Demon Head

I'm not suggesting that Port are tanking ATM but they are probably not that overly concerned about winning because there's a player over there named Hamish Hartlett who they might have a passing interest in securing at the end of the year.

Would it be out of the question to revive the Prahran Football Club to VFL status and have an alignment with them playing at Toorak Park? We used to have a close relationship with Prahran and Jimmy even played for them in the early days.

Thanks for the honour. In all humility I must say it was a fluke and I was, after all 2 goals off because I tipped up to win by 13 points and we only won by 1. My best players - 6 Brad Green 5 Paul Wheatley 4 Brad Miller 3 Chris Johnson 2 Colin Sylvia 1 Colin Garland

Holland hasn't been playing at all so I doubt that he's been in any sort of form!

Collingwood’s Travis Cloke can accept a reprimand for headbutting Melbourne’s Matthew Warnock in yesterday’s Queen’s birthday clash, leaving him clear to play this weekend. Cloke will receive 93.75 points towards his future record if he pleads guilty to his charge of headbutting. If he challenges and is found guilty, he risks a one-match suspension. Cloke, Magpie skipper Scott Burns and Melbourne’s Lynden Dunn were all hit with fine for engaging in a melee during the same quarter. Magpie Paul Medhurst and Demon Clint Bartram have been given $900 fines for wrestling each other.

He would have to be better than Fergus Watts who was also considered a top draft pick but turned out to be a bit of a dud at both Adelaide and St. Kilda.

No Sandy report this week?

I think the moerators here do a pretty good job of drawing the line at the appropriate places fOlly. They even let you post some crap here.

Good to see Wheels saw through the game. He's had a rough trot lately!

I'd like to be there but can't make it. Will someone propose a toast to Neita for his wonderful service to the club?

OK. Here is the part where she talks about our attendances:- "Melbourne's projected membership of 30,000 is currently struggling at just over 24,000; its home-game attendances have been poor with a 0-4 win-loss ratio to date." Our projected membership of 24,000 is projected for 2008, not 2007. Then she talks about our "home-game attendances in the same breath as out "win-loss ratio to date." She's talking about this year's "home-game" attendances. Now please go away as promised.

What research has she done? You're quoting last year's figures. She's talking about this year. WJ's not talking about whether the crowd was poor for one individual game but that she committed a gaffe by not ascertaining how many home games the club's played this year.

Don Argus is the current chairman of BHP Billiton and Brambles. He has been CEO of NAB. Reported on 3AW that he might stand for President.

A player with a bit more height down back might have punched a couple of those high balls that were crumbed goals right through for a point rather than allow them to stay in play.

I thought the margin could have been better. Brad Green's last shot at goal was touched behind the line and should have been paid a goal, not a point. Two years ago, we lost a game in round three against Adelaide in controversial circumstances with a similalrly controversial goal umpring decision. Maybe that's an omen for the rest of the year?

The laughs on you BBP. If a coach doesn't go into a game with that attitude, you'd sack him on the spot. Anyone who thinks the right thing to do by a developing team is to accept defeat but engage in flood tactics to minimise the damage on the scoreboard is asking for a team that will never know how to win a game whether its in five weeks, five months or five years from now. Carlton is learning that although I'm not so sure that Ratten and the rest of their so-called "brains trust" realise the full implications.

Don't kid yourself that this can't happen. It can and will unless we get our act together very quickly.

Which one?

Jaxson Barham Collingwood (shoulder) - 6 weeks

Seems we went into the game without out two top ruckmen in White and Jamar.

Fact is that most of the above including Mo64's opinion is nothing more than speculation and not the official word from the club. I'd be interested to hear something from someone but apparently even the training sessions this week are all closed sessions so it won't be easy finding anything out. The good news is that we registered no new injuries this week while a brief round up of headlines reveals the following at other clubs (and I take no joy from the misfortune of others):- * Hasleby (Fremantle) out for season * Chaplin (Port Adelaide) to miss rest of preseason * Carlton loses Fisher for 6-8 weeks * Swans confirm Malceski needs reconstruction * Ray (Bulldogs) out 426 * Gumbleton (Essendon) to miss a month Perhaps the wheel's turning and our injury woes are coming to an end while it's just starting for some of the others?

Why burnout king Brock is on the outer (Sporting Life - Melbourne Age 7/2 Geoff McLure) GIVEN the off-season events in Greece and Germany, where bar-room trouble seemed to follow Melbourne star Brock McLean around, this was the last thing he needed. Same goes for the Demons, really. But we can reveal that the speedy 21-year-old midfielder has been causing more angst at Demonland, this time since returning to home soil, with some car park shenanigans in his hotted-up V8 ute at the club's temporary training base at Trinity Grammar's sportgrounds in Bulleen. The incident, we learned yesterday, happened a couple of weeks ago but the effects are still being felt because McLean's punishment is that he's no longer allowed to park at the venue but has to leave his car on the road outside and walk the rest of the way to the change-rooms. Melbourne's new footy operations boss Chris Connolly dismissed the incident as "very minor" but it wasn't as far as the ground's curator David (he didn't want to give his surname) is concerned. "The day it happened there was this huge roar of an engine, followed by the screech of burning tyres and smoke billowing everywhere. Someone said, 'Don't worry, we'll all fix it up and I said, 'How will you do that? What, lay a new road?' ". The curator said McLean came back not long afterwards with an apology, which he would not accept. "I think his conscience got the better of him, and that's why he said sorry but I told him it just wasn't good enough. Anyway, the bottom line is he's not allowed to bring his car on site. It was such a burnout the marks he made are still in the car park. I read a few days later that he had been made part of the leadership group. Gee, that works well, doesn't it!" Indeed, David wasn't very complimentary about the Demons' overall behaviour but didn't want to elaborate, saying only: "There have been a few issues like wearing footy boots (instead of runners) on the ground after they were clearly asked not to. The Kangaroos train here too and they have been terrific. Can't say the same about the Demons, though." Connolly was surprised and disappointed to learn about the curator's criticisms, and wasn't aware there were other issues, but he said the McLean incident had been dealt with. "After discussions with the leadership group and Trinity we decided it would be best that Brock park his car outside and that's what's been happening." Connolly denied that McLean was named in the leadership group before the car park incident happened. "This all happened before we picked the leadership group. Anyway, you can be in no doubt that Brock will now put his motor sports ambitions on hold until his footy career is finished." Oh, and just a thought: apparently there's no truth in the rumour that the Demons might put an "0" before McLean's guernsey No. 5, as a tribute to the more famous Brock rev-head (he of Holden 05 fame), Peter Brock.

NOT QUITE UP AND ADAMM (from The Pulse with Steven Perkin - Herald Sun 6/2 p71) While Melbourne spreads the AFL world in Canberra on its community camp, one of its young players has been left behind. Adamm Maric is 17 and still goes to school, so as his teammates were packing for the nation’s capital, Maric was packing his schoolbags and preparing for Year 12. Maric was pick No. 21 in last year’s national draft, despite missing the second half of the season with a shoulder reconstruction. A student at Essendon Grammar, Maric has the school’s permission to play for Melbourne if selected. “The school’s been pretty good. I’m disappointed to not be at camp, but as we all agreed it was important to get a good start to the school year,” Maric said. His biggest problem is that his school coach doesn’t send him on a 20k run the day before he plays for Melbourne. And he’s a coach with vested interests – Ken Fletcher is Dustin’s old man and himself a Bomber great. “He’s been coaching me since Year 9 and is pretty good at looking after me,” Maric said. “I’ve set a target to play senior footy this year and an ENTER score of at least 70. It’s going to be a busy year.”

Was Steve Harris present and were there any signs of turmoil?

Nobody is arguing with the proposition that Judd can go where he likes. The problem is that he jerked around a few clubs and a lot of honest, decent people at those clubs by putting them through his shonky process when, by all accounts, he had made up his mind to go to Carlton in July. That's why he sucks. As for you, I'd suggest a cup of tea, a little bit of medication and a good lie down and the world will soon be full of peace and harmony for you once again.