Whispering_Jack

Herald Sun

I understand that both have been several years in the making as there was interest in another site where the Caulfield Hospital is at present going back to around 2020 while government authorities have been investigating the purchase of the school’s Burwood campus to incorporate that into Deakin University. The hospital option ended in the too hard basket and rightly so because of the crisis we are experiencing in this state with health care in general. My understanding is that there has been a substantial amount of activity in the background involving a number of participants ranging from government, the local council, the racing club and interested community groups, all involving consultation and, as you can imagine, plenty of politics and the usual argy bargy. In the end, it will be very worthwhile for all concerned, including the Melbourne Football Club if we get a foothold there.

You could hardly call it “PRESEASON TRAINING” but it was about a half an hour of running uphill sprints in Yarra Park to the south of Vale Street, East Melbourne with gentle run downs and repeats with varying rates of intensity. Hard to believe it but a few hours later, they would all be upstaged by a 16-years-old track and field athlete who later in the day and 1,400km to the north, broke a 56 year record for 200 metres held by the late Peter Norman, a Demon fan and Mexico Olympics silver medalist in what was one of the most famous sprint races of all time. But the athletics theme was evident back at Yarra Park where recruit and former steeplechaser Harry Sharp who holds the draft combine 2km time trial record of 5:28m (anything under 6:00m is considered elite for AFL) held court. Kozzy Pickett was also looking very sharp himself and anything but homesick (I say that for the benefit of those in the media desperate to recycle yet another baseless “scoop” this week) and he will be an asset once April comes around and he’s served his three weeks for that accidental glancing blow that Darcy Moore fell into in Round 24. Nobody can really replace Kozzy in the first few weeks of next year and the speculation in the crowd of sponsors and coterie members was inconclusive. Maybe, it will be a different type of player like Sharp or impressive tall youngster Harvey Langford who looked right at home with the men including fellow midfielders Jack Viney, Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver - all building up to restore the midfield to the top of the tree again. Trent Rivers also looked mighty impressive as well. Though there were no footballs out, apart from the ones held by eager kids waiting for photos with their favourite players, I got the feeling that there is a major sea change coming up among the club’s key forward line up. With Harry Petty going back, JvR and Disco (both looking fit and impressive) will have competition from powerful looking newcomer Aidan Johnson and yet-to-be capped first round draft pick from 2022, Matt Jefferson. I’m tipping JvR will continue to rise in the ranks of AFL KPPs with far less emphasis in him taking on the relief ruckwork. Someone should do a remeasure of his height because he looks taller than his advertised 193cm on the club’s website. Back on the athletics theme, Kalani White, an accomplished high jumper who possibly should have been competing up north because he can cover the vertical 200cm jump which is his actual height, turned up with the Kolt. Kalani needs time in the gym plus several courses of that pasta recipe of Tracc’s nonna and in short time, he will be the next Sam Darcy, Jordan Croft or even better. The good news is that White and the Kolt had just emerged straight out of the greatest stadium on the planet - the MCG. The Gold Coast Suns play their games at a third rate bush track where it’s a struggle to get decent tucker at half time. There’s no comparison and it’s a no brainer for Kalani who needs to forget the GCS Academy. The famous #34 awaits in the locker room across Swan Street (or possibly at the magnificent Caulfield Racecourse a little further down the track). That’s where the future lies! Anyway, we escaped from Yarra Park and the flies after a taste of the Demon Army’s hot dogs and a fantastic cafe latte early and missed some of the club’s veterans. Sorry Max. For the players, it’s back to Gosch’s tomorrow for the last week of 2024 training and then onwards and upwards to 2025 and our restoration to finals glory.

Boys are on a run this morning at a sponsor/coterie member’s function.

Not to mention the fact that from the same playbook, last year they got the Duke with pick No.7 in the National Draft .

You might get your wish.

“Unlike fellow indigenous talent and Demons newcomer Ricky Mentha, he is not eligible to join Melbourne as a Category B rookie. “The Demons do not have a vacancy on their list so officially they are not auditioning him as summer rookie despite his obvious ability.” Pickett’s uncle to train with Dees amid AFL interest

PROFILED | 2025 AFL Academy squad

More good news ~ No.11 pick on track after PCL injury, star Dees nearing full fitness

I’m old enough to remember when Robbie Flower burst on the scene as a spindly bespectacled 17-year-old from Murrumbeena in 1973. His spectacular 272 game career with the Demons is a well documented one. We lost him 10 years ago, all too young at 59 years of age. There was some excitement in the early 2000’s when his son Brad appeared on the scene with the Oakleigh Chargers but he lacked the height and size to make it to the big time and only got as far as the odd game at Sandringham VFA, mainly with their reserves (circa 2002). Now, the grandson Jett Flower has been picked up at Coates Talent League level. Unfortunately, there’s no grandfather/grandson rule but we wish him luck!

The AFLW trade period is set to kick off on Thursday, with the official pre-trade draft order for the first four rounds:- ROUND ONE 1 Collingwood 2 Gold Coast Suns 3 GWS Giants 4 Sydney Swans 5 Carlton 6 West Coast Eagles 7 Western Bulldogs 8 St Kilda 9 Geelong 10 Melbourne 11 Essendon 12 Richmond 13 Fremantle 14 Hawthorn 15 Port Adelaide 16 Adelaide 17 Brisbane Lions 18 North Melbourne ROUND TWO 19 Collingwood 20 Gold Coast Suns 21 GWS Giants 22 Sydney Swans 23 Carlton 24 West Coast Eagles 25 Western Bulldogs 26 St Kilda 27 Geelong 28 Melbourne 29 Essendon 30 Richmond 31 Fremantle 32 Hawthorn 33 Port Adelaide 34 Adelaide 35 Brisbane Lions 36 North Melbourne ROUND THREE 37 Collingwood 38 Gold Coast Suns 39 GWS Giants 40 Sydney Swans 41 Carlton 42 West Coast Eagles 43 Western Bulldogs 44 St Kilda 45 Geelong 49 Melbourne 47 Essendon 48 Richmond 49 Fremantle 50 Hawthorn 51 Port Adelaide 52 Adelaide 53 Brisbane Lions 54 North Melbourne ROUND FOUR 55 Collingwood 56 Gold Coast Suns 57 GWS Giants 58 Sydney Swans 59 Carlton 60 West Coast Eagles 61 Western Bulldogs 62 St Kilda 63 Geelong 64 Melbourne 65 Essendon 66 Richmond 67 Fremantle 68 Hawthorn 69 Port Adelaide 70 Adelaide 71 Brisbane Lions 72 North Melbourne

Great work Meggs ... not just the review above but for all your hard work throughout Season 9. Hate making excuses but fixed-ya is the word that best covers the season for us. What a stitch up. And still, we came close to participating in the finals. 2025 is looking good for both our Mens and Womens teams.

We’re already a month into the MFC preseason (if you started counting when the younger players in the group began the campaign along with some of the more keen older heads) and in less than a few hours’ time, most of the list will be hitting the track for another grueling session at Gosch’s Paddock. If you haven’t been following our training threads, today’s Herald Sun article Demons ponder big man reshuffle to fix forward funk by Jay Clark has a crack at bringing you up to speed with the goings on at the club. In the hard paper edition the article is on page 63 and it’s entitled “Dees go for Petty change”. Clark writes that “Melbourne could make footy’s first big positional switch of the summer and return Harrison Petty to a key defensive role next season”. This is not an official call for Petty who struggled to have an impact up forward last year - Clark says he will be trialled in both forward and defensive roles over summer. He adds that this opens up some scope for “marking targets Daniel Turner, 2022 first round pick Matthew Jefferson and VFL recruit Aidan Johnson to partner ace goal kickers Jacob van Rooyen and Bayley Fritsch”. Clark also points out that it’s a crucial year for the club in fighting off possible poaching efforts for Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver after they explored moves to leave during the trade period but he confirms the gun midfielders “have put those issues behind them”. Accompanying the article which also mentioned the team-building exercises at last week’s camp in Victoria’s high country are the following pointers to highlight some of the preseason moves at the club:- “Harry Sharp on the wing With running dynamo Alex Neal-Bullen heading to Adelaide, the Dees recruited Brisbane grand final emergency Harry Sharp to add run to an ageing midfield. The 21-year-old showed his aerobic prowess on Monday when he decimated his new teammates in a 2km time trial and he is likely to be given first dibs on the opposite wing to Ed Langdon. Caleb Windsor to defence With Sharp and potentially No.11 pick Xavier Lindsay joining the Dees’ wing stocks, second-year Windsor is likely to move to a running half-back role used to great effect by Fremantle’s Jordan Clark. The club is aware that with Steven May and Tom McDonald both on the wrong side of 30 and Jake Lever often copping knee niggles, having pace around them is essential. Midfield reboot It’s not just the arrival of No.6 pick Harvey Langford that has the Dees excited. Both Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver set tongues wagging at Gosch’s Paddock on Monday. After a horror 2024, Oliver seems to be keen to re-establish himself as one of the league’s best tacklers, while Petracca looked fully engaged instructing the first-year players.” Well … that’s your history lesson about the preseason so far. Of course, most of the above has already been covered in our own preseason training threads. Now it’s over to our track watchers to fill us in on today’s action …

Season highlights for 1981 - it wasn't a great year for the Demons so this is not for the squeamish.

You may be aware that the elections for four vacancies on the Melbourne Football Club Board are now open and we urge all members to acquaint themselves with the candidates and their policies and exercise your right to vote by Sunday 15 December 2024. There are some very highly qualified candidates - please choose wisely. I personally would have liked to open this site for more debate on the candidates but the rules present further electioneering and our experience on previous occasions has been that opening the site for discussion places too much pressure on our capacity to moderate discussion and fact check the volume of postings to ensure fairness to the candidates. Please view the following and good luck to all candidates - Candidate Profiles

I was at that game against North Melbourne when he booted seven out of our eight goals - an incredible performance. Later on, he was an outstanding junior coach at Ormond and he went on to be the coaches advisor at AJAX juniors where he was successful and innovative in that role.

Do you know the basis on which he’s eligible to become a Cat B Rookie with Melbourne?

Many thanks for posting. The fact that he's at training suggests that in addition to being in our NGA, he's also eligible for drafting (unlike Tairon Ah-Mu).

Fantastic to read the original knee slapping humour as above - keep it coming please BUT this is a serious thread and we are looking for support from lawyers, paralegals etc and to give you an example, this is a report from one of the Devil's Advocates functions that was held in 2016:- Devil's Advocates Dinner 2016 (June 2, 2016) The annual Devil's Advocates Dinner took place last night hosted by Dr Turf and with headline guest speakers Rod Grinter (fresh from appearing the night before on Open Mike) and Jade Rawlings followed by an entertaining auction conducted by Phil Kingston of Gary Peer Estate. The Doc was in fine form and good humour and both guest speakers were entertaining in the question and answer format. Balls was far more open among friends and the legal fraternity (especially since the statute of limitations rules out any possible repercussions from the events he discussed) than he was with Mike Sheahan and the Foxtel viewing audience and threw an informative light on some of the happenings during his illustrious career of 134 games including the time when Terry Wallace embedded some of his teeth which infected his forearm and put him in hospital (Wallace played the next week but his voice is now at a higher pitch) during the time he somehow found himself out suspended for 6 weeks over the incident, the 1987 Preliminary Final (which we shoulda won), a pre season trip that landed him in hot water and the coaches who he played under including RDB, John Northey and Neil Balme. He spoke of his great friendships with teammates of the era including Garry Lyon, Jimmy Stynes, Brett Lovett during a period in which the club was relatively successful without pulling off a premiership flag. Rod is the President of the MFC Past Players and officials and he spoke of the initiatives this group has undertaken such as the Ron Barassi Club (which recently honoured the great RDB on his 80th birthday and is setting up a fund to look after former players who might be in need). In the near future the club will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the 1956 premiership - details available on this site. (I hope to be able to put together and post a tribute to 1956 before the event). Jade Rawlings had a superb career at Hawthorn before being hawked around to the Bulldogs and finally spent his last playing season with his brother Brady at North Melbourne. He has had a brief stint as a stand in coach at Richmond after his friend Terry Wallace was boned (it was really Wallace's night after the Grinter interview but readers here should know that Plough was once a Demon fan). In fact, Jade has worked with a number of sacked coaches at various clubs including Melbourne where he worked with Mark Neeld who he said was afflicted by a number of unfortunate setbacks during his brief time at the club. Rawlings is very positive about the club now under Paul Roos and soon to come under the coaching mantle of Simon Goodwin and strongly defended the club's defensive set up and personnel - they all have a purpose and we will be a strong club in the end as a result of what is being done with our inexperienced team of today. He went through most of the players in the team and their futures at the club and ended on a note that we can expect Chris Dawes, Jack Grimes and Jack Trengove at least in the 25 named (including emergencies) for Saturday's game. My only disappointment was that Max Gawn's name wasn't mentioned in discussion which I suppose reflects the fact that we've already become accustomed to the fact that he's one of the dominant ruckmen in the game today. Phil Kingston was in great form and raised a good few grand auctioning off some club goodies. He was so good in his role that he proved that even members of the legal fraternity can be dummies. Kudos to family lawyer Ralph Glezer who organised the night.

Graduates with LLB's or the old RMIT or law clerks courses etc are good.

The Devils Advocates, a Melbourne Football Club supporter group comprised of members of the legal profession who support the Demons is making a comeback in 2025. The group has over the years raised a substantial amount of much needed funding for the club through its annual dinner and other activities. It’s open to members of the legal and paralegal community including judges, academics, senior counsel, barristers, solicitors, law clerks and all those involved or working in and with the legal profession including law students. The annual dinner was previously one of the highlights of the season with interesting and sometimes controversial guests, insider news from players past and present, lively discussion, a fundraiser/auction and good food and drink and has been sorely missed since it disappeared from the scene at around about the time the Covid pandemic set in. Despite the perception many of the public might have, us lawyers are very giving people and what better time than now for us to give back to the club. One only has to look at the recent announcement of the club’s financial outcome to appreciate how much the legal profession took out of the club over the past year - so now is the time to give back 😀 Seriously though, if you’re one of the people in the group mentioned above and want to be involved in our Devil’s Advocates functions and help the Melbourne Football Club’s meteoric rise in 2025, please contact Colin at [email protected] to be placed on the Devil’s Advocates mailing list.

I've been involved with various facets of junior and senior sports administration for more than 40 years and I've come across a fair share of "ugly parents" as well as many supportive parents without whose encouragement and the sacrifices made by them in term of money and time, many great sporting careers would never have happened. Unless you know the people involved and their full story, it's unwise to jump in and comment on any specific case. I think Jeff's a proud parent and wish him and Kalani good luck - it's going to be an exciting time ahead for them. For my part, I look forward to the sight of a red and blue #34 jumping all over certain Collingwood players on a Kings Birthday in the future.

From the Herald Sun’s online article on the AFL draft: The draftees who could line up in Round 1 2025, best SuperCoach rookie picks: