Whispering_Jack

Here's an interesting quote from Princes Park Whistler on Talking Carlton: "I can't see what the attraction of Essendon and Collingwood is for Ball. Melbourne`s list will be far stronger and will overtake them very soon. "He would be on equivalent money and would more than likely be captain in 2 years." See. They're an intelligent lot after all, these Carlton fans!

According to Emma Quayle on her Twitter site, there's a feature on Jack Trengove coming up in tomorrow's Sunday Age.

According to Emma Quayle on her Twitter site, there's a feature on Jack Trengove coming up in tomorrow's Sunday Age.

What we all need to understand is that the game as it's played up in the Territory is a distant cousin of that which we see at elite AFL level. The games from the Alice Springs region that were shown recently on NITV and those which Jimmy and his group caught up with this week are of a mixed social and sporting nature. The ones in the NTFL are more professional but they still retain a wholesome down to earth flavour. The all round skills might not be there in every player going around but there are a lot of gems among them and, in many ways, they show up their more professional cousins with their capacity to play with enormous endeavour, application and sheer love of the game. I've already commented on the differing body shapes of the players, some coming from the desert and others from coastal rain forest areas. These people don't have Lexus Centres, gyms, the medical facilities, dieticians or lots of money and time to spend to make their bodies look like modern prototypes of AFL players. Still, the more gifted among them can do things at this level that are beyond our imagination. Someone who's 185cm with talent, ability and a big spring can play ruck in the NTFL but if you take him into an AFL environment, you might have a perfect high half forward if he can adapt as some clubs are obviously hoping with Liam Patrick. I'd like to think that Melbourne, having the experience of learning with and from Liam Jurrah (especially after last week's important visit to Yuendumu) would have an edge over the others in this area. Finally, as I mentioned in an earlier post, the player whose football ability impressed me the most of those involved in the games in the Red Centre was Troy Taylor, who despite his well documented troubles, must be a very good chance to be drafted in the top 25.

One the best written and most beautiful pieces you'll read in a newspaper. I feel so personally connected to the characters weaved into the story but that's because it's real life and I think there's more to tell before this one ends.

Great stuff Rollo and I suppose it would be remiss of me not to deliver a little bit of a coaches report as well. It was so bloody hot on Sunday that it's all still a bit hazy (it took me two days to recover and I didn't even go out on the ground) so it might still take a little bit of time to collect all of my thoughts but here's an executive summary: 1. The team was fantastic and virtually coached itself so I was somewhat superfluous other than that for most of the time (and with thanks to Rod Taylor for his help) all I was doing was ringing in the interchanges and rotating players. Hard work but hardly what I'd call coaching. Thanks also to everyone who helped including Demon Revival, Ron Lewis, Bring Back Barassi, the very professional umpires, ball boys, linespersons and the lady at the bar at the Park Hotel at the end (whatever she served gave me enough succor to get back home that evening). And the players themselves - great performance to go out there in 34 degree heat and play a contact sport even at social level and you did it in great spirit. 2. Special mention to those who helped out the other teams that were short of players. As I said at the beginning of the game, it's the supreme sacrifice, not just in sport but in life itself, to turn up at a place like Victoria Park dressed in the famous red and blue colours and then to have to change them to black and white stripes. Shit happens (caveat emptor) but it truly was a magnificent sacrifice and I thank you all (especially Matt who kicked Collingwood's only goal) - playing in the granny and then holding up the premiership cup would have been made it all a more meaningful experience. To Grant, who I thought close to our best in the first game mainly at full back (!), it was a terrific gesture volunteering to help out Carlton in the grand final. I gave Grant a few minutes in the game for us, took him off and released him to the Blues (much to the chagrin of some of the onlookers). I thought Grant was terrific in the ruck for the Blues and almost turned things in their favour but I had faith in our boys and they brought home the bacon (it's ok, Joe Gutnick wasn't in attendance). 3. From the above it should be obvious that the entire event was a fantastic social occasion played in great spirit and with some fine efforts from a great bunch of blokes, most of who can really play footy. We also blooded some good young blokes including, just quietly one or two 14 year olds who should go on to play plenty of quality footy in the future. Thanks again guys! 4. Well done to our opposition and thank you. It's always a pleasure to win against Carlton in a big game (we let them know we were coming and cooked up a surprise for them). It was also particularly satisfying to win a competition involving Luke Ball's old team and the one he wants to play for in the future. Quite frankly, after the spirit and endeavour shown by my boys, I can't understand what possesses him to make his choices. 5. Supermercado suffered a slight crack in the elbow - get well soon mate. I'm also looking forward to your report on Every Day is like Sunday - it should be a ripper. 6. Haydo, I still have your brand new footy in my boot. Please contact me to arrange collection and pay the ransom. 7. To Redleg who passed up the opportunity to co-coach because of an invitation to see a new stud farm (he went to see horses do what? ) and to Dean Bailey who has, in the last two years coached less winning teams than I, there's one message for you guys - eat your hearts out! 8. And finally to Rollo - again magnificently done. Only a lawyer could organise things so brilliantly. Pity it all ran so late and you had to miss the after game due to having to catch the train to Wangaratta. I hope VLine was on time for a change. Hope we can do this all again one day soon - perhaps in 20 degree and not 34 degree heat, Mr. Weather Bureau.

I know it's another Luke Ball thread but there have been a few twists in the tale. Apparently, Ball is going to give the club an audience soon (note he's nominated himself for the ND meaning he's made a written commitment to play for whoever drafts him). Then there's the following story:- Anyone around here unfortunate enough to travel on Melbourne's suburban rail system? The newspaper you get outside the station when you travel in and out of the city has this article:- Eddie might well be playing poker but one interpretation of his comments is that he's conceding that it's open season for clubs with earlier selections to take the St. Kilda midfielder. Now, it's no longer a case of "don't touch him - he wants to play for Collingwood" but rather that it's open slather because Collingwood might not take him even if he falls to pick 30. In those circumstances Ball has to question where he stands in this draft. The Pies failed to negotiate a trade for him in October and now it's virtually conceding him in November. Now, he could finish anywhere.

1. Jack Trengove 2. Tom Scully 11 Daniel Talia 18 no idea 34 no idea 50 no idea PSD no idea I might have a crack at the rest a little closer to draft day. I've picked my first three on the basis of what I've seen with my own eyes. Talia, I've seen once or twice, most notably the last game of the under 18 championships at Etihad. He impressed me with his veratility i.e. the ability to play KPP and in the midfield with telling effect. He has all of the skills and a big engine. I think we've been crying out for a player of his ilk for a long time. However, although I've seen a lot of football over the years, I have to confess that every year I get it wrong enough times for me to say that I'm happy to be relying on the judgement of BBBP. When it gets down to the finer points of recruiting players, I really have no idea. Oh yes, I wouldn't mind seeing Dylan Grimes in there somewhere. I have only seen him play one time and he went OK. I watched an interview on Hutchy's programme and was suitably impressed. If the FD reckon he can play footy and they draft him, I would be happy.

Barry talks about the draft here.

When the event happened on 6 October 2009 it was right in the middle of trade week. The football departments of Collingwood and St. Kilda were sitting down at a meeting to organise Luke Ball's transfer to the Pies. Everything blacks out for 2 minutes and 17 seconds and during that time Ball experiences his flash forward to 29 April 2010. He's wearing Melbourne Football Club gear and he's driving to training. There's this young brat named Tom Scully in the passenger seat. They stop at the lights and a car full of magnificent blondes stops next to them. They're blowing kisses lustily at Tom but they're ignoring him. He panics. He remembers the vision he had a couple of weeks back when Melbourne beat Adelaide in round 3 - all of those Crows falling out of the sky. He's perspiring and asking himself, "Why has Bailey only been giving me 46% of game time? Why did Connolly give me a road map to Casey Fields when I left training last night?" He comes out of his flash forward and the meeting between the Pies and the Saints has surprisingly broken up without agreement. He is convinced that he must do everything he can to stop the future from happening. But has his future already been decided? Stay tuned!

NITV replayed the same games as they showed a fortnight ago so I taped a couple of games I missed last time. I found a game involving Liam Patrick who represented a team called the Lajamanu Swans (but the on screen scoreboard called them Apatula. Patrick's team won easily but the losing team Papunya made it to the quarter final - I think there might have been a disqualification involved. Anyway, Patrick played in defence, got the ball once or twice but nothing special. Don't count on him being a ruckman at the elite level because he's not that tall. At best he might be the same as our Liam or a bit shorter - about 185cm. The game itself was of about two ten minute halves so it was a bit too short to really assess him as a player.

Sure does but first some housekeeping. I have Haydo's football which was left at Vic Park and used in the grand final. I also came home with another one as well. If you PM me on Demonland I'll make arrangements with you to collect your lost property. Same goes for the other person who has a missing footy. Thanks to everyone who participated. Big thanks to Rollo for organising it all. Pity Luke Ball wasn't there to see his preferred sides miss out on the finals action and of course, a Demons premiership. Award Winners: Danny Seow Medal (best on ground v Collingwood) to Heater Vin Catoggio Medal (best on ground v Carlton) to DazzleDavey36

Demonland/Demonology 9.8.62 defeated TankingCarlton 6.2.38 Goalkickers Charlsey, Tassie Dee 2, Matt, DazzleDavey, Scotty, Wonnabeeri, Toot182

Actually these are the official scores (reports later) - Demonland/Demonology 17.7.109 defeated Nick's Collingwood Bulletin Board 1.2.8 Goalkickers Charlsey, Heater 4, Scotty 3, Haydo 2, Deemitch, Tassie Dee, Tom1, The Russian We loaned a few blokes to Collingwood and our Matt kicked their only goal. We are now in the grand final against the winner of Saintsational and Tanking Carlton

Are you saying that there's no sanction where a player indicates before a draft that he won't play for a particular club or clubs? That wasn't the case previously so the AFL must have changed it's rules. I can't imagine the AFL allowing someone like Tom Scully for e.g to say that he won't play for a particular club.

That's odd. I would have thought that once you select a player and he refuses to play then he's pretty subjected himself to a self-imposed penalty in that he won't be playing at all or collecting any pay for a certain period of time. I know it was a while ago but what happened in the Chalmers case?

I'm not sure about the AFL's rules regarding draft tampering but is it possible that Ball's reluctance to tell Bailey to his face that he doesn't want to play for the club due to the fact that it might put him in some sort of jeopardy with the AFL? That's really the only way I can make any sense of Bailey's comments. After all, it's been three weeks since the end of trade week. Ball's been to the Big Apple and back, attended the Cup, spoken to Lyon and now he's pizzed off to Honkers without deigning to speak to Bailey. I reckon actions speak louder than words and that he might just be telling the club something by doing that.

Robbo would find a good fit at Carlton ATM. He would be reunited with a number of former team mates, a couple of former Demon supporters and even his ex-coach in Mark Riley. He'd be good for 40 or 50 goals as a third forward and given them a goal kicking option in the absence of Fev. He would also be welcome back on The Footy Show in Fev's seat. Give him the famous # 25 I say!

I just wanted everyone to know that as the coach* I will be working on a brand new game plan for this week's Lightning Premiership which, I suspect will revolutionise the sport. I've been getting requests from players to play them in certain positions and I've been generally well disposed to all of these but it has resulted in a minor problem that I'm sure is not entirely insurmountable. It appears that everyone wants to play in the forward line. That's fine by me. I can handle four CHF's, three FF's, seven forward pockets and five or six HFF's but it means my new game plan will have to revolve around not having a backline altogether. I've watched many replays of the Richmond v Melbourne game from July this year and I'm reasonably confident that it's possible to get by without a defence in today's modern brand of footy. In fact, I'm so certain that it's possible that I guarantee that I'll have it all fine tuned by early Sunday afternoon at the latest. What time does the game start again? All participants, helpers, spectators and opposition please take note. The objective of the day is to have a couple of fun games of footy in a good social atmosphere and of course to win every bloody trophy on offer. Please leave the strategies, tactics and game plan to me but could someone kindly organise a decent drinking hole for after the game and my final word to the team is please get off the fags cigarettes by no later than 10pm on Saturday evening. * Thanks kindly to the board of management that has put its support and its faith in my coaching methods and pledged that it was 100% behind me.

That will depend on how you play for the combined Demon websites team on Sunday mate. Sorry to put you under pressure but I believe that several recruiting scouts from a number of AFL clubs will be there to watch the game. I would suggest that's why this story is in the "news pending" box until after the weekend. Cheers, WJ PS: That applies to the rest of you blokes (and the lady in the team)! PPS: Have you nominated for the draft yet?

From the I don't think it was meant to come out that way file is the following final line from Caroline Wilson in the Age: http://www.theage.com.au/news/rfnews/blues...7247659746.html What sort of deal is that?

So how many times in 2009 was Collingwood drawn to play against the previous year's grand finallists Hawthorn and Geelong? A: one each. How many times was Collingwood drawn to play St. Kilda and the Bulldogs (who made up the rest of the previous year's top 4? A: once for St. Kilda and twice for the Bulldogs. That sounds about as easy as it can get, especially given that the second Doggies game was in Round 22. What was Collingwood's record against those 2008 top four sides? A: 1:4 in home & away games, 1:6 counting finals. The single win was by 1 point against the Bulldogs. Granted, Collingwood's record against the teams finishing fifth to eighth wasn't bad - on my reckoning you won 6 out of 9 in that category (8 out of 9 against the bottom 8) giving you a 50% record against finals sides and less than that counting finals. You made the top four in the finals series on the strength of a 1 point win against Adelaide at the MCG - hardly a march into the top four and lucky given that the difference at the end was the result of a kick for goal given from a free late in the game. The point I'm making is that if Collingwood lucked it out with an easy fixture in 2009 it will need to improve considerably with a much tougher draw in 2010. Your statement about Collingwood having had "quite an injury riddled season" is risible. Yes, there were some injuries in the early part of the season but I'm told by some Magpie fans that injuries might have affected the result of one game in the first half of the season but you were very much near injury free in the run home in the second half. The evidence of that is the fact that in the first week of the finals there were 43 of a possible 46 players available to represent Collingwood's AFL and VFL sides. I call that "a dream run" compared to that of every other team in the competition - unheard of in recent times, in fact. When Casey played Collingwood in the VFL final it had one senior and two rookie list players available. Even allowing for the fact that there was some list management taking place, that's what I call "injury riddled". Of course the next thing you're going to tell me is that Pendelbury's presence in the team would have changed the result of the preliminary final! Again, if Collingwood has an average season with injuries and they happen at the wrong time then, with your fixture, you will have reason to worry. You claim that Collingwood fielded a younger team on QB and that could be marginally correct but it means little when Melbourne's list was limited by injury. You'll find that in 2010 it will be us fielding the team with greater depth of talent and I can guarantee you that we'll give you a run for your money. The "stale" comment isn't a "jibe". Malthouse is a good coach but he's been there as coach for 11 seasons without the ultimate in team success. Historically, his second half at the clubs he's coached has been a downhill slide. That's my view of where Collingwood, with all of its money and good administration is heading. My view on Ball is that I would be happy for him to end up at the Lexus Centre. He's a sensational footballer at his best but I fear that (for reasons to do with the condition of his body) his best is behind him and therefore he would make a better fit for Collingwood than for Melbourne ... but that's just my opinion.

And permit me to say that if Ball still wants to go to Collingwood as some have indicated, then he can expect to do plenty of watching. If the Pies were lucky to fall into 4th place with an injury free season and an unbelievably easy fixture this year, I don't see them featuring in 2010. They're getting stale after having the same coach for more than a decade without ultimate success. Buckley will be watching over MM's shoulder at every move. They are showing some signs that they might be on the decline and they need someone like Ball more than we do. That just about says it all.

I don't think we ever embraced the NSW scholarship with any great enthusiasm. Like the idea of recruiting Irish footballers, the cost factor ruled us out when we were struggling financially. I think the Northern Territory (where we will be playing some home games in the next few years) is going to be one of our targeted areas in the short term.

Firstly, it appears that Liam Patrick's reputation is spreading. Craig Hutchison has picked up the story in his Sunday Sun column. Here's wishing him well and who knows? He might end up as a teammate of our Liam. Secondly, I've been catching up with the tapes I made of the 2009 Ngurratjuta Lightning Cup featured on NITV as well as some of its other programmes and have to say what a pity it is that this station doesn't receive more publicity. As for the footy, it was entertaining even if not of a particularly high standard. The competition featured a lightning premiership of matches played at Easter and featuring teams centred around Alice Springs. The majority, but not all players, were indigenous and there were certainly a few who would catch the eyes of AFL recruiters. I didn't catch any games involving Liam Patrick but one stand out was Troy Taylor who is being touted as a possible second round selection. He looks a quality footballer and I direct your attention to a designated thread about him on the trading and drafting board. He's the player from NT who has had a troubled youth and is now seeking to redeem himself through the sport. Taylor isn't the only skillful player on show at the ground on lightning cup day. There's a 14 year old kid who is already in the sights of the recruiters and quite a few others who are in the squad for the NT Thunder team which competed for the first time this year in the QAFL. Apparently the tyranny of distance and lack of funding often works against some of the more promising young men who find it difficult to make it to regular training. I don't know what the AFL is investing in this area but I wonder how it compares with the money that goes towards promoting Irish recruits or those from South Africa, New Zealand and the Polynesian region. There are definitely kids in our own back yard in remote communities such as this around Alice Springs who are worth looking at. Of course, very few of the participants are going to be in the elite class. The players come in all shapes and sizes, some with flashy boots and even flashier haircuts and one even in his bare feet. Some are so thin that they make Cale Morton look like a champion bodybuilder and others are a trifle ... let's say porky! Some of the better players from the region weren't taking part either - Yuendumu Magpies (Liam Jurrah's home community) was represented by it's seconds side. In the end it was enjoyable viewing, well presented and adequately satisfied my footy fix for the month of October. Now on to draft month!