Demon Premonition

RIP Jimmy I have two great loves, my wife and family & the MFC. My wife has battled cancer for the past year, and having young children, she has sought and found inspiration from Jim and his own struggles with this insidious disease in similar family circumstances. My football club was broken when Jim decided to take the reigns as President. He has inspired and connected us all so that this mighty club has a future where I may see that first elusive flag. I never had the fortune to meet Jimmy, but words cannot describe the effect that he has had on my two loves. Good on ya Jimmy, may you rest in peace and in the knowledge of a life lived fully.

Was definitely wasteful when he first came on, but his last quarter was solid. Some excellent running to help out in back half which was needed at that juncture of game. Many criticize his hardness but never criticize his willingness to run both ways. Not his best day but don't paint him with a brush for his whole game based on his first two kicks.

I was just reading article in this mornings HUN about previous big name trades, he mentioned Buckley, Anthony Rocca, Shannon Grant & Jeff White. My quick recollections of each trade. Nathan Buckley - first round draft pick and Brisbanes selection of any two contracted players outside of pies nominated 10 players. Shannon Grant - Wayne Schwass (Highly arguable which team made the better trade) Anthony Rocca - Pick 18, 33 and two players Jeff White - Picks 2 & 18 I think i would be far more comfortable losing Tom if this is what our compensation was going to be. As always Demetriou will provide a biased slant to make a point.

I am not sure whether this has been raised previously, and I will not get caught up in the "will he stay or go" debate. I do however think that it is an oversight not discussed in the media that by targeting a 20 game player at the end of their first year you are increasing your chances of "signing" the said player as they have clearly not had time to bond with the club, players and supporters. The longer the player has socialized into the club environment the more difficult it would be to leave - Scully was ripe for the picking, huge money no great ties to the club he had only just been drafted by and the chance to play a pivotal role in building a club culture he us proud of. Couldn't resist, so what it is worth if he signed a HOA agreement last year I think he will obviously go, if he has not I think every game he plays will swing the pendulum towards him staying.

I wonder whether that as Daisy's defense has been shown to be misleading whether Malthouse will come out and discuss the virtues of lying. As Mick seems focussed on taking the moral high ground maybe he will tack on a club enforced additional weeks sanction.

Undoubtably Rivers best season since Rising Star award, it is however not surprising considering the "forward press" fad that we are currently witnessing. With the press being set-up by the dees it causes longer kicks into the back half which suits Rivers footy IQ in terms of playing angles and general reading of play. Rivers never lost the ability to play he simply was exposed for closing speed during the tempo footy we saw up until 2010. I am excited what Riv will bring for the remaining games as the better we are pressing the better output we will see, could be special.

Gotta love his endeavor, he reminds me very much of Brett Kirk and I firmly believe he will become a significant leader of our great club, just like Kirk was at the swans. There is no doubt just like Kirk he sets the tone for the entire midfield with his intent on man & ball, the only difference is he has better disposal so therefore can be more than a tagger. Note remark that Kirk was just a tagger is not intended, I have an amazing amount of respect for what Kirk bought to the swans.

Our Jimmy is truly an inspiration. My wife was diagnosed early this year after our second baby with stage 4 cancer. I picked her up this afternoon after a further week of treatment and gave her copy of the story to read, after 4 days of chemo treatment, blood transfusions and other hideous assortment of drugs it was noticeable the strength and inspiration that my wife drew from our incredible man. I know that the best wishes that are provided to Jim on this site are genuine, but from someone living so close to this insidious disease, his battle is truly inspiring probably 1000's of cancer patients and with the importance of positivity to beat the odds he is probably indirectly saving many many lives. I am sure my wife will be one of those. Well done Jim & thanks

Backs. Bartram Warnock Frawley Half backs. Bennell Rivers MacDonald Centers. Morton Moloney Trengove Half forwards. Sylvia Watts Howe Forwards. Jurrah Green Davey Rucks. Martin McKenzie Jones Inter. Gawn Gysberts Scully Jetta Ins. Gawn Bartram Scully Trengove Davey Howe Outs. Bate Newton Evans Nicholson Petterd Maric If either of Davey or Bartram do not come up then Maric or Evans/Nicholson keep their spots. I am really disappointed to leave out Petterd as our forward line looks so much better with him up and going, simply not doing enough to warrant selection. Quick one on Morton he will be our Andrew Embley when we are a good side he will be a very good player, we must continue the faith. Maric the unlucky one as his season to date has been very promising in a poor side, Davey to go back to basics role is forward 50 pressure and play a more Cyril Rioli role starting deep forward and pushing up ground rather than playing behind play. Scary amount of ins as I normally believe 4 is maximum if you want any chance of winning.

Agree with RPFC, if we want to become a relevant football club in the year 2011 and not 1964 then the club must simply not lose it's best players. This is not for us to decide how, this is for our incredibly capable president and talented football department to ensure that Scully wears the number 31 through our Premiership tilt. I often refer to NMFC as an increasingly irrelevant football club, if we lose Scully the Melbourne Football Club will continue to be lumped with the kangaroos and bulldogs as the basket cases of the AFL. Tough but true!

Not sure that Brock leaving Melbourne was engineered by us. My memory was that Brock wanted to leave due to the writing on the wall and requesting a trade. Carlton were then silly enough to offer up pick 11 and for that we should be eternally grateful. By the way blues supporters can't be angered by that trade as whatever dud deal they did with us they screwed the lions even worse with Fev. Was at the game last night and I thought Brock was pretty good around stoppages, just couldnt get near it when in transition.

My take for this week. Backs. Bartram Warnock Rivers HB. Tapscott Frawley Bennell Centers. Jetta Sylvia Morton HF. Petterd Watts Davey Forwards. Green Jurrah Maric Rucks. Martin Moloney Jones Inter. Newton Gysberts McKenzie Howe Outs. Dunn (susp) Bail (inj) Garland (inj) Wonna (omit) Ins. Morton Rivers McKenzie Howe Outs are largely self explanatory other than Wonna whose work ethic or fitness has not been AFL standard and should be treated like N Krakouer of Suns and be made to meet required skin folds / time trial conditions prior to playing for Demons again. Rivers comes in for Garland (unfortunately chip will need to take Reiwoldt), Morton should have more time at Casey but comes in as additional experienced midfield rotation, McKenzie offers additional grunt which is a massive plus against a Hayes(less) Saints, Howe gets a call up as a more mature bodied utility being able to go forward or back is a massive plus. Would love the sentiment of Gawn, Evans & Nicholson but Saints are there for the taking and we need to expose them with good quick ball movement, and queries remain on ball use at this early stage for all three. Bate is the unlucky player with Newton retained as ruck back-up and forward half already feeling top heavy when Newton playing minutes forward. Davey given clear instructions that he takes Wonnas roll and this requires a minimum of 5 tackles in forward line or his place is under question.

Done

Does anyone else feel that we finally have a great match up for that pest Harvey in Bail. I think he has the speed and endurance and most importantly strength to make Harvey's day a difficult one. What concerns me most is our absolute inability to beat a press at Etihad, the smaller ground only heightens the crap we dished up against West Coast. Massive game for Tapscott to break the lines with his penetrating foot,

Yeah my bad, now been fixed. Think my brain has not come to grips with the Grimes news.

I think you would find a large portion of supporters think Demetriou's has done an outstanding job during his tenure - far better than his predecessors Oakley and Wayne Jackson. In fact I think we would not be reading a Demonland Melbourne board if it not was Demetriou's commitment to Melbourne based clubs in comparison to the "upfront" desire to relocate and merge of the previous chief commissioners. Think the $1 million + contributions we have received most years to enure our short term viability pre Jimmy. Don't be fooled GWS and Gold Coast will be a 25 year strategy to ensure the AFL remains relevant as an indigenous code of footy, similar to the NFL - this can only be done by owning a foothold in all the highly populated areas of this great country. Finally as someone who experienced multiple concussions while playing I agree the head must be sacricinct and Demetriou's comment was made in relation to players desire to invite head high contact to earn a free kick ( ala Joel Selwood) and this should be discouraged. Not sure you will get as much support as you hope. Oh, the Trengove issue is a deesgrace! And I will watch with interest in the hope we challenge and get this suspension over turned.

Any more than three changes is basically handing the victory to the crows, this has been proven time and time again for all clubs over the past few years. So as one who believes we can easily be 3-2-1 and firmly in the eight after next weekend despite the completely inept performance of the team over the start of the season, the changes should be limited to those who have a thirst for the contest. Ins: Joel Mac & Ricky P Outs: Morton & Bennell That said I think Bailey will make only one change out Dunn in Bate.

Been a long time since I last posted, Backs: Garland. Frawley. Bartram Half backs: Grimes. Rivers. Morton Centers: Davey. Sylvia. Trengove Half forwards: Petterd. Watts. Jetta Forwards: Green. Jurrah. Maric Rucks: Jamar. Moloney. Scully Int: McKenzie. Gysberts. Dunn. Sub: Martin Emer: Jones. Macdonald. Bennell I quite like the idea of Dunn & Martin off the bench as it provides a fair degree of versatility to all lines. What I think all the proposed teams show is a heavy reliance on clean ball movement from our backs and midfielders as "bombing" into our forward 50 will achieve nothing with our under sized / developed forwards, so with this in mind Tapscott and Strauss will be given every chance to make their mark in the back half at the expense of the injured Morton. This could come as early as round 1 as our ball use was deplorable last weekend and Tapscott was one of the few shining lights. I have gone with McKenzie and Gysberts over Jones as they make players on their outside better (Davey, Trengove and Morton) should all get a nice ride from these buys which will provide better delivery to our forwards. Could be a long year for Bate and his success will only come with precise ball movement, I feel Bate will be the new definition of a down hill skier good when we are great and awful when we struggle. Probably not a regular spot available in 2011