Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Friday 26 May 1911, page 4


CLUB NOTES.

THE LEAGUE.

The list of matches for to-morrow is Essendon v. University, at East Melbourne.

South Melbourne v. Collingwood, at South Mel-bourne.

Carlton v. Richmond, at Carlton. Geelong v. Fitzroy, at Fitzroy.

Melbourne v. St. Kilda, at Melbourne.

Geelong and Fitzroy meet to-morrow, and no two clubs are as full of hope. Both have had long, lean years, and are looking forward to a place in the finals. Geelong, having won their two first matches, are con-fident of going on, though Slater is a doubt ful starter, owing to his injured ankle. Palmer's leg is too bad to resume, and Morgan is doubtful, but Orchard will be in again. The team has been training hard, and will be accompanied to Fitzroy by a large crowd of supporters. Over 2,000 mem-ber's ticket have been sold this season, a record for Geelong.

Fitzroy are in great heart, and are confi-dent of beating Geelong to-morrow. Bam-ford, a forward from South Bendigo, has received his permit, and will be in the team. Lenne, too, will strip again to strengthen the defence lines. Reardon, the rover from Golden Point, Ballarat, has es-tablished himself as a favourite at Fitzroy, where they think no end of him. Clear-ances have been applied for by Sharp (to Collingwood), Kirkwood (to Richmond), and Briggs (to St. Kilda). They will be dealt with on Tuesday evening. Mr. Mori-arty, the hon. secretary of the club, has given notice of motion to the League that be will move that no club be allowed to pay any player more than £1/10/ per week

and expenses. Mr. Moriarty proposes that the line between amateurs and professionals should be clearly defined, and each class known to the public.

Collingwood are not dismayed by their crushing defeat, although a dejected sup-porter has sent an in memoriam card with

a thick black border to the hon. secretary (Mr. E. W. Copeland). It reads—

Sacred to the Memory of

THE FORM

We did at one time possess.

And then as a sort of text,

Also sow some seeds for a wing man.

Collingwood, however is not in mourning, for, with men like Lee and Minogue stand-ing out, and Ryan almost helpless through an injury, the side was not at its best. Essendon on the other hand were in cham-pion form, and moreover, could not go wrong. To-morrow there may be some new men in the team, for P. Rowan, a follower and forward from a Bendigo junior team, Green, a forward from Geelong, and Ham-mond are all available. Anderson, from Howlong, is awaiting his clearance from the New South Wales League. He is a ruck man, who has been practising at Victoria-park and was dubbed "Snowy Martin,"

owing to his resemblance to the Essendon player.

South Melbourne will be without Ricketts to-morrow. He has torn the sinews at the back of his leg, and will have to stand down for two or three weeks. Milne, late of Fitzroy, is training hard, but is not yet strung up. He may, however, have a game to-morrow, for a run in public is worth a weeks training. Men are like horses in this respect. Prince has quite recovered, and will resume his place on the wing. George is nursing a sprained ankle, and waiting for his clearance papers from New Zealand, and may not be available for some weeks. Meanwhile the members' roll in-creases, and everyone is looking forward to the meeting of Essendon and South Mel-bourne on June 17.

Carlton are having a worrying time owing to the trouble at the Melbourne Ground on Saturday. W. Dick, the ex-Fitzroyite, is training at Prince's Oval, and may be in the team to-morrow, and they will also try Green a forward from Iona, in Gippsland. Cowley, from Echuca, is not down yet, but they hope to have him soon. He is a telegraph operator, and his transfer to Mel-bourne is desired, so that he may play every

Saturday.

Richmond will be led by the coach Incig-neri, in future, as Schmidt his resigned the captaincy in his favour. Schmidt finds that leadership interferes with his play. He will, now that he is relieved of the respon-sibility, share the roving with Mahony, Bourke, and Oliver, who spelled last week, will be in the team to morrow, and Irwin, formerly of Melbourne, may also be given a run. Scot and Gibson will probably stand down. Burns has not yet reapplied for a clearance, but as far as Richmond is concerned the case is closed.

St Kilda have given up all hope of Gravenall playing with them. He has ob-tained a permit to play with Collegians, and so has Holmes, the Wesley College boy. McKenzie, of Williamstown, has been granted a permit, and will be in the team to-morrow. Newbound, who transferred from Fitzroy to Collingwood some weeks ago, finds no room in the magpies' nest, and he will apply for a permit to St. Kilda to night; if it be granted he will be in the team. Gant and Lowenstein are all right again, but the former may not strip till next week. Thomas, who has been troubled with boils, is available again, much to the delight of the committee and supporters. The executive thought seriously of employing a "heart "specialist to examine some of the team and recruits, but saved the expense, and having diagnosed several cases, acted promptly and dispensed with their services. There is no room for "a faint heart" in football as it is now played.

Melbourne showed some of their true form on Saturday, but were unlucky in losing George, who was playing one of the best games on the ground. He broke a bone in his hand, and will be away from the game for a few weeks. Sheppard, the old Xavierian, pleased them, but he was not in his right place, and will probably rove to-morrow. Moore, a Chris-tian Brothers' College boy, may be given a run to-morrow, as well as

Hickey (from Ballarat), Rush, and Edgar, who his obtained his permit from St Kilda. Some of Melbourne's players have been afflicted with similar trouble to those at St. Kilda, and may be given a spell to see if a rest will give them more vigour. What a number of players lack is that little bit of "natural wickedness" to which Mr. Geof-frey Moriarty refers.

Essendon, "the same old Essendon" of song, had its record triumph on Saturday. The memory of the crushing defeat in the semi-final by Collingwood last year has rankled, but on Saturday Essendon got it all back with good interest. Fancy 14 goals out of 16 times over the line! No wonder Essendon won. Essendon has never kicked so many goals before. Sewart (influenza) and White (injured) are doubtful starters to-morrow, and so is O'Shea, who will rest. Hazel had never played for Essendon or in the centre before last Saturday, and thus his performance against McHale was most praiseworthy. Essendon has tried four new men this year, and all have made good. Their other experiment, the appointment of J. Worrall as coach has also been a success. Worrall knows what in do, how to do, and when to do, and, moreover, can teach others

to do.

University have had an anxious week. The publicity of Saturday's incident is not conducive to hard study, and now they find they will have to face Essendon lacking five of their best men. The Interuniversity sports in Adelaide, originally fixed for Wed-nesday, have been fixed for Tuesday, and so Brake, Greenham, and Hartkopf will have to leave Melbourne on Saturday, in-stead of playing football. A Hinman is in Tasmania on his vacation, and Trood, still feeling the effects of last Saturday, has been ordered to the country for a rest. In the place of these men, Mackey, Shelley, Ralfe, and Denehy, and their old leader, Edgar Kneen, will be played.