December Gold - A Training Report

by Whispering Jack

Melbourne has seen nothing like it since the 1956 Olympics. There they were in the early Saturday morning gloom at the Trevor Barker Oval - a group of strong, fit, young athletes representing nations from the far-flung corners of the earth. There was Russia, The Philippines, Bolivia and South Africa and all of them were going at it hammer and tongs to win some sort of trophy that was on offer. I'm not sure what that prize was but the competitors, all 41 one of them members of the Melbourne Football Club senior and rookie lists, were going hard at it from 8 am as part of the club's varied pre season programme. The games were entitled "Conditioning Competition" and it was certainly as fiercely competitive and as impressive as any Olympic or Commonwealth Games competition. Well, perhaps I exaggerate a little here ...

The minute I got out of my car in the TBO car park, I was assailed by a couple of the international groups as they flashed past me during their warm up but it was the Aussie accents that gave it all away. The familiar face of Travis Johnstone was prominent among them and he nodded a "g'day mate" in my direction as he whisked his team mates away in the direction of the embankment around the oval whose scoreboard still carries the scores of Sandringham's 2005 Premiership winning result.

Some very clever person has devised a series of contests for the players involving running, crawling jumping and agility work with a points prize at the end for the winning "nation". It was highly competitive and I was immediately impressed with Johnstone. He seems to be attacking this pre season in a different manner than his approach in the past. Perhaps it’s simply that he’s matured and he now sees himself as a potential leader but he certainly has put his recent elbow operation behind him and he looks really fit. Travis was shouting out words of support for his team mates as if their team was playing for sheep stations or real Olympic gold medals. His enthusiasm was infectious because the others were soon following suit.

The competitive work was on in earnest.

The spirit of the group was terrific and Port Adelaide recruit Byron Pickett was in the thick of things. When I made it down to training a few weeks ago he had appeared to have put on a bit of condition since the Power bowed out of the finals but he was looking good this morning. He has settled in well and looks a popular addition to the group. The "Byronator" has a wry sense of humour as well because during one of the races he noticed that the club's General Manager of Football Operations Chris Fagan was jogging along the boundary and he yelled out an encouraging "go Fages!" as he went past the group.

There were very few players missing from Melbourne's recently expanded list of 44 players. By my reckoning the absentees were Colin Sylvia and Heath Neville who are both managing the effects of osteitis pubis and Phil Read was missing but from what I've heard, he's been pretty full on at recent training sessions so there appears to be nothing to worry about on that score. James McDonald was there but appeared to have some minor problem and he didn't take part in all of the events.

Skipper David Neitz looked terrific - trim and taut and raring to go as he begins the new assault in what will be an important year for him. Injuries have kept Neita out of the finals action for the past two seasons and his strength and leadership were sorely missed as the Demons were bundled out in the first week both times. He looks keen and determined and was setting a great example for the rest of the squad. Russell Robertson was another whose enthusiasm for the contest was infectious and, at one stage, he took the rivalry to the limit when he warned Adem Yze to do everything "by the book". Actually, I don't think there is such a thing as a "book" when it comes to games that involve players chasing a yellow ball on hands and knees but it was all good fun.

Another who impressed me was Mark Jamar. I know that it's easy to get carried away with players at this time of the year and they weren't doing anything that remotely resembled football work (unless you're an advocate of the international game and you count the soccer match that was part of the programme) but the Russian is really looking good. When he first came to the club, he was a big lump of a lad who was probably carrying a bit too much "puppy" fat. The next year, he was clearly carrying some problem through his pre season. Over the last two years however, he has managed to change his body shape into something that better resembles the modern day ruckman and the subtle physical changes have seen a more confident and driven player. His pinpoint soccer goal saw him celebrate frenetically as practitioners of that sport are wont to do - he was the perfect ambassador for the Russian team in more than name only!

Then there was Shannon Motlop who upstaged Jamar with a brilliant header goal that would even have put Ronaldinho to shame - and didn't he let everyone around know about it? It will be interesting to see how Motlop goes this year with a full pre season under his belt and with the spectre of Byron Pickett in the vicinity to intimidate the opposition.

Matthew Bate is a player who seems to be coming on in leaps and bounds after his introductory season at the club. Both he and Lynden Dunn are looking more comfortable and at ease in the elite environment of AFL footballers this year.

Speaking of elite, Jeff White is back and his face looks unscathed after its close encounter with Steven King’s boot in the elimination final. There was no sign however of new ruck coach John “Sammy� Newman but for all I know, Sam might have had another facelift and he could be totally unrecognisable these days.

I suppose you're all wondering what my impressions are of the newcomers. I have to confess that the hardest part of the morning was to identify who was who but once the group started calling out names it wasn't all that hard to work out. Nathan Jones was an easy one but I'm not going to say all that much about him because I think the club wants to keep a lid on him so as to avoid the same sort of mass euphoria that surrounded Colin Sylvia's arrival two years ago (besides which I'm writing a separate piece on him in which I might break this rule anyway). Suffice to say that he's fitting in very nicely and was as competent, competitive and enthusiastic as anyone else on the Beach Road Oval. And he looks ready to go.

Simon Buckley must think that all of his birthdays have come at once. According to the Sandringham Dragons’ website, the kid has always been an avid Demon fan and now he's training with his heroes and he looks good; taller than I thought and very athletic.

Most of the other recruits are going to require time to develop. Calder Cannons ruckman Shane Neaves is a big lad but a bit reminiscent of the Russian when he started. Clint Bartram and Andre Gianfagna are young athletes straight out of Under 18 competition and will need to build themselves up before tackling the big guns of footy. I didn't see enough of Jace Bode and Daniel Hughes to be able to make much of an assessment – as I say it was hard enough working out who was who with forty plus footballers going about their work.

As I left the ground I was reflecting on how vastly different the game is to when I first used to wander into pre season training in the "old" days. Just as I was thinking this I noticed veteran trainer and former club runner Sammy Allica going about his duties. I know that history is history and that we should be living in the present but what a great story it would be if this bloke - who was Norm Smith's runner when the Demons won their last flag in 1964 – can be part of another Melbourne premiership more than four decades later. Such a prize would be infinitely more satisfying to all of us than even an Olympic gold medal.