This is the thread for pre-season training news for the week commencing 13/11. 

If you're heading down to training this week please report on it here. We'd love to see some pictures too. 

Hope we get some responses from those able to attend training in this rather still, quiet and what appears to be 'silent' start to the next season. Even the MFC Website appears loathe to add daily news and views - though Matt Burgen probably does need a vacation and he does do such a great job over the course of the calendar year. Anyway, we are all missing our footy and some Demon stimuli in this period - is a wake  or period of silent dismay for our loss of Jack in Attack Watts?   When living in Adelaide, interstate, as I am, one of the greatest difficulties in keeping abreast of daily, weekly and pre-season information. The papers here refuse to publish articles on the Demons and the media, in general, is very incestuous about two alleged teams called The Power and The Crows, whoever they may be. So folks, how are the mighty Dees looking at this point? Kind regards to all....

17 minutes ago, Deemania since 56 said:

Hope we get some responses from those able to attend training in this rather still, quiet and what appears to be 'silent' start to the next season. Even the MFC Website appears loathe to add daily news and views - though Matt Burgen probably does need a vacation and he does do such a great job over the course of the calendar year. Anyway, we are all missing our footy and some Demon stimuli in this period - is a wake  or period of silent dismay for our loss of Jack in Attack Watts?   When living in Adelaide, interstate, as I am, one of the greatest difficulties in keeping abreast of daily, weekly and pre-season information. The papers here refuse to publish articles on the Demons and the media, in general, is very incestuous about two alleged teams called The Power and The Crows, whoever they may be. So folks, how are the mighty Dees looking at this point? Kind regards to all....

November, December and January are generally pretty quiet but there are a few contributors to this site who attend training during this period and report here. 

I'm going to be in Melbourne from Thursday, heading back to Sydney on Monday evening... so I will post some photos of both the Friday 17th and Monday 20th sessions to a Facebook album and put a link in here once done. 

Does anyone know if Jake Lever and Harley Balic will be training on either of those days?  I'm hoping to get a jersey and have it signed for my son to help with the mental side of his knee reco recovery - I know he would dearly love to see Lever's autograph on there as he's already achieved the status of favourite Dees player

Edited November 13, 20177 yr by hardtack

6 minutes ago, hardtack said:

I'm going to be in Melbourne from Thursday, heading back to Sydney on Monday evening... so I will post some photos of both the Friday 17th and Monday 20th sessions to a Facebook album and put a link in here once done. 

Does anyone know if Jake Lever and Harley Balic will be training on either of those days?  I'm hoping to get a jersey and have it signed for my son to help with the mental side of his knee reco recovery - I know he would dearly love to see Lever's autograph on there as he's already achieved the status of favourite Dees player

Harley Balic should be there as he is in the  1st to 4th year players who have already started preseason training. I'm not sure when the "older" players start. 

Looking forward to seeing some photos. Thanks. 

1 minute ago, Demonland said:

Harley Balic should be there as he is in the  1st to 4th year players who have already started preseason training. I'm not sure when the "older" players start. 

Thanks D'land... I thought I read somewhere that the remainder of the players start on the 20th... but I also read someone's thought (bubble) that maybe Lever would be given extra grace as he played a finals campaign.

Edited November 13, 20177 yr by hardtack

11 minutes ago, hardtack said:

I'm going to be in Melbourne from Thursday, heading back to Sydney on Monday evening... so I will post some photos of both the Friday 17th and Monday 20th sessions to a Facebook album and put a link in here once done. 

Does anyone know if Jake Lever and Harley Balic will be training on either of those days?  I'm hoping to get a jersey and have it signed for my son to help with the mental side of his knee reco recovery - I know he would dearly love to see Lever's autograph on there as he's already achieved the status of favourite Dees player

You track watchers are unbelievable. Passion and dedication.

Hats off to you. You deserve medallions of honour. 

The rest of us enjoy the fruits of your efforts.  

6 minutes ago, hardtack said:

Thanks D'land... I thought I read somewhere that the remainder of the players start on the 20th... but I also read someone's thought (bubble) that maybe Lever would be given extra grace as he played a finals campaign.

You would think that the club would give him extra time but I'm secretly hoping he's the type of guy that will rock up to training early. I won't begrudge him the extra time off as it is earned and deserved.

1 minute ago, hemingway said:

You track watchers are unbelievable. Passion and dedication.

Hats off to you. You deserve medallions of honour. 

The rest of us enjoy the fruits of your efforts.  

Well, to be fair, I'm hardly in the league of the likes Saty... I get down to Melbourne on very rare occasions (unfortunately) and if they coincide with training sessions and I am not otherwise committed, I will drag myself and camera (and lens') along to get some shots.  Don't expect any written reports though as my attention span is practically non existent these days.  But thanks for your kind words anyway

1 minute ago, hardtack said:

Well, to be fair, I'm hardly in the league of the likes Saty... I get down to Melbourne on very rare occasions (unfortunately) and if they coincide with training sessions and I am not otherwise committed, I will drag myself and camera (and lens') along to get some shots.  Don't expect any written reports though as my attention span is practically non existent these days.  But thanks for your kind words anyway

No need for a written report. Photos and perhaps attention to which players aren't training with the main group (ie: injured or modified program) would be appreciated.

3 minutes ago, Demonland said:

No need for a written report. Photos and perhaps attention to which players aren't training with the main group (ie: injured or modified program) would be appreciated.

Consider it done!

 

19 minutes ago, hemingway said:

You track watchers are unbelievable. Passion and dedication.

Hats off to you. You deserve medallions of honour. 

The rest of us enjoy the fruits of your efforts.  

I think anyone who is still passionately following the MFC deserves a medal of honour Ernest.

It is devotion of a special kind.

Then again it might just be a sign of stupidity

43 minutes ago, Demonland said:

No need for a written report. Photos and perhaps attention to which players aren't training with the main group (ie: injured or modified program) would be appreciated.

Mr Demonland sir, you can steal any photos you like off my Instagram feed and put them on here, some from.last Friday are there Demonpk, will probably be there this Friday as well

52 minutes ago, hemingway said:

You track watchers are unbelievable. Passion and dedication.

Hats off to you. You deserve medallions of honour. 

The rest of us enjoy the fruits of your efforts.  

Ernest, when you live a 10 min scoot from Goschs, it's not even an effort, but thank you

From the Facebook page:

Training Report #2 A.K.A the Max Gawn show

It’s Max Gawn’s world. We’re just living in it.

I turned up 40 minutes late to training, kept guessing by the inability of the open training times page to load. Feel like I don’t miss a lot though. Guessing I would have missed stretches, warm-ups and a kicking drill here and there, so that’s okay.

What does happen when I show up is I have a shocked expression on my face. There’s about 26 players here but the quality of those has improved on last week. For instance, Maxy Gawn is here after a trip to New Orleans, Dom Tyson makes an appearance, as does Tom McDonald. For a large part of the session, Tyson and McDonald are rehabbing, doing a lot of running drills.
Gawn, however, joins in with the main group on occasion. More on his progress later.

First part of business when I get here is the group put in some quick drills when they run in twos. For instance, you’d see Brayshaw and Harmes running together (and looking good), while Harley Balic is improving. The vibe is much more competitive than last week. They’re after good times.

This was only brief – a lot of focus, interestingly enough, was on ball skills this morning. After that, the Dees set up a full ground drill. One group working on stoppage work here and there, another small group trying to take marks from a kick up forward. Gus is one of the players up forward (interestingly enough – he spends plenty of time as a forward in these drills) and looks okay again. Clearly the drill is of good quality judging by the applause at the end.

After that is quite a red-hot drill – a full-grounder which almost resembles an intraclub at times. The primary focus is ball movement here.

It’s also here where Maxy captures the eye for the first time. Bit of a footnote – there’s a piece on the SEN Facebook page with Tim Watson talking about Maxy and how fit he is. He reckons he’s in as good a shape as you’ll ever see from a ruckman.

From what I saw out there – he’s pretty close to the mark. Not only is he looking VERY trim, but he’s also moving incredibly well. It’s probably characterised by Maxy taking advantage of an intercepted ball from a teammate, then setting up another with a brilliant handball which eventually finds its way to Petracca who kicks a ‘goal’ in this drill.

The prowess of the other ruckman in this side – Mitch King – is also going swimmingly. This is realistically one of his first chances to show the Dees how far he’s come post-ACL and the evidence looks pretty good. Kingy clunks a contested mark over Hunt – not overly impressive on paper but the method of his madness looks extremely impressive – hitting the ball at speed, and holding on to it while his body is at all these different contorted angles… if that makes any sense. Anyway, it’s impressive. He might get game time this season. In fact, he probably will with our ruck situation.

The other bloke who impresses me with his field kicking is – again – Angus Brayshaw. Playing as a forward in this drill (as mentioned), Gussy finds space to get a couple of marks after some good ball movement. First kick – absolutely threads the eye of the needle, perfectly weighted to (I think) Maynard who is running back towards goal, going over a defender in the process. It’s an excellent kick.

Just to rub it in a bit, Brayshaw then gets another kick. Same spot, same method, rolls around quickly, looks again and takes even more risks with this kick. Again, it’s spot on, except it’s dropped this time around. Seriously, this kid is legit this time around.

The boys then revert back to the two-by-two running drills. Gawn, Tyson, McDonald are doing separate running activities. At this point, Gawny has his shirt off, almost as if he genuinely wants to rub in how good a shape he’s in. Honestly don’t blame him.

Again, Brayshaw and Harmes are constantly up the front. Good areas.

After that, the Dees decide it’s time to do some set shots. The change up has been intriguing. All eyes on Gus as one proclaims ‘safe as houses Gussy’. He doesn’t let them down. In the meantime, Trac is cracking it after every snap shot he does, dropping quite a few f-bombs here and there. That’s November for you.

More running to finish off – this time it’s more in the form of set time running – they’ll start off with a two-minute run, followed by 90 seconds, one minute and then a very quick run at the end. Again, Nibs looks good. He’s constantly up the front. This time, Maynard is also setting a very good place, sticking with Nibs most of the way. Billy Stretch looks good too, again. What startles me during the last run, however, is Maxy – randomly joining in – and keeping a very good pace with Nibs and Maynard. I’m shook. It’s just one session but that was a hell of a statement sesh from Gawny. He wants his All-Australian spot back. You can tell.

Training finished up after that. A rather quick one this time around, but quite a spirited one. I might be able to make my way down on Friday. Let’s see how that goes.

Love that report. Only the second training session but instead of looking back on the disgrace that was Rnd 23 I’m now starting to look forward to next season. 

Max Gawn, by the sounds of it, is the first to be confirmed and verified as training the house down. Happy Days. 

Pics up on the club site.

Monday November 13th Photo Gallery

Watson on Gawn

21 minutes ago, McQueen said:

Pics up on the club site.

Monday November 13th Photo Gallery

The pics would be improved by captions (as there were a few faces that I was unsure about)! ?

Edited November 13, 20177 yr by CBDees
Victim of spell check (captain instead of caption)

3 minutes ago, CBDees said:

The pics would be improved by captains (as there were a few faces that I was unsure about)! ?

Or captions....

I can say without any reservation that Gawn is in ripping shape!  He has shed kilos!  Have not seen a fitter looking ruckman ever!!!!

2 hours ago, Demonland said:

You would think that the club would give him extra time but I'm secretly hoping he's the type of guy that will rock up to training early. I won't begrudge him the extra time off as it is earned and deserved.

I don't think the club has any say in it. I'm pretty sure it would be part of the players CBA and the players association would be keeping a close eye on it.

Having said that, as a new recruit who is yet to prove he is worth the salary he is getting, you would hope he would return early and bond with the team.

1 hour ago, McQueen said:

 

Edited November 13, 20177 yr by CBDees

Just looked at the pics.  Good to see most of the guys are now wearing the outfit that is a replica of the MFC Guernsey.  It looks so much better than that daggy thing with the red patch on the left shoulder.

(Well, except Max, who seems to have his own, unique flesh-coloured version!  LOL)

Edited November 13, 20177 yr by Vagg

Oh, Captain, my Captain!!