bush demon

I agree with most of the above, esp. 1998 - a process which lacked natural justice and fairness. The most galling aspect was that Adelaide was allowed to bypass a team that had thrashed it in what is supposed to be a 'finals' series. It is immaterial that Adelaide beat other opponents on away grounds. Ironically Melbourne have benefited from this twisted system ('87, '88, '94) when they potentially could have stolen premierships over superior rivals. The system as it stands favours the team which can 'ambush' a top finisher where they have less injuries/ run into form at the right time. I believe the most inequitable feature of the final 8 system is the way it penalises minor premiers. Not that i love Geelong, but why should Geelong have to continually qualify for the Grand Final? They monstered the competition in the home and aways, then have to play for the 'right' to play in a sudden death preliminary final against also rans. Meanwhile staleness and injuries can bring such a team back to the pack and render meaningless their season dominance. I believe Saints and North had this problem in the late 90's, resulting in dud premierships to Adelaide on both occasions. Top two teams should only have to play once to qualify for the grand final. The current arrangement is a compromise to foster a murdoch-driven televised 16 team competition with phantom interstate sides from non-football codes. It is a sad truth that MFC have failed to finish in one of these positions since 1964.

As I remember it, Robbie Flower had had a quiet first half and was not in form. In the third quarter he took risks and ran the lines resulting in melbourne's win. reminded me of a similar effort by dermot in '91 v west coast when dermot had not been in good form.

I remember reading in the Age a while back about Sheedy's love of the Norm Smith Demons and how they influenced Sheedy as a player and a coach. He used to go and watch them play in the late 50's.

Just got home to check the snowfall. Well I actually like the Coudabeens and also like Greg Champion for that matter. I remember in the old days often going to see his band, "Greg Champion and the maniac rockers". Still, his take on the demons is opportunistic and he wouldn't give a stuff if the club no longer existed. The media are big-time opinion managers.

If you are sick of the put-downs of our club by these guys here is their address. Speaking of top-end-of-town, Ian Cover, Geelong Suppporter was an ex-member of the time-serving Legislative Council in the Kennett years. You never hear any hear Cover being critiqued on his elitism. http://www.abc.net.au/coodabeens/contact.htm

I went to the snow nearly 30 years ago. I wonder when the coodabeens last went to the snow, or dined in a posh restaurant or chatted to their mates about tax schemes. http://realfooty.com.au/news/news/another-...5043031702.html I think an email campaign to ABC re this constant sledging ritual would be a good thing.

Bobby, I think writers such as yourself should have a dedicated, pinned section ie a demonland heritage post. I love reading your anecdotes from the red and blue past of our club. It would be great to see all these memories gathered in one place, so young demon supporters can go and drink at the well and learn why our club was in olden times so respected and feared.

Go to one of the AFL sports shops and ask for the Great GRand finals of the 60's DVD's. It has got every grand final. the '64 grand final is shot from a long range and is overdubbed with average commentary. It is a movie reel, not tv video. the '63 grand final shows geelong chopping up hawthorn in the 3rd quarter with some beautiful passages of play. the '61 grand final appears to have been filmed directly off a tv screen. this was a technique used at that time to overcome the high cost of video footage. i can't remember the technical name they give it. the '60 grand final betw. melbourne v collingwood is live tv coverage. unfortunately the mcg is so sodden that no meaningful passages of play can occur! you get to see laurie mithen do some beautiful pick ups, and ron barassi mark right on the siren and miss from only 25 yards out. len mann rucks fantastically with his big hook arm continually winning the clearances. reminded me of the brisbane big men (clark keating?) in recent gf's. rare tv highlights of the '58 grandfinal show a beaten melbourne making a belated comeback in the dying minutes with some precision passing. the 56-59 gf's all went live to air and were not recorded for posterity (otherthan the footage mentioned). fascinating to listen to mike williamson in the early grand finals ('61 i think) with a mellow, laidback tone. by '66 (like the beatles) he has gone over the top, putting the wrongend of the cigarette in his mouth etc having heartattacks on air etc... unfortunately most of these games are heavily edited and you don't get to see how exciting football was in those days. if onlly we could see the '64 grnad final presented in the way the exciting 66 and 67 grnad finals were. i also heard the destroyed gf's rumour off an afl person. i rang up once and spoke to *** ********** who told me that a ******* **** executive deliberately burnt tapes when that channel lost the rights.

Part of it may lie in the natural rise and fall of clubs. Aside from minor slumps and the war, melbourne had been up since the 30's with two triple premierships and then the amazing run from '54 to '64. Smith himself said he drove the players very hard during 1964 and it may be that in his one last attempt for glory he just burnt up. Remember that Barassi left Carlton and North shortly after taking them through great premiership eras. Barassi was a hothead in the vein of Smith. In those days it was often the passion of the coach that got the players through. I think Barassi jumped before the ship sunk and I think that Smith was caught as she was going down. I am greatly interested in the opinion of others, though.

the 60, 61, 62 and 63 grandfinals are available on video.

I too am a 64 tv replay video tragic. The game was replayed on at least two television stations maybe even three: Channels 2, 7 and 9. I looked up old newspapers and the replay was shown. highlights of the game were again shown on world of sport the next day. the surviving footage itself - barassi's fumble, dixon's mark, crompton's goal, tuddy's torp and gabbo's gander only came to light i believe in the last few years with Steve Phillips sportscom group researching and finding 'lost' footage which surfaced on the demon red and blue video. it would be a good thing to make representations to these people to go looking again so we can have something to treasure for the 150th anniversary next year. i can remember highlights of the '64 second semi being shown on world of sport when melbourne poleaxed collingwood by 89 points.

i can't get over how authoritative our backline was in the last quarter. mopping up with ease. reminded me of the great tony anderson/ frank davis/ hardeman funsters...

If barry vagg played a blinder then i remember it. i was listening on my blue tranny in the front yard at springvale. a late goal i think by vagg sealed it.

Well it seems country victoria doesn't get the live feed of this game anymore. it's all supercars/ stupid cars Thanks, Rupert.

Thanks Demonstorm, i would go up today only have work to do at home so am hoping to watch on tv. where could i look up prime tv program?

Usually the QB game is live on country tv. i am wondering whether this has changed with this year's pay tv siphoning.

There's extra footage I hadn't seen before. ie Barassi and Gabelich standing on dais as announcements are made. I wonder what other footage lies in the television vaults

If Steven Armstrong can go home to WCe and become a good player, what is going wrong with our young players? Perhaps some footballers are destined not to reach the level they are capable of if the club doesn't have a 'premiership' belief and culture.

I see the Travis Johnstone comparison come up from time to time, but for mine I can't see the comparison. Travis is a user and a finisher. Robert Flower got the hard ball in packs, took contested aerial marks in heavy traffic (outstanding considering his slight build) , you name it. His evasive skills were freakish and perhaps what make him stand out from all others. He just couldn't be caught. Finally, his loyalty to the red and blue is what makes Flower a favourite son.

$38,000. Lou Richards re-named him after a less-precious metal, "Tillendrium Tillbrook".

David Cordner arrived on the scene in a blaze of glory. The details are now hazy but I seem to remember him playing one blinder of a game. He was a high-marking blond forward. Great pedigree, then disappeared from the scene. Whispering Jack updated me on Ed Burston in the mid 60's. Arrived with huge wraps and also disappeared off the scene.

Where players are being villified I would agree with you. ON the other hand, supporters and members pay money to 'participate' and are entitled to a point of view. The players are on excellent money and better than most posters would ever have access to I would imagine. Supporters (in my case 43 years worth) who have maintained such a long vigil after our last premiership are surely entitled to their wistful obervations of players who didn't come up scratch (in their supporters' imagination) - as long as comments are kept in good taste I think the footballers are big enough to take it. Our greatest club champion simply walked out the door for money once - we the supporters can't do the same - we are stuck with our club for better or worse. Some of the comments are obviously weird - how could David Schwartz be considered other than an inspiration. He offered more as a player than we had experienced at our club post-war and was cruelly cut short in 1995. Same with Prymke. Same with Tingay. Finally, I am not into sledging personal aspects of players - ie alcohol etc... and i would agree wholeheartedly with the last poster on this point.

Ed Burston, the 'boom' ruck recruit of 1965, the beginning of an era when Melbourne no longer recruited big guns. Peter Smith (son of Norm Smith) same era. Chris Aitken... promised to be a big marking forward... kicked five last round 68? against later premiers, essingdon. Tom Flower. i remember diamond jim's first run at the ball in the south game at waverley. he charged in, the ball bounced badly and he over-ran it... Lou richards used to call diamond jim 'tillendrium' tillbrook as well, once his lustre had faded. apparently tillendrium is a less valued metal.

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