Whispering_Jack

Because St. Kilda gave him the chop chop.

Chris Connolly has a fantastic sense of humour. Brightened up my morning immensely.

Tom Rockliff in the PSD.

HAPPY DAYS by Whispering Jack It took a brief discussion on Melbourne radio station SEN on Friday afternoon between Francis Leach and former Demon champion forward David Schwarz to bring out the nostalgia. Leach asked the Ox who was the most talented footballer he played with during his career and, after a break for half a dozen commercials and station identification, the reply came that it had to be Allen Jakovich, the enigmatic Demon who had a meteoric rise and fall as a prolific AFL full forward in an all too short career that spanned in total less than four seasons from 1991 to 1994, netted 47 games and yielded 201 goals for Melbourne. He also played 7 games and kicked 7 goals for Footscray in 1996. Jako was born on 21 March 1969 and spent his earlier career as a journeyman having two stints at South Fremantle separated by spells at Port Hedland, Kalgoorlie and Darwin where he booted 104 goals for Southern Districts in the 1988/1989 season. He then moved to Adelaide where he played for SANFL club Woodville kicking 101 goals in 1990. During 1990 Schwarz, who came from Sunbury then part of the Demons' country residential zone, was playing for the Under 19's. Jakovich joined him at Melbourne when the club surprised by calling out the 187cm 98 kg forward's name at the AFL's 1990 National Draft at number four. Back in those days there was no internet, phantom drafts were unheard of and a small group of people turned up at the draft meeting, the results being relayed by fax to the media and most people discovered who their club had drafted days, weeks or even months later when the practice matches started. There was no draft camp, no sprint and beep testing, no psychological and aptitude profiling or cross examination of players' schoolteachers and maiden aunts to ascertain whether they were suited to play professional football. If they were good footballers, they usually got the gig. This was fortuitous for Jakovich because, despite his competitive urges, I somehow doubt whether he would have come out of the testing very well, if at all. Schwarz explained on radio that Jako unfortunately never got the most out of himself because of his casual attitude towards most things, particularly training. He was rarely seen at the club during pre season except when it came to the annual country v city cricket game and then his bad back somehow evaporated and he would do everything - bat, bowl, field and keep wickets. Jakovich spent almost the whole of the first half of 1991 with the Melbourne reserves and had passed 50 goals in that competition before making his breakthrough at senior level. He continued to produce big goal hauls including a sensational game against North Melbourne at the MCG when he kicked 11 goals including a miraculous scissor kick out of mid-air from twenty metres out and banana kick goal after the three quarter time siren from an impossible angle. He had eight other shots at goal that day with one of them going out on the full. That performance made him the fastest player to score his first fifty goals, taking only nine games to do so and he finished his debut season with 71 goals; becoming one of a few VFL/AFL players to boot 50 goals in both the seniors and reserves in the same season. The following year, he snagged seven majors in round one and reached a career total of 100 goals in just his 21st game – a VFL/AFL record that is unlikely to ever be beaten (it took Hawthorn's Jason Dunstall 36 games to reach 100 career goals while Lance Franklin achieved the feat in his 49th game). To my mind, Allen Jakovich was the Arthur "The Fonz" Fonzarelli of his day. He was unpredictable, mercurial and defied convention. He was the leader of an alternative pack who did the unusual. He would often high five fans in the front rows after kicking goals but when Jako/Fonz slotted one through from well outside fifty metres to put Melbourne in front of West Coast one afternoon, he created a sensation by planting a kiss on the cheek of his brother, Eagle Glen Jakovich. He always lifted against Collingwood and his antics would drive their supporters to distraction. He destroyed Essendon one day at Waverley Park when he kicked a lazy seven goals in the last half in an elimination final after being virtually unsighted in the first two quarters of the game. Jakovich appeared in a band on a channel nine grand final special at the end of 1993. That programme emerged as the Footy Show and it was there that he made one of his few subsequent public appearances a few years after his retirement. Call it karma or whatever but Jako's condition gave out after a brilliant performance against Hawthorn at Princess Park in mid 1994 in which he booted eight goals. The Demons had a brilliant finals series even without him that year with Garry Lyon and David Schwarz shining up forward. Who knows what might have been had the club had a fit Jako prowling around the forward line? As it happened, the injury saw off his career at Melbourne at a time when injuries struck so many others in the red and blue – Schwarz, Lyon, Paul Prymke, Glen Lovett, Steven Tingay all missed large slabs of the following seasons. Another promising individual Martin Pyke was cleared to Fitzroy for disciplinary reasons and Jakovich, plagued by back related hamstring problems, crossed to the Bulldogs. The happy days were over and Jako disappeared from the scene. There was mystery about his whereabouts for a long time. According to his brother Glen, he was involved in a fishing charter company on Australia's east coast. Perhaps, he's in Coffs Harbour where there have been sightings but football has never seen another of his like and probably never will. I'm not so sure whether clubs are even interested in another Jako/Fonz character because these days, they all seem to be more akin to Richie Cunningham – the good boys who test well athletically, read out of the same hymn book and certainly have not the slightest question mark or blemish to their characters. There will never be another Allen Jakovich but I bring up the name of a youngster from the Murray Bushrangers who perhaps might get to wear Jako's number 13 (especially now that another former Bushie in Adem Yze has retired) if only someone at Melbourne decides he's worth drafting. His name is Tom Rockliff, an 18 year old medium forward, the leading goal kicker in the TAC Cup with 59 goals, winner of his team's best and fairest, a state representative with Victoria Country and a member of the TAC Cup Team of the Year. His coach Phil Bunn describes the Benalla lad as "not big, not quick, not athletic, he hasn't got super endurance, he's just an absolute natural footballer who tends to see things half a second before others see them. In other words, he'll take himself to the right spot just a bit quicker than what others do and that's a gift. It's a natural thing you can't coach". I saw Rockliff collect 30 disposals for four goals and an equal number of goal assists in a scintillating TAC Cup grand final display. His efforts were totally overshadowed by the 10 goal performance of Collingwood draftee Steele Sidebottom but I reckon Rockliff was not that far behind. Until that grand final match, I thought of Rockliff as a bit of a one trick pony as a smallish forward but he also went into the midfield and played down back in the game as well. He has had two stellar years at Under 18 level but Bunn explains that he "hasn't really been able to do a full preseason ... He's as footy smart a boy as I've ever coached." Which reminds me of another forward from happier days.

HAPPY DAYS by Whispering Jack It took a brief discussion on Melbourne radio station SEN on Friday afternoon between Francis Leach and former Demon champion forward David Schwarz to bring out the nostalgia. Leach asked the Ox who was the most talented footballer he played with during his career and, after a break for half a dozen commercials and station identification, the reply came that it had to be Allen Jakovich, the enigmatic Demon who had a meteoric rise and fall as a prolific AFL full forward in an all too short career that spanned in total less than four seasons from 1991 to 1994, netted 47 games and yielded 201 goals for Melbourne. He also played 7 games and kicked 7 goals for Footscray in 1996. Jako was born on 21 March 1969 and spent his earlier career as a journeyman having two stints at South Fremantle separated by spells at Port Hedland, Kalgoorlie and Darwin where he booted 104 goals for Southern Districts in the 1988/1989 season. He then moved to Adelaide where he played for SANFL club Woodville kicking 101 goals in 1990. During 1990 Schwarz, who came from Sunbury then part of the Demons' country residential zone, was playing for the Under 19's. Jakovich joined him at Melbourne when the club surprised by calling out the 187cm 98 kg forward's name at the AFL's 1990 National Draft at number four. Back in those days there was no internet, phantom drafts were unheard of and a small group of people turned up at the draft meeting, the results being relayed by fax to the media and most people discovered who their club had drafted days, weeks or even months later when the practice matches started. There was no draft camp, no sprint and beep testing, no psychological and aptitude profiling or cross examination of players' schoolteachers and maiden aunts to ascertain whether they were suited to play professional football. If they were good footballers, they usually got the gig. This was fortuitous for Jakovich because, despite his competitive urges, I somehow doubt whether he would have come out of the testing very well, if at all. Schwarz explained on radio that Jako unfortunately never got the most out of himself because of his casual attitude towards most things, particularly training. He was rarely seen at the club during pre season except when it came to the annual country v city cricket game and then his bad back somehow evaporated and he would do everything - bat, bowl, field and keep wickets. Jakovich spent almost the whole of the first half of 1991 with the Melbourne reserves and had passed 50 goals in that competition before making his breakthrough at senior level. He continued to produce big goal hauls including a sensational game against North Melbourne at the MCG when he kicked 11 goals including a miraculous scissor kick out of mid-air from twenty metres out and banana kick goal after the three quarter time siren from an impossible angle. He had eight other shots at goal that day with one of them going out on the full. That performance made him the fastest player to score his first fifty goals, taking only nine games to do so and he finished his debut season with 71 goals; becoming one of a few VFL/AFL players to boot 50 goals in both the seniors and reserves in the same season. The following year, he snagged seven majors in round one and reached a career total of 100 goals in just his 21st game – a VFL/AFL record that is unlikely to ever be beaten (it took Hawthorn's Jason Dunstall 36 games to reach 100 career goals while Lance Franklin achieved the feat in his 49th game). To my mind, Allen Jakovich was the Arthur "The Fonz" Fonzarelli of his day. He was unpredictable, mercurial and defied convention. He was the leader of an alternative pack who did the unusual. He would often high five fans in the front rows after kicking goals but when Jako/Fonz slotted one through from well outside fifty metres to put Melbourne in front of West Coast one afternoon, he created a sensation by planting a kiss on the cheek of his brother, Eagle Glen Jakovich. He always lifted against Collingwood and his antics would drive their supporters to distraction. He destroyed Essendon one day at Waverley Park when he kicked a lazy seven goals in the last half in an elimination final after being virtually unsighted in the first two quarters of the game. Jakovich appeared in a band on a channel nine grand final special at the end of 1993. That programme emerged as the Footy Show and it was there that he made one of his few subsequent public appearances a few years after his retirement. Call it karma or whatever but Jako's condition gave out after a brilliant performance against Hawthorn at Princess Park in mid 1994 in which he booted eight goals. The Demons had a brilliant finals series even without him that year with Garry Lyon and David Schwarz shining up forward. Who knows what might have been had the club had a fit Jako prowling around the forward line? As it happened, the injury saw off his career at Melbourne at a time when injuries struck so many others in the red and blue – Schwarz, Lyon, Paul Prymke, Glen Lovett, Steven Tingay all missed large slabs of the following seasons. Another promising individual Martin Pyke was cleared to Fitzroy for disciplinary reasons and Jakovich, plagued by back related hamstring problems, crossed to the Bulldogs. The happy days were over and Jako disappeared from the scene. There was mystery about his whereabouts for a long time. According to his brother Glen, he was involved in a fishing charter company on Australia's east coast. Perhaps, he's in Coffs Harbour where there have been sightings but football has never seen another of his like and probably never will. I'm not so sure whether clubs are even interested in another Jako/Fonz character because these days, they all seem to be more akin to Richie Cunningham – the good boys who test well athletically, read out of the same hymn book and certainly have not the slightest question mark or blemish to their characters. There will never be another Allen Jakovich but I bring up the name of a youngster from the Murray Bushrangers who perhaps might get to wear Jako's number 13 (especially now that another former Bushie in Adem Yze has retired) if only someone at Melbourne decides he's worth drafting. His name is Tom Rockliff, an 18 year old medium forward, the leading goal kicker in the TAC Cup with 59 goals, winner of his team's best and fairest, a state representative with Victoria Country and a member of the TAC Cup Team of the Year. His coach Phil Bunn describes the Benalla lad as "not big, not quick, not athletic, he hasn't got super endurance, he's just an absolute natural footballer who tends to see things half a second before others see them. In other words, he'll take himself to the right spot just a bit quicker than what others do and that's a gift. It's a natural thing you can't coach". I saw Rockliff collect 30 disposals for four goals and an equal number of goal assists in a scintillating TAC Cup grand final display. His efforts were totally overshadowed by the 10 goal performance of Collingwood draftee Steele Sidebottom but I reckon Rockliff was not that far behind. Until that grand final match, I thought of Rockliff as a bit of a one trick pony as a smallish forward but he also went into the midfield and played down back in the game as well. He has had two stellar years at Under 18 level but Bunn explains that he "hasn't really been able to do a full preseason ... He's as footy smart a boy as I've ever coached." Which reminds me of another forward from happier days.

Sorry guys but I had to grab a lift home. Have one 4 me - cheers.

We moved the team around a lot in the final quarter and finished up 22.18.150 to 6.2.38. It was a fantastic team performance - a tribute to rivvo & the other blokes who couldn't make it like mickrocks, imtoohot, melbournefc and a few others who couldn't make it.

3/4 time and it's looking good 19.15.129 to 4.2.26. We have the wind in the last.

Dees 12.10.82 Saints 2.1.13

Qtr time & fees in front by a goal. 2.7 to 2.1

It would be fantastic to have more supporters and more helpers at the game today so please consider coming along. Also, if anyone lives in the vicinity of Gosch's Paddock, it would be appreciated if you could check the condition of the ground to ensure there are no gaping holes on the flanks today. It makes it very difficult to plan match tactics when there's a real chance that your half back line might be buried deep in some underground chasm as a result of an avalanche of collapsing soil (and boys, please remember, there's no insurance or liability accepted by anyone associated with the game today). Freak seems to have gotten into the spirit of things in so far as his pre match preparation is concerned by getting home at close to 5am on the morning of the game. Hopefully, someone can wake him up to ensure that he makes it to the ground on time. Fortunately, the coaching panel has assumed the discipline of the Trappist monks and has spent many hours preparing for the event in silence, solitude and sobriety (ah the sacrifices we have to make for the red and the blue cause). I won't dazzle you with any science this morning but gentlemen, in the words of Ivan from Ivanhoe we do need some discipline today. Redleg and I were both disappointed at one aspect of our game against Tanking Carlton a few weeks ago and that was in your total and utter lack of respect for your opponents. Specifically, I refer to that little bloke who played on the half forward flank. OK, he was a 14-year-old dwarf but he was on his own enough times and he did kick the goal that nearly cost us the game. Just because he's barely 4 feet tall, it doesn't mean you have to ignore him or the instructions from the coach to man up. Same goes for your opponents today. Be aware of who they are and where they are at all times. Thank you.

Just bumping this thread up for today's Queensland Demons function. Hope it's successful and I look forward to seeing a report in the near future. Definitely going up there late December/early January and still happy to organise an informal get together to have a drink and discuss the Demons. After all, what else does one do in the middle of summer in a sunny climate?

For mine too but was he mentioned in the article about the captaincy? Dees ponder leaders of the pack

An interesting observation today on SEN by St. Kilda draftee Tom Lynch who said that he thought from the start of the season during AIS training camp that Jack Watts was going to be # 1 - and that was well before Watts decided to give up on basketball to concentrate on a footy career. Back then most of us hadn't even heard of him and Naitanui and Rich were the favourites for first selection in the draft.

Asked on SEN today who was the most talented footballer he played with during his career, David Schwarz replied that it was Allen Jakovich. Unfortunately, he never got the most out of himself because of his casual attitude towards training. Rarely seen during pre season except when it came to the annual country v city cricket game and then he would do everything - bat, bowl, field and keep wickets. Kicked eight goals in his last game v Hawthorn and then his career was done in by a bad back although he spent a brief time after that at Footscray.

Sibosado is definitely eligible for both PSD and rookie drafts. Born 13/10/90.

New poster Theo has posted a report from yesterday's training on this thread - Report

Certainly is Theo. Most of us live a long way away from CF. Appreciate your reports any time.

This is the full list as per the afl.com.au site. As you can see there is room for one more senior list player and three more rookies. The Oracle is writing an article for Demonland about the changes to the list so far and it should be on the site by the weekend. MELBOURNE 1. Bail, Rohan 2. Bartram, Clint 3. Bate, Matthew 4. Bell, Daniel 5. Bennell, Jamie 6. Blease, Sam 7. Bruce, Cameron 8. Buckley, Simon 9. Cheney, Kyle 10. Davey, Aaron 11. Dunn, Lynden 12. Frawley, James 13. Garland, Colin 14. Green, Brad 15. Grimes, Jack 16. Jamar, Mark 17. Jetta, Neville 18. Johnson, Paul 19. Jones, Nathan 20. Maric, Addam 21. Martin, Stefan 22. McDonald, James (veteran – outside list) 23. McLean, Brock 24. McNamara, Tom 25. Meesen, John 26. Miller, Brad 27. Moloney, Brent 28. Morton, Cale 29. Newton, Michael 30. Petterd, Ricky 31. Rivers, Jared 32. Robertson, Russell (veteran – outside list) 33. Strauss, James 34. Sylvia, Colin 35. Warnock, Matthew 36. Watts, Jack 37. Wheatley, Paul 38. Whelan, Matthew 39. Wonaeamirri, Austin 40. Rookie List 1. Spencer, Jake 2. Valenti, Shane 3. Zomer, Trent 4. 5. 6. ADDITIONS Father-Son selection: – Exchange period – received: – Rookie elevation: Austin Wonaeamirri Scholarship elevation: – NAB AFL Draft: Rohan Bail (Mt Gravatt), Jamie Bennell (Swan Districts), Sam Blease (Eastern Ranges), Neville Jetta (Swan Districts), James Strauss (Oakleigh Chargers), Jack Watts (Sandringham Dragons) International rookie selection: – Three-year non-registered player selection: – NAB AFL Pre-Season Draft: NAB AFL Rookie Draft: DELETIONS Retired: Ben Holland, David Neitz (veteran – outside list) Exchange period – traded: – Delisted: Jace Bode, Nathan Carroll (second list lodgment), Chris Johnson, Isaac Weetra, Jeff White (veteran – inside list), Adem Yze (veteran – outside list)

John Bennell is 174cm and weighs 71kg. Sounds like an ideal candidate. In answer to how many rookie picks we have available I think we're allowed six rookies if our main list has 40 players (including 2 veterans). We have Jake Spencer, Shane Valenti and Trent Zomer which means we can pick 3 rookies.

I believe an agreement was reached. Even if the terms weren't put into writing before the end of the last Council term (and I don't know if they were or not), an agreement's an agreement and if the Council baulked, they could be up for significant legal costs and penalties if they wanted to overturn the deal at this stage.

I agree with Dean Bailey's often repeated statement about the club looking for players with good character but I think people are going overboard with this theme when it comes to potential draftees. It seems that the automatic reaction of some is that if they didn't get selected there's something wrong with them, be it their character or their physical attributes etc. The fact is a finite number of players were selected and it doesn't necessarily follow that all the rest who weren't picked are bad eggs. It's up to the club to now decide on who's next best because we have first pick in the PSD. Our next selection doesn't necessarily have to be a Ritchie Cunningham goody two shoes type either. I'd gladly accept an Arthur Fonzarelli type with first pick in the PSD (for those who can't work out who or what I'm talking about, please google "Happy Days" - it was a TV show from the '70's & '80's). Further, I think it's the responsibility of the club to some extent to ensure that our players know what's required of them when they represent the club and that this should be an ongoing process over the player's entire career. If the best player available has a few rough edges, then a good club and a good coach should be able to knock him into shape without much difficulty. We picked up 5 medium/smalls in the draft. I think we need some balance with our next picks in the PSD and rookie draft. I'm all for Casey and since he would most likely start in the VFL I'd like to reprise another slogan from the '70's (in slightly different form): Point Casey at Casey!

And today it's very much in the present. Well done to The Professor who brought the story to you first on Demonland - Watts to carry famous No. 4

Just hope he was behaving on break up day!

Got the grandfather thing out of the way (Jasmine Rose came 8 days early) so now I'm back in on the coaching panel. Spoke to BL2381 yesterday and he's in along with Dookie. It looks like we've had to recruit hard to overcome a few players we've lost (cheers Rivvo) so like the Demons we're going with youth and a sh*tload of run and carry. I'm also going to try to get one of those coaches whiteboards so I can do the team placements properly and I'll also have the odd message or two for the boys and (girl if she's playing this time) later in the week.