Whispering_Jack

First brush and, based on the degree of difficulty of the draw, I'd say we should be happy.

These mock drafts are a bit like the Gallup Polls they put out before and during an election campaign. The only poll that really matters is the one that happens on election day. Similarly, the only draft that is really going to matter is the one that takes place on 18 November. Still, it's an interesting distraction to read so many of the pen pictures and opinions as to what each of the clubs needs to enhance its list as well as to bring home the nature of the draft concessions available to the new franchises. I think the extent to which the Gold Coast has been empowered is clear and I suspect one or two of the other clubs are in for long periods where they will sit helplessly near the foot of the ladder because of poor trading and drafting policies and choices. As far as Melbourne is concerned, it's good that we bit the bullet when Neale Daniher left and went for a youth policy. The club might have made some unpopular decisions at the time (and might make some more in the very near future) but they will prove to hold us in good stead one day.

Once, I was sitting on Level 1 at what was then the Telstradome when Trapper took possession of the football and looked ahead and saw one of his teammates was only a simple thirty metre chip kick away. Instead of passing to him, Travis picked out another player, perhaps fifty metres distant and running towards goal, and sent a bullet-like pass into his path for what looked an easy goal. Just as it was his ability to take the hard option, to execute it perfectly and to make it look so easy that was his own special god given talent, it was his inability to perform such feats consistently that saw him end his career without the title "champion" etched next to his name.

Except that Melbourne has played its last two NAB Cup openers interstate and the year before that it was Geelong at Skilled so that it will now be four years since the club played a pre season opener in its home territory. On the basis of fairness alone, you would think Melbourne might be entitled at least as much as 9 other teams to play there and not have to go to Adelaide. Of course, we all know that "fairness" is some way down on the AFL's list of criteria when dealing with such matters. That said, I'm happy for the team to have this challenge of beating the interstate hoodoo thrust upon it at such an early stage.

I received a tweet today from the Casey Scorpions informing that training starts on 8 November - the same start date as Melbourne. If anyone lives out in the Casey Fields area, I'd appreciate a report on the condition of the ground. Has it recovered since the disastrous last half of the season?

The "but" was meant only to qualify the fact that I thought he could have achieved even higher status than he did because of those issues mentioned above that were beyond his control. I still rate him high in the top ten at the MFC since 1964.

You make a good point there. I think Art and Travis would get on together like a house on fire.

I say we go for him but there's a chance he'll be available at 32.

Neita had a fantastic career but I always expected him to become a great at the club. This is because I first came across him as a tall, young 15 year old from Parkmoor trying out for a schoolboy squad of which a neighbour's son was also became a member. He was in Melbourne's then metropolitan zone so I followed his fortunes up through the ranks. Even then, he had the makings of a potentially dominant key position player of the absolute highest order, whether forward or down back. At just 18 years of age, he made his debut for MFC in round 1, 1993 and six games into his career, David booted six goals at FF in a Friday night game against Richmond (note his age compared to the developing talls at the club today). If that was the benchmark for David Neitz and one's expectations of him, I would have to say that, at the very best, he only equalled those that I had of him when he was 18 years old although he did go on to be AA twice, the first time as a magnificent CHB who had great duels with a young Wayne Carey. My theory as to why he never made it to the absolute superstar status that I expected was that he had enormous responsibility thrust on his shoulders as, one by one, many of his contemporaries at the club who held down key positions (or were capable of doing so) were hit by injuries or left for other reasons. In the mid 90s we lost the likes of Lyon (back). Schwarz (knees x 3, yes I know he only had 2 knees), Jakovich (back), Prymke (back) and Pyke (off field indiscipline). Suddenly, Neita was our only fit KP (and even he was out for a short while with a broken jaw). He was shunted around the ground like a pinball to cover various deficiencies and, though there was a fairly strong case for him as a CHB, he ended up as a FF where he did make AA again. There was a long debate about whether Neita should play forward or back with the former winning out and in the end he became physically better suited as a forward. However, in the absence of those injuries that curtailed the careers of those mentioned above, he might well have achieved far more greatness on an individual and a team level and would have been a far better leader at the club. So, for those reasons I can't really say that IMO he fits into this category.

Redleg has been in dereliction of his duty. How many days to the draft? 23?

Given the existence of the other thread, I thought we should go for one about players who did live up to expectations or better. I thought I'd kick it off with the great Robert Flower who, when I first saw him in an under 19 practice match, was thin, scrawny and bespectacled and hardly a likely champion of the future. All I can say is "thank god for Robbie" because, without him there would have been little to cheer about for a decade and a half.

I suppose he's what some would call a "project player" and it's going to be interesting how he works out. Injuries to ruckmen on our list meant that he was sometimes thrust into a first ruck role at Casey well before he was physically ready. In a few games, he was beaten simply by size and strength but he kept plugging away and definitely improved. Late in the season at Visy Park he took on Northern Bullants Sam Jacobs and had a terrific duel with his bigger opponent winning a lot of the ball and kicking a couple of goals. I thought they broke even on the day. Unfortunately, he was booked in for end of season surgery and that was the end of his season while Jacobs, ironically, was promoted to Carlton's seniors and played some important games (including a final) before asking to be traded to Adelaide. Jack has plenty of time on his side.

Very diplomatically put .

Hmm. Actually, I thought that was an easy one.

I think the decision to let Doug Wade go after he did a pre season with the club in 1959 was a football decision made by Norm Smith who didn't believe he was ready for the big time yet. Obviously, Wade got his nose out of joint and didn't come back. Rather, he went to Geelong and became a legend of the game. We also missed out on other opportunities i.e. we had Darryl Baldock signed on a Form 4 in about 1958 and allowed it to lapse because he didn't want to come over. I think there were others who didn't come over after the club had put in the hard work to sign them up. We had Peter Hudson's relatives, the Minton-Connells down at the club but for one reason or another they didn't make the senior team. Who knows, we could have had Huddo and Wade in the same team if our cards fell the right way. Then there were the players who left the club for financial reasons because they were offered contracts to coach or play interstate or in the country. Stewie Spencer left after 2 premierships (Bluey Truscott winner both years) and at the age of 24 for this reason. The fall was inevitable because it was a by product of our success. We were too successful, grew complacent and were lost in the revolution that changed the game from mainly amateur to professional. It was a long, hard fall. It started when we lost Barassi and we've never recovered to this day.

Thanks Maurie, that's half my research in there . Really interesting and informative interview there about a real enigma of the club.

The first year of our alignment with Sandringham was 2000 so it must have been post '98.

At every club there will be a huge passing parade of players who don't live up to expectations because we build up our expectations of incoming players to what are often unreasonably high levels. Back in 1968 we recruited George Lakes, a centreman from Broken Hill who was supposed to be the best youngster in the country. He made his debut with the Demons that year and a couple of years later, when he was still struggling to get a game, I met him. Nice bloke but very laid back and I suppose that was why he never kicked on. We cleared him to South Melbourne and he was soon gone from the scene. Sean Charles used to play junior football for a team called Carnegie that wore the Melbourne colours. Played against my son and was simply brilliant, a one man team who ran around like lightning picking up kicks here there and everywhere. Kicked five goals as a 16 year old for Melbourne on debut but, between the club and him, they stuffed up his career after he broke a wrist in a pre season Ansett Cup game against the Eagles. Then there was Les Bamblett who played in the early 1980's and who really could have been anything. He was sensational in our Under 19's under Ray "Slug" Jordan but he never looked comfortable in the Melbourne senior colours and he left too. I think in many ways, his story and that of Sean Charles underlines the difference between how Melbourne looked after its indigenous players then and the way things are now. I did some research into Les Bamblett recently and I'll revisit the material I collected for a Demonland article on him. I think it will make fascinating reading.

As Redleg says on another thread, there are 25 days to go. I'm sure we're going to read or hear about every possible permutation and combination available on draft day. Our resident draft guru of the last three years Stevo will be back soon with his views in a couple of stories we're working on together. Stevo has extensive experience in junior football. He has worked at two TAC Cup clubs and is involved in public schools footy as well. His view is that this is a tough draft to predict in the early stages because of the dominance of Gold Coast. As a club, Melbourne has no control over who's going to be there at 12 and it's going to be a bit more of a test for BP than it has been in the past two or three years.

It's not exactly for the purists but NITV Channel 180 is playing last years Ngurratjuta Lightning Cup from Central Australia. Most of the teams come from outlying indigenous communities around Alice Springs including Liam Jurrah's Yuendumu. At the moment I'm watching the Kintore Hawks hand out a shellacking to the Fregone Bulldogs. It's not the professional stuff but the guys look like they're enjoying themselves and they're giving it a red hot go!

That was the game. I have a feeling that a young Nathan Buckley represented NT immediately before moving on to play his first and only season for the Brisbane Bears.

Nice try but if it was a true conspiracy you would have told us the game was really being played at some back lot behind Movie World instead of Blacktown Olympic Park.

Laurence Money on the man who has, in my eyes, always been and always will be the greatest Demon of them all - Humble Legend. I know tales about past players often sound like old war stories and can be boring, but the story of Ron Barassi Junior is anything but that. He was a hero to a generation of young Demon supporters and his story is complex, vibrant, tragic, heroic and emotional. I learned about the last part of his fascinating story when I watched an ABC programme in which RDB sought out his roots, discovered some surprising facts about his family and came face to face with the circumstances of his father's death in wartime. The book by a prizewinning author Peter Lalor should be an absolute corker and I can't wait for it to come out. I'm only sorry that a prior commitment prevents me from being there for the booksigning on Wednesday. Otherwise, I would have been looking forward to it with the same anticipation as on the day I first met him as a contestant on Happy Hammond's kids television programme at Channel 7's Dorcas Street studios fifty years ago. Nice story from Laurence Money too!

Thanks for that waynewussell. I truly had forgotten that little venture up to the Top End. I wonder if the game was attended by a little 9 year old by the name of Aaron Davey and, if so, did he enjoy the experience?

Chris Johnson and others may well feel sorry for his current circumstances and the break between him (and possibly his father) and the club is regrettable. Alan Johnson was not just a Melbourne great he was a great bloke and I've previously shared a couple of stories here of the time when I met him through his association with a VAFA club. But if Chris or his supporters are upset at where his career sits at this particular time, then he should spare a thought for a former teammate who came to Carlton at the end of 2008 and was also delisted by the Blues this week. During 2008 I was watching the progress of South Australia's Rhys O'Keeffe at the Under-18s championships. He was a dashing half back flanker/wingman who made the Under 18s All-Australian team and was named as South Australia's MVP. At that year's AFL National Draft the Blues got him late in the draft and I thought at the time that they had made a wonderful aquisition by selecting the running defender. O'Keefe only played a handful of games with the Bullants in 2009 before contracting osteitis pubis and ever since, he just couldn't get his body right. No, I'm not suggesting for a minute that we try to recruit him but his story demonstrates that there's a fair element of luck in this game and I hope that CJ reflects on O'Keefe's situation a little more before he has his next whinge. I think he might even discover that his outburst was unjustified and in that realisation, become a better person for it.