TRAINING: Friday 16th December 2022

DEMONLAND'S TRAINING REPORT

Rehab: Gus, Hibberd, Jed Adams, Will Verrell, Andy Moniz-Wakefield, Burgoyne, Joel Smith, Deakyn Smith

I will collate all of my posts/observations below:

Mids doing one on one ground ball drills

Talls doing one on one marking drills

Hunter came off second best in a drill and is limping

One on one tackling drill saw two epic match ups. 

Trac vs Clarry

Viney vs Sparrow

Can’t see Joel Smith. 

I think Burgoyne is also amongst the rehab group. 

Kozzy is back at training - looks massive, so clean picking the ball off the ground, superb disposal.

Some different numbers being worn at training today.

Salem wearing #2

JVR wearing #6

Hunter wearing #35

Kye Turner (train on player from Haileybury) is a big unit and looks impressive in the air and has clean disposal. 

Jacob Van Rooyen (JVR) & Grundy are the standouts for me. Both clean in the air and by foot. 

Matt Jefferson is tall and very skinny. Will benefit from a year at  Casey, a year in the weights room and another preseason. Can Mark. 

Melksham vs May in this drill. No steaks involved.  ----- observation after training - Melksham trained really well

Grundy vs Gawn in the ruck. Grundy wins. Taps to Viney. Viney to Schache. Schache handballs back to Viney. Viney blind turns out of a tackle and goals. 

Some more epic battles;

Disco Turner vs TMac

Petty vs JVR

Disco as the defender took a great contested mark against TMac. 

Some of the delivery into the forward line in this drill is poor. TMac not happy with it. 

TMac is impressing me as other trackwatchers have previously mentioned. Strong marker and straight, accurate shot for goal.

All the defenders have been monsters and have been excellent as expected.

Can’t see JVR NOT playing Round 1. 

Trac super competitive. Viney impressive as always. Clarry is a magician.

As reported Sparrow has put on size and I expect him to be a mainstay in the middle.

Kozzy will definitely play more midfield minutes next season.

Ben Brown has also been impressive. So good on a lead up the middle. I wish we delivered it to him more that way than putting high on his head in a pack of player. Sure he is very good one on one with his height and long arms but if the ball is delivered high in a pack then forget about it. Let him lead up the guts.

The race for spots in the forward line is going to be fierce.

In summary, we’re training the house down. 

Grundy could be the recruit of the year especially if it means Gawn plays a kick behind the play (and not in the forward line). 

3/4 length ground match sim. 

Max vs Schache in Ruck. 

Grundy playing forward. 

Max taps a beauty to Kozzy from a boundary throw in. You love to see it. I hope Kozzy sees more midfield time.

Now JVR is rucking against Grundy and beat him.

Max playing forward.

This doesn’t bode well for my wish of Max not playing forward. 

Kozzy sells some candy, kicks it to Max who passes nicely to Grundy outside the 50 who plays on and drills a goal from 50. 

None of the new recruits (first years) are taking part in the match sim. 

JVR beating Grundy in many of the boundary throw in ruck drills that start off each match sim drill. 

this observation is not a knock on Grundy.

TMac killing it up forward. 

Grundy kicks another. 

Lever left the track with a knee complaint. Currently in the hands of the trainers. 

Finished with the trainers. No one looks concerned. Is limping a little. 

The boys then took off their footy boots and put on the runners and then did so run throughs but Lever did not participate.

He then hopped on the bike that is set up under the shelter. I don't think he looked too worried. That is they weren't icing it or sending him off to get scans.

Gus was doing some light running and is currently on the rower. No visible strapping on his body. 

Joel Smith now doing weights under the new structure with the other rehabbers.

It was a long training session. Started before 9:30am and was still going at about 11:40am when I had to leave as they were doing some running after a 2 hour skills session.

I will say that the tackling and intensity was absolutely fierce and I was worried that there would be plenty more mishaps. Thankfully there weren't. I was up close and personal for a few Jack Viney tackles and if my arm wasn't already in a sling from shoulder surgery it would have been after witnessing that devastation.

WHISPERING JACK'S TRAINING REPORT

It was around about this time four years ago that I turned up to Gosch’s Paddock on a sunny December morning to witness a sparkling Melbourne training session. With a few exceptions, the boys were training hard, looking fit and healthy and all was sweetness and light. I drafted a glowing report about the Demons’ prospects for 2019, sat back and looked forward to a year of football bliss.

To my surprise, the Dees had a shocker of a season finishing in 17th place. They even ended the year below Carlton who turned at 1-10 halfway through the season and they sacked their coach! We snuck home by a single point against the eventual wooden spooners on the Gold Coast and the whole dismal year ended in doom and gloom with bushfires ravaging the continent. The scourge of Covid-19 was waiting for us around the corner.

Come January, my New Year’s resolution was never to write a glowing preseason training report again.

Hence, in summary, my impressions about this morning’s session at the Paddock was that it sucked!

Some of the negative things I noted in my head as I watched the session were:-

• The number of players who were in rehab or injured during the session. The rehab group included premiership players Angus Brayshaw and Michael Hibberd while Jake Lever hurt his knee during the session. Bulldogs recruit Lachie Hunter also took a knock early but resumed training. Others in rehab were Andy Moniz-Wakefield, Joel Smith, Deakyn Smith, newcomers Jed Adams, Will Verrell and train on potential recruit Trent Burgoyne. Disappointing.

• Hardly any of the young players appear ready – most of them were kept back from the simulated match play and trained separately under Choco Williams. They might have been good at NAB Cup or APS football, but they are not ready to play AFL senior football in 2023, not even the kid we plucked out of obscurity from Xavier College. Recruits are not what they used to be, and we might as well start getting used to making the long drive down the Monash Freeway and beyond to Casey Fields if we want to see those blokes next year. So disappointing that we will not get to see our first rookie draft pick burning up the G against the Bulldogs in Round 1.

• Who oversees the players’ wardrobes these days? I noticed a couple of ruck duels between two blokes who were both wearing the number 6 on their backs. How do they expect us to tell them apart so that those of us who take the trouble to turn up to a training session can report on their performances with some accuracy? Not good enough!

• There was too much fun and frivolity. Players were having a fun time but it’s December - exactly the time when players should be knuckling down for the rigours of the long season ahead.

• My god, Christian Salem's aged! His hair has turned grey overnight!

• I have a number of other complaints and that’s why this report isn’t a glowing one as you might have expected. Take off the rose coloured glasses and start worrying. Think MFCSS and with a bit of luck I might make a different New Year’s resolution at the end of 2023.

Merry Christmas all!!!

PICKET FENCE'S TRAINING REPORT

Greeting all and welcome to Gosh’s paddock, where Bigfoot sightings have been recorded, seems I just cannot get away from dangerous entities in presenting my reports

INJURIES MODIFIED DUTIES

Gus , Hibbo, Jed Ad, Will Verell, Andy Moniz -Wakefield, Joel Smith ( Just cant take a trick)  although Will Verrell , Hibbo, Gus and Young Burgoyne were all doing run throughs

SKILLS , DRILLS AND MANOUVERS

After warm ups and Run Throughs players broke of into 3 Groups doing a variety of

·         Close in Handball through traffic to hit clean target with players pressuring

·         One on one groundhog day ground ball gets

·         Telescopic Talls in Marking contest situations

Main drills consisted of half ground match sim which all took part in after rotating with another corridor footy drill on the other side. Other than that a full match sim which excluded the newbies was a terrific look at our game style which often took the ball from one end of the ground to the other. I unlike others was happy with forward line presentations and it appears that we are going to be spoilt with the riches of players and depth the likes of which I have never seen from an MFC outfit. In fact the contest for places in this team are going to be FIERCE.

PLAYER WATCH A

I’ll start with the usual suspects and throw a few other observations in. VINEY,was in scintillating form pace, disposal, grunt finishing of were all of an extremely high standard as per usual. CLARRY CHOO CHOO Beast and I mean beast just literally just cannot be stopped, at one stage he was tackled by three players in a contested get shrugged them all of and fired out a deadly handball. Just left me speechless. T MAC,HEEEEES BAAAACK, Bigger badder and better than ever, looked super fit and ran around looking very dangerous indeed. Speaking of Back, BBB is over his injuries and proved time and again what an ASSET he will be yet again as a key forward. MAX, CP5, LEVER, MAY LANGERS all were shining lights in match sims and general drills

OLD NEW BORROWED AND RED AND BLUE PLAYER WATCH B

BRODIE GRUNDY, Will be unstoppable this year for the MFC, After seeing him today I’m still scatching my head at Collingwoods stupidity and player list debacle that saw him now with us. This guy runs like a gazelle, is great below his knees and is a decathlete like runner, all thus plus his great ruck work and can kick a goal, ( WILL FINISH TOP 3 IN OUR B&F BANK IT IN). LACHY HUNTER, again Dishlickers inability with player management has seen us the beneficiaries of a very fine player. He has “Elite” endurance, smart footy brain, great disposal and puts himself in dangerous positions often. MATT JEFFERSON, yes he needs to put on weight, but gee he looks like he belongs, can Mark, leads well is a dead eye kick and has great “Hang time” a la Aaron Naughton, he knows where to run and will play senior footy later in year I believe. JVR, Looks like he knows its time, crashes packs, aerialist, is never out of the play and has that Swarrta presence. KYE TURNER, Reminds me in some ways of a cross between Andy Goodwin and Anthony Ingerson, just seems to be aware of his surroundings and has a good skill set. KYNAN BROWN, No 39 Really liked the look of this player, moved well has pace good skill set and plays not dissimilarly to his old man, terrific to see, Also liked the look of OLIVER S no 38. Built low to the ground a la Peter Daicos and he also looks very comfortable coming from a low fitness base, also has clean hands and has that ability to ride a Bump into a position where he still is over the ball, Looks a definite Goer! JOSH SHACKY ATTACKY ALREADY Better in every way to Weeds and thats no direspect, he just is a cut above with his body use, Marks and Kicks well and does not get pushed under the ball. Anyway that’s it from me, I’m meeting an old friend from England who drives a Pink Rolls and I will tell her all about the Dees Depth and how we should be able to atone for a somewhat disappointing finals series to bounce right back in 2023. Cheers all P.F