrying out their business. Parke looked at us, winked and walked into the shop. Sadly, Greg Parke who played over 100 games for the Demons from 1968 to 1973 and also later played for the Bulldogs, the Norwood Redlegs and Fitzroy, passed away after a long illness just hours before the grand final and missed out the end of our long wait. Rest In Peace Champ!

We truly are superstitious. The board usually runs this topic a lot earlier in the year but we were mindful of the fact that by doing so we might jinx the premiership effort!

The account in the letter referred to in this article merits investigation by historians for the sake of the game which Wills was instrumental in founding, for those who follow it, the many who have participated in the game and will participate in the future and in particular, our indigenous players. Today, I especially say that for my club, which just won a premiership, which Tom Wills had a hand in founding and which has a proud history of indigenous players in its ranks going back to George Simmonds who played for the Melbourne Football Club in the 1920s (according to my research) was the second recorded indigenous player in the VFL all the way to Steven May and Kysaiah Pickett who were members of the team that played on Saturday and Neville Jetta, Toby Bedford and Deakyn Smith who make up our playing squad (I’m proud to say that’s more than 10% of our list!). And also for the sake of all members of our indigenous communities it’s important that the truth comes out soon and is properly acknowledged. Note: Some 11 years ago, I wrote about Wills in this article on Demonland entitled Indigene - Part Three. The contents were based on my research which included a book on the game’s founders Harrison and Wills. All of my research suggested that Wills was away at the time of the massacre.

I would like to hear a compilation of the wit and wisdom over the years of Demon supporter Chris from Camberwell who I used to hear on calls to various radio stations over the years. Has anyone heard from him lately? Any chance of getting him on a Demonland podcast over the summer?

It’s also 61 years since we won back to back flags. Frankly, it’s been a long time and I’m sick and tired of waiting.

INDICATIVE DRAFT ORDER (after AFL 2021 Grand Final) unchanged ROUND ONE 1. North Melbourne 2. GWS Giants 3. Gold Coast 4. Adelaide 5. Hawthorn 6. Carlton 7. Richmond 8. Fremantle 9. St Kilda 10. West Coast 11. Essendon 12. Sydney 13. GWS Giants 14. Brisbane Lions 15. Richmond 16. Port Adelaide 17. Western Bulldogs 18. Brisbane Lions ROUND TWO 19. Gold Coast 20. North Melbourne 21. Hawthorn 22. Gold Coast 23. Adelaide 24. Hawthorn 25. Carlton 26. Richmond 27. Fremantle 28. Richmond 29. West Coast 30. Geelong 31. Sydney 32. Geelong 33. Melbourne 34. Geelong 35. West Coast 36. Collingwood 37. Adelaide ROUND THREE 38. North Melbourne 39. Collingwood 40. Richmond 41. Collingwood 42. Melbourne 43. Gold Coast 44. Richmond 45. Collingwood 46. St Kilda 47. Brisbane Lions 48. Essendon 49. West Coast 50. GWS Giants 51. Brisbane Lions 52. Geelong 53. Essendon 54. Melbourne 55. Gold Coast ROUND FOUR 56. Hawthorn 57. Brisbane Lions 58. Gold Coast 59. Adelaide 60. Port Adelaide 61. Carlton 62. Hawthorn 63. Adelaide 64. St Kilda 65. West Coast 66. Gold Coast 67. Sydney 68. GWS Giants 69. North Melbourne 70. Port Adelaide 71. Port Adelaide 72. Western Bulldogs 73. Brisbane Lions ROUND FIVE 74. North Melbourne 75. Collingwood 76. Gold Coast 77. Adelaide 78. Hawthorn 79. Carlton 80. Richmond 81. Fremantle 82. St Kilda 83. West Coast 84. Essendon 85. Sydney 86. GWS Giants 87. Brisbane Lions 88. Geelong 89. Port Adelaide 90. Western Bulldogs 91. Melbourne

The East Fremantle Colts lost a heart-stopping Preliminary Final by 2 points to bow out of premiership contention. Taj Woewodin continued his consistent form with a 22 disposal, 1 goal game. Hopefully, some of our Demons out west might have caught up with the game and can fill us in on how he went.

We’ll be singing the song for weeks and months. This one isn’t to everyone’s taste but it resonates with me. Love the tempo and Demon Fan David Bridie of My Friend The Chocolate Cake was proud enough to sing it in our darkest of days. This was from the Marngrook Footy Show in early 2011. Look how far we’ve come!

Let’s go really conservative and mark him down as “4-6 weeks”. As long as he’s back for the start of preseason, it’s all good with me.

Pity we couldn’t be there … 81E80C30-F6F0-49A0-B9E4-CB55A1DEAB28.MP4

Meanwhile, in the curtain-raiser to the AFL Grand Final in Perth, a couple of the top draft prospects suffered worrying injuries. WA won the game by 5 points over SA making it their second win over the Croweaters in a month but a number of players were missing on both sides due to club finals. Melbourne father/son prospect Taj Woewodin was one of the missing - he lines up this morning for East Fremantle Colts in a Preliminary Final against Swan Districts. Injury concerns for top draft prospects after U19 curtain-raiser

Most of us missed (and for good reason) this but on Friday night in Adelaide, a young player stamped himself on the football scene. Jason Horne-Francis kicked three goals and shone in a losing team in the SANFL Preliminary Final. He’s been going neck and neck with Nick Daicos for the # 1 draft mantle and probably got his nose in front. Jason Horne-Francis stars in ‘electrifying’ SANFL prelim performance for South Adelaide

Sequel?

Premiership (1955, 57, 59) winger Ian McLean passed away in 1965 at the age of 35. He had retired at the end of 1960 and his passing at a very young age was devastating news.

AFL great Greg Parke dead in Grand Final tragedy High flying Demon key position forward Greg Parke sadly passed away today after a long illness. He came to the club in 1968, four years after Melbourne won its second-last flag to date. He added excitement to our forward line with his stick fingers and combined with another key forward Ross Dillon in giving us hope during some dark times. In his first season at the club he finished the year with more Brownlow Medal votes than any other Melbourne player. In 1970 he took 238 marks, the most in the league that season and he holds the AFL record for most marks in a game. In 1972, he topped Melbourne's goalkicking with 63 goals. However, he went to Footscray in 1974 and then crossed to Norwood in the SANFL before finishing with Fitzroy in 1977. Parke played 119 games with the Demond and sadly died on the day that two of his former teams met in the 2021 AFL Grand Final.

We’ve just passed the Chris Sullivan line.

I was at the MCG early on 25 September, 1971 at this very minute when the Melbourne Under 19s were on their way to a premiership victory over Essendon. The team had beaten the Bombers in the Second Semi Final and they repeated the dose by 13 points in the Grand Final. Peter Williamson was solid in the ruck, Ian McGuinness starred up forward with six goals and rover Peter Dilnot took a screamer and kicked three majors. The Under 19s produced a number of future senior players - Ross Brewer, John Cumming, Peter Dilnot, Geoff Harrold Stephen Kerley, Ian McGuinness, Kevin Moore, Laurie Queay, Kim Smith and Peter Williamson. However, despite the fact that there was a lot of promise packed into the side, only Brewer and Kerley became regulars and the latter transferred to South Australia relatively early in his career. Melbourne 6.2.38 11.6.72 13.9.87 18.15.123 Essendon 3.4.22 7.7.49 12.11.83 16.14.110 Goals McGuinness 6 Dilnot 3 Brewer Harrold Taylor 2 Anderson Cumming Williamson I stayed the whole day at the MCG and used the time between the 19s and the seniors to study up for my forthcoming final year Uni exams and then watched the Hawks win their second flag (they’ve won another 11 since then). Peter Hudson kicked a few goals and finished equalling the record of 150 goals in a season but his usual accuracy for goal eluded him and he butchered the opportunity to hold the record on his own.

Taj is playing in a Preliminary Final for East Fremantle Colts but these are the teams for tomorrow’s curtain raiser WA-SA TEAMS: Young guns to light up Grand Final day Western Australia v South Australia at Optus Stadium, 1pm AWST / 3.00pm AEST WESTERN AUSTRALIA B: F. Gorringe, J. Busslinger, L. Michael HB: J. Avery, J. van Rooyen, S. Gilbey C: B. Hough, K. Dittmar, A. Jones HF: K. Harbour, J. Amiss, L. Paton F: E. Benning, L. Polson, J. Stretch Foll: J. Broadbent, M. Johnson, J. Tunstill I/C: O. Armstrong, K. Bevan, C. Bourne, R. Farmer, Z. Fleiner Emerg: D. Curtin, J. Draper, G. Julian SOUTH AUSTRALIA B: Z. Becker, J. Parish, M. Litster HB: A. Draper, O. Adams, B. O'Loughlin C: L. Rayson, H. Harrison, N. Wanganeen-Milera HF: C. Kennedy, L. Cooke, W. Spain F: H. Lemmey, J. Lukac, I. Dudley Foll: O. Steene, M. Liddy, S. Linke I/C: A. D'Aloia, L. Grubb, H. Jackson, M. Michalanney, J. Owens Emerg: C. Beecken, B. Calvett, H. Stagg, L. Whitelum

2021 WAFL Colts MOTR: Finals Week 2 – East Perth vs. East Fremantle

Thanks for coming back and bringing your support. Cheers!

True but this only applies when Melbourne is playing against Essendon in Victoria. When playing outside of Victoria, earthquakes that happen outside Victoria trump the little ones from Victoria. In 1964 there was a giant earthquake in Alaska. That's outside Victoria so we win on Saturday night.

The earthquake's all good. Just what we needed to get rid of the Norm Smith Curse. I was at school in 1964 when the Alaskan earthquake struck and it was a doozy. Coincidentally, our teacher was out of class for a little while and we were mucking around near his equipment at the back of the room when one of us slipped and banged on the shelf which caused the needle of his baragraph to go crazy. Teacher came in, saw the graph and spent the rest of the day bragging to the staff that he'd captured the earthquake on his equipment. There was also an earthquake in Buchan, East Gippsland in 1964 so I always connect the year with earthquakes. This is now the icing on quake!