by Whispering Jack

When St. Kilda drafted Luke Ball with the second selection in the 2001 AFL National Draft, it was understood that the young midfielder would see very little senior football action in what should have been his debut season at the club because of final year secondary school studies. The same occurred with Hawthorn's Xavier Ellis when he was drafted a few years later. I was thinking about this as I watched Jack Watts go through training with the Demons at Casey Fields this morning.

Even taking into account the fact that he has a teenager's body, it's hard not to picture him as a permanent fixture in the Melbourne side this year based on the little I have seen of him since Watts was drafted in late November. He moves beautifully, has great pace and awareness, can kick the pill accurately and over long distances and he looks happy and right at home in this environment. The problem is that I suspect he will have to commit himself to a number of games for Brighton Grammar but that this will not hurt his career in the long term. We don't need a repeat of the scenario where Collingwood overworked Josh Fraser early in his development years and held back his career.

For all that, the situation regarding his availability to play for Melbourne will be a talking point well into the 2009 season although given his circumstances, l don't quite understand how Betstar could have possibly installed Watts as the favourite for this year's Rising Star award.

At the other end of the scale, Russell Robertson cut a lonely figure for a while as players like Sam Blease, Ricky Petterd, Addam Maric, John Meesen and Brent Moloney who were doing rehab work were able to join in some training drills. Poor Robbo was confined to light work and did little other than kick the ball a bit as he waits on scar tissue from the injury to heal. The hope is that he will be ready for the opening round but that might be wishful thinking although he's such a great bloke to have around the club with his enthusiasm and drive. As far as I know, he's not in any reality television shows this year which could be a bonus later on .

The good news is that Jared Rivers is over his groin and joined in most of the training drills. Not only that he's making an impact on the club's emerging tall defenders department with his great skill and football know how. There will certainly be some keen jostling for positions among Colin Garland, Matthew Warnock and the rapidly improving James Frawley who appears to be bigger, stronger and more balanced this year. This seems to have had a positive effect on his confidence levels and he is doing things at training that we've never seen before - like taking opponents on and backing his judgement. It's little wonder that he's being touted as one of the big improvers at the club.

Of the forwards, Brad Miller looks imposing, Michael Newton has bulked up a bit too and Colin Sylvia is relishing the opportunity to be fit and able to train at full pace during a pre-season. Hopefully, this will translate on the playing into the same sort of season that Travis Johnstone had in 2002 after he was finally able to take part in a full pre-season programme. I haven't factored Watts into this group but if he gets his opportunity, then the Demon attack will have far more potency than it has had for a couple of seasons.

Of the newcomers, I was again impressed by James Strauss and his disposal skills and with Bunbury pair Jamie Bennell and Neville Jetta. These guys are fitting in well and I expect them to play a role during the NAB Cup series. Hopefully, they might have the same sort of impact that North Melbourne gained a couple of seasons ago with the arrival of unheralded pair Lindsay Thomas and Campbell who between them are always good for a few goals every week.

I was also keen on seeing the club's Pre Season Draft pick Liam Jurrah. He's tall (but probably somewhere between the 188cm and 193 cm reported) and spindly, moves nicely and I suspect that he has a bag of tricks up his sleeve. Austin Wonaeamirri was there beside him at times as if to signal that the young man from Central Australia has it within him to follow the Tiwi Islander's example from 2008. Jurrah will need time to adapt to city life but he has already spent some time here when he played with Collingwood's VFL team last year.

Meanwhile Aussie's body shape is looking positively chiselled showing the benefits of a full pre-season's conditioning and Aaron Davey is looking fit and sharp after a couple of lean, injury affected seasons. These guys are going to be a real handful for opposition defences this year.

But if you're looking at areas where the club can really show some improvement this year, then look no further than the midfield where Scott West has taken charge and is introducing some interesting drills. With the likes of Brock McLean and Brent Moloney back in harness joining a stronger looking Nathan Jones to add some more grunt and Simon Buckley who looks bigger, quicker and a more balanced player, Lynden Dunn doing the run with, James McDonald adding the experience combined with the strong indigenous flavour, this division could surprise by moving out of the third world as far as midfields go and changing the club's fortunes for 2009.

That's how things look at the end of the first week in January. It's still probably a month before they go around in any meaningful sort of practice match and more before the team takes on Hawthorn in the first NAB Cup game in Launceston. It will be another month and beyond that before we can ascertain the level of improvement we can really expect from this new look Demon squad.

Photos generously provided by George from Demonology.

by Whispering Jack

When St. Kilda drafted Luke Ball with the second selection in the 2001 AFL National Draft, it was understood that the young midfielder would see very little senior football action in what should have been his debut season at the club because of final year secondary school studies. The same occurred with Hawthorn's Xavier Ellis when he was drafted a few years later. I was thinking about this as I watched Jack Watts go through training with the Demons at Casey Fields this morning.

Even taking into account the fact that he has a teenager's body, it's hard not to picture him as a permanent fixture in the Melbourne side this year based on the little I have seen of him since Watts was drafted in late November. He moves beautifully, has great pace and awareness, can kick the pill accurately and over long distances and he looks happy and right at home in this environment. The problem is that I suspect he will have to commit himself to a number of games for Brighton Grammar but that this will not hurt his career in the long term. We don't need a repeat of the scenario where Collingwood overworked Josh Fraser early in his development years and held back his career.

For all that, the situation regarding his availability to play for Melbourne will be a talking point well into the 2009 season although given his circumstances, l don't quite understand how Betstar could have possibly installed Watts as the favourite for this year's Rising Star award.

At the other end of the scale, Russell Robertson cut a lonely figure for a while as players like Sam Blease, Ricky Petterd, Addam Maric, John Meesen and Brent Moloney who were doing rehab work were able to join in some training drills. Poor Robbo was confined to light work and did little other than kick the ball a bit as he waits on scar tissue from the injury to heal. The hope is that he will be ready for the opening round but that might be wishful thinking although he's such a great bloke to have around the club with his enthusiasm and drive. As far as I know, he's not in any reality television shows this year which could be a bonus later on .

The good news is that Jared Rivers is over his groin and joined in most of the training drills. Not only that he's making an impact on the club's emerging tall defenders department with his great skill and football know how. There will certainly be some keen jostling for positions among Colin Garland, Matthew Warnock and the rapidly improving James Frawley who appears to be bigger, stronger and more balanced this year. This seems to have had a positive effect on his confidence levels and he is doing things at training that we've never seen before - like taking opponents on and backing his judgement. It's little wonder that he's being touted as one of the big improvers at the club.

Of the forwards, Brad Miller looks imposing, Michael Newton has bulked up a bit too and Colin Sylvia is relishing the opportunity to be fit and able to train at full pace during a pre-season. Hopefully, this will translate on the playing into the same sort of season that Travis Johnstone had in 2002 after he was finally able to take part in a full pre-season programme. I haven't factored Watts into this group but if he gets his opportunity, then the Demon attack will have far more potency than it has had for a couple of seasons.

Of the newcomers, I was again impressed by James Strauss and his disposal skills and with Bunbury pair Jamie Bennell and Neville Jetta. These guys are fitting in well and I expect them to play a role during the NAB Cup series. Hopefully, they might have the same sort of impact that North Melbourne gained a couple of seasons ago with the arrival of unheralded pair Lindsay Thomas and Campbell who between them are always good for a few goals every week.

I was also keen on seeing the club's Pre Season Draft pick Liam Jurrah. He's tall (but probably somewhere between the 188cm and 193 cm reported) and spindly, moves nicely and I suspect that he has a bag of tricks up his sleeve. Austin Wonaeamirri was there beside him at times as if to signal that the young man from Central Australia has it within him to follow the Tiwi Islander's example from 2008. Jurrah will need time to adapt to city life but he has already spent some time here when he played with Collingwood's VFL team last year.

Meanwhile Aussie's body shape is looking positively chiselled showing the benefits of a full pre-season's conditioning and Aaron Davey is looking fit and sharp after a couple of lean, injury affected seasons. These guys are going to be a real handful for opposition defences this year.

But if you're looking at areas where the club can really show some improvement this year, then look no further than the midfield where Scott West has taken charge and is introducing some interesting drills. With the likes of Brock McLean and Brent Moloney back in harness joining a stronger looking Nathan Jones to add some more grunt and Simon Buckley who looks bigger, quicker and a more balanced player, Lynden Dunn doing the run with, James McDonald adding the experience combined with the strong indigenous flavour, this division could surprise by moving out of the third world as far as midfields go and changing the club's fortunes for 2009.

That's how things look at the end of the first week in January. It's still probably a month before they go around in any meaningful sort of practice match and more before the team takes on Hawthorn in the first NAB Cup game in Launceston. It will be another month and beyond that before we can ascertain the level of improvement we can really expect from this new look Demon squad.

Photos generously provided by George from Demonology.

What a great report . Many thanks for this. I love your comments about Frawley for whom I have much hope this year

Great photo's, good report. Looking forward to the season proper commencing.

Gee, the field looks nice and lush at Casey..