Whispering_Jack

It must also be close to the first anniversary of that massive win we had last year against the Swans. Amazing - 12 months is a long time in football.

No, all that will be forgotten in a week's time. Later they will say that every player mentioned as being targetted by GWS was picked up by them.

Wrong. The early bird gets the worm and I believe the club should be looking closely at the mini draft. There are four All Australian Under 18s among the nominations and Jaeger O'Meara looks like a very good prospect. With the uncertainty about Tom Scully and the possibility of additional draft picks and players available for trading means we are in with a chance to claim a top notch youngster for our list. We should never take our eyes off the ball when it comes to recruiting. These are the players who nominated by yesterday's 2pm deadline: Chase Bower (Norwood, SA), Adam Carter (South Fremantle, WA), Brad Crouch (North Ballarat Rebels, Vic), Dayle Garlett (Swan Districts, WA), Brodie Grundy (Sturt, SA), Matthew Haynes (Northern Knights, Vic), Riley Hutchinson (East Perth, WA), Emmanuel Irra (South Adelaide, SA), Ben Kennedy (Glenelg, SA), Aaron Loccon (Norwood, SA), Sean Lynch (South Fremantle, WA), Todd McKay (South Adelaide, SA), Jaeger O'Meara (Dongara/ Railways, WA), Jonathan O'Rourke (Calder Cannons, Vic), Jason Pongracic (Dandenong Stingrays, Vic), Mason Shaw (South Fremantle, WA), Josh Simpson (North Adelaide, SA), Jake Stringer (Bendigo Pioneers, Vic), Shannon Taylor (Claremont, WA), Jimmy Toumpas (Woodville West Torrens, SA), Nick Vlastuin (Northern Knights, Vic), Matt Wallis (Norwood, SA), Laine Wilkins (Peel Thunder, WA), Daniel Williamson (Norwood, SA), Christopher Yarran (Perth, WA).

We need to win those three and at least one of the next two. It all depends on how the playing group reacts to the appointment of the new coach. I'm hopeful but who knows?

Do you believe everything you read in the newspapers? This is my take on it - (post 224). BTW I spoke to a player recently (and not the player I sponsor) and he reckons Caro's story is "crap" although to be fair he's not a particularly senior player. Like Caro, I won't be revealing my sources either.

Like most Melbourne supporters I'm thoroughly sick of this entire situation although I'm aware that there are those in whose interests it is for the thing to continue to fester. I received an email this morning from a friend who supports the Saints and who enquired about what was going on saying that I should know because I was in the "know". I'm definitely not and I'm no wiser than anyone else because I've heard half a dozen different versions from various sources which tells me there's no definitive explanation of what's going on ATM. I responded to my mate as follows:- I just had to get the part about the schoolgirl in to show that all clubs have skeletons in their closets and they will emerge when you least expect them. Despite everything, I think Melbourne is closer to ultimate success than his team because it was the young blokes who were the only ones to stand up on Saturday and that justifies a great deal of what's been done at the club in the name of list management.

"Still a man hears what he wants to hear And disregards the rest " There are at least half a dozen different scenarios out there of what was supposed to happen, some put out by members of the media, others by supposed insiders (and even one I've heard said to come from a current player) who would have us believe that they know the truth. Problem is that not all the stories match and some don't make sense. and the truth is that much of what we hear is a load of garbage.

Memo to the MFC. Please do us a favour and keep our players away from the media for the time being. Let them do their talking on the football field. We need deeds not words.

Sad day for the club today but much sadder yesterday. Dean Bailey did a lot for the club including sacrificing his own personal record for the good of developing a young list. I felt that sacrifice the most when we played the Bulldogs a month ago in a game that was crucial to his season, he gave Sam Blease a chance. I think that showed above all, that he was single minded in achieving something unique in coaching. Unfortunately it wasn't working on a number of levels and now he's gone. We thank Dean. He was the coach that we had to have during the time he was at the club. We move into an interesting five week period. History tells us that with players freed of inhibitions under a new coach, a team can rise to new heights. Matthew Primus and Port Adelaide showed that last year. Mark Bickley proved it to an extent today. Make no mistake. Despite yesterday, it's possible with a new approach to team selection, tactics and game strategies the team can win every one of the five remaining games. There are players whose cards might have been marked this morning who have new opportunities. Some will be liberated to play in new roles, others will go back to more familiar roles. The playing group has produced teams capable of winning games by 15 goals on more than one occasion this year. Such a team, with the right direction has the chance for redemption against its next two opponents. We owe them both big time for what they did to us earlier this year. Let's make it pay back time. Oh, and it goes without saying that the recriminations against players can wait. They have five weeks to show what they can do - from the captain down to the rookies.

I wonder how many will be ringing the club tomorrow asking for new membership cards to replace microwave damaged ones?

As strange as it might seem, the results of the round so far have been quite good for Melbourne's finals prospects this year. We all expected a flogging today at the hands of Geelong at the Cattery. OK, so the thrashing was a bit over the top but we know that Beamer was suffering from the flu. We know also that Liam Jurrah was crook last week. Who knows how badly the bug affected others? I'm not looking for excuses for the appalling performance, merely stating there might have been reasons why it was as bad as it was. On the other hand, it's likely that the game will be the catalyst for major change both long and short term. There's going to be a great deal of pressure on the coaching position and I wish all involved a lot of luck because it's a damned if you don't and damned if you do scenario. The news this morning was that the club was considering a contract extension for Dean Bailey. We saw the result today from Casey to Melbourne - results that were mindboggling as far as I'm concerned. That's all I'll say about that. We went into today's game after a 54 point defeat with one change - a reversal of the late change when Liam Jurrah dropped out because of illness in favour of Jamie Bennell. I think there might be more than one change next week. I think Aaron Davey and Joel Macdonald would be good chances to come in for next week. Can we come back after this? North Melbourne did a few week weeks ago after a shellacking from Collingwood. It came back and handed the Bulldogs a six goal defeat. We owe Carlton so let's see if our players have the character necessary to regroup and do what the Kangaroos did. And let's not forget, this week is the bruise-free replay - another major test of character for the players. As for the other results of the round, it would seem with the St. Kilda revival continuing, the Saints are firming for a place in the 8 but Freo, North and the Bulldogs all lost and Essendon face Collingwood. So, apart from the psychological belting we received today, we're no worse off than most of our expectations were this morning. The question is what can we do to come back from today's disaster?

Has he applauded anything yet?

I've just spoken to Redleg who was MFC team manager in 1979 on the day we lost that game by 190 points. He thought today's game was worse. I've invited him to do the match report from today's game and he's agreed. He also wants everybody to be reminded that the week after that loss, Melbourne played Essendon and win fairly easily. I'll leave it to him to tell his story but it might not be ready until late tomorrow or Monday.

It was a fair effort after a long stint out but he remains a fringe player at Carlton. He's a smart footballer with physical limitations in today's modern game. At least he has a chance to play finals football again and there's no benefit or reason for Demon fans to be mean spirited about him now. He's just another player at an opposition club.

Agreed. This thread will end when the month of July ends and a new one will start for August to be based on new developments only. Those who are nostalgic about their past ramblings on this subject have a day or so to vent their frustrations, prognosticate, ruminate, philosophise and generally articulate their views and opinions on this extraordinary young man.

Add a few crumbs, everybody's leftovers, the best young players in a weak draft pool and coaches who peaked before or around the turn of the century in a heartland where nobody really cares about the game and you have the makings of the next three wooden spoons right there. The GWS Giants loom as the AFL's next failed club after University, South Melbourne and Fitzroy.

A few notes:- • Neville Jetta and Michael Evans were two of Casey's best players in the midfield a fortnight ago and both will be sorely missed. Evans has a back injury but it seems Nev is injured again. Bad luck for both players as another good game at this level would have come close to ensuring their promotion. • Austin Wonaeamirri is obviously not ready to play yet. He's missed a fair bit of training and perhaps might need to undergo what would virtually be another pre season, so it suggests that he probably won't make it back to the AFL this year. • Jack Fitzpatrick in the centre for the reserves? • Casey's Danny Nicholls back in the team after a long lay off and co skipper Kyle Matthews starts again in the twos. He deserves a bit of luck to go his way and I hope he gets it.

Bad luck for Michael Evans. The letters TBA suggest some problems at least in the short term and it's a great pity because he would have been close to a promotion based on his last two or three games at Casey. On the matter of injuries, I notice that the Bulldogs, who were close to full strength when they played us (bar Lake) have been decimated by injuries. Had we been drawn to play them this week rather than before the bye, we might have been a good chance to beat them. It would have been nice to have played the Hawks without Rioli, Sewell and Lewis. That's life, I suppose.

I've just finished watching the replay of the programme and I think it was line and length what you would expect from a club captain in these circumstances. There are some people punching at shadows around here if they have any problems with it. I think an adequate diagnosis would be that some of our supporters are suffering from a form of paranoia that can be called TSF*. * TSF = Tom Scully Fatigue

Well, he has nominated - O'Meara in for 'mini-draft'

Watching the two teams line up for the minutes silence and I had the impression that we were as big as them in body size. Of course, outs like Morton, Scully and Jurrah help.

Nice touch of Melbourne as host to put on a tribute to the late Hawthorn premiership coach Allan Jeans. Now they can return the favour by conceding the first five or six goals.

Correct. It takes decades or research to come up with these things but I'm confident, as always, of my prediction

I thought I'd go early on this with some random thoughts: • we start the game as outsiders. The bookies have us at $4.00 to win. What were the odds when Essendon recently beat Geelong? • Hawthorn has beaten us seven times in a row, is coming off a bye and has some handy ins. We have a #1 & #4 draft pick out. • it's raining. • I don't know how to define "season defining" but this might be one of those games. A win would not put us back in the eight (unless it's by 15 goals+, an unlikely occurrence) but it would stretch out our hopes and expectations of a finals appearance over the next few weeks. • lose the game and we can concentrate on discussing other topics such as what Mike Sheahan or Jay Clark wrote about Tom Scully on any given day or how the coach thinks we need to become more competitive. Fine, just as long as the sponsor's logo is kept in the accompany picture and quotes from Demetriou are kept down to one liners. • remember to tape Future Stars to catch the Jack Trengove interview. How far into it will someone ask the inevitable question? • big day for my grandson. They're taking team photos of his Auskick group today. I hope he remembers the first football tip of his career which I gave him a few weeks ago, about keeping his socks up. I'm taking him to today's game. He was just one year old when we last beat the Hawks and oddly enough can't remember it. Afterwards, we're going to the club sponsors function where he threatens to confront a certain player about his footballing future. I've warned him off doing that but I'm not sure if he'll listen to me. Perhaps it's time to give him the my second tip of his football career? • yesterday, I spoke briefly with a journo who supports the Hawks. He didn't sound worried but pointed out that we usually do better against them the second time we play them in a season. Frankly, it's something I hadn't thought of previously but I think he's on to something and on that basis - my final dot point. • Melbourne by 8 points.

Martin Flanagan in today's Sunday Age - Liam Jurrah - a story as big as the land Another great piece from the leading football journalist in the land. I must confess that I had some misgivings when I heard that the Liam Jurrah story was going to be told because of the fact that it's so early in his career and that it's a team sport rather than for individuals. However, I now understand a little of what the book's all about and I can't wait to get my hands on a copy!