Chris Connolly in Sydney
Chris Connolly, General Manager MFC Football Operations – Sydney Event – Thursday 29 July 2010
The NSW Demons held a Player Sponsor event with Chris Connolly, General Manager Melbourne Football Club Football Operations and Guy Jalland, MFC Vice President in Sydney on Thursday 29 July.
Chris journeyed to Sydney to talk to the NSW Demons about all aspects of the Melbourne Football Club, both on and off the field. Chris spoke passionately of the work undertaken to build the club’s organization, playing list and community connections.
Guy Jalland, spoke eloquently about the club, the future and the fund raising commitment of the MFC Board including the Foundation Heroes.
It was a thoroughly informative and most enjoyable evening.
Round 18: Melbourne v Brisbane
The pivotal question is can our own Andrew Lloyd Webber in Dean Bailey produce another hit musical this week up north at the Gabba? History says no but form is definitely on our side. A loss this week will create our own version of ‘Les Mis’ but I am confident our boys will be switched on and create another Broadway hit musical for us long suffering Dees fanatics.
Only one change this week with the Captain returning after a number of weeks out with injury. The unfortunate player to miss out this week is Addam Maric who performed well last week on his return to the AFL after a long stint at Casey.
The team
Melbourne team
B: Colin Garland, Jared Rivers, Clint Bartram
HB: Cameron Bruce, James Frawley, Joel Macdonald
C: Rohan Bail, James McDonald, Brad Green
HF: Lynden Dunn, Jack Watts, Tom Scully
F: Jamie Bennell, Paul Johnson, Austin Wonaeamirri
FOLL: Mark Jamar, Colin Sylvia Aaron Davey
I/C: Jordie McKenzie, Cale Morton, Nathan Jones, Liam Jurrah
Emg: Jack Trengove, Addam Maric, Matthew Warnock
In: McDonald
Out: Maric
I dreamed a dream in time gone by……
From our guest reporter Darren Spence
“I dreamed a dream in time gone by……When hope was high”…..waking up on Monday morning to a vision of Susan Boyle belting out Les Miserables tunes is enough to cause worry to any person. However my worry was was it dream??? Could it have really happened??? So I jumped out of bed, wiped the sleep out of my eyes and went straight to the internet………and there it was……. It wasn’t a dream after all and my Susan Boyle image was not some sad irony heaped upon a long suffering Dees supporter but was reality! The Demons had inflicted the largest ever loss the Swans had endured under Paul Roos’ tutelage.
But I had to watch the game again. Luckily I had the foresight to tape the game and stuff being late for work for this was going to be better than any musical Andrew Lloyd Webber could ever produce.
- Seeing Colin Sylvia take over the role of hard man in the centre vacated by the injured Moloney. The way he was getting the hard ball, breaking through packs and sure ball handling I was half expecting to see Charlton Heston appear after half time such was his Ben Hur like performance.
- Aussie……..Aussie Aussie Aussie…..I must admit I had forgotten how good a footballer he really is. As long as he can last 5 minutes without doing his hammy again we are in for a treat. With him and LJ in the forward line they will both be vying for the lead role of the Wizard coming to the MCG amphitheatre in a new forward line show real soon.
- Chip Frawley in a scene out of Tom and Jerry with the big man chasing down Leroy Jetta on the outer wing perfectly illustrated the never give in desire that has encapsulated our team.
- Jamie Bennell again playing a blinder and his chase in the last minute of the game could see him a monty for the lead role in ‘catch me if you can’.
- “Mamma Mia’ how good is Brad Green going?…..3 goals in the first quarter (OK 2 goals and a poster but we’ll take the 3) has him in a rich vein of form and he has to be a monty now to win his first well deserved ‘Bluey’.
- Cameron Bruce had Ryan O’Keefe locked away like the Beast in ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and Cale Morton did an admirable job on the Swans’ ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ in Adam Goodes.
- Clint Bartram was ‘Cat’ like in defense and probably played his best game for the club. He has made it very hard to drop him now from our best 22.
- Colin Garland, Joel MacDonald and Jared Rivers patrolled the backline like the ‘3 musketeers’ never letting their opponents get any opportunity to break away.
- The Big Russian again dominated turning the game for Mumford and Pike into their own ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’.
- Like “the Scarlet Pimpernel’ our own Tom Scully and Aaron Davey were everywhere and anywhere and they both ran and ran all day.
I could go on and on but finally I would add that the passion shown by the players when the final curtain fell and the beautiful ‘sound of music’ coming from the rooms in the form of our fabulous club song made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck and had me screaming for an encore.
Round 17
This week we play another interstate team but this time on our home turf. We are after all the ‘Masters of the MCG’ and whilst the Swans have hit a rich vein of form of late, our form at the ‘G’ cannot be under estimated. A four quarter performance like we all know we can achieve should see us get over the line.
No outs yet and three players, Wonaeamirri, Warnock, Maric come in to the side and are named on an extended interchange bench along with Nathan Jones, Paul Johnson, Rohan Bail, Matthew Bate. Either Maric or Wonaeamirri most likely to come in if Moloney is unable to overcome the badly corked thigh received in the game against Freemantle. I have to say I like the look of the forward line with Dunn, Morton and Scully lining up alongside Sylvia, Watts and Jurrah. Way to go!!!!
The team
Melbourne team
B: Colin Garland, Jared Rivers, Clint Bartram
HB: Jordie McKenzie, James Frawley, Joel Macdonald
C: Jamie Bennell, Cameron Bruce, Brad Green
HF: Lynden Dunn, Cale Morton, Tom Scully
F: Colin Sylvia, Jack Watts, Liam Jurrah
FOLL: Mark Jamar, Brent Moloney, Aaron Davey
I/C (from): Nathan Jones, Paul Johnson, Rohan Bail, Matthew Bate, Austin Wonaeamirri, Addam Maric, Matthew Warnock
In: Wonaeamirri, Warnock, Maric
Out:
Best club in the league to support
From our guest reporter Darren Spence
Last week
Melbourne just has to be the best club in the league to support. With Melbourne it is like dining on one of the whopping beef burgers cooked up at Ambrosia On The Spot at Randwick. Tipping the scales at 95.5kg (and including 120 eggs to hold it together making it the largest ever created) you get the whole lot and even a bit more on the side. What other team, time and time again provides such an amalgamation of emotions from despair, hope, jubilation and disappointment all wrapped up in 2 hours of football?….No other team comes close. You know I probably would have left last weeks’ game less gutted if we lost by 10 goals. Defeated by a better team???….Yeah I can accept that (well that’s been part and parcel of supporting the Dees over the last few years) but to kick 7 goals in a row in a game and then lose……it’s just like taking Viagra…..one bitter pill to swallow.
When a team does kick 7 goals in a row it invariable provides some highlights so let’s look at the best of them.
• Jamie Bennell is going from strength to strength. I must say I didn’t think he was in our best 22 at the start of the year but boy has he turned me into a convert. He is now a key player in our side and his last few games have been outstanding.
• James Frawley will be an All Australian defender….May be not this year but go down to DeesBet and see what odds they give you for the next couple of years. Mark my words he is going to be a champion and a future great leader of this proud club.
• Paul Johnson. I never thought PJ had a game like this in him. He took it up to big Sandliands and more than held his own. If he can continue this form he will become a pivotal player in our side providing some valuable respite for the big Russian.
• Liam Jurrah was quiet early but was a key player during the resurgent 3rd quarter. He is only going to get better as he plays more games. Watch out for the LJ show……coming to a Demon game real soon.
• J.Mac2.0 – completely shut down Mundy in the 2nd half and still won plenty of the ball himself. He is one of the hardest workers in our team and it is obvious that the football department love this man…..I have to say there is a lot of ‘man love’ from my side too for the man in the number 13.
• Tom Scully is going to be an absolute superstar. He had a run with role with another young gun in Stephen Hill and had the better of him on the day. This can only add to his education and development in the big league. His ability to win the hard ball and run away from packs is (dare I say it?????????)…..Judd like.
• The comparative worth between Jack Watts and NicNat is now officially over. It is like asking me would I rather have a Rolls Royce or a Datsun 180B…..I would take Killer every day of the week. His second half was fantastic and he keeps on improving every game.
Sally
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