Whispering_Jack

My best memory of VFL Park is my first. It was in 1971 when John “Diamond Jim” Tilbrook made his debut on a wintry day against South Melbourne. He was a big man - 184cm and, dare I disclose this in these nanny days, he weighed a massive 94kg. When he ran out onto the ground in the gloomy conditions, he looked like Superman. He was wearing his Melbourne colours but he might well have worn a cape and had an S on his chest. When he took his first kick, he was on the wing and went bang unleashing a monster 70 plus metres kick that almost sailed right through the big sticks. The Dees won easily and I thought we had a new messiah. Sadly, it didn’t turn out that way.

With the economy continuing to be tough on everyone, how can you justify the spending necessary on nurturing players from the Northern Territory without some guarantee that you, rather than another club, have the opportunity to reap the benefits of your work?

Not the other JB - he was already paired. This is the odd couple. One’s a forward with a great tank and the other’s a backman with a great kick. That’s what makes them an odd combo 😎

He was an All Australian at Under 16 level last year so he is more than "any good". He can play at his father's old club and has the opportunity of learning ruck craft at Melbourne under Max Gawn. Is there anything else that he needs to know?

Ashcroft is a father/son prospect and is here by virtue of the fact that the family moved here from Brisbane a few years ago. Marshall is a Queenslander who came to Melbourne to study at Melbourne Grammar but he remains a Lions Academy member and therefore tied to that club. I agree however, that it’s time to overhaul the NGA rules which provide very little incentive for southern clubs to nurture footballers if there’s open slather for those good enough to be picked in the first 40 in the national draft. That said, watch out for one such player on the MFC list, Andy Moniz-Wakefield, to make his debut with Melbourne in the very near future.

The Coates Talent League kicks off at the weekend and two clubs stand out at this early stage of proceedings. The Sandringham Dragons are aiming for a third consecutive premiership and appear to have great all round strength and depth with three Australian Academy Squad members in father/son prospect Levi Ashcroft (brother of Will and also skilful midfielder, Brisbane Academy member Sam Marshall and Luke Trainor. The Dragons also have good numbers in the Vic Metro squad. They will be challenged strongly by the Oakleigh Chargers who boast the early favourite to go #1 in the National Draft in midfielder Finn O'Sullivan along with the highly rated Jagga Smith, Tom Gross and Charlie Richardson, the grandson of Richmond legend Kevin Bartlett. Melbourne father/son prospect Noah Yze is also in their squad. There are a few Melbourne Next Generation Academy players in the mix as well. Ricky Mentha, who already has his own page on Demonland, is with the Gippsland Power. Another three Demon NGA’s are at the Dandenong Stingrays. Riak Andrew (192cm) spent time with Casey VFL over the off-season and made their development list, returns to the Stingrays as a 19-year-old and shares his brother's athleticism. Also at the Stingrays is indigenous prospect Coren Giliam, a crafty small forward who can impact up the ground while Tarion Ah-Mu, 198cm bottom aged tall from Berwick, is also tied to the Demons' NGA.

He’s a Demon supporter, an author, podcaster and a comic. His weekly Monday Knee Jerk Reaction is always good value. Here’s Titus’ take on Melbourne’s Round 1 victory over the Doggies:- Melbourne (109) v Western Bulldogs (64) Some strange decisions from the Bulldogs, with Caleb Daniel made the sub and the midfield avoiding Aaron Naughton like the plague. That all said, they started strong, and what was most disappointing was how much they dropped off in the dying stages. Melbourne started slowly, but the usual suspects dragged them back into the game. Clayton Oliver, with his unorthodox preseason, delivered 35 disposals and six clearances. I’m not saying every player should take his approach, but I’ve seen worse results. There was a sense of being in a French restaurant at one point as former Dee James Harmes and Steven May got into it, resulting in Harmes headbutting May.

Best news - the W today!

Last night’s performance by the Swans again suggested to me that one advantage to be had from losing to them was that we had the front row seat to witness the direction football is taking in 2024. Let’s see if we’re up to doing what they did last night.

Too early to say at this stage. We need to wait for the start of the Coates Boys League in Victoria and the various State League senior and under age competitions elsewhere.

2024 Coates Talent League Boys Testing Day Results The article reveals the top 10 results recorded by players from Victorian-based clubs at the 2024 Coates Talent Boys Testing Day. 20m Sprint Archie Taylor (GWV Rebels/Cobden) 2.796 sec Julian Callahan (Gippsland Power/Leongatha) 2.863 Kade Dwyer (Murray Bushrangers/Shepparton Swans) 2.872 Jack Gerardi (Western Jets/West Footscray) 2.874 Thomas Legudi (Calder Cannons/Aberfeldie) 2.878 Blake Leidler (Oakleigh Chargers/Surrey Park) 2.879 Taj Hotton (Sandringham Dragons/Hampton Rovers) 2.882 JayDe Varlet (Dandenong Stingrays/Beaconsfield) 2.884 Cody Anderson (Eastern Ranges/Healesville) 2.885 Ben Seers (Sandringham Dragons/Beaumaris) 2.886 Standing Vertical Jump Harley Hicks (GWV Rebels/Lake Wendouree) 83cm Gabriel Stumpf (Northern Knights/Warrandyte) 79 James Allison (Northern Knights/Montmorency) 77 Daniel Snell (Western Jets/Yarraville Seddon Eagles) 77 Luke Trainor (Sandringham Dragons/Old Brighton) 77 Floyd Burmeister (GWV Rebels/Redan) 76 Brady Hall (Geelong Falcons/Colac) 75 Ryan Muir (Eastern Ranges/Wantirna South) 75 Nash Ramage (Bendigo Pioneers/Echuca United) 75 Jack Whitlock (Murray Bushrangers/Shepparton) 75 Running Vertical Jump (Right) Floyd Burmeister (GWV Rebels/Redan) 95cm Nash Ramage (Bendigo Pioneers/Echuca United) 95 Coen Ainsworth (Murray Bushrangers/Wodonga) 90 Finn O’Sullivan (Oakleigh Chargers/Koroit) 90 Gabriel Stumpf (Northern Knights/Warrandyte) 90 Archie Taylor (GWV Rebels/Cobden) 90 Ollie Hannaford (GWV Rebels/Sandhurst) 89 Harry Armstrong (Sandringham Dragons/Ormond) 87 Ned Renfree (GWV Rebels/East Point) 87 Taj Hotton (Sandringham Dragons/Hampton Rovers) 86 Running Vertical Jump (Left) Daniel Snell (Western Jets/Yarraville Seddon Eagles) 102 Ben Rongdit (Geelong Falcons/Colac) 98 Archie Taylor (GWV Rebels/Cobden) 96 Matt Whitlock (Murray Bushrangers/Shepparton) 96 James Allison (Northern Knights/Montmorency) 95 Ned Renfree (GWV Rebels/East Point) 95 Taj Hotton (Sandringham Dragons/Hampton Rovers) 93 Ryan Muir (Eastern Ranges/Wantirna South) 93 Thomas Sims (Northern Knights/Montmorency) 93 Jack Whitlock (Murray Bushrangers/Shepparton) 93 Yo-Yo Jett McLaughlan (Northern Knights/Diamond Creek) Level 22.4 Archie Caldow (GWV Rebels/East Point) 22.2 Josh Dolan (Sandringham Dragons/Beaumaris) 22.1 Jeremy Newsome (Eastern Ranges/Healesville) 22.1 Harry Albon (Calder Cannons/Craigieburn) 21.8 Nedd Bennett (GWV Rebels/East Point) 21.8 Ryan Commandeur (Northern Knights/St Mary’s) 21.8 Liam Farrar (Northern Knights/Diamond Creek) 21.8 Patrick Said (Calder Cannons/Sunbury) 21.8 Zach Travers (Sandringham Dragons/Old Brighton) 21.8 AFL Agility Douglas Kerr (Oakleigh Chargers/Ashburton) 7.724 sec Oskar Taylor (Eastern Ranges/Upwey Tecoma) 7.764 Lachy Dovaston (Eastern Ranges/Blackburn) 7.777 Sebastian Murphy (Northern Knights/Montmorency) 7.787 Ollie Hannaford (GWV Rebels/Sandhurst) 7.788 Taj Hotton (Sandringham Dragons/Hampton Rovers) 7.807 Sam McDonald (GWV Rebels/Ballarat) 7.858 Jake Woodward (Northern Knights/Montmorency) 7.866 Nedd Bennett (GWV Rebels/East Point) 7.876 Thomas Sims (Northern Knights/Montmorency) 7.909

Sounds like he might be a fair way away from contention at the moment but there’s another Brayshaw on the horizon - Freddie who has made the Sandringham Dragons list. This is an appraisal from Code Sports:- 63 Freddie Brayshaw The cousin of Angus and Andy Brayshaw and the son of James Brayshaw. A high-level cricketer and footballer at Haileybury College, he's a hard-running wingman for the Dragons, with a view to training as a midfielder later on.

Nothing to see here. Collingwood will argue that it was unavoidable, incidental and unintended and he’ll be sweet.

It was 12 months ago in Round 1, 2023 at The MCG and the Demons handed out a football lesson to the Western Bulldogs. Kozzie Pickett was in sensational form and Ben Brown and he booted four goals each as the team led all night to win by 57 points. Pickett found himself in trouble with the Tribunal giving him two weeks off for a crude bump on Bailey Smith. MELBOURNE 3.3.21 9.4.58 13.8.86 17.13.115 WESTERN BULLDOGS 2.4.16 5.9.39 8.10.58 9.11.65 THE TEAMS MELBOURNE B H. Petty J. Lever J. McVee HB J. Harmes A. Tomlinson J. Bowey C L. Hunter C. Oliver E. Langdon HF K. Chandler B. Brown C. Spargo F K. Pickett B. Grundy A. Neal-Bullen FOLL M. Gawn T. Sparrow C. Petracca I/C A. Brayshaw B. Laurie T. McDonald T. Rivers SUB J. Melksham EMG M. Hibberd J. Jordon J. Van Rooyen New faces Brodie Grundy (Collingwood) Lachie Hunter (Western Bulldogs) Bailey Laurie (Oakleigh Chargers) Judd McVee (East Fremantle) WESTERN BULLDOGS B T. Duryea L. Jones C. Daniel HB B. Dale A. Keath E. Richards C B. Williams M. Bontempelli J. Macrae HF B. Smith A. Naughton J. Ugle-Hagan F A. Scott S. Darcy R. Lobb FOLL T. English T. Liberatore A. Treloar I/C O. Baker J. Bruce M. Hannan J. Johannisen SUB T. McLean EMG H. Crozier B. Khamis J. Sweet New faces Oskar Baker (Melbourne) Liam Jones (Carlton) Rory Lobb (Fremantle)

The AFL has adopted a policy of not releasing the body weights of individual players. Apparently, this has something to do with not body shaming fat or thin footballers so the media only gets supplied with height figures. Please don’t get me started on this one.

We went out hard and failed to capitalize with our forward 50 entries - a single goal from the first 29 entries was poor reward for our hard work while the Swans crowded our forward line. And we completely misread the conditions which led to some costly turnovers, particularly in the first half. As a consequence, by the final break, we had used our petrol tickets and they overran us in the final quarter. Very un Melbourne like and the exact opposite of what we usually expect from the team. I think much the same happened last night to the Brisbane Lions except for the fact that they managed to kick accurately for goal in the first quarter. As to Grundy, the club completely mismanaged the situation by putting him completely off side when he was dropped, ostensibly to learn his forward craft. As a consequence, he wasn’t played in the finals and, as Thursday night showed, he would have been handy in the qualifying final and certainly, no worse than Josh Schache in the semi final. I get that the view inside the club was that he wasn’t selected because he had probably “checked out” but it should never have gotten to that stage. We lost a perfect opportunity to win a flag. Worse still was the fact that the public humiliation and alienation of a two time All Australian resulted in our trading him far more cheaply than had we managed things better. The consequence is that we have egg on our faces for the moment and potentially more embarrassment to come.

Looking forward to Picket Fence’s on the spot reporting from Casey Fields. 😀

I believe that today is Melbourne's earliest start to a season ever, beating the game vs Richmond played on Wednesday 8 March 2000. The season started and ended early due to the Sydney Olympics which opened in mid September 2000. The Demons lost to the Tigers by 2 points and went on to play off in the Grand Final that year. Richmond 7.1 11.6 14.7 14.10 94 Melbourne 4.3 6.6 10.9 13.14 92 Attendance: 41,648 Venue: M.C.G.

THE TEAMS SYDNEY SWANS B: L. Melican, T. McCartin, D. Rampe HB: N. Blakey, O. Florent, J. Lloyd C: J. Mcinerney, C. Warner, E. Gulden HF: I. Heeney, L. McDonald, J. Amartey F: T. Papley, H. McLean, W. Hayward FOLL: B. Grundy, J. Jordon, J. Rowbottom I/C: B. Campbell, H. Cunningham, R. Fox, M. Roberts SUB: S. Wicks EMG: P. Ladhams, A. Sheldrick, C. Warner NEW: B. Grundy (Melbourne), J. Jordon (Melbourne) MELBOURNE B: B. Howes, S. May, J. Lever HB: J. McVee, A. Tomlinson, C. Salem C: E. Langdon, C. Petracca, T. Rivers HF: J. Viney, J. Schache, J. van Rooyen F: A. Neal-Bullen, B. Fritsch, C. Spargo FOLL: M. Gawn, T. Sparrow, C. Oliver IC: J. Bowey, K. Chandler, B. Laurie, C. Windsor SUB: J. Billings EMG: T. Fullarton, T. McDonald, T. Woewodin NEW: J. Billings (St Kilda), B. Howes (Sandringham Dragons), C. Windsor (Eastern Ranges)

The Herald Sun online edition has this to say about him in its preview of Gippsland Power players for 2024:- Ricky Mentha (Gippsland/Warragul): Mentha is an Australian-Academy player who is originally from Alice Springs. He moved to Morwell last year and worked his way into the Power squad. The Melbourne NGA prospect will excite a few this year. And more information here:- Ricky Mentha

We’ve taken over Sydney …

A rare insightful piece of analysis from the media in the form of this article from Rohan Connolly of ESPN. Why the Demons can rise above off-field drama in 2024 Please note the site’s code of conduct continues to apply but otherwise discussion on the football aspect is most welcome.

Overture, curtain, lights This is it, the night of nights No more rehearsing and nursing a part We know every part by heart