Whispering_Jack

Chris25

Chris25

Chris25

Thanks to bigfooty's Chris25, the following is the rundown of the Under 18 Championship teams. He's ordered the players by height, and indicated which players are overaged (with one asterisk) and which are underaged (with two asterisks) Division 1 Round 1 WA v SA - Saturday May 23, 11am at Lathlain Park VM v VC - Sunday May 24, 11am at Simonds Stadium Round 2 SA v VM - Saturday May 30, 10.45am at AAMI Stadium WA v VC - Sunday May 31, 12pm at Medibank Stadium Round 3 SA v WA - Saturday June 6, 12pm at AAMI Stadium VC v VM - Sunday June 7, 12pm at Simonds Stadium Round 4 WA v VM - Saturday June 13, 11.20am at Domain Stadium SA v VC - Sunday June 14, 11am at AAMI Stadium Round 5 VC v SA - Friday June 26, 12.35pm at Simonds Stadium VM v WA - Friday June 26, 2.35pm at Simonds Stadium Round 6 VM v SA - Wednesday July 1, 5.05pm at Etihad Stadium VC v WA - Thursday July 2, 1.15pm at Simonds Stadium Division 2 Round 1 NSW/ACT v TAS - Satuday June 20, 10am at Gold Coast QLD v NT - Saturday June 20, 12.30pm at Gold Coast Round 2 TAS v QLD - Saturday June 27, 12pm at Simonds Stadium NSW/ACT v NT - Saturday June 27, 2.10pm at Simonds Stadium Round 3 NT v TAS - Wednesday July 1, 3.05pm at Etihad Stadium NSW/ACT v QLD - Thursday July 2, 11.05am at Simonds Stadium

McCartney is well known as development coach and deserved the kudos he earned in raising those kids at the Bulldogs but there have been some worrying signs there of late. Their success earlier in the season was based to an extent on the exuberance of youth but the loss of so many experienced players is already starting to take its toll. They have tired badly in their last few games which is the disadvantage of relying on youth. I heard Nick Maxwell on radio at the weekend saying he hoped Collingwood wouldn't make the eight and certainly not the top six because they were a young side and it was too early for them to be up there because they would end up getting a difficult draw when they should be ready to take on the challenge of the finals. The lesson for us is that we have a bit of balance at the club in this phase thanks to our recruiting which has given us some handy experienced players along with some developing recruits and also players like Toumpas and Fitzpatrick etc who have been around for a little while, yet are still developing and that's where I think McCartney comes in. If we can finish middle of the road, then we're starting to build a team to go places.

Casey cage the Tigers Max Gawn leads the way as the Casey Scorpions tame the Tigers under lights

Before the game, I recalled the words of Brutus in William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar:- "There is a tide in the affairs of men. Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat, And we must take the current when it serves, Or lose our ventures." It's not that I'm a believer in the concept of the "line in the sand" but if it was ever needed at Melbourne in the past eight or nine seasons then this was the time to take the current and move forward. Three crushing defeats at the hands of clubs at the leading edge of the AFL competition, the last by three figures had left us wondering whether it was ever going to be possible to bridge the enormous chasm between the top echelon of the competition and those who struggle beneath them barely treading water. Something had to be done this week. A statement had to be made and it was made, perhaps not as eloquently as in the words of the great bard but made it was in the form of Melbourne's 39 point victory over the Western Bulldogs. The opening lines were delivered by youth. Young first season power forward Jesse Hogan marked 15 metres out and booted a goal in the first minute and then there was silence as the Bulldogs moved into action and dominated the next seventeen. They looked threatening without causing too much damage on the scoreboard but we feared that the flood would be unleashed at any time. In a moment of boredom when I was expecting the worst and even a possible early exit on a coolish evening, I looked up the statistics on the AFL ap on my iPhone and the inside 50 figures showed the Bulldogs in command by a whopping 16 to 1. And then the tide turned. A couple of behinds and two quick goals to Jimmy Toumpas and Cam Pedersen, two often maligned players and the Demons were on their way. They continued their dominance into the second term to set up a 20 point half time lead through the strength of their persistence and tackling and through some hard running. Jake Spencer was playing his best game for the club in the ruck. Nathan Jones was leading the way at ground level with great assistance from rookie revelation Aaron vandenBerg and Bernie Vince was doing the hard work nullifying the dangerous Marcus Bontempelli. The contrast between Hogan and the Bulldogs' key forward Tom Boyd (who was thrashed by Jack Fitzpatrick in his new role in defence) was marked as the Demon full-forward was a focus in attack combining perfectly with Pedersen. The Demons continued their surge well into the third term with goals to Howe and Hogan that saw them off to a 33 point lead but at that point both tragedy and comedy became the order of the day. A Tom McDonald lunge was adjudged by the video as being a fingertip short of stopping a goal and then a couple of cheap goals were gifted to the Doggies by Demon brain fades including one from the skipper who ignored or missed two players in the middle of the ground to kick backwards. Early in the final term, when the visitors had edged to within seven points, it seemed that tide had turned again but some clever combination between Hogan and Pedersen started an inexorable Demon march to victory. Jeremy Howe entertained the crowd with his weekly mark of the year contribution, Jeff Garlett and Bernie Vince booted some gem goals from impossible angles and Angus Brayshaw underlined his great potential with a sizzling final quarter. Melbourne learned a great deal over the three week period when it succumbed to those top sides and now it was its turn to treat an opponent with disdain as it ran down the clock playing keepings off with the despondent Dishlickers. The team would have learned a great deal from former Bulldog coach Brendan McCartney who knows his former charges very well and helped expose their weaknesses. The game was also a reward for Paul Roos who has been steadfast in overseeing the team's development and is steering them through treacherous currents and into calmer waters. Melbourne 3.3.21 7.5.47 10.10.70 10 15.13.103 Western Bulldogs 2.3.15 3.9.27 8.9.57 9.10.64 Goals Melbourne Hogan Pedersen 3 Toumpas Vince 2 Newton Garlett Howe M Jones N Jones Newton Western Bulldogs Stringer 2 Dale Dahlhaus Hunter Jong Picken Wallis Wood Best Melbourne vandenBerg N Jones Pedersen Hogan Vince Fitzpatrick Brayshaw Western Bulldogs Dahlhaus M Boyd Wallis Wood Changes Melbourne Nil Western Bulldogs Nil Injuries Melbourne Matt Jones (concussion) Western Bulldogs Brett Goodes (arm) Substitutions Melbourne Aidan Riley replaced Matt Jones in the third quarter Western Bulldogs Bailey Dale replaced Tom Boyd in the third quarter Reports Melbourne Nil Western Bulldogs Nil Umpires Robert Findlay, Andrew Mitchell, Curtis Deboy Official Crowd 29,381 at the MCG

Jimmy Toumpas - Bring on Wines

Please don't forget the Jones rule folks - there were two of them out there.

Game over - we won and we can talk about it in the post match discussion thread

I'm not sure as to whether it was such a good idea for Billy Stretch to be made the emergency for today's game because if he doesn't get a run, he could also miss out next week (Casey has a bye). Given that he was the sub, the week before, he's not getting much footy in lately. Also, with that bye, it probably explains why Nev Jetta and Jack Viney have been pushed hard at training - they might be called straight into the AFL without much match practice.

Au contraire - there's a lot of stuff that's been made up -

The Northern Blues are Carlton's VFL affiliate. If this keeps up we might have a hand in Malthouse's downfall.

You've completely missed my point dazzle (you're not alone btw). Everyone's entitled to their opinions and mine happen to differ with yours and others. The problem is that in many instances people tend to embellish their opinions with what they believe to be the facts but which are unsubstantiated and even false. It's something we see throughout society and its particularly rampant on Demonland with anyone who turns out to become an unpopular figure or a scapegoat for our problems. Take Mark Neeld or Jack Watts who are/were by no means perfect but an urban mythology of demonization has built up around them so that stories that are demonstrably false are accepted as truth. In the words of American politician and sociologist Daniel Patrick Moynihan: "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts."

Are they showing repeats of previous Carlton Friday night games on TV or is what I'm seeing live?

The teams for Round 1 of the NAB AFL U18 Championships have been announced for the game at Simonds Stadium on Sunday. Vic Metro and Vic Country with meet at 11am to kick off both Academies 2015 campaign, with Dairy Australia and their Legendairy campaign again a major partner. See below both teams: VIC METRO B: Andrew Tashevki-Beckwith (Sandringham Dragons) Jack Firns (Oakleigh Chargers) Daniel Beddison (Oakleigh Chargers) HB: Ben Crocker (Oakleigh Chargers) Kane Keppel (Eastern Ranges) Alex Morgan (Oakleigh Chargers) C: Tom Phillips (Oakleigh Chargers) Bryce Batty (Eastern Ranges) James Parsons (Eastern Ranges) HF Harley Balic (Sandringham Dragons) Harry Thompson (Oakleigh Chargers) Hisham Kerbatieh (Calder Cannons) F: Daniel Houston (Oakleigh Chargers) Jayden Collins (Eastern Ranges) Blake Hardwick (Eastern Ranges) FOLL: Mark Kovacevic (Calder Cannons) Theo Thompson (Sandringham Dragons) Nick O'Kearney (Calder Cannons) I/C: Ryan Clark (Eastern Ranges) Jade Gresham (Northern Knights) Sam McLarty (Oakleigh Chargers) Jack Silvagni (Oakleigh Chargers) Kade Answerth (Oakleigh Chargers) Jack Whitehead (Oakleigh Chargers) VIC COUNTRY B: Bailey Rice (Dandenong Stingrays) Christian Buykx-Smith (Gippsland Power) Kieran Collins (Dandenong Stingrays) HB: Darcy Tucker (North Ballarat Rebels) Jacob Weitering (Dandenong Stingrays) Jarrod Berry (North Ballarat Rebels) C: Deven Costigan (Gippsland Power) Nash Holmes (Gippsland Power) David Mennen (Murray Bushrangers) HF: Joe Maishman (Geelong Falcons/Werribee) Josh Schache (Murray Bushrangers) Will Brodie (Murray Bushrangers) F: Ben Ainsworth (Gippsland Power) Sam Skinner (Gippsland Power) Yestin Eades (North Ballarat Rebels) FOLL: Gach Nyuon (Dandenong Stingrays) Rhys Mathieson (Geelong Falcons) Tom Cole (Bendigo Pioneers) I/C: Mitch Cox (Dandenong Stingrays) Kurt Mutimer (Dandenong Stingrays) Tom Doedee (Geelong Falcons) Ryan Hearn (Gippsland Power) Jy Simpkin (Murray Bushrangers) Thomas Jok (Dandenong Stingrays ) Will Sexton (Geelong Falcons)

True ... but even the most one eyed observer like Caro who has no love for Schwab once had a different view of his role - Schwab is Dees' unsung hero The result at the end was that we were stuffed and Schwab did the honourable thing and admitted responsibility. But was he the sole reason for the fact that we were stuffed? I don't think so ... by a long way.

As I indicated above in my post Bub, the chain of causation is a lot more complex than that and there is certainly a fair amount of debate about our financial state then and now and because of the structures of the AFL whether the "bail out" was even a "bail out" given that the latest statistics show that we receive less from the AFL than a number of other clubs in circumstances where AFL funding is called anything but "bail out" money. We certainly don't have the financial benefit of playing on the main AFL stage every second Friday night as Carlton does.

I've done that and it's only a small minority who had any issues with him. Most appreciate his work for a club that was broke and won two games in the year before he arrived and had never played in a final let alone won one.

"Poisonous histories". Give it a break.It's amazing the amount of history revision that goes on around here about Cameron Schwab. In the first instance, people who take over dysfunctional organisations are expected to achieve results, not win popularity contests. He might have trod on a few toes at Freo when he took over as CEO of that basket case in 2001 after the club had experienced their worst ever season, sacking their coach mid-year and winning only two games for the year but he immediately * improved club finances substantially and when he left, the club was considerably stronger in that area; * the club made the finals for the first time in 2003 winning 14 and losing 8 games in the home and away season. In 2006, the year before he left they made the preliminary final. It's generally accepted that the period of his tenure laid the groundwork for the power house club that is Fremantle today. After he arrived at Melbourne, he improved its financial base from $5m in the red to substantially in the black but we know it was the team's poor on field performance that brought the club down and whilst we can argue till we're red and blue in the face about who and what was at fault for that - poor recruiting, poor coaching, "tanking" (which incidentally got Hawthorn and Collingwood to premierships), there's no doubt in my mind that, even though he properly accepted responsibility when he stood down, he's still copping a bad rap from the distorters of history and even from those whose toes he trod on early in the piece and who fought so hard to bring him down. We're still feeling the consequences of that power struggle today. Now, if you're going to bag Schwab for his performance at Fremantle, why not compare it to what's happening at Melbourne today. In his third season with the Dockers that club won 14 games and lost 9 (including a final). Peter Jackson is in his third season at Melbourne and his continuing appointment for a further season is being hailed by most but we've only won seven games since he came on board. Our coach Paul Roos has notched up six wins from 29 games to date with the benefit of some excellent recruiting and we're mostly satisfied and prepared to give him more time to lift the club. By contrast, Mark Neeld was expected to recruit off the smell of an oily rag while ditching disaffected players and his record from his first 29 games was five wins (the same record as Dean Bailey who lasted almost four years) and by that time the knives were firmly planted in his back and he was on his way out of the door. I'm not suggesting any sackings or further turmoil but let's not get things out of context when discussing our past history and let's not demean people who worked hard to do their job at the club and remained loyal to the end.

Wednesday 20th May Tonight I'll be fronting up as usual to the Devil's Advocates Dinner for members of the legal fraternity who support the Melbourne Football Club. They include judges and their associates, solicitors, barristers, paralegal people and their staff all with that one thing in common - the fact that red and blue blood courses through their veins. That, and the fact that they have suffered greatly through the sport over time (except of course, for those who managed to get a professional involvement in the Essendon drug saga) It's almost becoming a tradition that on the weekend before this function, Melbourne suffers a hiding of gigantic proportions meaning that the mood of the evening is usually sombre if not funereal. As a reminder of how poorly the Demons performed in their game against the Hawks, I give you this report from Footy Almanac. As a result, I pity for instance, Phil Kingston, the auctioneer who has to flog various Demon related products during the course of the evening, like an afternoon in the coaches box, when the enthusiasm among the crowd leaves a lot to be desired. I might even be tempted to put in a bid for the coaches box gig but only on a non match day. Still, I always look forward to the event and trust that there will be some special revelation that might reveal a light at the end of that very long tunnel that seems to extend itself whenever we get a third of the way into a season. THE GAME Melbourne v Western Bulldogs at The MCG Sunday 24 May 2015 at 3.20pm HEAD TO HEAD Overall: Melbourne 84 Western Bulldogs 74 wins wins 1 draw At MCG: Melbourne 44 wins Western Bulldogs 27 wins Last Five Meetings: Melbourne 1 win Western Bulldogs 4 wins The Coaches: Roos 0 wins Beveridge 0 wins MEDIA TV - Fox Sports Channel 3 Radio - SEN ABC ABC Grandstand THE BETTING Melbourne $3.05 to win Western Bulldogs $1.38 to win LAST TIME THEY MET Western Bulldogs 14.7.91 defeated Melbourne 13.7.85 at Etihad Stadium in Round 15, 2014. The Demons had a slow start but recovered from way back to lead late in the game until a few defensive mistakes and some brilliance from Marcus Bontempelli saw the Dogs home by a goal. TEAMS MELBOURNE B: Colin Garland, Tom McDonald, Jack Grimes HB: Jeremy Howe, Lynden Dunn, Heritier Lumumba C: Daniel Cross, Aaron vandenBerg, Matt Jones HF: Angus Brayshaw, Cameron Pedersen, Jack Watts F: Jeff Garlett, Jesse Hogan, Jack Fitzpatrick FOLL: Jake Spencer, Nathan Jones, Bernie Vince I/C: Rohan Bail, Ben Newton, Aidan Riley, Jimmy Toumpas EMG: Max Gawn, Viv Michie, Billy Stretch IN: Jack Fitzpatrick, Jesse Hogan, Ben Newton, Aidan Riley, Jack Watts OUT: Chris Dawes (calf), Viv Michie, Christian Salem (hamstring), Billy Stretch, Dom Tyson (knee) WESTERN BULLDOGS B: Matthew Boyd, Jordan Roughead, Easton Wood HB: Robert Murphy, Fletcher Roberts, Jason Johannisen C: Tory Dickson, Liam Picken, Koby Stevens HF: Bailey Dale, Jake Stringer, Mitch Wallis F: Stewart Crameri, Tom Boyd, Luke Dahlhaus FOLL: Ayce Cordy, Lin Jong, Marcus Bontempelli I/C: Shane Biggs, Brett Goodes, Lachie Hunter, Michael Talia EMG: Jarrad Grant Nathan Hrovath Jack Macrae IN: Shane Biggs OUT: Mitch Honeychurch (general soreness) NEW: Shane Biggs Thursday 21st May I sat opposite Heritier Lumumba for part of the Devil's Advocates function (they rotate the club guests during the evening) and found him to be a revelation in terms of his ability to articulate his views on life and football with such intelligence, passion and humour. He is a major asset to the club not only as a player but as a mentor for our young team. When asked by compere Doctor Turf what his initial thoughts were of the three way trade involving Mitch Clark (to Geelong), Travis Varcoe (to Collingwood) and him to Melbourne, it was that the Demons had won. Perhaps he was jesting but I think he might be right. He also added that he felt at home at this function because his stepfather was a Solicitor which meant he understood why so many there were wearing mismatched ties. His story of how his parents were both dancers who met in Brazil (his father was from the undemocratic Republic of Congo). This probably explains the graceful way he moves around the field at times and he was the big hit of the night from my perspective. Josh Mahoney spoke of his experiences as a twice rejected AFL player (Collingwood and Bulldogs) who spent three seasons in the VFL before getting a chance to be a premiership player at Port Adelaide. Josh has had a role change at Melbourne, moving from the coaching to the business side of football which he says suits him just fine. He did mention that Neville Jetta and Jack Viney would miss another week before returning but that Jesse Hogan was good to go this week. The final speaker was Simon Goodwin who spoke of his experiences as coach in waiting and how he was enjoying the learning experience under Paul Roos and how he is being mentored as a future coach by Neale Daniher. It was something that most of the audience knew little about and there a great deal of interest in Neales experiences as he fights his debilitating illness. Goodwin remains very confident that the club is on the right trajectory despite the difficult three week period it has just experienced against three of the competitions strongest sides. He expects us to be a finals prospect within the next two to three years. Congratulations to Devils Advocates convener Ralph Glezer with who I first went with to the footy in our university days which started not long after our golden era ended. There were many times in the barren years of the 70s and 80s that our only joy was the sight of Robbie Flower running on the wings of the MCG and the suburban football grounds of Melbourne. Kudos to Ralph for bringing in poet and Demon fan Greg Shalless to open the night by delivering his tribute to Robbie - https://soundcloud.com/sen1116/ode-to-robbie-flower/ Phil Kingston of Garry Peer & Associates estate agents was brilliant as the auctioneer of various bits and pieces of Melbourne related goodies. Dr. Turf was the compere and ran the show well with his wit and wisdom. He brought the house down with his story about how Prime Minister Bob Hawke gave him his private telephone number so that he could deliver his horse racing tips on a Saturday morning. Turfie asked the PM what would happen if the phone was engaged, to which Hawke answered, then were all f---ed because the only person who has the number is George Bush and if hes on the line it means hes gotten us involved in another bloody war!" I'm wondering if he has the phone number for Paul Roos because I would dearly like to know what hes thinking as Melbourne takes on the Western Bulldogs with a side that it somewhat depleted from the games of early in the season when the team showed significant advances over last year. Despite the fact that the Western Bulldogs have dominated recent meetings between the teams (they have won nine of 10 matches since 2008), the games have been reasonably close affairs with the Demons in the contests until close to the end. The past four contests have been decided by an average margin of 11 points and on most such occasions, it was the overall experience of the Doggies that made the difference but this time around, things promise to be different. The Western Bulldogs jettisoned a fair bit of experience at the end of 2014 and many of the pundits expected them to struggle with the extra reliance upon youth but instead, their youngsters have risen to the occasion and given their fans some joy after the gloom and doom of the off season. Whilst Melbourne has some promising young players on its list, some of the best of its youth have been sidelined with injury lately and therefore, team selection has become something of a mish mash with several not quite right players getting games and a number of selections going against the flow of logic for an outsider. The end result is that I don't have the same feeling of confidence in the team's short to medium term prospects that I held a month ago. Western Bulldogs by 27 points

It's been established already that no matter how poorly you perform, if the word Melbourne is in or associated with your club's name, you don't qualify for a priority pick under the rules.

Robbo creating new standards in journalism today ~ Essendon doping scandal: James Hird’s dad stands by his son

@melbournefc: Late change. Forward Jesse Hogan out (General soreness). In Cam Pedersen.