Whispering_Jack

It was a dark day for the Dees in the final home and away round of 1964 but the team still finished on top of the ladder. Round 18 1964 Footscray vs Melbourne Saturday 22 August Venue: Western Oval Attendance: 20,553 B Crompton Massey Tas Johnson HB McLean Williams Davis C Dixon H Mann Adams HF Vagg Foster Kenneally F Jacobs Bourke Emselle Foll Wise Barassi Rov Townsend 19/20 Leitch Watson The Demons came into the final round with the double chance assured but they were hit by injuries and were forced to field a weakened side for the final home and away game against the eighth placed Bulldogs at the Western Oval. Footscray held sway early by dint of its accuracy in front of goal that helped it to a 19 point half time lead despite having one less shot on goal. After the break the Demons narrowed the gap, mainly through the persistence of their experienced wingmen Dixon and Adams who kept pushing the ball into attack but the forwards were off target. The result was a six point deficit at three-quarter time despite controlling the play for most of the term. Skipper Ron Barassi was having a bad day while his nemesis Ted Whitten was on fire and with the Bulldogs cruising to a runaway 40 point victory, he was able to claim the title of “Mr Football”. To make matters worse, it was the club’s lowest score since early in 1960 and the third time in the last four rounds that the team had failed to score 60 points. Footscray 3.0.18 6.1.37 7.1.43 12.6.78 Melbourne 1.4.10 2.6.18 4.13.37 4.14.38 Goals Townsend 2 Foster Jacobs Best Dixon Jacobs Townsend Adams H Mann P McLean Melbourne held onto top spot by virtue of sixth placed upsetting Geelong, a result which pushed the Cats into fourth position and allowed Collingwood to steal the double chance going into the finals. Reserves Melbourne 10.13.73 defeated Footscray 7.6.48 Goals Robbie 3 Bartlett Wood 2 Unknown 3 Best L Mann Robbie Miller Under 19s Melbourne 14.15.99 defeated Footscray 10.3.63

There’s been a lot of discussion in recent days about who are the most improved players in the competition but when it comes to the title of the most improved team in the AFL, Melbourne must be shortening as favourite. Last year’s Demons won only 5 games out of 22 but this year, it’s 6 out of 11 and that’s massive! In terms of percentage, the improvement is also tremendous. Last year, they finished with just 78.6%. This year, it stands at 118.2%. Need I say more? Yes — there’s still today, a day upon which a win is absolutely essential in shaping the course of the remainder of 2020.

It looks like the 4 day break is a real killer.

... kicked after the siren from a dodgy free kick.

The excellent Road to the Draft series returns ~ LISTEN: How draft night should change, latest bolters, and what happens to the Vics? And some prospects from Vic Metro & Vic Country - NAB League guns we won't see: Vic Metro's hottest prospects NAB League guns we won't see: Vic Country's brightest prospects

Spoiler alert: I’m preparing for this week’s post covering Melbourne’s game against Footscray played on Saturday 22 August, 1964. If you’re superstitious about coincidences, please stay away from this thread.

Hurts more to see he’s still on 4 - 6 weeks which is starting to suggest that he’s done for 2020.

Looks like we’re not going to make the eight in that contest this year.

OK. Diamond Jim can contact the club tomorrow morning to arrange collection of the award. Please don’t say I sent you.?

Call the club tomorrow morning to arrange collection of your award.

Clubs in the dark over changes to NGA as bumper crop looms Change is overdue as far as the MFC is concerned. We recruited only one player and, in one fell swoop, the AFL took our NT academy zone away from us and never replaced it. Oh well ...

The Age has weighed into this discussion - How each club will fare in final rounds - and who could make the eight As far as I’m concerned, I will follow a one week at a time principle. Hope we can beat the Bulldogs on Saturday.

Angus Brayshaw speaking on SEN about Max Gawn's status: It's hard to pin the big fella down. He's a bit non-committal. It's a hard injury for him to get through. If he plays this week will it help or hinder him in the long run? I've tried to get it out of him but he hasn't given me anything yet.

Ever since he came to the club there’s been something about Aaron vandenBerg that’s intrigued me and I wonder if you could ask - “What’s it been like going through life with a capital letter in the middle of your surname instead of at the start?”

This is what lies ahead - 1 PORT ADELAIDE Played 12, 36 pts, 127.5% TO COME: Hawthorn Sydney Bye North Melbourne Essendon Collingwood 2 BRISBANE LIONS Played 12, 36 pts, 118.3% TO COME St Kilda Bye Collingwood Gold Coast Sydney Carlton 3 GEELONG Played 12, 32 pts, 138.5% TO COME Adelaide Western Bulldogs Bye Essendon Richmond Sydney 4 WEST COAST Played 11, 32 pts, 121.1% TO COME GWS Giants Richmond Essendon Western Bulldogs St Kilda North Melbourne 5 ST KILDA Played 12, 32 pts, 115.8% TO COME Brisbane Lions Melbourne Bye Hawthorn West Coast GWS Giants 6 RICHMOND Played 12, 30 pts, 119.0% TO COME Essendon West Coast Fremantle Bye Geelong Adelaide 7 COLLINGWOOD Played 12, 26 pts, 104.9% TO COME North Melbourne Carlton Brisbane Lions Bye Gold Coast Port Adelaide 8 MELBOURNE Played 11, 24 points, 118.2% TO COME Western Bulldogs St Kilda Sydney Fremantle GWS Giants Essendon 9 GWS GIANTS Played 11, 24 pts, 98.2% TO COME West Coast Carlton Adelaide Fremantle Melbourne St Kilda 10 W. BULLDOGS Played 12, 24 points, 97.9% TO COME Melbourne Geelong Bye Hawthorn West Coast Fremantle 11 ESSENDON Played 11, 22 points, 86.1% TO COME Richmond Hawthorn Geelong West Coast Port Adelaide Melbourne 12 CARLTON Played 11, 20 points, 95.5% TO COME Gold Coast Collingwood GWS Giants Sydney Adelaide Brisbane Lions 13 GOLD COAST Played 12, 18 points, 98.0% TO COME Carlton Brisbane Lions North Melbourne Bye Collingwood Hawthorn 14 FREMANTLE Played 11, 16 points, 88.3% TO COME Sydney GWS Giants Richmond Melbourne North Melbourne Western Bulldogs 15 SYDNEY Played 11, 16 points, 84.8% TO COME Fremantle Port Adelaide Melbourne Carlton Brisbane Lions Geelong 16 HAWTHORN Played 11, 16 points, 82.5% TO COME Port Adelaide Essendon Adelaide St Kilda Western Bulldogs Gold Coast 17 NORTH MELBOURNE Played 12, 12 points, 83.1% TO COME Collingwood Gold Coast Bye Port Adelaide Fremantle West Coast 18 ADELAIDE Played 12, 0 points, 54.7% TO COME Geelong Bye Hawthorn GWS Giants Carlton Richmond I think it’s safe to say that it’s highly unlikely that Melbourne will figure in the top 4

I was wondering what happened to this thread but then again, it is about a bloke who isn’t getting a regular game at AFL level but rather, running around in leftover 12 v 12 hub games played on reclaimed mangrove swamps infested by alligators.

As unlikely as it may be that we can make top four, it’s important that the issue remains part of the conversation for as long as possible. The team is more likely to perform as an elite combination if it has belief in itself. We saw that with the Bulldogs in the lead up to and then through the 2016 finals and earlier, with other teams. The notable comparison where Melbourne was concerned was back in 1987 when it rose from a win/loss ratio of 6/10 winning the last six in a row to finish 12/10 and then went on to win 2 finals before falling just short to Hawthorn in the Preliminary Final. What was really remarkable was the improvement week by week as the team gained momentum with every win.

Since the competition resumed from the first Covid-19 lockdown in June there has been one constant at the club: the four players who’s status on the club injury list has remained pretty much static. They are:- Marty Hore (toe and quad) – indefinite Harry Petty (groin) – indefinite Kade Kolodjashnij (head) – indefinite Aaron Nietschke (knee) – season Young Nietschke has been that way for almost his entire journey at the club since he was drafted in late 2018, having suffered two ACL’s. We’re not expecting to see him back until next season. Kolodjashnij‘s concussion/head injuries have been well documented. He’s highly thought of at the club but his long term health is paramount and my guess is that he is a likely retirement at the end of 2020. But what of the other two? We’ve heard little about their rehabilitation and with six matches to go in this season of a compacted fixture, it would seem that time is running out. Does anyone know where Hore and Petty stand in terms of their expected return to full training and playing games of football?

Please yourselves. He was a good servant of the club and pulled on the jumper 165 times in difficult days when it wasn’t easy to front up week in, week out playing for a team that was getting flogged. Since crossing over to the Pies, he’s had a lot of bad luck with injury and it would be an absolute tragedy if he didn’t get to 200 games (he has 2 to go). He struggled yesterday - he had a few mates - but with Mihocek and Reid going down, he might be lucky. I’ll be watching the game and cheering him on (but not his team).

Next week looms as a make or break for us - a win makes it a lot harder for the Bulldogs to get back in the race. It’s easy to say we’re going to take things one week at a time but this is a big one for us.

The Western Bulldogs are currently crushing winless Adelaide at Metricon Stadium, the scene of their clash with Melbourne this coming Saturday. The Doggies won the day late last year at Marvel Stadium in a close match up with the team listed below. THE TEAMS WESTERN BULLDOGS B Jason Johannisen Jackson Trengove Hayden Crozier HB Taylor Duryea Zaine Cordy Easton Wood C Lachie Hunter Bailey Smith Patrick Lipinski HF Matthew Suckling Josh Schache Sam Lloyd F Aaron Naughton Marcus Bontempelli Tory Dickson FOLL Tim English Josh Dunkley Jack Macrae I/C Toby McLean Ed Richards Roarke Smith Bailey Williams EMG Bailey Dale Dale Morris Rhylee West Lachie Young NO CHANGE MELBOURNE B Jake Lever Steven May Neville Jetta HB Michael Hibberd Sam Frost Christian Salem C Jayden Hunt Jordan Lewis Nathan Jones HF James Harmes Christian Petracca Bayley Fritsch F Mitch Hannan Braydon Preuss Angus Brayshaw FOLL Max Gawn Jack Viney Clayton Oliver I/C Kyle Dunkley Jay Lockhart Alex Neal-Bullen Harrison Petty EMG: Jay Kennedy Harris Oscar McDonald Corey Wagner Josh Wagner IN Max Gawn Neville Jetta Jake Lever Oscar McDonald Corey Wagner Josh Wagner OUT Marty Hore (collarbone) Tom McDonald (knee) Sam Weideman (calf)

I think it should be no change given that we’re coming off a seven day break this time. This would allow for an extra week’s break for Max just to play it safe. Trent Rivers was a bit stiff to miss out this week - if he went ok in the scratch match at Maroochydore then they could squeeze him in.

From Melbourne’s point of view, I’m hoping that we can continue on our winning way and not have to worry about challenges from either of the teams in the Freo v Carlton game. However, since we have already played Carlton and have no control over what they do for the rest of the season, my preference was for them to win. Better to play against teams that have nothing to play for when we come up against the Dockers late in the season.

Apologies to QD but the consensus is that Swan Street is more appropriate to Richmond (interchangeable with Punt Road). But Lulie Street is Collingwood!

Well, they did it. Now for the post match