Whispering_Jack

A look at why the Demons are feeling pain tonight. Melbourne's 2022 review: The Hope, the Hurt and the Clanger

One more to go!

Can we go back into the archives from 2001 to 2006 or is all that lost?

If there’s a silver lining from the defeat, it’s a marginal improvement in our draft position. Unfortunately, it’s a minor change and barely makes a difference. 2022 NATIONAL DRAFT ORDER AND SELECTIONS 2022 ROUND ONE 1. North Melbourne 2. West Coast Eagles 3. GWS Giants 4. Essendon 5. Adelaide 6. Hawthorn 7. Gold Coast Suns 8. Port Adelaide 9. St Kilda 10. Carlton 11. Western Bulldogs 12. Richmond 13. Fremantle 14. Sydney Swans 15. Brisbane 16. Collingwood 17. Sydney Swans 18. Geelong 
 ROUND TWO 19. Richmond 20. West Coast Eagles 21. GWS Giants 22. Essendon 23. Adelaide 24. Hawthorn 25. Gold Coast Suns 26. West Coast Eagles 27. St Kilda 28. Carlton 29. Western Bulldogs 30. Richmond 31. Gold Coast Suns 32. Melbourne 33. Brisbane 34. Gold Coast Suns 35. Sydney Swans 36. Geelong ROUND THREE 37. Western Bulldogs 38. West Coast Eagles 39. GWS Giants 40. Essendon 41. Melbourne 42. Collingwood 43. Gold Coast Suns 44. Brisbane 45. St Kilda 46. Geelong 47. Collingwood 48. Collingwood 49. Hawthorn 50. Melbourne 51. Geelong 52. Gold Coast Suns 53. Port Adelaide 54. Geelong ROUND FOUR 55. North Melbourne 56. Port Adelaide 57. GWS Giants 58. Essendon 59. GWS Giants 60. Geelong 61. Hawthorn 62. Carlton 63. Melbourne 64. Carlton 65. Western Bulldogs 66. North Melbourne 67. Gold Coast Suns 68. Melbourne 69. Brisbane 70. Gold Coast Suns 71. Sydney Swans 72. Fremantle ROUND FIVE 73. North Melbourne 74. West Coast Eagles 75. GWS Giants 76. Essendon 77. Adelaide 78. Hawthorn 79. Gold Coast Suns 80. Port Adelaide 81. St Kilda 82. Carlton 83. Western Bulldogs 84. Richmond 85. Fremantle 86. Melbourne 87. Brisbane 88. Collingwood 89. Sydney Swans 90. Geelong

Oh please. All of those things were evident in mid season but we went into the finals with the same set up, the same tactics and strategies and the same game plan as were used in May and June. We had some work to do then to overcome the vulnerabilities. We have to do much better than this.

A wise coach once said that even a premiership side needs to turn over players from year to year. He suggested that you needed to bring in up to five new players to freshen up a side. We brought in two - Luke Dunstan for a handful of games and Daniel Turner who in the end played half a game. There wasn’t much inventiveness in dealing with our problem areas and, in fact, we kept repeating the same failed tactics that just about every decent coach in the competition had worked out and in the end, exploited. The time to bring youth into the side was in Rounds 9 and 10 - just one or two players of the likes of JVR and Bailey Laurie just to see how they fitted into AFL football. Our opposition in those games were West Coast and North Melbourne. Trying some new blood in those games would not have changed the result. Ironically, in the final quarter of our last game Harry Petty shows up on the forward line to be the only tall in the team to score a goal in such a vital game. Hoping the coach had some “learnings” out of this.

The last minute of every quarter is so important. Tonight we gave away 5 goals in the last minute of quarters - 1 in Q1, 1 in Q2, 2 in Q3 and 1 in Q4.

AFL Draft - September Power Rankings: Surprise at No. 2, Bolters make their move

7 Melbourne flags if you don't mind. We won the last flag decided in her reign as well as the six in the period from 1955-1964

It’s time to get serious - time to do some lion hunting!!!

No change after week one of the finals.

Rookie Me Central AFL Draft Power Rankings – September 2022

A new publication The Inner Sanctum has come up with its Top 30 Power Rankings for this month ~ AFL Draft 2022: Top 30 Power Rankings – September

In NAB Boys League action over the weekend, Gippsland Power prevailed over the Northern Knights by 10 points. Strongly built midfielder Bailey Humphrey and Konstanty stood out for the winners. The Tassie Devils had a 25 point win over Bendigo. Yesterday the Dandenong Stingrays and Sandringham Dragons had big wins over the Western Jets and Calder Cannons respectively. Harrison Jones booted five goals for the Stingrays and Will Ashcroft was again the best for the Dragons. 2022 NAB League: Quarter Finals snapshot

Remember when? THE TEAMS BRISBANE LIONS B: D.Gardiner 27 J.Payne 40 D.Rich 10 HB: B.Starcevich 37 H.Andrews 31 K.Coleman 18 C: Z.Bailey 33 D.Zorko 15 H.McCluggage 6 HF: C.Rayner 16 E.Hipwood 30 L.McCarthy 11 F: D.McStay 25 J.Daniher 3 C.Cameron 23
Foll: O.McInerney 46 L.Neale 9 J.Berry 7 I/C: N.Answerth 43 J.Lyons 17 R.Mathieson 36 J.Prior 20 Sub: M.Robinson 5 Emerg: D.Fort 32 R.Lester 35 K.Lohmann 1 In: 

M.Robinson Out: R.Lester (omitted) MELBOURNE B: H.Petty 35 J.Lever 8 J.Bowey 17 HB: T.Rivers 24 S.May 1 M.Hibberd 14 C: J.Melksham 18 C.Oliver 13 E.Langdon 15 HF: T.Sparrow 32 B.Brown 50 B.Fritsch 31 F: A.Neal-Bullen 30 L.Jackson 6 K.Pickett 36 Foll: M.Gawn 11 J.Viney 7 C.Petracca 5 I/C: A.Brayshaw 10 J.Harmes 4 J.Hunt 29 C.Spargo 9 Sub: J.Jordon 23 Emerg: T.Bedford 12 J.Smith 44 In: 
J.Bowey Out: C.Salem (groin soreness)

No change.

Remember this from the first Friday in September 1995?

Tough opponent this evening but we can do it at the Home of Football - our ground!!!

This for a place in a Preliminary Final It won’t be easy because the Swans are on a winning streak and their 6-2 record against this season’s top eight tells us that they are capable of anything. However, the Demons are just hitting their straps and September belongs to us!

Knightmare has put out a YouTube video where he goes through the draft prospects based on tier levels (alphabetically listed). Here are his top three tiers:- Tier 1 Will Ashcroft Aaron Cadman Mattaes Phillipou Harry Sheezel Elijah Tsatas George Wardlaw Tier 2 Jedd Busslinger Jhye Clarke Bailey Humphrey Henry Hustwaite Cam McKenzie Tier 3 Jaxon Binns Charlie Clarke Alwyn Davey Jr Adam D’Aloia Blake Drury Brayden George Reuben Ginbey Lewis Hayes Elijah Hewett Oliver Hollands Olli Hotton Matthew Jefferson Isaac Keeler Noah Long Harry Rowston Kobe Ryan Jacob Ryan Mitch Szybkowski Casey Voss

I’ve had my eyes on both Barnett and Keeler because they look interesting types and fit our needs. Twomey has them at 26 and 29 respectively but I suspect both will go earlier than that.

And from memory, that would be an improvement on your normal attire. On the other hand, for someone with Luke Jackson’s abilities, the size of the cheque isn’t everything and another few years at the Melbourne Football Club might reap greater benefit during his time here as well as further down the track.

Thanks Nascent. Yes, a month down the track and Cal Twomey has updated his form guide. I’ve had an opportunity to see vision of many of the top prospects now and I feel that the opportunity is there for Melbourne to find some talent to at least fill some of its pressing needs at the draft notwithstanding that it’s first draft choice is currently in the mid 30s. Cal Twomey's Phantom Form Guide: Top draft prospects' August ranking It will become even more interesting if Luke Jackson decides to seek a return to his native WA (why anyone would want to wear that ghastly purple number is beyond me).