Whispering_Jack

My head's already spinning and it's only mid-September. How much rumour and speculation are we going to have to put up with between now and the rookie draft in late December?

Are they blaming the Show for last night's poor attendance?

There's so much to reflect on from an evening such as "Bluey" Truscott Night. I must say that speaking to some of my fellow Demon supporters in the foyer before we were ushered into the Palladium room, I got the distinct impression that I was the last optimist left in the place. Of course, the negativism was largely justified because we've had a horrible year both on and off the field but I've come to realise that in the wake of what happened both during the year and in the previous seasons, it was something that had to happen and we're now free to move on to the future where the great preponderance of our playing group will be a generation apart from the Daniher years and the early Bailey period. In short, we're entering a new phase of our history and a few of the posts above including stories such as BIG JIM noting that Nev Jetta thinks we can make the finals in 2013 inspire me greatly. Even more so, it was in listening to the speeches of those who won awards and talking to some of the other blokes, that I was surprised at the extent to which the players agree that what Neeld has introduced will ultimately bring success and how they're "buying in" to his message in a big way. I'm hoping that success comes a lot more quickly than many of us think. There's also a view that our improvement will come quickly because the players will be substantially better prepared mentally and physically for 2013 and beyond than they were this year. I'm well aware from many years experience with athletics as to how modern scientific training methods can change individuals from one season to the next. I appreciate the view that the training staff were not inclined to build the team's fitness levels in one pre season (thereby avoiding a complete disaster as we saw at Essendon this year) and that things will get better 18 months after the first Neeld/Misson/Craig pre season. In that respect, I can see us coming out next year in round 1 with a team that can spread and run all day instead of that which finished its opening game against the Lions hopelessly overrun. I can see our younger brigade led by the skippers, Jack Watts, Tom McDonald, Sam Blease, Luke Tapscott and a fit and strong Max Gawn moving forward in leaps and bounds. I have a vision of draftees and trade/FA adding talent and depth and because I doubt the current regime will recruit those who are lazy and not willing to work, I think the "buy in" will reap some surprising rewards. All this brings me to our very worthy "Bluey" winner. Nathan Jones bought in before there was anything at the club to buy into and now he sets an example in terms of work ethic to which all of his team mates must aspire. Jack Viney's in too so expect something radically different from your team in 2013.

It figures. Culture of tanking. Judd's chicken wing. Brocky and his big mouth and MM and Travis (+ old man) to come. Still, the above is a bit tongue in cheek and the story's just another beat up. I don't have much respect for the media at the moment apart from the people responsible for this article which probably captures our own paranoia about the club as encapsulated by the thread title - Dees survive 24-hour period without scandal engulfing club

No Melbourne club is bigger than us in terms of generating publicity lately!

Arthroscope. He says it wasn't major.

Jack Fitzpatrick on crutches when introduced.

Jonathan Giles of GWS is apparently not happy with the offers made to him by the Giants and he has told them he will look elsewhere if they cannot give him a fair deal. Adelaide and Collingwood in the mix - Adelaide's Brenton Sanderson rates Jon Giles

I agree this subject has been canvassed on countless other threads already and doesn't need to be rehashed now in different form. Thread locked.

Anyone interested in seeing SANFL and WAFL games, the matches of the day in each are shown on ABC1 in the early hours of the day on Thursday and Friday mornings so they can be taped on IQ if you have that facility on Foxtel. I assume the finals will also be shown so there's a chance we can get a look at this bloke and a few others in the coming weeks. I was always a bit of a sceptic about players from these competitions but plenty are now coming through. I saw Puopolo of Hawthorn and Jaensch (Adelaide) playing a couple of years ago in the SANFL. They looked fairly ordinary but Puopolo in particular has slotted in nicely with the Hawks. I'll look forward to seeing Marschall in due course.

With the rumour in the OP now quashed, I think this thread should be locked up unless something further develops.

The Melbourne Football Club has issued this statement via Twitter: We at Demonland are also deeply moved by this shock news and send out condolences to John's family and friends. RIP

I'd like to read a little bit more about free agency before accepting this as being the way things will go when the concept is introduced. My understanding is that the compensation available in the case of free agency will be based on an overall assessment of the free agents gained and lost by a club. If Brent Moloney goes via free agency we might for e.g. be entitled to a round 1 selection but that could be diluted to a round 2 if we pick up a free agent. Therefore, it might be worthwhile in some circumstances to avoid that occurence to trade the player or take your chances with him in the draft. I'm not sure if that makes sense and perhaps I need to study the rules a little more but that's how it sounds to me.

They have been. Please respect the fact that the player can not be named until family is informed of the tragedy.

Just noticed he's playing for Geelong in the VFL Semi Final. Anybody watching?

That might be what many supporters are thinking and feeling but I don't believe that's how Mark Neeld and the football department are dealing with the situation.

The disappointment I sense around this thread is that people feel Byrnes is a relatively small fish in the overall scheme of things which is true. Assuming the report is correct then we need to remember that this would only be the first signing and possibly only one out of four or five players with AFL experience brought in to help fill part of the void and cover short term needs while we are, at the same time, building our stocks of young players with talent to develop through the draft. The "void" I'm talking about will be the result of turning over pretty close to a quarter of our list by the end of the calendar year. This will entail their replacement by a mix of free agents, trades and draftees. I hope to expand on this view at some time in the future but I believe the exercise involved in reaching our 2013 playing list will not be a zero sum game and that we will have a substantially better list at the end of the process than we have now. I mean no offence to those who are/will be leaving the club but in pure and unemotional terms only and based on their individual contributions in 2012 alone, it is likely that we will be giving away nothing much* and whatever we get will be a positive. The future input of some of the incoming players might not be significant while others will most certainly make a difference. I believe the overall result will be a plus for the Melbourne Football Club with the results evident immediately if our remaining players stay healthy and improve with the additional benefits of another pre season under the current regime. Whatever you might think of our first recruiting selection of the off season, it will be the overall picture that matters in the end. * to test this theory, make up your own list of the players likely to exit the club over the next 2 - 3 months by retirement, trade and delisting and ask yourself what contribution each made to the club in 2012 on a scale of 0 to 10 (in fact you can go into negative territory). For e.g., I would be giving Brad Green +3, Brent Moloney + 2, Liam Jurrah -3 and Kelvin Lawrence 0 of the currently known departures.

A few years ago, his mother said she wanted to see her boys reunited at the one club. Perhaps a trade with the Bombers for that Angus character?

First of all, thanks to KC for his sterling efforts covering Casey from some of those cold windswept venues throughout the year. Secondly, I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that there's a critical mass of AFL players required to field a successful VFL finals team. The number you need is IMO an absolute minimum of 10 which is the number available a few weeks ago when it was announced who was eligible for the finals. Today, Casey had six Demons with Sheahan and Gysberts the only ones getting in the best players. I thought Davis was just reasonable and the other three had below par days. Tom Couch has been terrific all season but was well covered today. Josh Tynan just went and Lucas Cook was disappointing. The four players missing - Jake Spencer, Jack Fitzpatrick, Michael Evans and Leigh Williams would probably made the difference had they been available. Casey also missed a few of their more experienced players in McGough, Lees and Fieldsend (although the latter appears to be on the outer). Of course, it didn't help that they lost Matthews and ruckman Hill to injury or that they badly turned the ball over kicking backwards a few times which was a disaster in a low scoring game. Still, it's been a good year for Casey because they didn't recruit any names and relied solely on the limited number of MFC players available and local talent coming up through the ranks. It's a job that's been really well done by Brett Lovett. I'm glad Mark Neeld set the record straight on Gysberts and Cook but I suspect that Cook might be gone. Gysberts plugged away and I wouldn't write him off yet but I won't be surprised if he features in the trades. The highlight of the year at Casey for mine has been Jai Sheahan. He was highly touted in some quarters before last year's draft and missed out. He was rookied in the middle of that draft in December and I've been impressed by him every time I've seen him a Casey. He had a bit of a slump in mid season but he's come good again and I think that along with Rory Taggert, he could be the find of our draft.

We're going to look really good in a finals series with six players.

Personally, I would focus on the team that won last night's game and be trying to pick up one or two of their "fringe" players who can't break into that midfield but might really blossom in a new environment. Players like Ellis and Savage who might be considered up for trades perhaps? We seem to have an excess of key position defenders, one of who might be offered up for what could become a win/win trade. As for Collingwood I thought they went OK last night and it was just that Hawthorn is so much better drilled. I really can't see anybody beating them for the flag even at this stage unless Buddy does his hammy again. The bloke was pretty much subdued by Tarrant in the first half and still finished with four goals. If only we could get him? Cloke is still a big chance to go elsewhere unless he wants to drop a substantial amount of coin. On the basis that his old man is closer in kind to Phil Scully than Mother Theresa, I still reckon he'll be at Pricefixer Park next year helping Juddy with all that good work saving the environment in their never ending search for truth, justice and the almighty dollar.

Lovely bloke who ran a great raffle and collected loads of dough for the club. Not sure if anyone ever won though! RIP Dudley. You'll always be remembered.

I've now had the opportunity to watch the programme and what Gilbert McAdam said was that it was important for Liam to be surrounded by his family and that he (McAdam) had "inside information" that Melbourne were no longer going to support him; that it was getting too hard for them in terms of the culture he was bringing to the club. Melbourne has issued a statement saying that it will continue to give him its support. Somebody's telling fibs.

Seven players axed at Tigerland (including Daniel Connors) and two others recently retired. Has the sky fallen in over Punt Road Oval?

Am I correct in saying that it was Pythagorus who came up with the theory that the sum of the salaries of the first three place getters for the Kevin Sheedy Medal was not equal to the salary of the fourth place getter? If so, it all sounds like Greek to me.