bush demon

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

When Scully gets back on the track I will be most interested to see whether he has modified his 'floating chip' kicking action which our forwards will never get on the end of. If he was at a club like collingwood they would hammer that out of him over a couple of summers.

Whatever the reasons, the loan is a good will act by the club to a valued executive employee who may well be worth tens/ hundreds of thousands more (in terms of salary) at one of the big-spending clubs.

i don't think he has the instincts of a forward, he is not hungry enough, always wanting to give the ball off like a linkman. why oh why didn't he at least have a shot at the big sticks when he compulsively did that high cross? my thoughts were the same, he could do very well across the half-back line, setting up play. can he ruck? there is an article in the age this morning about their double act Hille and Ryder.