Whispering_Jack

Some of the placements are very interesting in the light of the comments Andy Lovell made in his player review. Take this quote about Stef Martin:- "In the first half he played at full back, and played really well. His form has been very consistent this year. Each week he takes the opposition big forward, and he hasn’t yet been beaten one-on-one in that role. In the second half we moved him to half back, where he struggled a little, but he has steadily improved and we are looking to develop him into a key defender." Martin's been named at CHB where he "struggled a little" last week. I like the idea of testing young players in the hard positions to garner improvement rather than taking the easier options of playing them where you already know they can do well. It should hold him in good stead for the day he gets promoted. I also like what the coaches are doing with Addam Maric who should be playing AFL in the second half of the season if not earlier. These two are the best prospects we have at Sandy who have yet to wear the red and blue.

Good luck with your call and thanks for mentioning the Demon supporter sites last time you broadcast a Sandy game. Is there any chance your signal will improve in the future (last time I was listening I kept hearing some bloke speaking Greek interrupting the call)?

Bad luck Juice. Settle yourself down and you'll have a much better chance of making it in the game. Round 4 Michael Newton - Sandringham Guilty of Striking - 1 Match Suspension* *Denotes player opted for the prescribed automatic penalty

Yeah right. I see that you understand perfectly what I've been saying. Incidentally, yo seem to think its indicative of good journalistic research to write that our "home ground attendances have been poor" when, in fact we've played only one home game this year and attracted 27,000 against the Western Bulldogs (instead of last home game against the Dogs which attracted 18,946). Again, the point I'm making is that we are under notice from the AFL to lift our game. The rest including attendance figures is just window dressing if we don't get our act together both on and off the field.

I don't think I'm missing the point at all. The point I'm making is that Wilson's article is written as told to her by the AFL. The example of the gaffe about our attendances wasn't nitpcking - it was drawn to show that she didn't even research her facts properly before going to print. I have no doubt we are going to have problems with home ground attendances as the season continues - who's going to go to our home game at Freo in a few weeks time if we maintain our present form? The message from the AFL is that unless we do something soon to shape up, we might have to prepare ourselves for something drastic. IMO that includes as one possibility becoming the Gold Coast Demons.

Wilson's a good journalist and well respected but this is an easy article to write because it's so easy to kick a club when it's down and it's easier to write when you're simply following your master's voice. All she is doing is stating the bleedingly obvious and regurgitating what the AFL is telling her and, of course, there's a lot of fact in there mixed with some fiction and the wishful thinking of those at headquarters who would for example, gleefully solve the problems inherent in starting a club up on the Gold Coast from scratch by disembowling a club from Melbourne and sending its carcass up north. That's the challenge that Paul McNamee is presented with early in his administration. Yes, the bland vision of Steve Harris with the melbournefc symbolism has helped us lose focus and yes, the team is playing football that matches the blandness and yes, the club's supporters couldn't be bothered supporting a team that bungles its way through quarters of football like the first against North Melbourne last week. But where did Caroline get this from ... " its home-game attendances have been poor with a 0-4 win-loss ratio to date"? Just for the record, Melbourne has had one home game this year - against the Western Bulldogs whose membership numbers are apparently as low as ours. The crowd that day was 27,821 which I suppose, you could describe as "poor" but it's an "attendance" not one of a multiple number of "attendances" and it matches our home attendances against the same club in recent years. I thnak Caroline for indulging in the form of journalism that is far too common these days at Fairfax. She's telling us very little that we wouldn't know if we opened our eyes anyway. Our team is playing crap, our supporters (like most others are fickle) and our administration needs to lift its game. Thankfully, we don't have to look to her or her sources for any answers.

I think a demonstration against Judd for treating us with contempt could end up counterproductive and spur him on to play a great game. That said, if he's struggling and Melbourne are winning well (please ) then I'll probably be the first to let him know it. I wonder how our players regard this situation. The likelihood is that they don't care one way or the other but back in John Northey's day he would have used this sort of thing as a spur to rev up his charges. Shows how different football is today and how different our club is these days. I think they play with all the emotion of a dead fish nowadays.

Enough already. This thread has been locked for obvious reasons.

Whatever view one might have of a player it's a disgrace and an indictment on Wikipedia that it allows such nonsense as this on its pages - "By the end of his career, Ward was best known for his inability to pick up an opponent or get his hands on the ball, and when he did get his hands on the ball he frequently coughed it up to the opposition, often resulting in goals. It is believed that his inability to play football in his last season played a large part in the sacking of coach Neil Daniher who was reluctant to drop him from the team."

There is a Latin maxim which covers exactly how the law would deal with this sort of situation - de minimis non curat lex or "the law does not concern itself with little things". On that basis, he has no legal options B) .

Phew, I misread the article at first. Thankfully, they were exchanging pleasantries and not the weed.

I watched Foxtel's AFL Teams programme and just happened to switch on The Footy Show when they were previewing this game and the experts have already written us off. That's no surprise given our poor efforts to date on the MCG and the way North played last week against Hawthorn but IMO this is probably the most important game for the club this year. We really need a win this week to get our season on track. It's OK for Carlton to happily tank away season after season, but we simply can't afford it. We need that win to get some momentum going and we need our forwards (especially the talls) to get the pill and do something with it for a change!

If reports are correct that PJ has a broken hand then someone will have to step in for him. Most likely Mark Jamar but possibly Stef Martin. Or both could come in if the club feels it needs the extra height in defence to cover Nathan Thompson.

I will re-iterate what I said about having "once heard the same thing about a young Cameron Ling" spoken of in the same vein as you are doing about Zomer. Ling was eventually drafted to Geelong as a "top age" player in the same way that Zomer was "top age" when rookied by us. The comment about Ling was made by a person who has had a long term association with the TAC Cup Under 18's. I also spoke yeseterday with "Stevo" who wrote on the draft for Demonland last year and is currently involved in TAC Cup football. He doesn't agree with you. He believes that because of Zomer's basketball grounding he needs to be given time and good coaching and, as long as he approaches it all with the right attitude, he could be just as good as any of the young KPP's in this year's crop.

And perhaps you are limited in your ability to spell your own name?

The funny thing is that I once heard the same thing about a young Cameron Ling when he was a bottom age player with the Geelong Falcons. He was supposed to be fat, overweight and lazy. A year later he was drafted by the Cats and his hard work and persistence has led him to become a premiership player and one of the best players in the competition's best midfield.

Nothing beats getting the four points but I think today marked the start of a new era for the Melbourne Football Club. For the first time under Dean Bailey we played like true Demons and had we not been pittted against the best side in the competition on their own dungheap after unfurling their premiership flag from last year, we might have even gotten up and won. Next week against North Melbourne should hold no fears.

Correct and Trav can't really talk because, with all of their glorious facilities, a champion CHF, some brilliant on ball talent and 2 out of 3 games on their home turf without yet having played against the apparent top three teams in the competition, his own side is sitting with a 1/2 record at the moment.

I agree. We both should be bard.

I wasn't convinced about the Bullies even when they rolled us by 95 points last week but it takes a fair team to come from 37 points down at quarter time to win by 38. Their last three quarters against the Saints were almost as good as their last three against us. Maybe, we're not so bad after all!

Get thee to a cattery: Why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest; But yet I could accuse me of such things that it were better my mother had not borne me: I am very proud, revengeful, ambitious, with more offences at my beck than I have thoughts to put them in, Imagination to give them shape, or time to act them in. What should such fellows as I do crawling between earth and heaven? We are arrant knaves, all; believe none of us. Go thy ways to a cattery. Where's your father?

No worries Peter. As long as they keep the Burrabergers warm, you'll find a big contingent of us there bright and early tomorrow.

Although we don't usually allow unsolicited advertising around here as a general rule, we've decided to allow your plug free of charge and we wish you good luck for season 2008. Please also feel free to mention Demonland on your broadcasts. Cheers PS: "MORE 80S MORE 90S AND VFL FOOTY 3XX 1611 AM Any chance of more 60s and 70s stuff as well?

I welcome the return of Big Carl from the engravers and look forward to seeing the pictorial proof. It's a pity that there were only about 8 supporters on hand to witness the event as I doubt whether we are going to see another 100 point winning margin in favour of any team wearing the famous red and blue gurnsey in this our 150th year.

The AFL has, in the past, been extremely inconsistent in its dealings over salary cap cheating and I can fully imagine Fonzie burying his head in the sand over this issue as he has done on the issue of tanking and the current priority pick rules which are an utter blight on our game. If this proves to be a case of salary cap infraction, then Richmond should face the music in much the same way as Carlton, Essendon and Melbourne had to do in the past. Given how disruptive such an issue can become for a club (remember what happened to Melbourne and Carlton after the salary cap breach news broke?), I wonder how Caroline Wilson and others deal with this. Will they be all over it for months and give the Tigers a constant dose of bad publicity or will they just allow it to blow over?