Find out what’s being said about the club in the major daily newspapers on Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Herald Sun


Demons, Roos to play GWS twice
By Mark Stevens

MELBOURNE and North Melbourne have won the AFL fixture lottery after being handed two matches against Greater Western Sydney next year.  They are the only Victorian clubs to double up against the likely easybeats. A final draft version of the fixture, seen by the Herald Sun, reveals Gold Coast, Sydney and Adelaide as the other clubs with the chance to bank eight points against GWS.

Sylvia axed from Irish series after crash (Monday)
By Mark Buttler, Jon Ralph

DEMONS player Colin Sylvia has been stripped of his place in the International Rules Series as mystery surrounds why he left the scene of a serious car accident in which he was a passenger.  Sylvia's BMW X5 crashed and knocked down a power pole on Kings Way, South Melbourne, at 6.15am yesterday. He and his driver, a mate, were unhurt and left. Police say they were not notified until 7.45am. They later spoke to a 27-year-old Thomastown man, who is expected to be charged with traffic offences. The AFL last night stripped Sylvia of his position in the International Rules Series, given he was drinking the night before the team's first training session.

Mark Neeld roughs it to secure Mitch Clark (Sunday)
By Craig Hutchison

MELBOURNE coach Mark Neeld has revealed how he was forced to stay in a $91 hotel room in Brisbane without a change of clothes, as the Demons tried to secure Mitch Clark during trade week.  Neeld said the club made a spur of the moment decision to fly to Brisbane after hearing Fremantle might not be able to sign Clark, only to discover on arrival that almost every hotel in the city was full. "It was the Belgian beer festival or something," Neeld said. "I'm serious, we could not find (anything). Here we are trying to recruit a power forward and we're standing at Brisbane airport with no accommodation." Neeld said his party of three eventually managed to find a hotel where three of them could sleep - provided they shared one room. "We stayed next to the airport in one room ... it had a bunk-bed in it," Neeld told Crocmedia's Off the Bench. "The top of the bunk-bed had an airconditioner sticking out of the wall. I was that concerned, I did not sleep under the doona for a fear of catching something. I just slept on top of it. It was absolutely horrendous. "For the three guys to stay in the one room was $91 for the night. "It was very similar to a room I slept in for Grade 5 camp."

The Age

Sylvia dropped from rules squad after car crash (Monday)
By Michael Gleeson

MELBOURNE footballer Colin Sylvia has been dumped from the Australian squad for the International Rules series against Ireland after leaving the scene of a car accident yesterday morning. ''I spoke to Colin today and advised him he would not join the squad. His preparation to join the Australian team was not acceptable for the standards we require for this series,'' said AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson said. Sylvia was interviewed by police but was not charged. The Demons midfielder was a passenger in his BMW X5 being driven by a friend when they ran into a pole in South Melbourne about 6.15 am.