Whispering_Jack

Thanks mainly to Scoop Junior who will no doubt expand on this when he returns home from MC Hard Labour Park. We went well for most of the first half but then the Tigers came back just before half time. After the break, the game became very scrappy. The coach had a tough job rotating 26 players and that also made it difficult for players to star in such a game. The play was a bit disjointed and although we were moving the ball well out of defence, we weren't always making the smoothest transition when going forward. Both sides were getting men behind the ball and it was difficult penetrating the packed forward lines. Generally, much better than the Nab Cup game v Hawthorn. Theree was still a fair bit of handball but nowhere near as much as in that game! Our better players were Nathan Jones, Chris Johnson and Daniel Bell. Bell put Nathan Brown (theirs) out of the game – a pretty handy effort. He's hard at the ball and strong and getting better all the time. Cam Bruce flashed in and out and generally looked quite good! Neita saw very little action after the break after booting three in the first half. When he went off, Jeff White went forward and kicked three himself. They weren't from big marks either – two were scored at ground level and the other came from an uncontested mark. Brad Miller showed improvement and took some good marks while Bate and Buckley just went. Yze was well … Yze. He dropped an easy mark at one stage and got a bit of a raz from the crowd. He has to pick up his game to be certain of a game in round 1. Biz did OK out of defence and looked composed for much of the time he was on the ground although at one stage he was matched up on Pettifer and it was a bit of a mis-match. TJ might have been a bit rusty on his return from a broken toe but, as always, his disposal was a delight. Late in the game Junior started playing well. Our midfield will get a major boost when these blokes are 100% fit and ready and we get Brock into it as well! Finally, for Chip Off the Old Spud, Frawley's ground time was limited but he was really impressive when he came on in the last quarter – he picked up a number of possessions running off half back. He backed his judgement and looked good although his kicking was a bit funny. Goalkickers: Neitz, White 3, Davey, Jones 2, Bruce, Green, C Johnson Johnstone, Whelan. Melbourne 3.3.21 8.7.55 11.10.76 15.13.103 Richmond 03.3 6.7.43 7.12.54 10.15.75

Thanks for that OMR. It's all over and we won by a comfortable 28 points 15.13.103 to 10.15.75. More details soon hopefully. In the meantime, the word is that Brock will be back next week but Col is now lurking in 426 territory if you get my drift.

Now leading 14.11.95 to 9.15.69 Were we running and carrying today?

Melbourne struggling to score but Tiges kicking off target - 11.10.76 to 8.15.63. Polak and Schulz injured.

First goal of the final term to Richmond 11.10.76 to 8.14.62. Time to bring back Neitz IMO!

Now 9.10.64 to 7.12.54 Latest 11.10.76 to 7.12.54 (finally got it right)! And that's the 3/4 time score. My reports say we have the game under control but there's still a fair bit of rotation going on so the game is still ebbing and flowing a bit. Neitz resting, White up forward and kicked 2 while Davey kicked a ripper from the boundary! Jones a stand out! Still lucky that Richmond was off target early in the third quarter. And oh and yes. It's only a practice game and the result means nothing!

We kicked the first goal of the second half but the Tiges kicking is off beam 9.8.62 to 6.10.46 Meanwhile the Vics were all out for 122 in their second dig and they miss out on the Pura Cup final. Now I can concentrate fully on the Demons, the World Cup Cricket and the World Swimming Championships!

Finally spoke to Scoop Junior at the ground just as they were about to start the third quarter. There's a fair bit of player rotation going on with eight players on the bench. From the selected squad Ben Holland and Byron Pickett are out as foreshadowed and palying tomorrow for the Zebras. Melbourne dominated the game but late in the second quarter Richmond suddenly kicked into gear and reduced the Demons' 30 point lead to 11 points in fairly short time. Goalkickers: Neitz 3 Jones Davey Green C Johnson Best Players Carroll C Johnson (on a wing) Jones & Neitz while Travis has been quietish, his skills have shown out and he's had a hand in a few goals Chip Frawley's been only on for the best part of 10 minutes and as you would guess, he hasn't done much.

Can't get through to the guys at the ground but will let you know when I hear from them.

Two quick ones for the Tiges gets them to 18 points down.

Now 8.6.54 to 3.6.24 I'm out of SMS range but I'll try to get a half time summary from Fan or Scoop Junior at half time.

Six goals - isn't that our entire quota from last week?

OK. I hope we can rely on everybody's discretion so the cone of silence strictly applies to what I am about to reveal here. Yes. Chewy is, in reality, Finks' dog and the star of his avatar but please let me explain. After the Nab Cup debacle against the Hawks we decided at Demonland that we had an obligation to put in an extra effort to help with the club's premiership campaign. So we signed Chewy on to Bigfooty under the guise of a Hawthorn supporter expressly for the purpose of infiltrating an opposition club in order to obtain certain valuable insider information from their camp. We have faithfully promised that we will not under any circumstances use any information obtained in this way for illegal or corrupt purposes. We won't even use it as an aid to our footy betting. What we will do is pass the information directly on to Neale Daniher and others in the football department wrapped inside a bag of Pal Meaty Bites for use in planning future strategies. We believe this will give the Melbourne Football Club that extra edge to help the club in its 2007 premiership campaign. Chewy was chosen for the Hawthorn job because:- # he can maintain a good pace even with a bag of Meaty Bites in his mouth (allowing him to adapt perfectly to our new run and carry style), # his brown and gold colouring allows him to blend in perfectly with Hawthorn supporters, and # we tested his IQ and found it to be roughly commensurate (albeit slightly higher) with that of the average Hawthorn supporter. Rest assured that we have also sent out infiltrators to other fan sites and even as I write, we are picking up invaluable information for round 1 from saintsational. As I said above, this is top secret stuff so please keep it under your hats.

And watch for # 28 and # 29 in the Bomber Ressies. These guys have a yen to play good football.

I miss the good old days of turning up early to the G to watch the ressies. Because of the costs involved and ground considerations, I don't think we can realistically go back although perhaps one day our VFL affiliate will have an even closer connection with the MFC in terms of the look and feel of the team. Perhaps a mutual away guernsey or something might help achieve that.

Now that I've seen the back page in question Old I've become very worried about you. I appreciate that the sight of three distraught (and fully clothed) Collingwood supporting females in a disturbed state after a Collingwood defeat would warm the cockles of most Demon supporters' hearts but - and pardon the political incorrectness - "more beautiful than Jennifer Hawkins in the buff"???? You have got to be kidding!

Mine don't come out till near the end of the month but this is how this week's edition of Inside Football ranks MFC's top 30"- 1. J. White 2. D. Neitz 3. B. McLean 4. T. Johnstone 5. N. Carroll 6. J. Rivers 7. C. Bruce 8. R. Robertson 9. B. Green 10. J. McDonald 11. M. Whelan 12. B. Pickett 13. A. Davey 14. M. Jamar 15. B. Holland 16. D. Ward 17. N. Jones 18. A. Yze 19. B. Moloney 20. D. Bell 21. C. Sylvia 22. C. Johnson 23. C. Bartram 24. B. Miller 25. M. Bate 26. L. Dunn 27. P. Wheatley 28. N. Brown 29. S. Godfrey 30. R. Ferguson This is sure thing to be a hotly debated topic over the weeks to come as round 1 and the first team selection near. Also interesting to note how many of our highly regarded players have missed out either or both of the Nab Cup and last weekend's practice match.

Full Time: Melbourne 3.1.19 3.2.20 5.4.34 6.8.44 Adelaide 0.2.2 3.11.29 9.15.69 14.16.100 Goals: Bate Bruce Davey Green Jamar Miller Just looking on the bright side, this is a far more impressive performance than our last against Adelaide in Round 22 when we had our A team in against their B team and they pantsed us. Today we have our B team in and their A team is pantsing us just as badly. On that basis, the next time we play them, they should be quaking in their boots.

As did Melbourne with three consecutive losses to start the 2006 season and yet, we were in with a big chance of making the top 4 late in the season. Garland just scored his first point in AFL football! Melbourne 5.7.37 Adelaide 11.16.82

First two goals of the final quarter to the Crows. Burton's back on and I want to thank 5aa for not having an internet streaming agreement with the AFL. Melbourne 5.4.34 Adelaide 11.16.82 Another useless statistic from the game is that the crowd was 5,431.

Three Quarter Time: Melbourne 3.1.19 3.2.20 5.4.34 Adelaide 0.2.2 3.11.29 9.15.69 Goals: Bate Bruce Davey Green Jamar

We have them rattled now with Aaron Davey and Cameron Bruce goalling (from 60 metres). Melbourne 5.4.34 Adelaide 9.15.69 Meanwhile the whacker on 5aa keeps on saying:- "5aa does not hold the rights to stream its football commentaries on the internet… If you want to listen to a football commentary on line you should go to afl.com.au… [don't waste your time] 5aa will resume internet streaming at the conclusion of its internet commentary…. Thank you for listening." Trouble is that he doesn't sound like such a whacker now!

Goal to Mattner - the 7th unanswered goal. Down by 36 now, correction 35 - Brad Miller just missed from dead in front.

Finally, a score with the wind Melbourne 3.3 21 Adealide 6.15 51 That's about the same lead we had over Hawthorn this time last week!

You're not worried about what this is going to do to our percentage Scoop?