bush demon

i was there during the 60's and it was at least half of them: '65, '66, '67, '68, and '69. I have been depressed about the demons since round 1, 1966 when we were clobbered by the saints in the match of the day. the game was built up as melbourne on the rise again after a disappointing '65. well i have been through a lot of wasted football matches since then.

Well it has destroyed the south australian and western australian football competitions for a start. look up a utube of the fantastic atmosphere and crowds which attended finals matches in these states. i think it was about 1974 when sturt or port adelaide beat carlton in the 'championship of australia' with barry robran starring. what a match. melbourne similarly won three 'championships' in the 50's and 1964 by overcoming the top south australian team. what exactly is 'west coast eagles'? secondly it has created fake football teams like gfc and gwfc. diluting the brand. it is called national but denies a true football state like tasmania admission. look how well tassie does in the sheffield shield or whatever it is now called. in the days before mass weekly injuries of footballers we had 18 home and away games and potentially two finals games. now we have a pre-season round of matches leading to a pre-season premiership followed by 22 games then maybe three or four finals for premiership aspirants. no wonder the clubs want to protect their players. Ps this was the game i was referring to... check out the genuine interstate, and national rivalry. not the confected competition that we have ended up with in 2011: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZqJBwvbWS8&feature=related

Reading each week about jumper clashes, it makes me wonder why the necessity to junk tradition and watch a home club team run around against 'unknowns'? Often there is no jumper clash at all, it is some cheap AFL initiative to water down club loyalty for the sake of television ratings or whatever reason. the next time i watch the 'afl-approved demons' play away i lose a bit. when i see them in some photoshopped jumper... it's just not the same. Anyway, rate your ten worst afl initiatives from 10 to 1. This can be over the last 25 years. By the way, my all-time worst is the shift from VFL Park to Etihad Car Park. My second worst is the botched finals system which allowed adelaide to trump us in 1998 and progress to a premiership - despite being flogged by the dees during the finals series. Oops, i forgot dumping state of origin football, and creating the AFL in the first place, so: 10. the clash jumpers. problem is the clash jumper usually clashes with itself. 9.No reserves or u19 game before the main game. 8.agree with another poster: disgraceful ticketing arrangements for the grand final. 7. Fixturing, which gives the pole position profit-wise to a select few clubs. 6. Allowing two teams to have the 'match of the year' gifted to them in perpetuity, regardless of their position on the ladder ('Anzac Day' clash) 5. The loss of Saturday afternoon football 4. Junking state of origin football 3. The finals series which requires an undefeated team to win three consecutive matches to win the premiership 2.Creating the AFL in the first place. 1. Creation of Etihad Car Park, demolition of VFL Park, Waverley. Apologies to omitting from my top ten the afl-designated 'legend' status. supporters and lovers of australian rules are the ultimate arbiters of legends, and aren't interested in another such afl tick of approval: john coleman was a legend long before the afl and long before it created this monty pythonesque concept. ron barassi was a rusted-on legend without some wacky belated announcement.

E remember the 1988 elimination final when we were being flogged by WCE at VFL Park Waverley and Sean Wight went to full forward (from fullback) and almost singlehandedly brought us back into the game with powerful contested marking. He also did a great job against Dermot Brereton in the '87 prelim. even though we lost. He often played the fullback position like a soccer goaly, very inspirational.

yes that came across as a concession speech to me when i heard it.

i think Norm was angry because he knew melbourne would no longer be able to compete on a level playing field because the other clubs were spending big to lure players (marshall/ farmer) but under the coulter law there were severe limits on what a club could supposedly offer a player. even if norm had stayed i have no doubt we were headed for a fall because the other clubs were already out-recruiting us. under jimmy i feel we have gone past this period of shame and self-analysis and can look to a brighter future. the question mark is whether DB is also "melbourne at this stage", and how the current coaching committee will also view his coaching performance in the coming weeks.

When i started barracking we were the '64 premiers. the channel two screen said, 'final scores 8.14 to 8.10' or something close to that. our family suddenly went to england and a year later in australia our team was pathetic, losing round one in 1966 to stkilda. we have been pathetic ever since. all through school years i somehow imagined a renaissance. dillon, parke then onto alves, wells, flower, then to healey. into the eighties and a seeming miracle with john northey. then to another seeming miracle in david schwartz in the 90's. then robbed disgustingly by a corrupted finals system in 1998 which saw eventual premiers adelaide overtake us in 1998. then at the rosstown pub carnegie in 2000 with face paint and one russell roberston mark in the third quarter. then travis johnstone and middling muddling 2000's. never have i been so affected by a demon loss as thursday night, not even the '87 preliminary final. at least in that game we gave a damn and belted hawthorn but couldn't put on scoreboard pressure eventually wilting. simon eishold i forgive you are a hero at least you took a big grab near the siren and could have got us into a premiership play-off v a toffy carlton. then thursday night when the players ran round some west australian football ground so bogged down with their pay cheques and counter meals they could barely get within the breath of last year's wooden spooners.

What is brad green on this show for? watching him commentate on other teams and giving them a pat on the back after our more than pathetic effort thu. night makes me squirm. he doesn't look like a captain. he is a goal sneak and a clever forward line mark. so get off the television.

Any red-blooded demon supporter would walk out and snap the flag in half and say get a real one boys!

brisbane are giving the sainters some curry. our bad patch really started end of last yeasr when we lost the last three, continuing into pre-season. ps we are only a brad green mis-kick away from being 3 wins, 1 loss, one draw.

When I read the title of this blog I thought that it was going to be about our club's major review process currently underway, and along the lines of, Why are we doing it during the season, what if it suggests that the coaching's no good, or that major structures aren't right. Wouldn't it undermine the team's chances? With the Age article this morning suggesting that schwabby is having a go at Bailey there is potential for major disruption. Regarding injuries, last year the constant criticism was that a player was always a week or two away and that was a week or two away from Casey, not the Firsts.

2006 we got in the finals. seems so long ago.

Something worth celebrating, even though the competition hasn't been top-shelf. Maybe five years since we were this high?

Hannabal the cannibal. lucky for the internet or noone would know you exist.

What? McKenzie hasn't played since the early 50's. Don't worry Nathan, they are just downhill skiers who carp and criticise. whilst you go in and do the heavy work.

dirty deeds:

Those of us who grew up watching footy in the 60's and 70's will remember West Australian Mal Brown seeking to make an impact in the VFL by going the biffo. It is amazing to see his Victorian son, Campbell Brown now doing the same thing as a 'queenslander' by indulging in similar tactics. At least he has his luxury apartment.

Was STephen Smith a phantom nude nut?

Great Demon baldies of the past: Phil Rhoden! you need the ugly nuts to go in and get the pill. good comment bobby.

i always remember how Robertson stood up in the 2000 Grand Final and flew the flag when others were bystanders.

the sobering stat. is not the goal he kicked but the salary amount freed up to keep our younger players at the club.

hear, hear. my thoughts exactly. our kick-in strategy is totally constipated might as well wave a huge white flag with kaspersky on it. the players seem programmed no room for individual decision-making ie davey could easily sprint around the defender and launch one over the scrum. at prsent we are just passing the ball to their forwards.

positives: 1. jack watts marked and goaled under extreme pressure for the first time since joining the club; 2. Tapscott is a gun and stood up to the hawthorn bullies; 3. the crowd size for a sunday night was excellent pity we don't get the money; 4. cameron bruce's departure hasn't harmed our team; 5. we withstood the initial hawk charge -with interest- but not the second or third. 6. Steph Martin has seriously improved from last year. 7. the coffee at longwarry was reasonable. negs; 1. our game plan is static. watch hawthorn and their dynamic movement, everyone is moving into space for the next link-up like an alien swarm, whilst our build-up is so slow and linear that the forwards end up getting poor delivery, meaning jurrah has to fly for unrealistic grabs. 2. our clearance off the backline is long-winded and a concession of defeat. why not run around the mark occasionally and clear the hawthorn press? a bit of x-factor. we are just giving them the ball. 3. the competition is so even that every game bar brissie bears and carrara will be arm wrestles. we will win some but lose others. we don't have gorilla forwards yet, to play the kind of kamikaze attacking game we saw today.

Ucanchoose, I was on the boundary line near that incident and I couldn't believe the sound that impact made. Bell had the ball and hung on to it a fraction too long. My thoughts at the time were that why would anyone want to play such a violent game. Also, Bell seemed to lack peripheral awareness. Couldn't believe the courage he showed getting up after that hit. That game must have been in '09, i think against western bulldogs: Saturday 14 March 2009 Casey Fields Western Bulldogs 14.17.101 Melbourne 10.3.63 Goalkickers: Brad Green 3, Brad Miller 1, Neville Jetta 1, Michael Newton 1, Aaron Davey 1, Brock McLean 1, James McDonald 1, Nathan Jones 1 However, there is worse news. Aaron Davey (bruised heel), Ricky Petterd (hip) and Daniel Bell (broken hand) were injured. Clint Bartram was reported for front-on contact with Daniel Giansiracusa