The Man in the Stand
Summer Reading
This year’s summer reading starts with ‘The Man in the Stand’ by Geoff Cordner. Reflect on the words which so eloquently express our passion! Does it strikes a chord with you? Enjoy!
The Man in the Stand
There’s a man in the stand, and he’s looking at you
And he’s wanting to know if you’re feeling it too
The pride in the guernsey, which means so much more
When you wear it for all those who’ve worn it before
The duty that comes with the honour bestowed
To respect the ideals of the MFC code
With the passion and courage of teams of the past
Play each quarter, each minute as if it’s your last
There’s a man in the stand, and it shows in his face
He’d give anything just to be there in your place
To lace up your boots, and to feel what you feel
When you pull on the armour of red and blue steel
To be able to tell the young boy on his knee
Of the day that the fans roared for him at the ‘G
So one thing you must say as you walk from the shed
Is you won’t let this privilege go to your head
You won’t take for granted what you’ve been allowed
The chance to play footy in front of this crowd
There’s a man in the stand, but he’s not on his own
There are thousands beside, and behind, and at home
Those who wear the Club colours, and whose welfare depends
On whether their team is in front at the end
Though between them they haven’t a stat to their names
They are the very heart and the soul of this game
And the question these people are asking of you
Is if you get cut today, will you bleed red and blue?
It’s a Grand Old Flag, but in this brave new world
If you want to see a 13th flag being unfurled
Then don’t waste your time on the papers or news
Because games aren’t determined by media views
Nor do crowds or the umpires decide who prevails
It’s young men with big hearts just refusing to fail
Heads over the ball, their bodies on the line
Who, when knocked down get up again time after time
And who know that there’s always some more they can find
Even when the board says that they’re five goals behind
Winners don’t play three quarters, or give into fear
And you don’t play for glory or women or beer
No, you play for each other, standing shoulder to shoulder
If the other team’s brave then you have to be bolder
And the thing you’ll reflect on one day when you’re older
Is the man you became as a red and blue soldier
There’s a man in the stand, and like those that surround him
He smiles as he turns to the faces around him
He smiles in the knowledge this team shares his pride
And that this is a group who will not be denied
And he yells himself hoarse as he cheers for that team
He believes that these men can deliver that dream
And he knows that the prize they have sought all these years
Will be well worth the blood and the sweat and the tears
Tags:
NSW Demons Year in Review
Hope you can join us on Thursday 22 November at 6.00pm at the Camelia Grove Hotel, 146 Henderson Rd, Alexandria
Tags:
Not exactly to plan but not all bad news
But hey it wasn’t all bad news in the penultimate round of the home and away season! Three of my favourite clubs, Collingwood, ‘Essedon’ and Carlton all lost on the weekend with the latter two clubs now confirmed to be enjoying September in the stands. All three clubs are going through their own respective ‘crises’ be it trying to sign up key players, missing the finals, an unprecedented soft tissue injury count or a coach under siege and it couldn’t happen to three better clubs. For once it isn’t the Demons on the back page for all the wrong reasons and I am smiling. I am smiling as for once the Melbourne Football Club is showing consistent signs of stability both on and off the field and, well let’s be frank, the three above mentioned clubs are the antithesis of this. Hah!
But back to the game on the weekend and, as I mentioned, we came out of the blocks first. In fact we were still well and truly in the game midway through the 2nd quarter but the 3rd quarter was far from our finest with the Crows piling on 10 goals to put the game well and truly to bed. Statistic wise the game didn’t mirror the score line – the Demons matched the Crows in inside 50s and had more disposals on the day. But alarmingly the Crows in ‘red time’ (after the 20-minute mark) of each of the opening three quarters outscored the Demons 9.6 to 0.2! This surely would have been a key area of frustration amongst the Dees brains trust. Our ability to run out games and indeed quarters has been a problem all year and it is clear the boys need another solid pre-season to build up their fitness base and properly adapt to the new game plan set in place.
Despite the loss we did have some very good performances on the day:
- The standout was Colin Sylvia. A game high 34 disposals was a fantastic effort. Colin had an interrupted pre-season and his form, particularly in the back half of the year, has been outstanding and he is showing the football world just why he was taken #3 in the draft.
- Nathan Jones racked up 25 touches coupled with 8 clearances and a goal in another ‘Bluey’ voting effort.
- Jack Grimes continues with this sublime form collecting 23 possessions in what undoubtedly has been his best year at the club.
- Rohan Bail also played a good game and easily was in our best players finishing up with 22 disposals and a team high six inside 50s.
Darren Spence
Tags:
A special type of feeling
A special type of feeling – Darren Spence
Friday 24 August 2012
Selamat Idul Fitri!….. That’s right it is the end of the Holy Month of Ramadan and the Muslims around the world are celebrating. And it’s not just the Muslims that are jovial at present…….not only do these festivities give me 10 days off work but I also got to celebrate our beloved Demons win in Canberra on Saturday. Yes Canberra! A rare win away from the MCG and our fourth win for the season.
It was cold and blustery in our nations capital and, let’s be honest, the game will hardly be a feature in any ‘great games of the season’ package but I really don’t care how we win. Some may call me crazy but I ‘think’ Melbourne will win every game we play but on the weekend I ‘expected’ us to a win.’ This type of feeling has been lost of late and originates back in a time in the late 80s and early 90s where my ‘expectation’ of a win (and indeed winning) played out more often that not. This is a special type of feeling and one that I know we all long to experience again. I am firmly convinced that this is on the horizon and we had some key players on the weekend who will take us there.
- First and foremost our two co-captains. Jack Grimes continued his outstanding form of late to pick up 24 touches, 9 tackles and finished up kicking a goal. Jack Trengove played arguably his best game for the year getting a season high 23 disposals and also managed 2 goals.
- They say that there are only two certainties in life – death and taxes. Well you can add two more – in 2012 Nathan Jones will win the ‘Bluey’ and Jeremy Howe will win mark of the year. Whilst it wasn’t Jonesey’s best game for the season, he was more than servicable clocking up 24 possessions. Howe, on the other hand, took another hanger and finished with 3.3 goals and in my book was our best player on the day.
- Someone who could mount a claim for our best player against the Giants is Lynden Dunn. In what may end up being a career defining second half of the season, Dunn has been fantastic in the back line. On Saturday he celebrated finally removing that horrible mo with a career high 28 disposals which included 10 marks.
- Rarely does a substitute player get a mention here but rarely does a footballer come along like Jack Watts. Coming on after half time Wattsy was smoother than Casanova’s pillow talk and picked up 15 disposals in a great comeback game.
- Finally Joel MacDonald and Tom McDonald played solid games – Joel playing the best football in the red and blue of his career this year and well Tom, I have been glowing in his praise all season and he continues to be a great revelation.
This week it is the Crows back at the ‘G’. In what is Brad Green’s farewell tribute game and with Adelaide smarting after their shock loss to the Lions and fighting for top spot, the match will be full of emotion. I hope all Demon fans turn up to bid farewell to one of the Demon greats. And by the way, I think we will win!
Darren Spence
BISTRO at the CAMELIA GROVE HOTEL is the WINNER for “BEST OF SYDNEY- DINNER” 2012
Join the NSW Demons this Sunday to watch the game on the big screen and indulge in food from the award winning bistro at the Cammy, our AFL supporting pub. The Bistro at the Camelia Grove Hotel has won Alternative Media Group’s “Best Dinner” in Best of Sydney Awards 2012 thanks to their famous Cammy Signature Burger and more. Come down and try one for yourself!
Enjoy the weekend and Go Dees!
Sally Trevena
Tags:
Raid Your Piggy Bank
Raid Your Piggy Bank – Darren Spence
Thursday 16 August 2012
Everybody look between couch, raid your piggy bank, find every spare dollar you have and donate it to the 100% Melbourne Fund as the game on the weekend again highlighted the fact that we need another key forward as we embark on our quest to be ‘The Masters of the MCG’. Look I personally do not think that Travis Cloke will leave the Pies but imagine a forward line containing Clark, Cloke and LJ in 2013!!!!…….That’s gotta be worth an extra 10,000 members in itself!
I shouldn’t have to highlight how frustrating it can be following Melbourne and in case anyone did forget, have a look at the replay of Saturday’s game. We kicked our first goal at 16mins into the second quarter and went into half time with only two goals on the board yet at that stage we had more of the ball and more inside 50s than the Saints. The boys worked so hard to get the ball into an attacking area but without the key personnel on the park their collective hard work continued to go unrewarded.
Our third quarter started promisingly and I was Big Kev excited when the Dees were within a kick. But then we were blown away in the blink of an eye and before I could even finish my beer we were 50 points down and out of the game. To the boys’ credit they did fight back with eight last quarter goals but this just added to the frustration as once again the Demons failed to string four quarters together. And as we have seen time and time again this invariably results in a loss. They say you can’t buy experience in a shop and the Saints had collectively more than 1200 AFL games experience than our players on the park on the weekend. This ongoing mismatch is something that the 100% Melbourne Fund is looking to address.
So we lost by 25 points but we did have some performances that warrant a mention:
- Our co-captain (and NSW Demons sponsored player I might add) Jack Grimes is having his best season to date. After 32 games in 4 years Jack has played 18 games this season and on Saturday it was one of his best games in the Red and Blue. Spending much of his time in the midfield he was our leading possession getter with 29.
- Sammy Blease – one of my favourite players on our list – had a blinder with 5 goals and now enjoys bragging rights with Jordie Gysberts by joining an exclusive club with having two Rising Star nominations. I love watching Sammy play – his speed is electrifying and he is one of a burgeoning number of exciting players on the Melbourne Footy Club list.
- Nathan Jones did what Nathan Jones has done all season and picked up 26 touches while I was impressed with the way James Sellar competed through the course of the game and finished with two goals and probably should have had more.
- Joel Macdonald played arguably his best game in the red and blue and racked up 27 possessions whilst other members of our leadership group in Jack Trengove and Jared Rivers all put in solid performances.
This week it is GWS in a game that the boys will be fired up for. Our travelling record is as bad as the Togo ski jump team but feelings will be running high with the desertion of Tom Scully still burning deep inside. It looks like Lukey Tapscott will be playing this time around…..Memo to Mark Neeld……please please play him on Tom Scully!!
Go Dees
Tags:
Follow us on twitter
Join our facebook group