Whispering_Jack

by Whispering Jack When St. Kilda drafted Luke Ball with the second selection in the 2001 AFL National Draft, it was understood that the young midfielder would see very little senior football action in what should have been his debut season at the club because of final year secondary school studies. The same occurred with Hawthorn's Xavier Ellis when he was drafted a few years later. I was thinking about this as I watched Jack Watts go through training with the Demons at Casey Fields this morning. Even taking into account the fact that he has a teenager's body, it's hard not to picture him as a permanent fixture in the Melbourne side this year based on the little I have seen of him since Watts was drafted in late November. He moves beautifully, has great pace and awareness, can kick the pill accurately and over long distances and he looks happy and right at home in this environment. The problem is that I suspect he will have to commit himself to a number of games for Brighton Grammar but that this will not hurt his career in the long term. We don't need a repeat of the scenario where Collingwood overworked Josh Fraser early in his development years and held back his career. For all that, the situation regarding his availability to play for Melbourne will be a talking point well into the 2009 season although given his circumstances, l don't quite understand how Betstar could have possibly installed Watts as the favourite for this year's Rising Star award. At the other end of the scale, Russell Robertson cut a lonely figure for a while as players like Sam Blease, Ricky Petterd, Addam Maric, John Meesen and Brent Moloney who were doing rehab work were able to join in some training drills. Poor Robbo was confined to light work and did little other than kick the ball a bit as he waits on scar tissue from the injury to heal. The hope is that he will be ready for the opening round but that might be wishful thinking although he's such a great bloke to have around the club with his enthusiasm and drive. As far as I know, he's not in any reality television shows this year which could be a bonus later on . The good news is that Jared Rivers is over his groin and joined in most of the training drills. Not only that he's making an impact on the club's emerging tall defenders department with his great skill and football know how. There will certainly be some keen jostling for positions among Colin Garland, Matthew Warnock and the rapidly improving James Frawley who appears to be bigger, stronger and more balanced this year. This seems to have had a positive effect on his confidence levels and he is doing things at training that we've never seen before - like taking opponents on and backing his judgement. It's little wonder that he's being touted as one of the big improvers at the club. Of the forwards, Brad Miller looks imposing, Michael Newton has bulked up a bit too and Colin Sylvia is relishing the opportunity to be fit and able to train at full pace during a pre-season. Hopefully, this will translate on the playing into the same sort of season that Travis Johnstone had in 2002 after he was finally able to take part in a full pre-season programme. I haven't factored Watts into this group but if he gets his opportunity, then the Demon attack will have far more potency than it has had for a couple of seasons. Of the newcomers, I was again impressed by James Strauss and his disposal skills and with Bunbury pair Jamie Bennell and Neville Jetta. These guys are fitting in well and I expect them to play a role during the NAB Cup series. Hopefully, they might have the same sort of impact that North Melbourne gained a couple of seasons ago with the arrival of unheralded pair Lindsay Thomas and Campbell who between them are always good for a few goals every week. I was also keen on seeing the club's Pre Season Draft pick Liam Jurrah. He's tall (but probably somewhere between the 188cm and 193 cm reported) and spindly, moves nicely and I suspect that he has a bag of tricks up his sleeve. Austin Wonaeamirri was there beside him at times as if to signal that the young man from Central Australia has it within him to follow the Tiwi Islander's example from 2008. Jurrah will need time to adapt to city life but he has already spent some time here when he played with Collingwood's VFL team last year. Meanwhile Aussie's body shape is looking positively chiselled showing the benefits of a full pre-season's conditioning and Aaron Davey is looking fit and sharp after a couple of lean, injury affected seasons. These guys are going to be a real handful for opposition defences this year. But if you're looking at areas where the club can really show some improvement this year, then look no further than the midfield where Scott West has taken charge and is introducing some interesting drills. With the likes of Brock McLean and Brent Moloney back in harness joining a stronger looking Nathan Jones to add some more grunt and Simon Buckley who looks bigger, quicker and a more balanced player, Lynden Dunn doing the run with, James McDonald adding the experience combined with the strong indigenous flavour, this division could surprise by moving out of the third world as far as midfields go and changing the club's fortunes for 2009. That's how things look at the end of the first week in January. It's still probably a month before they go around in any meaningful sort of practice match and more before the team takes on Hawthorn in the first NAB Cup game in Launceston. It will be another month and beyond that before we can ascertain the level of improvement we can really expect from this new look Demon squad. Photos generously provided by George from Demonology.

1. Maric had a hip op at the end of last season. 2. Not sure if he's put on weight but he looks more powerful. I also suspect that Bails and West have been working on his decision-making and disposal of the ball. In the past he's been guilty of sometimes hanging onto the ball far too long. Today he was looking a lot more slick and decisive with his ball movement. This change could be the making of Jones as a more complete footballer and I hope that others who go to future training runs can check this out to see if it's continuing to happen.

by Whispering Jack When St. Kilda drafted Luke Ball with the second selection in the 2001 AFL National Draft, it was understood that the young midfielder would see very little senior football action in what should have been his debut season at the club because of final year secondary school studies. The same occurred with Hawthorn's Xavier Ellis when he was drafted a few years later. I was thinking about this as I watched Jack Watts go through training with the Demons at Casey Fields this morning. Even taking into account the fact that he has a teenager's body, it's hard not to picture him as a permanent fixture in the Melbourne side this year based on the little I have seen of him since Watts was drafted in late November. He moves beautifully, has great pace and awareness, can kick the pill accurately and over long distances and he looks happy and right at home in this environment. The problem is that I suspect he will have to commit himself to a number of games for Brighton Grammar but that this will not hurt his career in the long term. We don't need a repeat of the scenario where Collingwood overworked Josh Fraser early in his development years and held back his career. For all that, the situation regarding his availability to play for Melbourne will be a talking point well into the 2009 season although given his circumstances, l don't quite understand how Betstar could have possibly installed Watts as the favourite for this year's Rising Star award. At the other end of the scale, Russell Robertson cut a lonely figure for a while as players like Sam Blease, Ricky Petterd, Addam Maric, John Meesen and Brent Moloney who were doing rehab work were able to join in some training drills. Poor Robbo was confined to light work and did little other than kick the ball a bit as he waits on scar tissue from the injury to heal. The hope is that he will be ready for the opening round but that might be wishful thinking although he's such a great bloke to have around the club with his enthusiasm and drive. As far as I know, he's not in any reality television shows this year which could be a bonus later on . The good news is that Jared Rivers is over his groin and joined in most of the training drills. Not only that he's making an impact on the club's emerging tall defenders department with his great skill and football know how. There will certainly be some keen jostling for positions among Colin Garland, Matthew Warnock and the rapidly improving James Frawley who appears to be bigger, stronger and more balanced this year. This seems to have had a positive effect on his confidence levels and he is doing things at training that we've never seen before - like taking opponents on and backing his judgement. It's little wonder that he's being touted as one of the big improvers at the club. Of the forwards, Brad Miller looks imposing, Michael Newton has bulked up a bit too and Colin Sylvia is relishing the opportunity to be fit and able to train at full pace during a pre-season. Hopefully, this will translate on the playing into the same sort of season that Travis Johnstone had in 2002 after he was finally able to take part in a full pre-season programme. I haven't factored Watts into this group but if he gets his opportunity, then the Demon attack will have far more potency than it has had for a couple of seasons. Of the newcomers, I was again impressed by James Strauss and his disposal skills and with Bunbury pair Jamie Bennell and Neville Jetta. These guys are fitting in well and I expect them to play a role during the NAB Cup series. Hopefully, they might have the same sort of impact that North Melbourne gained a couple of seasons ago with the arrival of unheralded pair Lindsay Thomas and Campbell who between them are always good for a few goals every week. I was also keen on seeing the club's Pre Season Draft pick Liam Jurrah. He's tall (but probably somewhere between the 188cm and 193 cm reported) and spindly, moves nicely and I suspect that he has a bag of tricks up his sleeve. Austin Wonaeamirri was there beside him at times as if to signal that the young man from Central Australia has it within him to follow the Tiwi Islander's example from 2008. Jurrah will need time to adapt to city life but he has already spent some time here when he played with Collingwood's VFL team last year. Meanwhile Aussie's body shape is looking positively chiselled showing the benefits of a full pre-season's conditioning and Aaron Davey is looking fit and sharp after a couple of lean, injury affected seasons. These guys are going to be a real handful for opposition defences this year. But if you're looking at areas where the club can really show some improvement this year, then look no further than the midfield where Scott West has taken charge and is introducing some interesting drills. With the likes of Brock McLean and Brent Moloney back in harness joining a stronger looking Nathan Jones to add some more grunt and Simon Buckley who looks bigger, quicker and a more balanced player, Lynden Dunn doing the run with, James McDonald adding the experience combined with the strong indigenous flavour, this division could surprise by moving out of the third world as far as midfields go and changing the club's fortunes for 2009. That's how things look at the end of the first week in January. It's still probably a month before they go around in any meaningful sort of practice match and more before the team takes on Hawthorn in the first NAB Cup game in Launceston. It will be another month and beyond that before we can ascertain the level of improvement we can really expect from this new look Demon squad. Photos generously provided by George from Demonology

I was there as well and conditions for training were great. I took some photos on my iphone but they're third rate (as compared to second rate when I use a normal camera) so I'm looking forward to your pics and video. I'll do a proper report later (lunch, then work beckons). There is one on Demonology and George from over there will also post a report and photos (he's got a fair dinkum camera). Just briefly: Jack Watts is growing on me. The kid goes all right. James Frawley and Simon Buckley are looking like big improvers and I have this feeling that Colin Sylvia is going to have a break out season. It was my first live viewing of Liam Jurrah and he's light and thin, has good height (but probably between the 188cm and 193 cm reported) and will probably take a bit of time to adapt to the rigours of AFL football. About John Meesen - unless he's severely restricted by injury I agree with Nick48 on 'ology: we must all be missing something. The Russian (with a very short haircut) did him like a dinner in ruck drills.

Thanks JJJ. Hope to make it out there myself on Friday. There's a few missing - Junior, Wheats, the Russian, Wheels and Valenti that come to mind. But having been to a few of these training sessions I know how easy it is to miss somebody. Cheers!

Tingles, The game is being replayed on one of the Fox Sports channels on Sunday 4 January 2009 at 2am.

The story so far of Liam Jurrah has been interesting and, like all true Demons, I'm hoping that it's only going to get better and that his career is a long and successful one for the MFC and for him as a player. I've been reading about his on field exploits and his history with Collingwood through Rupert Betheras who visited Jurrah's community a couple of years ago and was instrumental in organising a trip to Melbourne and the Lexus Centre which ultimately led to his being invited to play with the Magpies' VFL side for a few games in early 2008. Apparently, Jurrah lived in Melbourne with a member of one of Collingwood's supporter groups for several months and was acclimatising well when he returned home to be with a dying friend. It seems to me that it would make sense that one of the things the club could do would be to make contact with the person Jurrah lived with to gain some insights into how we can help his smooth transition into the Melbourne environment. I would imagine that there's going to be some expense involved as there would be for any recruit taken from interstate. If that expense is incurred in the cause of carrying out a valuable social and cultural function as well as rewarding us with a stream of talented players and strong community support for our club, then it will be money well spent.

Best: Hawthorn (the second time) Comeback v Freo Round 7 Brisbane Lions at the G Worst: Hawthorn Round 1 Bulldogs Round 2 Richmond Round 22

The article is really quite revealing about the player, the coach and the club. I think all have to work a lot harder at getting things right in the future but it really confirms that Melbourne in 2009 wasn't the right place for CJ. We should learn the lessons of this story well but, at the same time, let's move on.

The years pass and despite that, it's a numbing experience just to think of that Boxing Day four years ago when the ocean took so many people away including many of our own. Troy Broadbridge was one of those special people, a player who was a friend of every fan and a nice bloke. That doesn't make the passing of time any easier but we won't forget. I wrote a piece when Troy died called "Across the Universe with Troy", partly inspired by the Lennon/McCartney classic. By co-incidence Fox Showtime is screening a film with that title tonight. It's little things like that which remind us. Rest In Peace.

I've just noticed that Colin Wisbey has posted this message on Extreme Black and White -

There's no real scientific approach to drafting. In the end, we're always dealing with subjective decisions. What might be good in one recruiter's eyes might be average to another. As to Wisbey's omission of Sam Blease from his top 40, I think he gives a clue as to why in this statement about the 'touted' draftees who didn't make his list being either dodgy decision makers or those for whom he "struggled to identify an AFL role they might be capable of 'owning'". In the case of Blease, it's possible to adopt such a view with a player who is a lightly built bottom ager. I happen to have a different position with Blease in that he's just one of the types Melbourne is looking for and he fits the style of play Dean Bailey is seeking to develop at the club. He's not going to be a perfect fit for all clubs just as Blight who Wisbey surprisingly rated highly (and who went to Collingwood) wouldn't be in most people's top 40 and who indeed. did not get drafted in the top 40. In drafting, it's often a case of horses for courses and I somehow doubt that Wisbey had the Demons' specific recruiting criteria at the back of his mind when he made his assessments. From the moment I saw Blease at Telstra Dome v WA 18's, I had him in my top 10 for this draft because he addressed more than one major need for the club. And, as many of the experts (but not Wisbey) said, he ticked a lot of important boxes. This kid might take some time but I reckon he's going to be something special if properly developed by the club and when he matures as a player. Wisbey also left out a couple of first rounders in Lewis Johnston and Phil Davis. I don't know enough about Davis but Johnston ticks all the boxes for me and he did for the Swans as well.

Short memory Rhino? This time last year, every day was Groundhog Day as we read of the exploits of a certain group of Melbourne players travelling through Europe and then running amok on our roads when they returned. Why, only as recently as Mad Monday ...

I understand that the Vanderlay family is not amused at this state of affairs. They claim that young Art took the rap for others and that he was framed. His story was that he thought the getaway car he was driving was a hearse belonging to a well know family of Melbourne funeral directors and that he was acting in the course of a legitimate delivery for them (albeit that 3.00am is an usual time to be moving corpses around suburban Melbourne). They also want it known that Ricky Nixon is not Art’s manager and that latex is not usually associated with substance abuse. Hopefully, Vanderlay will be rookie listed as a mature age rookie when he becomes eligible for parole in 2015.

Two possible reasons: 1. The club or the players want to market the video and/or send it to the members and fans, 2. The Commonwealth Censor has decided it's a bit too cheeky for public consumption! Merry Christmas to all!

Well, it was a bit like this ... Unlike the scene at Punt Road today where they had 2,000 rabid Tiger fans watching training, there were about 20 Demon supporters at CF on Monday. This made it east for CC to find us there and for us to find him. It helped that he knew Redleg and one or two others in our small group and he just volunteered to take us around on the tour. He's a terrific bloke and doing a fantastic job for the club. I doubt we would have received the same treatment if we'd lobbed up at Punt Road this morning!

Not working for me and I took the photos but then again, it was the first time I ever used the camera, I thought it focussed automatically and I wasn't figuring on it being a dark, gloomy morning with thick cloud cover and poor lighting. Anyway, I come from the impressionist school of photography. Van Gogh and Matisse for me. That's why everything's so blurry (although I did get Redleg's balding head pretty much spot on). Apologies for missing out on Brent Moloney. I think he might have trimmed down a bit since last year. If you want clear photos, George (whose camera was four times the size of the one I was using and looked pretty much state of the art) has done a good job over at Demonology and he's also put together a nice report (see here). We both got more or less the same guided tour.

Quote by Barry Prengergast in today's papers indicates he's 191 cm tall.

Jurrah set for life-changing AFL draft day

Not if it's detrimental to his well being in the long run. None of us know how his recovery from the problems he's experienced over recent years is going. My professional experience in dealing with people with drug addiction is limited but I know it's something that is very rarely overcome in the short space of a year. Richmond's the only club that's prepared to take a punt on him and I think they've handled this poorly. The linking of the Cousins drafting with the Polak issue was a mistake in my opinion. If they weren't going to take him come what may, they should never have taken the path that they did. Their supporters were sold the dream of a champion 30/31 year old Brownlow Medallist midfielder coming to their club and making the difference between being also rans and strong finals contenders. It was the same dream that was sold previously to St. Kilda fans and shattered, ditto with Collingwood before that. I somehow don't think the reality was ever going to match the dream but it sure would be interesting to find out (but only if he is over his addiction). And if he was 100% how could you not want to see him or any other great athlete perform at the highest level (except when they play against us)?

The problem is that Richmond probably needed Polak out of the way and on the rookie list in order to free up room in their salary cap to pay Cousins. It would be best if they can work out a way to get him under the existing rules and without recriminations against the AFL which ruled correctly on this issue. It's simply not fair to the competition to change the ground rules in the 11th hour of a draft period.

They probably have but we'll have to wait until tonight to see what develops. The above pic was taken from my iphone so it was almost the first ever live photo of training in the history of the world! Miller's head and that of Trent Zomer definitely resembled that of Nathan Jones.

Whatever we might think about Eddie and all the advantages Collingwood gets, I think he's right on the issue of Richmond's application to move Polak to the rookie list. It's opportunism at its best and really smacks of draft tampering when you try to change the rules at this stage of proceedings. That said, I'm not sure that we're going to be inconvenienced all that much and I'm not sure that the Tigers will get as much mileage out of Ben Cousins as they think they will. By the way, we own a few pokie venue leaseholds too, don't we? I wonder how they're travelling?

Fair go... he only weighs 110kg. You Tube

What else do you do on a rainy December morning but prognosticate on Tuesday's PSD? Yesterday I revisited some tapes of the U18 champs & the TAC Cup to see if they could throw some more light on the situation. Here's what I think of the main prospects on the eve of the PSD - Matt Deboer - AA midfielder who can play inside and outside, good athletically but apparently not drafted because of a question mark over his disposal. Played a poor game v Vic Metro, didn't have too many kicks (at least one of them was a high floater) and showed a preference for handball which sometimes suggests a lack of confidence in his kicking. To be fair though, at least three of his handballs directly resulted in goals. Verdict: No (kicking not up to standard) Tom Rockliff - as I've written elsewhere, this bloke has grown on me after not originally impressing (I thought he was a one trick forward pocket pony). Then I saw him in the Nat Champs at TD (ok), the U18 Preliminary Final at Vi$y Park (BOG) & the Grand Final a week later at TD. He convinced me in that last game when he kicked 4 goals, unselfishly gave away a couple more with handpasses to players in the goal square and passed a few to Sidebottom. On top of that, he did well in stints in the midfield and down back. Finished with 30 disposals - 2 less than Sidey who kicked 10 and got MOM. The knock on the Rock is that he's not an "athlete" (btw neither is Sidey & he was picked at #11) but I'm not recommending him for a track & field meeting either. [i digress here to confess that in about 1996 there was this bloke at the Dragons called Adam Quinn who was built like a brick shithouse and kicked 5 goals in a dominant national champs decider and I really believed that he would be picked up in the top 3 in that year's ND. In the end, he wasn't even rookied! I was told later that this was because athletically he was a dud. He played a few games with Sandy in the VFL but was gone by the time the alignment started.] Verdict: He's training with us & despite the fact that he's not Carl Lewis, I'd take the punt. He's been compared a couple of times with Jason Porplyzia and I ask what's wrong with that? IMO Adelaide was going to finish top 4 when Porps was on song & before he got injured. Incidentally, Porps was also picked up in the 2006 PSD. Casey Sibosado - only saw vision on You Tube & we know that can be as misleading as a movie promo that can condense a 2 hour film's only highlights into 3 minutes. I don’t know much about him but it's been suggested that he’s lazy and undisciplined. Verdict: As much as I'd love to point Casey at Casey, I give him the thumbs down because of the question marks about his character (see Emma Quayle in today's Sunday Age). We've spent the last 2 or 3 seasons ridding ourselves of lazy footballers. Kade Klemke - training with the Tigers and I suspect his is the identity of the young player they are purportedly willing to take ahead of Cuz if the AFL won't give them the green light over Polak. If he doesn't get taken in the PSD I think the Swans can take him as an automatic NSW rookie selection and that's one of the things Richmond might be concerned about (along with freeing up TPP room for Cuz). He's a goer but no thanks. Verdict: As far as I'm concerned the Toigs can have Cousins and all the baggage attached to him plus Klemke. Good luck to them if it works. I remain a sceptic. Luke Stanton - no. Disposal a problem. Jamie Sheahan - short at 178cm but there's just something I like about him that suggests he might be worth taking as a rookie. Verdict: Yes as a rookie. Clancee Pearce - I liked his game at TD but couldn't remember him at all from the U18 game at CF. Looks a bit of a dasher & kicks long. Verdict: I'd take him as a rookie. Riley Milne - impressed as a key defender in the TAC cup granny and we do need to pick up some players with good height. Do we need another key defender though? Rhetorical question. Verdict: rookie, yes. Matt Martin - 196cm, 100kg key defender from SA u18's. Do we need another key defender named Martin? Verdict: Actually, the kid isn't slow and was originally a KP forward and in that regards, he could fill a need so, yes I'd take him. Others: I still like my two late suggestions from the ND in Jordan Dodman (207cm ruck with a b'ball background) and Alex Silvagni (keep Alex at Casey & stick it up Caarton when he becomes an AA full back - but do we need any more KP defenders?) Then there's Michael Gugliotta of NT who is 195cm and apparently can play just a little bit and Stevie Gaertner whose family I know, who's a good kid, very athletic for 199cm and plays best at CHB (I'm not even going to ask the question!) Beyond that we have the rest of those blokes training at CF who I will probably get to see tomorrow (and in most cases it will probably be the last time they train there with an AFL club).