Whispering_Jack

Jumpin' Jack, certainly when he came to the club Ray played mainly at CHF (with a couple of early games on a HBF), the CHB being "Doc" Roet. After '64, he had a lot of competition for CHF from the likes of John Lord, Graeme Jacobs, Ross Dillon and Greg Parke and he eventually moved to the backline. By 1968, which I thought was his best year for the club*, he was playing most of his games at CHB and he starred there. Unfortunately, Tassie and his other profession called but I thought he had a lot more good football in him when he left at the end of 1968. * so did others because he won our best & fairest. Source: my own notes of every team selected for the MFC from 1961 to 1982.

More congratulations! On the other side of the political spectrum, Greg Sword was awarded an AM for services to unions and the community. The former ALP national president is also a Demon supporter who stood with Joe Gutnik for election on the losing Melbourne First ticket in the club's fiery 2001 elections. After the demise of Gabriel Szondy, he worked to bring about a reconciliation of the various factions at the club.

Congratulations to former Demon Ray Groom on being awarded the Order of Australia (AO) for services to politics and the community. This article explains why he received the award - http://www.watoday.com.au/breaking-news-na...00126-mupy.html. It doesn't mention that he won the AO for being a Melbourne player (1963-68) who missed the 1964 grand final through injury or for being a good bloke so I will. I was part of a group of people celebrating a friend's birthday one weekend at the Launceston Casino and Country Club and, being non gamblers and non smokers, Redleg and I went off for a swim in the indoor pool where we met Ray Groom and his young son. Now, most people who stay at a Casino don't go there with the intention of having a dip in the pool so the four of us had the place to ourselves for about 2 hours. Ray was premier of Tasmania at the time but we spent 1% of our time discussing politics and other matters and the rest on our beloved Demons. During his first two years at the MFC, Groom wore the number 15 but when Ron Barassi broke our hearts and defected to Carlton at the end of 1964, he was given the #31. He gave terrific service to the club as a key position player (mainly CHB) and returned to Tassie when he still fairly young. Still, as you can see from the article he had other things in life to achieve. The bloke who took Groom's # 15 was a fair footballer too (Stan Alves) and I trust that the current custodian of the number 31 guernsey will also be a high achiever both in his sport at Melbourne and in life as well.

Still, I reckon he came a close second. Well, in my view at least!

It's pretty easy to get under everyone's radar when you've just made back to back wooden spoons so I can understand Collingwood's thinking. The bookies (always a good guide) don't think much of us either because I see that we're 16th in line in the NAB Cup betting. That's after us being drawn to play the Dockers in the first round of the competition. The game might be at Subiaco but we did beat them by 10 goals last time we played them. Yes, we need to win respect and that includes self respect judging on the way some of our posters here on Demonland go on from time to time.

One of the questions I've asked myself in recent times is what would be my reaction if it was one of my club's players involved? Until recently (say 2-3 years ago) I would have been against the club taking action independently of the legal system but times have changed. Football clubs and their fortunes are now inextricably bound up with so many partnerships with sponsors, community groups and organisations, government etc. that they simply can't ignore their position in society and their responsibilities. I think the club has, over the last couple of years, shown it has taken it's role seriously and I would expect if one of ours did a Hurley, a real suspension (ie home and away games, not NAB Cup) of at least 3 - 4 weeks would follow. In a Casboult situation, I would give the ringleaders 2 weeks plus (if applicable) removal from the leadership group.

The law may or may not deal with Hurley in the manner described in the article but what will Essendon do if Hurley signs up for the diversion programme? Given that the AFL demanded a "please explain" from Carlton over the booze cruise and endorsed St. Kilda's suspension of Andy Lovett surely the Bombers would have to act against Hurley. And conviction or no conviction, he committed a drunken assault so disciplinary action is warranted.

This story is one of the greatest chapters in the history of the Melbourne Football Club. It's such a pity so few are reading it so I bumped it up in the hope that more of you might learn something about when we were really great.

Last May, Chris Connolly addressed a meeting of Demon fans at the Crowne Plaza Surfers Paradise on the eve of the St. Kilda v Melbourne game at Carrara. He made it very clear that 2010 was going to be the first year that we could get an insight into how good Dean Bailey really is as a coach. Most of us understood clearly what he meant; that Bailey had spent his first year and a half and would spend the rest of his second year in preparing himself for his real coaching stint. Given all that has happened in that time, I think it's only appropriate that he be given an extra year's extension. His was a job that could never be done in three years (and probably not in six either) but be that as it may, he deserved a fourth season to prove that he can coach and if the club gives him the extra time, then so be it. The decision would have been better made immediately after the end of last season but the cynics would of course be claiming that we were rewarding him for two years of mediocrity (and in a perverse way that might even be true). I hope we get on with it, announce that a new deal's done and we move forward to a new era. I am bemused however, by this concept of "cheap wins" and the suggestion that there can be some tradeoff between winning games and developing youngsters. In my view, aiming for excellence and winning at the elite level should in reality be part and parcel of every player's development, whether they are first and second year players, 50 to 100 gamers or veterans. I believe in picking your teams on merit and on stressing to players that a place in the team must be earned. This business of arbitrarily giving games to young players when they're not ready or they don't deserve them only works in some circumstances for junior footy. At the elite level, it just doesn't impress me. We have a unique opportunity with a number of good early draft selections making up our list. They need to learn the skills of winning and how to play under pressure but there's no pressure when you don't even have to earn your place in the team and winning is secondary to some other agenda. In other words, it's the quality of the development we can put into our youth that's going to determine whether we can win premierships somewhere down the track. That’s always been the case and the situation does not now call for changing methods that are known to work for methods that do not work. I'm bouyed by what I saw at training last Friday. It's clear that a number of third and fourth year players are already either fixtures in our best side or challenging strongly. The likes of Watts, Scully and Trengove etc. will IMO benefit more from 12 games in a competitive environment where they must compete to earn places in the best team the club can put together, than from 20 games in a controlled environment where winning is irrelevant and players are selected on criteria other than excellence. Others of our younger players will also earn their places, most will get games this year but some will probably have to wait until next year. Why push them into the team too early at the expense of players whose form is superior? Bob. Your example would be pertinent if the players mentioned (Dunn, Bell, Bartram, Johnson and Cheney) were in our best 22. How many people around here think they are? Do you? Would you drop Sylvia, Davey, Bate, Jamar and Grimes if they were in form just to give some of the younger blokes a go even if they were struggling down at Casey? I frankly don't know how many games the club will be aiming for in 2010. It's a long season, injuries and suspensions happen and you never know what's waiting for you around the corner. However, I'm an optimist. I also figure that 2009 was a season when for many reasons - injuries, difficult draw, er ... list management etc. all worked together to give us a minimal four wins. In different circumstances we could possibly have won seven or eight. That should be our absolute minimum benchmark and who knows, Bailey might turn out a better coach than some think and a few players might stand up and show a faster rate of development than expected. The stars might align and the team might gel and win two, three or even more games than the benchmark putting them just one or two dirt cheap wins away from what I consider ATM a very unlikely finals place. Unlikely, but its a Winter Olympics year and who could forget Steven Bradbury winning Gold just two years after breaking his neck? PS: Seriously, I'm not suggesting we'll win AFL's equivalent of a gold medal this year or that we will even make the finals. The circumstances still call for patience but I do believe we should be striving for the best possible outcome to the season which would be to win more games than we did in 2008 & 2009 and to get plenty of games into the legs of our young players. I believe both can be achieved.

One of the best football programmes going around is the Marngrook Football Show and NITV are running a summer series of 2009 highlights at the moment. I've just finished watching the first of these (taped yesterday at 6am). It made fascinating viewing. Next week's programme should be a ripper including interviews with Andrew Lovett, Bryan Strauchan and Leon Davis.

Mind you, that's how the Toigs like their recruits these days. Hardened up by a bit of a stretch in the big house. The policy has worked well so far because the Bloos and the Saints are gearing to imitate.

No worries Allen. I'm honoured that such an eminent personage as yourself has taken the time to read my humble work.

Exactly what we want to hear. Now if they can only translate that into performance on field ...

I think both Scully and Trengove are capable of fitting into AFL football pretty much seamlessly but I'm sure they'll be monitored closely by the club to avoid having too much strain put on their young bodies. Yeata's just about right -14 to 18 games each would give them a solid base going into the future. Looking at my report again, I think I did Ricky Petterd a disservice by not mentioning him. He was pretty lively during the match simulation. Bear in mind, it's impossible to notice everything that's going on at sessions such as these for the reason that there is a large number of people on the ground (players, support staff etc) and so many things happening. It also takes a while to recognise some players with the altered physiques, new haircuts etc. On that note, I noticed that Jack Watts has ditched the beard he was trying to grow and Jack Fitzgerald has had a haircut. Also, Jake Spencer is filling out and looking less gangly (and not that much shorter than Max Gawn) but his kicking action still needs working on.

The Age article brought back lots of memories and I have a vague recollection about Graham Douthie and his very brief time in the limelight. Back in those days when the sport was semi-professional and most players held real jobs, the pre-season was very different to how it is nowadays. The players used to get together around mid-February and training at the MCG often had to be carried out with the centre wicket roped off. The first practice match was often played on a substandard ground because the standard venues were off limits due to cricket. It wasn't uncommon for unknowns to star in the early practice matches especially if they were young, fit and eager. Often the regulars would come back after 5 months off in an unfit state having put on the kilograms and they were not all that keen on doing the hard work early or on playing in practice matches which were nearly always intraclub games of the probables v possibles variety. The game which was the subject of the Age report by Ron Carter was played on a small ground at Albert Park. Conditions were made for high scoring and you can see from the fact that two other players Ken Emselle (a rover) and Ross Dillon kicked ten between them that it was not a game for defences. Please don't take this as gospel (it was more than 40 years ago after all) but the picture I have in my mind of Douthie is that he wasn't particularly tall for a key position aspirant (bear in mind that in those days you could play a KP and be barely 6' tall). I don't think we saw much more of him after the first few practice matches. The club had some decent KPP's then in Dillon, Greg Parke and Ray Carr who kicked 7 goals in a game that season (out of a total of 8). Notwithstanding this we performed dismally in 1969 easily taking out the wooden spoon. It might pay you to check for Douthie in later editions of the Age from that year's practice matches. He definitely returned to Highett and, according to records I have which were collated by Sandringham identity, the late John Carroll, Douthie bobbed up at the Zebras and kicked 18 goals in 7 games for them in 1971. There are some other interesting stories on that page as well. The saddest one to read was of the promise shown at Collingwood by Bob Rose Junior, then 17 years of age. He was also a promising cricketer who represented his state in the Sheffield Shield as well as the Collingwood Football Club. He became a paraplegic as a result of a car accident and died a few years ago - perhaps not long before his father who was a Magpie great died. One of the saddest stories about our game.

I hope they call the station Casey Fields rather than Cranbourne East.

Thanks to Big Kev there will be some photos of today's training session. Andy will put them up when he gets home from work!

It was good to see the full contingent at Casey Fields even if a few were in the rehab group and perhaps a few others were being rotated to do lighter work for various reasons. Colin Garland was one of the rehab guys who was doing laps of the oval when I arrived. He didn't appear at all inconvenienced by the leg injury that cruelled his year in 2009. Aussie was also doing laps and light work. Scully and Trengove look like they will fit into AFL nicely. Gysberts, Tapscott and Strauss should all get games this year and Joel Macdonald will be an aquisition. I'll try a full report later.

Shock, horror ... it looks to me like Jeff Kennett. Apart from that he looks to be in great shape.

He is 18 years old. That's about the only thing that you don't have to qualify by using the word "allegedly". Apparently, he's allegedly a dickhead too but the Tigers allegedly don't have an alleged "no alleged dickheads policy".

Firstly to Jaded - bad luck and I hope if it is contageous then you should stay away from Melbourne players for a while ! As for the cricket it was absorbing stuff at the end. Great captaincy by Ponting - especially the decision to bat first .

Phil Rhoden was recruited to Melbourne from University Blues in 1968. I remember him as a stocky defender who was a magnificent long kick - probably the longest kick I've seen at the club. He played a few seasons, mainly in the reserves and I have a feeling he might have won the Gardiner Medal in his first season. I think he was also on the club committee for a while during the 70s. My enduring memory of Phil as a player was during a game on the MCG when he gathered the ball deep in the backline, ran and bounced once and then sent a kick that must have travelled well over 70 metres to hit a leading Ross Dillon on the chest. Dillon duly kicked the goal from about 50 metres out. Really spectacular stuff.

Why are we so preoccupied with Chris Judd and the problems at Carlton? If it's because we still carry a grudge against Judd for jerking us around two years ago when he had already made up his mind to go to the Blues, I think it's about time we started getting over it. At some time during 2010 or 2011 we are going to overtake Carlton and it will be a long time before they get close to us after that. They might have Judd heading a reasonably strong midfield but they struggle for quality almost everywhere else and they have a poor culture and little in the way of leadership. We have an emerging list with talented young players and greater depth around the ground. So let's concentrate more on our great club rather than on the dysfunctional has beens from Visy Park.

Great effort there. I'd like to see some other clubs try to top that! Well, you can call me the Big O of Optimists as far as the MFC is concerned and now is a good time for optimism. I don't think we've ever had as good or as big a group of under 23's as we have now (well at least since the early 50's) and that's what the lists are telling us. Of course, having the raw material is one thing. Turning it into a high qualty finished product is another and that's the challenge that our coaches face in the next few years. We need to get games into their legs and make sure they develop the right way which includes turning them into mature disciplined footballers (in every facet - we don't need dropkicks of the type that publicly surfaced at one or two other clubs this week) and among them, need to emerge true leaders. Another list I used to enjoy putting together was my list of favourites for the first senior game of the following season among those yet to make debut. I suppose Joel Macdonald rightly heads the list but there's an interesting battle on among Scully, Trengove, Gysberts, Tapscott, Blease and Strauss on the next line of favouritism.

People keep saying there but for the grace of god and that it easily could happen to us. That it has happened to us and that it was not so long ago we had issues with Neita, Colin, Brock, Nathan Carroll and others. That it happened with Collingwood, Geelong, Essendon ... most if not all the others. And we did something about it. So did most of the others. But what's happening at Carlton is almost primeaval. While all of the other clubs introduced education and responsibility, and weeded out the no-hopers, Carlton never treated it as seriously. Not even when it was begrudgingly forced to offload its second most important playing commodity because his drunken fuelled antics (inter alia) embarassed, infuriated and humiliated its most important playing commodity (not to mention trashing the entire club before these neanderthals even woke up). The problem, as it often does, lies at the top. For starters, the idea that Kernahan is going to address his players on drinking and responsible social behaviour on their return on 4 January is surely a joke. Sticks was completely out of his depth at the Fevola farewell press conference as he was grilled by the media over sexual harassment issues alleged against his former forward and fairly hazy on most else during the proceedings. But in front of his own boys we can only wonder at what point he's going to get up and sing, "Stand by Your Man" and when he's going to look straight into his mens' eyes and tell them "We're Carlton, f#$@& the rest!" Remember, this is the club president who, it is said after a loss to Fremantle on the Gold Coast this year, recommended some bonding in the traditional way - with a booze up. Little wonder that the boys decided to initiate 19 year old Levi Casboult, barely a week into the club as a rookie, by getting him shickered senseless on last week's river cruise. The thing is you're not going to get rid of this curse by way of a stern lecture from Sticks (most won't understand it anyway). There's a lot more. Proper leadership, discipline, respect and dedication to the cause. I'm not sure they have what it takes over there because the "We're Carlton, f#$@& the rest" philosophy seems to have come home to roost.