Whispering_Jack

Happy to take them on anywhere, any time but first we have a big game tonight. Football’s all about one game at a time.

Excellent research Mr. Pennski and I stand corrected. Both dates are significant for Dylan aficionados. The Newport Folk Festival fiasco took place on 25 July, 1965 which of course was the day after the sacking of Norm Smith was announced and Melbourne took the field against North Melbourne under the coaching of “Checker” Hughes who will be honoured tonight at the G. And let’s hope that the times are a changing and we get the job done on the Tigers.

Yes. We seem to be very well placed to try to pick up a rare hidden gem or two for the future. The thing that we shouldn’t forget is that at this point in time we don’t have a first round pick for the National Draft and, based on the way we’re traveling at the moment, our first selection is therefore going to be somewhere in the late 30s. Given that so much potential talent was left without exposure to games of footy last year because of Covid19, you never know what could emerge over the next month or two to help with our overall recruiting going forward.

The fact that Andrew has made the squad of 24 suggests that he’s getting close to top 20 selection so it’s up to him to keep improving to force his way into contention. Taj Woewodin is playing in the WAFL Colts competition (although probably not this weekend thanks to Covid19) so he’s a bit more under the radar compared to the elite group in the team for today’s game.

Remember it well and the day still hurts after all these years because it truly heralded the end of Melbourne’s great golden era. And it was all the more painful because we were 8-0 on Queen’s Birthday morning, 1965. The truth is that our team was growing older, we hadn’t recruited well for a couple of years and there were cracks in the ranks over the loss of our greatest ever player Ron Barassi who had switched to Carlton while Norm Smith and the committee weren’t seeing eye to eye over a legal issue. In short, the bubble burst and we even failed to make the finals (it was a final 4 in those days). My only criticism of the article by Age journo Percy Beams and a great Demon was his comment about the game being “watched and enjoyed by a crowd of 72,114.” I didn’t enjoy it and at least half of the crowd would not have enjoyed what was the beginning of the “Norm Smith curse”. The lesson is that you can never take anything for granted. Footnote for those who follow the American folk/rock music scene is that on the day after the game and the very day on which the Beams article was published, the great Bob Dylan went electric at the Newport Folk Festival and caused an uproar that had massive repercussions in the American music scene. As a fan of the folk scene at the time as well as the MFC, my entire world was turned upside down in the space of two days.

Agreed about our own accuracy in front of goal but it’s also an issue for us at the other end of the ground. While our defence has generally been very strong, our opponents have been extremely accurate when it’s come to their kicking for goal. With the exception of Round 1 (Freo 8.10.58 after being 0.6 at one stage) teams have scored more goals than behinds in every game (includes 11.2.68 by GWS). On the other hand, we’ve still managed to keep opposition scores down with St. Kilda’s 11.7.73 being the highest score against to this point in time.

We need 4 quarters tonight - nothing less.

I've changed the title of the thread to cover only the mid year draft. The mid year draft does not involve trading which can only happen during the trade period at the end of the season.

Mac Andrew is being hyped up in today’s Herald Sun which refers to his inclusion in the NAB AFL Academy Squad to play against Geelong. On the other hand, his NAB League SuperRanking after Round 4 is only 34 while Bulldogs NGA Academy prospect Cody Raak is #1 on that list. The SuperRanking list doesn’t include interstate players so Andrew is still not guaranteed a top 20 spot by a long way.

This week’s Scouting Notes: 2021 NAB League Boys – Round 3 including you know who from the Dandenong Stingrays.

Mac CHF in the current team of the week

Love your work goodoil. For those who are wondering ~ Manute Bol .

Yes and until draft time the Mac Andrew story is part of the NAB Boys League. A separate thread can be opened closer to the Draft.

The point here is that, unlike the others you cite, Bradtke is a Category B rookie who we were able to recruit because he had not played football for several years. He came from a basketball background and, at the time of his recruitment, it was acknowledged that he was a player who would require substantial development over a number of years. Given the closure of the VFL due to Covid19, he's actually one game into his second season. Let's see where he's at after he plays another dozen games at that level.

Professor Wikipedia on Dean Cox “The Eagles then put him on their senior list and he made his AFL debut in 2001. Initially he showed few signs of his potential at that level. However, he was persisted with ... “He came of age during the 2005 season ...” Cox turned 24 during the 2005 season when “he came of age” but let’s not get in the way of a good fact. Max also had his coming of age season at the same age. Luke Jackson is one of the rare breed who has been able to spend time in the ruck on a consistent basis as a teen and we’re lucky to have him, just as he’s lucky to be the understudy to a great ruck man so the pressure is very much off him. This just underscores his own great potential. It doesn’t in any way diminish others like Bradtke who will need a lot of development time if he’s going to make it at all. Similarly, Mac Andrew will take time as well, not just to learn the skills of ruck work but to add the around 30kgs he would need to compete with the big boys.

There’s one category of footballer that I wouldn’t be too quick to dismiss and that’s the ruck. Even allowing for the fact that he was handicapped by 3 ACL’s, our skipper was well beyond the age of 21 when he established himself in that position. History tells us that you shouldn’t write off 20/21 year old ruckmen. Dean Cox was picked as a rookie by the Eagles at 20 but didn’t come of age until he was 24. Aaron Sandilands was also picked as a rookie by the Dockers but didn’t make All-Australian till he was 26. Although he’s nowhere near to their class as a ruckman, Brisbane Lions’ Oscar McInerney was running around in the then VFL Development League (reserves) for Casey at 21 years of age and was 23 when drafted as a rookie (at #37) by the Lions. He was almost 24 when he played his first AFL game. Until injured early this season he was the #1 ruck in a team that was regarded as a premiership contender. There are plenty of other ruckmen who were barely on the radar at 21 so I wouldn’t be writing Bradtke off just yet.

Yes ... but at least when he did notice Goody, he was seeing two of him.

The match statistics Oskar Baker 5 kicks 2 handballs 7 disposals 3 marks 1 tackle 32 dream team points Toby Bedford 2 goals 10 kicks 5 handballs 15 disposals 1 mark 7 tackles 79 dream team points Jake Bowey 16 kicks 6 handballs 22 disposals 4 marks 1 tackle 76 dream team points Aaron Bradtke 2 behinds 5 kicks 5 handballs 10 disposals 2 marks 8 hit outs 36 dream team points Ben Brown 3 goals 1 behind 14 kicks 4 handballs 18 disposals 6 marks 1 hit out 90 dream team points Kade Chandler 1 goal 2 behinds 14 kicks 10 handballs 24 disposals 10 marks 3 tackles 112 dream team points Majak Daw 6 kicks 6 handballs 12 disposals 1 mark 2 tackles 23 hit outs 62 dream team points Zac Foot 8 kicks 5 handballs13 disposals 4 marks 1 tackle 48 dream team points Tom Freeman 10 kicks 3 handballs 13 disposals 6 marks 54 dream team points Luca Goonan 1 behind 10 kicks 7 handballs 17 disposals 6 marks 3 tackles 72 dream team points George Grey 1 behind 6 kicks 6 handballs 12 disposals 4 marks 3 tackles 53 dream team points Jack Hutchins 5 kicks 3 handballs 8 disposals 4 marks 1 tackle 35 dream team points Neville Jetta 1 behind 19 kicks 6 handballs 25 disposals 7 marks 5 tackles 113 dream team points Jay Lockhart 20 kicks 3 handballs 23 disposals 9 marks 2 tackles 99 dream team points James Munro 6 kicks 8 handballs 14 disposals 3 marks 8 tackles 74 dream team points Fraser Rosman 2 goals 8 kicks 8 disposals 3 marks 1 tackle 49 dream team points Deakyn Smith 14 kicks 5 handballs 19 disposals 7 marks 4 tackles 78 dream team points Joel Smith 11 kicks 7 handballs 18 disposals 5 marks 62 dream team points Ryan Sparkes 1 goal 1 behind 10 kicks 0 handballs 16 disposals 4 marks 2 tackles 69 dream team points Aaron vandenBerg 1 goal 16 kicks 9 handballs 25 disposals 7 marks 5 tackles 113 dream team points Sam Weideman 7 goals 2 behinds 12 kicks 4 handballs 16 disposals 7 marks 2 hit outs 110 dream team points Mitch White 2 behinds 12 kicks 4 handballs 16 disposals 8 marks 5 tackles 91 dream team points

14- D. Smith is Deakyn Smith who was added to our list along with Majak Daw in the Supplemental Drft.

Have we been bathing in our own bath water or are we the real deal? Stay here to find out.

A bit late but it seems that there really was a training session for the Demons yesterday and it was an important one. Hibberd, Petty in line to replace May The session was billed as one to determine whether Michael Hibberd or Harry Petty would come in to replace the injured Steven May but with Bayley Fritsch’s injury, both might fight their way into the side for Sunday.

Completely unAustralian an out of keeping with the traditions of our game to be looking forward to these so-called “8 point games”. Every game is an 8 point game and besides we need to stay focused on our next match which is against the Hawks. Remember. We take things one week at a time!!!

I suppose it was inevitable once they messed around with the announcement of team selection for the AFL that they would be following suit with VFL teams as well. Has there been an announcement as to when VFL teams will be issued?

There goes Thursday night football.