Open session with the entire available list in action again today.

Weather looking good.

Perfect day for the track watchers.

Cracker of a day out there, sux to be stuck in the office.

Looking forward to hearing some reports.

Fine and sunny with a top of 29....

Dow Jones up 40 points, FTSE up 37.

_{The weather in Perth is lovely also, awaiting the great training reports provided by our loyal members.}

Now that my exams are all finished, I was able to pop down to Goschs and enjoy the sunlight and a good training session

Some rough observations

- There was a real focus on running exercises this session. Plenty of repeat sprinting and lap running.

- Mckenzie and Jamar looked incredibly fit

- Small group (rehab?) consisting of Vince, Terlich, Gawn and Tommy Mac. Vince and Terlich ran laps for most of the session

- Caught a glimpse of Billy Stretch and he looks very slick. Good mark and kick. Don't expect him to play much senior footy next year but he's showing good signs early.

- Hogan was practicing his goal kicking. It's an awkward style which had him kicking around 50-60% of his shots

- Captain Jones was very vocal (as always)

- Jeff Garlett looked right at home. Hitting targets while showing off his skill and pace.

- Was able to see Sam Frost in the flesh for the first time and he is a huge unit. Will fit nicely down back with Tommy Mac.

Didn't see Kent or Salem.

Report on training courtesy of the MFC Supporters Page on FB is through:

TRAINING REPORT: Boys are just going through their warmdowns and I wanted to get some lunch so yeah, without further ado, the training report.

Firstly, let me explain briefly where I've been last couple of training days. Friday I had a hectic day, and Monday was my grandmother's birthday (family comes first). There's no respite in the next couple of weeks, although I'm here today, with Friday I've got a dental appointment, with the Friday afterwards a media awards day. So yeah, there's a bit going on in my life but nonetheless I'm happy with how it's all playing out.
As it stands though, this is the first time I've seen the entirety of the list together.
Training starts off at 9:30 at it's good to see Lumumba, Garlett and co amongst it. Newton I thought was there last week but turns out he started on Monday. Dunce hat for me lol.
Straight lap around the oval for starters with stretches afterwards. The boys are making their way across various parts of the ground, such as the near side goalsquare, edge of the centre square, the wings etc. Good variation as well, I might add.
Tom McDonald is in some discussion in the rehab group. Not sure if anything happened to him on Friday/Monday or what not but it's not right seeing him there. See what happens later on I suppose.
Footy based drills now, with handball/kicks between one another. Rehab consists of Gawn, Vince, Terlich and McDonald. Nice small group... until the inevitable. Stay tuned in around January for that... hoping not.
What we have now is a few groups split up, with a lot of it based on short 15-20m kicks. The ones being kicked to leads in the forward line extend to around 25-30m kicks.
First real look at Lumumba that I get and his first kick is sharp, second leaves a fair bit to be desired - falls well short of the target. It might be that common theme we saw at Collingwood though I'm certainly hoping this isn't the case.
Also get a good look at Garlett, what I notice early on is that he is seemingly laconic but he's still doing the drills at a fair pace. However as the session goes on he looks more and more enthausiastic. Maybe it's because the ball is closer to go which he and all small forwards in the history of the game adore so much.
Bit of a change up, boys are called to the middle and all of a sudden they have to sprint to the edge of the centre square twice. Assuming there was a mistake of some description that I missed.
This is perhaps structured as they are called back to do another three reps of this exercise before moving back into a full grounder.
Three groups of running now around the ground. Interesting to see Lumumba lag a bit behind in his group.
Another full ground drill which utilises short 25-30m kicks, focusing on hitting up targets low and hard. Meantime, Bail and JKH run laps at a hard pace, with JKH hunched over after one particular lap. Good to see him putting a huge amount of work in.
Another full grounder, this time utilising opposition pressure. Half in bibs and half not, with one team (no bibs) trying to keep the ball. Lumumba ends up getting a fair bit of it here with his trademark dash evident in patches.
One bloke I've noticed who's been pretty solid today is Toumpas. Has used the ball well and is moving around nicely. Hoping he can get into the form that saw him taken at pick four.
Boys go off, presumably to change into runners, so just have a look at Victory trsining for a mo, where I see none other than Neroli Meadows in this stunning yellow dress (like it really suits her perfectly). Nez pls, trying to watch Melbourne training, stop distracting me.
The boys do come back out for some continuous running. One of the Casey boys is absolutely smashing it. It's a relatively small group of 13 or 14 players. Blokes like Lumumba, Jones, Pedersen and Toumpas are in this group and they're pretty much finished after a short but intense workout.

Thanks for those that have and do provide updates.The thing I find most interesting this time of year is any changes in the positional groups they train. For those that have attended is there any surprises (did I see a mention of Grimes with the mids?).

Beautiful morning to (watch other people) train!

Others have covered lots of the drills so I'll just add a few comments:

• Garlett was busting out some nice bullet passes and lot's of snaps for goal later on. Hopefully we see a lot of that during the season!
• Heaps of running drills today. Apart from the rehab group that mainly ran, lots of others ran in groups, pairs or alone and some stage. Watts did some pretty hard laps towards the end and was absolutely knackered.. drenched in sweat.
• Great to see the new faces out there and getting amongst it, like Stretch who I like the look of.
• JKH and Bail ran some pretty hard laps too.
• Pigdog really started to lag behind during lap running.
• Fitzy finally shaved off that facial fluff of his! Some people should just remain beardless..
• The drills to maintain possession were good, bit more decision making under pressure and learning to do the quick switch.
• Not finding many players to single out, either in a good or bad way. Quite a solid session! Actually in saying that, there were a few sloppy kicks in the drills from some of the usual suspects.
• Hogan did some goal kicking practice.
• The rucks spent a bit of time working on taps with a coach, while Viney, Tyson and Garlett spent a little time roving simulation taps on the run from another coach. This while the main group was doing the big drills.

Gotta run to work now but if I think of anything else I'll post later on.

tappscott training?

Was there again, pics will be up on my Twitter Demonpk soon, including Jack Viney's guns for all the admirers.

Billy Stretch is starting to feel it three days in, still excited but 'exhausted', did slightly less today.

Different positions, maybe, Simon Goodwin picks difference groups to practice stoppage work with, mainly the younger guys, noticed Dean Kent included in these inn the last couple of weeks, he is a good size, so the more you can rotate through there the better.

Jack Watts was put through a gruelling running session again, he is coming off exhausted.

Spoke to Jimmy Toumpas, he agrees he has been told more than once he is too hard on himself, needs to learn to relax and just enjoy playing footy again, feeling really good, another full session done.

Spoke to Jayden Hunt, one of the forgotten, they are taking a cautious approach with him, lost a bit of conditioning last year with his back injury, should be right in a couple of weeks, has not lost any of his speed, Terlich is two weeks away from full training.

Asked quite a few players about the new diet, no carbs and good fats, they can actually have a fry up for breakfast, surprisingly NOT, Jack Grimes and Daniel Cross don 't like it, Crossy says he has a couple of eggs but can't bring himself to eat sausage or bacon, hilarious, assume Grimes is still on his banana diet.

Nev Jetta is a dad again, now has a son to go with his daughter, really happy.

Jeff Garlett has got a beautiful relaxed running style (mentioned above) doesn't seem to be making an effort but cruises around.

No Tapscott has disappeared?

I asked and got nothing, only other absentees were James Harmes and Spencer

No carbs? Who the [censored] is giving them nutritional advice? Dr Adkins?

No carbs? Who the [censored] is giving them nutritional advice? Dr Adkins?

not no-carbs, low-carbs more fat

see catalyst (abc) from last week

No carbs? Who the [censored] is giving them nutritional advice? Dr Adkins?

Yes that name was mentioned, I was asked to ask about it, most of the players said it took a bit of getting used to, but as I said I could only find the two usual suspects who didn't "like" it, most were surprised about the no carbs, just an aside, there is a certain team in Adelaide who took this up last year

not no-carbs, low-carbs more fat

see catalyst (abc) from last week

We seem to be leaning more towards the no carbs end, I was told there are variations

We seem to be leaning more towards the no carbs end, I was told there are variations

understand what you're saying but it's pretty impossible to go no-carbs

anyway, watch catalyst, it's certainly challenging previous wisdom and interesting

may not be for everyone though

Just to show how professional it is now was speaking to a Demonland reader who said I should repeat these bits

Each morning the players text how they are feeling, ie sore, sick, injured, fine, etc etc, at the end of a training session they are asked to rate how they found it, on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being easy, most today rated it an 8

There is also a camera situated at the freeway end of the ground, the operator has a joystick to operate it, he has a script of what the coaches want him to film, there was also a second guy with a hand held today, being instructed by Roos what to film

understand what you're saying but it's pretty impossible to go no-carbs

anyway, watch catalyst, it's certainly challenging previous wisdom and interesting

may not be for everyone though

Definitely not Jack Grimes anyway, I asked Nate Jones who said it was ok and laughing said to make sure I asked Jack Grimes

Asked quite a few players about the new diet, no carbs and good fats, they can actually have a fry up for breakfast, surprisingly NOT, Jack Grimes and Daniel Cross don 't like it, Crossy says he has a couple of eggs but can't bring himself to eat sausage or bacon, hilarious, assume Grimes is still on his banana diet

Grimes is smart.

Ok I am giving up carbs. Do bread and pasta count?

No carbs? Who the [censored] is giving them nutritional advice? Dr Adkins?

Confirming that at least 2 other Vic based clubs (teams that finished top 6 last year) have also switched to the same no/low carbs diet.

Not sure why the trend has changed, but know that the coaches have also jumped on board (they've been giving me tips on what to eat!!)

Definitely strange eating mostly meats for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Grimes is smart.

Ok I am giving up carbs. Do bread and pasta count?

i strongly suspect red, that in your and my cases, other factors are at play in determining our optimal dietary components

Confirming that at least 2 other Vic based clubs (teams that finished top 6 last year) have also switched to the same no/low carbs diet.

Not sure why the trend has changed, but know that the coaches have also jumped on board (they've been giving me tips on what to eat!!)

Definitely strange eating mostly meats for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

according to the catalyst show on abc the australian cricket team is also trying it. watson a big fan

Confirming that at least 2 other Vic based clubs (teams that finished top 6 last year) have also switched to the same no/low carbs diet.

Not sure why the trend has changed, but know that the coaches have also jumped on board (they've been giving me tips on what to eat!!)

Definitely strange eating mostly meats for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I tried this diet (or similar) last year, I was bursting with energy. It was a bit hard to maintain so back to old habits. But people noticed my increased run and endurance. (Tennis)

Just to show how professional it is now was speaking to a Demonland reader who said I should repeat these bits

Each morning the players text how they are feeling, ie sore, sick, injured, fine, etc etc, at the end of a training session they are asked to rate how they found it, on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being easy, most today rated it an 8

There is also a camera situated at the freeway end of the ground, the operator has a joystick to operate it, he has a script of what the coaches want him to film, there was also a second guy with a hand held today, being instructed by Roos what to G

Great to see the club finally getting professional!!! This has been going on at a number of the other top teams for at least the past 3-4 years.

I was overseas with a coach (family member) during a pre-season in January a few years ago and was astounded that he could check on all of his players from over 10,000 kms away to see how each player pulled up after each individual training. The detailed information he was able to receive (such as what a particular player ate and a summary on each players training or weights session) allows coaches to be across the fitness and performance of all players without necessarily being in the country.

Definitely not Jack Grimes anyway, I asked Nate Jones who said it was ok and laughing said to make sure I asked Jack Grimes

Grimes is smart.

Ok I am giving up carbs. Do bread and pasta count?

If he is he might need to adapt.