bush demon

In today's Age: Melbourne's leadership conundrum

Vearing, Jungwirth, Catlin, Dowsing from the fabulous 1966 season. In fact what happened to the whole team did they slip through a wormhole in space. Also what happened to our premiership ruckman, Graham Wise...

Norm Smith famously used the end-of-season matches in Honolulu and Hawaii as motivation against Geelong for Melbourne's failure to win the '63 premiership. Melbourne won both games - apparently spiteful contests - and went on to win the premiership the following year. Alas, both teams went into a prolonged drought, Melbourne's far, far worse than Geelong's. At least Geelong had regular finals appearances, not to mention their amazing humiliation of Melbourne in season 2011. It was not until the 'Battle for Geelong Road' occurred in season 2012 did Melbourne have the opportunity to avenge their 'stuck in traffic' (1964-2011) feeling. The clip is a match preview of Melbourne v Geelong's season opener in Round One, 1964. Melbourne went down narrowly, but showed they remained a force and would be a contender again, as they had for the previous eleven seasons:

Would have thought the HS would have had the decency to include a pic of the league's top $$$ going round. Maybe they didn't have one: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/photo-gallery/gallery-e6frf94x-1226233097176

I'm trying to work out the commentators in the Channel 9 footage. Is it Ian Major, Ian Cleland and Tony Charlton?

I have wanted to do this for ages. Will put more up as time permits, enjoy:

Bits of Robran here, what a gun player he was:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZqJBwvbWS8&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZqJBwvbWS8&feature=related

I have got 1960 and 1964. I will put them up shortly.

A late Christmas offering before heading off for Christmas in Melbourne. It has been fantastic reading and sharing all the posts this year. Feeling confident about improved performances and ladder position next year. Here is a nice blast from the past: The radio commentary of the 1959 Grand Final, Melbourne's 10th premiership and sixth grand final appearance in a row, in which Melbourne avenged their shock 1958 loss:

Wouldn't it be poetic justice that Ron Barassi's Irish experiment - which led to the "Irish experiment" of running across the mark in the '87 prelim - also led to the ultimate revival of our club and its legends.

There is no afl competition anymore in the traditional sense. the only game being played for premiership points is the turf warfare between rugby 1, rugby 2, soccer and australian rules. everthing else is just pawns being moved across the board by zeus (andrew). notice how every premiership celebration/ photo opp these days is identical? every pre-season is identical, every injury melodrama is identical and every finals series (arm-wrestles resulting in breen-type victory) is identical. as long as melbourne don't end up in a confederation with western samoa, i definitely wouldn't go to the away games.

Phil more likely the book depository building...

Got into the ground just in time to see Farmer take a screamer directly in front at the Richmond end. Missed a sitter which could have set us off. North were the superior team that night. We were severely dudded with the fixturing in these finals after we 'knocked out' Adelaide.

The one I remember from the early days was Chris Aitken. He kicked five in the last round of '68 against Essendon who went on to play in the grand final. I heard from an ex-demon work colleague that he got injured after that so that was the end of our big marking boom full forward prospects. also found out off the same person that his brother was the saxophonist cool dude Wilbur Wilde who played on Daryl Somers show. (different surname)

The player losses starting 1961 are listed in Red Fox, there were at least seven premiership players still in working order who left in that period: Bob Johnson, Mithen, ridley, dennis jones, i can't remember the others without going back to the book. For summer reading and further enlightenment I suggest for summer reading the biog. on Tom Wills. It seems he also had ongoing disputes with committees not dissimilar to Smith. Both legends of the colours and the backbone of our heritage, and both flawed champions. Smith encoded the formula for red and blue multiple premierships and lesser men mopped up his bounty from the late 60's onwards, to our club's sorrow.

He did in fact leave in his prime, at the end of 1948 when he captained Melbourne to the premiership. Coached Fitzroy for three years think he played some games too.

that makes me think of peter yeo. wasn't he in the same category. also rod owen, ex-stkilda who moved pretty well for a while..

There are plenty of others, but straight off the bat: 1. Ivor Warne-Smith (did return) (two brownlows, premiership captain) 2. Fred Fanning left aged 25 (All-time goal-kicking champ for dees) 3. Stuart Spencer, 25. 4. Laurie Mithen 5. Bob Johnson 25. Went to premiership glory in W.A 6. Ron Barassi 28 7. Gerard Healey 8. Hassa Mann 9. Ian Ridley 25 10. Tom Scully (!) (Insert Michael Byrne)

i don't necessarily mean cruelled by injuries, but didn't live up to potential...

Players who had something special but just didn't reach the heights hoped for: 1. Russell Richards 2. David Cordner 3. Travis Johnstone 4. Graham Molloy 5. John Tilbrook 6. Warren Dean 7. Allan Jackovich 8. James Cook 9. Darren Cuthbertson 10. Brock McLean (replacing Chris Aitken)

ok, in the spirit intended: 1. Hassa Mann mid 60's... although he played in three premierships before my time. He was the dominant performer in our sorrow period. shot through to W.A late 60's think he had glory there. won some memorable games with last gasp efforts. 2. Robbie Flower. dominated for victoria, dominated for melbourne. punched far above his weight. rose like a greek god in the '87 finals series. 3. John Townsend. for some reason this guy just kept my imagination alive when our team flat-lined. 4. Stan Alves. This guy was pure inspiration and refused to accept losing situations. Inspirational. 5. David Schwartz. Could have been a champion. was a champion. 6. Ricky Jackson. ran rings around the opposition in our false-dawn era (87-91) 7. Ray Biffen. Flew the flag in our could-have-been era, early 70's. 8. Greg Parke. Took many screaming pack marks and again, gave heart in the dark days. 9. Ross Dillon. Elite, copped lots of injuries. Same as Parke with his high marking excitement. 10. For some unknown reason i wore Paul Callery's 35 on my back for several seasons. a gutsy stalwart of the mfc.

I am re-reading Red Fox at present and I think painting Smith as a martyr in Melbourne's demise is not the way to go. Towards the end of '64 an undeclared war between the committee and Smith had led BOTH Smith and Barassi to shop around for gigs at either Carlton or Richmond. The root cause of this appears to be Melbourne's unwillingness to join the dawning cheque book recruitment campaign of competing clubs which was rapidly overtaking the Demons' list. Smith's tantrum over Umpire Blew's alleged bias in at match during '64 also indicated Smith was losing his sure touch... undoubtedly frustrated by Melbourne's declining list he was getting frayed and trying to squeeze more out of less. At the end of '64 we lost Barassi, Adams and Roet and i think our only signficant gain in '65 was Stan Alves. It pains me to remember supporting the shell of the demons team through the 60's when we had lapsed into irrelevance. it pains me that i continued to follow the demons through the 70's and on to the present day, all the time shackled with the memory 'what if' the Smith/Barassi reign hadn't disintegrated. Despite all this, I am glad to say that I am still "Melbourne" and can see brighter days ahead.

Dermot Brereton. And on a 'lighter' note, Ian Cooper.

I think that MFC celebrated their '64 premiership win at the Melbourne Town Hall. The club should look at using this venue again from time to time.