Footy is such a drug that demands my attention even when I resolve to be a little more balanced. I think that I’ve attended every MCG game in the past 3 years bar 2 (both of them were wins as well), and I’ve read, aborbed and enjoyed all of the training reports on Demonland and ‘Ology, despite them seeming to be pretty consistent. Last Monday, I took advantage of the 8am start to training at the Gosch to watch my first training session since the boys trained in the twilight at Junction Oval in 1992 (I was working in the “cheese grater” next door back in 92).

Watching training on Monday morning met many of my expectations based on the fabulous training reports, but there were some quirks that took me a little by surprise. I’ve really enjoyed the training reports, but I thought that I’d share some of my observations that I did not see in others’ reports.

My first observation was how smooth and gradual the warm-up was. From memory, it consisted of the following:

• Players arriving at the oval took a gentle walk in groups of 2 to 5 for one lap around the boundary.
  
• The coach who led the warm-up said a few words that I could not hear, then I heard him call out “do a single”, which obviously translated to jog a single lap.
  
• There was an array of stretching exercises for the legs and groin. As an ex-amateur player (from the mid-80s to the early 90s), their stretches looked really well thought out.
  
• There were a series of kicking exercises where players would start in two rows, 15 metres apart at first moving out to 30 metres, kicking one-on-one to each other. By the time I thought to look, they were tending to kick with their non-preferred foot. I remember Robbie Flower’s dead-eye aim in the 70’s World of Sport handball competition, and these guys looked more like amateurs than Robbie Flower. (Readers, please don’t get worried by this – I saw this as merely a part of the warm-up routine.)
  
• The players then did some good-old circle work, though with stations positioned on each of the flanks and in the goal squares. I moved into the boundary to watch closely how well each of the players were handling and disposing of the ball. By this time, the players were pretty much moving at full pace. I also realised after 5 or so minutes of this that I was so absorbed that I had almost forgotten to breathe – I love footy so much. Flowing footy is like poetry in motion for me and completely absorbs me. As far as skills were concerned, I’d say that about half of the disposal / accuracy / receiving was clean enough to withstand a defender one metre behind and hot on the tail of the target.
  
• At the end of the circle work, the players did something that I’ve never seen in Aussie Rules but it is a feature of sports like Rugby Union and hockey. The players formed two rows facing each other like a sausage and rotated around the group and “congratulated” each of their team mates with a hand-shake, should pat sort of thing. As a Dees fan, it looked good.
  
• A trainer then brought out a bag of GPS harnesses and the players stripped off their red shirts to put the harness on and to don one of the white or royal blue jumpers that others have described in their reports. There was a few minutes break while a steady stream of players almost sprinted to the heritage green public lavatory on the corner of the park next to the entrance to AAMI Park.
  
• Seeing the players resort to using the public toilet struck me as a bit odd; a bit inconsistent with being elite sportsmen and trainers. I won’t say who was first to do a whiz, but that was only 20 minutes after they started. I’m sure that they drink buckets of water but I’d be surprised if someone attending a training session at my work excused themselves 20 minutes after the training started. At first, I thought that this was an aberration until there were about another 5 players who did the same thing in the next 5 minutes.
  
• After the short break, the players moved into the match simulation with directions from Choco in the middle. Boy it felt weird watching a match simulation on the boundary line rather than up in the stands as I found it really hard to process any of what was happening. Most of the players were hard to distinguish and, frankly, it looked pretty scrappy. It did not help that most of the action was taking place on the opposite wing.
  
• One thing that interested me was that they operated an interchange bench, with Tappy and Willow interchanging and even with an official with a whiteboard. I could almost imagine one of those umpires with the tight trackies making sure that the Post-it notes were in order.
  
• At the end of about 10 minutes of match-simulation, they called a break. By this time, it was 9:15 or so and I had to head off to work.
  

Some other observations.

• Neeldy and most of the other senior coaches spent quite a bit of time standing around chewing the fat with their arms crossed, hands in their pockets or pulling up their shorts. (Those shorts aren’t the sort of clothes you’d see the Fonz wear on Happy Days, if you know what I mean.) It struck me how different their work environment was to my work environment, where appearing as though you are loafing is seriously frowned upon. These guys get paid mega-bucks and obviously know when to sit on the perimeter and observe, and when to step in, absorb the pressure and make some big calls. I sensed that Neeldy was very comfortable with empowering his assistants.
  
• Immensely talented players who can do freakish things in a game blended in at this training session (at least for the 45 minutes of training that I watched). Guys like Killer, Greeny, Rush, Chipper didn’t stand out like what I’ve come to expect.
  

I’ll finish up by stating that I think that they guys will be really competitive this season. I went to AGM (and even asked a question), and I had the distinct impression that the top-brass are conspiring to keep a lid on expectations, a la the “under-promise and over-deliver” mantra. The vibe at training was quiet but positive, along the lines of follow the process and the outcomes will look after themselves. The match simulation may have been scrappy but I got a real sense of steely determination. I’m not supposed to go to so many games this year as I’m starting a part-time Masters degree, but I sense that I’ll be down at the G more time than I plan for.

Go Dees!

Great in depth post TD!

Being a Gippslander I've never had the opportunity to go to a training session before but can only wonder what goes on at these sessions.

I really can't wait to see us get into it for real in the next weeks and months to come... I just want it to happen!!!!

Quietly optimistic for the oncoming 2012 season. I think every Melbourne supporter/member has reason to be trying to keep a lid on things at the moment. Too many times have we been sold Rolex only to find out its a Thailand special 'Wolex'.

Gippy

Terrific report and really interesting to hear about stuff not covered in other reports. The sausage congrats circle is something new. The masters should be about the dees and then you'll be fully justified going to all 22 (plus finals) games and even more training.

have to say thankyou, such a great report, obvious care taken.

And welcome to Demonland , keep posting like you just did and you will no doubt become a a favorite!

For someone that is interstate and hasn't been to training since the mid-90's, thank you for that great report.

One thing I noticed, you haven't been to 2 games and we have won both times. Thank Christ you're doing your masters this year and can't go to many games..!!!

Top work-hope you do you masters in football reportage .

Thanks for the report Traja, much appreciated.

Dont really know where to put this so i guess here will do... This link is from the MFC Facebook page and has 200+ photos of the whole preseason. For the most recent ones scroll to the bottom of the page.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150456556017317.417162.285839797316&type=1&bef=10150677465947317

As someone who finds himself going to the toilet more often than is convenient, I'm glad I'm not the only one whose level of physical activity translates to an extra couple of visits to the loo every day.