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They say Burt Lancaster has one, but I don't believe them. -
Re: 2019 Draft Watch
Oh, bless!
The little scallywag.
I may well know a young man who had to ring his dear old dad a couple of weeks ago from the Climate Extinction rally to tell him that he had been arrested. Luckily he was in the first batch so he was out of there when the real trouble started.They say Burt Lancaster has one, but I don't believe them.Comment
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Re: 2019 Draft Watch
It sounds like Kemp's injury was a clean one with no damage to the other ligaments. It certainly wouldn't be enough to cause him to drop to the end of the first round.Comment
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Re: 2019 Draft Watch
Fischer McAsey set to step into the spotlight at the draft
The day Chris McAsey made his debut for St Kilda, he lined up at full forward. Coach Tony Jewell sent Tony Lockett to full back.
It was 1983 in the then VFL and the Saints were playing Carlton at Princes Park. Chris started on a forward flank on Bruce Doull, then when Trevor Barker got injured, was moved to full forward against Geoff Southby.
Lockett, possibly the greatest full forward the game has seen, was playing his one and only game at full back. Chris was playing his one game.
"Plugger" was apparently being taught a lesson that afternoon, but as a full back he made an excellent full forward.
"My claim is I kept 'Plugger' out of full forward for my 15 minutes of fame, and 'Plugger' had it for the next 15 years," Chris said.
Chris' son Fischer McAsey (pronounced Mack-A-See) is in the draft this week. He is tall, a very good contested mark, and has a canny understanding of where the ball will go next. Recruiters figure him as a key defender, but he can play many positions. It will be surprising if he is not taken in the first round; indeed it will be remarkable if he is still available by pick 15.
Fischer inherited some, but not all, of his sporting ability from his dad. His grandfather on his mum Gina's side, Paul Hearnden, played at Wimbledon and in several Australian Opens. He also coached Hong Kong's Davis Cup team.
Fischer inherited his size from his granddad, too. He is 197 centimetres tall. "Physically he looks like my dad," Gina said.
Fischer perhaps also inherited something of the elite sportsman's mindset from Paul. His nickname was "Killer". His mum also isn't to be crossed on the tennis court.
"I remember having hits with him and he was pretty, not strict, but he was pretty firm in how to play," Fischer said. "I don't think I had to learn to be determined and competitive from him, I think I had that because of my passion for footy and competitiveness."
When Fischer was young the family lived in Thailand. He was about four when they decided to return to Australia and Chris thought he should teach Fisch to kick a footy because it would help him fit in at his new school.
They went to Lumpini Park in central Thailand, about the only area of green space in the city, and pulled out a footy.
"I was giving him all these instructions and he kept trying to kick it and missed it completely," Chris remembered. "Then I said 'forget everything I said and just try to kick it as hard as you can' and he just booted it 10 or 20m. He was only four."
When they arrived in Australia, Nathan Buckley taught Fischer to kick. He was given a video of footy skills in his AusKick pack and he played it on high rotation in the lounge room, studying Buckley intently.
"I arrived home that night and Fisch is in the backyard kicking these perfect drop punts. Nathan Buckley taught him," Chris said.
Fischer was always bigger than the other kids but it was not until he made rep teams and played against other big kids that he grasped that he was genuinely capable.
His under-13s side at the East Brighton Vampires included five players – himself, Finn Maginness, Hugo Ralphsmith, Miles Bergman and Josh Worrell – who are all a strong chance to be picked relatively early in this week's draft.
"We didn't win the flag. We had a few late bloomers in the team."
Fischer grew up a Western Bulldogs fan and they are one of the clubs taking a keen interest in him.
Chris returned to his roots as a Footscray fan after he left St Kilda. He went overseas for a few years, wrote a couple of Lonely Planet books (Indonesia and Brazil), followed Gina to Sydney for her music career (we'll get to that), returned to Melbourne and was hired by his sister Jenny's husband to help make the documentary, Year of the Dogs. The experience rekindled his love of the Dogs.
Fischer adopted the Dogs and from prep onwards wrote letters to the players and always got replies. He and Matthew Boyd continued exchanging regular letters for years.
Fischer is not a showman but he inherited a sense that whatever he did would be in front of people.
His mum, Gina Hearnden, is a guitarist and singer who in the 1980s and 90s was a member of The Hollow Men alongside Billy Baxter, at a time when he was better known as a musician than a Coodabeen Champion.
Gina now fronts what she calls Elsternwick's best alt-country band, Blackbirds FC. They are better than that … they could at least take in Elwood too.
"I never realized how good she was and how big her bands were back in the day but they played her song on the radio the other week and the guy said, 'It's so great to hear Gina Hearnden singing again,' and I was like, ‘Wow she is seriously good. I never realized that'."
Blackbirds FC are very good. (The FC is deliberately ambiguous; it might stand for footy club, or folk collective, but recently became f--- cancer after one of the band was given the all clear for the illness.)
That is sort of the point about Fischer McAsey; there are so many interesting aspects to his story that are about those around him.
This week he will move from being a part of other people's stories to being the central figure in his own.FFC: Established 1883
Premierships: AFL 1954, 2016 VFA - 1898,99,1900, 1908, 1913, 1919-20, 1923-24, VFL: 2014, 2016 . Champions of Victoria 1924. AFLW - 2018.Comment
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Re: 2019 Draft Watch
If McAsey slips through, then we take him (love ho he’s a Dogs fan too), but yesterday’s Fox AFL post linking us with Bergman seems on the money. His style of play and ability to play both ends fits Bevo (and he’s also a St Bede’s boy).
Watch here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=408549553385032"I'll give him a hug before the first bounce and then I'll run into my pack and give them orders to rip him apart."Comment
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Re: 2019 Draft Watch
Cal Twomey has his pre draft phantom up
he has us taking Weightman and has us passing up Kemp & RobertsonListening to Brahm's 3rd RacketComment
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Re: 2019 Draft Watch
If Pickett goes top 10 and we pass on Kemp and Robertson, the world has officially gone mad.Cal Twomey has his pre draft phantom up
he has us taking Weightman and has us passing up Kemp & RobertsonOur 1954 premiership players are our heroes, and it has to be said that Charlie was their hero.Comment
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Re: 2019 Draft Watch
Twomey has named Ned Cahill, Mitch O'Neill & Jackson Davies as possibles for our later picksListening to Brahm's 3rd RacketComment
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Re: 2019 Draft Watch
There is a whisper on the other forum that Buku has somehow been moved to the Cat B list, meaning we're able to take 3 players in the draft rather than upgrading a rookie with our last pick.Our 1954 premiership players are our heroes, and it has to be said that Charlie was their hero.Comment
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Re: 2019 Draft Watch
Robertson is one of the best players in the draft (I have him at #3) so we should not be overlooking him if he is availableCal Twomey has his pre draft phantom up
he has us taking Weightman and has us passing up Kemp & Robertson
That's not a knock on Weightman, Pickett or Bergman but I don't know how we could pass on RobertsonWestern Bulldogs Football Club "Where it's cool to drool"Comment
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Our 1954 premiership players are our heroes, and it has to be said that Charlie was their hero.Comment
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Re: 2019 Draft Watch
Weightman meditates on AFL draft
Most 18 year olds heading to Bali after their school exams don't have meditation in mind.
Then again, most of those teenagers aren't prospective round-one AFL draft picks.
Cody Weightman used some of the holiday to clear his head, with the small forward tipped to join the Western Bulldogs in Wednesday night's selections.
"Mentally it was awesome, just to be alone for 10 days in the end and really consider things deeply, find a bit of peace," he said.
"I did a heap of meditation, a bit of yoga, all that.
"I love all that stuff.
"The mental side of football is the most developing area in our game; everyone tries to get ahead of the game and that's for me."
Also in Bali, Weightman made contact with former Essendon player Rick Olarenshaw and kept up his training to make sure he is ready for his first AFL pre-season.
Weightman was seen at Bulldogs training last week, intensifying the speculation that he will be their round-one pick.
"It's a lovely place and I'd be stoked if I could end up at the Dogs - but pretty much likewise for any other club too," Weightman said of Whitten Oval.
His love of a high-flying mark has many drawing comparisons to Collingwood's Jamie Elliott and he certainly has the chatty personality of a goalsneak.
Weightman has been a bolter this season, earning All-Australian honours after starting the year with a much lower profile among the draft hopefuls.
"I was definitely further down the pecking order," he said.
"It just goes to show, I didn't change a whole heap, I just backed in what I was doing and stayed really committed and true to myself.
"Footy is just a real passion for me. It's the love of my life basically this far. I was never going to quit.
"It's that confidence and belief; you just have to really back yourself and stay true to your character."FFC: Established 1883
Premierships: AFL 1954, 2016 VFA - 1898,99,1900, 1908, 1913, 1919-20, 1923-24, VFL: 2014, 2016 . Champions of Victoria 1924. AFLW - 2018.Comment
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