This could be the best news we've had at the club for a long while ...

Dons fitness duo off to Dees

MELBOURNE has overhauled its fitness department, poaching Joel Hocking from Essendon as head of conditioning...

Melbourne has also snared Essendon strength and conditioning coach Valeri Stoimenov.

and

Demons football manager Chris Connolly and coach Dean Bailey started planning next year's pre-season halfway through this year.

"We've really got to get our young players fit and strong, and in a well-balanced way," Connolly said last night.

Bailey has warned players to return on October 13 in shape or risk being cut.

and there's more

Defender Nathan Carroll's career hangs in the balance as the Demons investigate the events that led to Ben Holland receiving treatment for a cut nose early in St Kilda on Tuesday morning.

Holland was helping Carroll into a taxi and slipped on the gutter.

It is believed several players are being interviewed about Carroll's behaviour inside the Barkly Hotel.

The Demons are in no rush to make a decision on any penalty. A finding may not come until the weekend.

Carroll, who is contracted for next year, could be paid out and moved on.

didn't Essendon have a huge number of soft tissue injuires earlier this year???

Good news and good work by connolls and jimmy

didn't Essendon have a huge number of soft tissue injuires earlier this year???

They were my first thoughts.....

didn't Essendon have a huge number of soft tissue injuires earlier this year???

They were my first thoughts.....

Ditto

I know stuff all about this sort of stuff, you would have thought the proof is in the pudding though...

We 'poached' BB after the Hawks suffered a similar fate to didnt we?

I'm always fairly uncomfortable with playing the blame game when it comes to injuries, because it's impossible to know whether the cause is the fitness program, or just bodies that aren't up to the strain of professional footy. Truth be told I have absolutely no idea how to assess the performance of fitness staff from the outer, and I reckon the vast majority of supporters are in the same boat.

Positive news and a step forward for the MFC. The effect a good conditioning team can have on a team is very underestimated. A very good descision in regards to our list management.

essendon have notoriously had trouble with soft tissue injuries last 3 years.

this year they had most injuries of any other team.

if ur gonna poach from a team essendon would be the last team i could think of. wtf

I'm always fairly uncomfortable with playing the blame game when it comes to injuries, because it's impossible to know whether the cause is the fitness program, or just bodies that aren't up to the strain of professional footy. Truth be told I have absolutely no idea how to assess the performance of fitness staff from the outer, and I reckon the vast majority of supporters are in the same boat.

I agree that blaming fitness personnel for injuries is a long shot. However, the performance of our fitness people can be clearly measured by improvement in key areas such as player time trials, sprints, stamina, increased weight, increased weight lifting. There are a whole host of measurements where targets can be set and monitored.

Ony a handful of MFC players each year front up in Round 1 where there are identifiable changes in their body shape. Obviously the club has identified this as a priority so lets hope all players front up in Round 1 bigger, fitter and stronger and not just the ones who are gym junkies!

didn't Essendon have a huge number of soft tissue injuires earlier this year???

They were my first thoughts.....

Ditto

I know stuff all about this sort of stuff, you would have thought the proof is in the pudding though...

We 'poached' BB after the Hawks suffered a similar fate to didnt we?

These were my first thoughts too. essendon have had more soft tissue injuries than any other side this year.

Positive news and a step forward for the MFC. The effect a good conditioning team can have on a team is very underestimated.

Just ask Essendon.

Yeah I dunno if Essendon's fitness managers are of the highest quality. I notice too that Bohdan Babijzcuk (am I close?) has been moved into a part-time role. I wonder whether that's his choice or the club's. I have to say, given what seemed to be a lot of hype around him when we first got him to the club, I can't say I notice any significant improvement in our fitness.

I would be more excited if we had poached staff from Geelong...

I hope the ex-Essendon strength and conditioning coach Valeri Stoimenov can turn Cale Morton into a Belzebub59 avatar look-a-like by NAB cup opening..

Morton. and i reckon Buckley could get a bit bigger as well to add to his pace

and col

Unfortunately too often supporter equate size with strength. This is not always the case. Core strength is far more important than having big 'beach' muscles. It may look impressive but isn't necessarily the answer.

Morton. and i reckon Buckley could get a bit bigger as well to add to his pace

I've seen it before where players get to big and lose pace.

I'd rather Buckley stay lean and have his pace. Not like his ultra thin anyway.

I've seen it before where players get to big and lose pace.

I'd rather Buckley stay lean and have his pace. Not like his ultra thin anyway.

Buckley needs conditioning only Id think. Hes quite a strong lad.

Unfortunately too often supporter equate size with strength. This is not always the case. Core strength is far more important than having big 'beach' muscles. It may look impressive but isn't necessarily the answer.

Belzebub59's avatar obviously has no core strength. It is a beach though when you compare it to my missus.

So we've poached the conditioning staff of the one team in the league with a bigger injury list than ours?..... Brilliant

Buckley needs conditioning only Id think. Hes quite a strong lad.

Is he ever. He gave me five at the Brissy game. I nearly lost my arm...