Interesting that we have another ruckman training with us when we have so many on the list.

Jamar can't be relied upon due to injuries. Gawn could be anything, and is still very much a long-term prospect because of his height and history of knee problems. Fitzpatrick is more of a forward than a ruckman and despite the positive reports Spencer still has a lot to prove.

The other thing about ruckmen is if you have excessive stocks they can become a handy trading commodity in the future.

Will pay to wait till the real games start PSD.

Early signs look promising but remember it is late November everyone tends to look good. Lets wait till April for proof positive.

Amazing how when you go to training and get close to the players how much bigger they look than at the G where you are along way from the action.

Tom Mac is a big boy when you see him up close. I was also surprised at the size of Spencer he has always been tall but he appears to have gained weight and muscle since August.

I thought he was good today seems to have gained half a yard of speed as well.

He gets canned a lot about his kicking well today he hit almost every target.

Interesting measure. I'm having difficulty actually visualising what "half a yard of speed" looks like.

Interesting measure. I'm having difficulty actually visualising what "half a yard of speed" looks like.

Says more about my vintage than anything else

How does "looks to have increased his running speed" grab you?

Jamar can't be relied upon due to injuries. Gawn could be anything, and is still very much a long-term prospect because of his height and history of knee problems. Fitzpatrick is more of a forward than a ruckman and despite the positive reports Spencer still has a lot to prove.

The other thing about ruckmen is if you have excessive stocks they can become a handy trading commodity in the future.

Also have to replace martin...

Says more about my vintage than anything else

How does "looks to have increased his running speed" grab you?

Thanks. I'm of that vintage that remembers measurements in yards (but not old enough to remember perches and roods...or is it rods?). Admittedly, "half a yard" sounds a lot better than 18 inches of pace or even 0.4572 metres.

Also have to replace martin...

Yes and I Think we lost Jamar, Gawn, Spencer and Fitzpatrick all in the one weekend.

Two of them to season ending injuries.

I forgot to mention pencil, he certainly has a bit more lead in his pencil these days.

Gawn is a monster. Ruck department certainly looking the goods

Interesting about Hannath training with us, I wonder whether it's a back stop measure. We certainly do have a history of rucks going down with season ending injuries during pre-season.

When the boys were doing the tackling no-one mentioned how much the boys liked doing it that way.

They were encouraging each other all the way and when one laid a superb bone crunching tackle the roar that came from them was fantastic.

If we were looking for a team motto after that. "Kill or be killed".

Sorry if I've posted too much today, I was pumped from the effort they put in.

GO DEES!

Interesting measure. I'm having difficulty actually visualising what "half a yard of speed" looks like.

In a line of chalk or talc powder that's 18 inches. I guess it's the same in speed.

Thanks. I'm of that vintage that remembers measurements in yards (but not old enough to remember perches and roods...or is it rods?). Admittedly, "half a yard" sounds a lot better than 18 inches of pace or even 0.4572 metres.

I think you can spell it either way i.e. roods or rodds.

You will not believe this but I remember a rood was 5.5 yards or 16'6"

Have not had to think about that for a while.

Our Kiwi cousins still use perch's to describe the size of housing blocks.

Don't ask i have no idea how big a Perch is

I forgot to mention pencil, he certainly has a bit more lead in his pencil these days.

Gawn is a monster. Ruck department certainly looking the goods

Interesting about Hannath training with us, I wonder whether it's a back stop measure. We certainly do have a history of rucks going down with season ending injuries during pre-season.

When the boys were doing the tackling no-one mentioned how much the boys liked doing it that way.

They were encouraging each other all the way and when one laid a superb bone crunching tackle the roar that came from them was fantastic.

If we were looking for a team motto after that. "Kill or be killed".

Sorry if I've posted too much today, I was pumped from the effort they put in.

GO DEES!

Do not be sorry more info is always better than not enough.

I think you can spell it either way i.e. roods or rodds.

You will not believe this but I remember a rood was 5.5 yards or 16'6"

Have not had to think about that for a while.

Our Kiwi cousins still use perch's to describe the size of housing blocks.

Don't ask i have no idea how big a Perch is

And 16'6" is the standard width of Victorian terrace houses. I have no idea how I know that.

Thanks. I'm of that vintage that remembers measurements in yards (but not old enough to remember perches and roods...or is it rods?). Admittedly, "half a yard" sounds a lot better than 18 inches of pace or even 0.4572 metres.

would .0022727 furlongs help?

And 16'6" is the standard width of Victorian terrace houses. I have no idea how I know that.

So a Vic terrace house was 1 rood wide.

Thanks I will look a marvel next time I am asked!!!

would .0022727 furlongs help?

Nah

Toumpas is a nice size, bigger than I would have thought.

I agree. Toumpas is going to be a very nice size 6ft mid. Won't be too bulky, or too skinny, strong enough to hold his own over the ball, quick enough to take metres off an opponent and already has the capacity to kick goals on the run at speed from outside 50.

So a Vic terrace house was 1 rood wide.

Thanks I will look a marvel next time I am asked!!!

When I was younger I lived in a terrace, but there seemed to be a lot more roods.

When I was younger I lived in a terrace, but there seemed to be a lot more roods.

Ha Ha

Jamar can't be relied upon due to injuries. Gawn could be anything, and is still very much a long-term prospect because of his height and history of knee problems. Fitzpatrick is more of a forward than a ruckman and despite the positive reports Spencer still has a lot to prove.

The other thing about ruckmen is if you have excessive stocks they can become a handy trading commodity in the future.

Exactly, Clint. We really only have one true ruckman (Jamar) with some considerable game time at AFL level.

If ever we need a sound contingency/succession plan it's in the ruck division.

I got down there about 9.30 and stayed for an hour or so.

I agree with most of what has been said already so will keep it down to specific observations.

Neeld seems very relaxed; I guess I was expecting a more intense personna but I was really impressed with how he interacts with the players. As an example there were a couple of love taps with some of the senior players (Mitch in particular) and most impressively he took time to walk a full lap with Hogan. He appeared to be offering a bit of low key input which I would imagine for a 17 year old boy 5000ks from home would have been really valuable.

Taggert has inherited the worst Mo award, it is a shocker!

I tried to get a bit of info about where the 2 skippers were. By the time I left they had still not appeared. I asked one of the support staff who suggested that Grimes is on a modified program but he could not say where Trenners was. I also did not see Col.

Pickles was with the group doing laps but he managed to snag a classic drop kicked goal

I too could not get over the chirp amongst the group, really impressive.

Jimmy T is a rolls royce; before I left I wanted to have a look at the newbies who were up the north end of the paddock doing time trials. He moves like a cat and has a really sunny disposition.

I welcomed a couple of the new recruits who seemed slightly taken aback, hey said that they were being eased in slowly.

I think that these open sessions are great. As long as you pick your moment there seems to be no resistance to questions from the players or staff.

That is about it but am happy to answer any questions.

Go Dees

Last one. I like the way Tappy almost launches Bail into orbit

I take it you were the gent sitting in the shade with the nice camera?

Towards the end of the sessions the rucks got together and were practicing on their techniques with the new ruck rule. Bascially working on starting physical contact once the ball was in the air and I think an umpire may have been instructing them? Spencer was very vocal and working really hard to get it right, I like how he tries to really hurt his opposition, he just needs to get his disposal better.

Another comment was just how well the backline is working together, they generally stuck together in the sessions I saw, the whole time encouraging and pushing each other to do better. As we improve in the middle I think our backline will become quite difficult to score against.

Taggert has inherited the worst Mo award, it is a shocker!

Dunn must've passed on the baton

Thanks. I'm of that vintage that remembers measurements in yards (but not old enough to remember perches and roods...or is it rods?). Admittedly, "half a yard" sounds a lot better than 18 inches of pace or even 0.4572 metres.

Rods, poles and perches are different names for the same unit. Medieval ploughing was done with oxen, up to 4 pairs at a time. The ploughman handled the plough. His boy controlled the oxen using a stick, which had to be long enough to reach all the oxen. This was the rod, pole or perch. It was an obvious implement to measure the fields, such as 4 poles to the chain. A BBC webpage about allotments says that "an allotment plot is 10 poles" and claims that "A pole is measured as the length from the back of the plough to the nose of the ox". I suppose that if you wanted to control the front ox, you needed a pole long enough to reach! The perch was used in the reign of Henry II (1154-1189), the pole since the 16C, and the rod since 1450. In the 16th century the lawful rod was decreed to be the combined length of the left feet of 16 men as they left church on a Sunday morning. In North Devon there is a tradition that fencing, that is to say the cutting and laying of a hedge, would be done at so much a land yard, which seemed to be about 5 paces or 5.5 yards, which would equate to a rod, pole or perch. An earlier name for a rod was a gyrd which is the derivation of a yard.

So, the likes of Russian, Fitz, Gawnius maximus would measure up at close to 0.4 rods (or poles or perches) - just in case anyone was wondering.

I can just picture Neeld and Craig out there with the rod (or pole or perch) driving the guys through their preseason drills :-)

its what I love about Demonland, its so educational

( and to think my wife thinks its wasting time )

FNQ Demon Report – Wednesday, 28 November 2012

Arrived at training about 0905 the ground support staff were setting up Gosch’s Paddock for a gruelling session; and gruelling it was.

Dave Misson arrived with his team at about 0935 and they commenced the set-up of some different training areas designated by small coloured markers. The rehabilitation area was also set out at the same time. Coaches arrived at approximately 0945 and a couple of minutes later the players arrived.

Jack Watts and Max Gawn headed the group chatting and laughing to themselves, Jack Viney the new recruits and Rodan all together talking and near the end were Mitch Clarke and Chris Dawes again talking to each other. Nathan Jones and Daniel Nicholson were very vocal in encouraging the boys to train hard and do it for each other.

Missing – Jack Grimes, Jack Trengrove and Colin Sylvia.

The team placed their bags down and went straight into warm-ups. All players were wearing all blue training tops and all others (new recruits and rehabilitation group) wore red and blue singlets.

The team broke into two Groups:

Group 1 – Modified programme. Mitch Clarke, Chris Dawes, Max Gawn, Michael Evans, Jesse Hogan, and Tom Gillies broke into some of their own stretching and walking around the oval. MN and Jesse Hogan walked a whole lap together talking and at the end JH looked pretty happy. JH was walking very slow deliberate laps. It looks like everyone is on an individual programme. They walk laps together, conduct individual stretches and break off to do their own thing and come back to do their walk around the oval. It is all under the guidance of Dave Misson's team and it is very structured, deliberate. I get the feeling there could be some sort of brief prior to training and each discussion is just to re-enforce points and conduct some minor tweaks. I spoke with one of the trainers and he said they were all coming along perfect and looking good to get back into the main group. I asked him (on behalf of all of us) to take it easy with Mitch and he did say Mitch would be a while off full training. I spoke at length to Mitch and he said he felt really good after Monday and all doctors and physio are telling him he is coming along really well and they are sticking with the programme and time lines for return. He said he will be back.

Group 2 – All other players (including recruits) conducted a lap and then some stretching, another lap and more stretches. They also conducted some ball work (half pace) as part of the warm up. This was all conducted by Dave Misson. Very structured warm up and Dave Misson had them eating out his hand. Noticeable is the way the boys react to words of command. It was almost military like. No back chat, got straight into whatever was required; they look like a very disciplined team, Especially the backs. They look like a very tight group.

After warm up’s they moved into tackling practice led by one of the Melbourne Storm tackling coaches. He was very vocal and pulled everyone up for grabbing around the chest during the tackle, he reminded them (in no uncertain terms) that was not the way he had taught them and they were to get down low and drive up with the legs through the chest area. WOW, did things change.

Most notable – Luke Tapscott, James Magner, Colin Garland, Lynden Dunn, James Frawely. This was a very aggressive and positive session, all players encouraging each other.

They then moved into a hand ball drill where you have three defenders and three attackers and you have to get the ball over the opposition line. This was fantastic to watch, lots of talking, encouragement and skills. Most Notable was “FLASH”, he was quick, elusive, skilled and putting on some hits (one especially against Frawley).

The next drill was kicking drill in a triangle group to group; I was impressed because the ball hit the ground twice in the whole session – Best Kick, Jetta, Watts, T Mac, Davey, Garland.

They then moved into some stoppage drills/clearance drills. This was run by Neil Craig. The boys split into FWD’s MID’s and BACK’s each wearing different coloured tops and then conducted the drills against each other whilst one group rested. It was quick, high intensity footy. There were coaches all over the ground with MN in the middle and they were very vocal barking instructions and getting the plan in place. This went for a while and was very intense. The game plan looked like it took the ball wide and then cut into a running CHF, FF. It also looked like the MID’s were doing a massive amount of running, because the alternate game plan looked like short, quick continuous footy. It was very quick and looked good (from my perspective) there were a couple of sprayed kicks but nothing too bad. Nearing the end of the session, Taggart and Watts had a slight clash; Taggart went to tackle Watts and slipped off him. Watts accidently heeled him in the face and Watts delivered a beautiful kick to Colin Garland and then pulled up lame. He was holding his ankle/back of calf area. He went off with the Physio, however returned for the some of the last (gruelling) session. He did leave earlier than everyone else and I spoke with him and he said it was nothing, he just didn’t continue because he was still getting over the illness and he did look tired. Most Notable – Jetta, he ran all day, chased, tackled, beautiful kick. He was impressive.

The last session was punishment. FWDs MIDs & BACKs under the guidance of Misson. He punished them with various times jogging and then timed sprints.

Notable – Nicholson, Jones, T Mac. Strauss copped it bad from MN and most of the other coaching staff. He was slower than FLASH. I also have to mention Sam Blease, although not the quickest he was putting in harder than anyone, it was a great effort.

END of Training.

I spoke with Aaron Davey who said he is feeling fantastic; his knees are the best they have ever been. The patch on his knee is due to a grass burn that has got infected. He admitted he is not as quick but feeling fantastic. Again, he trained really well. MN was taking with his constantly and his field position, kicking was excellent. The players continue to use him a lot.

I spoke at length with Mark Neeld; he is very happy where the guys have come in 12 months. He said the recruits would join the main group in Darwin. The current training is putting down a base level of fitness prior to Xmas, and then they will really step it up. He is very happy with what was going on and the attitude of everyone.

Overall a fantastic session.

FNQ Demon