Whispering_Jack

Full Time and its a 20 point win for Casey. Final 2014 AFL Victoria Development League Casey Scorpions 3.0.18 8.1.49 9.2.56 13.10.88 Frankston 1.3.9 3.4.22 8.7.55 10.8.68 Goals Casey Scorpions Anderson King Wyatt 2 Gawley Jackson Murray Paredes Plummer Rosier Scott Frankston Irving 3 Fox 2 Greeley Hammond Helliwell Murnane Whitty Best Casey Scorpions Thwaites Drew Gawley Anderson Murray King Frankston Williams Irving Fox Greeley Foote Lees

Scorps have taken control with 3 unanswered goals and now lead by 15 points halfway through the final quarter.

Frankston came back hard that quarter. At the ¾ time break, Casey led by a point 9.2.56 to 8.7.55 but the Dolphins have taken the lead with the first goal of the final term although the visitors have the benefit of the scoring end.

Were his pupils dilated?

Half Time in the Development League game at Frankston Oval and Casey Scorpions 8.1.49 lead Frankston 3.4.32.

If it happens, no fear - just another case of one Dawes closing and another opening up.

You might well prove to be right that Jetta is not fast enough to keep up with some of the fleet of foot Gold Coasters but you don't always have to negate speed with players of equal speed. Sometimes you can overcome it with hardness at the ball and in the contest and by simply wearing down your faster opponent. It happens often and I've seen Jetta do it a couple of times this year at Casey games. I wasn't at the opening round game but he not only did that but also went into the midfield and up forward later in the game and was instrumental in Casey's win. Can he translate that form into something similar at AFL level where the pace of the game and the pressure is greater? That's the $64 question!

Yes, let's move on. As Webber has made it clear, the story has been put in the public domain by the person involved and, as long as nothing further of a private nature has been disclosed, there's been no breach of his privacy. Now back to what this thread was intended to be about ... (if anyone can remember).

Lots of water under the bridge since our humiliation almost 12 months ago in the equivalent fixture at the MCG. The Suns came out playing with great intensity and pushed us aside with their midfield dominance which lasted throughout the 120 minutes. Their midfield led by Garry Ablett but consisting also of Bennell, Swallow, Prestia and O'Meara (147 touches between them, Ablett with 38) with Zac Smith heading the ruck simply put us away. Nathan Jones had a relatively quiet day and Gazza's influence was sublime. I was sitting almost at ground level when at one stage I saw him surrounded by Demons. He somehow found space to get through and wheel away then land a pass on a teammate's chest. He didn't beat us in his own - Campbell Brown and Smith booted three each and he and his mates made sure that the Suns dominated the stoppages. So what's changed? On the Suns' side of the ledger, they don't have Brown, Smith or Bennell today - they were the danger men around goals. On our side, we have a new coach, a new mindset and half a different team. It's a new midfield and a vastly different forward line set up and while it's been slow in getting its act together, the new look team started showing some positive signs of a turn around last week. We know we can move the ball more directly towards goal and we know we can win. I think we can expect big things today from Dom Tyson and Bernie Vince and Jack Viney is starting to imprint his influence on matches. I've been impressed by Nev Jetta's work at Casey and I have a feeling he has something to prove now that his career has received a boost with his elevation off the rookie list. Last year we were shamed off our home ground by these young upstarts from the Gold Coast. It's time to reclaim it back with intensity and aggression that was lacking in our makeup last year but under Paul Roos should be a given every time we take the field.

The typecasting of a move or more appropriately a "push" into Tasmania as an "equalisation measure" is typical of the AFL's duplicity and deviousness these days. Last year, the AFL sent such luminaries as Eddie McGuire and Andrew Newbold on a junket to the USA with Andrew Demetriou ostensibly to study ways of equalising the competition. Since their return, they've done nothing but resist any meaningful ways to equalise the competition starting with their public opposition towards Melbourne's application for draft assistance. In January, Newbold warned the AFL and its clubs not to rush into any panicked decisions over the issue of equalisation i.e signaling that the process would be slow (and probably meaningless). Yesterday, McGuire had this to say about the potential Good Friday blockbuster fixture, "I don't think putting two smaller teams together is going to get the job done". Get the picture? Having representatives of the stronger clubs involved in the process of equalisation is a complete waste of time. They will work harder to entrench their clubs among the "haves" than do anything to look after the "have nots". And because a powerful club like Hawthorn already has a stake in Tasmania via its lucrative "partnership" with the Tasmanian government that gives it four home games in Launceston, we are not going to see an AFL club transplanted into Tasmania any time soon.

Scott Thompson did a good job getting Travis Cloke out of his slump with a nice whack to the breadbasket that cost a 50m penalty and gave him the first of his four goals for the first half. Rule 1: Never give a sucker an even break. Thompson broke that rule.

Let's keep it for the off season. Questions about '64 accepted here though ...

Martin Flanigan is in white hot form today. On top of his wonderful piece on Nathan Jones, he argues that the AFL is treating Tasmania like a colony - Tasmanian football landscape not as simple as it may seem

Stand corrected on the Richmond game from which Barassi was reported and ultimately suspended. I always thought that suspension cost us the flag and yes, like many I developed a dislike of Roger Dean and Richmond from that time on. I would also appreciate links or articles from the time as our 50 year anniversary nears.

Accept that we need to win games like the one against the Suns but I'm looking for a real turning point like this one. After round 16 of 1987, Melbourne had 6 wins and 10 defeats but then won the last six home and away games on end to make the finals , won two finals games and went within a whisker of making the grand final. I'm not expecting such a radical outcome but a good enough turnaround to have us competitive on a weekly basis and at least nudging the teams in the middle of the ladder this year with a view to even better next year.

Not to mention the poster who claims a voodoo cure involving dried up chicken bones and handed down by an old Creole lady from New Orleans can fix up the Curse of the Red Fox.

It seems that I'm not the only Demonlander who spent a part of Good Friday watching the replay of the team's first win for the season against Carlton. The thing that captured my imagination was the vast difference in almost every aspect of the way the game was played - the style, the effort, the confidence and the way the team set up. There was more run, more chase and a far more direct approach. It still wasn't by any means a quantum leap from pitiful to perfection but I wonder if it was the long awaited "turning point" in the team's fortunes? Our opposition was several rungs below the West Coast of round 2 but I thought we also looked a completely different side to the one that was monstered by the Eagles or the one that meandered aimlessly through the past 2½ seasons. Comparing games from 12 months ago might not necessarily give the full answer because opposition teams also can change (and do so dramatically) but here's a possible rough guide: 2013 Round 6: Carlton 18.13.121 defeated Melbourne 8.12.60 2014 Round 4: Melbourne 12.9.81 defeated Carlton 7.16.58 2013 Round 7: Gold Coast Suns 16.18.114 defeated Melbourne 7.12.54 2014 Round 5: ???

The 1964 VFL season opened on the equivalent Saturday fifty years ago - the exact date was 18 April, 1964. Melbourne had finished third the previous year after losing to the eventual runners up Hawthorn on preliminary final day. The Demons beat the Cats in both end of season exhibition games in Honolulu and San Francisco and the rivalry was tested again in the opening round of the new season on 18 April, 1964 before a crowd 66,250 at the MCG. It was a close encounter for most of the game before the more accurate visitors drew ahead in the final quarter. Centreman Hassa Mann was the Demons' best while John Lord kicked four goals. A notable player missing from the Melbourne line up was skipper Ron Barassi who was serving the last game of a suspension for striking Richmond's Roger Dean in the penultimate home and away game of the previous season. Melbourne 2.4.16 8.7.55 11.11.77 14.13.97 Geelong 2.2.14 8.4.52 12.7.79 17.8.110 THE TEAM B: Neil Crompton Bernie Massey Len Mann HB: Tony Anderson Brian Roet Brian Leahy C: Brian Dixon "Hassa" Mann Frank "Bluey" Adams HF: Ray Groom John Lord Barrie Vagg F: Don Williams Barry Bourke David Robbie FOLL: Bob "Tassie" Johnson Bryan Kenneally Ken Emselle 19/20: Bob Miller John Townsend Goals John Lord 4 Ken Emselle 3 Barry Bourke David Robbie 2, Hassa Mann Barrie Vagg Don Williams 1 Best Hassa Mann John Lord Bryan Kenneally Barrie Vagg Barry Bourke Tony Anderson Milestone Frank "Bluey" Adams played his 150th game for Melbourne while John "Sammy" Newman made his debut for Geelong.

The "other" was probably the club dietician.

Preview from the Casey Scorpions website.

What about swinging live chickens in the air and genuflecting?

What happened to taking things one week at a time?

There's another relevant statistic at play here i.e the number 2. It takes two to tango. The big question is whether the sudden improvement is due to a change taking place within the MFC or whether our opposition was so uninterested and putrid that we were able to effectively up our tackle count for the game as a result. We need a bigger sample size to determine whether the statistic is telling the truth or telling lies.

Emma Quayle really does lead the way with coverage of potential draftees. Here's her take on what she considers to be an even draft pool in 2014: Why this year 's AFL draft looks the most even in years Meanwhile, despite the absence of the elite prospects on tour with the AIS the AFL Vic Country and Vic Metro training squad trial games get under way this weekend: U18 Vic Country and Metro trial games

Not a bad idea. By half time in the MCG game the VFL match would be over - a brief description of the game with scores, goalkickers and best players would be handy.