FIND out what’s being said about the club in the major daily newspapers on Saturday and Sunday August 20 and 21, 2011
Herald Sun
Viney discovers a consuming passion
By Jon Ralph
TODD Viney has never considered himself absent-minded. Certainly not the kind of person to ruin a perfectly good car with a schoolboy error. But when you strap yourself into a senior coaching position in Australia's most high-profile sporting code, strange things can happen. Demons caretaker coach Viney said if he ever doubted the "mentally consuming" nature of senior coaching, he was now under no illusions. "The first week there was a lot going on - I was talking to the media, talking to the football staff for the first time, talking to the players, meeting the board, what is your message to your staff?" he told the Herald Sun this week.
Demons build on defensive tactics
By Jon Ralph
TODD Viney doesn't shy from the fact his short-term plan for the Demons is diametrically opposed to that chosen by Dean Bailey. The Melbourne caretaker coach says the team has come to a fork in the road in terms of its playing style. Down one route is the type of attacking football that would thrill crowds, but probably see another coach sacked. Down the alternate path is the defence first, win-the-hard-ball football that could break the proud club's long premiership drought. "We need to keep developing so we not only get into the finals, but have an impact," Viney said. "So we need to get some of those fundamentals of the game right, and if we can't, we will only be an average team. If we get them right, we will be good this week and next week, but also in two years."
Expect someone out of the box
By Mark Stevens
WHEN the bookies opened the market on the Geelong coaching job last October, Chris Scott was at juicy odds of $21. The shortest he got with Sportsbet was $11 - the day he was appointed to replace Mark Thompson. His twin brother, Brad, started at odds of $15 for the North Melbourne post back in 2009, only to blow out to $26. Someone, somewhere, surely cashed in there when the Kangas shocked everybody. Dean Bailey was rated so lowly a contender for the Melbourne job in 2007 he did not even have his own price. Bailey was shoved into the $4.50 "any other person" basket and ended up beating far bigger names in Kevin Sheedy and Chris Connolly for the gig. The message from the above examples is simple: Expect the unexpected as Adelaide, Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs hunt for new coaches.
Clarko won’t leave, but will cost more
By Mike Sheahan
ALASTAIR Clarkson won't be going to Melbourne. He won't be going anywhere. He's simply going to be a little more expensive for Hawthorn next year because of Jeff Kennett's steadfast refusal to back away from his pledge to put contract negotiations on ice until the end of the club's season. The irony is Hawthorn has since tabled an offer with the Clarkson camp, and the Hawks still have at least four more games and as many as six. At some point, coach and club will shake hands on a three-year extension. While the contract renewal is a formality, the numbers will be a little higher than they would have been three months ago, because of the Hawks' progress and the possibility any one or all of Adelaide, Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs could make an approach to a bloke who won a premiership less than three years ago and is coming off contract.
The Age
Howe and why
WHEN the bookies opened the market on the Geelong coaching job last October, Chris Scott was at juicy odds of $21. The shortest he got with Sportsbet was $11 - the day he was appointed to replace Mark Thompson. His twin brother, Brad, started at odds of $15 for the North Melbourne post back in 2009, only to blow out to $26. Someone, somewhere, surely cashed in there when the Kangas shocked everybody. Dean Bailey was rated so lowly a contender for the Melbourne job in 2007 he did not even have his own price. Bailey was shoved into the $4.50 "any other person" basket and ended up beating far bigger names in Kevin Sheedy and Chris Connolly for the gig. The message from the above examples is simple: Expect the unexpected as Adelaide, Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs hunt for new coaches.
Clarko won’t leave, but will cost more
By Mike Sheahan
ALASTAIR Clarkson won't be going to Melbourne. He won't be going anywhere. He's simply going to be a little more expensive for Hawthorn next year because of Jeff Kennett's steadfast refusal to back away from his pledge to put contract negotiations on ice until the end of the club's season. The irony is Hawthorn has since tabled an offer with the Clarkson camp, and the Hawks still have at least four more games and as many as six. At some point, coach and club will shake hands on a three-year extension. While the contract renewal is a formality, the numbers will be a little higher than they would have been three months ago, because of the Hawks' progress and the possibility any one or all of Adelaide, Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs could make an approach to a bloke who won a premiership less than three years ago and is coming off contract.
The Age
Howe and why
By Emma Quayle
THERE'S something a little bit different about Jeremy Howe's YouTube video, made before he was drafted last November. It's not the amount of time he spends in the air: one big grab, then another, then another. It's not the amount of time he seems to spend running through the midfield, the long string of goals or even his yellow-and-black Hobart guernsey that catches the eye. No, it's the mop of bleached blond hair, fashioned into some sort of mullet. Was this the act of a 20-year-old desperate to finally be drafted, willing to do anything at all to make sure people would notice him? Not quite. “I just went through a bad stage. A bad stage of doing my own hairdressing,” laughed Melbourne's new, brown-haired forward. Me and my mates were mucking around — we went and bought one of those cheap hair colours, I chucked it in and it just went horribly wrong. So yeah, it was bad. My mum was a hairdresser for 25?years before she went into another job, and she was horrified. When I got drafted I cut it and shaved it all out. I knew I couldn't turn up looking like that.”
THERE'S something a little bit different about Jeremy Howe's YouTube video, made before he was drafted last November. It's not the amount of time he spends in the air: one big grab, then another, then another. It's not the amount of time he seems to spend running through the midfield, the long string of goals or even his yellow-and-black Hobart guernsey that catches the eye. No, it's the mop of bleached blond hair, fashioned into some sort of mullet. Was this the act of a 20-year-old desperate to finally be drafted, willing to do anything at all to make sure people would notice him? Not quite. “I just went through a bad stage. A bad stage of doing my own hairdressing,” laughed Melbourne's new, brown-haired forward. Me and my mates were mucking around — we went and bought one of those cheap hair colours, I chucked it in and it just went horribly wrong. So yeah, it was bad. My mum was a hairdresser for 25?years before she went into another job, and she was horrified. When I got drafted I cut it and shaved it all out. I knew I couldn't turn up looking like that.”
