Whispering_Jack

I wouldn’t be relying on Mr Leg if I were you OD. He was last seen on a banana plantation in Pago Pago holding court with the locals and was apparently so impressed with the place that he’s considering migrating to Western Samoa and laying down his roots there.

Unlikely. Kennett is no longer the bombastic character he once was. While I don’t think he’s capable of destroying two Tasmanian teams, I’m hoping that he does have that effect on his Victorian team and that they stay in the bottom half of the competition for a while.

The paywall prevents me from reading the article but like the Winter Olympics and the Ice Cricket, I’m sure the subject will leave me cold.

Precisely. The thread’s been completely derailed for the last 700 or so pages and it’s time to get back on topic. I’m surprised, no shocked ? that nobody has picked up on this comment by Deeman on the AFLW thread about last week's game v GWS Giants:- “I understand the concern about Mifsud’s absence for us but what I really want to know is why [censored] wasn’t playing for them!”

I think somebody’s hacked into OD’s account. Could the mods who are technically savvy on these things please check it out ?

Standing in for Gerard Whately. Not exactly like for like in the intellectuality stakes but what the heck.

They’re back in town! Accordingly to the club’s website - “Men's Training Times Wednesday 7th February, 9.40am, Gosch's Paddock”

Another great article on our Daisy ~ The moments motivating Daisy Pearce for AFLW season two

Mifsud was one of mine too - possibly hasn’t trained enough houses down. And Cordner is a big name out as well.

Inevitable that a number of players would fly off elsewhere now that the Development League has disbanded and good luck to those who have headed to Frankston with the aim of rejuvenating a neighbourhood rival. I miss Aloysio and Yilber in particular - little blokes who always added a bit of excitement when they played in the firsts. With only one team representing Casey it was always going to be hard fitting players in to the system. I think Casey should have another good year. The team did really well to finish in the top four last year after so many injuries and it’s been a feather in the cap to produce 4 draftees (3 to the MFC) over the past two seasons. The major “out” on the list is, of course, Bayley Fritsch who will still be available unless he makes AFL selection. Having Colin Garland and Mitch White on board (and most likely Corey Wagner) gives the club a strong VFL list and if we can stay in reasonable shape with injuries we will be a likely challenger again.

After an off season spent mainly overseas, I’m finding it a bit hard to get back into the swing of things football-wise but I have a feeling that today marks the turning point with the club’s Queensland Open Training Session which starts at 9.00am (AEST) at the Maroochydore Multisports Complex in Fishermans Road, Maroochydore. So far, I’ve been reading things about player bonding and cooking, basketball games at training, haircuts, how ripped the players are looking, who’s injured etc. but I’m hoping our Demonland correspondents up north step up to the plate today with some ripping reports about the actual footy. Go to it folks!

Extraordinary but true. Alex Silvagni is on Carlton's rookie list so it raises the question of whether a rookie has previously been in a club’s leadership group.

Agreed ... unless we win.

2018

I have a gut feel that Jack's return will be no earlier than Round 5.

Superdraft or superhyped? Early view on 2018

The demise of Colin Sylvia is a sad story and it reflects how more professional all football clubs have become in terms of maintaining a healthy environment for talented young sportspeople coming into the system. It wasn’t all that long ago that we admired the larrikin young Sylvia when he stepped into the club. We even emphasised it in the way we promoted his image as the young kid who was joining the big boys. We were angry about getting negative publicity when his early mentor, David Neitz, was found in a drunken state outside the Casino late one night. By all means, a person has to take responsibility for his or her actions but we as a club failed Colin in a way, as we did with Brock McLean and many others. In saying that, most other clubs were no better and some got lucky with their choices. You would like to think those days were over now but, as we know, boys will still be boys and the next such story is always a morning newspaper headline away.

What a great country this is? I've been away for a month and I come back, work for a day and then I have a long weekend. I'm sure though that the club used to have training sessions on "Straya" Day in the past. I remember dropping in a few years ago to watch them at Gosch's Paddock so it wouldn't have been all that long ago.

What an outrageous way to treat anyone let alone a champion of our club. "We had 5 minutes to get our stuff together & by the time I got to the front door, my email had been cut off and my pass had been cancelled" David Schwarz who, along with Mark Allen, were sacked by SEN when their programme ended last night. Is it Hutchy’s Crocmedia that owns the station?

Well... no, actually, it's not the ex-rookie Max King, it's the NAB AFL Academy member Max King from the Sandringham Dragons (who also has a twin brother who is also a handy footballer) - Which Academy prospects are training at your club? Also training with the Demons is Hudson Garoni. Means little though because the players in question will have to be picked in the national draft.

Our policy is clearly that differing views on subjects brought up in these and other threads are allowed and accepted but the problem is that some people like to cloak their so called "differing views" by means of posts that are actually attacks on others. This won't be tolerated and the discretion on the matter lies entirely with the moderators. Those who don't agree with this policy should in particular stay away from the training report threads. Thanks.

Strange that I’m seeing Satyr’s pictures (I follow his Instagram alter ego demonpk) but he’s not reporting in on the training sessions. What’s the deal Satyr?

This year’s NAB AFL Pre-season and Rookie Drafts will be held tomorrow. The Demons currently have no vacancies on either their primary or rookie lists and will not be taking part in either of the drafts but the opportunity still remains for them to secure additional players from certain avenues through signing them as Category B rookies. The AFL rules allows clubs to add up to three players in this category. The player in question must be one who: • has not registered in an Australian Football competition for three years immediately before inclusion on the Rookie List; • is an international player, meaning he is not an Australian citizen and has not lived in Australia for a substantial period; • is a former NSW Scholarship player with that club; • is a former International Scholarship player with that club; or • is a rookie Zone Selection for clubs based in NSW or Queensland. Clubs can list one Irish player as a Category B rookie but for each additional Irish player rookie listed, that player will be deemed to be a Category A rookie. Clubs can list players as Category B rookies from the AFL's indigenous and multicultural academies if they were overlooked in the drafts. The club’s last two Category B rookies were former basketballers Joel Smith and Corey Maynard but both have been elevated, the former straight into the primary list while the latter is now a Category A rookie. Maynard’s recent rookie elevation to leave the club without players on the B list has raised some speculation as to whether the club has some further prospects in mind for future selection - perhaps a player from another sport or from the indigenous or multicultural fields. There have been no indications to date but let’s see what happens.

The AFL website’s Callum Twomey is a little bit behind us but he hasn’t wasted much time getting into the 2018 draft prospects. The next batch: Looking ahead to the 2018 draft

And now ... the family connection. Charlie Spargo’s great grandfather Bob Spargo Senior played with the Melbourne Football Club, although it was just for two games during WW2. Bob Snr. stood at 175cm and weighed 69kgs. He played most of his career with Footscray (1934-41) before moving to the Demons in the twilight of his career in 1942. He was a professional athlete who finished third in two Stawell Gifts (1936 & 40). His sons Bob Jnr. and Ricky also represented the Bulldogs and the latter was fifth in the 1974 Stawell Gift. Bob Jnr. played in the team's 1961 Grand Final loss to Hawthorn. Bob Jr's son Paul Spargo played 81 games with North Melbourne and 9 with the Brisbane Bears. During his time with the Kangaroos he was a teammate of Mark Brayshaw, father of our own Angus Brayshaw. He was an assistant coach at Richmond for a while and had a great record coaching in the Ovens & Murray Football League with involvement in multiple premierships. Paul Spargo is Charlie's father. With a great pedigree in football and foot racing, Charlie had a fantastic junior career and two years ago was outstanding in the national carnival. A year ago, he was one of the most highly ranked of the country's draft prospects and headed for a possible top ten selection until shoulder surgery curtailed his season. Don't let his size fool you - Charlie Spargo can play and it's in his blood.