Whispering_Jack

The AFL Draft Central folk have been busy producing some excellent profiles on some of the leading draft prospects for 2024:- Levi Ashcroft Sid Draper Finn O’Sullivan Josh Smillie Jagga Smith

Mark Robinson is a real piece of work. “This is not a bash Clayton Oliver exercise because to do so without facts and an understanding of the complexities of Oliver's wellbeing, would be plainly wrong.” He then proceeds to mention a number of the many unsubstantiated rumours that have been circulating around the traps about Clarrie in recent times, some of which are totally absurd. Robinson openly says they’re rumours and furthermore tells his readers, “[D]on't believe everything … “ and then, there’s the “but”. There’s always a “but”. Forgive me, but I’m going to add my own “but” here because Robinson has also been conspicuously absent from his work with his own ailments over the past couple of years and I seem to recall that the rumour mill was working overtime about him and his lifestyle, habits and boofhead behaviour. Back then, I didn’t believe everything but I didn’t repeat the rumours even though he's not exactly “Saint Christopher” either. I won’t repeat them now but who knows? I might be tempted if this hypocrite continues to rant on about the subject in the way he has in this article. It’s an example of why we’ve had to take extra care with this and one or two other touchy subjects in the past few months or so. Enough for now, save and except that I’m really happy to see Clarrie back and I hope he kicks a*** on the footy field again this year as he has throughout his career. Clarrie, be well.

(Continued) TRAINING NOTES • relatively mixed teams for the match sim, with the white team possessing the 'probables' defence and the blue team the 'probables' midfield (with some exceptions). • Angus Brayshaw building into his pre-season and will be back in full-contact drills this week. Today, he started in defence & pinch hit in the midfield at times. Was the primary ball user off half back. • Adam Tomlinson and Tom McDonald both in defence for the blue team, while Blake Howes lined up alongside Steven May and Jake Lever in defence. Howes also had a difficult job on Bailey Fritsch, conceding a goal but held himself quite well. • Trent Rivers ran through the midfield, often on Christian Petracca and at times beating him. • Caleb Windsor spent most of the session on the wing, lining up on Jack Billings and had some run in the midfield. • ANB spent time in the main midfield rotation, starting alongside Jack Viney and Petracca. • Tom Fullarton (before the injury) and Will Verrall rotated through the ruck role against Max Gawn, but were no match for him. • Jed Adams played deep forward (although elsewhere here it’s been reported he played in defence). • Steven May received a corkie near the end but played on. HIGHLIGHTS • Christian Petracca comfortably slotted his set shots both during the warm up and match simulation, despite the windy and wet conditions. • Shane McAdam popped up at times, kicking an opportunistic goal & laid some strong tackles early. • A deft kick in traffic from ANB that hit Brayshaw streaming through the centre square, with the switch of play sparking a set shot and goal. • Jack Viney starred through the midfield, winning contested ball and laying bone-crunching tackles ABSENTEES (apart from those already mentioned) • Matthew Jefferson completed a running program along the boundary side. • AMW & Tom Sparrow did their own modified program early in the session, then ran laps. • Christian Salem started the session with the main group but was pulled out about an hour in and sent for sprint work with AMW. • Harrison Petty was pulled out of the session just before the match simulation, instead hitting the exercise bike with Jefferson. • Lachie Hunter ran messages for both teams and called players for interchanges.

There’s a firewall behind this so I will do a summary starting with the opening part • Tom Fullarton set to start the season on the sidelines after suffering a suspected serious hamstring injury. Sent off for scans to determine if the tendon was torn. • Others missing were Clayton Oliver (personal reasons), Ben Brown (knee) and Lachie Hunter (calf). • The club expects Oliver to return in “the coming weeks”. • Harry Petty set to resume full training in the next fortnight in the hope of playing in Rd 0 vs Swans. (To be continued)

Demons recruit facing several months on the sidelines

For those who are interested in good old fashioned statistics, here they are for Ricky Mentha:- WARNING: Some of the following information may offend so if you happen to be squeamish about weight, please look away - Ricky Mentha Height: 179cm Weight: 66kg D.O.B: 04-09-2006

Well it is a calf injury and such things do tend to dog players late in their careers but a reading of Jay Clark’s article suggests that the Herald-Sun is up to its usual tricks. Clark himself calls the injury "minor" with the issue being whether he'll be ready to resume training tomorrow. That is, 6-7 weeks before the team’s opening match. Panic stations? No, not even close - just rubbish journalism.

Sorry. No idea.

And Mitch Brown has landed at the Parkdale Vultures in C Grade.

Jordie McKenzie, a hard working midfielder from a decade or so ago has landed a plum job as coach of one of the leading A Grade VAFA clubs Collegians replacing another former Demon Jared Rivers …

Hopefully some more positive vibes on the still locked Clarry thread pinned above.

Further update as the club returns to preseason training without Clayton Oliver who remains on medical leave with the club saying that "our primary focus is Clayton’s overall wellbeing." The club also advises: "Clayton has been working extremely closely with his personal medical team, and with the support of key club staff, in order to manage these challenges." Clayton Oliver taking extended personal leave, misses preseason with Melbourne We all wish Clarry all the best for a speedy return but we can say that, according to Irene on The Mighty Demons Facebook Page, he has been running with a mate at the Tan. When she bumped into him yesterday, he “looked fit and in good spirits”. She said “hello” and “Go Dees” and he was very friendly and we echo her thoughts ~ “Fingers crossed he can get back on track and be the player we all love! ❤️💙”

Castlemaine, despite its low population, is ranked seventh by the Herald Sun in the best sporting country towns in Victoria. And they acknowledge RDB as the star attraction among the sportspeople to come from the town.

A time to remember a young Demon player who tragically passed away along with hundreds of thousand others on this day 19 years ago … Troy Broadbridge, Melbourne Footballer (40 games, 2 goals between 2001 and 2004) married Trisha Silvers on 18 December 2004. Eight days later, while spending their honeymoon in the Phi Phi Islands, Thailand, Troy drowned after being swept out to sea by the tsunami that followed the Indian Ocean earthquake and killed an estimated 227,898 people.

She’s from Eastern Ranges and was taken with the last pick (55) in the AFLW draft. Delany Madigan follows in the footsteps of another Eastern Ranges graduate in Caleb Windsor who was taken with the club’s first pick in the AFL draft.

Jacinta Hose of Eastern Ranges became a Demon at tonight’s draft with pick #24.

I know nothing about her except that she comes from Sherwood Districts AFC and was taken in today’s draft at #12. Help!

The Herald Sun reports today - “The AFL will change its rules so players who lay a high bump on an opponent in the act of smothering will be suspended in response to the controversial Brayden Maynard case last season. “The league has reviewed Maynard's qualifying final bump on Melbourne's Angus Brayshaw and deemed that players in similar situations from next season must take "reasonable steps" to avoid contact or lessen the impact.” I suspect that this will not really help much. Collingwood’s case was that Maynard acted reasonably. The Tribunal could easily have ruled against Maynard on the facts - it refused to do so.

Kicking off the 2024 thread with a round up from today’s Herald Sun online edition of each club’s current injury lists:- MELBOURNE Clayton Oliver - Has been in the rehab group after having surgery on his knee in the off-season. He has been doing sprint work and some lighter skill based activities and is expected to ramp up his training in the new year. Angus Brayshaw - Has returned to training but still non-contact for now as he continues his recovery from the sickening concussion occurred in the finals series. Impressed in the Dees 2km time trial. Harrison Petty - The defender is still recovering from a foot injury which ended his season early. He remains on a modified program but will join the main group post-Christmas. Bayley Fritsch - The forward is still being managed after twice hurting his left foot in the second half of the season. He had surgery to repair a fracture in the foot after the first incident in round 16. Fritsch is expected to join main training in January. Jake Melksham - The forward will look to begin running again in coming weeks after rupturing his ACL in the final round of the home-and-away season. However, the 32-year-old still faces a long road to recovery.

Not MFC but a look back at history and the dawn of television in Victoria. How Melbourne's 1956 Olympics paved the way for AFL broadcasts of the future

Thanks to Ricky @moredees on Insta for these great images ~

Eye on the future: 10 draft prospects to watch in 2024 24 in 2024: A look ahead to next year’s top prospects

More rubbish reporting from the Herald Sun. Headline: DEES’ OLDIES RIPE FOR FIRST SESSION, OLLY MISSES MEMO Josh Barnes - Track watch Opening Two Paragraphs: “A bunch of senior Melbourne leaders joined their younger teammates for day one of pre-season on Monday but Clayton Oliver was not one of them. “As an experienced player, Oliver is not required back until next week, with the first week of training officially only for first to four year Demons.” If Clarrie is not required back until next week and is still on leave, exactly what “memo” has he missed?

For all bar the northern states, the academy system has been rendered meaningless. A move is on foot to change the rules again to make the academies worthwhile again. Academy bid disparity “going to change” as early as 2024 draft

The starting order for next year’s draft. As usual, we can expect plenty of changes over the next 12 months. 2024 draft order: Pies hope for Hawks slide, Tigers load up