North Melbourne's Pranks and Mind Games

When I woke up this morning I receieved a very odd text message that was cryptic. It basically said check out this halloween prank. Trick or treat?
I thought that the guy who sent the message to me didn't believe in Halloween but yeah I had a look at the roos website and realised that the pranks were played by the North Melbourne coaching staff on the playing group.
They were also playing a fair few mind games to mentally challenge the players as well. Just to see if they were getting smarter and learning anything.
I am going to play a few mind games of my own here on a few people who deserve to have this done to them. (don't worry I won't be airing my dirty laundry on these people on here just playing mind games on them.)
I am going to ask you this. Do you know what a Brazilian Run is?
Do you know what a teepee is?

DO you know what moose, rattlesnakes, and cougars are?

For all of those people who think that moose is something you eat, and that rattlesnakes are lollies, and cougars are hot women. You are wrong. They are native wildlife and reptiles over in Utah in the forest.

What I have just posted up is some footage of where the boys are currently doing their altitude training.

More news from Utah

North Melbourne have advised me that there have been some really tough sessions that the players and staff have been put through over in Utah.
So tough that many of you nay sayers wouldn't even be able to take part in. Those of you who are making stupid comments on the limbo club website about my blog get a life.
Comments like http://www.limboclub.com/forum/showpost.php?p=553695&postcount=116 are just not on when you know that I am giving you guys updates.

Finally got that off my chest. I hate the bullshit artists who decide to make unnecessary comments about my blogs when I know that I am giving updates to many people who want to know what's going on.

North Melbourne advised me this afternoon that Channel 10 News Melbourne have arrived in Utah and will be giving some awesome updates during their news. Everyone who is a North Melbourne fan should watch the channel ten news this week.

North Melbourne players have been on hikes that have taken them 5 hours, 7 hours and 3 hours long. They have also had a boxing session where there were some footage put up of Levi Greenwood vs Scott McMahon

This video is of Scott McMahon getting an unlucky low blow by Matt Campbell. I did hear that Scott McMahon played a joke on Matt back at the hotel all because of him getting hit in the nuts.

Funny goss from Utah

Those of you who know me well enough know for a fact that I love reading the stuff on twitter and facebook and the like. What amused me and made me a tad concerned was finding out through twitter about two of the North Melbourne staff getting bailed up by two angry moose literally the size of Black Caviar on a jog.
I won't name names but these two fellas are known to go on their jogs to various places at weird times of the day. So when I found out about these two getting bailed up by two moose the tweet made me laugh. But then I became a little concerned when I found out who these two guys were. (trust me guys you won't be named on here)
I ended up getting a few surprising text messages telling me who these two people were.
Then I found out this morning that the fellas had to put up with below zero temperatures on their 7 hour hike. They had snow and icy conditions. I just hope that they can thaw out in their hotel rooms.
If you want to talk about the boys and their trip, please you are welcome to join my forum and post on there.
http://www.aussiefooty.net/forum/forum/showthread.php?45-North-Melbourne-in-Utah&goto=newpost
Look under North Melbourne in Utah.
If you are on twitter, don't be shy, join in the conversations the fellas are having by using the special hashtag of #utahroos

AFL Fixture Leaks

When I woke up this morning I read on twitter to find out that North Melbourne will be playing against Essendon in the opening round of the 2012 season. That's awesome news for all of us supporters. I remember when I was younger hearing former Essendon Coach Kevin Sheedy label us soft like marshmallows.
I reckon the bombers are going to be in for a hammering come round 1.
Let the jokes begin.
I remember back in 2010 many of us on twitter came up with a few Marshmallow jokes directed at Essendon Footy Club and it's members. I remember having a laugh as it was really funny to read. Very entertaining indeed.

This isn't the Marshmallow game but the comments were just as funny. I even remember in one of the games all the North Melbourne supporters threw marshmallows at the Essendon players on the field. Very funny stuff.

North Melbourne are In Utah

On Friday North melbourne flew to Utah. They have arrived safe and well but tired from jetlag. They are over there for altitude training. They are over there for 14 days as a part of their preseason training.
North Melbourne would like to make the finals in season 2012. To do this they have had to copy Collingwood's idea of having altitude training over in the states. Collingwood have only just arrived home from Arizona. North as I mentioned have only just arrived in Utah for their altitude training.
I reckon the mighty roos will make the 8 next season.

North Melbourne's made more changes to it's list

I was lucky enough to be able to read the article that North Melbourne had posted up on their website yesterday. It alerted me to more changes to it's list. This is great for the team because we can bring in more youth to our list.
It will help us build for an exciting future. We have got the right man coaching our team and he wants the right players playing for North Melbourne footy club. Sure there are going to be some disappointed fans of Daniel Pratt, Ed Lower, Brayden Norris, Matthew Scott, Marcus White, Brady Rawlings, Gavin Urqhart and Ben Ross out there. But you have to realise this when a coach makes the call to cull a few of his players who could be playing on our list but can't for some reason whether it's through injuries, illness or form, you must realise that he's done it due to attitude and perhaps some other reason. Don't get me wrong here but if you see a young kid who is wearing one of these guys numbers in a North Melbourne guernsey get around them and show some support. They might just be your new favourite players.
Also as our club is rebuilding for the future you will see a lot of errors from the young guys who in your minds are superstars but to the coach and the board and the playing group they are a bunch of young guys trying to find their feet and haven't gelled with the other players yet.
Some of these players are guns. Some of them are legends and some of them are going to be awesome in the future but are working their backsides off playing games of AFL footy. My point is give these youngsters some time to develop into the side before labelling them superstars. Give them the total support and don't be afraid to get down to training when it resumes and give the new guys along with everyone some encouragement.
Forget about jumping on twitter and facebook and any other online forum to bag out the players that made a few errors. Go down to Aegis Park and speak to the players and the coach about what it is you think is the problem.

Rumours about players, clubs in Tradeweek

I will be honest here. When it comes to all rumours that are floating about, I don't believe every one of them. Why? Because I am not a gulliable person. I trust only what the club or player does more than what I do with the journos.
There are some journos out there that are fantastic. Some that aren't so great. Not going to name names because I don't want to get into trouble but there was an article in the Adelaide Advertiser during the 2009 tradeweek period basically saying Exclusive: Campbell Brown of Hawthorn to be Traded to Port Adelaide.

Of course it had everyone saying that it was going to happen all except Alastair Clarkson and Campbell Brown who came out and said that the article was complete rubbish and that the journo had no credibility whatsoever.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/port-adelaides-mark-williams-driving-campbell-brown-deal/story-e6frf9jf-1225783738449
It's the same with the Addam Maric and Jason Gram so called deals. North Melbourne don't need these sorts of players. The club however, did discuss Maric with everyone else, but in the end the club came out and said "no deal".

Sure the club had a look at both players but in the end decided that they both wouldn't fit into the teams plans.


http://www.kangaroos.com.au/latestnews/newsarticle/tabid/4912/newsid/125082/default.aspx

I remember meeting Glenn McGrath in October 2009 at a McGrath Foundation Spring Racing function at Etihad Stadium's Victory Room.
I had asked him that I read a lot of articles about him from many sources and didn't know which one to believe. He came out and said don't believe everything you read, hear or see. That's the best lot of advice I have been given.
Trust the clubs and the players and the sports stars but please don't go believing every little bit of information that you hear on the radio or see on fox sports news or read in the papers or on internet forums. Not all of it is going to be true.
I remember reading something on bigfooty about one of the north melbourne players being delisted. It was a rumour started by some bored kid. In the end I had to check with the club to see if it was credible information.
The next thing we heard that the player was delisted.

A few years ago Terry Wallace from Richmond was going to be sacked. There was a rumour floating about him all over the papers. In the end they were all wrong
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/sport/aussie-rules/wallace-sacked-by-richmond-report-20090519-bdf8.html


Journos do get things wrong. That's ok if they do. But if they go to the point of making the story up they can get into a fair amount of trouble.
Best thing to do is read it but don't get caught up in the whole thing. Rumours are spread by bored people sitting at home without anything to do. So they ring up the radio station and tell everyone their rumours. Most of them have got no source so you can't believe everything you hear, read or see.

Rumours going around North Melbourne

Kind of wishing that the journos would stop spreading false rumours about North Melbourne players and also stop making up crap saying that we want players who are slow and who are rubbish.
Brad Scott was fuming about the rumours going around about Jason Gram who is being offloaded by the saints. Gram's a liability, something that we don't want. He's too old. We are going with youth.
North Melbourne have also said that Hamish Mcintosh is off the table. Not up for trade. So for you journos who are spreading rumours, please get your info right first.
You are causing a lot of arguments around North Melbourne. As I said the coach is pissed off at what's being said, many fans of these players are pissed off at those who are spreading the bullshit rumours about players who they hate.
I was on one of the forums and there was an Essendon supporter bagging the crap out of North Melbourne about them hanging on to Hamish Mcintosh.
I had to find out what their stance was which I totally agree with. They published an article up on their site and I had a read of and posted it up on the online forum that I was reading.
Some North Melbourne fans think that our young players are "spuds" when they don't understand that they are only youngsters and are learning the game. So don't be so harsh on our players.
I am sure Brad Scott and the rest of the North Melbourne footy club would totally agree with me.
North Melbourne are rebuilding and there are going to be times where our team is going to look bad because of a bad loss. However, think of it as this if you were up against your favourite player of all time, you would be overwhelmed and intimidated as well. That's what it feels like for those young players who aren't ready for AFL yet but have had to play in the senior team because of injuries and form problems. Let them find their feet.

Trading places

Had a read of an interesting article on the North Melbourne website this morning.
There are already a few confirmed picks that have been snapped up by Carlton, Geelong and Sydney all using f/s as their excuse.
Tom Mitchell (son of Barry Mitchell) is off to Sydney
Jed Bews (son of Andrew Bews) is off to Geelong
Dylan Buckley (son of Jim Buckley) is off to Carlton.

Interesting to see these confirmed already.
I will update you guys on any other trades that happen later in the day.

Trade Week starts Monday

My plan is to give you guys the updates on who gets who in trade week. It's that time of year that's called the AFL's Silly Season so anything will happen. Don't rule out anything. Sure there are going to be some ridiculous rumours go around but don't get caught up in them all. Many people don't have a clue about what it is they are saying. So just wait and see what the clubs all say and if they all agree on what happens.
It's going to be a sad time where we say goodbye to some players who mightn't even play again at all.

Congratulations to Daniel Wells and Andrew Swallow

The North Melbourne footy club had their club's best and fairest count last night. It's known as the Syd Barker medal who was a former North Melbourne player when they first joined the competition back in 1925.
In front of 830 people at Crown, and over 3000 North Melbourne fans online we all witnessed a really special night.
We saw both Daniel Wells and Andrew Swallow tie for first place (they both got a Syd Barker medal)
Wellsy we all know has had a totally awesome season which ended through injury and just after his shoulder operation he had developed two blood clots on both of his lungs. He could have passed away it was that serious. However, he had an awesome season proving his haters wrong.
Andrew Swallow is a freak of a man. He just does those awesome things that you don't expect of him to do. He's North Melbourne's version of Geelong's Stevie Johnson. So talented, quick and awesome to watch. I guess that's why I have Andrew Swallow's number on the back of my North Melbourne jumper. I just love watching the guy play footy. He's always an exciting player to watch play footy.
He's a really nice bloke too. As is Wellsy.

(thanks to North Melbourne Footy Club for allowing me to use their videos)

The Dark Side of Barracking for an AFL Team

I don't like to sound totally negative but there is a side we have to deal with here and that's the dark side where all the fans from other teams or even my own team start attacking others all because they don't like their opinions.
I absolutely hate fareweather fans. If you are a fareweather fan who just want to get stuck into people about ANY club please stop and think about growing up.
Clubs don't like the ongoing negativity. It's a pet hate of theirs, especially when it involves the coaches copping a lot of heat from the media all because the team underperformed.
Everything that I post up on here, twitter and facebook has to remain positive. So if you want to personally attack me please don't as I will be reporting you to facebook, twitter or anywhere else.
I am lucky that I barrack for North Melbourne. They are a team that will back me up 100% when something bad happens. They also love all things positive.
When North lost to Collingwood by 117 points, North Melbourne Coach Brad Scott was getting a lot of heat that he couldn't handle. Something that really disappoints me because it makes me think negative thoughts about the journos who wrote the articles and made comments to him made me angry. Journos need to keep in mind that senior coach's have feelings and they are human. So if all you are planning to do is to bag them out watch what you say.
The same goes with any of the fareweather fans. If you even think about giving Senior Coach Brad Scott any heat I can garantee you will be gone.
I would rather all North Melbourne supporters show Brad Scott and the team a bucketload of respect rather than the constant crap he and the club gets.
I have always held Brad Scott in the highest regard and have showed him the respect that he deserves which is a bucketload of respect.
He managed to sign me up as a North Melbourne member just after he was appointed coach of the team. He wants the support and the loyalty and all the love and respect he can get. So don't waste your time giving Brad a hard time.

North Melbourne's Syd Barker Medal is on Wednesday

I am going to let everyone know who is a North Melbourne fan to make sure that you are available to either a) go to the Syd Barker Medal count/presentation night or b) watch it online via the north melbourne website.
The count is on this Wednesday night (5th October 2011) and the club doesn't want anyone to miss it.
How do I know this?
The club emailed me letting me know this. Then I tweeted all about it about a minute after they had told me.
The count starts at 7pm and it should be an awesome night. So keep an eye on the north melbourne website as the time comes. http://www.kangaroos.com.au
It's going to be the best night in North Melbourne's history.

Congratulations to Geelong Footy club 2011 Premiers

Geelong Footy club managed to beat collingwood footy club by 38 points. It was a ripper of a game and close right up to 3/4 time.
Geelong then took the lead and won the game by 38 points.
I was at my parents place watching the game and was taking down the scores on paper whilst the guys were kicking goals and points.
Wow well done to the Geelong Footy Club.
As a North Melbourne fan I am proud of my team's coach Brad Scott as his identical twin brother who is the Geelong Coach, Chris Scott won the game for the cats by coaching so well. I am absolutely over the moon at both the twins coaching at senior level. They have just proven to everyone that they are guys who shouldn't be messed with.
Then directly after the game Mick Malthouse (who was coaching Collingwood) dropped a bomb on all of us, telling us that he's not going to be at Collingwood footy club at all next year due to his media commitments.
Fantastic way to bow out of the game. I am sure Mick will be mentoring a current coach somewhere but not on a full time basis.