Whispering_Jack

Is it unrealistic of my to look forward to the day when I can witness Melbourne playing the perfect game, overrunning the opposition from the start and finishing with a big victory of 10 goals plus? I really would like to see a ripping start where we pile on the goals early and not what we've seen in the three games so far this season. Round 1 - Saints lead by 24 points after Riewoldt goals at about 5 minutes into the second quarter. Round 2 - we dominate the first quarter and a half against Carlton but fail to translate that dominance on the scoreboard allowing the Blues to reel us in and lead at one stage of the third quarter by 9 points. Round 3 - a poor start concedes the first three goals to the Cats and we trail by 16 points at the first break. We catch up and overtake them with a 31 point turnaround kicking 10.13 to seven straight by the 30 minute mark of the third quarter, then relax to give them back the momentum with 2 goals in the final minute of the term and capitulate in the last. We lose what should have been an unlosable game if only we were better in front of goals. The loss of Max didn't help. Time for a ripping start and time to blow an opponent out of the water in front of a hostile crowd.

A little belated but here's a report on that AFL Academy game ~ MCG curtain-raiser a glimpse of the future

I think this might be old news. The club has been in financial trouble but with a new board and a new president, measures have been put in place to get them out of their current difficulties. Too much football tradition has already been lost - we don't need to lose another of the game's icons.

A little clue AW - the story so far is about perceptions and not necessarily about reality.

Brett Anderson has an interesting item on the SEN site - A FIRST LOOK AT THIS YEAR'S INTRIGUING DRAFT CROP

The Development League game ~

Vision from bigfooty's Vital Dread

Correct weight Steve. The only Tims to have previously played for Melbourne were actually born in the 19th Century. The 6'6" forward Tim Lane (not to be confused with the excellent Age journo of the same name) from Ballarat was born on 22 February, 1888 and played 13 games (11 goals) in his only season - 1912. He wore the number 15, was noted as the biggest player of his era and not surprisingly was described as a "high mark" (and "powerful kickist"). He was cleared to Carlton in early 1913 but never played a match for them. Tim Collins was born 24 December 1889 and captained Hawthorn in the Metropolitan Junior Football Association before joining Melbourne in 1914. He wore the number 24 and played 20 games (20 goals) in his two seasons with the club before seriously injuring his knee in the second quarter of the Round 13, 1915 loss to Collingwood. Collins enlisted in the Australian Army in January 1916 and was transferred to France in November of that year, serving throughout the conflict before returning to Australia in 1919. The club came close to fielding a couple of Tims who were born in the 20th Century before Tim Smith. One was skillful Tim McNeil from Norwood SA who was the club's selection #16 in the 1987 National Draft. McNeil never came to Melbourne and his career was curtailed by a serious achilles injury. Tim Moreland, a centre half-forward from Shepparton was selection # 57 in the 1989 National Draft who played Under 19s and Reserves in 1990. So yes, after 102 years, we finally have another Tim in the ranks of the red and blue.

I'm looking forward to the advent of another Smith onto the MFC stage because the name is synonymous with success at the Melbourne Football Club. The great Norm Smith was a key forward who came to the club in 1935. Over the next three decades he was involved in ten premierships, four as a player and six as coach. He twice won the club's best and fairest, the Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Medal (1938 and 1944) and was a four time leading goalkicker, the last three in premiership seasons and he led the club as captain from 1945-7 and coach from 1953-67. Until recently when it was overtaken by David Neitz, he held the club's goal kicking record (546). Incredibly, he was only 183cm tall but he left a long shadow over the club and remains its last premiership coach to this day. Since then Smiths of various types have come and gone to the club. In Norm's time we even had the eminently suitable (for a top end of town club as we once were) Dick Fenton-Smith, Norm's son Peter, a defender from the Bombers in Ray Smith, current MCC President Steve Smith who captained the club, won a 'Bluey' and like Norm started as a key forward, the high flying Shaun Smith and more recently his son Joel whose career has literally been encapsulated in fifteen minutes of fame before he injured his shoulder in the opening round of this season. The late Kim Smith played four games for three goals in 1975 and then became a legend at Prahran where he booted 610. Today, another Smith will strut the AFL/VFL stage in the red and blue colours in our latest key forward Tim Smith who like Kim Smith comes to the club as a mature age recruit from the second tier of football competition. A plumber from Upper Ferntree Gully, Tim Smith was already of comparatively mature age when he arrived at the Casey Scorpions (now Demons) in 2012. He was named the "Bull" by a previous coach, Brett Lovett, because he charges into contests like a “raging bull’’. It took a while for him to become really serious about his game but it finally happened under Justin Plapp who came to the club in 2015 saying he was intent on having at least one player drafted in 2015. In the end, three were rookied at the end of 2016 - Declan Keilty is the other at Melbourne. The 192cm, 88kg Smith made it after an outstanding season last year when he kicked 31 goals in 19 games, represented the VFL, was named in its team of the year and helped the Scorpions reach the grand final. He could easily have been back fixing hot water services but the "Bull" is now about to take to the big stage filling the large size shoes of the "Hulk". We need him to fire today.

And if you follow the Kinks (as someone of your vintage would) you should know that Lola ain't a woman.

Mykelti Lefau has played very little football and is a convert from rugby league. He is a 19 year old, 182cm, 76kg forward/midfielder from Saint Kilda City who booted 81 goals last year including that haul of 25 goals. He has the athleticism but I wouldn't get carried away just yet. The competition he played against in the past year was not strong.

The talent scouts will be out in force on Sunday afternoon at the MCG when a special NAB AFL Academy 20th anniversary celebration match as the curtain raiser to the Carlton and Essendon clash. The match will highlight members of this year's national academy prospects and will include players eligible for the 2017 and 2018 drafts. I know there were many Demonlanders lost interest in the drafts last year because the club ultimately went into the 2016 AFL National Draft without a selection in the first two rounds and that we're aiming for high places in the competition in the new Simon Goodwin era but it's still important to replenish your supply of talent no matter where you finish. This is the time when talent scouts get a chance to see the top ranked youth pitted against each other in a competitive outing and it should be worthwhile keeping an eye on who does well in the games involving the best of the NAB AFL Academy talent - Two years of talent on show in MCG curtain raiser The squads for the game are:- TEAM WEITERING 1. Charlie Spargo 4. Izak Rankine 5. Lachlan Fogarty 6. Rhylee West 7. Jack Powell 8. Connor Rozee 9. Luke Valente 11. Lochie O'Brien 12. Buku Khamis 14. James Worpel 15. Jack Bytel 16. Hunter Clark 17. Dominic Grant 18. Luke Davies-Uniacke 19. Darcy Fogarty 20. Zane Barzen 21. Jarrod Brander 22. Oscar Clavarino 25. Kwaby Boakye 27. Max King 28. Ben King 29. Changkuoth Jiath 32. Connor Ballenden 33. Callum Coleman-Jones 34. Hudson Garoni 35. Sam Hayes TEAM DANIHER 2. Cameron Rayner 3. Chayce Jones 4. Jack Higgins 5. Sam Walsh 6. Patrick Naish 8. Kane Farrell 9. Jake Patmore 10. Aidan Quigley 12. Jye Caldwell 13. Joel Garner 14. Jordan Houlahan 15. Jaidyn Stephenson 17. Tarryn Thomas 19. Jackson Hately 20. Andrew McPherson 21. Sam Taylor 23. Thomas Schmusch 24. Jack Lukosius 25. Noah Balta 30. Tom De Koning 31. Paddy Dow

By golly, that's right. And as nice a guy as JT is and as much as I want him to succeed in his comeback, we have really missed out on a gem.

It was said at the time of the 2014 AFL National Draft that Melbourne was heavily into getting Lever who would have been rated even more highly but was coming back from an ACL injury. The word was that the club offered up Jack Trengove for a trade with Richmond just so that we could get in a position draft Lever (as it turned out the Tigers' pick would have been insufficient). It would be nice to get him to the club but can we do it?

I don't like that but would accept it if applied consistently throughout the season. I'm not holding my breath.

Vince, Frost and Kent all to come in would add a touch of pace. Bugg another possibility. I would try Watts at CHF, Frost at HFF and Kent up forward as well. Vince, an automatic replacement for Lewis.

We're taking over Hawthorn's mantle of playing unsociable football. If we have as much success as they did with that tag, I won't be complaining. And on the specific matter of whether they will suffer the MRP's wrath - nothin' in either incident that I saw.

Just on the question of the club's intentions going into that draft, I was at the pre draft talk at the club with Jason Taylor and Todd Viney and they basically had it down to taking two of Petracca, McCartin and Brayshaw but the way they spoke it sounded very much like they believed the Saints would take the truck, spending a lot of time talking about Paddy's attributes. They even mentioned how he dealt with his diabetes and the need for him to manage it with rests during games. There was also the matter about Alan Richardson being close with the Petracca family and how he knew Christian from when he was a young kid. There is a lot to suggest that the Saints changed their minds in the eleventh hour. I think we might have lucked out on this one.

I have to admit that I was somewhat concerned about reports from training during the week suggesting injuries to Max Gawn and Jesse Hogan but the news from Casey's practice match provided comfort. If there were any concerns with either of those two then Jake Spencer would surely have been withdrawn from the game. Otherwise, I think we have the Blues well and truly covered although come to think of it, I thought that was the case last year ... and the year before.

Nothing broken anyway ?

Following Melbourne's win over St Kilda last week, a poster on Saintsational sparked some debate with this offering:- "Petracca is a gun who will be a superstar of the competition for the next dozen years. McCartin is an injury-prone, under-sized key forward who doesn't kick goals. He can take a great grab, but does little else. We are having to try to turn him into a lead-up forward because he isn't good enough in the goalsquare. I know hind sight is a beautiful thing, but there have been few more important decisions that the club has had to make over the last 6-7 years. It was crucial that we picked well at the 2014 draft. With the number one pick it was our biggest opportunity to pick up a star for the next generation: our next Riewoldt, Goddard or (dare I say it) Judd. From the media reports at the time Petracca was the clear number one choice in the lead up to that draft. If we were drafting on ability instead of perceived need it was a no-brainer. I understand our logic - we thought we needed a key forward - but McCartin is no Tony Lockett. I say this with all due respect to McCartin himself who seems a great young guy, and to our recruiting team who has generally done a great job over the last five years, but sometimes mistakes are made, and when they are we have to recognise them, deal with them, and only then can we move on. I think McCartin can and probably will be a really good player for us, but he won't give us what Petracca would have. As ever, I am happy to be proven wrong." I don't think he will be proven wrong but it's far too early to write off McCartin. Key forwards take their time in development. The discussion however, did mirror some of the standard debate generated here whenever we look at failed draft selections from the past.

Is it true they're going to redesign the dome on the roof so that it resembles Donald's combover?

Oops - yes Oscar shouldn't be there.

AFL players* for this week's Casey Demons v Box Hill Hawks - 9. Jack Trengove 16. Dean Kent 17. Sam Frost 21. Cameron Pedersen 32. Tomas Bugg 33. Jake Spencer 37. Dion Johnstone 38. Tim Smith 40. Patrick McKenna 42. Josh Wagner 45. Declan Keilty 47. Lachlan Filipovic 48. Corey Maynard That means our injured/unavailable players are:- 8. Heritier Lumumba 14. Michael Hibberd 20. Colin Garland 22. Aaron Vandenberg 23. Bernie Vince 24. Jay Kennedy-Harris 27. Liam Hulett 34. Mitch King 41. Mitchell White 44. Joel Smith Ben Kennedy is the hold over player in reserve for the seniors on Sunday. * numbers are the MFC number

Where's Saty when you need him?