Whispering_Jack

A poor excuse and it's lucky there's a quality coach on hand to take control.

Don't hold your breath then because the impression I got from Jim by what he said, the way he said it and from his body language was that, while he was confident of snaring a major sponsor by the start of the premiership season, it's still a fair way from being a done deal. He did produce a list of the companies the club had been talking to about sponsorships but didn't say how close or how serious those clubs were in terms of sealing a sponsorship deal. One possible plus here though is that if we are talking with a number of companies, then if the club promotes its sponsorship packages properly, it might end up signing more than one sponsor from the group with which it's having discussions. After all, every club has a number of major sponsors and if the people involved in these negotiations can play their cards right they could turn what is currently looking like a bit of a fiasco into a triumph. According to melbounefc.com.au we currently have a total of 15 "partners" which seems to be the pc term for sponsors these days. We have no premier partner (i.e. main sponsor) but the rest are found in the following categories:- Platinum Partners The Age and Volvo Gold Partners Reebok, Coca Cola*, Reflections Group and Red Mercury Silver Partners Leading Solutions, Jeff Banks London, Tyrell's Wines and Pet Goods Direct Bronze Partners Konica Minolta, Musashi, Victor and Adriatic Furniture I checked out Collingwood's web site and they have a similar number of sponsors arranged in different categories and of course, we don't know how much their sponsorships are worth compared to ours. I'm almost certain that they would be bringing in much more given that their fixture is so much more favourable in terms of attracting sponsors. Collingwood has four premier partners - Wizard, Emirates, Lexus and addidas as well as another 10 major partners and three official suppliers. They have an obvious financial edge on us in this area the minute they open their doors for business at the start of any season. I'm getting a bit tired of the blame game on this sponsorship issue. People might want to go back years and blame Gardner and Harris, they might want to blame PMac. Let's get over that and get on with the job of finding sponsors for what will hopefully be an exciting era in the years ahead when our young talent reaches maturity. If there's anyone to blame in the end, it will us the members and supporters for not keeping the pressure on whoever happens to be in power at the club entrusted with the job of "getting it right" as Cameron Schwab stated at the AGM. One of the things that crossed my mind on Thursday night was the fact that although we're a club that's traditionally associated with the top of the town, the leaders of business, banking and industry, we can't attract a corporation to sponsor the oldest club in the competition. We just have to do better than that! * weren't they recently associated with a major sponsorship rumour around here? I'm glad that at least they're on board already and I don't have to resort to Pepsi in protest but if we can't get them on board as the major sponsor why not persuade them to upgrade their sponsorship to a Platinum Partner. If they do, I'll immediately go out to the local supermarket and buy a carton of Pepsi.

I don't think that I've seen anything worse at AFL/VFL level since the days of the old Army Reserve Cup when a Collingwood seconds player decided to emulate the activity of the competition's sponsor by declaring war on everyone who happened to be on or near the vicinity of the ground.

If it happens (and it's already been pointed out that it's not near to being set in stone) it would make us part of an organisation worth in excess of $200m rather than being an outfit that's worth in excess of a negative figure of $2m. With due respect to the great RDB, we would still have to worry about the business side of things but we'd certainly have a fair sized cushion of comfort. However, there might be some pitfalls to consider as well. Once you become a section of the MCC, you lose a measure of your independence. Questions therefore need to be asked about the cost and effect of that and whether it's worth selling your soul to achieve such an outcome. This is not to say I'm against the idea. Just playing devil's advocate.

Whichever way we look at it, we seem to be getting a picture of a CEO who is not on the same page as the board of the club he's supposed to be serving. He seems to have acted on his own and not reported in writing to the board on his progress with sponsorships and then there's the Jonathan Brown issue. These matters seem to vindicate the new board's decision that he was not the right fit for the club.

The club is very happy with the connection with Casey. The sign off with council is taking time because the arrangements are complex and involve a long term commitment. It will however happen and CC pointed to the fact that the Casey CEO (a Saints supporter) was in attendance tonight). The club has its first practice match (intraclub) there on Friday afternoon. Bubbledome - we will utilise facilities there and at the G. The split between the two may not perhaps be the ideal and we'll have to see how it works but in the end we will have far superior facilities to what we have at the junction (which is an embarrasment) and this is far more appropriate to a club in the elite level of the competition. In answer to a question - clash jumper not yet finalized but will be a massive improvement on the bland number we had last year. Another questioner asked about the Demon as an emblem of the club and it's on the way back.

I'm not good on numbers but I'd say it's the biggest crowd I've ever seen at an MFC AGM (excepting the Gutnik/Szondy AGM in 2001).

Breaking news: In answer to a question from the floor Cameron Schwab said that he looked forward to seeong the Melbourne Football Club again being a section of the MCC.

Actually, you'd better read the paper because I'm making all this up. Only joking!

Rohan Bail is a Mentone boy who moved to Qld. Bail described the difference between training twice a week up there compared to 5 sessions in the pre season including weights. You get the impression that this kid will play some footy at the elite level this year. CC introduced the rookie list players and then went on to discuss what the club was looking for when drafting footballers to consolidate the club's future. CC said that in recruiting we looked at players with mental toughness who could produce the goods when it counts. The recruits led the singing of the club song and that was followed by a brief and stirring talk from Ron Barassi about football not just being a business. It's also about success and he asked whether people preferred a profit or a premiership flag.

No, not mentioned yet. They've just played a DVD of highlights of the club's draftees. Chris Connolly has just introduced Jack Watts, Sam Blease and Rohan Bail. JW is a real personality. Now introducing James Strauss. CC is a real comedian. Talking about the high numbers handed out to him and Blease. Jack and Sam are completing secondary school this year and members should understand that while their development won't be held back their schooling is important and will limit their prospects of appearing at the highest level. I sense the expectation is that most of the newbies will spend a lot of 2009 at Casey. Fields. CC said the Aboriginal players were all at an indigenous players programme in Darwin ATM and that the All Stars wanted Jamie Bennell but DB not in favour of this because it's too early. Neville Jetta's mum has told CC that she's tossing in her job and driving to Melbourne next month warning him to look after her otherwise she might end up camped on his front lawn.

Dean Bailey said there was not much to talk about last year. However, straight after round 22 we started working on the next year to engage our players in rebuilding. We had some new personnel helping get the list healthy and fit since 13 October. Casey is a great venue for training and so much better than what we had to put up with last year. The sessions are more intense, longer and of better quality. Unlike last year when we had several players injured, this year only Mark Jamar (toe), Robbo (Achilles), Addam Maric (hip) & more recently Wheats (calf) are the only injuries. There are a lot of improvers from the skipper down. The improvement is across all players. Apart from J Mac he mentioned James Frawley (+3kg) and Aussie as being impressive. But of course, it’s the games themselves that will determine how much we've improved. The players have been worked hard and are very well of the expectations to succeed.

MIN was opened by Cameron Schwab who spoke about the need to get it right. We have a red and blueprint for establishing the basis for future success & this entails raising an extra $3 -5m each year. He's a terrific speaker.

A new member set a new standard for question time by asking what the club was doing to encourage wealthy members to leave it bequests in their wills. The club is actually working on something in regard to this. The questioner (who had a central European accent?) had another crack at a question, this time about social facilities an area where we've struggled because we've moved our bases so much. It's an area now being looked at more closely.

A question was asked about how close we were to getting a sponsor. Jimmy said we are dealing with a number of options and is confident we will secure a sponsor by the start of the season. He had a list of companies we were speaking to about sponsorships (but didn't divulge who) and said we wouldn't be selling the club short and were looking for a good fit for the club. He was dismissive of the reports in today's papers that Paul McNamee had been close to securing two sponsors when he was at Wimbledon this year.

Ralph Lawrie of the Ballarat Demons is the club volunteer of the year. Going through financial reports now. Expect to break even in '09 but this depends on us securing a sponsor. The report was well delivered by a director with a nice, dry sense of humour and you almost forgot that the club was just about stuffed broke.

Just finished with the introductions. Jimmy giving report. When he met Demetriou was told club stood for very little and was quite scathing about the club. Talking about aims - stabilize club, reduce debt & find CEO, find training base (signed affiliation agreement with Casey Scorps -will sign deal with Casey council soon) & unite the club. Our objective is to get in the black. No sponsor but moving closer. Rebuild relationships with MCC & AFL. Need to give the coach the best opportunity to develop its team, Finally, the need to build the club in the long term.

McNamee's claims are problematic and puzzling. He was still CEO for a number of weeks after the Stynes-led board took over and he is now asking us to believe that he was on the verge of sealing sponsorships for the club worth $6million and that "the Demons were not interested in sponsorship updates from him." This is a club that was $5million in debt at the time and its new Board (which took over because of concerns about club finances) was about to undertake a major fundraising effort to claw back that debt. "Not interested" Give me a break! Surely, if McNamee was on the verge of achieving such a major financial breakthrough for the club, he would have submitted that information to the board in writing, as would most people in such a position on such an important matter (especially if they were being ignored by the powers that be)? Where is the evidence of a written memorandum at the time from him to the board? If, as he claims, Stynes and the new board weren't interested, it would have been prudent for him to commit to writing details of the activities he undertook on behalf of the club during his sojourn at Wimbledon. After all, that trip was already a controversial issue in some quarters. Stynes says he doesn't believe the story and I think it's up to McNamee to do a lot more than make this bald claim more than six months after the fact if he wants to satisfy us that he was really that close to achieving a bonanza for the club.

Hi Joeboy. Thanks for the report. I notice you didn't mention whether Cale Morton has bulked up at all. Are we to assume that he's still skin and bones (a three word answer will suffice )?

Looking at that list, the All Stars aren't going to be relying on much height but rather fast ball movement. There aren't too many talls there and even Jurrah is unlikely to be a KPP during his AFL career.

ALL STAR DREAMING by Whispering Jack Liam Jurrah has been training with Melbourne for less than a month but he has already been selected in his first AFL representative squad - the initial Aboriginal All Star list to take on Adelaide at Marara Oval, Darwin next Saturday night. The only other Demon selected in the squad of 33, which will be whittled down to thirty on Wednesday, is Aaron Davey. Despite the fact that Jurrah is no certainty to make the final cut for the game - observers at recent Melbourne training sessions suggest he's been struggling with his fitness and with the State’s heat wave - his selection marks a significant early milestone for the young Indigenous player from the Central Australian settlement of Yuendumu in the red centre of our vast continent. Jurrah's home, nearly 300km north west of Alice Springs, is vastly distant not only in terms of kilometres from the sprawling metropolis of Melbourne but also in time as well. The extent of that distance and the challenges facing him were brought home to me when I watched the fascinating film ABORIGINAL RULES which I purchased recently as a DVD through Warlpiri Media. Unlike fellow Melbourne Indigenous recruits Jamie Bennell and Neville Jetta who hail from the large WA town of Bunbury and who spent a deal of time in Perth last year, Jurrah comes from an isolated community in the middle of a desert and faces challenges vastly different to those faced by other Aboriginal footballers. Even his first language is not English but rather the ancient tongue of his people. The film is about Liam Jurrah's community of Yuendumu and he is also featured in a few of its scenes. It tells of the lives of the people of the community, of rituals and superstitions, tribal rivalries, of the menfolk who were proud Warlpiri warriors, and of how the people are adapting to the times. These days, the various tribes in the region settle things by means of playing football and the film follows the Yuendumu Magpies through the 2006 football season. Unfortunately, they missed the finals that year but won the Ngurratjuta Cup in 2003, 2004, 2005 and again in 2007 before going on to bigger and better things. The Warlpiri people's ancient civilization goes back 40,000 years but today football is more than a game to them; it represents the new Dreaming. Here are some excerpts from the film provided on bigfooty by poster japaljarri - ABORIGINAL RULES OPENING TITLES, ABORIGINAL RULES TRAINING TIPS, ABORIGINAL RULES JAPU JAPU, ABORIGINAL RULES PAPUNYA SPORTS, ABORIGINAL RULES PUKATJA, ABORIGINAL RULES -THE RULES OF FOOTBALL, ABORIGINAL RULES - YUENDUMU MAGPIES FOOTBALL TEAM, ABORIGINAL RULES - MT THEO. (See if you can spot a young Liam Jurrah in the above excerpts and please do buy the DVD - it's real value and an eye opening documentary about a part of our country with which most of us are not familiar!) The Yuendumu Magpies are good at the game they play on the red, dusty fields of the outback. In 2008, they won the premiership in the new AFLCA competition ahead of the more traditional sides from Alice Springs. The hero was a young man who spent a month earlier this year with Collingwood's VFL team before returning home to comfort a dying friend. Liam Jurrah booted six goals in the grand final. Aboriginal Rules brings home the great challenge of adaptation that Jurrah is facing. Like all Demon fans, I look forward to seeing him in action (whether or not it's as early as next Saturday night with the Aboriginal All Stars) and more importantly, to seeing him successfully achieve the dream of becoming an AFL footballer and in doing that, a fine role model for the kids of Yuendumu. More on Liam Jurrah from The Oracle in CHANGES 2008: PART THREE 2009 QANTAS INDIGENOUS ALL-STARS SQUAD Adelaide: Jonathon Griffin, Graham Johncock, Andrew McLeod, Jarrhan Jacky, Jared Petrenko; Brisbane: Ashley McGrath, Albert Proud; Carlton: Chris Yarran; Essendon: Andrew Lovett, Nathan Lovett-Murray; Geelong: Nathan Djerrkura, Mathew Stokes, Travis Varcoe; Hawthorn: Cyril Rioli, Cameron Stokes; Melbourne: Aaron Davey, Liam Jurrah; North Melbourne: Matt Campbell, Lindsay Thomas, Cruzie Garlett; Port Adelaide: Shaun Burgoyne, Daniel Motlop, Marlon Motlop, Danyle Pearce; St Kilda: Raphael Clarke; West Coast: David Wirrpanda, Liam Bedford, Adam Cockie; Western Bulldogs: Jarrod Harbrow, Joshua Hill, Malcolm Lynch, Brennan Stack. The squad has been selected by three-time premiership player Darryl White, AFL Players' Association Indigenous programs manager Cory McGrath, AFL Indigenous programs manager Jason Mifsud and Johnson. The final team of 30 players will be selected on Wednesday, February 4, following training.

by Whispering Jack Liam Jurrah has been training with Melbourne for less than a month but he has already been selected in his first AFL representative squad - the initial Aboriginal All Star list to take on Adelaide at Marara Oval, Darwin next Saturday night. The only other Demon selected in the squad of 33, which will be whittled down to thirty on Wednesday, is Aaron Davey. Despite the fact that Jurrah is no certainty to make the final cut for the game - observers at recent Melbourne training sessions suggest he's been struggling with his fitness and with the State’s heat wave - his selection marks a significant early milestone for the young Indigenous player from the Central Australian settlement of Yuendumu in the red centre of our vast continent. Jurrah's home, nearly 300km north west of Alice Springs, is vastly distant not only in terms of kilometres from the sprawling metropolis of Melbourne but also in time as well. The extent of that distance and the challenges facing him were brought home to me when I watched the fascinating film ABORIGINAL RULES which I purchased recently as a DVD through Warlpiri Media. Unlike fellow Melbourne Indigenous recruits Jamie Bennell and Neville Jetta who hail from the large WA town of Bunbury and who spent a deal of time in Perth last year, Jurrah comes from an isolated community in the middle of a desert and faces challenges vastly different to those faced by other Aboriginal footballers. Even his first language is not English but rather the ancient tongue of his people. The film is about Liam Jurrah's community of Yuendumu and he is also featured in a few of its scenes. It tells of the lives of the people of the community, of rituals and superstitions, tribal rivalries, of the menfolk who were proud Warlpiri warriors, and of how the people are adapting to the times. These days, the various tribes in the region settle things by means of playing football and the film follows the Yuendumu Magpies through the 2006 football season. Unfortunately, they missed the finals that year but won the Ngurratjuta Cup in 2003, 2004, 2005 and again in 2007 before going on to bigger and better things. The Warlpiri people's ancient civilization goes back 40,000 years but today football is more than a game to them; it represents the new Dreaming. Here are some excerpts from the film provided on bigfooty by poster japaljarri - ABORIGINAL RULES OPENING TITLES, ABORIGINAL RULES TRAINING TIPS, ABORIGINAL RULES JAPU JAPU, ABORIGINAL RULES PAPUNYA SPORTS, ABORIGINAL RULES PUKATJA, ABORIGINAL RULES -THE RULES OF FOOTBALL, ABORIGINAL RULES - YUENDUMU MAGPIES FOOTBALL TEAM, ABORIGINAL RULES - MT THEO. (See if you can spot a young Liam Jurrah in the above excerpts and please do buy the DVD - it's real value and an eye opening documentary about a part of our country with which most of us are not familiar!) The Yuendumu Magpies are good at the game they play on the red, dusty fields of the outback. In 2008, they won the premiership in the new AFLCA competition ahead of the more traditional sides from Alice Springs. The hero was a young man who spent a month earlier this year with Collingwood's VFL team before returning home to comfort a dying friend. Liam Jurrah booted six goals in the grand final. Aboriginal Rules brings home the great challenge of adaptation that Jurrah is facing. Like all Demon fans, I look forward to seeing him in action (whether or not it's as early as next Saturday night with the Aboriginal All Stars) and more importantly, to seeing him successfully achieve the dream of becoming an AFL footballer and in doing that, a fine role model for the kids of Yuendumu. More on Liam Jurrah from The Oracle in CHANGES 2008: PART THREE 2009 QANTAS INDIGENOUS ALL-STARS SQUAD Adelaide: Jonathon Griffin, Graham Johncock, Andrew McLeod, Jarrhan Jacky, Jared Petrenko; Brisbane: Ashley McGrath, Albert Proud; Carlton: Chris Yarran; Essendon: Andrew Lovett, Nathan Lovett-Murray; Geelong: Nathan Djerrkura, Mathew Stokes, Travis Varcoe; Hawthorn: Cyril Rioli, Cameron Stokes; Melbourne: Aaron Davey, Liam Jurrah; North Melbourne: Matt Campbell, Lindsay Thomas, Cruzie Garlett; Port Adelaide: Shaun Burgoyne, Daniel Motlop, Marlon Motlop, Danyle Pearce; St Kilda: Raphael Clarke; West Coast: David Wirrpanda, Liam Bedford, Adam Cockie; Western Bulldogs: Jarrod Harbrow, Joshua Hill, Malcolm Lynch, Brennan Stack. The squad has been selected by three-time premiership player Darryl White, AFL Players' Association Indigenous programs manager Cory McGrath, AFL Indigenous programs manager Jason Mifsud and Johnson. The final team of 30 players will be selected on Wednesday, February 4, following training.

Surprised Matthew Whelan didn't make the squad either. As one of the older brigade who had a few injuries last year, he might have opted out to preserve his body for later. I believe there's a delayed telecast on the ABC.

A poster on Demonology [MK08] went to training in the heat yesterday. here's a summary of his report:- Clint Bartram and Brad Miller showed noticeable direction and leadership on the track; Liam Jurrah was restricted to 200m sprints and laps and surprisingly found the going hard; Jamie Bennell, Sam Blease and Cale Morton did running work while Cam Bruce, Simon Buckley and John Meesen left the track early (not injured); Neville Jetta is exciting, agile, makes great decisions and his sidestep is as good as Davey's; Robbo did strides and pool work by himself; Addam Maric gets a heap of the ball when it comes to match simulation activities, and his foot skills are lovely; Not impressed with Meesen - Jake Spencer looks ahead of him at this stage; There was lots of tackling and physicality in the training. Nathan Jones and Beamer stood out in this area; Jared Rivers and McLean are the smartest players on our list. We desperately need Rivers on our half back line again; Colin Garland now looks comfortable with the MFC and AFL footy c.f. in the past; The boys trained from 8.30am to 11am and were given no favours due to the heat.

Good question. Up till now training has been at Casey Fields on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8:30am but there was no training on Monday (Australia Day). The club website is silent about whether it's on tomorrow or Friday. There's a special afternoon training session one day next week for Past Players and Officials but I don't know if it's open to the public. Best to call the club and ask.