Whispering_Jack

True but this only applies when Melbourne is playing against Essendon in Victoria. When playing outside of Victoria, earthquakes that happen outside Victoria trump the little ones from Victoria. In 1964 there was a giant earthquake in Alaska. That's outside Victoria so we win on Saturday night.

The earthquake's all good. Just what we needed to get rid of the Norm Smith Curse. I was at school in 1964 when the Alaskan earthquake struck and it was a doozy. Coincidentally, our teacher was out of class for a little while and we were mucking around near his equipment at the back of the room when one of us slipped and banged on the shelf which caused the needle of his baragraph to go crazy. Teacher came in, saw the graph and spent the rest of the day bragging to the staff that he'd captured the earthquake on his equipment. There was also an earthquake in Buchan, East Gippsland in 1964 so I always connect the year with earthquakes. This is now the icing on quake!

Yes - Supermercado is the author!

JKH was before his time. These days he would be a chance to get a game.

Retired yesterday 'I’ll always be a proud Lion': Ruckman retires after eight-year career To suggest that Andrew might not reach the level of Nic Nat but could become a Tom Nicholls or Archie Smith type has to be pure satire on Knightmare’s part.

Not entirely. They do have a good list so a decent coach who commands respect from the players could get them up to speed relatively quickly.

At this time in 1964, this was the song that was top of the hit parade ~

Of course, the scenario that I provided was based on us having to match a pick in the top ten. There’s still the possibility that he could be nominated in the late teens. We couldn’t match such a bid under this year’s’ rules but who knows what we might have done if it was open bidding? As I’ve said - it all depends on what our viewpoint on him is. On Brander, I have no opinion of him but I think there’s another thread for that discussion.

Very early in his career Jacob Mollison worked for a bank and I met him at a property settlement. He didn’t quite let on that he supported Melbourne but mentioned he thought there was a family connection. Perhaps he was being diplomatic but I have to say that I’ve never felt that he was biased in our favour or against which suggests to me that he’s a very good umpire. Razor Ray is fine but I think he’s been ruled out because he missed the two preliminary finals. Stevic’s good - take your pick of the others. At that level they’re all pretty good.

I don’t recall Ed Langdon or Angus Brayshaw’s names being called out much either, if at all. They are fundamental to our games. Langdon, in particular, should catch the eye. The problem is that the way the game is played these days, the Brownlow is made for midfielders and bad luck if you’re a defender.

Agree … and yet Chris Doerre, an ESPN draft “expert” who ranks him at 9 (see my post above) specifically refers to him as a “project” player. I want to make it clear, I am not knocking Mac Andrew - what I’m saying is that he’s a talented player with an excellent upside and could amount to a regular AFL ruckman at some time in the future but the hype we’re receiving from some quarters is well over the top.

Bob, I hope Clarrie wins the Brownlow tonight (and the Norm Smith on Saturday night) but if he doesn’t, I hope for your sake that Parrish doesn’t win it. 😀

Whether or not it’s our “bad luck” depends on how highly our recruiters regard Andrew. Cal Twomey's latest Phantom Form Guide puts him at #9 which means that if he was picked at that number under the old rules, Melbourne would have had to come up with 1469 points less 20% = 1175 points. We currently hold picks 33, 42, 54 & 91 which are collectively worth 1178 points which means we could have just squeezed him in if we wanted to match the bid, leaving our first pick in the draft at notionally around 72. It also means we would have to have gone into points deficit (affecting our hand in next year’s draft) in the event that another club nominated Taj Woewodin in say, the middle of the draft and we wanted to match that bid. We also have promising NGA Andy Moniz-Wakefield who will probably go late in the draft or rookied. Still, we would have to be prepared for a bid for him, even if it’s not likely. Of course, the above doesn’t take into account the likelihood of us improving our draft position through trading out players but where would we be left on that score if we were serious contenders for Adam Cerra and if not Cerra, where would we be in terms of list management if we wanted to pick other players we had our eyes on? At least we would have a very skinny project player who, according to Chris Doerre who also rates him at #9 on his latest You Tube (released yesterday Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAjYGjloLY4&t=1944s) will start as a KPP due to his current physical limitations but might eventually make it as a ruckman and be a Tom Nicholls or an Archie Smith type. Would anyone fancy heavily mortgaging the farm and forgoing other more immediate needs so that we can maybe have a Tom Nicholls or an Archie Smith running around in 2024 or 2025?

Taj Woewodin’s team East Fremantle Sharks won their Colts final yesterday. Taj finished with 19 disposals which was slightly on the low side compared with his recent output in the mid 20s. It’s going to be interesting to see what impact an interstate challenge match between WA & SA during ongoing finals series for both states.

Sadly, the Norwood Redlegs dropped out of the SANFL premiership race yesterday, losing the First Semi Final to South Adelaide. In the WAFL the red and blue (but not Demons) West Perth play in their final this afternoon.

The skies blazed in red and blue colours 57 years ago today … https://www.afl.com.au/ondemand/highlights/677626/grand-final-fever?episode=6/

Jordan Clark, who is contracted at Geelong for 2022, has met with Dockers coach Justin Longmuir and other club officials in Perth and is one step closer to requesting a trade to Fremantle.

Phil Inn (Brayden Sier) is out at Collingwood.

Pick 20 probably wouldn’t do it. Once you factor in father/sons like Daicos and Darcy that pick might become 22.

Seven has formed a partnership with AFL Draft Central for the draft period. Michael Alvaro is a bit of a Mac Andrew groupie so you can expect him to continue featuring high on his draft boards.

Meanwhile, SEN’s website looks at the type of player each club should prioritise during the trade period. Here is what they came up with for Melbourne:- Melbourne’s rapid rise has been largely on the back of smart trading and shrewd recruitment, so don’t expect Simon Goodwin’s side to be resting on their laurels despite their Grand Final appearance. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly where they need to strengthen so perhaps more midfield depth through the draft is where they’ll look to bolster their stocks. They have also been linked with Fremantle’s Adam Cerra. Sam Weideman is widely tipped to depart, so the Dees could have some additional draft capital. They currently do not have a first-round pick, which will make it harder for them to get deals done in the trade period.

On Fox Footy’s AFL Tonight, reporter Ben Waterworth covered the draft news with some vision of Mac Andrew who he said was quickly rising up draft boards. He placed Mac at #8. His top 10 - 1. Nick Daicos (Oakleigh Chargers) 2. Jason Horne-Francis (South Adelaide) 3. Sam Darcy (Oakleigh Chargers) 4. Finn Callaghan (Sandringham Dragons) 5. Ben Hobbs (GWV Rebels) 6. Josh Ward (Northern Knights) 7. Josh Gibcus (GWV Rebels) 8. Mac Andrew (Dandenong Stingrays) 9. Josh Rochele (Murray Bushrangers) 10. Jye Amiss (East Perth)

Yes, and we owe this massive windfall to his vision when the club took over the assets of the then failing Bentleigh Club. The end price is massive although we need an accountant to tell us how massive because I would imagine that unless the club’s exempt from capital gains tax, a large amount of the windfall could go to the tax man.

The new deal for Tom McDonald comes a year after he was shopped around for a trade. Most likely the remuneration has been reworked to give the club additional room to move with regard to future trading, possibly with Adam Cerra in mind. Recently, the club announced a contract extension for Joel Smith and it brought out the best in Smith for a few games. Good sign for TMac