Lucifers Hero

Hope your boy was able to stay a Demon supporter!

At last Jack is getting some positive press: http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/jack-watts-finally-finding-his-niche-in-melbournes-forward-line-emulating-adelaides-tom-lynch/news-story/37a7ec7d96bdaaa008bb8aba22340d49 An astute observation in the article: "Drafted as a deep full forward, played through the midfield and having had his best season across half back in 2012, Watts’s flexibility perhaps could have hurt his ability to develop into the footballer many had hoped he would become...But now, acting as Melbourne’s very own ‘Connector’, Watts finally has the ability to flourish". And flourish he will. No turning back now!

you mean the 1st round pick we traded away last year Re Hurley: How good would it be to get a freebie, first rate FA. Sick of them going to top clubs.

I wasn't talking about his performance on field (which I have never viewed negatively). I was talking about the way he has endured being at a club at its lowest ebb, the unbelievable personal media scrutiny, the fan booing. He was the public face of the club for most of his time. He has invested all of himself to the club and is no less a club man than others. I used 'Blood, Sweat and Tears' euphemistically to reflect all that and his loyalty. He could have walked to Carlton on huge coin a few years ago. He stayed. Having invested so much of himself I can't see him walking away now. And to put him in the category of contract year cruisers is simply unfair and not true.

They seemed to have changed their tune a bit. Game day on their website says: The Bombers will Make a Stand for the future, through a series of events in the lead up to the first bounce...In an initiative created by the fans, organised by the fans and carried out by the fans – supporters will walk en masse to the MCG...At 2pm, our past and present champions will come together for the future. 'Make a Stand' for the future seems so contrived and looks like a politically correct way of justifying what was called (is) a 'rally'. The word future seems an afterthought to legitimise 'Make a Stand'. Will be interesting to see what their banners say during the rally. Website doesn't say anything about a 1 minute clapping or whatever. Can't tell where, how their champions will come together 'for the future'. If there is clapping that is when they will probably do it. I read a few weeks ago that Neale Daniher is going to do the walk. And to be honest if he is with their champions on the field I cannot boo him. Too much respect for the man which greatly outweighs my distaste for efc and all it stands for. On a related note it was great to hear Peter Jackson recently say that mfc will support Daniher's MND cause at the QB game like we did last year.

Cant wait till Jack signs. Reckon he has put in too much 'blood, sweat and tears' to walk away now!

I would think Coach A was Roos with Watts 4 and Davis 1. Having said that Watts was the best forward on the day and spoke so highly of his performance its hard to imagine he didn't give Watts a vote.

Another interview with 'Clarinet' http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2016-03-29/debut-a-surreal-experience-oliver Again showing how humble he is: “I can’t really believe it… it’s just a bit surreal to be honest,” he said...“I didn’t think I’d be playing AFL at all or getting drafted, let alone playing round one, so I’m pretty happy.” He credits Nev: “I’ve looked up a fair bit to Neville Jetta,” he said. “He’s been pretty good after training just helping me with my tackling [and] we’ve been kicking a bit after training". Snippets like that just fill me with more confidence about where we are going. Not only has our official player development improved so have our leaders hip (even tho untitled) and mentoring of young players.

A bit more insight into our new Rising Star: http://www.afl.com.au/news/2016-03-29/see-ball-get-ball-message-helps-clayton-oliver-win-first-nab-afl-rising-star-nomination?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=RSS+feed%3A+AFL+Latest+News A humble lad: On getting 22 possessions etc he said: "I was pretty happy with that, and it was a bit of a shock to be honest that I could do that," Oliver said on Tuesday'. And 'An understated Oliver said he was just lucky to have such quick hands – he racked up 17 handballs, burrowing into packs and releasing the ball...' And his nickname with teammates is Clarinet! Derived from his earlier nickname Clarry. Wonder if Clarinet goes up against Parish on Saturday so we may get some insight into the other candidate for our pick 4. Regardless of how they go Sat or the future I am very very happy with Clarinet!

Coaches Votes: Melbourne v GWS 10 Jack Viney (Melb) 6 Tom McDonald (Melb) 5 Callan Ward (GWS) 4 Phil Davis (GWS) 4 Jack Watts (Melb) 1 Jesse Hogan (Melb) No surprises. Would like to have seen Clarry get a vote or two but I guess low game time% prevented that happening.

They paid the market price for Heeney last year. But remember they have developed the likes of Callum Mills and Heeney to be top 3 picks so good on them. The advantage is no greater than Hawthorn getting a few high picks from GWS for peanuts. Or the advantage that teams get from FA's for zip ala Frawley to Hawthorn. The anomalies are numerous. On the flip side of the Academy benefits one of the debutantes was Tom Papley, an elevated rookie who was in the mix for rnd 1 Rising Star. Sydney are just very good at recruiting and developing a solid, consistent team. I'm happy to acknowledge that.

The greatest surprise for me was the Sydney had 11 in their team who had played less than 50 games. Also, Sinclair looks a good get. They are building a formidable future. Its amazing they keep doing this without falling out of the 8. Yes, they have the Academy. It just shows how good their 'system' is that they can identify and develop young talent to be high draft contenders. They will give the top 4 a decent shake. Wouldn't be surprised to see them in the GF this year - they have no obvious weaknesses and a good balance of talent and experience. Not to mention intent.

I think it was on FC last night it was said that Tigers are into Prestia and Lachie Witfield big time and that they must get one of them. Despite the emotional attachment on here to Prestia, who would take him over Witfield if it was either/or? Point is aside from wanting to bring a demon supporter home who else is there that might fit our needs better? I reckon if we take our red and blue blinkers off we could find a few - maybe not shining gems like Witfield and Prestia but some decent rough diamonds that fit our all our requirements. Happy to have Dion just don't feel wedded to the 'must have' thinking of some on here. There are other options.

Well deserved: 22 possessions, 15 contested, 7 clearances, 2 of which in the 4th qtr set up the play for our 4th qtr comeback and did all that with just 58% game time. Far better than other candidates when % game time is considered. Simply awesome! Edit: Here is the AFL story http://www.afl.com.au/risingstar Interesting that Clarrie credits Macca with the performance: "'Macca' [Demons development coach Brendan McCartney] told me to see ball, get ball – just go hard at the ball and win it, and that's it," Oliver told Fox Footy.

We may again see 100 goal seasons from some forwards. The Coleman medal has become a bit of an anti-climax in recent years with 60 to 75 being enough. Kennedy is well on the way with 8. Every chance the key forwards will get close to the ton! Hope Hogan is one of them.

The Hawks vs Geel game was a bit of a goal fest for Geel with both teams kicking 12 or more goals. That makes 15 of 18 teams to do so. Aussie Rules of old is on its way back!

Oops! My bad. I'll go back and fix my post. can get wound up quickly by EFC antics! And I didn't read your post correctly where you first suggested the booing. An excellent idea which I would fully endorse.

A banner of Sam Mitchell's syringe imitation would do nicely, he he! But security would promptly confiscate it so protest banners won't really work. Re some sort of protest. At first I thought lets just play the game and thrash them. But then I read here about the minute silence. That is a bridge too far for me. If they have the minute silence, Demon supporters can booooooooo our heads off. A minute's silence is a long standing tribute of respect to the fallen and to the deceased. It has no place whatsoever in that game for that club. I am appalled that they would do that let alone it be silently condoned by the rest of the AFL world. Neither the AFL or journo's are taking a stand. So let us be the ones. Let's boo the minute silence!! Boo loudly. Nothing security can do to stop 30,000 fans (or for Stuie's benefit 10,000 fans) booing. I will boo not because they cheated but because they have the temerity to drag a universal sign of respect into their sordid saga. We can make some serious noise booing for a minute!!! Edit: I just read TPF39's post about their clapping...well we can boo that too! New Edit: False alarm. I misread 1 minute applause for 1 minute silence so the disrespect is not quite as great as I intimated in the rant above. 'Biggestread' suggested booing while they clap - lets do it!

Not wishing to make an issue of it but my logic is: -Nearly all the 28,505 on Saturday were Dee supporters. -Our 35,000 members get free entry as compo for NT game. -Some non-members could also be expected to be there. So my 30,000+ is just as (if not more) realistic as the 40,000 for efc you have 'predicted'.

Free entry to mfc members for this game so wouldn't be surprised if we have 30,000+ of our own fans there. (28,000 last Saturday) Doubt they will get any where near 40,000 but if they do we will give them a run for their money on and off the field!!

This topic is in this thread so the two can be merged or perhaps transfer your comments to it

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2016-03-28/highscoring-shoot-outs-the-new-frontier-of-football-according-to-adam-simpson?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=RSS+feed%3A+AFL+Latest+News Based on that article, I had a look at results so far and 13 of 16 teams kicked more than 12 goals. Three rule changes have allowed this to happen: - enforcement of a stricter 'deliberate' out of bounds rules means teams can't go defensive and hug the boundary. This will really hurt those teams that still have this game style eg Freo. Will also tire all players as there are fewer throw ins (which helps the ruckman). - the 10 mt from the mark rule gives the player a lot more room to set up play and take it inboard and then play down the corridor. - the 90 i/c cap tires players and opens the game up - see Saints last qtr. This rule may also catch out Port with their game plan of 1 extra behind the ball and then run like the clappers to defend. Saints got goal after goal out the back as Port couldn't get back fast enough. Going on round 1, teams that have not adapted their game style for all three changes will pay a price. So far Richmond, Freo, Port, North and maybe Collingwood (they had no noticeable game plan) seem to not have adapted. It will be interesting to see how Hawthorn and Geelong play today. That is the touted top 8 (plus WB). If rnd 1 is anything to go by there will be a few surprises in the finals! It seemed to me we have really 'got' all 3 changes. All bar 4 of our players had >75% game time (exceptions being players who had had long absences eg Frost or new eg Oliver). And we restricted the sections of the oval certain players played in eg Viney and Tyson between the arcs, backmen stayed mainly in d50 which saved energy. And it was fairly obvious we didn't play to the boundary and played some 'brave and bold' football in the corridor. But we didn't have a 'goal fest'. Playing for 4 not 2 quarters should fix that.

Unselfish and smart too. He was 5m from goal and could have taken the shot but saw a defender about to fall in his path so did the selfless thing and hand balled over the top to Garlett who goaled! A teammate all players will love being on the field with.

Lets go out and win by187 pts...can't think of a better team to take the mantle for that record!

Its interesting that we had only 80 i/c and were still full on run at the end of the game. Certainly improved fitness is a key. But I noticed that players did not venture out of their 'zone' on the ground very often. eg rarely saw Viney, Oliver inside either of the 50 arcs, I think Salem was the only designated backman to go forward of the centre. Few of the forwards went forward of the 50m arc while playing as a forward (rather than when on the wing). I'm sure there were lots of other examples. Maybe the i/c cap signals the end of the pure on-baller as we have known them for the last decade. Teams have usually had 10-12 who run hard both ways. Whereas yesterday we linked up well thru the zones on the ground. So maybe the game will revert to the more traditional positions. My conclusion is we are conserving player energy by restricting the range on the oval in which they run/patrol.