Everything posted by Whispering_Jack
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One of the changes we’re going to see in the very near future are the players’ jumper numbers. As things stand - 2025 Melbourne numbers — 1. Steven May 2. Jacob van Rooyen 3. Christian Salem 4. Judd McVee 5. Christian Petracca 6. Caleb Windsor 7. Jack Viney 8. Jake Lever 9. Charlie Spargo 10. 11. Max Gawn 12. 13. Clayton Oliver 14. Jack Billings 15. Ed Langdon 16. Bailey Laurie 17. Jake Bowey 18. Jake Melksham 19. 20. 21. Matt Jefferson 22. Blake Howes 23. Shane McAdam 24. Trent Rivers 25. Tom McDonald 26. Jed Adams 27. Marty Hore 28. Will Verrall 29. 30. 31. Bayley Fritsch 32. Tom Sparrow 33. Tom Fullarton 34. 35. Harry Petty 36. Kysaiah Pickett 37. Kade Chandler 38. Oliver Sestan 39. Koltyn Tholstrop 40. Taj Woewodin 41. Kynan Brown 42. Daniel Turner 43. 44. Luker Kentfield 45. Andy Moniz-Wakefield 50. Indications from early summer training are that the Kolt is going to move from 39 to 12. -
Lasted 2 minutes. Goodbye
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That’s 5 minutes of my life I want back. They should have announced him straight away. They told the kid on Monday night!
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Nathan Jones will be handing over the Demon jumper to the players we select tonight. Hopefully to Harvey Langford and Xavier Lindsay.
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A nice pictorial of Cal’s late mail Phantom Draft ~
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ESPN's full, final Phantom Draft - every pick, every trade, every bid
Call it co-incidence if you like but today happens to be Alan Johnson's 68th birthday. Alan was the first player drafted in the very first annual national draft held by the then Victorian Football League in 1981. Recruited from Perth WA and renowned for his courage, he made his debut in the opening round of 1982 as a wingman and excelled in both that position and later in a back pocket. Johnson won the Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Medal as the club's best and fairest player in his second season and again in 1989 when he was named in the VFL Team of the Year. He played in the Demons' 1988 VFL Grand Final and retired at the end of 1990 after 135 games (95 goals). He was made an MFC Hall of Famer in 2013. His son Chris, also played for the club from 2004-8. Happy Birthday Alan Johnson! Back in 1981, each of the 12 VFL clubs had two selections at the draft. Melbourne's other selection was Port Adelaide SANFL full back Danny Hughes, another 'Bluey' winner (1985) who was All-Australian in 1988 and who also played in the Grand Final that year. Two great servants of the club recruited in the first ever national draft - here's hoping that by the end of the night, we will have seen the advent of two players who with careers of at least the same quality as our two inaugural draftees.
The day of the draft is here and we will try to keep track of the selections here tonight (bear with us because this could get tricky with player nominations) ROUND ONE 1 Richmond Sam Lalor (GWV Rebels) 2 North Melbourne Finn O'Sullivan (Oakleigh Chargers) 3 Carlton Jagga Smith (Oakleigh Chargers) 4 Adelaide Sid Draper (South Adelaide SA) 5 Brisbane Lions Levi Ashcroft (Sandringham Dragons) 6 Melbourne Harvey Langford (Dandenong Stingrays) Midfielder, 191cm, 15/3/2006 A strong, big-bodied midfielder, Langford was a joint winner of the Larke Medal at the under-18 national championships this year. He's a contested ball-winning beast who has a penetrating left foot and can take marks and kick goals in attack. 7 Richmond Josh Smillie (Eastern Ranges) 8 St Kilda Toby Travaglia (Bendigo Pioneers) 9 Gold Coast Suns Leo Lombard (GC Academy) 10 St Kilda Alix Tarou (Gippsland Power) 11 Melbourne Xavier Lindsay (Gippsland Power) 183cm, 3/8/2006 Best afield in the biggest game of the year and won the Morrish Medal. Could this elite kick prove to be a steal? 12 Richmond Taj Hotton (Sandringham Dragons) 13 Essendon Isaac Kako (Calder Cannons) 14 Richmond Jonty Faull (GWV Rebels) 15 Port Adelaide Joe Berry (Murray Bushrangers) 16 West Coast Eagles Bo Allan (Peel Thunder WA) 17 Fremantle Murphy Reid (Sandringham Dragons) 18 GWS Giants Oliver Hannaford (WV Rebels) 19 GWS Giants Harrison Oliver (Sandringham Dragons) 20 Western Bulldogs Cooper Hynes (Dandenong Stingrays) 21 Richmond Luke Trainor (Sandringham Dragons) 22 Sydney Swans Jesse Dattoli (Northern Knights) 23 Richmond Harry Armstrong (Sandringham Dragons) 24 GWS Giants Cody Angove (Claremont/Scarborough WA) 25 Brisbane Lions Sam Marshall (Sandringham Dragons/Brisbane Lions Academy) 26 Sydney Swans Ned Bowman (Norwood SA) 27 North Melbourne Matt Whitlock (Murray Bushrangers) Live trades: Brisbane Lions receive: Pick 35 and 48 Western Bulldogs receive Pick 27 GWS Giants receive: Pick 34 Brisbane Lions receive: Pick 37, 56 and 73 Essendon receive: Pick 35, 37 and 58 Brisbane Lions receive: Pick 40, 46, 53 and 54 St Kilda receive: Pick 28 and 58 Essendon receive: Pick 32 and 47 Port Adelaide receive: Pick 15 West Coast Eagles receive: Picks 16 and 45 North Melbourne receive: Pick 27, 2025 second-round selection (Richmond) Richmond receive: 2025 future first-round selection
Rookie Me Central has us taking Langford and Tauru Rookie Me Central’s 2024 Phantom AFL Draft
Permit me to provide a summary - Gippsland star out to prove a point in VFL return * Ace Gippsland League midfielder, Riley Baldi, 23, who played 19 games for Casey from 2021 to 2023, wasn't gone long but is back in the VFL after winning both the Moe club and Gippsland league best and fairest double. He was also selected in the league team of the year for the second year in a row. *Weekly Times writer David Johnston named Baldi at No. 5 in the best country league players of the year, noting he "began strongly and maintained a high output right to the end" while Leongatha coach Trent McMicking thought him in the No. 1 player in Gippsland. * Baldi says he still wants to prove himself in the state league, which he believes he didn't do previously at Casey. He says: "I did love my time there but I probably did struggle to find a bit of the balance between footy and work and study," he says. "That's why I made the decision to go back to local. Moe were going well at the time too, chasing that first flag in many years. "I'm a bit more settled now and age has brought me experience and with experience you get stronger in the body and more mature. I know what to expect. I'd like to prove myself at VFL level and try to play some good, consistent footy... When I was here before I would say I didn't live up to the standards I hold myself up to and what I wanted to get to, in terms of week in, week-out footy against the best. "I'm going to dip my toes into some coaching stuff at Casey as well, so that's a good opportunity, to build on some skill-sets." * Baldi was with Gippsland Power in 2019, represented Vic Country at the Under 18 championships and attended the AFL state combine but his progress was checked by Covid. * At the moment he's having a run with Nightcliff in the Darwin competition. * Other players eyeing a move to Casey are:- + Leongatha's Jensen Garnham who kicked 53 goals this year and was listed at full-forward in the Gippsland League team of the year. + Another Leongatha player, Patty Ireland from the Ellinbank league is also keen to join the Demons after booting 111 goals from 20 matches this year for Buln Buln, including six in the grand final. There were also bags of 14, 13 and 12. + Tyson Sruk, who was on Carlton's VFL list this year and who earned attention when he had 37 possessions for Eastern Ranges in the 2023 Under 18 grand final against Sandringham Dragons. He was restricted by a broken collarbone this year; he played a dozen matches at local level for Rowville. + Chance Doultree, 22, from the Footscray VFL list who figured in Traralgon's Gippsland league premiership this year. He previously had a stint with Norwood in the SANFL. * Players leaving the Demons are captain Mitch White (signed at Rosebud), Ryan Valentine (Coburg), Ned Moodie (at Frankston) and Mitch Szybkowski has headed to GWS.
I received the identical package today as did my wife (who I expect will continue to be a rare attendee). And it came in a red and blue box.
The Shamrock Spitfire is a movie of interest now showing at Palace Cinemas as part of their British Film Festival. The film tells the real life story of Irishman Brendan Finucane who flew the elegant Supermarine Spitfire, a British single-seat fighter aircraft and led the 452 Australian Squadron of the Royal Air Force during World War II. The extra lure of the film for me is the fact that one of the squadron members and a character in the movie was Keith 'Bluey' Truscott, after who the award for the Melbourne Football Club’s best and fairest player is named. Truscott was one of Australia's best-known flying aces of the War. Before that however, he played Australian Rules for Melbourne's premiership team in 1939. He enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force in 1940, trained in Canada and joined No. 452 Squadron as a foundation member on 5 May, 1941. Flying a Spitfire, he destroyed at least 11 German aircraft, was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, and was made a flight commander. In January 1942 he was made acting squadron leader before being posted back to Australia in March. Late that month he was awarded a bar to his Distinguished Flying Cross. At that point he was the most well-known pilot in the RAAF. In Australia, Truscott joined No. 76 Squadron in Bankstown which was redeployed to Papua in July 1942. Before leaving Australia, Truscott played a last game for the Melbourne football club; lacking match fitness, he was unable to keep up with the play and found himself exhausted. He did manage to kick a goal but, after the game said that his career was over. He said the game was, "too dangerous." He also saw further action against the Japanese in Darwin, lifting his tally of hits to sixteen before he lost his life in a training crash over the Exmouth Gulf in Western Australia on 28 March, 1943.
A pretty harsh list analysis of Melbourne’s 2024 season from John Ralph appeared in recently in the Herald Sun ~ I don’t mind some tough analysis and it will be worth revisiting this at various stages of the preseason and again during 2025 to see if some of the critical areas were addressed.
Thanks @Wilson7! One good sign is the fact that two of Casey’s “big name” recruits who were injured early in the season — Leo Connolly and Campbell Hustwaite — remain on the list. It would be a bonus if they were actually retained because Casey badly needs some experienced playing depth to be competitive in 2025.
Travel times 2025
# 34 is being reserved for a young bloke named Kalani White. The official jumper comes out of mothballs in late November 2025.
I would settle for that if we’re not able or willing to split our second pick to get a mid first round pick and another in the second round.
I saw the tweet but it didn't look complete since it left out some well known father son nominations such as the Camporeale twins at Carlton and Tyler Welsh at Adelaide. Yze did play at Casey a couple of times so it is a matter of interest for the club's fans & it seems like a case of poor communications from the club again (unless there's something top secret going on :))
Has it been reported anywhere that we haven’t nominated him as a father son?
I’m surprised that there’s been so little publicity in the media concerning Dodoro’s departure given how close the Herald Sun’s chief football writer Mark Robinson is to the club. I guess the Bombers have been more concerned with their abysmal finals record, keeping gangland figures out of their change rooms on match days and former players connected with overseas prostitution to worry about courtroom stoushes with long term employees who added so little to their playing list for so long. Of course, all this avoids the necessity of real news coverage or weekly agenda driven op eds repeating the same tired, unproven allegations ad nauseam.
