Got there around 10.

Groups:

Hogan MIA

Watts, McKenzie and Riley were heading off.

Jamar doing kick to kick

Vince and Gawn a rehab duo. Spencer and Terlich as well

Dawes doing laps

The 4 new draftees were just playing handball games with Shannon Byrnes, Kent with them as well

2 AFL academy guys were with the newbies. You can find their names on the AFL website

The main group was doing some repeat sprints. Frost, Hunt and others impressive. Stretch was in with them, he's got a little head start on the other 4

No sign of any of the Casey guys who had been training with us, nor Tapscott

Sometime between 10:30 and 11 the core of guys went over to the Tan

From those who stayed behind

- Gawn and Vince were doing a drill where they would repeat lead and kick working together down the field, like a 2 man circle work. Both moving well

- New guys were doing pretty relaxed stuff. Petracca looks a similar size to (a trimmed down) Kent. Brayshaw is actually pretty skinny. I'd stop with the Wines comparisons for now. Neal-Bullen, whilst an inch or so shorter is about the same size as Brayshaw, they both look like they will fill out. Oscar McDonald is a skinny young chap, not a surprise

- McDonald and Bail were running with Garland and Garlett. Col was working hard to catch the front two but improved from what I saw a fortnight ago. Garlett with some work to do

- Pedersen and Jamar running some solid repeat work

I wandered over to the tan closer to 11. The boys had just finished running along the river side. Grimes very vocal, Toumpas as well. Got to witness some Roos magic. Instead of standing around getting their breath he told them to hustle up and then get in to positional groups. He was very vocal. "It's quarter time, what are we doing" "They've just kicked 2 in a row, it's a centre clearances, what's going on". So they broke in to positional groups and it was 5 defenders, a dozen or so mids and then only 3 forwards (I think King, JKH and Salem). Eventually as there was about 18 of them either a coach or player worked out they should split in to 6, 6 and 6 and the forwards should go on one side of the mids to make it realistic. Anyway, it was clearly Roos trying to get the focus on making the most of each training minute.

They were then sent up the hill. I followed a couple of minutes later at a much more leisurely pace. So I can only say that Jones and Toumpy were at the front on the way down. Toump looks super fit and has his new intimidating look. He doesn't look like a young draftee anymore. I've now given him the new nickname Heisentoump.

Ask Dave Misson, I do, Hogan having one of his advertised light days, Trengove was the only other one who didn't do some form of training

A couple of clarifications, Pedersen is big bodied, did the whole session which most of the players rated as a 9 which is 'hard', he would not be on the list if he was overweight, Garlett is on a specific program

The group was pounded today, Nathan Jones announced at the end and I can't quote, it would be censored so he said along the lines of "anybody who has not to put 9 today is a rather silly person", Daniel Cross ranked it 3rd in his hardest sessions ever and he has done 15 pre seasons

The new boys as others have said are big, Oscar Mc said he was getting worried on draft night as 'all' had expected him to go around the 40 mark, said his house went crazy when he got Melbourne

Alex Neal Bullen was expected to go in the first 25, I asked, we were delighted he was still there at 40

I am going to put some photos up on my Twitter account Demonpk and Six was there again so we should get some other top photos as well

Bernie Vince is getting frustrated with not being able to do some of the drills because of his shoulder, although he is still his smiling self making a joke of it

There were two tall young sticks training, so I asked, AIS Academy, no sign of the Casey guys or Tapscott, nobody else either, so not sure who we are going to rookie

Interesting that the Casey boys weren't there. Wonder if they were all told they wouldn't be picked up so no point coming.

It was bit of a weird morning with gusty winds and on-off light showers. Today was largely a fitness session and it was great to see the new boys out there looking good in the red and blue!

My observations from today, in no particular order:

• Awesome to see the new guys out there. They mostly did light fitness work and some skills led by Byrnes in his new role. There were also two other medium to tall but quite skinny young guys there who I didn't recognise.. presume either Casey players or rookie list prospects.
• Petracca and Brayshaw are solid units! Petracca particularly through the legs and hips and probably more toned. Unsurprisingly though they didn't keep up to the other midfielders when they joined in some runs though. Very exciting prospects!
• Neal-Bullen didn't look out of place but would need to see more. Young Oscar looks a good height, just needs to fill out.
• Brayshaw's kicking looked the sharpest out of the new lot I'd say and Stretch is already looking reasonably toned / fit. One poor physio giving Jamar a back rub copped a falcon in the face from an errant Petracca kick.
• Watts did some hand balls drills with McKenzie and Riley early but didn't hang around for long. Dawes disappeared after awhile as well.
• Terlich, Spencer, Gawn and Vince did mainly runs around the oval with a few running and kicking drills. Kent also appeared on light duties and did some hand balling with the new guys.
• The main group did some repeat sprints up the middle of the oval. Players that were generally in front included Garlett, Hunt and Grimes.
• JKH is looking good, beat Bail in one of the earlier lap running drills.
• Vince has an absolutely sublime kick, so natural.. also made one young fella's day but coming up and saying gday as the kid was wearing a #23 guernsey.
• As others mentioned Toump has a more aerodynamic hairstyle... might be why he's doing so well in the running!
• There was a big set-shot goal kicking session involving everyone in rotating groups from different angles. It was hard to keep track of who was kicking true but Vince, Jones, Howe, Tyson and Salem stood out to me. Viney sprayed a few but conditions were windy and a bit wet.
• Dunn seemed the most vocal, keeping everyone going through pretty grueling running sessions.
• Garland looked fitter but still catching up.
• The main group headed off to the tan and eventually returned looking pretty spent...
• Some laggers in the oval laps included King (still has a lot of work to do), Pederson, Fitzy, Frost and Garland.
• At this stage of the preseason most are looking very fit and capable!

Interesting that the Casey boys weren't there. Wonder if they were all told they wouldn't be picked up so no point coming.

I would've thought that with the new draftees coming in and the AFL academy guys training with us this week that in terms of coaching and fitness staff resources we probably always planned that time was up for the Casey guys. They had a solid few weeks, they probably want to get back to their work/study/holidays and if they are getting drafted then they are only missing one or two sessions anyway.

Kent has had a quad issue, will be back in full training next week, anybody with a leg issue now does a light track session and then they go swimming

Sharp this afternoon McQueen

Razor blades for lunch?

Breakfast.

How's Michie been doing?

can we get a photo of Mr T up in here?

can we get a photo of Mr T up in here?

I'm sure Saty won't mind me grabbing one of his tweet photos

https://twitter.com/Demonpk/status/539268891227062272

Edited December 1, 201410 yr by Georgiou R.R. Martin

Watts was there at the start with Riley and Mckenzie doing handball drills, and then they went inside after about twenty minutes.

Went in for special meditation class.

Club has said it will improve his inside work.

Looking at Saty's twitter photos, I'm simply gobsmacked at the size of Petracca, if this kid can develop a tank, he could be anything.

When Petracca and Brayshaw were doing short sharp kick to kicks over about 20m. Petracca had magnificent hands and strong.

When he grabbed the mark it was 2 hands in front and the ball would nearly burst it with the pressure. No juggle with this guy.

I defy anyone to get the ball from him once he gets it.

When Petracca and Brayshaw were doing short sharp kick to kicks over about 20m. Petracca had magnificent hands and strong.

When he grabbed the mark it was 2 hands in front and the ball would nearly burst it with the pressure. No juggle with this guy.

I defy anyone to get the ball from him once he gets it.

There has never been any doubt about his hands, very strong grab in front.

How's Michie been doing?

He got the team gastro a couple of weeks ago, knocked him around, looked good today, back to running solidly, asked him how he was, laughed and said 'lighter'

Is there any concern about Hogans non appearance

Is there any concern about Hogans non appearance

Refer to post #24

Interesting that the Casey boys weren't there. Wonder if they were all told they wouldn't be picked up so no point coming.

That should not necessarily matter. Hopefully Casey and MFC will be more closely integrated this year and on their way to a premiership. Nothing wrong with training together with this objective [provided their day jobs don't get in the way].

Any sign of the alleged hyper "bubbly personality" that an already forgotten scribe attributed to Christian Petracca ? A beat-up surely .

The new boys group did a light training session separately under the personal attention of Shannon Byrnes. Petracca and Brayshaw look exactly the same as they did on television on draft day. Clearly good mates and Petracca's extrovert personality shines through even at training. The group of Brayshaw, Petraaca, Stretch, McDonald, and Neal-Bullen spent about 10 minutes doing stretching exercises and receiving instruction from Byrnes near the fence right in front of where I was. There appears to be good spirit between them all. Why wouldn't there be at their first AFL training session? I thought it interesting there was no interaction at all that I saw between that group and any of the other players. Clearly they will be on a special programme at least to start with. I thought it interesting that Byrne has been trusted with the mentoring role at least for now. Maybe related to his recent AFL experience.

The concern I have is Max Gawn. Yet again he starts the pre-season off in the injured group, and had his right knee heavily strapped. He was doing circuits with Bernie Vince very impressively, but clearly not fit enough to join the main group. I think it is really important that he has a full pre season this time. I am a huge fan of Max, and he could be as influential on our rise up the ladder as Sandilands has been for Freo, but he has to get on the park fit and ready to go. There were times last season when he would have a good first 2 and a half quarters but seriously run out of gas for the last, and I seem to remember this coincided once or twice with our being over run in the last quarter after being in front. We can't do this again in 2015.

Does anyone have any info on what is the problem this time?

The concern I have is Max Gawn. Yet again he starts the pre-season off in the injured group, and had his right knee heavily strapped. He was doing circuits with Bernie Vince very impressively, but clearly not fit enough to join the main group.I think it is really important that he has a full pre season this time. I am a huge fan of Max, and he could be as influential on our rise up the ladder as Sandilands has been for Freo. Does anyone have any info on what is the problem this time?

hurt his knee in the last game of the season

Don't have concerns about Max Gawn, he is right where he should be in his training, they are going to ramp it up a bit, so hence the knee support he had on today, he has a history of knee issues, so they are being cautious, same with Dawes on a program to restrict the reoccurrence of those soft tissue injuries he was plagued with last year

Petracca is an 18yr old of Italian heritage, quiet they are not, I asked him for the photo and his main concern was to make sure I got the others, Alex NB, offered me his hand to shake and said "Hi, I'm Alex", Oscar Mc was up for a chat, and Angus Brayshaw, you could tell he was over the moon to be an AFL footballer (in training(for OD's benefit))

Guys, there was some video on this mornings news showing Petracca struggling big time doing some running drills.

Was this just because he had been really putting in and was stuffed, a 'welcome to the big league training' moment or he's not up to this level?

Didn't look good on TV.

Anything to be concerned about?

Guys, there was some video on this mornings news showing Petracca struggling big time doing some running drills.

Was this just because he had been really putting in and was stuffed, a 'welcome to the big league training' moment or he's not up to this level?

Didn't look good on TV.

Anything to be concerned about?

Well, I didn't see it when I was there. I watched it for about 90 minutes and most of the time the new boys were doing very light stuff. I would be surprised if they were thrown into heavy work after that but it might be possible they did a tan or something like that. Certainly none of the TAC cup reporting of him would indicate he lacked a tank.

Guys, there was some video on this mornings news showing Petracca struggling big time doing some running drills.

Was this just because he had been really putting in and was stuffed, a 'welcome to the big league training' moment or he's not up to this level?

Didn't look good on TV.

Anything to be concerned about?

You mean should we be concerned that a draftee may struggle in his first preseason ?

Big body doesn't necessarily equate to "ready to go day one".

The concern is the meltdown on here if he doesn't tear it up in his first game.

Guys, there was some video on this mornings news showing Petracca struggling big time doing some running drills.

Was this just because he had been really putting in and was stuffed, a 'welcome to the big league training' moment or he's not up to this level?

Didn't look good on TV.

Anything to be concerned about?

Don't know if joking or not...?