Tim

The ancestors of some current Demonlanders were probably even then clogging up Jim Cardwell’s in-tray with letters asking “Is Norm Smith the right guy?”

The Last Hurrah is an excellent read, Supermerc. Reliving the Crompton goal reminded me that some years ago I had some dealings over a period with Denis Dalton, who was a lawyer acting for a client that my employer was in dispute with. At the end of it all I had an opportunity to ask him whether he was the same Denis Dalton that was running around in the 64 Grand Final with #27 on his back. He said indeed it was, and he assumed I was a Collingwood supporter and went on a short reminisce of the day - I thought it polite to acquiesce in the disclosure of my allegiance. He brought up the Crompton goal; said that he and Mick Bone, the other rover, had worked out a plan to “strand” Crompton up the field, with one of them going down the outer wing while the other went to the play up the ground by running up the northern wing (back in the day, players stood positions, and a resting rover would take over from the “working” rover by going through an imaginary interchange gate half way up the field, so this would be different to the usual way of “changing” rovers); probably a smart move in theory, but oh dear, terrible consequence in theory! They did at least have the effect of stranding Froggy - right in the spot to kick the winning goal. Denis went on to mention that “we should have received a free in front of goal moments before the siren sounded”. Understandably the events of the day would be vivid to him for the rest of his life. Nice man, later was a top level bowls player who represented Australia in Commonwealth Games, as I understand.

Glad to hear the therapy’s working for you! Last time at the G was 7 and a half years ago and we went down by a lazy 93 points in Roosy’s 2nd game as coach for us; it at least was an improvement on our “effort” from the previous year against them at the G - a 94 point loss.

This. And this. Hopefully the coaching group can rectify this - the old “you learn more from not winning than winning” approach. I guess it’s at least a better problem to have than the one that, say, Ken Hinkley has - he can beat the cellar dwellers but can’t get over the teams he’ll be meeting in the finals.

Cheers, @La Dee-vina Comedia. I’m pretty confident that he is KE’s roving partner-in-crime John Townsend, who kicked 3 of our 8 GF winning goals in 1964.

LDC, can you spot him in that photo of the 1964 reunion in the Last Hurrah thread, perhaps in the front row?

A good one was our very own Clyde Laidlaw, 4 time premiership player (unlucky to not be a 5-timer). And as chance would have it, I briefly found myself talking to him at a Demons game a few years ago. Very nice chap. Back in the day he was a strongly built dark-haired player whose rugged good looks translated into a no-nonsense rugged style of play. In the brief time I spoke to him he seemed quite different from his on field persona - in a good way!

Nice interview on SEN this morning, Supermerc. Will rush out and buy a copy! In the photo above I’ve got most of them, but who is the Whately lookalike next to Hassa in the front row, and the bearded one 2nd from left at back? Is it Ken Emselle in the front?

JJ - reads game beautifully

This is something that astounds me every game I watch. It is just common decency to say “thanks” when the trainer gives you a drink or whatever. We see the great “standards” on display with players sweeping the room, as per the All Blacks. Might be sincere, but is caught on camera and looks a little bit staged - Humility Signalling, if you like. A quick acknowledgment of the water bottle carrier is actually a human interaction that they could engage in, as distinct from being on the sweeping end of a broom for the change room camera.

Still a young player, and I note that some of the other youngsters have lighter numbers too, eg Tom Sparrow. Probably managing loads as they aren’t machines and as I said still young.

Fwiw, on the Olympics front, Tokyo was chosen for the 1940 Olympics, and guess who won the flag that year. Lock it in! (Btw, the IOC was on a roll pre-war: Berlin followed by Tokyo.)

How good was Robbie! Only the 4th game of his career, and he had just turned 18. What a star.

This. Having a particular fondness for the work of JJ, I called out “Have a shot, JJ!” Lo and behold, next minute he’s slotting it. I knew he could do it, and enjoyed the sound of affirmation from the Bomber fans.

The Rucks would be the Band of Ronnie Hawkins (the Hawks). That is, Garth Hudson, Robbie Robertson.

@joeboy - pretty good review Salem - looks somewhat inhibited (injury-wise}

Agree, LN. She’s Public Enemy No.1 (or thereabouts, in a long list) in the Hird camp. It’s quite apposite that her podcast is called “Don’t Shoot the Messenger”. Does a good job.

Tim - don’t wake me (Surely I’m dreaming...?)

I think it’s a column for teams that didn’t win the flag that year.

My inner demons that have guided me accurately these last 57 years tell me that our next Norm winner hasn’t been born yet. But from the current crop I’ll nominate JJ, beating Trac and Clarry in a tight, mid dominated count. From an omen point of view....CP5 would be good, building on the legacy of the heroics of #5 from our last win (Neil Crompton); and Clarry would break an even longer number drought with #13, since Max Spittle collected in 1948. JJ could add his name to the storied locker of #23 with Graham Wise, Pop Vine (flag in his first game), Ray Wartman and Geoff Tunbridge.

Don’t know about the lot on screen, but drummer Coxy is a keen Dee who was with them at one stage (not on this video though).

I think in the Danners case the actual killer was Richmond, as we were flogged by them after they had been winless the first 11 games of the year (1 draw). Iirc, it was agreed after the loss that Daniher would step down, but in a highly unusual development was allowed to have a final outing as coach against Essendon at Docklands, where we had an agonisingly close loss. And btw, being at the top of that ladder is going to be a difficult “embarrassing record” to erase, or have erased for us.

Absolute classic. Must have been one of the earliest live albums in the rock era, and is raw and driving, in contrast to Cooke’s sweet soul reputation; consequently the record company wouldn’t release till the mid 80s for fear of tarnishing his image. Liner notes won a Grammy for the great writer, Peter Guralnick. And fwiw, Let It Bleed is top of my Stones hit parade - dark, brooding, great! And love Ya-Ya’s as a live album. Saw them when they were here in the last decade, and while they were very polished it was not as engaging as early-mid years Stones. However when Mick Taylor joined them on stage for Midnight Rambler (iirc) - that was special!

...and Blease and Jones, iirc.

I dunno...overnight in a glass next to the bed?