Whispering_Jack

I have a feeling that’s right. I watched the stream on the AFL site and surely both Baker and Chandler had more than 16 touches each.

I like the name ... it has a good feel.

Topical piece from Jake Niall on the Eagles and the Tim Kelly deal that seems to have backfired and hurt the Eagles - Bad timing: why the Tim Kelly deal is hurting West Coast

If it seems like a long time ago, it’s probably because it was - round 2 last year. ST KILDA B: J. Webster 29 D. Howard 20 C. Wilkie 44 HB: B. Long 21 T. Highmore 34 J. Sinclair 35 C: J. Billings 15 S. Ross 6 H Clark 11 HF D. Butler 16 B. Hill J. Lonie 13 F: T. Membrey 28 S McKernan 27 M King 12 Foll: P. Hunter 41 J. Steele 9 J. Gresham 4 I/C: J. Battle 26 N. Coffield 1 J. Higgins 22 Z. Jones 3 Sub: J. Bytel 23 Emerg: J. Carlisle 2 D. McKenzie 36 M. Wood 32 In: Z. Jones M. King Out: D. McKenzie M. Wood MELBOURNE B: N. Jetta 39 S. May 1 A. Tomlinson 20 HB: J. Hunt 29 J. Lever 8 C. Salem 3 C: A. Brayshaw 10 C. Petracca 5 E. Langdon 15 HF: T. Sparrow 32 T. McDonald 25 K. Pickett 36 F: A. Neal-Bullen 30 L. Jackson 6 B. Fritsch 31 Foll: M. Gawn 11 C. Oliver 13 J. Viney 7 I/C: N. Jones 2 J. Jordon 23 T. Rivers 24 C. Spargo 9 Sub: O. Baker 33 Emerg: M Hibberd 14 J. Melksham 18 H. Petty 35 In: O. Baker J. Viney Out: K. Chandler J. Harmes (wrist)

The addition of Tomlinson and now Buntine seems to have meant that there is no spot for Ellison in the current line up. A bit harsh since he’s been playing well in defence and showed last year that he can also kick goals up forward. Hopefully, he gets his chance today.

That was an outstanding win for the club. We got through despite the enormously difficult circumstances of losing the coach and five players through Covid19. It’s not just the disruption in terms of coaching and player loss but the psychological difficulties of getting through the regime of testing, the uncertainty and all of the issues surrounding the situation over a period of more than 72 hours - we did it and overcame a very spirited opposition. Congratulations to all concerned at the club on scoring another famous win for the Demons!

Does someone have the stats for the games played by players coming into the side today as against those going out?

Sad news. A real Demon. My condolences to Ray’s family.

Could I ask people who want to post rumours about supposed Covid19 cases to state the source of the basis of the claims made.

Precisely why the club is in such a strong position at the moment. He’s the obvious one to make way for Jake Lever. And, as Medical Sub, he’s still in the game.

He wasn’t listening.

How Shane Woewodin’s feud with Melbourne was finally healed nearly two decades later Shane Woewodin had a "complete falling out with Melbourne" after being traded while on holidays. It took two decades to repair the rift.

Relax. It’s just a bit past Easter. They’ll all rise again.

The straight forward way of dealing with what would otherwise have been a problematic situation. In: Jake Lever Tom McDonald Jack Viney Out: Luke Jackson (H & S Protocols) Kysaiah Pickett (H & S Protocols) Tom Sparrow (H & S Protocols) Joel Smith becomes the Medical Sub and Toby Bedford goes into the starting 22 effectively covering Kozzy while Jake Lever effectively replaces Smith. Alternatively, if we get some heavy, wet weather, then possibly go with Jake Melksham rather than Tom McDonald. The result is IMO just as good a line up as the one that beat Richmond last Sunday night.

Is Yze the right man though ... when does someone start that thread?

I used to have this theory that twice a year a team will have a day when it’s straight kicking boot is on and twice when everything goes astray. We’ve had one of each in the past two rounds.

It’s time to tank the Tigers!!!

Fair go. West Coast beat the then flag favourites Collingwood in Melbourne a couple of weeks ago.

Am I allowed to express my dissent with the standard of football on display today - that includes players and the persons officiating? Watching Port v Eagles on the couch and I’ve already waved my hands in dismay 3 or 4 times.

The beautiful sunshine attracted me to RSEA Park, the Moorabbin HQ of the St Kilda Football Club (once the home ground of that team in the glory days of Plugger Lockett). Legend has it that they used to water the ground on the night before a game so that it would suit the Saints’ style of play and, back in the day, it truly was a smelly bogheap saturated in mud. But this afternoon, the surface was a lush, even magic carpet of green and the Sandringham Dragons put on a master class for the visiting Tasmanian Devils State Under 18s who are part of the NAB Boys League competition. First things first - the final score was eerily familiar to any Melbourne fan - the Dragons scored 21.14.140, a score that for eternity will always be associated with 25/9/21. Tassie managed to make it to 10.8.68 so they weren’t much better than the Doggies of that day. You get the drift though - Sandy destroyed them. The Dragons also had a medium forward who performed his wizardry with the football, kicking some magical goals and displaying some nifty footwork to finish with six goals and a couple of behinds (one poster) on top of giving two or three away and having the occasional stint in the midfield where he also picked up a few touches. Harry Sheezel is good and will go top 10. This is probably not the last time that I provide the disclaimer about having seen him grow up from a 7-year-old junior footballer with enormous talent back then to a 17-year-old on the brink of even bigger and better things. Now, if he wasn’t best on ground, then fellow 182cm medium forward Charlie Clarke who played half forward and kicked 7 goals would take the chocolates. He’s hard, robust, has great running patterns and is a real goer who is dangerous with ball in hand. From this day on, he will be ranked in the draft top 20 if not higher. Midfielder and Brisbane Lions father son prospect Will Ashcroft was silky smooth and full of class in the midfield and he and Cameron McKenzie combined well to ensure that the Dragons were well on top in the clearance battles. The above four are all going to feature heavily in draft discussion and there are a few others in a very solid Dragon defence who will also be fancied because they certainly combined well to keep the Tassie forwards under control. Unfortunately, I was closely following the Sandy forwards (going from end to end at the start of each quarter) so I couldn’t really pick up the numbers or names of the better ones other than one Jakob Anderson who looks a really good stopper. And that’s not all - two top agers in Hugo Hall-Kahn (4 goals) and 202cm ruckman Max Ramsden pressed their credentials for possible selection in this year’s Mid Season Draft. Tasmania were far less organised and nobody really stood out to me but one of their small rovers was quite nippy and kicked three goals. I discovered later that his name is Brandon Leary. Given that he’s a Tasmanian, I wonder if he’s related to former Demon, Noel Leary who played for Melbourne in the early 70s before going back home and becoming an AFL Tasmania Hall of Famer?

Why not do away with the goal umpire’s score review because, after all, is that not a sign of disrespect to those officiating by implying that they’re not capable of making decisions about what their own eyes are telling them?

Mystery solved. The Kansas Tornado just delivered Majak back to Casey Fields and he’s going to line up in the ruck against the Tigers VFL side on Sunday afternoon.

After a hiatus of two years the NAB AFL National Championships are back in full flight. 2022 NAB AFL National Championships: U16, U18 Boys fixture released This means that for the first time since 2019, recruiters and the public in general will have the opportunity to gauge prospective draftees throughout the country at the highest level of competition. This thread will follow the games as much as possible in the hope of unearthing some Demon stars of the future. (fully aware that, as the reigning premiers and a front runner for high honours again as well as currently not holding a first round selection, we’re somewhat behind the 8 ball but … have faith!!!)

No, it was on the Gold Coast - you would have thought there would be a book on every Melbourne player but I Majak's was the only one.

Amazing. I had a look at the back page and it goes:- I felt rather light-headed early in the game at Casey Fields against Coburg so I sauntered off to the forward line where I managed to attract the football and some good fortune in the stiffening breeze. The umpire paid me two free kicks in a row. I kicked them through the goals both times and as I ran near the crowd the second time, I noticed one of the young fans who I knew by the name of Dorothy, clapping her hands excitedly until a moment later, the wind strengthened and a heavy shadow fell on our part of the ground. I realised we were in the eye of a tornado which lifted us up and dropped us on an unknown land. I must have passed out because when I came to, I was with Dorothy, a man dressed as a Lion who I figured was the mascot for the Coburg Lions, a ragged looking bum dressed like a Scarecrow and a strange character who called himself “Tin Man”. One of the local little league teams, “The Munchkins”, were also hanging around looking strange. One of them said, “We’re in the land of Oz”, and I replied, “Yeah, I know that but how do we get back to Casey Fields? The team needs me!” And that’s it … the rest is blank pages.