Oliver Sholem

Geez ... those King twins are already over 200cm and 12 months away from being draftable.

Another one bites the dust.

Bernie Vince comes in (automatic). 

Sam Frost and Dean Kent in the wings.

Changes!

Now hold on a second.

Last week Travis Varcoe nearly knocked Luke Dalhaus' head off its block and got a week. Levi Casboult also hit Vlaustin high and was fined $1,000.

Some perspective here people.

Interesting to see the figures after the win and what happens before our first home game next Sunday.

28 minutes ago, tiers said:

A cup of tea to Tony Tea. Spot on. Balme was an intelligent and inventive coach who, when savagely cruelled by injury, had the guts to move David Neitz from CHB to CHF and FF. Not trying to stop goals but score goals was his motive. He lost the job when, in one game, his key forwards were Charles and Farmer. Desperately unlucky.

Yeah. Also unlucky because Joe was out to turn the club upside down after the disruption of the merger debacle. On reflection, he was running the club a little like Donald Trump is doing in Washington.

I just discovered this while surfing the net -

"Casey was a demon possessing a bartender in Ohio. Unlike her other demon brethren, she did not do any direct harm to humans. She also was willing to follow Sam if he chose to lead the demon army."  

http://supernatural.wikia.com/wiki/Casey

On 26/12/2016 at 6:24 PM, Whispering_Jack said:

Current MCC President and former captain Steven Smith was one of the Demons' best players in the 70s and 80s and captained the club. At least a dozen Smiths have represented the club. Included are Ray Smith, a defender from Essendon in the mid 70s, Shaun Smith  (father of Joel) who took the mark of the century in a game in the 90s at Carrara and tall forward Nick Smith who was listed on the injured list as being out for "four to six" weeks so often that he earned the monicker "426".

On balance, having a Smith at the club must be good because a Smith has been associated with the club for ten of its 12 premierships - 11 if you count dual Brownlow Medallist Ivor Warne-Smith who played in the 1926 team. Having two Smiths at the club will therefore be even better!

Geez, Nick Smith could have been a top player if only he wasn't injured all the time. I remember some of his pack marking was excellent but I suppose he was never able to develop any consistency the way things turned out. 

I drove past Gosch's Paddock twice today and I can report there was not a single soul on the ground.

I'm delighted that we're commencing our next phase under a new coach who is known for his attacking flair with our young emerging side, fresh, fit, stronger and with some AFL experience added to make us even harder to beat. The perfect launching pad for a new era.

Oscar managed only a 12.8 in the state screening beep test. Even by big man standards that shows he has a lot of work to do on his tank if he gets on an AFL list and wants a game at the highest level.

It would seem Cal Twomey believes that after the end of the Combine testing there are only two candidates for the #1 draft pick:

Combine wrap: No.1 pick now a race in two

Motlop & Richmond in discussions today. Some news expected tomorrow.

4 minutes ago, AdamFphlebeb said:

He didn't know how to run a football club that I love and almost killed it, along with his incompotent board. We're all passionate Melbourne people, but doesn't mean we all have to stand for the board. He chose to, so you can't then hide behind a 'reluctance' if you monumentally failed.

I'm glad PJ is at the helm and we finally have a stable, competent board that doesn't get all cosy with the players and invite them over for BBQs. They maintain a professional distance.

PJ and his board have received a lot more help from the AFL than the club did when McLardy and the previous boards did and even so it's taken PJ three years and we still haven't made finals. 

Fact of the matter is that the McLardy quote in the article is relevant and valid because he was there at the time - unless you want to revise the club's history some more.

Let's just concentrate on the phenomenon that is Max Gawn which is what the article's all about.

6 minutes ago, fndee said:

No their signal doesn't make it to FNQ. "Interesting"listening I assume

Ox on SEN Twitter: "He is spoken about in terms that I think only one or two players ever at Melbourne have been spoken about"

On 26/04/2016 at 7:24 AM, Demonland said:

THE NEW REALITY by Whispering Jack

...

MELBOURNE

B:
HB:
C:
HF:
F:
FOLL:
I/C:
EMG:

IN:

OUT:

NEW:

ST. KILDA

B:
HB:
C:
HF:
F:
FOLL:
I/C:
EMG:
IN:
OUT:

Any reason to highlight new players this week?

5 minutes ago, fndee said:

For one of the few times I think you have the wrong end of the stick Jack. Yes everyone is excited to see what he can produce as there has been no shortage of footy people making very big calls on him. But I haven't heard any of the saviour mentality more a hope of Petracca being a (rather large) cherry on top. 

You haven't been listening to SEN lately have you?

And I hope Angus and the boys give the toigs a bath tomorrow night. 

43 minutes ago, america de cali said:

Don't care about the past anymore. No more grudges on my part.  Just salivating at the prospect of many regular wins, a decent 2017 draw, finals and premierships to come. And also the prospect of Collingwood, Richmond, Essendon and Carlton becoming known as the Tetralogy Of Failure.

Why not add Hawthorn and Geelong of 2017 to that and call it the Sextralogy of Failure?

34 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Always said that some players adjust and play better at AFL level compared to the standard VFL match. 

This is where i could see Hulett and Weideman adjusting well straight away if given the opportunity at AFL level.

Not if they're not ready. They could get destroyed if we went early.

Yes ... I'm looking forward to a very busy long weekend.

Liked him from the very beginning.

Like Brayshaw last year, I think that once the season starts you won't be seeing him at Casey very much.

18 minutes ago, Whispering_Jack said:

Our national sporting shame has hit the international media. This report made it into the Swiss press in German - Basler Zeitung

Here's the text auto translated by Google and don't worry if it sounds a bit strange because it fits in with everything else about this saga:-

 

If there's anyone out there with the knowledge and ability to do a proper translation of that gibberish from German, I would really appreciate it.

On 7/2/2016 at 2:53 PM, dazzledavey36 said:

Exactly my point. The Geelong game was a glimpse into the future with the potential we have led by the likes of Brayshaw Gawn Viney Stretch ANB and Tyson. All these guys made solid contribution in the Geelong game and watching it the 2nd time i was blown away how Stretch Brayshaw ANB played like 100 game veterans instead of first year players. They did not once look out of their depth unlike poor Jimmy Toumpas who really did just looked way out of his depth.

Lets not forget we didn't have Hogan Petracca Vandenberg Kent Frost Garland Salem and even Trengove. 

I thought WJ comment was odd as we all should be well aware that young developing side will all have consistency problems along the way. While its easy to say we got thrashed by the doggies we also defeated Richmond and Western Bulldogs beforehand who both played finals footy. Just shows we are not far off also.

I also think we underestimate how big of a toll injuries to key players like Viney Kent Tyson Trengove Vandenberg Salem and to lesser extent Petracca who all missed big chunks of footy during the year which affected enormously to some our performance. When all 7 players are fit and firing i have no doubt we could have won alot more games.

Why should we accept the Geelong game as "a glimpse into the future" and not the game we played next when we were rag dolled by the Eagles or the one after that when we lost to Essendon one week after St. Kilda beat them by 110 points?

Our line up wasn't much different apart from the fact we had Jesse Hogan which should have made them better pointers to the future.

 

I'm not assuming it either. Just on my relentless crusade to turn up improbable excuses for the players.

Improbable excuses don't make the situation any better for the players. When you think of it, the lack of any excuses probable or otherwise, just make it easier to understand the CAS judgement and the sanctions against the players.