Whispering_Jack

He wasn’t invited to the Draft Combine and therefore not likely to be drafted given that lists will be reduced in size next year.

Demon fans enjoying heaven ... Second Semi Final 1964 Melbourne vs Collingwood Saturday 5 September Venue: MCG Attendance: 93,010 B Crompton Massey Tas Johnson HB Anderson Roet Davis C Dixon Williams Adams HF Vagg Jacobs Kenneally F Lord Bourke Townsend Foll Wise Barassi Rov H Mann 19/20 Emselle McLean The strongest rivalry of the 50s and 60s was that between Melbourne and Collingwood and the 1964 Second Semi Final saw the teams evenly matched in the eyes of the football public. The Demons had been the dominant team for most of the season but the Magpies were coming fast. They won the last eight home and away games in a row to set up the match up in the game to determine which side would be first into the grand final. Collingwood jumped out of the blocks early to kick 2.2.14 before Melbourne scored. Bryan Kenneally kicked two goals to put the Demons in front by the narrowest of margins at quarter time but they followed that up with six goals to one in the second term. Melbourne had winners all over the grant and extended its lead to 59 points at the final break and was unrelenting in its dominance in the last. The final winning margin was a massive 89 points, the biggest win to that point of any final in the history of the competition. Rover John Townsend starred with five goals, Kenneally and John Lord with three goals each. Brian Dixon and Hassa Mann joined Townsend in the best three on the ground as the Demons booked their place into their first premiership decider in four years. It was a day for the ages as the rampant Demons put together a string of exciting passages of play that left the Magpies lamenting and licking their wounds and their own fans full of anticipation for an important date in two week’s time. Melbourne 2.3.15 8.7.55 14.13.97 19.20.134 Collingwood 2.2.14 3.6.24 5.8.38 6.9.45 Goals Townsend 5 Kenneally Lord 3 Vagg 3 Barassi H Mann 2 Bourke Best Townsend Dixon Mann Vagg Williams Crompton It wasn’t all bad news for the Magpies as they did taste victory earlier in the day. 1964 Under 19s Semi Final Under 19's Semi Final, 1964 Melbourne vs Collingwood Saturday 5 September Venue: MCG B Bird Millard Jones HB Adams Brodie Griffiths C Rineholdt Feldman Leigh HF Coutts Stone Pritchard F Minton-Connell McNab Wight Foll Russell McNamee Schultz 19/20 Roberts Little Emg J. Osborne Rowarth Lockwood Melbourne led for much of the game but was overpowered in the final quarter. Best for the Demons was Neville Stone. Melbourne 3.2.20 7.5.47 10.7.67 10.10.70 Collingwood 1.5.11 6.8.44 8.10.58 11.13.79 Goals McNabb Schultz 3 McNamee Minton-Connell Stone Wight

1 PORT ADELAIDE Played 14, 44 pts, 128.4% TO COME: North Melbourne Essendon Collingwood 2 BRISBANE LIONS Played 14, 44 pts, 117.7% TO COME Gold Coast Sydney Carlton 3 GEELONG Played 14, 40 pts, 138.7% TO COME Essendon Richmond Sydney 4 RICHMOND Played 15, 42 pts, 123.6% TO COME Bye Geelong Adelaide 5 WEST COAST Played 14, 40 pts, 116.3% TO COME Western Bulldogs St Kilda North Melbourne 6 COLLINGWOOD Played 15, 34 pts, 110.1% TO COME Bye Gold Coast Port Adelaide 7 ST KILDA Played 14, 32 pts, 113.3% TO COME Hawthorn West Coast GWS Giants 8 GWS GIANTS Played 14, 32 points, TO COME Adelaide Melbourne St Kilda 9 MELBOURNE Played 14, 28 points, 108.2% TO COME Fremantle GWS Giants Essendon 10 W. BULLDOGS Played 14, 28 points, 100.1% TO COME West Coast Hawthorn Fremantle 11 ESSENDON Played 14, 26 points, 88.0% TO COME Geelong Port Adelaide Melbourne 12 CARLTON Played 14, 24 points, TO COME Sydney Adelaide Brisbane Lions 13 GOLD COAST Played 14, 22 points, 101.8% TO COME Collingwood Brisbane Lions Hawthorn 14 FREMANTLE Played 14, 20 points, 86.4% TO COME Melbourne North Melbourne Western Bulldogs 15 SYDNEY Played 14, 20 points, 83.6% TO COME Carlton Brisbane Lions Geelong 16 HAWTHORN Played 14, 16 points, 80.5% TO COME St Kilda Western Bulldogs Gold Coast 17 NORTH MELBOURNE Played 14, 12 points, 76.3% TO COME Port Adelaide Fremantle West Coast 18 ADELAIDE Played 14, 4 points, 60.0% TO COME GWS Giants Carlton Richmond

GWS kick the first two goals of the last quarter. Only 3 points down

Melbourne won this game but on the form shown by both of these teams in this round, they would need to lift their game considerably. MELBOURNE B Jay Lockhart Steven May Josh Wagner HB Marty Hore Sam Frost Christian Salem C Nathan Jones Clayton Oliver James Harmes HF Oskar Baker Sam Weideman Jayden Hunt F Mitch Hannan Bayley Fritsch Tom McDonald FOLL Max Gawn Jack Viney Angus Brayshaw I/C Alex Neal-Bullen Christian Petracca Harrison Petty Tim Smith EMG Jordan Lewis Braydon Preuss Charlie Spargo Billy Stretch IN Jay Lockhart Alex Neal-Bullen Harry Petty Tim Smith OUT Jeffrey Garlett (shoulder) Michael Hibberd (collarbone) Jake Lever (knee) Charlie Spargo (omitted) FREMANTLE B Joel Hamling Nathan Wilson Luke Ryan HB Stephen Hill Griffin Logue Brett Bewley C Bradley Hill Nat Fyfe Ed Langdon HF Andrew Brayshaw Brennan Cox Michael Walters F Sam Switkowski Jesse Hogan Brandon Matera FOLL Sean Darcy Reece Conca David Mundy I/C Connor Blakely Taylin Duman Ethan Hughes Darcy Tucker EMG Adam Cerra Travis Colyer Cam McCarthy Lloyd Meek NO CHANGE

As bad as we were in the second quarter, we shot ourselves in the foot in the third. We spent most of the quarter in attack and managed 1 goal 3 to 2 points, a gain of 7 points. A decent side would have had a net gain of 30 points on the basis of the opportunities we had in that term.

So they’ve brought in a tall for a medium midfielder. Interesting.

2020 NAB AFL Draft Combine list (as of September 3) NSW (To be held on Sunday, October 25) Braeden Campbell (Sydney Academy) Charlie Byrne (Murray Bushrangers) Errol Gulden (Sydney Academy) Joshua Green (GWS Academy) Northern Territory (Saturday, October 3) Joel Jeffrey (Wanderers/Gold Coast Academy) Maurice Rioli jnr (Oakleigh Chargers) Brodie Lake (Southern Districts/Central District (SA)/Gold Coast Academy) Queensland (Saturday, October 3) Alex Davies (Gold Coast Academy) Blake Coleman (Brisbane Academy) Carter Michael (Brisbane Academy) Jack Briskey (Brisbane Academy) Max Pescud (Gold Coast Academy) Saxon Crozier (Brisbane Academy) South Australia (Wednesday, September 30) Brayden Cook (South Adelaide) Caleb Poulter (Woodville West Torrens) Corey Durdin (Central District) Henry Smith (Woodville West Torrens) James Borlase (Sturt) Jye Sinderberry (West Adelaide) Kaine Baldwin (Glenelg) Lachlan Jones (Woodville West Torrens) Luke Edwards (Glenelg) Luke Pedlar (Glenelg) Malachy Carruthers (Sturt) Mitchell Duval (West Adelaide) Pheonix Spicer (South Adelaide) Riley Thilthorpe (West Adelaide) Taj Schofield (Woodville West Torrens) Tariek Newchurch (North Adelaide) Tom Powell (Sturt) Tom Highmore (South Adelaide) Xavier Robbins (Glenelg) Zac Dumesny (South Adelaide) Tasmania (Week of Monday, September 21) Jackson Callow (North Launceston) Oliver Davis (Clarence) Patrick Walker (North Hobart) Sam Collins (North Hobart) Vic Country (TBC) Blake Reid (Geelong Falcons) Cameron Fleeton (Geelong Falcons) Charlie Ham (Geelong Falcons) Charlie Lazzaro (Geelong Falcons) Clayton Gay (Dandenong Stingrays) Elijah Hollands (Murray Bushrangers) Henry Sharp (Greater Western Victoria Rebels) Henry Walsh (Geelong Falcons) Jack Ginnivan (Bendigo Pioneers) Jamarra Ugle-Hagan (Oakleigh Chargers) Josh Treacy (Bendigo Pioneers) Nick Stevens (Greater Western Victoria Rebels) Noah Gribble (Geelong Falcons) Oliver Henry (Geelong Falcons) Ryan Angwin (Gippsland Power) Sam Berry (Gippsland Power) Seamus Mitchell (Bendigo Pioneers) Tanner Bruhn (Geelong Falcons) Will Bravo (Dandenong Stingrays) Zach Reid (Gippsland Power) Zavier Maher (Murray Bushrangers) Vic Metro (TBC) Lachlan Carrigan (Sandringham Dragons) Archie Perkins (Sandringham Dragons) Bailey Laurie (Oakleigh Chargers) Campbell Edwardes (Calder Cannons) Cody Brand (Calder Cannons) Connor Downie (Eastern Ranges) Conor Stone (Oakleigh Chargers) Corey Preston (Eastern Ranges) Eddie Ford (Western Jets) Ewan Macpherson (Northern Knights) Finlay Macrae (Oakleigh Chargers) Fraser Rosman (Sandringham Dragons) Jake Bowey (Sandringham Dragons) Josh Eyre (Calder Cannons) Joshua Clarke (Eastern Ranges) Liam McMahon (Northern Knights) Liam Kolar (Northern Knights) Luke Cleary (Sandringham Dragons) Matt Allison (Calder Cannons) Max Heath (Sandringham Dragons) Max Holmes (Sandringham Dragons) Nikolas Cox (Northern Knights) Ollie Lord (Sandringham Dragons) Reef McInnes (Oakleigh Chargers) Will Phillips (Oakleigh Chargers) Western Australia (Wednesday, September 30) Blake Morris (Subiaco) Brandon Walker (East Fremantle) Denver Grainger-Barras (Swan Districts) Heath Chapman (West Perth) Jack Carroll (East Fremantle) Joel Western (Claremont) Kalin Lane (Claremont) Logan McDonald (Perth) Nathan O'Driscoll (Perth) Shannon Neale (South Fremantle) Zane Trew (Swan Districts) Also ~ Dragons, Falcons lead the way as AFL announces 2020 Draft Combine list

The AFL has issued the list of the 94 invitees to the Draft Combine. Boost for Vics as AFL reveals every state's Draft Combine list

So I consulted Titus O’Reilly and he’s very philosophical about the game:- “As for the Swans, their painful season is at least approaching the endpoint, but they always give it a go, which worries me. Why can’t they just give up when things are hopeless? I mean, I give up when things are mildly annoying, but that might explain why I have achieved very little, while the Swans makes finals almost all the time. That’s my big worry in life. That trying is what makes the difference, not destiny and that exhausts me. I’m tipping Melbourne, just to really hurt myself.”

One small step by the Demons ...

"The Saints improved much in 2020. Although we won’t play finals, my boys have been doing a lot this year." Talk about gloom and doom. They currently sit in 7th place with a decent percentage and if they win 2 out of their remaining 3 games, they should just make it. This is the St Kilda equivalent of MFCSS.

Not yet George - and I’m not sure if those outside the recruiting industry ever will. However, there are some resources available such as discussions on bigfooty’s draft boards https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/forums/draft-hub-with-phantom-drafts.284/ Then there’s AFL Draft Central - https://afl.draftcentral.com.au/afl-draft-watch/ The problem this year is that there’s no football happening in Victoria where a majority of the draft pool comes from so recruiters are going to have to rely on scouting in the states where the game’s being played and on 2019 form and a lot of guesswork.

Callum Twomey's monthly Phantom Form Guide lists key position talls as four of the top five prospects for the 2020 draft Cal Twomey's 2020 Phantom Form Guide: September update This McDonald will most likely go top 5 ~ Key forward rockets into top-10 draft mix after bag of goals

Trade Whispers: Why Crouch should follow teammate’s lead; Dees’ need for speed revealed

Changes planned. REPORT: AFL PLANNING MAJOR CHANGE TO DRAFT RULES

Based on this, Melbourne wins three games and loses only one of the remaining games but drops percentage which suggests the wins are by narrow margins and the defeat reasonably heavy. I’ll take the place in the top 8 but it’s not the best way to enter a finals series.

1 PORT ADELAIDE Played 14, 44 pts, 128.4% TO COME: Bye North Melbourne Essendon Collingwood 2 GEELONG Played 14, 40 pts, 138.7% TO COME Bye Essendon Richmond Sydney 3 BRISBANE LIONS Played 13, 40 pts, 117.4% TO COME Collingwood Gold Coast Sydney Carlton 4 RICHMOND Played 14, 38 pts, 121.0% TO COME Fremantle Bye Geelong Adelaide 5 WEST COAST Played 13, 36 pts, 115.3% TO COME Essendon Western Bulldogs St Kilda North Melbourne 6 COLLINGWOOD Played 14, 34 pts, 111.7% TO COME Brisbane Lions Bye Gold Coast Port Adelaide 7 ST KILDA Played 14, 32 pts, 113.3% TO COME Bye Hawthorn West Coast GWS Giants 8 MELBOURNE Played 13, 28 points, 111.7% TO COME Sydney Fremantle GWS Giants Essendon 9 GWS GIANTS Played 13, 28pts, 101.8% TO COME Carlton Adelaide Melbourne St Kilda 10 W. BULLDOGS Played 14, 28 points, 100.1% TO COME Bye Hawthorn West Coast Fremantle 11 ESSENDON Played 13, 26 points, 88.9% TO COME Geelong West Coast Port Adelaide Melbourne 12 CARLTON Played 13, 24 points, 97.1% TO COME GWS Giants Sydney Adelaide Brisbane Lions 13 GOLD COAST Played 14, 22 points, 101.8% TO COME Bye Collingwood Brisbane Lions Hawthorn 14 FREMANTLE Played 13, 20 points, 89.1% TO COME Richmond Melbourne North Melbourne Western Bulldogs 15 HAWTHORN Played 13, 16 points, 82.6% TO COME Adelaide St Kilda Western Bulldogs Gold Coast 16 SYDNEY Played 13, 16 points, 80.2% TO COME Melbourne Carlton Brisbane Lions Geelong 17 NORTH MELBOURNE Played 14, 12 points, 76.3% TO COME Bye Port Adelaide Fremantle West Coast 18 ADELAIDE Played 13, 0 points, 54.9% TO COME Hawthorn GWS Giants Carlton Richmond

Trying to work out which of these teams I prefer to see winning today. Slightly favouring the Blues.

I attended a club function before the draft in question. Although, he wasn’t saying definitively who he would pick, the strong impression given by Jason Taylor was that the top three picks were McCartin, Petracca and Brayshaw (but not necessarily in that order) and that irrespective of whoever St Kilda chose with selection #1, then Melbourne would choose the other two. In other words, had they chosen Petracca, then we would have taken McCartin instead.

It also depends on what attitude a team has when it comes out on the ground. A few weeks ago I saw the Swans come out and destroy the Giants but then, they were poor against the Dockers.

If anyone’s complacent about Melbourne’s game against the Swans next week then think again. They gave us a flogging in Round 22 last year so we shouldn’t take them lightly MELBOURNE B Michael Hibberd Sam Frost Jake Lever HB Nathan Jones Marty Hore Christian Salem C Kyle Dunkley Jack Viney Billy Stretch HF Corey Wagner Bayley Fritsch James Harmes F Jordan Lewis Jake Melksham Christian Petracca FOLL Max Gawn Angus Brayshaw Clayton Oliver I/C Kade ChandlerJay Kennedy Harris Alex Neal-Bullen Charlie Spargo EMG Jayden Hunt Declan Keilty Jay Lockhart Braydon Preuss IN Kade Chandler Marty Hore Alex Neal-Bullen Charlie Spargo Billy Stretch OUT Oskar Baker (omitted) Jayden Hunt (omitted) Oscar McDonald (ankle) Steven May (hamstring) Harrison Petty (groin) NEW Kade Chandler SYDNEY SWANS B Callum Mills Dane Rampe Aliir Aliir HB Jake Lloyd Tom McCartin Jordan Dawson C Isaac Heeney George Hewett Oliver Florent HF Ben Ronke Nick Blakey Tom Papley F Kieren Jack Sam Reid Daniel Menzel FOLL Hayden McLean Josh P. Kennedy Luke Parker I/C James Bell Ryan Clarke Robbie Fox James Rowbottom EMG Joel Amartey Lewis Melican James Rose Ryley Stoddart IN Kieren Jack OUT Zak Jones (Injured)

Riccardi turned 20 in November so despite having played a season in the VFL last year, he qualifies and would be a certainty this week. Rivers is next in line on ability and in alphabetical order.

Collingwood fan site recruiting guru Colin Wisbey was asked the question about him and he responded with a “no” because of the “durability” risk. He believes that the Pies have a poor record for managing to have its best 30 players on the park and doesn’t think the risk with him is justified. Also, he thinks the injuries might have curtailed his capability as a “slippery runner” which is what made him such a highly ranked draftee. I tend to agree with this view. The AFL hasn’t yet determined things like list sizes and draft rules and Melbourne already has those four injured horsemen who have missed the entire season through injury as well as a few others yet to play this year. We’re also nursing Harley Bennell back into the game. I think Cockatoo wouldn’t be one of our main targets.

Summary: The team started slowly but really got its game going in the second half to win coming from behind. From halfway through the third quarter, they started to win the contests and the ground balls and they were outstanding with about six goals in the last quarter. The team wasn’t delivering it well to Tom McDonald but he didn’t drop his head and he and Bailey Fritsch teamed up well as the game went on. Fritta put in a quality game and kicked at least four goals - not only dangerous around goals but with his passing to teammates. From the sound of it, we can expect him Fritta kicked back for Thursday’s game against the Swans. Nibbler played an important role in the team’s comeback, not only when forward but also when on the ball. Others who impressed were Corey Wagner who used the ball well, Oskar Baker played his third good game in a row on the wing and kicked a couple of goals going forward and Nev was good in defence. Pleased with Austin Bradtke’s game helping with the clearance work. Note: James Harmes was the holdover emergency.