Whispering_Jack

Father of the late St. Kilda legend Trevor Barker, Jack Barker passed away this morning. Jack was also involved with the Sandringham Football Club and a constant spectator and avid supporter of our boys at matches during the period of the alignment between the Demons and the Zebras. There was a time in the early 80s when Trevor nearly became a Demon and we would have inherited Jack along with him as he was such a supportive father. Condolences to the family and may he rest in peace.

We made some very good friends at Yuendumu last year and it's sad to read of the violence that's taken place there in recent days. Let's hope that things settle down and that peace is restored to the community.

Firstly, I was only thinking about our small forwards this morning and wondering how much less potent they are than Carlton's equivalent who are all dangerous around goals and capable of kicking a bag on a weekly basis. I don't think ours were anywhere near as dangerous in 2010 (injury and fitness being a factor) and it's an area that we need strengthening. That said, I'm not sure that Alwyn Davey is the answer. Secondly, I'm not sure that the information given at times on SEN (especially from certain callers) is all that reliable.

We have no idea whether he's done something wrong or not and for that reason Brisbane should have stood by its player rather than sending him out to be hung, drawn and quartered. The Lions are committing one massive blunder after another and it seems they're hoping the AFL steps in and deregisters him. In the absence of some overbearing evidence damning Fevola, that isn't going to happen because Fevola would have the full weight of the legal system on his side in that case. I think it's true what they're saying in the media about the tide turning in favour of Fev against a board that's fumbled it's way through this sad episode.

Good report on a fascinating day's football. I must admit I came to the ground full of anticipation for Yeata and his team and looking forward to a dominant performance from Tom Lynch at CHF. He turned it on for most of the first half aided by a winning midfield. When the Cannons' onballers took over in the second half he still did well but was reasonably held by Matthew Watson in a great duel. Something tells me we are going to see more of that contest in the future. While I anticipated seeing a great game from Oakleigh's Andrew Daff (and he was very good but drifted out of the game at the end), I wasn't expecting to see such an explosive performance from Dylan Heppell who looks the prototype of the modern midfielder. He was Vic Country's MVP and Morrish Medallist so it wasn't exactly a fluke. Should be gone before we have our pick at 12 anyway. Nobody's mentioned Anthony Tipungwuti yet so I will. He's a Northern Territorian from the Tiwi Islands (home of Aussie). Lightly built and small of frame, he started on the bench, was used sparingly and had an impact for the Power in the final quarter. Possibly a rookie prospect, I'm sure he would fit in well with the Demons. Which leads me to ask what happened to the Aaron Davey scholarship that was supposed to be awarded to a young indigenous footballer? If it's still happening, the connection between the MFC -> Casey Scorpions -> Gippsland Power is obvious.

They're outside your house right now. Please put down all sharp objects and leave peacefully.

And my vote got him across the line!

As much as I dislike the predominantly white jumper, if we have to go that way then this is the best and fits in the most with our tradition.

It seems that they do and have been quite successful in the past . I'm available on 3 October but not 10 October (going to a wedding). I have someone who might coach the team who coached at VAFA Under 19 level who I think is quite good and would fit in well with the players. He's a Demons supporter of course as is his brother who is a gun footballer with a basketball background who could be our very own Jack Watts playing at CHF (194cm etc). Don't know yet if either of them is available but I take it there are no objections if I take it further.

This player always seems to get good wraps when he plays from Brisbane. It seems that he's now on the outer or at least looking for a new home according to the Sunday HUN. Any opinions?

Adam, I hope you're not having a go at Martin Heppell after who the Demonland/Demonology best on ground award is named when the team plays against Saintsational? As a member of the team who almost gave life and limb for the D/D's it's almost a sacriledge to speak of Marty in any other tones than hushed reverence. His record speaks for itself.

I saw Heppell at Visy Park in the TAC Cup Under 18 finals yesterday and he was the star of the day. Late last month Paul Daffey put out his list of the 25 best draft prospects and left this bloke out which is crazy because, unless there's something the rest of us don't know about, he'll most likely go between # 4 and # 6 on what I saw. He was Vic Country's MVP in the Under 18 Championships and shared this year's Morrish Medal so he's no slouch and I see the media's picked up on him at last too - Heppell shaping as high draft pick.

Nothing, and that's my point. The AFL has taken the alternative strip policy to a point where it's beyond a joke. The alternative strip needs to be worn only where the clash is a glaring one and, in most cases, its totally unnecessary for teams to wear an anaemic looking uniform that's in no way representative of their heritage and traditions. I say, "get rid of it"!

Almost a mirror image of the first game with the Gippy boys coming from behind and overrunning Oakleigh. Brilliant performance from Dyson Heppell who was almost Dane Swanlike with his attack on the football, his run and the amount of possessions he accumulated. The bookies will be delighted with the result which pits 6th and 7th placegetters in the granny next week.

A comfortable win for the Calder Cannons against Yeata's Dandenong Stingrays who were overrun in the second half after looking the goods early. Look forward to Melon's report.

With three rounds to go before the finals there was talk that Melbourne could make the eight this year if it continued to win games. As it turned out, the Demons would have missed out on percentage (thanks partly to Freo's massive Round 21 tanking effort). It would have been fantastic for our young side to have made it but possibly a bit premature and hopefully, the realisation of how close we came had we been able to win a few of the close ones will spur them on next year when their bodies are stronger and more mature and when they have another season's experience. I think Essendon of 2009 is a good example of a team not good enough or ready to make the finals and the experience of a September thrashing didn't help them. In Freo's case, they had a fantastic season but they showed a few chinks towards the end. It was definitely a worthwhile experience for them to make it this year but they're going to wear some scars into 2011 as a result of last night.

I'm not sure if there's any significance in the timing of the programme but 19 September happens to be the anniversary of our last premiership victory in 1964.

Which raises the question why Geelong are wearing white shorts tonight and why the Dockers aren't wearing their predominantly white strip?

I like the expression "escape goat". There are two important principles at play here. There's the rights of women to go about their lives unhindered by intimidatory behaviour from men and there's the presumption of innocence. Fev has made a rod for his own back with his past behaviour and his attitude but there's a possibility that he's being set up. The AFL has a lot to answer for here. Adrian Anderson can talk about the importance of looking after womens' interests but the AFL should have acted decisively last year after the Brownlow night fiasco. It had the ammunition then but did nothing.

Still can't understand why it's necessary to have a clash jumper that has white in it. Things worked nicely for more than 100 years without them at all (nearly 115 in the case of Collingwood and Essendon). And how on earth did the AFL allow a new franchise in the GCS to have a predominantly red jumper when there are already enough in the competition with that colour? I suppose GWS will have a blue and white guernsey?

Equal 9th for me. It was a tough year for tipsters. I'll try harder in 2010 and perhaps tip the Dees every week (except when there's a bye)!

Well done Melon 22. Over the coming months there's going to be abundant discussion on some of the players involved but much of it will be based on YouTube highlights that are often useless because you don't get an overall picture about the player in question. If people get down to Visy Park they'll get a greater appreciation of at least some of the names that are going to form part of the draft discussions. Of course, the four teams on display represent only a third of the young Victorian talent available and doesn't include draftable players from other local competitions like the VFL and there are the interstaters to consider as well. Gold Coast is already committed to the following three players (possibly not in this order) in the November draft:- 1. David Swallow (WA) 2. Harley Bennell (WA) 3. Sam Day (SA) However, there's some interesting talent in Victoria and enough will be playing on Saturday to make the trip to Visy worthwhile if you're into the draft. Here are the teams:- 1st Preliminary Final Dandenong Stingrays vs. Calder Cannons Saturday 11th September Visy Park at 11:30 AM Dandenong Stingrays B Heddles McInnes Batchelor HB Amalfi Kelly Buntine C Gent Parker Treloar HF Buchan Lynch Allen F Greeley Siposs Curren R Elton Hallahan Shiel Int (from) Tagg Jennings Wells Salopek Benbow Wallace Gearon Pongracic Harrison Wright Calder Cannons B Madden Talia Hunter HB Guthrie Watson Ellis C Williams Prestia Sheridan HF McLeod Mitchell Uysal F Meli Grenfell Sullivan R Daniher Liberatore Wallis Int(from) Dale Schroder Kefford Wright O'Loughlin Coran Robortella Drummond Murphy Angus 2nd Preliminary Final Oakleigh Chargers vs. Gippsland Power Saturday 11th September Visy Park at 2:00 PM Oakleigh Chargers B D. Harris Golds Cassidy HB Michie Tomlinson Batsanis C Otten Lester Browne HF Mascitti Johnson Crocker F Tyson Gordon Karnezis R Castricum Gaff Schneider Int(from) Bolton Brown Murphy Wooffindin Arnot Curran Cust Ahearne Gippsland Power B Wyatt Jones Bugg HB H. Hector Todd Ross C Smith Heppell Butcher HF Lindsay Marusic Corry F MacDonald Deery Lamb R Staley Hoghton Northe Int (from) Thorpe Salton Tipungwuti Carew Tynan Pendlebury D. Hector There's also a fair bit of interest in the games themselves as Melon pointed out and the first one should be a beauty. Good luck to Graeme Yeats and his Dandy boys!

Is there a correlation between the work done by a strength and conditioning coach and the number of injuries sustained at a club? Obviously, there are some injuries that come from collisions and there's very little that can be done to avoid them but I must say we have had a lot of injuries of all different sorts over the past four years while Collingwood seems to have been relatively injury free for a lot of that time. Luck of the draw? Any medical experts care to have a say?

Good work KC. Burra Burger report?

And from the TAC Cup Record LUCAS COOK