Whispering_Jack

All the goals

In the other game, WA easily dealt with the Allies. England masterclass lifts WA U18s to victory Western Australia 2.2.14 6.5.41 8.6.54 12.12.84 Allies 1.1.7 2.4.16 5.8.38 6.8.44 Goals Western Australia Hill 2, Starcevich 2, Allen 2, Eastland 2, Mitchell, Cahill, Ameduri, Cramer Allies Crossley 2, Dixon, Scott, Sambono, Simington Best Western Australia England, Cahill, Eastland, Boullineau, Ameduri, Starcevich, Taylor Allies Crossley, Ballenden, Powell, Carr, Nutting  

From what I saw of the streamed game, the standard was excellent- U18s Tiger cub thrills at Punt Road Oval Vic Metro 4.1.25 9.2.56 12.5.77 15.7.97 Vic Country 4.1.25 7.3.45 10.7.67 11.9.75 Goals Vic Metro Rayner 3, Higgins 2, Naish 2, Fogerty 2, Moore 2, Cerra, Sutherland, Stephenson, M.King Vic Country Handley 2, Miers 2, Parish, Davies-Uniacke, De Koning, Williams, Johnston, Worpel, Daniels Best Vic Metro Garner, Naish, Penrith, Coffield, Constable, Moore, Higgins, Rayner Vic Country Worpel, Miers, Clavarino, Paton, Handley, Clark, Dow

I'm so stoked, I'm going to go with the poem I wrote for the game this morning ... I love a sunburnt country, A land of sweeping plains, Where all roads head to its west, And a stadium called "Domain", I love her far horizons, I love her quirky weather, Where the beauty of her western coast, Is the home of Neville Jetta. 'Tis a bleak-hearted country, A wilful, lavish land If your team has rarely won there, You will clearly understand though Earth holds many splendours, And days get darker and blacker, All I ask the lord for tonight is winning smiles, From Pedo, Buggy and Petracca. A pity I couldn't find something to rhyme with Tom McDonald.

Let's call it a night here and move across to post match discussion, shall we?

Now to bring it home.

Yep and though it's early days, I think Rayner should start acclimatising himself for the weather in Brisvegas.

Who's your stand out goodoil? Luke Davies-Uniacke has a good name with a hyphen to go with his ample skill set.

The Country boys are 5 points in front in the early going but Cameron Rayner of Vic Metro is the one who looks a readymade footballer.

It's the only place on this side of the Nullarbor Plain that you can go to and see a Melbourne football player in live action today.

I haven't seen as much of Casey as I would have liked this year but it's a little disappointing reading the weekly stats, in reviews like the VFL Player Review: Round 9 and other reviews from time to time how little involvement some of the MFC listed players are having in the team. There appear to be a few who need to lift their games if they want to remain on the list. Liam Hulett appears to be one example.

Scotty Palmer's Punch Lines were great. In this clip, he mentions a big Demon win over Footscray that was not without a list of casualties but it drew rare praise from then coach Ronald Dale Barassi. Warning: some parts contain vision of injury and may cause distress.

Cummeragunja: The Aboriginal football team that opened the eyes of White Australia This is the article, written last year, but which I found and read this morning. It's more than just another story but rather, it's a heartfelt cry for a fair go for an entire people. Here's some more - REVEALED: The forgotten first match between a VFL team and an Aboriginal football team Personally, I feel very privileged to have met Pastor Sir Doug Nicholls who spoke to us at a school assembly so many years ago but whose dignity I will always remember. On the subject of Cummeragunja, it was also the site of the Cummeragunja walk-off at the local mission on 4 February 1939 in protest against the management of the mission, living conditions and restrictions on movement. Among its leaders was the Reverend William Cooper who had not long before led a delegation on a march to the German consulate in Melbourne objecting to the violent Kristallnacht attacks of November, 1938, when German Nazis violently attacked Jewish persons and property - one of the only demonstrations of its kind in the world. Like Nicholls, Cooper is one of this country's unsung heroes. Cooper's great, great grandson Nathan Drummond plays for Richmond and made his debut on Anzac Day Eve, 2015 against Melbourne in a match in which he severely damaged his ACL. His career to date has been restricted to just five games.

That last post said we were concluding the series (back in late 2011) but the story didn't end there. Instead of being the catalyst for better things to come, the years that followed saw the sad demise of Liam Jurrah's football career and his personal life and, at the same time, the club's fortunes spiraled downhill. Today, things are looking up for all. Here's an article from the NT News from earlier this month about Liam Jurrah - Revitalised Jurrah kicking goals in Alice

We conclude our series on Indigenous footballers with a review the book THE LIAM JURRAH STORY by Grapeviney INDIGINE - PART ELEVEN It's the middle of 2009 and the struggling Demons are slated to play the Bombers at their Docklands lair. Melbourne are in an almighty funk; they will win just four matches for the season and will go on to take the wooden spoon that year. But into the midst of this bleakest of periods bursts a beacon of brilliance in the form of Liam Jurrah, a fully initiated Aboriginal from Yuendemu in the Tatami Desert who will become known as the 'Walpiri Warrior', or more simply, 'Jurrahcane'. It took Jurrah barely a minute to electrify the crowd in his debut against the Dons that day, scoring a point after dashing towards goal from half-forward just moments after coming on to the ground from the bench. In the next quarter he registered his first major, flying high for the ball in the goalsquare, outpointing two Essendon defenders and somehow grabbing the ball on the goal-line to slot it through as he lay prostate on the turf. Football had a freakish new talent in its ranks who seemed capable of anything and everything. As Bruce Hearn Mackinnon – who lurks on this forum as 'Rudeboy' - notes in his book The Liam Jurrah Story: From Yuendemu to the MCG, Jurrah's electrifying play quickly captured the imagination of the football world – respected commentator Brian Taylor said not long after Jurrah's exciting debut that “if he got wind that any of the coaches at Melbourne were starting to fill Liam's head with talk about structures and team rules, he'd head down there and personally berate them”. Fast forward two-and-a-half years and the Demons are well into their pre-season training for the 2012 year, under a new coach who has explicitly stated that he wants his charges to be regarded as the league's toughest team to oppose. Against this backdrop, a question mark hangs over Jurrah's head, if not among the vast array of new coaches at Melbourne then certainly among some of its supporters, who bemoaned his lack of defensive pressure in the season just passed, one which saw most successful clubs employ some form of forward press to keep the ball locked in their front half of the ground. How will Jurrah respond to the new regime at Melbourne? Is there room these days for a player who flies in the face of orthodoxy and bends the rules to suit his magical innate abilities? Time will tell, although some who criticise Jurrah's seeming unwillingness to chase his opponents have forgotten just how threateningly he did do that in the early part of his career. Regardless of what happens in the future, this book will stand out as one of the more unusual in the annals of football literature, if only for the fact that its subject had played barely two-dozen games at the highest level when it was released in the middle part of last year. Perhaps even more strange is the fact that its author, who writes with obvious affection for his charge, is not a native Demon, but rather a committed Collingwood man who, along with a group of friends and colleagues named the 'Industrial Magpies', first tried to land Jurrah down at Melbourne's old arch rivals. And therein lies the essence of this book, which tracks Jurrah's journey from the remotest parts of Australia to the spiritual home of its favourite sport, the Melbourne Cricket Ground. It's not a book of premierships and legends, like the biography of Norm Smith, nor is it one of heartache and single-handed heroism, as is the autobiography of Robbie Flower, but rather a tale of how one man came to defy the odds and merely make it to the starting line of an AFL career. That Jurrah is even on the cusp of what could be an exhilarating football career is due in large part to the efforts of the author, his family, and a small group of friends, who have never lost faith in their man and who have helped him over numerous hurdles along the way, all of which are recounted in this book. If there is one obvious omission, it is the lack of detail about what it actually means to be an “initiated” man in Walpiri culture, which would add a fascinating layer of insight into what the reader gleams about Liam Jurrah the person. As the author briefly explains, this is 'secret men's business' and cannot be imparted to the outside world. But anyone who thinks this book is but a shallow description of a man who is yet to really make his mark on the game is mistaken. Sure, the story may be simple and the writing straightforward, but in its pages we learn a lot about Liam, and get a brief glimpse into the fascinating culture of indigenous Australia. There are interesting anecdotes about family, community and friendship, insights into death and loss, and more than enough snippets about Jurrah's relationships with his team-mates – particularly his indigenous and Tiwi Island 'brothers' at the club - to carry the day and make this a worthwhile read. Demon fans will be hoping that there will be a second edition of this book to be published many years down the track, one which tells not only of Jurrah's journey from the red centre to the centre of the football world, but also recounts the story of how he came to kick hundreds of goals for the red and blue and helped propel the club to the ultimate success which has eluded it for so long. The Liam Jurrah Story Price: $22.99 at all good booksellers. This series was written in honour of the late Matthew Wonaeamirri, father of former Melbourne player Austin. Our hearts go out to all of the family.

I was reading a very interesting article this morning which reminded me of this thread and the series on our Indigenous footballers so I searched it out to find that the most recent chapter (albeit written originally in December, 2011 which is a long time ago now) was missing. I'm going to correct that omission now with the next post. I also think it's time for a further chapter later on this year to celebrate our more recent Indigenous Demons and the continuation of their rich heritage at the club and also to cover what's happened since Chapter 11 was written.

With apologies to Dorothea McKellar whose grandson I reckon might have once played for Richmond and Melbourne in the days before these foreign clubs invaded footy:- I love a sunburnt country, A land of sweeping plains, Where all roads head to its west, And a stadium called "Domain", I love her far horizons, I love her quirky weather, Where the beauty of her western coast, Is the home of Neville Jetta. 'Tis a bleak-hearted country, A wilful, lavish land If your team has rarely won there, You will clearly understand though Earth holds many splendours, And days get darker and blacker, All I ask the lord for tonight is winning smiles, From Pedo, Buggy and Petracca.

Joel Macdonald - another off the field success story. Ex-AFL star Joel McDonald's GetSwift raises $24m from Thorney, IFM and Regal Annoint him the next club president.

The traditional rivals promise to put on a real show with many of the top prospects lining up. Stars on show in Metro v Country clash

Not to mention that the team on the VFL site doesn't have a half back line or a centreman.

You can try the VFL site. Declan named on the HFF.

Titus O'Riley's take on the game A highly unhelpful guide to Round Fourteen West Coast Eagles v Melbourne I was disappointed to discover Melbourne aren’t premiers after last week’s win. It turns out there’s a thing called the top eight, then somethings called ‘finals’ and only after the finals do they award the premiership. I learn something new about football every single day. Sad news for the Demons this week as Nathan Jones will be out 4-6 weeks with a bad quad strain. It’s an injury I’ve managed to avoid in my life by barely having quads. Jones has been the heart and soul of the club for a long time now, in fact, he was for many seasons the only AFL player Melbourne had on the list. His injury, coming after such a big win, is further proof the universe doesn’t want Melbourne fans to be happy. West Coast has not lost to Melbourne since 2009. Now granted, a lot of that time the Dees would have struggled in the WAFL, but it’s still an impressive record. Even worse than that is the fact the Dees haven’t won at Domain Stadium since 2004. How long ago is 2004? Well, Shannon Noll had a semblance of a career in 2004. If this were in Melbourne, I’d be tipping the Dees, but I think winning over there is a stretch for them.

This is the bloke everybody wants to look at during the under 18 national championships but he might not even play a game of footy after this year - Recruiters eye Will Sutherland's debut for Vic Metro at national championships And this bloke is SA captain who also can play - Knightmare's AFL Draft Wrap: SA Captain the driving force

U18: Top-10 prospect stars in Vic Metro win Western Australia 2.0.12 4.0.24 6.3.39 9.4.58 Vic Metro 2.4.16 6.9.45 11.11.77 14.12.96 Goals Western Australia Allen 3, B. Miller, L.Miller, Frampton, Ameduri, Starcevich, Cameron Vic Metro Higgins 2, Landt 2, McLean 2, Moore, Cerra, Rayner, Naish, Coffield, Hayes, Wooller, Taylor Best Western Australia Joyce, Patmore, Allen, Ainsworth, Naughton, England Vic Metro Higgins, Moore, Rayner, Cerra, Naish, Coffield

Statistics Liam Hulett 1 goal 4 kicks 2 handballs 6 disposals 1 mark 3 tackles 1 hit out 38 dream team points Dion Johnstone 5 kicks 5 handballs 10 disposals 1 mark 3 tackles 41 dream team points Declan Keilty 3 kicks 6 handballs 9 disposals 6 tackles 47 dream team points Jay Kennedy-Harris 1 goal 1 behind 19 kicks 14 handballs 33 disposals 4 marks 11 tackles 148 dream team points Dean Kent 21 kicks 6 handballs 27 disposals 3 marks 2 tackles 90 dream team points Mitch King 1 kicks 5 handballs 6 disposals 1 mark 3 tackles 8 hit outs 36 dream team points Corey Maynard 2 behinds 7 kicks 16 handballs 23 disposals 4 marks 4 tackles 84 dream team points Jake Spencer 1 behind 4 kicks 8 handballs 12 disposals 2 tackles 19 hit outs 58 dream team points Billy Stretch 12 kicks 12 handballs 24 disposals 2 marks 8 tackles 99 dream team points Jack Trengove 21 kicks 8 handballs 29 disposals 8 marks 7 tackles 131 dream team points Josh Wagner 16 kicks 12 handballs 28 disposals 7 marks 2 tackles 101 dream team points Sam Weideman 1 goal 4 kicks 7 handballs 11 disposals 4 marks tackles 3 hit outs 55 dream team points Mitch White 1 goal 15 kicks 9 handballs 24 disposals 6 marks 1 tackle 88 dream team points