Whispering_Jack

I believe that Victoria Park which has been the venue of the club's first intraclub practice match has been found wanting as a venue for practice matches and won't be used this year except for the occassional training run. Not sure if it's the drought or the fact that that Eddie's crowd have neglected their spiritual birthplace since moving on to the Lexus Centre. As to the players DD36 enquired about - I noticed Daniel Hughes do a couple of good things at training but wasn't really focussed on him. Likewise for Heath Neville except I noticed him having a few kicks towards the end and he looked quite balanced. BB mentioned Jace Bode as being one of the players who had done well with the speed and endurance training he'd been given but again I didn't notice him much. If I can get the time off work to see a practice match I'll concentrate on some of the younger players like those above and the 2007 newcomers but don't expect too much too soon.

Jaded - Toad33 is spot on when he/she says that it's "BLOODY hard trying to identify players, let alone keep track to them, when you are used to seeing them in MFC jumpers". With Jarrod Rivers I would agree that he looks bigger in the upper body but that might be because he seems to have slimmed down everywhere else. All I can say is that he's looking pretty good and even appears a bit taller. I'm not sure however, as to whether he'd be able to handle the monsters but if the game is evolving to a point where athleticism is god, then we have to expect that there are going to be fewer monsters around. I'm not suggesting that the big-bodied key forwards are going to become extinct like the dinosaur ruckmen but they're going to need more than size to get around in the AFL. That's what I like about the new, sleeker version of David Neitz. Incidentally, I saw Leigh Matthews at Brisbane's training talking up Jonathan Brown and the fact that he hopes to have him fit and going for Round 1 after a horror year with injury last year. That may be the case but for the moment Brown has developed a sizable backside and is making Serena Williams look positively anorexic. He's got a fair bit of work to do before he can terrorise the AFL's top defenders again. So has Anthony Rocca at Collingwood - he was found lacking late last season and my Collingwood friends reckon he's not showing signs of any greater speed or endurance this year. Perhaps he should be thinking of joining his brother in the NFL as a kicker. But getting back to Rivers, the big benefit of a training regime under Bohdan B is that he might be better suited to playing on someone like Nick Riewoldt who would have killed him for pace in past seasons. As for Dutchy, I'm sorry but I can't confirm much about him. He trained but didn't really stand out to me but, as indicated earlier, as Toad says it was hard to keep track of some of the players because the changed tops both between and during drills which made it hard to keep up with everyone doing different drills going over a large grassed area. At one stage I noticed Isaac Weetra wearing a yellow # 42 top, then someone else was wearing the same number and a few minutes later Daniel Hayes was wearing it. I figure this must be one of Neale Daniher's ruses to confuse opposition club spies because it got me a few times. Toad33's (please don't wait for me to post though) done a great job describing the drills but I must confess I thought Anthony Rock had gone on to other pastures and the assistant coach in question might have been Paul Williams. Whoever it is who's doing the midfield drills, they look creative and challenging for the players. The practice matches will tell us more on how some of the younger players are developing.

Right. Jace Bode was there also and, like a number of the players, looked as if he had fined down a bit and, as a result, was running better than last year. It's really difficult to say how well the players went because there were a number of different skills drills and they were changing guernseys during some of the drills. I think we'll know a bit more about players like Buckley, Neville and Bode when the practice matches start.

It was such a magnificent morning for watching the boys train today that I almost wanted to join in ... until I caught a sight of Brock McLean and Brent Moloney bearing down on the football and decided it might be better to stand on the sidelines, chat with the fellers and vainly attempt to work out how to work the zoom on an unfamiliar camera. The day continues to be magnificent so I'll write my report later but will add that virtually the full squad was on hand at Trinity Grammar today. Chris Johnson was the only absentee - he was back in Perth to celebrate his 21st birthday. A small group are still in rehab, notably Colin Sylvia and Clint Bartram but they are apparently not far away from resuming training. A couple of others including Paul Wheatley and Matty Whelan missed some bits of the training, possibly due to niggles but there was nothing evident to suggest that the club has any major injury worries at this stage. The team leaders from David Neitz to Brock McLean set the scene with great enthusiasm while Junior was full of running and showed that he will not slacken off from his All Australian form of last year. Nathan Carroll continues to grow in stature and confidence and we can look forward to a solid season from both he and Jared Rivers. We're moving into the practice match stage in the coming weeks and apparently the club is planning one at Moorabbin and another at Telstra Dome in the week before the start of the Nabcup to give the Channel 7 crew a bit of practice for the forthcoming season. There's no truth in the rumour that The Twelfth Man has been pirated away from Foxtel to do the voices of all of Seven's football commentary team as a cost saving measure (although he does do a very speshialllll Bruce McAvaney impression). PS. For the poster who asks all the time - Heath Neville was at training.

Agreed that there are some clowns around on all sites but there's nothing wrong with encouraging young people to come here. On the other hand, there's everything wrong with discouraging them simply because we don't agree with the views or the way they express themselves. Yes, young people do make mistakes but hopefully they'll learn from them and get better and this site is all about encouraging Demon supporters to be more passionate about their club. As it happens, I've just returned from Melbourne's skills training session today at Trinity and I continue to be optimistic about Melbourne's prospects for 2007. I'm not going to suggest that any particular individual has become a champion or a superstar overnight but I will say I liked what I saw and will write about it in a positive vein because that's how I saw it!

Hey, I find it hard to make my way to Trinity Grammar in Bulleen without getting lost. How am I going to make it to Wangaratta?

It's an interesting topic for discussion. Strangely enough I believe that both Richo and Neita never reached their full potential capacity as footballers. The reasons with Richo are pretty obvious but with David Neitz I think he was in many ways a victim of circumstances. There was a time in the mid 90's when Neita was in his prime and probably close to the best CHB in the competition (and that was according to Wayne Carey who had some great duels with him during that time). However, injuries and the loss of other key position players at the club meant that he was taken away from the position which IMO he played the best and moved around to fill gaps around the ground. So - yes he has the record for the most games and the most goals and the longest stretch as captain - but I reckon he could have been an even better player had the likes of Schwarz, Lyon, Jakovich, Pike, Prymke etc. managed to stay healthy and at the club in the latter half of the 1990's.

So how do these numbers compare with this time last year and how do they compare with the other clubs? Also do these numbers include the new MCC/MFC membership numbers?

Does anyone know if the game is going to be televised on ABC2?

Apart from Lynda Carroll's The Grand Old Flag mentioned above I have the following:- The Story of the Melbourne Football Club 1858-1958 written and edited by E.C.H. Taylor. I bought this book in about the first season I took out a club membership (circa 1962). I was 12 at the time and it was a real treasure. If Lampshade or anyone else gets a hold of this book they'll be hooked on the MFC forever. I'd like to see it updated - perhaps for 2008. 125 Years of the Melbourne Demons by Greg Hobbs (1983) Running with the Ball by A. Mancini and G.M. Hibbins - this is the story of HCA Harrison, one of the founders of the game and a man who had a great deal to do with the Melbourne Football Club in its formative years. It's interesting in that it's virtually two books in one being a biography of the man and a history of the game and the early years of the colony. Then there are biographies and autobiographies on Ron Barassi The Life Behind the Legend by Barassi & McFarlane, Whatever it Takes by Jim Stynes, Demon Within by Garry Lyon (also co-author of the Specky McGee children's fiction books), Crackers The Peter Keenan Story by Crackers, a little Robbie Flower biography, Diamonds & Demons The Joseph Gutnick Story by David Bernstein and just to show how fair and balanced my library is Urge to Merge The Power, the People, the President and the Money by Ian Ridley with John Ridley. The MFC has won 12 premierships. Hopefully, in time a book will be written about #13 and more to come. In some ways I think I'm writing that book on our Demonland blog entitled A Highway of Demons (not currently accessible due to technical problems*)but I've only written three chapters. Like everything in football I'm writing it one chapter at a time. [* A Demonland contributor The Professor has also written a history of the club which is on the Demonland Blog as well.]

IMO it would be totally inappropriate for Demonland/Demonology to run a function in opposition to the club's family day just as it would be inappropriate for Talking Carlton to do the same thing on Carlton's family day.

Firstly, congratulations on your choice of club Lampshade. The good news is that you can follow both the Melbourne Demons AFL football team and the Melbourne Victory soccer team because their seasons don't co-incide. There's a good history which was put out recently by club historian Lynda Carroll and I'm sure you'll be able to get a copy from the club (unless it's out of print in which case no doubt it's available in all good libraries). I have a few other books at home which are about the MFC and I'll post their names and details when I get home from work tonight.

I think I know where the current location of the 7kg's that the Jones boy lost.

Those young players are the definitely the ones who need to step up in 2007 and a return to the Beamer of old would be important.

The chances are that none of the above are correct. The latter measurement was taken at the draft camp in October last year but it's been explained that often the stats are unreliable for one reason or another e.g. David Neitz has been variously shown as 191cm and 193 cm and the same thing goes for a number of players. I've seen Garland at training a couple of time and looks a cm or so shorter than Neita but, at 18, could grow to the same height or taller so ultimately I don't think height will stop him from being a KPP if he's good enough. I've been watching a video of the last VFL game of 2006 between Tassie and Box Hill and Garland started on a wing. So far I've seen the first quarter only and though he hasn't done a great deal, he looks like a good mover. I'll report later when I've seen the rest of the game.

I'm not sure what you can and can't take from these statistics but I wonder if Carlton haven't miscalcuted by concentrating on recruiting for greater height and weight at a time when perhaps they should be aiming at getting better medium size on ballers with more leg speed onto their list. Only a thought.

I sometimes wonder what's newsworthy about Byron Pickett fronting Court to apply for the restoration of his licence. After all, it's not as if he's done anything in recent history that's improper as far as his driving is concerned. It's a routine administrative application that would have happened a long time ago but for the fact that he lived in another state for a few years. For that matter, I don't think the story about the Grant Thomas/Rod Buttres debt story is news either. It's a private matter between the two of them and nobody's done anything criminal. They should leave it alone.

Is there a statistic that measures the quality of disposals?

BUMP

And it's a very good thing indeed that we hide our Dark Side B) !

It used to be on the front of the club's membership ticket for years until they started producing the plastic ones. You'd probably find the emblem in one of the Melbourne Football Club history books in a library.

He didn't come on well enough for mine last year. He seemed to lose his way in mid season but it will be interesting to see how he goes with his stronger body in 2007.

Correct on both counts. IMO Ablett could have been a greater individual at Hawthorn than he was at Geelong and the Hawthorn team of the middle 80's would probably have been a worse team with Ablett playing. A champion team is made up not only of the 22 individuals out on the ground but of the players and numerous others in the background. They all have to gel together and work as a team. I'll lend you the book one day to help you understand what Ablett Snr. got up to at both Hawthorn and at Geelong and then you might understand why the Hawks let him go and why the decision to do so set up the Hawks for a lengthy period of success. He was still probably the greatest individual I've seen but he was nothing compared to Ron Barassi as a complete team footballer. Barass played in 6 premiership teams, Ablett in zero.

It's interesting that you mention G Ablett Jr. because I'd like to draw your attention to a fantastic book I read on G Ablett Snr. - "Playing God, The Rise and Fall of Gary Ablett" by Garry Linnell. It's probably the best book on football around. Ablett Snr. started at Hwthorn which put up with his individuality and his errant ways for a couple of years before sending him packing. The Hawks recognised his potential, albeit not fully but were prepared to let him go circa 1981. A couple of years later he bobbed up at Geelong and became a footballing great although he caused no end of problems to his coaches, the committee, sponsors and some supporters (not to mention his wife, family and the unfortunate young girl he took up with after he retired and her family). His bad behaviour at Geelong was tolerated there because he was so good. Geelong made four grand finals while Ablett was there but never won a flag. I don't blame Ablett for that but look at what Ablettless Hawthorn did during the same period.

You can call me a wowser but ... The problem is not just that Johnson drank alcohol but that he drank it to excess and to the point where he was arrested for drunkenness and further, that he's offended before. And because he happens to be a professional athlete, his behaviour has breached the rules of the club that employs him. Even if it happens at Xmas time when he's off duty, that's bad news for the club and Johnson who hasn't been the same since injuring an ankle (and he's never fully recovered from that!) while making a late night exit from (of all places) a pub. I'll be interested to see how Geelong treates his case in comparison to Carlton with Fevola which apparently didn't do too much if at all.