The Dees on the front Page of the saturday Age and for all the right reasons.

Great article by Emma and a real endorsement of the coaches and management at the club.

Let's hope that next year we make the front page of the Age after belting the opposition by 100 points.

Awesome Article

Really good look at a day in the life of the MFC here. There is also some really good information about the innovations and technical improvements that the club have made that I am really excited about. Points that stood out to me:

-We have our own app that the coaches use to film drills and give instant feedback to the players on the spot.

-We film every session and make the footage available to the players on the same day (and it seems to be saying that they edit to show each player their own performance within the group too).

- Yes, we DO have enough GPSs for everyone to wear one.

- Everything a player does is monitored and scored, and the scores are displayed for the entire team to see.

- I love the comments from the new players that we are going in the right direction.

[snip!]

Who would want to be an AFL footballer nowadays?

Every breath is measured and analysed....it's tough.

Good article. And normally I wouldn't take any notice of the usual player pre season cliches , but it sounds like Byrnes is genuine and honest with his comments. Good to see that kind of positivity from a premiership player.

I wonder if the article was written to show a point of difference with our training compared with other clubs. I wonder whether EQ was alerted to this and thought it would be a good read. If there is no difference, she could have gone to any club to write the same story. Just a thought.

It really is amazing now a days, the rewards are excellent (if you can stay on a list) but the scrutiny on a day to day basis at the club let alone in your private life does make you wonder is it to much.

Seeing the ipad recording going on during training and showing players during drills was interesting to see, also the daily "leader boards" really jumped out at me.

Edited December 8, 201212 yr by Cards13

Wow, the last article I read about the Dees training day was when Baliy was coach.

Everything sounds a lot more professional now, they are now training not only to be better footballers but also better athletes.

We will defiantly be seeing the results if they keep on training this hard in the off season.

[snip!]

Who would want to be an AFL footballer nowadays?

Every breath is measured and analysed....it's tough.

Yes, but similar (same) for all athletes at an elite (professional) level.

Great read, NEARLY as good as our own FNQ reports......lol

Nice comment from SB at end. It seems we have turned the corner on professionalism at our mighty club.

I wrote to Emma and she has replied that even she is amazed at the preparation that is now going into training. She said that it is now understandable given the effort required to succeed, why some players with talent but without the necessary dedication are failing and being moved on by their clubs.

She wrote a lengthy reply and I appreciate it.

This article has certainly given me an insight into what it takes to be an AFL footballer. You can have all the talent in the world but if you are not up to it mentally you are just not going to make it. That's why I don't think Liam Jurrah would have lasted that long in the AFL system. He was not the greatest trainer nor would have liked the scrutiny and accountability that is now obvious under MN. Likewise with a number of others that have since left the club. It will be interesting to see how Colin Sylvia responds to this. Already I note that he spends a lot of time in rehab.

I wrote to Emma and she has replied that even she is amazed at the preparation that is now going into training. She said that it is now understandable given the effort required to succeed, why some players with talent but without the necessary dedication are failing and being moved on by their clubs.

She wrote a lengthy reply and I appreciate it.

I also received a reply from Emma which I was not expecting considering the amount of correspondence she must get. Good on her

I wrote to Emma and she has replied that even she is amazed at the preparation that is now going into training. She said that it is now understandable given the effort required to succeed, why some players with talent but without the necessary dedication are failing and being moved on by their clubs.

Of course, this all ties in with what Mark Neeld has been saying all along about players with all the talent in the world and not getting enough out of that talent because of a lack of application. Quite a few of this year's departures fit very nearly into that category and we can see from some of the players being overlooked in the draft how important this aspect is these days.

Seems Neeld has brought us a a bloody long way from where we were.

From Cale Morton reportedly not even getting his game reviewed some weeks... to players being constantly monitored, provided with instant feedback, and having footage of every training session ready to review only hours afterwards.

I wonder if the article was written to show a point of difference with our training compared with other clubs. I wonder whether EQ was alerted to this and thought it would be a good read. If there is no difference, she could have gone to any club to write the same story. Just a thought.

Wasn't so long ago Mathew Lloyd was using the Dees as an argument on footy club spending saying the poor old Dees didn't even have GPS units..

Hey Mat....get (^&%$##(^*__ed!!!!!

Wasn't so long ago Mathew Lloyd was using the Dees as an argument on footy club spending saying the poor old Dees didn't even have GPS units..

Hey Mat....get (^&%$##(^*__ed!!!!!

You're wasting your time. He can't read.

You're wasting your time. He can't read.

Probably right....

In fairness it is hard when your head is up your clacker...

Seems Neeld has brought us a a bloody long way from where we were.

From Cale Morton reportedly not even getting his game reviewed some weeks... to players being constantly monitored, provided with instant feedback, and having footage of every training session ready to review only hours afterwards.

I think the most telling was Matthew Warnock, when he said upon leaving that no one would tell him why he couldn't get a game or what he had to do to get one. When I posted that on here some time ago I got the "he should know himself", we'll that's not good enough in my opinion and I doubt it would happen now; every player will know where he stands and so he should.

My first thought when reading that article was...'are we now up near the top of the training standards regime or catching up to the pack?'

How do the top 4 sides train?

We sound much closer to the elite (top four) training than we were.

Question then becomes, how many years of elite training do we need to realise the talent we have in our list sufficiently to bridge the gap between us an the 15 teams above us?

Are we expecting a surge up the ladder (aka West Coast or Adelaide) or to gain say 2-5 places a year over 2013, 2014, 2015 (aka Carlton -pre-2013 or North)?

With our sus-standard development over recent years and the turmoil of this year, it will be interesting how quickly and which of our young recruits blossom most under these conditions, and what that looks like.

My first thought when reading that article was...'are we now up near the top of the training standards regime or catching up to the pack?'

How do the top 4 sides train?

I have a sneaking feeling that as far as infrastructure to a FD and the training ( its nature and quality) go we are as googd as anyones now. What WILL take the time is for it to affect and have effect upon the group.

I expect a vast improvement over ladt season and then step ups in following seasons as the new regimes influence really kicks in.

It certainly sounds like we leave very little to chance now where as once upon a time everything seemed to be that way; chance !!!

Edited December 9, 201212 yr by belzebub59

We sound much closer to the elite (top four) training than we were.

Question then becomes, how many years of elite training do we need to realise the talent we have in our list sufficiently to bridge the gap between us an the 15 teams above us?

Are we expecting a surge up the ladder (aka West Coast or Adelaide) or to gain say 2-5 places a year over 2013, 2014, 2015 (aka Carlton -pre-2013 or North)?

With our sus-standard development over recent years and the turmoil of this year, it will be interesting how quickly and which of our young recruits blossom most under these conditions, and what that looks like.

yes PaulRB

You have to remember we are coming from a very long way back.

We have in effect add 2 good players, 3 average players , three good kids and a number of retreads.

That will hopefully be repeated over the next three years and then we might have a side capable of beating the top four sides.

At the risk of getting howled down, the Age article and this thread add weight to the argument that perhaps all our problems are not related to poor draft choices. Maybe amateurish training methodologies contributed, too.

This story continues the positive view I've had of Neeld since he started - he appears to have come with a co-ordinated, highly developed strategy which is not just about a game plan but looks at all aspects which make a successful team including recruitment, fitness, game style, player character and even age distribution of the playing group. I just hope that he can convert all this hard work into on-field success.

Edited December 9, 201212 yr by La Dee-vina Comedia

I actually think we should jump this year ( i.e. up 6 spots to around 10+/- 2) then punch well into the 8 in 2014 as the kids (Viney, Tompass, Hogan) settle in and our earlier high draft crop hit their prime (Tregove, Watts, blease, Strauss, Tapscot, Howe, etc...).

Do agree we'll need three years of the new regime (training and drafting) to be able to slug it out with the heavy weights in September in a way that is other than just making up the numbers.

At the risk of getting howled down, the Age article and this thread add weight to the argument that perhaps all our problems are not related to poor draft choices. Maybe amateurish training methodologies contributed, too.

This story continues the positive view I've had of Neeld since he started - he appears to have come with a co-ordinated, highly developed strategy which is not just about a game plan but looks at all aspects which make a successful team including recruitment, fitness, game style, player character and even age distribution of the playing group. I just hope that he can convert all this hard work into on-field success.

I totally agree LDC. It's about having the complete package. The best recruits in the world won't win a flag without all the other components that you mention. Similarly, the strongest Footy Department in the competition will never lead to a flag without the right cattle to bring all the planning, training and other hard work to fruition on match day. That's why I'm so hopeful / excited about what's happening at our Club right now. Somewhat belatedly compared to many of our competitors, we seem to be entering the world of true professionalism, and leaving behind an era where we were 'pretenders', and could never realistically compete with the big boys in the competition. Like many (most?) Demonlanders, I always have a degree of anticipation and excitement at this time of year, but somehow this year it seems to be a lot more than that. I now have a healthy serve of confidence to go with it!

Edited December 10, 201212 yr by Deeoldfart