Whispering_Jack

Just to correct the record, that "very learned follower" actually made his prediction after watching the first ten minutes of the first quarter when the scores in the club's first fair dinkum practice match of the year were 0.1.1 to 2.1.13. The comment was in line with the depression of some posters at Melbourne's poor results against Hawthorn and Adelaide and was somewhat tongue in cheek. The exact words used at the time were "Sandy's season is over!". And just for balance, the same "learned follower" made the comment ten minutes before half time that Bendigo had run themselves into the ground in the first half and would fade out in the second half.

I'm pretty sure that Petterd, in fact, played senior football back in Queensland and that he injured his hammy playing in a final up there. I still get your drift about him. I like the fact that he looked very balanced when going for the ball and he went straight at the ball too. I think we really have a footballer here but he might struggle to get an AFL gig in the short term.

At three quarter time it's Sandringham 12.10.82 to Bendigo Bombers 9.9.63 with Poyas on 5 goals (all kicked after the 15 minute mark of the second quarter.

I've spent an enjoyable half of football in good company down at TBO but, because I'm building myself up for a big season (and also have a wedding to go to later today) I thought half a game would be enough for me. Sandringham lead Bendigo at half time 8.6.54 to 7.6.48 The Bombers have been far more impressive - they have very few players from their Essendon list and yet seemed to be playing a more cohesive style of football, often leaving their Sandy opponents flat footed. However, they faded late in the second quarter which might indicate they're running out of juice. Goalkickers to half time were Crowe 3, Poyas 2, Biddlecombe, Garland and anonymous 1 each (sorry I missed a goal - I'm lacking match practice). Byron Pickett was fairly menacing and looked very hungry about getting a chance to force his way into the team for next week's practice match v Geelong. He terrified some of the Bombers and, at last count, had picked up 4 holding the ball decisions in his favour with ferocious tackles and he forced one or two Bombers to make other errors when near the ball. Heath Neville - was just going. He was pick 62 in 2005 and had a lot of injury problems in 2006 so we can't expect too much at this stage I guess. Ben Holland - loped around and did a few good things in the first half but nothing spectacular. Ricky Petterd - showed a bit of class but will need time at Sandy. Michael Newton - played on a wing and showed some nice foot skills. Apparently, he hasn't done much in the pre-season up till now but he showed out with some nice passages of play. Paul Johnson - the # 1 ruck was having a good tussle with Lauchlan McKinnon of the Bombers. Johnson was good around the ground and took some nice overhead marks including one in a pack. Simon Godfrey - hard as nails but disposal very ordinary. Shane Neaves - not much ground time in the first half. Paul Wheatley - apparently his first game for the year - looked a bit rusty but was getting into the game late in the second quarter. Colin Garland - very impressive up forward, led and marked well and yes - he has an ordinary kicking style but it's effective. The regular Sandy boys were also having troubles with the cobwebs and most were very much hot and cold. All except full forward Nick Sautner who was just very cold - he dropped about three easy chest marks and by half time hadn't been able to milk a single free kick for in the back. There's something wrong with the rules IMO. Shane Valenti was the best Zebra by a mile and, although he's small in stature, I reckon it's an absolute shame that nobody took a punt and rookie listed him at the end of 2006. Tomi Johnston tried hard in the packs but he's small - smaller and lighter than Valenti and will need to eat his Wheat Bix if he wants to play at a high level.

Happy to go there. It's a narrow ground and will be a good test of how the players are adapting to the new style.

Beg your pardon. If he was following the game here, the report would have been much better.

Until next week

Take it easy. That information comes from afl.com.au. They might well have played ordinary games.

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.