Whispering_Jack

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).

2022 NAB League: Wildcard Round snapshot

The trend continued with the Calder Cannons (10th) beating an inaccurate Eastern Ranges (7th) by 4 points. The Bendigo Pioneers (12th) beat early season favourites the Oakleigh Chargers (5th) by 2 goals.

In today’s Sunday Sun …

Strugglers Northern Knights got off the floor to knock fourth placed Greater Western Victoria Rebels (Aaron Cadman - 2 goals) out of the finals action in a four point thriller yesterday. The trend continued with the Western Jets beating the Geelong Falcons by 35 points. Sandringham Dragons (8th) just prevailed by 8 points over the Murray Bushrangers (9th). There are fears that Bushranger Brayden George has suffered an ACL injury after attempting a mark early in the game.

AFLW Talking Points: Revenge very sweet for devastating Dees

The 2022 NAB Boys League moves into finals mode today with yet another American innovation - the wildcard round - which will determine which eight teams will contest the finals series. The top three teams on the ladder (Gippsland Power, Tassie Devils and Dandenong Stingrays) all have this week off and the remaining 10 teams will contest a matches this weekend to decide which teams make up the final top eight over a three week period in September culminating in the Grand Final on September 16. All finals, including the Grand Final, will be streamed live and free on the NAB League app. We’ve seen many AFL careers made in this series as talented players have risen to the occasion under the pressure of a finals series. The one that comes to mind for me is Steele Sidebottom who kicked a bag of ten goals for the Murray Bushrangers in the 2008 TAC Cup Grand Final. Sam Walsh was a standout for the Geelong Falcons in their 2017 premiership. This weekend’s wildcard matches are:- Today • First Wildcard Match: GWV Rebels (4) v Northern Knights (13) Mars Stadium 11:00am • Third Wildcard Match: Geelong Falcons (6) v Western Jets (11) Mars Stadium 1:30pm • Fifth Wildcard Match: Sandringham Dragons (8) v Murray Bushrangers (9) Williamstown 2:00pm Tomorrow: • Second Wildcard Match: Oakleigh Chargers (5) v Bendigo Pioneers (12) Mars Stadium 11:00am • Fourth Wildcard Match: Eastern Ranges (7) v Calder Cannons (10) Mars Stadium 1:30pm With the return of the best private schoolboys out of the APS and AGS, we can expect teams such as Oakleigh and Sandringham to rise for the finals. But let’s wait and see. Here’s a preview ~ NAB League Wildcards hunt finals fortune

Today’s Herald Sun is reporting that “Melbourne’s super-sub Toby Bedford is in the Giants’ sights as a potential replacement for Bobby Hill.” The article suggests that he’s behind the club’s other small forward options in Kozzy, ANB and Charlie Spargo as well as the likes of Kade Chandler.

Chris was effusive about JVR but he didn’t stop there. He loves them all including young Howes, Laurie, the son of Woewodin and watch out for “Wakefield” (sic) an Aboriginal from “Alice Springs*”. I was driving south down the Monash Freeway when I heard him waxing so lyrically about our young talent that fair dinkum, I missed the turnoff at Wellington Road. None of these blokes has played a single AFL game yet but he had me convinced that they all were strong candidates for next year’s All Australian honours and well on the way to induction in a future Hall of Fame. Rejoice Demon fans! * I have little doubt that Chris from Camberwell is the font of all knowledge on matters Melbourne but he did have me scurrying to Professor Google for a fact check on Andy Moniz-Wakefield and all that I could find about his origins was that he was recruited from Nightcliff, a team that’s located in Darwin which is more or less 1,290 kilometres (802 miles) away from Alice Springs but I suppose that’s close enough for a program styled “Midday Madness”.

Harry Sheezel really can play. I’ve watched him grow as a player and a person since he started 10 years ago in the AJAX Under 8s and he’s going places. Hard to see him landing at the Demons but he would be a great fit by every metric. Rare air: The top-10 draft hopeful with MASSIVE numbers

Never in doubt!!!

Paxy!!!

Chris from Camberwell rang Dwayne Russell’s programme on 3AW and told the listening audience that Melbourne had some real beauties in the Casey VFL team and was adamant that JVR should be in the Melbourne team. Dwayne gave him a prize.

Ed Pascoe’s August Rankings update without the fancy graphics this time).

A big, belated thank you to the St Kilda Football Club and to Max King. You nearly blew it and, if truth be known, it didn’t really matter … but thanks anyway.

The AFLW season kicked off last night with Carlton vs Collingwood at Ikon Park but tonight, it will really swing into action with the Grand Final replay from earlier this year. Can the Demons emulate the men’s AFL team from March and win the equivalent game tonight? Match preview from Meggs is here