Living in Kenya has been interesting, I play a weekend comp and its always funny when some fit young guy (20's) turns up to join in (we're at 1800m) and after 30 mins they are shattered, and I'm running off them (in my 40's). Down side is you need to train heavily to keep the effects and I never seem to be able to time my travel back to sea level to actually sand bag a colleague with my increased fitness back in Australia. Also golf at 2100m becomes a challenge although the ball flies, a 3 iron becomes a 2.

I have however read that children raised at altitude get to keep some of the physiological effects, am keen to see how this works out for my son who has spent the requisite first 2 years of his life above 1600m. Quote Wiki 'populations have better oxygenation at birth, enlarged lung volumes throughout life, and a higher capacity for exercise.' Maybe all prospective father/son selections should be encouraged to live at altitude pre/post birth... :-).

Anyway there are many physiological shortcuts to be had that don't just come from pills and needles, personally I hope the club does more with muscle cooling for weights work outs.

Dom Barry > Flash II

I need a cold shower !!

Us Demonlanders are truly being spoilt by the quality of the training reports we are getting this year ... but I guess we deserve it! (lol).

Thanks Hells Gates.

Hi all,

... Jack Watts' skills were outstanding however, he left training early and when I saw him last he had strapping around his shin/calf? I'm a Watts fan but he looks skinny - maybe suited to a wing than a backman's role?

Thanks HG, interesting stuff as usual. I reckon Misson won't be looking to bulk Watts up at all and i expect that he will play a half back/quarter back role and occasional moving onto the wing. He is so far our best user of the ball its not funny and these roles take best advantage of his disposal skills. I expect him to be super damaging in those roles and will not be surprided to see him being tagged with forwards whose role is to take him away from the ball. As i have posted before the irony is that in looking for a KPF we have found the next Robbie Flower.

Hi All.

... I met Jimmy Toumpas - bloody lovely kid. Would like to keep him as a pet!!! Just a great happy easy going guy and is absolutely loving being a part of the MFC. Players have been great to him and he loves living with the Vineys. He's had a good time up here, not liking the heat too much but said they've eased him into training which has helped. He too come off early, as did Jack Viney.

This....gold!

As i have posted before the irony is that in looking for a KPF we have found the next Robbie Flower.

That is so disrespectful.

That is so disrespectful.

Not disrespectful but certainly unrealistic in expectation.

By the time Robbie Flower was Jack Watts' age, he was already a champion.

In the words of the great James Taylor, if Jack is ever going to be considered in the same stratosphere as Robbie, he has 10 miles behind him, 10,000 more to go.

Great work HG!!!

As i have posted before the irony is that in looking for a KPF we have found the next Robbie Flower.

As long as it isn't the next Cale Morton...

I think Jack will have some career defining moments in 2013.

Great training reports and sounds like they are all looking to step it up. All good.

Not disrespectful but certainly unrealistic in expectation.

By the time Robbie Flower was Jack Watts' age, he was already a champion.

In the words of the great James Taylor, if Jack is ever going to be considered in the same stratosphere as Robbie, he has 10 miles behind him, 10,000 more to go.

Great work HG!!!

Agree the expectation that Jack might one day be up there with Robbie is a big ask.

Robbie was unique and so to just be a carbon copy would mean Jack was not as good.

Jack Watts needs to be Jack Watts - Melbourne Champion - if that is what he is to be.

The good thing, it appears he is responding very well to the new environment at the club.

And looking at the videos posted by the club in the last couple of days, it is obvious there is a great new spirit in play.

So, there is hope not only for Jack, but for the rest of the guys as well.

Like your song reference, too.

Great stuff, HG.

As for the smirk, I hope he never loses that. It's that little bit of arrogance that is keeping him going while he is the most derided player in the history of the modern draft, and that arrogance will help him become a key part in our next flag tilt.


He would have to be a strong minded kid to keep up that smirk...

On Barry, watched him at Gotsch's, then spoke to Neil Craig and I said I could see why Neeld what so pleased to get Barry, Craig said something along the lines of it is only training and anybody can look good, but you need to do the hard work, assume he said the same thing to Barry after reading HG's report, he could be the surprise packet this year

Thanks HG.

Agree with many others that this has been an outstanding pre-season for training reports and on appearance the good vibe seems to be a little bit more tangible than the usual "training the house down" "best shape ever".

The MFC stands before me in a sexy negliget beckoning me into the boudiour, hopefully it finishes up more 9 1/2 weeks than Basic Instinct.

Not disrespectful but certainly unrealistic in expectation.

Yes, you're probably right.

I'm a bit too over protective of Robbie.

I've just read this thread from start to finish. Congratulations to all posters (bar one, but I won't bother naming him/her) for what has been a glorious foray into football, geography, meteorology, physiology, music, history and politics. And some stuff about the actual purpose of the trip to Darwin.

This is why I like Demonland.

Hi All.

I just went down to Dees' training this morning at Gardens Oval.

I met Jimmy Toumpas - bloody lovely kid. Would like to keep him as a pet!!! Just a great happy easy going guy and is absolutely loving being a part of the MFC. Players have been great to him and he loves living with the Vineys. He's had a good time up here, not liking the heat too much but said they've eased him into training which has helped. He too come off early, as did Jack Viney.

Mate I think you did end up with a special mention in Matt Burgan's article today.

And thank god we didn't have a diary for China trip, I wonder about the professionalism of that trip compared to this one

We'd have to be thankful that any current "Gawn's Yawn" is a result of training not drinking.

Times are a changing...

And thank god we didn't have a diary for China trip, I wonder about the professionalism of that trip compared to this one

I'm pretty certain we did have a diary for the China trip, although I don't think it went into much detail about extra-curricular activities. And I take it that our HG originally hails from Tassie?

Courtesy of google, worth a view just to see how things have changed: https://www.google.com/search?q=china+diaries+melbourne+fc&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&safe=images

G'day all.

I apologise for my posts being a bit all over the place but I was in a rush yesterday and nearly missed my flight due to posting on here!

Here's some more info for everyone.

Neeldy was fairly quiet during drills compared to Neil Craig who was very active and vocal along with Jade Rawlings and Leigh Brown. Players were screamed at by Rawlings and Brown when they missed targets by foot during drills "not good enough" they would say and all of the group would have to do sprints before re-starting the drill again. Sprints looked to be 3 x 50m.

There's definitely no love lost between Rawlings and Joel Macdonald. Rawlings was into him non stop, at the end saying "you love me don't you Joel", "I'm easy on you aren't I Joel" and the best was Rawlings asking him if he wanted to be business partners. Jade said "we will start selling balaclavas and you can be the model". Joel didn't say much, probably terrified that anything he did say would probably result in sprints. Neeld was also into Jade about not getting up before the players to go to the gym, obviously the FD is also trying to lead by example.

During the match simulation young Jack Viney had his top ripped to pieces, I said to Neeldy I think that's going to be a common occurrence isn't it, he laughed and said "he's just a terror, he terrorises everybody, even us, he hates losing"! I will say again he's a solid bugger, no fear, the year at MFC has obviously been instrumental in him being ready to go for 2013.

I'd like to think this will be the same for Jesse Hogan, who was absent at training along with Mitch Clark. Misson joked and said they're back in the pool at the barracks having a cuddle.

Players were calling Jack Watts "silky" all session, but honestly between Barry, Strauss, Tappy, Toumpas and Kent you couldn't pick a fault in their foot skills.

There were cameras set up remotely all around the ground and all players obviously had GPS's on, I was sitting next to one of many laptops where all data from all players was outlayed and you could see who was hot, who's putting in, distances, temperatures, who's slacking off etc.

Lots of ball drills, which has been a common theme and not normally this involved at other clubs before Xmas. I think in previous years balls didn't come out until after January 5th so it's great to see they're getting their hands on the ball as well as building a great fitness base. Where our fitness stands with other clubs I'm not sure but it's only a matter of time and patience before it all clicks.

Also great to see a team culture and great camaraderie between players, where if someone's down a bit then another player will lift to cover him and help out, something I've really noticed this year, no selfishness between anyone.

Other than that Sells & Mags wanted me to take them fishing. I was first to report about Neeldy's knee-still no answer!

Without trying to get everyone's hopes up it is the fittest I have seen the players, ever. Everyone looks ripped, especially Howe. Also it's the sharpest I've seen our skills since the late 90's. And we look to have some pace out there too.

Anyway I'm off, I'll report back soon.

Hells, you mentioned that Davey was a standout. That's great to hear. In what way was he? I watched him train a couple of weeks ago and he was last in every run. Did he run and make space?

On the latest Dees In Darwin clip on the MFC website, Neeld is basically microphoned for the entire clip. He makes a very interesting comment right near the end to Davey, something along the lines of "When was the last time you could do that in December, hey?".

It suggested to me that even Flash, who has copped a hard time on here over the past couple of months, has been ticking the boxes that were drawn up for him.

Dom Barry > Flash II

I need a cold shower !!

Are you training up in Darwin too BB?

On the latest Dees In Darwin clip on the MFC website, Neeld is basically microphoned for the entire clip. He makes a very interesting comment right near the end to Davey, something along the lines of "When was the last time you could do that in December, hey?".

It suggested to me that even Flash, who has copped a hard time on here over the past couple of months, has been ticking the boxes that were drawn up for him.

Are you training up in Darwin too BB?

The latest video is really good. I could watch that behind the scenes stuff all day.

I for one am thoroughly enjoying these reports as well as the DeeTV and such. In so many ways this club has changed in quite a remarkably short amount of time.

I haven't seen a training for over 18 months. I haven't see a Neeld era one in person yet but i can get a feel from the vision.

This is a very different club now. The levels of professionalism and the nature of expectations is just beyond anything I recall

By comparison any recent efforts at the Dees seem commensurably amateurish. Its palpable as to the difference that the likes of Rodan and the other experienced players are making to the list, its even sparked up ol' Aaron

Actually you can sense everyone's lifted.

Again , its always easy to get carried away in the off season but this doesnt seem like the off season, its a genuine PRE Season in that they are gearing to play footy like they have never done before.

If i had to be somewhat flippant its as though we not 'mucking about' anymore. TISM !!

I for one am thoroughly enjoying these reports as well as the DeeTV and such. In so many ways this club has changed in quite a remarkably short amount of time.

I haven't seen a training for over 18 months. I haven't see a Neeld era one in person yet but i can get a feel from the vision.

This is a very different club now. The levels of professionalism and the nature of expectations is just beyond anything I recall

By comparison any recent efforts at the Dees seem commensurably amateurish. Its palpable as to the difference that the likes of Rodan and the other experienced players are making to the list, its even sparked up ol' Aaron

Actually you can sense everyone's lifted.

Again , its always easy to get carried away in the off season but this doesnt seem like the off season, its a genuine PRE Season in that they are gearing to play footy like they have never done before.

If i had to be somewhat flippant its as though we not 'mucking about' anymore. TISM !!

I share similar sentiments bb

However lets not get too far ahead of ourselves.

WE have thoughts similar things in the past which amounted to nil come March.

Please remember it is December 10th!

...and this is cricket season - you wouldn't know it given the additional exposure of the pre-season, Dee Tv updates on the Darwin Training Camp.

Great reports, thanks HG. They've found it tough no doubt, but seem to remain positive and are lapping it up. I gather the remaining days will be testing for them having been out out of their comfort zone and unfamiliar conditions for now 4 days - not to mention the 38km trek ahead fast approaching.

Good banter about Jade stirring up MacDonald ..."business partners...we'll start selling balaclava's and you can be the model"

If i had to be somewhat flippant its as though we not 'mucking about' anymore. TISM !!

Well, that would explain HG's quote from Rawlings re MacDonald: Jade said"we will start selling balaclavas and you can be the model".