Carlton v GWS Giants 20130601 @ Etihad Stadium from 1345 - hopefully with vision on #7mate from 1330

Some interesting numbers trying to find the balance between the two sides tomorrow afternoon:

Carlton				GWS Giants
team stats				team stats
2	Players over 30		-	2	Players over 30
1	Players under 20		-8	9	Players under 20
8	Players w/100+ games		7	1	Players w/100+ games
2	Players w/200+ games		2	-	Players w/200+ games
4	Players w/up to 10 games		-	4	Players w/up to 10 games
86.320	Average games		50.0283	36.2917	Average games
24.673	Average age		2.7414	21.9317	Average age

These are simply numbers that I generate every week to give some indication of the stronger team. You'll see them on my weekly summary of the game on Facey, Twitter, and Google+ after each match. 

1. Carlton only has one player under the age of 20 years, being Troy Menzel, but he may not even get a Guernsey, having been named as an emergency player (he may be used to replace an injured player as late as first-bounce)
2. Carlton has seven players with in excess of 100 games’ experience: two of them (Chris Judd and Heath Scotland) have more than 200 games’ experience- the most experienced player from GWS is Dean Brogan with 189 games, and he’ll be starting on the bench
3. On average, the current Carlton side (including the emergencies) has more than 50 games’ experience than the GWS side

The only balanced stats are older-players (two each over 30), younger players (4 each with 10 games’ experience or less) and age (Carlton averages 24y 9mo, GWS averages 21y 340days)

There is so much else tipping the scales without becoming Tom Waterhouse, but given Carlton’s recent performance with teams toward the bottom of the ladder (even while they were down there themselves earlier this year) it will be an interesting game! It should also be on FTA tele!!

peterg
31/5/13 15:43 AEST

The Ds Woes continue

Absolutely thumped by relative newcomers Gold Coast Suns, the Ds ran in 7 goals to the Suns’ 16 in a game whose score-line finished at

Melbourne: 0.2 3.7 4.10 7.12 (54), Gold Coast: 5.5 9.8 14.12 16.18 (114)

Melbourne scorers

Jeremy Howe 3.3

Max Gawn 2.1 [with only 10 touches]

Col Sylvia 1.1 [who also had 24 touches]

James Strauss 1.0 [with 13 touches]

Nathan Jones 0.3 [co-captain for the afternoon, with 20 touches]

Aaron Davey, M.Evans, J.Spencer 0.1, and

Matt Jones 0.1 [who also had 25 touches]

Gold Coast scorers

Cam Brown 3.3

Zac Smith 3.0

Aaron Hall 2.3

Tom Lynch 2.2

Harley Bennell 1.3 [with 32 possessions]

Steven May 1.1

Sam Day, Jarrod Harbrow, and Trent McKenzie, 1.0

Matt Shaw 1.0 [with 27 possessions]

Jared Brennan, J.Lonergan, 0.1

Jaeger O’Meara 0.1 [with 23 possessions]

While Gary Ablett, still rated as the best player in the League, got 38 possessions

A little while ago, it was decided that the CEO at Demon HQ should step aside. Cameron Schwab was quite divisive within the club, which wasn’t what they needed during arguably the darkest period of a once-great club. Founded in 1868 as the first Australian Football club and inaugural/foundation member of the VFA (VFL after 1897), the Ds boast 11 flags, most notably 5 from six grand finals 1955-1960. They even made a foray into the finals at the end of both the 20^th Century and the career of club great and media footy-guru Garry Lyon, and again 2004-2006 under Neale Daniher.

So what’s going on? The accusation of tanking[1] has been investigated and dismissed … there’s now allegations of illicit drugs and player doping. In a number of articles pundits, former players, and more informed footy supporters than myself are asking the same questions. Chris Dawes says of his departure from Melbourne that the guys just don’t want to improve, although Jakus says there is definitely talent there, but “insipid” performances of late question the wont for them to want to do well.

And former player David Schwarz says that the Ds are in danger of becoming the next Fitzroy [2], despite being in a stronger position 3-4 years ago than the Punt Road up-and-comers whose struggles appear to be finally over, and now Melbourne are another 6-7 years away from where the Tigers are now. And the fans are faring no better, many of whom have been brandishing white flags at recent matches.

Dr Bibotelli suggests that the divisions within the club go back to the infamous Norm Smith incident of 1965. Things certainly weren’t going that well when club legend Jim Stynes was at the helm, either.   

At least the appointment of Peter Jackson to the head of the club, with his ready-to-wield machete, promises big things.

Ds supporters can only hope, anyway, and this comes from the supporter and member of another once-great club who have had many promises since our dark times of the mid-to-late 00s. 

peterg
15May13

References

Bibotelli, D. (2013). Melbourne Demons: How did it come to this? | Unambitious Us. Retrieved from http://www.unambitiousus.com/sports/melbourne-demons-how-did-it-come-to-this/

Buckle, G. and Vaughan, R. (2013). Club champion David Schwarz says Melbourne Demons are on the verge of becoming next Fitzroy | AFL | Fox Sports. Retrieved from http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-premiership/club-champion-david-schwarz-says-melbourne-demons-are-on-verge-of-becoming-next-fitzroy/story-e6frf3e3-1226641557167#.UZNUn7XI2So

Jakus. (2013). Melbourne Demons just not playing for Mark Neeld | The Roar. Retrieved from http://www.theroar.com.au/2013/05/14/melbourne-demons-just-not-playing-for-neeld/

(2013). Melbourne Demons News. Retrieved from http://www.footywire.com/club/sports/team-melbourne-demons-news.html

Spits, S. (2013). Stynes not tarnished by tanking, widow says | Samantha Stynes. The Age: Real Footy, 19 February 2013. Retrieved from http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/stynes-not-tarnished-by-tanking-widow-says-20130219-2eoed.html

[1] Tanking is the term for deliberately throwing matches and/or playing badly in order to finish low on the ladder and therefore get better choices during draft season.

[2] Fitzroy Lions, another foundation club, hit the skids during the 1990s and were merged with then-newcomers Brisbane Bears to become the Brisbane Lions in 1996. Apparently the Ds and Hawks were close to merging at the time, as well, but that was KO’d by Hawthorn’s rank and file.

Records a-tumble as the Demons are absolutely BELTED by the Bombers

The Dees continued their horrible start to the year with a 148-point loss to the Bombers. They only managed the equivalent of 6 goals to the Same-Olds' 28.16 in an effort which still has Melbourne fans screaming for blood!

Going to the records, a worse ladder-percentage after round 2 (28.4% (90 for, 317 against) was not even achieved by the newcoming Suns (30.4, 2011) or Giants (32.2 last year). I had to go back to 1901, during Carlton's heyday as the VFL's whipping boys, to find the worst result (16.8). St.Kilda's 1896 side managed 18.6, and the Uni boys didn't go below 51.1 in what was to be their final year! Let's hope that doesn't happen to one of the VFA/VFL's foundation sides!

Some other records:

• Fitzroy 36.22 (238), Melbourne 6.12 (48) R17, 1979 [190 point loss](This is second highest-score ever in the VFL/AFL, also the biggest win ever) 
• Geelong 37.11 (233), Melbourne 7.5 (47), R19, 2011 [186 point loss](This is the fourth highest-score ever, also the second-biggest win ever)
• Fitzroy 5.4 (40), Melbourne 0.2 (2), R16, 1899 (Equal-2nd lowest-score ever: lowest-ever was Geelong 23.24 (162), St Kilda 0.1 (1), R17 that same year)

Essendon have played Melbourne 208 times since 1897, with time-off because the Ds couldn't field a side during World War 1. They've tied twice (7/5/21 and 2/10/48). Until yesterday, the highest margin of 122 points was achieved on 5/7/86 when the Bombers downed the Dees by 122 points: 27.10 (182) to 8.12 (60). We have to go back to 1927 to see the scale tipped the other way, with a win on 6/8/27 to the Ds by ninety points: 20.20 (140) to 8.2 (50). Both of these games were at the G.  

Something to think about. 

peterg

Details thanks to Paul Jeffs' AFL Stats pages at http://stats.rleague.com/afl/

Amanda Easton – Out of the Blue EP – Independent release

Amanda Easton’s career goes way back, back to songs like Skin, Celebrity, and Falling In, but "Out of the Blue", her latest crowd-funded 5-tracker, shows how she has grown as an artist since our first meeting back in the 90s.  

Back in the 90s I was full of praise for the sounds she was producing, and today she has grown so much from and with it. The work with the Pop Tarts, the lounge sounds of the Basement and Taronga Zoo, her work in the mainstream with names like Matthews, Reyne, Clapton, Powderfinger, and Hines have all helped generate the work behind her latest release:

Out of the Blue Track by track-

1. Dance to the Music in my Head
   Sexy, sultry- generates the vision of someone softly swaying with their eyes closed, a gentle smile on their lips .. slowly builds.

2. Moshi Moshi
   I had visions of Japanese pop with this one, that crosses Britney with Kylie, and in a good way, akin to her own early work.  

3. No Bolt Out of the Blue
   No she certainly is not! This could be a TripleJ track, given the contents of the Hottest 100 in the last few years. Brit-Pop meets Alt-Aus in the vein of Regina Spector, Sara Blasko, etc.

4. The Whole Shebang
   Very Dusty / Sandie / Cilla with her own je ne sais quoi. Her press release says that the girl-singers of the 1960s had been “disregarded as relevant to [her] type of music” but, having recently been introduced to it by Damian (Celebate Rifles) Lovelock, she’s certainly let the influence show in this and the next one.

5. Good Old Fashioned Heartache
   A gentle swinger, this time in the vain of the Spector Wall of Sound with more of that Dusty / Sandie / Cilla for good measure.

Life has been full of ups and downs for Amanda and her family, something to which I can relate, and hopefully there’s more good than bad in the future for them all! "Out of the Blue" is certainly a fine example of where she’s been, where she is, and perhaps, where she’s going.

Very nice! «««

peterg

24Mar13

Sofa Sogood

Being in the library behind the scenes really opens one's eyes up to the services offered therein! It's more than just borrowing stuff, sitting there using their WiFi, or browsing the shelves. There's actual computers, including laptops and eReaders, there's old technology for those of us with old eMedia, databases which you can access both at home and at the library, JP services, historical services, and community services.

So far, I have allocated items straight from the publishers which have been reserved by keen borrowers, helped people at the front desk, even when I wasn't supposed to, picked the items which people thought would be easier to reserve than to look for, and reshelved items which borrowers have returned.

Doesn't seem too interesting to one who would be just reading this to see where my proposed seachange was taking me- shuffling books around a building. But, as I said, there's more to it than that, which my first couple of days have taught me. The first few hours was basic orientation, meeting everyone who was there and finding out what their part is within the big picture, and then to my immediate supervisor for the next few days. She took me through the system and very basically showed me what I'd need to know, and the other full-timer in the area did so in more detail.

Yesterday was spent in the main library chamber, returning items and helping borrowers at the front desk, and in the afternoon I was processing newly received items for stock. Today was spent only picking out reserved items (stuff people have marked out for themselves for when it becomes available, or thought it would be easier to get a staff member to find it for them): I only picked the non-fiction and some of the AV and community-language items; one of the night staff had to go through the rest of it. I hope that isn't too much of an issue but, if they wanted me to learn the lay of the facility, I think they've done it.

Tomorrow I'm doing something else again (hopefully), next week I'm with the person who looks after special interest collection, and at one point I think I'm with the IT guru; then for the third week I'm out at one of the larger / busier branches. But the aim of the whole period is to learn librarianship, which I sure am!

Now to let my co-ordinator at Uni know what's happening ...


peterg
24Jan13

Apprehensive but excited

Tomorrow I start a three-week practicum at the local library. It's part of the Grad.Dip I'm doing through Curtin.

I hope to be able to blog about it- I have mentioned it to my co-ordinator but not to my host. I hope he's cool with it.

So here I am, 11:00 on a Sunday night, writing a blog when I should be asleep.

Nervous? Probably- it's a big step I'm taking. This probably won't lead to anything- I'm just an intern. But it will show me if I want to be in the field.

Apprehensive? Well, yes- I'm 47.5yo and looking to make a sea-change: MrsG is open to the move, and Jr is young enough not to be overly uprooted. I've been in the public service since 2001 (so that means this entire millennium), which is good for one who never wanted to be a gubbo, let alone doing a practical during Long Service Leave!

Excited? Well, that goes without saying. The Hellmouth has given me all it's going to, so it's time to move on. This period of internship is only so I can pass a unit- whether I go on in the field is determined by how the internship goes.

There are so many options in the field- local, academic, corporate facilities all with various requirements, but the main one is the Grad.Dip I am studying for and for which this internship is part.

Let's see how we go through the coming weeks.


pg
20Jan13