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Everything posted by Whispering_Jack
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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.
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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.
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I've just noticed that Colin Wisbey has posted this message on Extreme Black and White -
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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.
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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 ...
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No Warnock, Prismall, CJ, Hislop, Nick Nat, etc
Whispering_Jack replied to Courtney_Fish's topic in Melbourne Demons
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!
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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!
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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.
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Quote by Barry Prengergast in today's papers indicates he's 191 cm tall.
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Jurrah set for life-changing AFL draft day
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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)?
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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.
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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.
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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?
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Fair go... he only weighs 110kg. You Tube
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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).
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I just finished reading today's Herald Sun sports lift out. In the middle of the first month of summer, the Collingwod Football club got more coverage and was mentioned in more articles than our test cricketers, tennis players and track and field athletes combined. If anyone bends over for Collingwood it's that newspaper!
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Did the fat lady get to sing at the end?
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In effect that's probably right as long as Richmond are forced to use their first pick in the rookie draft to formally take Polak. Otherwise, they would effectively have the huge advantage of picking up a senior player like Cousins for the last pick in the rookie draft i.e. about 130-135 overall. The problem is that it also creates a new precedent which yet again waters down the spirit and the meaning of the draft. Already, the AFL has made enough changes to the rules which ,along with changes in the marketplace have rendered the PSD virtually redundant and the first pick in that draft is almost worthless.
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DEMONLAND/DEMONOLOGY v SAINTSATIONAL
Whispering_Jack replied to rollinson 65's topic in Melbourne Demons
Dear Harveys Disciples, Firstly, thanks for the game on Sunday. Unfortunately, you didn't have your strongest side on the ground and it wasn't a great contest after quarter time. Secondly, the comments made by demonsam are against the spirit of sportsmanship which was displayed by most of the players on the ground this time and on the previous occasions when we've played forum games. It's regrettable that they were made and I trust that the person was not a member of our team. Thirdly, it's been brought to my attention since the game that one of our ruckmen might have caused some injury to your ruckman through clashing with him in ruck contests with his sharp stops. These sorts of things were not condoned by the coaching panel and hopefully, next time will be brought to our attention and that of the umpire during the game so they can be dealt with appropriately. We all do our best in these games to highlight sportsmanship and the enjoyment of the game and you have our assurance that this will continue to be our objective every time we meet on the field. -
I don't know what all the fuss is about. Richmond already has a PSD pick so it has the capacity to draft Cousins if it wishes. It also has the capacity to put Polak on the long term injury list in accordance with the AFL rules and to promote a rookie if it wishes. The issue is therefore not about Cousins and not about Polak but rather about Richmond wanting to get a windfall advantage in priority in the upcoming PSD/rookie drafts.
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Agreed there's nothing wrong with that but this seems to be somewhat opportunistic on the part of Richmond. Why are they raising it now when the time under AFL rules for making room on every team's list has passed? They've known about Polak's situation for ages and besides, there's a long term injury list already available for such cases. Also, if they want Cousins they can draft him with their existing PSD pick. This proposal would give them the opportunity to draft a young untried player as well as someone like Cousins or Nathan Carroll or to redraft Gourdis giving them an extra advantage. To me it's a bit like the situation when we got special permission to draft a player (it ended up being Shannon Motlop) after Troy Broadbridge died. Of course, Polak is alive (thankfully) but in that situation we were limited because the PSD and rookie draft had already taken place. The decision to allow us an extra player didn't provide us with the advantage of drafting a young player onto our list as well, which is what will happen here. I can't see this happening because Demetriou doesn't like handing out extra advantages to clubs. He wouldn't give Melbourne a compensatory pick at PSD time a few years ago when the Dockers were found to be over the salary cap when they took Jeff Farmer although a precedent had been set earlier over Jeff White.
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Please remember one thing about the PSD and Rookie Drafts. Historically, they might throw up the odd champion player like a Cox, Rutten or a Davey but the majority of players taken in these drafts are short termers and never make much of a mark on the game. I'd be delighted if we could do as well as we did last year with Stefan Martin (PSD) and Aussie and Shane Valenti as rookies with Spencer and possibly Zomer still good prospects. However, a check of past drafts shows how poor these drafts have been in the past and this year's crop doesn't inspire me much.
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DEMONLAND/DEMONOLOGY v SAINTSATIONAL
Whispering_Jack replied to rollinson 65's topic in Melbourne Demons
I'm just teaching myself the technology involved in loading photos onto the board. This is my first effort so I hope it works.