Well please give us your insights from training today... I'm assuming you're there and have better things to offer?

I'm not big on training reports Stu, there's a couple of fellas there that are writing it down. Dom Tyson moves very well, I'm very impressed with the way Tapscott is doing the sprints he's right behind Frawley every time, Cross, Jones seem to be leading the way, Viney seems to be in the rehab group as he was boxing inside earlier, Toumpass has added a bit of bulk and Watts looks really fit, Trengove seems very slow to me but he uses the ball well, Tyson has to be the steal of the draft how they managed that is beyond me, I don't know a few of the players as the list has changed so much, I will try to give more later.

I will put my report up within the hour. I was one of those fellas MJT.

Just reading up on: http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-01-13/clubs-early-talent-test

Would be great to get some early comparisons of Billy to see where he is at compared to the rest of the squad when or if he trains with us this week

Keep up the great work guys and gals!

Just reading up on: http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-01-13/clubs-early-talent-test

Would be great to get some early comparisons of Billy to see where he is at compared to the rest of the squad when or if he trains with us this week

Keep up the great work guys and gals!

Beat me to it Wunders! Great to see Billy get some experience with the boys.

I'll probably add some more later, but I think we have some real problems for the start of the season.

Today the rehab group consists of Gawn, Clark, Dawes, Viney, Fitzpatrick. They were the ones who turned up. No Hogan or Salem(that I saw).

The troubling aspect is that it leaves Spencer as our sole big man, with maybe Pedersen as a back up.. With the first NAB game just over a month away, this is looking ominous to me.

Dawes and Clark at least have seasons behind them and may not take as long to get back up, but I still strongly subscribe to the theory of every week off the track after New Year means 1 week less in season proper.

Billy Stretch looks keen and capable. But he is still a skinny kid and only 17, so you can't expect much else, and you really can't do comparisons based on training sessions. It is pleasing that he has the opportunity to participate at full AFL level training and the club get the chance to look at him close up, like they did with Viney.

Jack Viney posted on twitter, good luck with reports

Hogan and Salem would be at that conference (All first year players are at Etihad)

Really enjoyed all the training reports while I was in Europe for 5 weeks through December and January - thanks heaps to all contributors.

Oh you boaster Tony!

(Only joking )

Angus Brayshaw as well. Mark's son and JB's nephew so close NM ties but no F/S access. MVP for Vic Metro at the under 16's I think. Probably another who fits Roos' plan of often recruiting smart, diligent, level headed kids from strong football families.

I'll probably add some more later, but I think we have some real problems for the start of the season.

Today the rehab group consists of Gawn, Clark, Dawes, Viney, Fitzpatrick. They were the ones who turned up. No Hogan or Salem(that I saw).

The troubling aspect is that it leaves Spencer as our sole big man, with maybe Pedersen as a back up.. With the first NAB game just over a month away, this is looking ominous to me.

Dawes and Clark at least have seasons behind them and may not take as long to get back up, but I still strongly subscribe to the theory of every week off the track after New Year means 1 week less in season proper.

Billy Stretch looks keen and capable. But he is still a skinny kid and only 17, so you can't expect much else, and you really can't do comparisons based on training sessions. It is pleasing that he has the opportunity to participate at full AFL level training and the club get the chance to look at him close up, like they did with Viney.

All first year players are at Etihad includes Salem and Hogan

Really enjoyed all the training reports while I was in Europe for 5 weeks through December and January - thanks heaps to all contributors. I am also trying to entice some friends from Finland to join MFC as members - gave them a footy for Christmas!

Kittos!

Ok here goes -

I will start with the absentees: Roos, Hogan, Dawes, Clark, Jamar, Gawn & Viney.

I these guys were there but not training. Rawlings took most of training.

I got there at 9.45am and the ground was strangely under the cover of fog with tempretures around 17-18 degrees. The sun broke through soon after and it heated up quite quickly. When I arrived they were finishing off a pretty tame warm up of kick to kick. They then split the group in half and the groups went to opposite ends of the ground. They started with what could only be explained as long bombs to a one on one, no real standouts here as it was a pretty so-so drill.

The real stuff got underway at about 10.15am. They started with contested work on the wings. I kept hearing 'PATIENCE' & 'GIVE YOURSELF SPACE'.

They were working on fast handballs out to a free RUNNING player which had to hit up a hard leading forward. The lead up forwards consisted oF Pedersen, Blease, Tappy, Bail & Howe. The usual culprits butched going forward but the real standouts for me were Tyson, Vince, Toumpas and Jones, all these boys delivered it with precision.

The backs were working really hard by this time. The drill they were doing was very labour intensive and a very interesting drill at the same time. One defender was a designated spoiler, Nicho in this case. One coach would stand at the top of the 50 and put it high towards the forwards and Nicho had to work his arse off to spoil whichever player it went to, He did this on nearly every occasion.

I was happy when they started to work on the kick outs. This was good to watch because the use of the ball was sublime. The defender (Frawley) would go sideways then it would be run up and feed to the mids leading onto the wings then the ball was automatically switched to inside the corridor (very un Neeld like). A few standouts here were Jones, Strauss, Tyson, Toumpas (didn't miss once), Trengove (still slow), Cross & Watts. Dom Barry's speed in this drill was there for all to see.

After a short drinks break they broke into 'whites & blues'. To put it simply a white guy tagged a blue guy. They again broke into two groups (whites mixed with blues) and the lined up on opposing ends of the centre square, they had to work in fours and run it up whilst getting hassled by an opponent. The objective seemed to be get it to the loose man running at full tilt then deliver it to the forwards. They showed some really good signs here, Blease was continually told to 'TAKE IT ON & GO,GO,GO' which he did and burned off every time.The notables again in this drill were Garland (received huge applause for one tackle), Vince (kept slipping tackles), Trengove (tackling machine), Tappy. Tappy was included in every part of the session for those that want to know.

Finally they moved into a full ground drill. This started very slow and sloppy, whoever was running the drill (not Rawlings) kept barking 'FASTER & MORE TALK' and I must say the boys stepped it up from there, This drill was a combination of all the previous drills but this incorporated the full ground. The emphasis was quick sharp ball movement. The thing that stood out was the constant running after disposal to support to player up field, This was continually reiterated by the coaches. This drill was done with game day intensity (as it should).

The sun was getting quite hot by this stage so I took off. I will just list a few players below as I know most people want a bit of individual feedback.

Howe - smooth mover, probably the best out there today.

Jones - standard session.

Tyson - as MJT stated we got a steal here. Rolls Royce.

Toumpas - has lost the arse and gained some speed, get excited because from what I saw today I am.

Vince - like Tyson he just smoooth and smart with the footy.

Barry - bloody quick.

Tappy - impressive today and participated in everything.

Dunn - worked the hardest of anyone and was the most vocal.

Jetta - very fumbly today and looked a bit off.

One last thing, when I left Grimes had everyone in a big group barking orders about offensive run. Very CAPTAIN like, read into it what you will.

Happy to answer any questions.

Here's my report (will most likely just be dot points, I took notes as training went on).

No Paul Roos to be seen, not sure when he's back.

They did a slightly longer/harder session today, and will taper off this week considering it's going to be 40 degrees until Friday.

Rehab/Not training:

• Dawes
• Viney
• Clark
• Jamar
• Clisby
• Kent
• Riley
• Fitzy
• King
• Harmes
• Hogan
• Salem
• Gawn

(Some have said that first year players were at Etihad, this would explain Harmes/King/Salem etc missing). Hogan was at training - more on him later

• Warm ups were standard, was fairly foggy early - ground a bit slippery but cleared up 1/2 way through the session
• Plenty of talk noticeable right from the outset
• Trengove - not as big as those gym pictures suggested, they always look bigger after doing a weights session
• Watts - has improved in shoulder size, still has no chest though
• Groups of 3 for kick-to-kick warm-ups, Westrupp partnered up with Dunn which seems to be a common thing (judging from other reports)

• First drill - 3 different groups (fwd/mid/backs)
• Mids - 2 on 1 shepherding
• Backs - Repetitive spoiling efforts in both pockets - run to the opposite pocket after each effort
• Fowards - 1 v 1 forward 50 entries, Tappy and Pedersen with the forwards and looking OK
• Rehab group on a different oval at the back of Casey
• Mids - switched to repeat effort 2 v 2s, all handball work

• Hogan: Walking around the rooms/with trainers, his left knee is bandaged but can't see any visible tight strapping, so good signs there I guess. He was walking around fine without a limp, carrying a footy around and looked disappointed not to be out there. An interesting note is that 3-4 times during the session he kicked a ball about 20m to a teammate, which indicates that the club doesn't have a problem with him putting load onto the injured leg, which is a good sign.

• New drill now - doing defensive 50 rebounds, primarily using one wing and shifting the ball at pace with runners & support up to half forward. Skills look OK but nothing special. Quote from Byrnes after he came off for a slight rest: "Too many f*cking dropped marks out there" - He looked visibly frustrated.
• Nicho still can't kick, missed a 25m target by about 5m too short
• Evans has bulked up, didn't recognise him at all

• Dom Tyson - no strapping on his knee and looks to be moving freely, he covers the ground really well, doesn't look to be struggling at all which is a good sign.

• Change in drill - circle work around the 50m arc and inside 50, using handballs only with perceived pressure from opponents, all about working space and running to the right areas to support teammates. About 2 minutes into this one of the coaches yelled out "Come on boys, much quicker, we can go much quicker than this, more talk, come on", to which the entire group responded by picking up the intensity and overall volume. This was good to see, as the sun had come out by this stage and it was quite warm.
• Good encouragement from the group for their teammates during the pressure drills, noted when Garland managed to get a good tackle on a player, a few players yelled out and gave him a clap, good to see.

• Strauss - came off disgruntled about 2/3 through the session and overheard him say "Right one, right one". Went straight into the rooms, only to emerge later while having the trainers look at his underarm/shoulder area. Didn't see what happened but he came out later on with ice on it. Not sure how bad it is but we'll find out over the next few days I assume. Poor kid, if he has more injuries this year I don't see him in the side next year.

• Pedersen - looks much better than he did last year (the tyre is gone). We know he has big hips which can make him look a bit 'wider' but he's looking much better than last year. Hopefully, he can show some good improvement under Roos.

• Cross - can't kick but still works hard. His shoulders are big but so well defined. It shows the true difference between a senior body and even a player like Trengove, who looks biggish but doesn't have that sort of definition.

• Run throughs to finish off the session - Chip and Tappy leading the group, although Tappy came off after doing 4/8 total, with hamstring tightness by the looks (pushing himself too much perhaps?).

That's about all from me, sorry I didn't go into detail with all of the drills but it was my first session I'd seen this year so was trying to get a good look at a few of the newer guys. If you have any questions I'll do my best to answer them.

Happy to answer any questions.

How did the two blokes we re-signed go? (viz. Matt Jones and dean kent)

How did the two blokes we re-signed go? (viz. Matt Jones and dean kent)

Matt Jones was in everything and trained with intensity and tackled as hard as anyone. He didn't really standout though.

Kent I didn't see. Absent maybe.

Cheers for the notes guys.

How did the ruckmen look today? Who looked the better out of Spencer and Gawn?

Great reports guys!

Was Viv Michie there at all?

I can't remember him being mentioned for the last couple of training reports :/ I have high hopes for this guy

Much obliged for the reports guys.

Cheers for the notes guys.

How did the ruckmen look today? Who looked the better out of Spencer and Gawn?

Spencer was the only recognised ruckman training, there was no Gawn/Jamar/Fitzpatrick/King.

Great reports guys!

Was Viv Michie there at all?

I can't remember him being mentioned for the last couple of training reports :/ I have high hopes for this guy

Michie was there, trained OK, nothing stand-out. He's definitely solid, if he stays fit he'll be a very handy player.

Spencer was the only recognised ruckman training, there was no Gawn/Jamar/Fitzpatrick/King.

Thanks, I can now see that within yours and Steamin's reports.

The troubling aspect is that it leaves Spencer as our sole big man, with maybe Pedersen as a back up.

Not overly concerned about Spencer being the only ruck if both Jamar and Gawn are on track to at least be pushing for round 1 even if Spencer gets the nod. He'll be up against 2 out of 3 of Hickey, Longer and Rhys Stanley. He's still capable of winning/drawing that battle. More concerned that we need at least 1 of Clark or Dawes ready to go and 1 of Clark or Fitzy ready to go so we have a back up ruck and some strength up forward.

I see the logic in the one week post new years being 1 week of the season gone but I'd also say that's more for players who haven't done the pre Christmas training. Dawes had done a lot of fitness work off legs so I think he's still a reasonable chance (as long as he's on the track consistently even if it's rehab work) and Hogan and Clark had both done enough that it just depends on their injuries that are currently being nursed. Round 1 is March 22. Our last practice match is March 8. I'd say that anyone in full training by Feb 8 gets a shot at playing in that practice match (Not so worried about the ones in Feb on the 14th and 28th respectively). So that would be my deadline I'd say. Just around 1 month for Dawes, Clark and Hogan to be on track at least doing some of the main training and I'll be a lot more confident.

I was able to get down there with a camera, here are some pictures to go with the reports given so far. Hope to get down there to Casey Fields on Friday again with the camera. Bit rusty with the camera, will move around more Friday and get closer to the action where possible for closer ups.

It's a link out to my Flickr account, hope this is ok.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/114275455@N06/

Excellent reports from Seraph and Steamin, leaves me with little more to add.

Cross: Very impressed ... he may be older (who am I to talk about a 30 year old being old!), but he knows how to move in traffic. He will be a real bonus for Jones because he can get the ball and dish it out. One of those types who you wonder how he got 30 touches at the end of a game.

Tyson: Still a young and developing body but can he move the ball quickly! Sharp hands and along with Cross will set new standards for the mids. His best may be some time away, but he is a real gem in the making.

Michie: Another good pick up. Moves effortlessly and almost appears to be going half pace, but is suddenly there in the thick of it when needed.

Toumpas: Agree with the other reports. Lost that puppy fat, moves quickly and can he kick ... accurately and quickly. Has quickly adapted to AFL pace which he struggled with in his first year.

Spencer: Please stay on the ground fit, we will be needing you more than we should this year. (Jamar, Fitz, Gawn, Clark, Dawes all sidelined ... do we have anyone else over 200cm?)

Nicholson: can only kick when not under any sort of pressure. Once the drills involve an opponent the ball goes anywhere.

Jamar: not even out with the rehab group.

No hope for start of season.

Too hot to stay to the end. The foggy start at 9.30 with the temperature at 17 soon disappeared!

Saw Gawn walk past at some stage, he'd been doing laps with Jack Viney.

Where is Fitzy at?

4 weeks to go until Richmond, at this stage the only tall forward that will be fit is Pederson who had been training down back and maybe Hogan. The best and worst thing for the club is we have a week off before we head to Alice Springs to play Geelong.

It would be good to know the Casey Pre-season schedule this will be vital to get our tall forwards fit for round 1.