Whispering_Jack

The stats are out ~ Tomas Bugg 2 behinds 15 kicks 9 handballs 24 disposals 2 marks 12 tackles 114 dream team points Sam Frost 10 kicks 3 handballs 13 disposals 5 marks 1 tackle 46 dream team points Liam Hulett 2 goals 1 behind 4 kicks 2 handballs 6 disposals 4 tackles 46 dream team points Declan Keilty 4 kicks 2 handballs 6 disposals 3 marks 7 tackles 47 dream team points Jay Kennedy-Harris 1 goal 2 behinds 13 kicks 9 handballs 22 disposals 4 marks 19 tackles 155 dream team points Mitch King 3 kicks 3 handballs 6 disposals 1 mark 6 tackles 22 hit outs 62 dream team points Corey Maynard 1 goal 9 kicks 11 handballs 20 disposals 1 marks 13 tackles 108 dream team points Jack Trengove 15 kicks 3 handballs 18 disposals 7 marks 4 tackles 90 dream team points Jack Watts 1 goal 13 kicks 7 handballs 20 disposals 12 marks 3 tackles 2 hit outs 103 dream team points Sam Weideman 1 goal 7 kicks 5 handballs 12 disposals 5 marks 4 tackles 6 hit outs 75 dream team points

The man who booted a VFL/AFL record of 18 goals in a single game (and it was his last). One that's unlikely to ever be broken. Fanning's record lives 70 years on

He's probably a bit past it now. The bio on the Williamstown FC site says he's 197cm tall, weighs 105kg and turns 29 next month. I regard him as the type who could dominate at VFL level but not quite make it in the big league - a bit like North Ballarat's Orren Stephenson who got a late AFL call up but was unable to make the transition successfully although at times, was used as a back up ruckman with moderate results.

AFL should stay out of the blackball game An excellent article from Chip Le Grand writing in the Weekend Australian about the suggestion that broadcasters should lose their accreditation if they broadcast false information. AFL boss Gillon McLachlan told Neil Mitchell on radio this week that he thought "it is worth looking at." This came in the wake of allegations about Ross Lyon's interest in the Collingwood coaching job made by 6PR broadcaster Brad Hardie which incensed Nathan Buckley. Lyon denied the claim calling it erroneous, reckless and without foundation. Le Grand raises a number of good points as to why it's not such a good idea to bring in such a ban, the first being that the AFL is not qualified to be an arbiter of what is true and false in football. While Hardie is no journalist, Lyon's denial doesn't necessarily mean that he made the story up. Further, people in the media are held to account by the media companies and by legal restrictions on what can be reported. Le Grand: "If the AFL had its way, many important football stories would never be published. In this, they are no different from governments and large corporations. Yet, as far as we know, they are the only Australian organisation proposing to blackball journalists for what they write." I empathise with what Le Grand tells us here. From time to time, I review stories given to this site. I once fact checked a number of sources about a particular story all the way to as close as possible to its original source and found it to be conclusive. That didn't stop those who had an interest in suppressing the facts from criticism (which is always acceptable) but it also went further into the realm of abuse and personal attacks. Often when that happens, you know you've got the story right.

Good news about Declan Keilty having his contact renewed for a further year. I'll be watching the game (on 7) with interest today to see how he goes.

The midfielders dominate the very top of Cal Twomey's Phantom Form Guide - August edition but there are also plenty of tall key position players available to make this year's draft an interesting proposition. I suspect that this draft is a little deeper and more even than in the past and if a club has the selections and chooses wisely, it could top up with at the very least two quality players from this draft.

The only games I'm focusing on are the last two MFC games. Win them both and we play finals.

Meese's stats on the day were 8 kicks, 9 handballs, 17 disposals, 1 mark, 10 tackles, 1 inside 50, 3 rebound 50s, 4 frees for and 2 frees against ... and yes, 94 hit outs for 183 dream team points. The Footscray ruckman had 29 hit outs and the Bulldogs are in fourth spot on the ladder.

Jake Spencer is really going to be missed because when they played Williamstown earlier in the year their ruckman Meese destroyed the Casey team almost singlehanded.

How odd? I've now fixed it (I think )

I know we have other things on our minds at present but for the record, here are Knightmare's AFL Draft Power Rankings: August

If that's the official injury list then does it mean Oscar McDonald's ribs have come up OK?

Impeccable timing for Salem to go out by way of a suspension just in time for Tomas Bugg's return.

Whatever happens today, I think it's fair comment that come the end of the game, Simon Goodwin can say, "I did it my way".

Whatever happens today, I think it's fair comment that come the end of the game, Simon Goodwin can say, "I did it my way".

Trengove delivers greatest Australian marathon performance in London

His form hasn't been up to scratch this year. It's been a lot tougher for younger players this year compared to last because there aren't that many experienced players to lead and show the way as there were last year.

Chris Connolly once told a meeting of Melbourne supporters that when you make five changes to the team, your chances of winning are slim. At the time, he was talking about a situation where a. combination of injuries and poor form looked like making that eventuality necessary for the Demons. I hope the same applies in the case of GWS. If our weakness is in combatting tall KPF's and dangerous small forwards then the absence of Cameron, Patton and Greene should be a factor.

Crunch time.

Fixed. KC says sorry.

So in fact, the issue wasn't tanking but rather, that we made bad choices with our draft picks?

Some interesting points there but I must say that from my understanding there was no indication whatsoever that the "defensive aspects of his game plan would have come with time". He was, after all, five years into his coaching tenure when he was sacked. I also had the pleasure of having some great chats with Dean on occasions. I thought he was a terrific bloke who willingly gave of his time to speak with supporters. This debate is not about his character which is not in question so far as I'm concerned. He did what he believed was right with the club and deserves praise for that aspect of his coaching. But he was no Simon Goodwin in terms of his coaching prowess.

Are you serious? That 2011 Round 2 game between Melbourne and Hawthorn is one of the prime examples of Dean Bailey's shortcomings as coach. His major problem was the inability to combat a strong forward press and as soon as the Hawks did that in this game, we went to water because our style was based solely on attack and we weren't programmed to defend. You said it yourself - we were slaughtered but it was worse than that because there was nothing done to stop the onslaught when it came. Here are the quarter by quarter scores from that game:- Melbourne 3.1.19 8.2.50 9.3.57 12.5.77 Hawthorn 2.8.20 3.13.31 11.24.90 16.26.122 The only thing you're half close to being correct about in terms of the second quarter is that Melbourne did outscore them but that was due to the fact that we kicked straight and they didn't. By half time they had 16 shots at goal to our 10. Then look at the third quarter. To pick a game in which we suffered a 45 point defeat as an example of his coaching prowess is really mind boggling. Sheesh!!!

WYL, I think the comment was directed to your statement about Dean Bailey being a very similar coach to Goodwin. Their styles are light years apart in terms of Goodwin's flexibility and the way he can quickly adapt his team's game style to suit the circumstances of each game. This was in my view one of Bailey's shortcomings as a coach and one of a number of differences between the two as coaches.

There's a player on the list of invitees to the Draft Combine who is probably not all that well known to most watchers of the under age football scene but I think in time to come, he will be a player to watch in late November when the draft meeting is held in Sydney. It was only a little over a month ago that he made his TAC Cup debut with the Sandringham Dragons when they thrashed the ladder leading Geelong Falcons but Victorian under-19 cricketer Nathan Murphy has already attracted the attention of AFL talent scouts. The 188cm, 84kg medium tall forward from Brighton Grammar has been on the Dragons' books for a while but was faced with the same choice between sports as Australian Under 19 cricket captain Will Sutherland who recently opted for the white flannels ahead of football after playing in the Vic Metro side that won this year's Under 18 National Championships. Murphy was invited to train with the Dragons' TAC Cup side over summer but cricket took precedence. A recent seven goal haul for Brighton Grammar in the APS system raised a lot of interest and the focus of the exciting young forward might have turned, and as a result, he was a late inclusion into the Sandringham Dragons squad. He has averaged over 22 disposals and taken some strong contested marks in his three games so far which included three goals in his last appearance against Bendigo Pioneers and impressed enough in that short time to earn him an invite to the AFL Draft Combine. There's a strong connection between Melbourne, his original club East Sandringham (think Jack Watts and Jayden Hunt) and Brighton Grammar School (think both of the above and Christian Salem) which has also produced some other great young talent like Josh Kelly and last year's number 1 draft pick Andrew McGrath. My mail is that Murphy is all class and that his goal sense and movement in and around traffic are exceptional. He will soon be on everyone's radar.