Davey has bulked up alot as you can see in these photo's from training last month.(Especially the one With Wonaeamirri in the backround)

Melbourne Training

No doubt Shane Valenti's flying and training the house down.

That's quite funny, I had to stop being cranky and laugh which was good

Davey has bulked up alot as you can see in these photo's from training last month.(Especially the one With Wonaeamirri in the backround)

Melbourne Training

Those photos are from November 21st though (explains why Davey, Jamar, Nock, Wheatley are all sporting horrendous facial hair)

so we still want the quick and agile Davey to be pushed off the ball, to play a 'sweep up the ball' role and receiver type, which does little to help us win, when we are getting beaten.

He needs to be stronger through the torso & legs to fix this, not muscle bound limiting his agiliity.

It would be handy if he could hold his own in a physical contest at least, otherwise he can be a liability. I think the fastest bloke in the league won't be lacking pace even with a few extra kilos.

Agreed.

I somehow feel Davey will be twice as valuable when we get back up the ladder, and the team is flying along. Remember he was playing well in his first couple of years when we were playing well.

Possibly but I have grave doubts nowadays, I've gone off him a bit.

Excuse the french Pates, but it reads like there was a happy ending....

I think you might be reading a little too much into it, Freud. The only happy ending was the premiership cup we were holding at the end of the dream!

I will post photos tonight!

Anytime now....

Sorry Guys having "admin" problems??? I've tried several times and i'll keep trying. I have posted it on Facebook for those that need to see them. Sorry.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=5316...2646&ref=mf

Sorry Guys having "admin" problems??? I've tried several times and i'll keep trying. I have posted it on Facebook for those that need to see them. Sorry.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=5316...2646&ref=mf

I'll put them up for you in a second

What am i doing wrong? Is it the size of the photo?

With many many thanks to Dexter23:

What am i doing wrong? Is it the size of the photo?

I'm using firefox, i right click the picture once it is uploaded to the internet, click 'Copy image location', then paste that link inbetween [img ][/ IMG] tags (without the spaces)

Thanks

Great pics Dexter23

Much better than the ones I took. They weren't good enough to post

Well, Dad and I went to training on Friday and I took the camera and took some truly awful pics not worth uploading at all

We met Dexter23 which was great and as he was true to his word about wearing his Demon shirt and taking his camera

I watched Mr Watts during the session and left very very happy.

If you've been wondering whether or not to get excited by us drafting him then feel free to get excited. Not only is he exceptionally quick and a very good athlete but is a very very good intelligent footballer too.

I watched him doing sprints where in his group he won time after time seemingly without effort, he doesn't run, he glides over the ground with a turn of speed that is truly surprising.

I also saw him match up with Steph Martin in a drill where Jack was the forward leader and Steph the Defender. Jack would dummy lead, double back turn on a dime and shoot off in a different direction forcing the kick and take the mark. Steph is quick and was by no means shamed but a good forward realises that his own quick actions are his advantage and can use this against the defender. Jack did this easily and could double his advantage with fox cunning and false leads

The way Jack twisted and turned during his forward leading drills briefly reminded me of one Mr Robert Flower where once in the early '80's I sat on the wing instead of behind the goals and I was duly rewarded by a single piece of closeup play by Robbie. He'd received the ball on the wing with an opponent hot on his tail. Robbie hung the ball out left where his body, led by his pointed knee, told the entire world he was moving to the left, his opponent went left and Robbie went low and against his bodies momentum somehow moved right which gave him more space, he then repeated it on the other side, down low, knee pointed right, opponent went right and Robbie went left and was off. So too Mr Watts. I only caught the drill for a minute or two in the middle of the ground but it was enough to tick the boxes in my mind

Jack did seem to tire mid way through the session, evidenced by a couple of poor kicks in a subsequent drill and extreme hands on hips, which I'd say was because he'd put in at a high level leaving little in the tank, but he got his second wind and was a high performer again in the next spoiling a couple that most wouldn't have reached

With swift delivery into the forward line during games, Jack will carve them up at FF. He is too quick and too cunning to be beaten one on one. If he starts on the wing in the next few years his pace and maneuverability will be a delight

Bring on the future I say! It is looking good

Nice photoes mate thanks heaps

God Frawley has a similar body shape to Darren Glass.

Thanks for the updates Dexter and Melbman. Great update on Jack too.

Question: I know he's good, but why are so many assuming Jack will be playing on the wing? I can understand in the centre on the ball, or up Forward, but the wing?

if anyone cares

i think in photo number 19, the boy with the blond hair and the hat, directly infront of the coach is Teddy someone, who is on a NSW scholarship at Melbourne. I do not know how this system works, but I ran into this guy in NSW and he is a really nice guy (if it is actually him) so I hope he makes it.

Can anyone shed any light on the whole NSW scholarship thing and how it works?

if anyone cares

i think in photo number 19, the boy with the blond hair and the hat, directly infront of the coach is Teddy someone, who is on a NSW scholarship at Melbourne. I do not know how this system works, but I ran into this guy in NSW and he is a really nice guy (if it is actually him) so I hope he makes it.

Can anyone shed any light on the whole NSW scholarship thing and how it works?

Well spotted NJ. I was going to raise it at some stage

When they were training they were calling out Rock (and possibly Ted. There were 3 balls in action at the time and at least nine players calling and leading but Rock was a definite)

I assumed it was Rockliff

Edit: I just looked at Rocklif highlights and looks different to the guy in the pic that I thought was rocklif

On a separate subject. I went to training last year when it was at Monash and saw a team with skills much lower than the skills on display last Friday. The in close handballing was good both times from memory, longer leadup handballing still didn't show the differences in skill levels between summer 07 and summer 08, but in summer 07 our kicking to leading targets was not as good as it was on the two recent times this year at Casey, in fact I was a tad concerned back in summer 07. Now they put time and mental energy into getting it right. At the start of the drill there were a few kicks not quite as good as expected so they all had to get down for 20 pushups and were lectured on what was expected and then they got back into it with the previous gusto and increased attention to detail

Summary from a kicking to a moving target skill level; it has improved markedly on this time last year, very noticeable. Will it hold up under match pressure? We'll just have to wait and see. I'd actually like to see an intra or even an inter club match sooner rather than later just so they can gauge where they are at as early as possible

why are so many assuming Jack will be playing on the wing? I can understand in the centre on the ball, or up Forward, but the wing?

G'day High Tower

I guess that came about from the article "Jack of all trades, master of one". It was mentioned that they played him on the wing and it seems to have stuck

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,2...3-19742,00.html

"We were wondering where we could position Jack to be a bit fairer to everyone else," Oswald said.

"We didn't waste him, but if you played him at centre half-forward or full-forward, he just ruined the game.

"So we thought we'd put him on a wing and give 17 other kids the chance to be part of the game.

"After the first half on the wing, he was easily best on ground, easily."

cheers

Yes thanks guys for the pics and reports.

We that cannot go along appreciate hearing the news and even more so seeing the pics. It makes it all real and I see the ground looks good and great to see they can all get out there and train properly.

Look foward to your future reports/pics.

We that cannot go along appreciate hearing the news and even more so seeing the pics. It makes it all real and I see the ground looks good and great to see they can all get out there and train properly.

Look foward to your future reports/pics.

If you're really keen you can download the pics I took which are pretty ordinary (i know what it was like living interstate where any Demons news is like gold). I've got them on the web in a zip file for you and anyone else that wants them. Not worth putting on photobucket. I'll keep them there for a few days or so

cheers

dees training zip file

Yes thanks guys for the pics and reports.

We that cannot go along appreciate hearing the news and even more so seeing the pics. It makes it all real and I see the ground looks good and great to see they can all get out there and train properly.

Look foward to your future reports/pics.

Completely agree Deb

Threads like this are why I visit this site.

.......

I watched him doing sprints where in his group he won time after time seemingly without effort, he doesn't run, he glides over the ground with a turn of speed that is truly surprising.

Funny the minute I read this the first name that came to mind was.....

reminded me of one Mr Robert Flower where once in the early '80's I sat on the wing instead of behind the goals and I was duly rewarded by a single piece of closeup play by Robbie. He'd received the ball on the wing with an opponent hot on his tail. Robbie hung the ball out left where his body, led by his pointed knee, told the entire world he was moving to the left, his opponent went left and Robbie went low and against his bodies momentum somehow moved right which gave him more space, he then repeated it on the other side, down low, knee pointed right, opponent went right and Robbie went left and was off. So too Mr Watts. I only caught the drill for a minute or two in the middle of the ground but it was enough to tick the boxes in my mind

Far too early to get too carried away but wont it be a pleasure in years to come to go and watch our beloved Dees ...a team with talent and skill that can keep their feet..can kick a ball and use it intelligenty...Its been a while hasnt it !!

Watching Robbie was one of footy's pure joys !! ..

Even better they have goal post to aim at now instead of round 4 at the junction oval, also has Buckley bulked up again?, and Frawley looks bigger, things are getting a little brighter each day.

Great work Dexter melbman.

Simon Buckley physically is a football superstar. Really hoping he can join the dots.

Frawley's filling out nicely.

A lot of skinny legs there.