Thanks for reports all. Had set sights on attending but then a hold up on a site put paid to those plans

Yes as WJ alludes theres a very different air about this group. Im really looking fwd to the Goody style come game day. We might just surprise a few people ( many of them us !!)

A quick report card on my observations so far

Hogan, content, elite fitness, standout most training sessions

Watts, content, elite fitness, standout most training sessions

Jones and Viney - what it says on the tin, Jones was driving the standards yesterday in front of the big crowd, joked with Viney about the fence incident from midweek "just thought  I would try and get through it"

Lewis, kicking is just a joy to watch, his constant talking on the training track a standout, took Clarry aside yesterday for a quick chat

Hibberd, solid unit, left foot weapon

Stretch, Hunt, Salem, now have men's bodies to go with the skills

Harmes, gone up another level with his skills, has obviously worked his arse off on them, starting to look at ease on both feet

Tyson, spoke to him yesterday, feeling fitter and stronger than last year, joked the right foot is getting there

Garland, Trengove, both looking like they did from a few years ago, both have completed every session and are already feeling the benefit, adding to the competition for spots

Brayshaw little hiccup in the last week or so, but looking primed for a big year, just looks more everything

Petracca, loves the fact I call him lean and mean on Instagram, primed for a big year, close to marrying the fitness with the talent

Thats gold... lewis imparting upon Clarry. Good stuff

1 hour ago, Whispering_Jack said:

Some observations delayed after watching a fascinating last hour or so of the cricket last night -

 

Well done, Jack!  I knew you had it in you!

cheers for the info guys

 

And some of the rest

Oliver being pushed and pushed, outstanding yesterday

Frost I liken him to a former soccer player called Emlyn Hughes, nickname Crazy Horse, big,  strong, athletic, moments of brilliance, moments of sheer ???

Jetta just working his way through pre season, being Nev Jetta

Oscar Mc as reported, ticking all the boxes, looking bigger and fitter like the rest

Hulett and Weidemann young forwards being taught the craft

 

I was watching the rehab group before the main session and was liking what I saw with Mitch King.  He has certainly built up considerably, to the point of looking like he has a ruckmans body now.  There is no doubt he has put on a couple of cm since being signed as he stood well above Filipovic when together.  Can he kick, run and mark.....couldn't say as he only did rehab type work with the ball and not under pressure. 

One to watch in this space, and opportunities are open to him to serve a good apprenticeship under the best ruckman in the game at the moment.

2 hours ago, Satyriconhome said:

That's a bit of a harsh assessment of Hunt after two fluffed kicks DS, overall through all the sessions I thought his kicking had actually improved

Same with Garlett, last year we had games where he had managed to shake off his opponent and get free out the back, we either turned it over or slowed down to such an extent that he was marked again and the ball went sideways, how is he expected to apply defensive pressure in those situations? It appears that he has drifted out of the game when in fact he is working his arse off to create space.

Two moments yesterday, one, where he picked up the ball at full flight in the middle of the field, three bounces and a lovely low flat kick to a leading forward, secondly during the tackling drill, he tackled Jack Watts and pinned his arm beautifully, comment from Macca, "take note boys, that is how you tackle", that is the real Jeff Garlett, how a bloke who averages just under 2 goals and 3 tackles a game can also be called lazy (not your comment) is beyond me

Well said.

4 minutes ago, george_on_the_outer said:

I was watching the rehab group before the main session and was liking what I saw with Mitch King.  He has certainly built up considerably, to the point of looking like he has a ruckmans body now.  There is no doubt he has put on a couple of cm since being signed as he stood well above Filipovic when together.  Can he kick, run and mark.....couldn't say as he only did rehab type work with the ball and not under pressure. 

One to watch in this space, and opportunities are open to him to serve a good apprenticeship under the best ruckman in the game at the moment.

Mitch King has grown to 202cm tall. 

Source is from a former bushies coach.

 

Just a quick thank you for all those Demonlanders who partook of a sausage yesterday and those of you who donated generously. We raised the biggest amount to date for the Demon Army. This will go to covering some of the expense of new equipment for season 2017. Sorry but the brioche was off the menu.

 

BenKen and Bugg both training really well, not standing out for good or bad

Keilty a big lump of a bloke, good leap, plenty of upside

Smith the Bull, exactly what was reported from Casey

Hannan rehabbing from shoulder op, watched his goalkicking, neat and tidy action

VDB fully recovered from ankle surgery, another one ticking off sessions

52 minutes ago, longsuffering said:

Just a quick thank you for all those Demonlanders who partook of a sausage yesterday and those of you who donated generously. We raised the biggest amount to date for the Demon Army. This will go to covering some of the expense of new equipment for season 2017. Sorry but the brioche was off the menu.

 

And congrats to the Demon Army - you guys do great work for the club week in week out throughout the year.

ANB until he got the bang on the knee this week was looking good

Mitch King  nearly ready to join main group as noted by others could be anything with size and athleticism 

Josh Wagner has had a grumbly quad that has taken time to settle

Kent after slow first week was looking really good tweaked his calf

Filipovic has been restricted to laps mainly post Xmas better idea

Dion Johnstone  will be keeping Jeff Garlett honest already, my smokey

Mitch White another box ticker hasn't missed a session

Tommy Mc still the running king will be early Feb before he is back doing contact work

Pedo not the running king same shoulder issue as Tommy Mc

Gawn just oustanding

Spencer looks a completely different player

Vince still the same footy playing comedian, hasn't missed a beat or session

Smith is developing at an amazing rate

Maynard a B class rookie who participates in every drill

Edited December 17, 20168 yr by Satyriconhome

7 hours ago, Whispering_Jack said:

As the session went on, I couldn't help but think of poor Colin Sylvia recovering in hospital from a broken neck and other injuries sustained after falling from a balcony. If only the place was like this a dozen years ago when he arrived fresh from Merbein, he might truly have become one of the champions of our game.

Sylvia is only 31. He could still have been playing.

I know he had a great first year but I get the feeling the coming season will be Hogan's break out year, the year he puts to rest the debate about who the best young forward in the game is.

He looks fit, happy, content and ready to go...

Edited December 17, 20168 yr by rjay

10 minutes ago, mauriesy said:

Sylvia is only 31. He could still have been playing.

Makes his story even more tragic IMO

36 minutes ago, The Great Pretender said:

Makes his story even more tragic IMO

There's nothing tragic about being a lazy glamour boy.

Sylvia proved to everyone he couldn't handle an elite environment when he failed at Fremantle. To think that he may have succeeded in the current development system is just wrong in my opinion.

1 hour ago, McQueen said:

There's nothing tragic about being a lazy glamour boy.

Sylvia proved to everyone he couldn't handle an elite environment when he failed at Fremantle. To think that he may have succeeded in the current development system is just wrong in my opinion.

That may well be so but my reasoning is that he needed to be set straight at the very beginning of his career which I'm sure would happen with his equivalent today given the personnel (think Brendan McCartney) we have at the club now.

4 minutes ago, Whispering_Jack said:

That may well be so but my reasoning is that he needed to be set straight at the very beginning of his career which I'm sure would happen with his equivalent today given the personnel (think Brendan McCartney) we have at the club now.

Totally agree now I can get the blame for derailing the thread like I normally do, I will repeat what I have said 3 or 4 times, the best signing the club has made in last few years is Macca, if only he would stop sneaking up at training trying to knock my hat off

4 minutes ago, Whispering_Jack said:

That may well be so but my reasoning is that he needed to be set straight at the very beginning of his career which I'm sure would happen with his equivalent today given the personnel (think Brendan McCartney) we have at the club now.

We'll never know and tbh i dont really care. Nasty fall hope he mends, other than that hes just a blot on the mfc landscape.

What we have now is a professional club, not a basketcase and a list wants to succeed not just turn up...if that.

Is going to be a hard fought battle for a quite a few positions. As it should be.

Think theres more than one smokie lurking

10 hours ago, Satyriconhome said:

That's a bit of a harsh assessment of Hunt after two fluffed kicks DS, overall through all the sessions I thought his kicking had actually improved

Same with Garlett, last year we had games where he had managed to shake off his opponent and get free out the back, we either turned it over or slowed down to such an extent that he was marked again and the ball went sideways, how is he expected to apply defensive pressure in those situations? It appears that he has drifted out of the game when in fact he is working his arse off to create space.

Two moments yesterday, one, where he picked up the ball at full flight in the middle of the field, three bounces and a lovely low flat kick to a leading forward, secondly during the tackling drill, he tackled Jack Watts and pinned his arm beautifully, comment from Macca, "take note boys, that is how you tackle", that is the real Jeff Garlett, how a bloke who averages just under 2 goals and 3 tackles a game can also be called lazy (not your comment) is beyond me

Agree Hunt's kicking has improved but it was coming from a low base technically and still has a way to go. Everything else he's doing is first rate.

I've been watching Jeffy closely and critically. I know full well my bias for the way he played in 2016 is influencing my opinion. The run and kick through the middle was a beauty. Didn't see the tackle. I just think his decision making with and without the ball went way off last year and I've been looking for it to come back or even go to another level. I wonder if he lost confidence and then lost focus. I get your point about the ball out the back but that wasn't the situation that I reported and I think forward pressure is a massive part of a small forwards job. So without knowing the full details on when + how coaches give feedback on training I'd be drilling Jeff constantly to get to the right spots.

1 hour ago, beelzebub said:

We'll never know and tbh i dont really care. Nasty fall hope he mends, other than that hes just a blot on the mfc landscape.

What we have now is a professional club, not a basketcase and a list wants to succeed not just turn up...if that.

Is going to be a hard fought battle for a quite a few positions. As it should be.

Think theres more than one smokie lurking

Very well stated. I hope that CS recovers well but he had his chance. However the club wasn't run as it is now and Col is part of the unfortunate past.

I've been a part of this since '64. About every 20 years or so we rise... but this is different. Everything from the board, admin, player welfare, coaches & assistants, support staff (oh abtw the current talented playing group) is on the same page.

And yes the smokie will appear

17 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

Agree Hunt's kicking has improved but it was coming from a low base technically and still has a way to go. Everything else he's doing is first rate.

I've been watching Jeffy closely and critically. I know full well my bias for the way he played in 2016 is influencing my opinion. The run and kick through the middle was a beauty. Didn't see the tackle. I just think his decision making with and without the ball went way off last year and I've been looking for it to come back or even go to another level. I wonder if he lost confidence and then lost focus. I get your point about the ball out the back but that wasn't the situation that I reported and I think forward pressure is a massive part of a small forwards job. So without knowing the full details on when + how coaches give feedback on training I'd be drilling Jeff constantly to get to the right spots.

There are upto six fwds supposedly on the field at any one time, the forward pressure exerted by all of them was non existent in some games,

If we hope that with better service Garlett can become our Eddie Betts, I certainly do, with Eddie being rated as the best small fwd he is not exactly renowned for his defensive pressure

 

5 hours ago, Satyriconhome said:

There are upto six fwds supposedly on the field at any one time, the forward pressure exerted by all of them was non existent in some games,

If we hope that with better service Garlett can become our Eddie Betts, I certainly do, with Eddie being rated as the best small fwd he is not exactly renowned for his defensive pressure

 

Betts is stronger in the air and one on one than Jeff is. Garlett is more like Eddie's team mate Charlie Cameron. 

The other forwards share a lot of the blame but the reason I ride Garlett hard is because he's one who can do it. He's laid some great tackles and done some really sharp pressuring work and impressed me a lot with that stuff in 2015, I just hope he gets back to that standard.