THE JIGSAW PUZZLE

by Whispering Jack

Friday, 8 December 2006: There are 113 days to go before the opening bounce of the season proper but who's counting?

True, it's a long way to go before autumn sets in, but the scene before me on this idyllic early summer's day suggests that this group is focussed on what has to be done over the ensuing months in order for them to accomplish their mission ...

The picture is something like a nearly completed jigsaw puzzle. In fact, forty-three of its forty-four pieces are there already. The group is made up of the thirty-eight senior list Demons, two veterans and three rookies while the remaining space in one small corner is reserved for another rookie and that last piece of the puzzle will be put into place on Tuesday morning.

The Trevor Barker Oval is in reasonable condition given the drought conditions we're enduring in our region of the world. The sun's shining and there's not a cloud in the skies although a reddish tinge of smoke from the bushfires raging in the north east of the state lingers. You can smell a whiff of it in the air but the players seem oblivious to this.

Pre-season training has changed a lot over the years. In the early days of the game, players used to turn up to training in March, often worse for the wear and carrying the extra pounds (or kilograms if you like) brought on by the excesses of the Christmas period. Then along came John Kennedy who introduced commando training at Hawthorn and things were never the same again.

As the game became more professional, you came to expect something better from your players - higher levels of fitness, the youngsters bulking up and greater athleticism from the group. In the early 'nineties, players were expected to run 100 hundred metre sprints almost back to back as part of their fitness regime.

Well, we've now reached an even higher plane in the evolution of the footballer/athlete. The players today are by and large presenting as super athletes with chiselled bodies and skin folds that barely register on the Richter scale (there is always an exception to every rule but more of that later). Training might still be intense but it's varied and concentrates on many different facets of a player's physical and mental make up.

You sense that the team is being prepared for a long hard campaign with the aim of peaking at the business end. That's what it's all about - a professional approach to a sporting season that starts in February and ends in late September. We want consistency but we have to match it with the others when the pressure starts building in August and reaching a peak over the following month. With results of 7th, 8th and 5th in the last three seasons, Melbourne simply has to improve in this area if it wants the mission to succeed.

Of course, you still have to put yourself into the race early (and not be 0-3 after round three as the Demons were in 2006) and the team looks in good shape at this stage. We still have a rehab group but it appears to be of a reasonably acceptable size for this time of year.

Colin Sylvia's arm is in a sling, suggesting that his pre season proper will be delayed until well in the New Year. I can't even call him plain "Colin" any more because we have another one at the club (but again, more of that later). Clint Bartram is recovering from the ankle he injured in round 22 while Brent Moloney, whose season was wrecked by shoulder and groin problems, is on target to resume full training soon. Paul Johnson and rookie Daniel Hughes are also on the sidelines with Matty Whelan who is running slow laps. Recruit Ricky Petterd is recovering from a hamstring injury and is doing some restricted work.

That said, the rest of the group looks to be in pretty good shape. Brad Green, who had a lot of niggling little problems during the year, is moving well, as is Adem Yze. Jeff White always looks good at this time of year and today is no exception. Nathan Carroll, who appeared to have been recruited to the club almost by default as a rookie a few years ago, continues to impress with his attitude. He now seems quite at home with his role as a footballer playing well at the highest level.

However, the stand out from my point of view is Brock McLean whose physical appearance and approach to training justifies his elevation to the leadership group at the tender age of twenty years. He's a little lighter than in the past but he's still a strong and fearsome unit that's headed for stardom. Two other players to impress are Daniel Bell who I expect to kick on enormously in 2007 and Matthew Bate whose debut season was underestimated in many quarters. Bell appears lighter and leaner but still strong of body and having that important asset of good pace. Much the same can be said of Bate who works hard on the track and can only get better and better with time. And the Jones boy looks super fit!

I haven't seen much evidence of massive bulking up from players like Lynden Dunn and Michael Newton but Simon Buckley is certainly much bigger in body than he was twelve months ago when he first arrived at the club and Ryan Ferguson, while no Adonis, is also no longer the stick figure he was a few years ago.

As I said earlier, most players' skin folds are right down. However, Byron Pickett well and truly makes up for that all on his own. Sporting a beard, the Byronator looks like he's been in a reasonably good paddock of late and will need to do the hard work if he is to be a contributor again next year. He needs a good fitness base because, as we saw late this season, a few weeks' lay off with injury can prove disastrous in terms of his ability to fully see out a game. Also sporting a beard but with no apparent excess body weight is The Flash, who takes training in his stride. Nothing explosive is needed right now!

All four National Draft selections are on hand and my first impression is that none of them are likely to make an impact in 2007. That is not to say I'm not impressed - it's simply a case of there being plenty of work to be done before they can reach the level of regular senior players both physically and with their skills. We didn't have any of picks 1 to 5 and we are in a position where we can wait for our youngsters to develop without any great pressure on them.

James Frawley looks the closest to AFL standard although I would not expect him to occupy a key position for another year or two. His kicking looks awkward but is certainly not problematic, as some have suggested.

Colin Garland is interesting in that he is of a height to be a key forward one day and has a lot of up side in his development. Another awkward looking kicker of the ball, but no problems with accuracy as he slots a couple of long shots through the big sticks at the Alf Beus Can Hill end of the ground.

Isaac Weetra is another player who has plenty of development to go and I can't see him in the red and blue until at least 2008 bearing in mind that he was mainly an Under 17 with Port Adelaide Magpies this year.

So who will be the 44th man - the person who will occupy that final piece of the jigsaw puzzle in that small corner of my picture?

I can't say that I'm greatly impressed by any of the four invitees on show. Andrew Ericksen is 204cm tall but light as a feather and doesn't show a great deal of the aggression that you need from a ruckman at AFL level. The Swans invested three years in him but cut him adrift at the end of the current season without a game at AFL level. In that time, Sydney traded for Darren Jolly, Paul Chambers and Peter Everitt but they also drafted a young 200cm ruckman in Daniel Currie in November to replace Ericksen. Enough said.

The Fanning name might be big at Melbourne but former Magpie giant David "Flaps" Fanning looks as if he's half a kilometre to the west of the TBO - all at sea.

Stefan Martin from Old Hailybury is interesting. He has a good leap but, at 196 cm will struggle against the modern day ruck giants so unless he can play key position as well, he might find this level too big a big step up from VAFA Under 19's.

Andre Gianfagna is the other invitee but, having been dropped from the rookie list just a couple of months ago, it would surprise if he were reinstated next week.

Craig Cameron is watching proceedings and I hope he can pluck out one of his special smokies (perhaps that word might not be appropriate in view of the bushfires raging around the state) to fill the last piece of the puzzle next Tuesday.

And by then, it will be 109 days to go but then ... who's counting?

[THE PICTURES by Finks]