bush demon

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.

and still the announcer tries to keep the embers going by suggesting that Scully's statements didn't fully shut the door. I listened for about one minute and it sounded to me quite emphatic that Scully intends to stay with Melbourne. If the story isn't perpetuated it closes off the ratings oxygen for the media. ie sheahan, sen, mcguire and fellow travellers.

THere was an interesting article in THE Age this morning quoting Pendlebury saying how he is waiting to sign his new contract until the rights carve-up is known. Hopefully this is Scully's situation, too.

It is leverage by GWS to put out the vibe that they have hooked a biggun' because it adds to their recruiting cache ie 'we got scully so why don't you, you and you jump on board too.

If Jurrah, Watts and Petterd go berserk on the forward line we may finish a lot higher than many people think. remember how david schwartz and sean charles straightened us up in '94? If we do perform above expectations this may be the one key factor in holding players like Scully at the club, because at the end of the day the promise of a premiership is the one trump card we hold in fending off the new northern clubs not to mention free-agency raiders.

Whatever happens/ has happened it should be out in the open. If Scully has accepted his management's advice to take the big money then the club and supporters shouldn't be subjected to weekly innuendo and fake denials throughout the season as in the Ablett fiasco. Scully should be prepared to accept the consequences of the decision, if he has made it, that being to leaving a potentially great team for $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. Remember that Nathan Buckley walked out on three premierships to play with the black and white.

Eddie's comments re: Melbourne have been quite good over the journey. Now that television money is filtering through the system add free agency and noone is safe from predator clubs.

It makes no sense for GWS to put all their $$$ into the one basket of a player who has not yet hit the bigtime. And it makes no sense for a player so early in his career to jump ship, although Nathan Buckley may be a comparable example. I can only think of the motive of malice by one certain disgruntled would-be coach of our club. What if MFC had a huge breakout year this year, for example - like 1987, like 1998, like 2000 - and Scully was to walk out on this story. I, for one believe that this breakout is just about to happen.

I agree with Bailey's strategy. I see it is part of the escalating mindgame with kevin sheedy who is no doubt sleighted by his non-appointment as Melbourne coach and would see getting scully as perfect payback. scully's management need to see it in their client's issue to get this issue resolved.

This one reminds me of the Steven Tingay speculation from the mid-90's when expansion giants fremantle were trying to pluck him from our grasp only for Tingay to re-sign with the mighty dees. logic says that it makes no sense for scully to consider a move like this so early in his career... if it came to pass imagine what free agency is going to do that will be one mother of a trainwreck with the fading superclubs such ass essendon trying to scramble back onto the top deck.

I think if Danny Hughes had played in the 60's he would have definitely kicked drop-kicks. I also remember Phil Rhoden's huge dropkicks in the last quarter of the reserves at the MCG. In pressure games the margin for error is to great, you only have to watch error strewn grand finals of the 60's esp '64 (Rothman's footage) and '65, '66 to see why these kicks are low percentage. having said that i think john ronaldson kicked two monster goals from dropkicks on huge angles in the '67 grand final. They could only be restored by making them mandatory from kick-outs or 9 points from outside the 50 metre arc. then the glory days would coming rushing back.

I think i started going in 1970. My friend Ray and I would catch the train from Springvale to Richmond every home game. In 1971 we ventured out to Arden st. and got into the ground about five minutes late. melbourne had piled on about 7 goals before we got in! i think we won by over 100 points, and Brian Dixon was coach of North.

"Sacked Coach" by Stan Alves details his early career with Melbourne, his relationship with Norm Smith and the events which led to his falling out with the club. A very good account of the bitter events of the 70's involving coach Bobby skilton which led to Alves leaving the club.

I was interested to compare prices: $50 in the ABC shop in Warragul, $30 in a KMart store. ANyway, i have had a good read, and definitely helps to explain the Melbourne era. Some of the authoritarian aspects of BArassi and SMith outlined in Red Fox come to light, illuminating both Melbourne's extended reign, the fall-out in the sixties and the extended power vacuum which followed. The order and chaos of Smith and Barassi as coach and player are also fascinating to reflect on. It seems to me that Barassi could not have achieved the same results had he stayed at Melbourne, but not for the reasons he often gives.

If news reports are true that GWS has three 'sleeper' players signed, then the players likely to chase the $$$ for the dream of playing under (AFL nutcase) Sheedy would likely be established stars with clubs which have gone past twelve o'clock, or which have marginal prospects to smash through the premiership window. At least that is the positive way to look at it for those of us who fret about losing our star-in-the-making Tom Scully. So I am offering up these names: * Jimmy Bartel, * Marc Murphy and * Daniel Rich.

Here's my personal wash-up on some end-of-season matters. What's with this lethargic collapse of Australian cricket. All us proud guys would think that the paid and preening selection panel would come to the conclusion that incumbency and gigantic monetary contracts are not an end in themselves, and that performance on the field is required. i don't blame sportsmen like ricky ponting, he's doing what he's done brilliantly for a long time, only not doing that well any more. it's up to some individual in a position of responsibility to make key decisions and accept that the current guesswork selection strategies are not achieving their goals. bring in the new blood, bring in the long time performers of the second tier of cricket. just "do". ponting goes, and i for one say make Mr. Cricket our cultural ambassador. bring in his brother as a running between wickets consultant. as for port adelaide's huge debt, well the afl stitched them up long ago, hobbled because there can only be one collingwood, and i don't mean paul collingwood. not that i care, because i for one am totally sick of the demons playing catch up football in south australia.

Our club's fame was almost completely based on the feats of Smith and his protege, Barassi. When recruiting rules and a level-playing field finally caught up with the demons we had BArassi, still only 28 and a premiership winning captain/ best & fairest taking the money to further his career elsewhere. i will never understand why MFC didn't match his offer, maybe they did. It was said that Smith would have stood aside for Barassi but the greater truth is that Barassi had to go elsewhere to obtain the blind obedience necessary to win premierships. it is a sad fact that we relied too much on these two football greats and that when their partnership broke up the whole thing imploded. Sadly, that meant endless televised replays of the new teams and only Hassa Mann flying the flag for our club. all that remained of our premiership era was memories and anecdotes. The erasure of the '64 premiership win by the tv stations was the final snub to our club.

There's nothing wrong with Watts' decison-making, if you don't know what i'm talking about check out Willie Nelson's Hesitation Blues on UTube. When WAtts demands the ball, and the players actually honour his leads, and he doesn't try to second guess everything just goes for it, we will be on our way.

One thing I always admired about Todd Viney was that he worked hard on his weaknesses, ie kicking and short passing were not great but towards the end of his career he had improved this significantly. Also a great inside player got the ball out of heavy traffic with regularity.

What I remember is the Rhino-Richards crash-through-packs mad attacks on the ball. How can you sarcastically attack the football? That footballer was a true enigma. With regards to Jimmy, he shares what he wants to share on twitter, so just go there. The Dailies re-publish his updates when there is something to say.

What part of Gippsland are your from Gippy Dee? I am from Traf

I have always thought that was due to the coming of television, which didnn't really hit its straps until the '66 Grand Final. None of Melbourne's greatness is preserved, whilst the "modern era" replays begin around this time. Mike Williamson was talking like a BBC announcer prior to this. So the collective memory of the public tends to go back to the time when carlton richmond stkilda collingwood essendon were the big teams.

First game at the G, round two 1957, this after winning both '55 and '56 flags got us 44,000. 8th Melbourne 1.2 5.6 8.13 10.20 (80) 12th Collingwood 2.2 5.4 6.8 10.12 (72) Crowd - 44,971 at MCGView Details Melb - B.Johnson 3, G.Tunbridge 2, A.Webb 2, P.Cook 1, D.Fenton-Smith 1, R.Barassi 1 Coll - I.Brewer 3, M.Weideman 2, B.Serong 1, N.Waller 1, B.Jones 1, K.Smale 1, B.Greve 1 Round One, 1958,,, Our first game of the year at the G (after winning three flags in a row) was 38,000. Melbourne 4.1 7.3 10.7 11.13 (79) Carlton 2.1 3.5 5.9 9.11 (65) Crowd - 38,006 at MCGView Details Melb - I.Ridley 5, B.Johnson 3, G.Case 1, A.Webb 1, N.Crompton 1 Carl - B.Crowe 4, L.Brereton 2, G.Donaldson 1, R.O'Dwyer 1, D.Zeunert 1 Round Two, 1959, first game at the G v. the old enemy, 53,000 2nd Melbourne 3.4 7.7 11.10 13.14 (92) 12th Collingwood 3.1 5.1 8.4 12.7 (79) Crowd - 53,342 at MCGView Details Melb - D.Jones 3, F.Adams 3, I.Ridley 3, T.Gleeson 1, B.Johnson 1, R.Barassi 1, A.Rowarth 1 Coll - B.Harrison 3, K.Burns 2, K.Turner 2, T.Merrett 2, B.Serong 1, M.Delanty 1, B.Beers 1 1960, Round One, unfurling the '59 flag at the G got us 36 thousand. Melbourne 3.2 7.5 11.8 14.15 (99) Nth Melb 0.4 2.7 4.12 5.14 (44) Crowd - 36,766 at MCGView Details Melb - B.Johnson 4, F.Adams 3, C.Laidlaw 2, R.Barassi 2, I.Ridley 2, H.Mann 1 NM - P.Schofield 2, A.Carr 1, G.Eastmure 1, J.Waddington 1 In quoting these figures has to acknowledged that the population base was much lower, and that all games were played on the same day.