I've just read on melbournefc.com.au that the club's next open training session is at Gosch's Paddock, Corner of Swan Street and Olympic Boulevard) on Friday 28th January at 9:00am.

Lucky, because I was thinking of heading down to Casey.

The club's intra club practice match will be held on Friday 4th of February. Venue and Time to be confirmed.

I've just read on melbournefc.com.au that the club's next open training session is at Gosch's Paddock, Corner of Swan Street and Olympic Boulevard) on Friday 28th January at 9:00am.

Lucky, because I was thinking of heading down to Casey.

The club's intra club practice match will be held on Friday 4th of February. Venue and Time to be confirmed.

Gosch's Paddock.

Sounds like it's time for bhima to make a return to produce one of his informative reports on Friday's session.

And hopefully the club can fix a time and place for the intraclub in time for us working people to juggle our calendars to enable our attendance.

And hopefully the club can fix a time and place for the intraclub in time for us working people to juggle our calendars to enable our attendance.

Would love 3.00 PM locally as a personal preference.

Would love 3.00 PM locally as a personal preference.

Personally would love after 6 so can make the trip straight from the city.

Have heard the reason for delay is that they are not 100% happy with the surface at Casey

Gosch's Paddock.

Sounds like it's time for bhima to make a return to produce one of his informative reports on Friday's session.

And hopefully the club can fix a time and place for the intraclub in time for us working people to juggle our calendars to enable our attendance.

And from the ether I shall materialise...

I actually made it down to training this morning and was going to put in a short report as I was only there for about 20 minutes, however, as training will be in richmond tomorrow I'll have a proper look and include anything I saw of note today in the write up tomorrow.

Cheers

Thanks Bhima. Look forward to it.

Previous training reports suggested Casey's ground was ok.

ox_5, the surface at Casey, particularly the center corridor is, at best, "ordinary".

ox_5, the surface at Casey, particularly the center corridor is, at best, "ordinary".

Oh. Well, that explains that then. Particularly as our team uses the centre corridor so well now (improving at least), that must be some issue. ;P

And from the ether I shall materialise...

I actually made it down to training this morning and was going to put in a short report as I was only there for about 20 minutes, however, as training will be in richmond tomorrow I'll have a proper look and include anything I saw of note today in the write up tomorrow.

Cheers

See you there Bhima.

I might think of heading there. Have we trained any other times at Gosch's paddock during this preseason? I haven't really been keeping up to date

I too will be making my way down to Richmond... I shall add my observations at some point tomorrow.

Enjoy the morning folks.

I can't make it this week so look forward to your contributions.

Would appreciate it if people kept their eyes and ears open for any news of Chip Frawley and his recovery after surgery.

Would appreciate it if people kept their eyes and ears open for any news of Chip Frawley and his recovery after surgery.

He tweeted the following yesterday...

Surgery all went well! Been bored the last few days just been icing flat out! Hope everyone had a good Australia day!!

Great photo's how did they go and did you hear any whispers on who got to be captain.

great photo's how did they go and did you hear any whispers on who got to be captain

They looked really sharp, They were doing full ground drills and I could count on one hand how many mistakes were made. I noticed Jones and Tappy running laps at good pace.

Here is what I caught at training....

Aussie Tapscott and Jonesy running laps.

Robbie Campbell, Gawn, Warnock and Nicholson walking laps. Nicholson looked pretty sore, maybe op given increased training loads. Bartram limped off early with some sort of leg injury / slight limp, probably not too serious.

The group came out and "dicked around" for the first 10 mins just to loosen up.

They then ran a couple of laps and did some mobility/agility stuff in the part of the ground closest to the intersection of swan and punt.

Scott West was running a drill where three teams of about 6 players had to get 7 clean touches/handpases whilst under pressure, the team that didn't manage 7 touches by way off poor disposal or interception would then become the defensive side.

Whilst West was running his drill there was a simple kick and tackle type drill operating.

Following this there was a full ground drill where players would kick on a 45 degree angle and progress the ball up the ground. The player kicking the ball would sprint to the next group where his teammate started his lead from.

Finally the ground was split into half and they were simulating point kickins. This drill seemed to be conducted at full intensity. Defensive team focused on zoning whilst the offensive team utilised switching the ball alot. Given the strength of the zone the pockets and flanks were being used a lot.

I thought the team were a bit sloppy with general kicking to position and moving the ball from one end of the ground to the other, a few missed targets, all down to interpretation really, if i had more time i would have popped ova and had a look at Collingwood who were also training just to get a bit of an idea where we stand.

Individual players who stood out, Scully, one instance when they were doing a match simulation he was able to provide options for players given his preparedness to sprint long distance to create space.

Thought Trengove was really clean in the 7 touches drill as was Jurrah.

Jordy Gysberts has great evasive skills and was able to either hit up a leading forward or running shot on goal in match simulation drills.

Most vocal players were Beamer and Greeny.

Hard to take it all in really, if you wanna known about a specific player, let me know n i'll ave a crack.

Can we leave the incredibly uninformed medical diagnoses out?

Nicholson looked sore walking laps so it must be OP... ?!

Training back at AAMI, a few thoughts from a pretty long session...I'll focus on a few players I haven't mentioned so far in training reports and try and think of anything else that might be worth noting.

Kelvin Lawrence: Haven't seen this guy before, other than youtube footage, and the first impression is that he looks pretty shy and raw and won't be expecting to spend any time in the senior side this year. Physically he looks similar to Nev Jetta, however athletically he moves more like Jamie Bennell. He certainly has some pace, and shows excellent closing speed to put on some effective spoils. His kicking needs work, perhaps not so much his technique, but rather he panicked occasionally when under pressure and kicked wildly. I think for Lawrence it is the case of needing to settle into a professional sporting environment in a foreign social and geographical place. Way too early to know how good he can be until he gets physically bigger and more comfortable living in Melbourne.

Michael Evans: My first thought about Evans is that he looks similar to Leigh Montagna. Perhaps in playing style he is most similar to Rohan Bail. During drills he was playing in the centre and then spreading wide to deliver to the leading forward. His kicking style is similar to Bail's, although not as reliable. Considering his age and where he was taken in the draft, he looks like a good rookie prospect. Unlike Lawrence, he has some decent body size and looks ready for professional football. I think we should expect some good games from him in the VFL this year.

Neville Jetta: Nev Jet is no longer on a modified program and completed the two hour session today. He was working hard on his kicking with one of the coaches for some time and his kicking was looking good. Jetta, at least to me, is not overly quick by foot, but his anticipation around the ball and of other players is his weapon. At one point, James Strauss tried to sell him a dummy while running out of defence and Nev Jet was straight on to it, dragging Strauss down in a beautiful tackle. He was also matched up on Lawrence for a while, and made good space in the forward fifty and took some good marks. Jetta is very physical and although there are more talented players on the list, his aggression and defensive skills make him an attractive proposition.

Colin Garland: Garland has completed every session I have seen over the pre-season and looks terrific. Without Frawley he is undoubtedly our most important defender. He can play tall and small, is fast, creates play by foot coming out of defence and is a beautiful kick. It was interesting watching he and Watts in the goal square during drills today. When players were close to goal, Garland managed to keep Watts quiet and outmark him on occasion, even though he is 5cm shorter. With Garland and Grimes in the backline, the Dees can still win games without J Frawley.

Jack Grimes: On Grimes, he was looking superb. He was leading the pack in running drills and looks to be moving without any back issues. During play simulations, Grimes would consistently play on out of the back line and deliver perfectly on either side of the body. Collingwood's zone will be employed by every team this year and the ability to kick well out of defence will make or break some teams. Grimes hit every target today, and his ability to always play on breaks up the zone. As mentioned above, he and Garland are absolutely critical to the Dees this year. Although often touted as a natural leader, he did stand out today and for the first time it seemed obvious to me that he will lead the club one day.

Jack Watts: Watts was beaten early by Garland and I was concerned he might go missing; however, he moved up the ground and became very damaging at centre half forward. While Garland could contain him in the goal square, in more open spaces Watts was able to get free and deliver to ball to leading forwards time and time again. There is no doubting Watts is an elite kick for someone of his size. Even more impressively, he seemed to gain confidence and took a contested mark over Bate and Martin and then went back and slotted the goal from 50. He is certainly the fittest I have seen him and completed the full session today. Physically his body is starting to look more taught and muscular, particularly his legs. Based purely on his training today, not on his potential talent, you would have no doubt that Watts would be a certainly for selection come round 1.

Liam Jurrah: Jurrah's training was a highlight today. He has often not been with the main group when I have been at training but he completed all the drills. For a while I focussed only on him because his kicking was perfect. He did eventually miss a target (he is at least part human). He was vocal and moving well across the ground, although midway through training he was spoiled by M. Newton while taking a mark and was proppy getting up. He is definitely carrying am minor ankle injury, but it must be minor as he continued to train on. His haircut - a vertical mullet - is also getting longer at the back and looking pretty great. It is simply a matter of staying fit and Jurrah will be a nightmare for the opposition.

Michael Newton: Speaking of M. Newton, I was ready to say that he a lost cause after seeing him at training yesterday. He was training as if it was kick to kick at the park with his mates, no intensity, setting a very poor example for younger players...today was another story. He looked very fit and switched on, and was showing good aggression. There is no doubt he has ability by foot, and he was also marking in front of his eyes on the lead today. He and Dunn had a bit of a light 'jumper punch' moment as Dunn was getting annoyed with Newton niggling him. Although yesterday Newton was training with the ruck group, today he also did some work in defence and did not look out of place. He was one of the better trainers today, and it is on these types of performances that the football department must continue to persevere with him.

Stefan Martin: Martin is officially a physical unit. He looks magnificent, considering I saw him from about two feet away. At one point in training today he took off through the middle of the ground and his speed was awesome. His marking has always been very good, and now if he can get his kicking to a level of respectable consistency he might be a weapon for us this year. I think last year was a write-off due to injury and for those who are still on the Stef Martin bandwagon, if he stays fit, the Stefan Martin Experience might actually become an experience. He was running sprints on the boundary at one point and scared the sh*t out of bloke who was standing on the boundary line and didn't see him coming.

Sam Blease: Blease has been a bit disappointing from what I have seen at training and in the VFL...mind you he has been horribly injured, but I just haven't seen any X factor. Today was a different story. At one point, he evaded two blokes coming out of defence and delivered a perfect 50 metre pass. The trainers were very supportive, telling him to keep taking the opposition on. He speed is well noted, but the use of his speed today carrying the ball was exciting and his skills looked good. He still overcooked some of his passes, and still needs to bulk up, but finally he might just be coming good. It was certainly the best I have seen him thus far.

Injury List:

J. Frawley was walking laps with his left arm in a sling. I heard Cameron Schwab saying that Frawley is a fast recoverer and has excellent 'proto-plasma', but I think he was just saying that because it sounds cool.

Nate Jones was not training yesterday and only took a small part in training today. He was running laps at one point and the trainer told him to cool it and slow down...something is not right but no idea what it might be.

Newton's ability as a defender might become more important as M. Warnock was only walking laps today and took no part in training. Not sure what's wrong.

Gawn, Campbell, Fitzpatrick and Tapscott were not training with the main group. Tapscott was running fairly quickly on along the boundary line but that was it.

Morton was out there at the beginning of training but disappeared fairly early on.

No sign of Troy Davis today.

Unfortunately, the rookie Dan Nicholson was limited to walking the boundary and looked very sore. He was stretching his back a lot and looks like he has an injury in that area...didn't look good at all but just hoping it is general soreness.

There you go; any further questions feel free to ask.

Cheers.

Here's my take on events: Just got back from training at Gosch's Paddock this morning, where I was amongst a decent crowd of on-lookers watching the lads train for a solid 2 hours.

Firstly, injury news: Cambell, Gawn, Fitzpatrick, Warnock, Nicholson (back complaint by the sounds of it), Tapscott and of course Frawley didn't participate at all, mostly just walking laps and doing a few reflex drills. Tappy was running laps for a while. Chip was in a sling, fresh from surgery by the looks, and looking very sorry for himself . Also on modified programs were Wonna, SME and Jonesy, who all left the main group after various amounts of time to run laps. LJ had his ankle taped about an hour in, but seemed to be at or close to 100% (in his own laid-back way).

After the obligatory skills session, the main group moved into two drills, the one I saw being an inside-50 thing down the AAMI end. The likes of Bennell, Davey, Grimes, Bail, Strauss, Garland, Joel Mac, Newton and Blease were on the defensive team, with Watts, Jurrah, the SME, Sylvia, Jetta, Lawrence, Moloney, Green and Scully playing forward (there were others on both teams). Couple of interesting placements in there, I thought... especially Juice in the back line and the SME up forward. Strauss was doing the kick-ins, I love his kicking skills. Watts was playing as a high forward mostly, and I enjoyed his work rate. He was running hard and presenting, but it still looked like he wasn't demanding the ball enough. He also seemed to get caught up in traffic a bit.

The group then moved to a full-ground match-sim drill, although interestingly the wings were cut off to encourage play through the corridor. The forwards seemed to be playing with the same game plan as last year as well - i.e. the mids would often kick over their heads, with a maximum of one match-up deep inside the 50.

Points of note from the match, which lasted about half an hour I think:

- Jake 'Pretzel' Spencer, who is surprisingly quick and was moving very well. Still has an incredibly awkward kicking action, but hits targets and gets amongst the play. Good signs. Also has an evolved nickname apparently... lol. Jamar was in full training, on the opposite team of course.

- Scully, of course, who is just a freak. So fast, so clean, never stops. It has been said many times before, but it's amazing how well he trains.

- Watts, who made a better showing than the previous drill. Presented well, got plenty of the ball, worked hard, and took a good contested mark over Bate and Joel Mac (I think). Still played half-forward, with Dunn (still repping the black mo) playing in the square for their team.

- Trengove's awesome don't-argue on Moloney (no mean feat), and just his balance, poise and kicking skills in general.

- Strauss, although admittedly playing loose man in defence, had his kicking boots on and was hitting some excellent long targets. Here's hoping he can step up to AFL level and release Grimes to the middle a lot more.

- Bail, whose run-and-carry was excellent. I like the way he always runs as far as he can before kicking - the proverbial "80 metre player".

- Dunn, who got stuck into LJ for ignoring him as a handball option.

- Jurrah instead tried to take on two defenders, and Dunny wasn't happy.

- Rookies Evans, Lawrence and Johnston were amongst the play and didn't look too out of place, especially Johnston the ranga, who seems to be filling the shoes of Cheney quite nicely.

- Davey looks to have overcome his leg injury nicely, and was speeding around the place hitting 20-cent pieces at 50 metres, as he tends to do.

Apparently Bradley Green was announced as captain to the playing group before the session... I didn't see that bit.

I also went down today and like 36DD said it was hard to concentrate on a specific player as my favourite player changes every 5 minutes.

The two that stood out too me were Trengove & Scully, like we haven't heard this one before but Scully is just a freak at training, he just gives everything he's got true professional and his hands are soooo slick. Trengove is just classy, beautiful with the ball and looks like hes been playing for years!

Grimes missed a few targets (only just) but looked great out of the back line pretty much playing the quarter back type role.

Another I liked the look of today was Ricky Petterd. Thought he trained really well he still had a bit of strapping on his shoulder but I'm guessing that's just a precaution coz in one of the full ground drills Beamer got him with a decent hip n shoulder on the the taped shoulder that didnt seem to faze him one bit.

If u want to know anyone else I'll try let u know more info.

Troy Davis is from Kerang which has been underwater, could be the reason for his absence though I have no specific info.

Thanks for all the reports guys, love getting them. I am too far away to get there myself.

Can we leave the incredibly uninformed medical diagnoses out?

Nicholson looked sore walking laps so it must be OP... ?!

I would have thought the "maybe" indicated a degree of uncertainty as to his ailment, can only comment on what I see and the dynamic stretching he was doing a mere 10m away was groin/hip flexor related.

No doubt you were a fan of Robert DiPierdomenico when he was boundary riding.

Can we leave the incredibly uninformed medical diagnoses out?

Nicholson looked sore walking laps so it must be OP... ?!

Maybe you should come to training and write a report yourself. Be grateful to the the ones that provide others with info.

And furthermore they trained the house down this morning.