bush demon

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.

the day DAvid Cordner kicked eight. Was that his first game? Answering my own q: Melbourne - 1985 Opponent Rd R Kicks Marks H.Balls Disp Goals Bhd H.O. Tack FrF FrA BM Fitzroy 1 W 8 6 8 7 1 fourth season. Was a memorable round one, - to quote Jack Dyer - even if I can hardly remember it.

ARticle in The Age about how all the crowds are well down, something about "where are the crowds" so I think we did quite well. ie collwd only got 7,000 more than us despite their huge following. first up 40,000 for saints geelong i thing was extremely poor.

Many unknown, unknowns here, but Dees should win: 1. Home ground advantage. Melbourne grow a leg on the MCG, and a 40K crowd with a sea of red and blue is worth five goals. 2. Pre-season form, subtract three goals. Our form was dismal, but many of my non-demon friends are totally dismissive of pre-season as a guide, and rate the Demons well. I give good weight to the opinions of non-demon football addicts because they unlike us, see outside the square. We did win in Adelaide for the first time in a long time. 3. Injuries. Both sides have injuries, and it is more about depth these days. I think the Dees do well for depth, and we have good ins, ie Tapscott. The much-touted absences haven't really broken into the big-time yet ie Scully is a brilliant releaser of the ball in heavy traffic, but his foot disposal is not yet giving us a decisive advantage. Break-even. 4. We have a very strong forward line, and if just one player ie Jurrah has a day out, this is an advantage to us. Three goals to us. 5. Intangibles. We will gel on the day and overcome a determined Swans unit. Melbourne's huge win over Swans last year cannot be discounted, and there is a sense that we now have the upper hand on Sydney. A Thirty point win to the Demons.

Not if we become a republic, then he will just have to go out and get a job.

Here are the cycles since Ron Barassi went to Carlton in 1965: 1. 1966 massive turn-over of players involving loss/retirement of key premiership players inc Bluey Adams, Ron Barassi, John Lord and Neil Crompton. We bombed out with three wins for the season. this was the year i hated most of all; this re-build peaked about mid '67 when Norm Smith retired with heart problems. 2. 1971 Tiddles Ridley re-build. this re-build was mostly in the mindset with dees stringing win after win. collapsed mid-season when len thompson's magpies pummelled us. 3. 1976 run for the finals re-build. Bobby Skilton drove us to the cusp of a finals appearance culminating in a disastrous 1977, loss of key players to other clubs (Wells, Alves, Keenan) 4. 1981-5 return of the messiah with five year plan. some promising moments. seem to remember it all falling apart one sunny day at vfl park waverley v. the bombers in 1984. 5. 1987 re-build. we recruited a host of great players just like the big clubs did: steven stretch, todd viney, warren dean and had a fabulous five year period with heroic finals appearances, but ultimately not quite good enough or not enough self-belief to take the big prize; 6. 1994 re-build this was the david scwhartz re-build which saw us play a brilliant finals series only to be blown away in perth. 7. 1998 back to school with neil daniher and a re-built david schwartz. players attended classes on how he wanted us to play. a dramatic rise up the ladder which continued with solid performances until about 2005 inc. a grand final appearance in 2000. 8. 2008 (was it) re-build under Bailey using a host of early draft picks, still work in progress.

Just saw this. Online chat about the Dees' prospects for 2011.

listening again, it was Kevin Bartlett. The residual commentary by Kevin and talk-back callers is that until Scully signs the speculation won't end. IF scully were to leave Melbourne his statements would seem to be the biggest porkies of all time, having just attached my demons diehard sticker on the back of the Navarra I will take his sincerity towards MFC on face value.