Whispering_Jack

The Stawell Gift is a time honoured sprint race which is traditionally run at Central Park, Stawell in the Grampians on Easter Monday. It began in 1878 and has been run in every year since, apart from four times during WW2 and in 2020 during the Covid19 epidemic. Today, we honour former Melbourne footballer, Alf Tredinnick who won the 1902 Stawell Gift in 12.2 seconds, running off 11½ yards. Tredinnick was born in Castlemain and moved west where he played football for Rovers Football Club in the Western Australian Football Association in 1898 before moving to the Goldfields Football Association to play for Kalgoorlie from 1899 to 1900. He was an all-round sportsman who also played cricket and ran as a sprinter. As an employee of the Western Australian Bank he had to run professionally under the assumed name "Alf Hall". He returned to Victoria in 1901 and played seven games (one goal) for Melbourne during that season. He then turned his attention to winning Australia’s most prestigious running race, the In 1902 Stawell Gift. Sadly, Alf died after a short illness in 1910, still in his 30s. His obituary remembered him as "one of the best footballers and athletes in the Castlemaine district". Incidentally, apologies for the title to this thread. Of course, Melbourne were known as the Redlegs back in the first decade of the 20th Century.

There are some competing factors at play. We have to respect our opposition and expect them to come out ready to play. So we have to pick a team to win (that might sound silly because everyone has that aim at this time of year). There’s also a need to preserve your playing group and have them match fit for the long season. I wouldn’t risk Steven May this week. I would rest Jack Billings and Ben Brown and bring in Koltyn Tholstrop and Tom Fullarton. The decision on Brown would be based on consultation with the player and medical staff. Tholstrop looks ready to play at AFL level and Fullarton would fill a forward need and give Max a chop out in the ruck, allowing JvR the opportunity to spend more time in the forward line.

The Sandringham Dragons vs Oakleigh Chargers match up at RSEA Park yesterday turned out to be a fizzer with the Dragons winning 15.13.103 to 7.9.51. Best for the winners were Hotton, Ashcroft and Marshall while Jagga Smith was good for Oakleigh. Noah Yze was quiet.

FIELD OF DREAMS by KC from Casey The sunny skies and still, clear conditions that greeted fans on their arrival created a dreamlike Easter carnival atmosphere for Casey’s game against Footscray at Casey Fields. After their dreams of a flying start to the new season were shattered a week earlier with a disappointing error-riddled opening, the home supporters were given much hope with an improved performance from their team. They were treated with a high standard game of VFL football played in perfect conditions. It was Footscray’s steadiness under pressure and a huge advantage in experience that saw them run out victorious by 14 points, but what the fans saw in the Casey performance was not only improvement but also, a plethora of encouraging signs for the future. Both sides came well out of the blocks early and traded goals until Casey got on top with three quick goals to hold an 18 point lead in mid-term. The Casey rucks and midfielders opened strongly giving the forwards room to move and the goals came. In defence, Jed Adams was a key in his defensive role but when he went off injured, the strong marking Rory Lobb booted two goals and Bianco another to even the scores with the goals deep into time on. After the break, Casey dominated the first half of the second quarter but apart from an easy initial goal to Schache, his third, the Demons simply could not hit targets. Moved back to full forward this week, Matt Jefferson had a purple patch taking some strong marks but his good work was undone with wayward kicking for goal. During this period, he hit the post twice while two other shots failed to score at all. As often happens, the Bulldogs made them pay for their errant kicking at goal scoring four of the next five goals (with Jefferson finally hitting the target for the first time) to go into the sheds at half time with an 8 point lead. The Dogs’ greater accuracy in the third quarter when the Demons kicked only six behinds, saw them stretch the lead to 19 points and while Casey finally got their kicking boots on in the final term, Footscray always had the answers and held on to record a well-deserved 14 point victory. The visitors were loaded with experience at the highest level including two 150 plus AFL games players Rory Lobb (5 goals) and Melbourne premiership player James Harmes (with a game high 33 disposals), 100 gamer Alex Keath and a bevy of other names like Garcia, Jones, McNeil, O’Donnell, Scott and Spicer. By way of contrast, Casey’s only Melbourne listers with experience at AFL level were Josh Schache with 76 games across three clubs and Brisbane recruit Tom Fullarton with 19 games at the Lions. Both had good games with Schache important with four goals but in the heat of battle, the experience differential was significant, especially after Bailey Laurie and Adam Tomlinson were withdrawn from the side and flew to Adelaide to be with the Melbourne team. One of the main functions of this tier of football is to provide a good platform for an AFL club’s youth and another, to give local communities access to a high standard of sport. In this regard, the game showcased the potential at Casey for the fulfillment of many future dreams. Despite Jefferson’s missed goalkicking opportunities (he finished with 2.3 but his accuracy in the past has been sound), the game proved to be a massive confidence booster for him in terms of the way he clunked his seven marks and also, for his ground level play. His duel with fellow uncapped 2022 first round draftee Jedd Busslinger was a ripper and one can imagine similar contests in the future on a higher stage. Also impressive from that class of 2022 were key defender Jed Adams who played his best game yet at Casey, finishing with 11 disposals, rookie ruckman Will Verrall’s 25 hit outs, 19 possessions and two goals and late rookie pick Oliver Sestan (18 disposals, six tackles and a goal) whose improvement over summer has been remarkable. He crashed through packs and intimated the opposition at times in a strong display. Andy Moniz-Wakefield was good again with 23 disposals as he pushes hard for senior selection as he awaits an opening to present itself at Melbourne. Adding to the excitement was the form of Melbourne’s 2023 first-round draftee Koltyn Tholstrup and father/son pick Kynan Brown. The Kolt was again super-impressive with his strength and maturity and the classy way he gathered his 19 touches and six tackles, setting up numerous forward opportunities. The club will have to find a way to include him in its AFL plans soon. Brown was busy again and finished with 16 disposals. Much has been written about the departure of a number of Casey regulars at the end of last season. Some, like heart and soul player and hard tackler Jimmy Munro are irreplaceable but the club’s recruitment has, on this game’s evidence, been very strong. Campbell Husthwaite was again prolific in the middle, Leo Connolly, a revelation off half back (both had 24 disposals) and Mitch Szybkowski was excellent, particularly early in the game. Skipper Mitch White plugged away to be his team’s best for the day while Tyler Edwards also picked up plenty of the football. The end result was most satisfying for the fans who came to support the team over the Easter holiday. A win is not far away and could come next Saturday week against Port Melbourne. Such an outcome might not be the stuff of dreams but the promise of good times is definitely on the horizon for the Melbourne/Casey alliance. CASEY DEMONS 6.2.38 8.7.55 8.13.61 12.13.85 FOOTSCRAY 6.2.38 10.3.63 12.8.80 15 9.99 GOALS CASEY DEMONS Schache 4 Jefferson Verrall 2 Connolly Sestan Steele White FOOTSCRAY Lobb 5 Clarke Jones Spicer 2 Benendo Bianco Garcia Harmes BEST CASEY DEMONS White Verrall Edwards Sestan Hustwaite Tholstrop FOOTSCRAY Harmes Garcia Lobb Bianco Freijah Hunt Statistics Jed Adams 10 kicks 1 handballs 11 disposals 4 marks 1 tackle 46 dream team points Kynan Brown 1 behind 6 kicks 10 handballs 16 disposals 5 marks 1 tackle 58 dream team points Leo Connolly 1 goal 1 behind 19 kicks 5 handballs 24 disposals 4 marks 80 dream team points Paddy Cross 5 kicks 7 handballs 12 disposals 3 marks 1 tackle 42 dream team points Tyler Edwards 1 behind 16 kicks 5 handballs 21 disposals 10 marks 2 tackles 95 dream team points Kyah Farris-White 1 kick 1 disposal 3 dream team points Tom Freeman 5 kicks 1 handballs 6 disposals 3 marks 2 tackles 34 dream team points Tom Fullarton 1 behind 10 kicks 8 handballs 18 disposals 4 marks 1 tackle 6 hitouts 70 dream team points Max Gregory 5 kicks 8 handballs 13 disposals 3 marks 3 tackles 53 dream team points Campbell Husthwaite 11 kicks 13 handballs 24 disposals 4 marks 5 tackles 94 dream team points Matt Jefferson 2 goals 3 behinds 9 kicks 9 disposals 7 marks 5 tackles 78 dream team points Andy Moniz-Wakefield 17 kicks 6 handballs 23 disposals 5 marks 75 dream team points Ned Moodie 6 kicks 6 handballs 12 disposals 4 marks 2 tackles 51 dream team points Charlie Peters 2 kicks 2 handballs 4 disposals 1 mark 1 tackle 17 dream team points Josh Schache 4 goals 6 kicks 5 handballs 11 disposals 4 marks 3 tackles 74 dream team points Ollie Sestan 1 goal 2 behinds 10 kicks 8 handballs 18 disposals 5 marks 6 tackles 94 dream team points Tom Sheridan 2 kicks 2 handballs 4 disposals 1 mark 10 dream team points Roan Steele 1 goal 1 behind 7 kicks 6 handballs 13 disposals 2 marks 46 dream team points Mitch Szybkowski 10 kicks 7 handballs 17 disposals 1 mark 1 tackle 52 dream team points Koltyn Tholstrup 8 kicks 11 handballs 19 disposals 6 marks 6 tackles 88 dream team points Ziggy Toledo 4 kicks 2 handballs 6 disposals 3 marks 1 tackle 29 dream team points Will Verrall 2 goals 7 kicks 12 handballs 19 disposals 4 marks 1 tackle 25 hitouts 95 dream team points Mitch White 1 goal 1 behind 21 kicks 7 handballs 28 disposals 7 marks 3 tackles 118 dream team points

Correct

Q2 & Q3 2.11 6.6 The difference is right there but let’s not take anything away from either side. The Dogs had too much strength and experience - Lobb alone has 160 AFL games under his belt and Harmes has 153 AFL games and a premiership. Fullarton and Schache were the only currently listed AFL players in Casey’s team. * I think I prefer what Casey showed today in terms of future players despite the loss. * to be clear, these two were the only MFC listed players out there with AFL experience.

Don’t tell Dazzle.

Interesting that the Box Hill Hawks just beat Geelong VFA by 34 points at GMHBA Stadium with two ruckmen from last week both out (presumably in the lineup for the Easter Monday game). Ned Reeves played for Box Hill as did Finn Maginess who was close to BOG with 27 touches today.

On top of that, two of their AFLW players were done this week for drug use. Shocking culture at Sydney going back decades to Swans player Dale Lewis’ 2002 statement that 75 per cent of AFL players had tried illicit drugs. The Swans’ culture should receive saturation coverage in the media over the next week. And Wicks isn’t the only Swans player not to get a game this weekend. They have a bye.

The Herald Sun article is about the alleged fallout from an end of year trip by the team from Brizvegas to Vegas the city. It contains a hell of a lot of innuendo and very little fact about messages that have leaked out of the team’s WhatsApp group with the suggestion that the boys might have played up a little. Bottom line is the opening paragraph of the article by Sam Landsberger: ”Brisbane Lions have denied a split in their playing ranks despite holding a crisis meeting as the club deals with ongoing fallout from an end-of-season Las Vegas trip.” In other words, they’re saying that what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. So, it appears that three games into the third or fourth round of the season, Melbourne might not be the only club that has deep seated cultural issues (don’t panic, I’m being facetious).

The Dandenong Stingrays’ 198 bottom aged Melbourne NGA prospect, Tarion Ah-Mu had another good day kicking three goals in a 14 disposal, 5 marks game. He also had 9 hit outs in the team’s loss to the Gippsland Power. Their other Demon NGA member Corey Giliam kicked two goals in an otherwise quiet performance. For the winners, Ricky Mentha had a quiet day, failing to bother the scorers and picking up 11 touches.

When Carlton kicked their first goal, they had 11 kicks, 10 handballs and 6 free kicks.

Has Jack Bell left? He was included on the Casey list that was issued just before the start of the season.

Let’s just stick with the hypothetical and not touch anything under investigation. This is what happened when two Collingwood players were tested positive for a substance banned by WADA.

He’ll get a week and the Tribunal will accept Collingwood’s plea that it was a football act that Pendlebury couldn’t avoid and that it be downgraded to low impact (despite Neale collapsing and suffering bruising). 😎

Does anyone remember the days when every VFL and VFA ground was near a train station?

Coming up - the Sandringham Dragons vs Oakleigh Chargers game should be a ripper. Match of the round. In the Gippsland Power vs Dandenong Stingrays game the main event will be National Academy stars Xavier Lindsay and Demon NGA, Ricky Mentha. The former is described by central.rookieme.com as “a polished left-footed midfielder” while the latter “is a small forward with match-winning capabilities.”

Not so sure that all locals in Caulfield disagree with Melbourne being based at Caulfield Racecourse. My understanding is that for Melbourne to get into the precinct, it also has to cater for local community groups and there are such groups happy to locate there as well. Any argument that the development is going to "reduce green space in the area and shut the community out" is spurious because, as I understand it, part of the master plan for the precinct involves the removal of a large number of buildings which previously housed stables and the like. They, in turn, will be replaced by some buildings and plenty of attractive green spaces for community use. As a resident of the area, I say bring it on ...

This, from Rookie Draft Central Tairon Ah-Mu 
Ruck/Forward | 198cm | 06/06/2007 Stats: 10 disposals, 3 marks, 2 goals Ah-Mu started the game in strong form, booting the game’s first two goals with towering marks inside 50. Whether holding his ground under a high ball, owning front position, or going back with the flight, the bottom-ager proved difficult to handle aerially. That translated to his ruck craft, pinch-hitting to win a team-high 12 hitouts.

The schedules for this year’s Marsh AFL National Championships have been announced. The 2024 AFL National Championships – U18 Boys will be played from Sunday, May 26 to Sunday, July 14.

Casey Demons are back at their fortress this Saturday afternoon with everything pointing to a tough day at the office. Add the well documented injuries to players at AFL level to the need to preserve some extra bodies because of the five day break between the MFC’s two Adelaide games and you have the recipe for another disappointing outcome for Casey. On the brighter side, it will give some younger players an opportunity to perform at this level and to test their mettle.

Surely Hugh McCluggage and Oliver Florent might be worth a look?

Unlikely that other clubs are going to go after anyone on this list although Marty Hore is one who could potentially attract interest if he continues on his current trajectory. He is definitely a much improved player over the one who left the club at the end of 2021. Probably of more interest to Demon fans is the list of free agents from the 17 other clubs.

Yes - it’s probably a little early and the placings are a bit skewed because of the fixture … but people are already speculating, so here are the current picks with points attached to each ~ ROUND ONE 1 West Coast Eagles (3,000) 2 Hawthorn (2,517) 3 North Melbourne (2,234) 4 Fremantle (2,034) received from Collingwood in 2023 5 Richmond (1,878) 6 Adelaide (1,751) 7 Brisbane Lions (1,644) 8 Essendon (1,551) 9 Gold Coast Suns (1,469) received from Western Bulldogs in 2023 10 St Kilda (1,395) 11 Gold Coast Suns (1,329) 12 Carlton (1,268) 13 Geelong (1,212) 14 Fremantle (1,161) 15 Melbourne (1,112) 16 Fremantle (1,067) received from Port Adelaide in 2023 17 Sydney Swans (1,025) 18 GWS Giants (985) 19 Sydney Swans (948) received from North Melbourne in 2023, received from AFL as compensation in 2023 20 Gold Coast Suns (912) received from North Melbourne in 2023, received from AFL as compensation in 2023 ROUND TWO 21 West Coast Eagles (878) 22 Collingwood (845) received from Hawthorn in 2023 23 North Melbourne (815) 24 Hawthorn (785) received from Collingwood in 2023 25 Richmond (756) 26 GWS Giants (729) received from Adelaide in 2023 27 Gold Coast Suns (703) received from Hawthorn in 2023, received from Brisbane in 2023 28 Essendon (677) 29 Western Bulldogs (653) 30 Fremantle (629) received from St Kilda in Liam Henry trade 31 Gold Coast (606) 32 Carlton 31 (584) 33 Geelong (563) 34 Richmond (542) received from Port Adelaide in 2023, received from Fremantle in 2023 35 Adelaide (522) received from Melbourne in 2023 for Shane McAdam 36 Port Adelaide (502) 37 Melbourne (483) received from Sydney in 2023 for Brodie Grundy 38 St Kilda (465) received from GWS Giants in 2023 ROUND THREE 39 Richmond (446) received from West Coast in 2023 40 Collingwood (429) received from Hawthorn in 2023 41 North Melbourne (412) 42 Collingwood (395) 43 Richmond (378) 44 Adelaide (362) 45 Brisbane Lions (347) 46 Gold Coast Suns (331) received from Carlton in 2023, received from Essendon in 2023 47 Melbourne (316) 48 Melbourne (302) 49 Western Bulldogs (287) 50 St Kilda (273) received by the Western Bulldogs in 2023 received from St Kilda received from Gold Coast in 2023 received from Carlton in 2023 51 Geelong (259) 52 Richmond (246) 53 St Kilda (233) received from Fremantle in 2023 received from Melbourne in 2023 54 Port Adelaide (220) 55 Sydney Swans (207) 56 GWS Giants (194) ROUND FOUR 57 West Coast Eagles (182) 58 Brisbane Lions (170) received from Hawthorn in 2023 59 North Melbourne (158) 60 Richmond (146) received from Essendon in 2023, received from Hawthorn in 2023, received from Collingwood in 2023 61 Richmond (135) 62 Adelaide (123) 63 Brisbane Lions (112) 64 North Melbourne (111) received from Port Adelaide in 2023, received from Essendon in 2023 65 Carlton (90) received from the Bulldogs in 2023 66 Fremantle (80) received from St Kilda in Liam Henry trade 67 Carlton (69) received from Gold Coast in 2023 68 Port Adelaide (59) received from Essendon in 2023, received from Carlton in 2023 69 Geelong (49) 70 Carlton (39) received from St Kilda in 2023, received from Frementle in Liam Henry trade 71 Melbourne (29) 72 Richmond (19) received from Port Adelaide in 2023 73 Sydney Swans (9) 74 GWS Giants (0) Club by club (selections and points) Adelaide 6, 35, 44, 62 (2758) Brisbane Lions 7, 45, 58, 63 (2,273) Carlton 12, 32, 65, 67, 70 (2,050) Collingwood 22, 40, 42 (1,669) Essendon 8, 28 (2,228) Fremantle 4, 14, 16, 30, 66 (4,971) Geelong 13, 33, 51, 69 (2,083) Gold Coast Suns 9, 11, 20, 27, 31, 46 (5,350) GWS Giants 18, 26, 56, 74 (1,908) Hawthorn 2, 24 (3,302) Melbourne 15, 37, 47, 48, 71 (2,242) North Melbourne 3, 23, 41, 59, 64 (3,720) Port Adelaide 36, 54, 68 (781) Richmond 5, 25, 34, 39, 43, 52, 60, 61, 72 (4546) St Kilda 10, 38, 50, 53 (2,366) Sydney Swans 17, 19, 55, 73 (2,189) West Coast 1, 21, 57 (4,060) Western Bulldogs 29, 49 (940)

At the moment, young Yze is of a size just a little bit too short for a key position and probably not quite fast enough for a midfielder. He’s still young enough to grow and develop his skills and running ability so it’s fantastic that he’s in the elite system at a strong Coates Talent League club along with the benefit of being under the eye of both the Melbourne Football Club and his father which means he has a good chance of getting onto our club’s list if he puts in the work. Hopefully, he will get the opportunity once or twice this year to show his wares at Casey as Kynan Brown did last year.