It wasn't just an awkward fall that helped crack Liam Jurrah's shoulder during a practice match against Adelaide last week. The weight of expectation he has had to carry might also have had a role to play.

They're good at that at, the Demons. They like talking up their kids, as if a glimpse of talent might be the panacea to all their problems.

They've done it with their draft picks for years. The Demons did it with Travis Johnstone back at the start of 1998 when he arrived as the no.1 draft selection. They all but named an MCG grandstand in his honour before he had even played a game. But he never really starred with in the red-and-the-blue and is now a B-Grade midfielder with the Brisbane Lions.

They did it with Jack Watts last year, dressing the kid up in the club suit and tie and trotting him out to function after function, talking him up as the Great White Hope of the Melbourne forward line.

Watts never stood a chance last year. Pencil thin and still in year 12, Collingwood threw him around like a rag doll on the Queen's Birthday clash. That was another inspired piece of marketing by the Demons, unveiling Watts in front of a huge crowd in what is really the club's only blockbuster of the season. Not.

To further pile on the pressure, the Demons gave Watts the no.4 jumper, one of the more revered at the club. This year, they have repeated the treatment, handing their latest No.1 selection Tom Scully the famous No.31 jumper belonging to Ron Barassi, while the No.2 pick, Jack Trengove, was awarded No.9, made famous by David Neitz.

And if the pair weren't aware of the gravity of it all, Barassi and Neitz were on hand to present the jumpers to them barely minutes after the club had called their names out at the draft.

Now, having watched them both do their stuff recently, it is clear that they both can play. But why the haste in handing out the prestigious jumpers?

Compare that with Hawthorn's treatment of Jarryd Roughead and Lance Franklin a few years back. The pair wore Nos.35 and 38 respectively. The famous No.23 was left vacant for the year, but the message to the pair was that if they wanted the jumper, they'd have to go out and earn it. Franklin did after a fine first season and was then given the number worn previously by John Peck, Don Scott and Dermott Brereton. Roughead was given no.2 when Nick Holland retired.

Not surprisingly, Richmond is following a similar path this year under Damien Hardwick. Dustin Martin has been given the no.36 and we imagine the message is similar to that of Clarkson in 2005: if you want to wear Matthew Richardson's no.12, you'll need to show us why you deserve it.

But back to Jurrah. He now wears the no.24 of Russell Roberston but a bigger deal was the club taking some journalists during the off-season to Yuendumu in the Northern Territory, to meet Jurrah and his family.

Melbourne has every reason to be excited by Jurrah. His freakish ability will bring people to watch the Demons for years.

But perhaps the club would be wiser to let the football do the talking for the next little while. The worst thing for Jurrah, while he spends the next 16 weeks on the sidelines, is that he'll be feeling he's let the club and its supporters down. And that the fate of the football club rests upon his healing shoulders when he returns. Which, of course, is pressure he could well do without.