Whispering_Jack

Odd spot: Today's first game between GWS and Fremantle ended in a draw 7.1.43 to 6.7.43, the first drawn match in AFLW. Way back in the first VFL season in Round 7 1897, Fitzroy and South Melbourne played the first drawn game and the scores were also 43 points each.

We did lose our last game by 100+ points.

To their credit, the administrators at AFLW ordered a costume change at quarter time (another first in football?). #wecanworkitout GWS changed their shorts but in my book, it's a confusing whitish clash of jumpers. Farce.

It's my difficult task to present you with the JLT ladder as it currently stands showing Collingwood on top. Collingwood 1 - - 105 94 111.7 4 Hawthorn 1 - - 98 94 104.3 4 Geelong - 1 - 94 98 95.9 0 Essendon - 1 - 94 105 89.5 0

Talk is part and parcel of this time of the year. All that starts changing tonight thankfully.

I trust you were being facetious with that line LG. After all, on average clubs only get one first-round pick per draft so fluffing barely more than one per draft is an unmitigated disaster. Of course, it's possible to mount an argument that most of those fluffed picks were double fluffs. For example, picking Blease was one error, not picking Hanneberry or Sloane was another. Anyway, BP's days at Melbourne are long gone. What must have impressed the Kangaroo hierarchy was the way he performed his role at Carlton where he spent the past five years at Carlton working in the coaching department as an opposition analyst. Oops.

I'm reporting this to Adrian Anderson. He'll fix it all up ... no, wait.

And in the 1999 draft when he was hampered through Melbourne losing its first round pick (salary cap breach), he drafted future captain Brad Green (19), Paul Wheatley (20), Michael Clark (42 as f/s), Matthew Whelan (50), Shannon O'Brien (63) and Cameron Bruce (64). Not a bad collection either.

The AFLW round three Melbourne team B: Brooke Patterson, Mia-Rae Clifford, Katherine Smith HB: Daisy Pearce, Laura Duryea, Shelley Scott C: Harriet Cordner HF: Karen Paxman, Lily Mithen, Deanna Berry F: Sarah Lampard, Jessica Anderson, Cat Phillips FOLL: Lauren Pearce, Mel Hickey, Elise O’Dea I/C: Emma Humphries, Richelle Cranston, Aliesha Newman, Jasmine Grierson, Maddie Boyd, Alyssa Mifsud EMG: Ainslie Kemp, Sarah Jolly In: Cranston, Newman Out: Downie (hamstring), Jolly Injured/unavailable: Stephanie De Bortoli, Downie, Pepa Randall

Perhaps not Panasonic Cup - I think that was around the time when Jack was born. I have a feeling it was in Paul Roos' first pre season and given the Roos philosophy of ahem ... tanking ... in pre season games, it was a bit of a surprise that we won that particular game.

Terribly disappointed to see that Matthew La Fontaine of the Dandenong Stingrays has joined Collingwood VFL. With that name he should be at the Casey Demons.

I'm really looking forward to the day - and it's coming soon - when Jack's form does it's own talking for him. The last time he was anywhere close to full fitness he was one of our best in a NAB Cup/Challenge game a few years ago when we beat Richmond. I hope he can prove himself again although he is up against some strong opposition for a place in our best 22.

The Plaintiff in this case must think the Supreme Court justices are a humourless lot and in need of some laughter which is, after all, the best medicine. Another windfall for the legal fraternity from the gift that keeps on giving.

Paul Amy of the Herald Sun is tweeting that the Casey Demons FC have locked in Gippsland Power graduates Kieran Byers, Ethan East, Jai Rout, Trent Armour and Keenan Hughes. Other signings are ex-Dandenong Stingrays Tom Glen, Lachlan Gill-Renouf and Dan Allsop, and Sandringham's Liam Hiscock. Amy has also written in his paper's local edition that former Noble Park and Sandringham player Yilber “Bella’’ Zijai, trying his luck at Casey Demons in the VFL this year, did well in Melbourne’s intraclub hitout last Friday.

The club has finally produced an update: "Upcoming open training sessions: Men's team Wednesday, February 15, Gosch's Paddock - 9.30am Women's team Thursday, February 16, Gosch's Paddock - 6:30pm All other training sessions are closed"

Northern Territorian Tony Olango was mentioned in dispatches late last year as a potential ruck prospect but missed out on both the main and the rookie drafts. Now set to become a Hawk. Hawthorn set to sign Tony Olango as Next Generation player through new AFL rule "The league last month advised clubs of a change to the status of multicultural players living in Darwin under Next Generation academy rules. "Darwin had not originally been allocated to a club under the Next Generation rule because of the city's history of developing AFL players, however the five clubs with Next Generation zones in the Northern Territory - Geelong, Essendon, Collingwood, Melbourne and the Hawks - are now able to nominate multicultural players living in Darwin for their respective academies. The players are then eligible to be drafted by the clubs at a 20 per cent discount, using the same bidding system in place for the NSW and Queensland clubs' academies and father-son selections."

The usual procedure in the past has been that a squad of 27 is announced two days before the game. Three players then are eliminated from the final 24 who play. I'm assuming that it's the same this year.

I think they're trying to keep a lid on things. No training times on the official site.

So what is it about coaches that makes a team good? I think Clarkson is the epitome of the successful modern day coach and Luke Beverage is close behind. But you have to have the right cattle as well. RDB was sensational at Carlton and then North but couldn't get results at Melbourne although it could be argued that he set the tone for better times under Northey. Malthouse was a genius at Collingwood and said to be loved by the players there and yet it was said he was despised at Carlton where he was an abject failure. You wouldn't want to be a coach for quids.

Precisely.

There's black and white and there are shades of gray in between. It seems to me that there's a conflict between the opinions of some of Gysberts' teammates if we're to believe what's been expressed here:- demoniac - "According to one of his Melbourne team mates he just did not have the work ethic required. Same team mate ask Gysberts to train with him in the offseason and do all the sessions in an effort to lift his endurance and intensity in preparation for pre season. Fair to say Gysberts did not quite commit." Vogon Poetry - "Gysberts was an introvert and was crushed by the hostile atmosphere generated by Neeld and his philosophy. This has been confirmed to me by both players and staff who were there at the time." Dean Bailey was Gysberts' first coach and had him for two years during which time the player showed he had the natural talent that made him a first round draft pick but also the limitations as mentioned in earlier posts. The off season to which demoniac is referring most likely was 2011-2 which is when Neeld took over the reins at the club so there were issues that were well and truly embedded by the time Neeld arrived. I would suggest that an introvert who had limitations and was already shunning the opportunity to take part in a regime of self-improvement would have fared no better under the coaching of Paul Roos or Simon Goodwin than he did under Mark Neeld and later under Brad Scott. The comparison between Gysberts on the one hand and Petracca and Oliver on the other is ludicrous because the latter two have already demonstrated their desire for self-improvement and are already showing the benefits of that. So who should we blame? Was it Bailey, Neeld, the hostile atmosphere in a dysfunctional club, poor recruiting and list management, "burn out", Gysberts himself or the tooth fairy? Upon whose judgement do we rely to make the call? I suspect that it was a combination of a number of factors and issues that beset him and indeed the club going back a number of years that led us to the uncomfortable period we've experienced since our last finals appearance. Thankfully, those days are behind us and to bring us back to the discussion at hand - the areas in which we have improved immeasurably are coaching and recruiting. Kelly is going to be a great player but the trade that netted us Tyson, Salem and ultimately Hunt (as Redleg has pointed out) works for me.

Fixed.

The SA Under 18 trials got under way today -MCDONALD’S SA U18 TRIAL TEAMS For the record, the first trial game was close with the Blue Team beating the Red Team 11.6.72 to 10.7.67.

One aspect of having a women's competition is that for some reason it makes it so much easier to conduct a mature conversation about the sexuality of players ~ First openly gay AFL player couple: "We're proud, and proud of each other"

Jordan Lewis shines while Clayton Oliver looking leaner in Melbourne intra-club match Jordan Lewis is driving high standards and Max Gawn continues to ruck well but this is the part I liked the most ~ "Clayton Oliver, who looks significantly fitter this year, seems destined to build on his solid debut season. He worked hard through the midfield, while Christian Petracca and Christian Salem were also prominent. "Angus Brayshaw only played one of the periods in his return from a calf issue, but provided plenty of highlights both in attack and in the middle. He looks set for a big year, having battled complications with concussion in the middle of last year, before playing the last seven games."