FIND out what’s being said about the club in the major daily newspapers on Sunday, August 7, 2011
Herald Sun
Stynes speaks to Demons after game
Stynes speaks to Demons after game
By Ron Reed
MELBOURNE'S week from hell got no better yesterday with another thrashing, a serious injury to a young player and a second one also stretchered off the MCG. It added up to a dispiriting debut for stand-in coach Todd Viney, but the former on-field hard man said: "I presume it gets easier." Defender James Strauss, 21, was in the Epworth hospital last night being operated on after his left leg snapped as he hit the ground following an aerial contest in the first quarter. And first-year recruit Luke Tapscott, 20, was being checked out for neck pain after appearing to have been knocked out in an aerial collision early in the last quarter. Carlton brushed aside a strong start by the Demons, coming off an embarrasing 186-point hammering by Geelong last week, to win by 76 points after kicking eight goals to none in a dominant second quarter.
Accountability is key, Lyon says
MELBOURNE'S week from hell got no better yesterday with another thrashing, a serious injury to a young player and a second one also stretchered off the MCG. It added up to a dispiriting debut for stand-in coach Todd Viney, but the former on-field hard man said: "I presume it gets easier." Defender James Strauss, 21, was in the Epworth hospital last night being operated on after his left leg snapped as he hit the ground following an aerial contest in the first quarter. And first-year recruit Luke Tapscott, 20, was being checked out for neck pain after appearing to have been knocked out in an aerial collision early in the last quarter. Carlton brushed aside a strong start by the Demons, coming off an embarrasing 186-point hammering by Geelong last week, to win by 76 points after kicking eight goals to none in a dominant second quarter.
Accountability is key, Lyon says
By Glenn McFarlane
MELBOURNE'S stand-in football director, Garry Lyon, says the Demons' senior players need to be more accountable for their performances in the wake of another embarrassing loss yesterday. Speaking on Triple M yesterday as he sat through the 76-point defeat at the hands of Carlton, Lyon said the embattled club needed more consistent output from its players across the board. "There would be senior blokes out there today who wouldn't be satisfied with their performance," Lyon said. "I think what happens from here is that the accountability factor (has to be there). "You go back and review this (game) and you make the players accountable for what happened out there. You go and review it to the point where they are left in no uncertain terms and have some recrimination for your performance. "If you are not doing the right thing, then you move on. I think that is what has got to happen and happen and happen until you are all on the same page."
Viney fails to fire dismal Dees
MELBOURNE'S stand-in football director, Garry Lyon, says the Demons' senior players need to be more accountable for their performances in the wake of another embarrassing loss yesterday. Speaking on Triple M yesterday as he sat through the 76-point defeat at the hands of Carlton, Lyon said the embattled club needed more consistent output from its players across the board. "There would be senior blokes out there today who wouldn't be satisfied with their performance," Lyon said. "I think what happens from here is that the accountability factor (has to be there). "You go back and review this (game) and you make the players accountable for what happened out there. You go and review it to the point where they are left in no uncertain terms and have some recrimination for your performance. "If you are not doing the right thing, then you move on. I think that is what has got to happen and happen and happen until you are all on the same page."
Viney fails to fire dismal Dees
By Glenn McFarlane
BECOMING a new father is meant to make you more compassionate, but not in Chris Judd's case. After a week of near implosion at the Melbourne Football Club, including the sacking of coach Dean Bailey after last week's second-greatest loss in AFL history, and with inspirational president Jim Stynes out of hospital for yesterday's game, Carlton had been wary about the potential strong response from the Demons. Clubs with blowtorches under them and with caretaker coaches - in this case Todd Viney - have been known to turn form completely on its axis. But if there was ever any chance of that happening at the MCG, Judd swiftly put an end to it - along with some of his teammates - with a blistering and near remorseless first half. It was almost as if he wanted to blunt the Demons before they could even dare to be sharp. And although he dropped back a gear or two when the game was well and truly in the bag, his efforts were remarkable.
Jimmy Stynes's brave day at the MCG
BECOMING a new father is meant to make you more compassionate, but not in Chris Judd's case. After a week of near implosion at the Melbourne Football Club, including the sacking of coach Dean Bailey after last week's second-greatest loss in AFL history, and with inspirational president Jim Stynes out of hospital for yesterday's game, Carlton had been wary about the potential strong response from the Demons. Clubs with blowtorches under them and with caretaker coaches - in this case Todd Viney - have been known to turn form completely on its axis. But if there was ever any chance of that happening at the MCG, Judd swiftly put an end to it - along with some of his teammates - with a blistering and near remorseless first half. It was almost as if he wanted to blunt the Demons before they could even dare to be sharp. And although he dropped back a gear or two when the game was well and truly in the bag, his efforts were remarkable.
Jimmy Stynes's brave day at the MCG
By Graeme Hammond
THE scoreboard told a story of decisive loss, but for Melbourne Football Club president Jim Stynes just being at the MCG yesterday was a victory to cherish. But it very nearly didn't happen that way. Stynes, 45, who spent most of the week in poor shape at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, had urged his doctors to grant him a leave pass for the day to support the Demons in their battle with Carlton. But even yesterday morning the prospects were dim. "I had bleeding from a tumour in my brain," a weary Stynes said. "They weren't going to let me go, but they did some tests this morning and found it had stopped. I guess I had a break." For the gutsy football chief, it may not have been the worst week in his life - the news two years ago that a cancerous lump on his back had spread elsewhere in his body would probably trump that - but it must have been close.
The Age
Scorebored
THE scoreboard told a story of decisive loss, but for Melbourne Football Club president Jim Stynes just being at the MCG yesterday was a victory to cherish. But it very nearly didn't happen that way. Stynes, 45, who spent most of the week in poor shape at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, had urged his doctors to grant him a leave pass for the day to support the Demons in their battle with Carlton. But even yesterday morning the prospects were dim. "I had bleeding from a tumour in my brain," a weary Stynes said. "They weren't going to let me go, but they did some tests this morning and found it had stopped. I guess I had a break." For the gutsy football chief, it may not have been the worst week in his life - the news two years ago that a cancerous lump on his back had spread elsewhere in his body would probably trump that - but it must have been close.
The Age
Scorebored
By Rohan Connolly
IT'S a week on from the mother of all AFL floggings, and yet the scoreline and margin still seem scarcely believable. Geelong's 37.11 (233) sounds like something from a lopsided junior league. Melbourne's 186-point defeat in this allegedly super-competitive age is the stuff of a freak show, not a game of AFL football. But while such humiliations remain rare, Geelong's destruction of the Demons was merely the extreme end of a trend which, unlike a few others we've seen this year like the long kick and high mark, isn't giving anyone as much of a warm and fuzzy glow. While the latter part of the season tends to serve up its share of scoreboard blowouts, 2011 is starting to turn into a bit of a feeding frenzy.
The final cut
IT'S a week on from the mother of all AFL floggings, and yet the scoreline and margin still seem scarcely believable. Geelong's 37.11 (233) sounds like something from a lopsided junior league. Melbourne's 186-point defeat in this allegedly super-competitive age is the stuff of a freak show, not a game of AFL football. But while such humiliations remain rare, Geelong's destruction of the Demons was merely the extreme end of a trend which, unlike a few others we've seen this year like the long kick and high mark, isn't giving anyone as much of a warm and fuzzy glow. While the latter part of the season tends to serve up its share of scoreboard blowouts, 2011 is starting to turn into a bit of a feeding frenzy.
The final cut
By Peter Hanlon
Rhett Bartlett says a son always remembers the first time he sees his father looking vulnerable. He was 12 when it happened, and Kevin Bartlett had just been sacked as coach of the club he loved. ''I came home from school and he was there, he came up to me and gave me a hug and thanked me for helping him through his time as a coach,'' Rhett recalls. ''And he was crying, it was the first time I'd seen him cry.'' The Harrison Room at the MCG on Tuesday was full of men who have known this pain, and been reminded in recent days of the scar it leaves. If you're wondering why a man would put himself through it, a gathering of sacked Richmond coaches is a good place to look for answers. ''If I had my time over again, I wouldn't do it,'' says Tony Jewell, who ''fell into it'' in 1979 without ambition, coached the Tigers' most recent premiership the following season, and was shown the Punt Road door a year later (and again in 1987).
Demons work through pain
Rhett Bartlett says a son always remembers the first time he sees his father looking vulnerable. He was 12 when it happened, and Kevin Bartlett had just been sacked as coach of the club he loved. ''I came home from school and he was there, he came up to me and gave me a hug and thanked me for helping him through his time as a coach,'' Rhett recalls. ''And he was crying, it was the first time I'd seen him cry.'' The Harrison Room at the MCG on Tuesday was full of men who have known this pain, and been reminded in recent days of the scar it leaves. If you're wondering why a man would put himself through it, a gathering of sacked Richmond coaches is a good place to look for answers. ''If I had my time over again, I wouldn't do it,'' says Tony Jewell, who ''fell into it'' in 1979 without ambition, coached the Tigers' most recent premiership the following season, and was shown the Punt Road door a year later (and again in 1987).
Demons work through pain
By Peter Hanlon
MELBOURNE'S caretaker coach Todd Viney praised the effort of maligned No. 1 draft pick Jack Watts last night, saying he ''really stood up'' in the 76-point loss to Carlton after a week that had been akin to a mourning process for the Demons. Viney rued Melbourne's first-quarter inaccuracy, when a return of three goals seven squandered the chance to make the strong start needed to return some confidence to the group after a devastating week in which their coach of four years, Dean Bailey, was sacked. He said they were then ''blown out of the water'' in the second term, but praised Watts and Colin Garland for holding their ground in defence, and the team as a whole for regrouping. ''I thought he really stood up, his workrate once again was excellent,'' Viney said of Watts. ''We'd like to use him more as a permanent forward, but playing him a little bit in the back half during the year has given him a little bit of confidence. He's been our swing man a bit, gone down back when we've tried to stem the bleeding. ''Even in second quarter he went back there, took a couple of good marks, spoiled a couple, impacted their momentum.''
Blues show no mercy
MELBOURNE'S caretaker coach Todd Viney praised the effort of maligned No. 1 draft pick Jack Watts last night, saying he ''really stood up'' in the 76-point loss to Carlton after a week that had been akin to a mourning process for the Demons. Viney rued Melbourne's first-quarter inaccuracy, when a return of three goals seven squandered the chance to make the strong start needed to return some confidence to the group after a devastating week in which their coach of four years, Dean Bailey, was sacked. He said they were then ''blown out of the water'' in the second term, but praised Watts and Colin Garland for holding their ground in defence, and the team as a whole for regrouping. ''I thought he really stood up, his workrate once again was excellent,'' Viney said of Watts. ''We'd like to use him more as a permanent forward, but playing him a little bit in the back half during the year has given him a little bit of confidence. He's been our swing man a bit, gone down back when we've tried to stem the bleeding. ''Even in second quarter he went back there, took a couple of good marks, spoiled a couple, impacted their momentum.''
Blues show no mercy
By Chloe Saltau
CHRIS Judd was in a tight space, but would not be cornered. The boundary was on one side, his opponent Jack Trengove on the other, but he waltzed, laid the ball on his left boot and sank the goal that began the quarter that broke Melbourne's heart. Half an hour later the Demons had added another dispiriting chapter to a traumatic week. They had been beaten up by Geelong, endured the sacking of their coach and public airing of the club's internal politics, and now had the misfortune of encountering Judd at his most imperious. The Blues' eventual 76-point win was not the horrible thrashing it threatened to become at half-time, after Judd turned on a masterclass to go with his virtuoso show against Essendon a fortnight ago. But his and Carlton's second quarter was enough to break the resolve the Demons showed in the first term, when they won the contested ball and the inside 50s, but wasted four shots at goal.
Regardless of the battle, Jim keeps the faith
By Peter Hanlon
JIM Stynes has his own miraculous change of fortune to hope and pray for, yet he still left hospital yesterday thinking his beloved Melbourne Football Club could create its own fairytale. ''We expect to win, that's what you turn up for,'' Stynes said last night, disappointed in defeat but, as ever, very much unbowed. Melbourne's incredible president returned to the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre last night to prepare for yet another bout of surgery this week, when the tumour in his stomach that stopped bleeding yesterday morning, just in time for doctors to grant him an afternoon at the MCG, will be removed. His proud assessment of the Demons' performance against Carlton was littered with language that might have been a metaphor for his own, far greater battle. ''Obviously there was a lot of pressure, but I must admit I'm very proud of the players today - I don't think the score reflected the way we played,'' Stynes said of the 76-point loss - a 110-point improvement on the near-record drubbing by Geelong a week earlier that precipitated the sacking of coach Dean Bailey. ''You don't plan for these sort of things. You've got to respond to whatever happens … you never know what the opposition is going to throw at you.''
Dees back to basics
CHRIS Judd was in a tight space, but would not be cornered. The boundary was on one side, his opponent Jack Trengove on the other, but he waltzed, laid the ball on his left boot and sank the goal that began the quarter that broke Melbourne's heart. Half an hour later the Demons had added another dispiriting chapter to a traumatic week. They had been beaten up by Geelong, endured the sacking of their coach and public airing of the club's internal politics, and now had the misfortune of encountering Judd at his most imperious. The Blues' eventual 76-point win was not the horrible thrashing it threatened to become at half-time, after Judd turned on a masterclass to go with his virtuoso show against Essendon a fortnight ago. But his and Carlton's second quarter was enough to break the resolve the Demons showed in the first term, when they won the contested ball and the inside 50s, but wasted four shots at goal.
Regardless of the battle, Jim keeps the faith
By Peter Hanlon
JIM Stynes has his own miraculous change of fortune to hope and pray for, yet he still left hospital yesterday thinking his beloved Melbourne Football Club could create its own fairytale. ''We expect to win, that's what you turn up for,'' Stynes said last night, disappointed in defeat but, as ever, very much unbowed. Melbourne's incredible president returned to the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre last night to prepare for yet another bout of surgery this week, when the tumour in his stomach that stopped bleeding yesterday morning, just in time for doctors to grant him an afternoon at the MCG, will be removed. His proud assessment of the Demons' performance against Carlton was littered with language that might have been a metaphor for his own, far greater battle. ''Obviously there was a lot of pressure, but I must admit I'm very proud of the players today - I don't think the score reflected the way we played,'' Stynes said of the 76-point loss - a 110-point improvement on the near-record drubbing by Geelong a week earlier that precipitated the sacking of coach Dean Bailey. ''You don't plan for these sort of things. You've got to respond to whatever happens … you never know what the opposition is going to throw at you.''
Dees back to basics
By Jake Niall
ONE youngster, Luke Tapscott, had been cleaned up in a horrific case of friendly fire and was in hospital, awake but feeling some neck pain and numbness down his arm. Another kid, James Strauss, was being operated on in the same hospital, having suffered a gruesome broken leg that prompted most of the 42,000 to groan when the leg-break moment was replayed at the ground. Their gravely ill president probably should also have been in a hospital bed, but he was never going to be anywhere other than the MCG yesterday afternoon. The toll on Melbourne was significant, reminding everyone of football's base brutality. But despite the awful injuries to Tapscott and Strauss and the poignant sight of Jim Stynes in the rooms, patting players and tending to their wounded spirits, the Melbourne Football Club rooms were far less dismal and dark than they had been seven days earlier, when a 186-point defeat triggered the sacking of a coach and a week of upheaval. The brutality of what had happened in the club boardroom, one fancies, was more hurtful than the injuries. The Demons had torn down their coach in response to their surrender, reversing the prospective sacking of their chief executive. The coaching gig was handed over to another resilient teammate of Stynes, Todd Viney, who didn't have time to change much and could only exhort the players to do the basics: go in hard, win the ball, defend when you don't have the ball - basics utterly absent from the Geelong massacre. Melbourne was ''disappointed'' again, but its 76-point loss to Carlton was still viewed as a step forward, compared with the Cats carnage. Viney thought it better.
ONE youngster, Luke Tapscott, had been cleaned up in a horrific case of friendly fire and was in hospital, awake but feeling some neck pain and numbness down his arm. Another kid, James Strauss, was being operated on in the same hospital, having suffered a gruesome broken leg that prompted most of the 42,000 to groan when the leg-break moment was replayed at the ground. Their gravely ill president probably should also have been in a hospital bed, but he was never going to be anywhere other than the MCG yesterday afternoon. The toll on Melbourne was significant, reminding everyone of football's base brutality. But despite the awful injuries to Tapscott and Strauss and the poignant sight of Jim Stynes in the rooms, patting players and tending to their wounded spirits, the Melbourne Football Club rooms were far less dismal and dark than they had been seven days earlier, when a 186-point defeat triggered the sacking of a coach and a week of upheaval. The brutality of what had happened in the club boardroom, one fancies, was more hurtful than the injuries. The Demons had torn down their coach in response to their surrender, reversing the prospective sacking of their chief executive. The coaching gig was handed over to another resilient teammate of Stynes, Todd Viney, who didn't have time to change much and could only exhort the players to do the basics: go in hard, win the ball, defend when you don't have the ball - basics utterly absent from the Geelong massacre. Melbourne was ''disappointed'' again, but its 76-point loss to Carlton was still viewed as a step forward, compared with the Cats carnage. Viney thought it better.
