1 hour ago, Back pocket said:

Great to see so many numbers show up and watch the boys - I imagine we will be inundated with reports from today.

 

Rufus du Sol and Fred Again were blasting through the speakers as the boys warmed up before getting into 4 periods of match sim.

 

• No shows: Oliver, Brown, Smith
• Present but not involved: Melky, Hunter
• Running on side: Jefferson, Sparrow, AMW, Petty (Petty did get involved for the last period of match play)

 

A few notes from match sim:

 

• There was a focus on changing the angle of the play, very aggressive ball movement
• Bowey was absolutely brilliant rebounding off half back, often linking up multiple times in the one passage - players were looking to get the ball in his hands 
• As much as people won’t like to hear it, ANB was playing through the midfield and was one of our best
• On a similar note, TMac was also good down back - competed very strongly in the air, however you still have to worry about his decision making and kicking coming out of defence. Will be competing for that third tall spot
• Max could do what he wanted today. Manhandled Fullerton in ruck contests and was putting the ball on a platter to the mids. Fullerton not offering a contest at all. Update: Fullerton limped off with a lower leg injury right at the end - the only injury concern to come out of today.
• I thought Verrall was the most impressive of the backup rucks, at least provided contest at stoppages compared to the others - it is a bit worrying if Max does go down though (touch wood!)
• Chandler heavily involved in the opening period, both in the link up and on the scoreboard 
• Rivers was great in the B teams midfield, Laurie also competed well in there and was heavily involved
• Hore solid, and will be fine if needed to come in
• Howes interestingly started in the A teams defence, however did not notice too much involvement
• The usuals: Trac makes things look easy, Viney is a gun, Fritsch our best up forward today, Kozzie and Roo got on the end of a few towards the end
• The wingers (besides Langdon) didn’t get near it today. Billings and Windsor hardly touched it. Windsor appeared to lack confidence out there. He was constantly on the receiving end of barking instructions from players and coaches - an overload of information. Obviously has plenty of time, but the other top few from the draft this year seem to be dominating their respective clubs’ trainings. 
• McQualter seems like a terrific pick up to replace Yze in the coaching ranks, was very vocal out there today
• My best players today (in no particular order): Trac, Viney, Gawn, Laurie, Bowey, Rivers, TMac, ANB, Fritsch 

Re best players only non regular is Laurie

15 minutes ago, Ditcha said:

I was going for an afternoon walk through Ghoshs Paddock and saw Clarry Oliver training on Melbourne's training ground. He was running laps and seemed in good spirits as he replied to me that he was going well. He was there with someone else and they had footballs with them. He looked in good spirits, but I am unsure how far he is behind everyone else in conditioning. 

Without being privey to his work out volumes and numbers, he wouldn't be that far off IMO.

The only thing he might be behind in is the agility training side of things throught agility ladders and poles which isn't a great deal off.

At the end of the day it's when Clarry feels ready.

 

37 minutes ago, Back pocket said:

Definitely agree with what you have to say Titan. In no way am I trying to write him off as a player. I have full confidence in his ability and believe he will be a star for us in the future. I was just trying to report on the one individual training session from today compared to the rest of his preseason (without sugarcoating anything). Our recruiting team has done a marvellous job over the last 10 years, so we have no reason to doubt them at all (especially this early in a player’s development).

He did have a few nice passages out there today, I was just wanting to temper expectations that he is going to be a star in the 23 from round 1, and instead we should let him develop down at Casey and trust the process. Although I’d love to be wrong and would thoroughly enjoy seeing him out there on a wing against the Swans in opening round. Go Dees!

I agree with your assessment of Windsor and that there’s no chance he’ll be in the side for the Sydney game.

You can see what he’ll become but not yet. For example there was a passage of play where he tried to take an opponent on near the boundary line at half back which would’ve opened up the field for his teammates, but ended up getting pinged for holding the ball.

Tholstrupp was quiet as well.

38 minutes ago, Slartibartfast said:

My final point is that the kicking for goal was very good in difficult conditions.  As I commented to others, if we'd kicked like that in the finals we'd have won the flag, but enough of channelling Masie.  

That was my main take from the day as well.

Goal kicking single handedly ruined our finals campaign last year (and robbed us of top 2 with some deplorable home and away scores) so it was nice to see some crisp goal kicking today, albeit under minimal stress.

Fritta was automatic from 40-50.

Laurie nailed a set shot from the boundary (as did Langdon) and kicked another from 45 after taking on an opponent who was asleep.

Chandler kicked 3 or 4 and looked assured in front of the sticks 

JVR nailed the set shot of the day, 45 out near the boundary.

I hope we respect our opportunities on goal more this year.

Edited January 26, 20241 yr by Bring-Back-Powell

32 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

 

JVR nailed the set shot of the day, 45 out near the boundary.

 

I missed the second half of the match sims it seems JVR got busier in the second? 

12 minutes ago, Jeremy said:

I missed the second half of the match sims it seems JVR got busier in the second? 

Much busier. 

The AFL sight saying Fullerton hammy is nasty. So much for our back up ruck plan...

"...the Demons are bracing for Fullarton to have suffered a decent hamstring strain at best and potential tendon damage at worst"

2 hours ago, Ditcha said:

I was going for an afternoon walk through Ghoshs Paddock and saw Clarry Oliver training on Melbourne's training ground. He was running laps and seemed in good spirits as he replied to me that he was going well. He was there with someone else and they had footballs with them. He looked in good spirits, but I am unsure how far he is behind everyone else in conditioning. 

Nice work Ditcha!

 

Re:Fullerton injury,  the training session today went for over 3 hours.  Fullerton appeared to damage it right at the end of it which is shocking luck. Whether it happened abruptly or not we don’t know, but to me that was a bit of mismanagement of his running loads. 

4 minutes ago, Gawndy the Great said:

Re:Fullerton injury,  the training session today went for over 3 hours.  Fullerton appeared to damage it right at the end of it which is shocking luck. Whether it happened abruptly or not we don’t know, but to me that was a bit of mismanagement of his running loads. 

And the other 30 or so who did the full session would’ve got the loads needed to get through matches so they don’t all ping them in round 1

Demons recruit facing several months on the sidelines

1 hour ago, Stiff Arm said:

The AFL sight saying Fullerton hammy is nasty. So much for our back up ruck plan...

"...the Demons are bracing for Fullarton to have suffered a decent hamstring strain at best and potential tendon damage at worst"

Judging by training reports over the last month maybe he's not the ruck back up.

...anyway, he's definitely not now.

Verrall seems ahead at least in ruck terms anyway.

If we get someone on the long term injury list (and it may be Fullarton) perhaps we can pick up another ruck.

 

Edited January 26, 20241 yr by rjay

21 minutes ago, Whispering_Jack said:

Demons recruit facing several months on the sidelines

There’s a firewall behind this so I will do a summary starting with the opening part

• Tom Fullarton set to start the season on the sidelines after suffering a suspected serious hamstring injury. Sent off for scans to determine if the tendon was torn.

• Others missing were Clayton Oliver (personal reasons), Ben Brown (knee) and Lachie Hunter (calf).
    
• The club expects Oliver to return in “the coming weeks”.

• Harry Petty set to resume full training in the next fortnight in the hope of playing in Rd 0 vs Swans.  (To be continued)

With Fullerton possibly out for sometime surely the club has to look at a pre-season or selection ( if we can put someone on the inactive /long term injury list ) on a back up mature aged ruck from a state league ?

if Max went down now we would be stuffed in the ruck 

24 minutes ago, Whispering_Jack said:

There’s a firewall behind this so I will do a summary starting with the opening part

• Tom Fullarton set to start the season on the sidelines after suffering a suspected serious hamstring injury. Sent off for scans to determine if the tendon was torn.

• Others missing were Clayton Oliver (personal reasons), Ben Brown (knee) and Lachie Hunter (calf).
    
• The club expects Oliver to return in “the coming weeks”.

• Harry Petty set to resume full training in the next fortnight in the hope of playing in Rd 0 vs Swans.  (To be continued)

(Continued)

TRAINING NOTES

• relatively mixed teams for the match sim, with the white team possessing the 'probables' defence and the blue team the 'probables' midfield (with some exceptions).

• Angus Brayshaw building into his pre-season and will be back in full-contact drills this week. Today, he started in defence & pinch hit in the midfield at times. Was the primary ball user off half back.

• Adam Tomlinson and Tom McDonald both in defence for the blue team, while Blake Howes lined up alongside Steven May and Jake Lever in defence. Howes also had a difficult job on Bailey Fritsch, conceding a goal but held himself quite well.
    
• Trent Rivers ran through the midfield, often on Christian Petracca and at times beating him.

• Caleb Windsor spent most of the session on the wing, lining up on Jack Billings and had some run in the midfield.

• ANB spent time in the main midfield rotation, starting alongside Jack Viney and Petracca.

• Tom Fullarton (before the injury) and Will Verrall rotated through the ruck role against Max Gawn, but were no match for him.

• Jed Adams played deep forward (although elsewhere here it’s been reported he played in defence). 

• Steven May received a corkie near the end but played on.

HIGHLIGHTS 

• Christian Petracca comfortably slotted his set shots both during the warm up and match simulation, despite the windy and wet conditions.

•  Shane McAdam popped up at times, kicking an opportunistic goal & laid some strong tackles early.

• A deft kick in traffic from ANB that hit Brayshaw streaming through the centre square, with the switch of play sparking a set shot and goal.

• Jack Viney starred through the midfield, winning contested ball and laying bone-crunching tackles

ABSENTEES (apart from those already mentioned) 

• Matthew Jefferson completed a running program along the boundary side.

• AMW & Tom Sparrow did their own modified program early in the session, then ran laps.

• Christian Salem started the session with the main group but was pulled out about an hour in and sent for sprint work with AMW.

• Harrison Petty was pulled out of the session just before the match simulation, instead hitting the exercise bike with Jefferson.

• Lachie Hunter ran messages for both teams and called players for interchanges.
 

7 hours ago, binman said:

Poor pun punted

No need to be hoofy mate

7 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Very impressed with Laurie today.

2 nice goals and been heavily involved. My tip for most improved this year.

His lateral movement is OP, has worked hard on his in-tight handballing which was an issue in terms of hitting moving targets, being indecisive as a result — but looks to have hit that behind him, natural finisher who hits targets and keeps eyes low and more importantly, keeps a 180* View of what’s around him… Howes, Bowey, Laurie, a fit (maybe) Salem, Billings & Windsor are all going to help our general kicking efficiency this year & most of all the i50 kick. Rivers playing through middle also gives us some fwd movement burst & puts speed on the ball, Mcvee might also go through there and Kossie should do another 10-15% mid mix this year.. A def need that is looking a little stronger, but key will be if we’re willing to sacrifice def positioning 5-15% more at times to take the game on more — if we do, I sense it’ll play to our strengths, if we don’t… I know it’ll be very much to our detriment & our OPP joy… MANY Club insiders laud our predictability and whisky it’s also a strength, some get the sense clubs would be nervous if we put carried a little more risk!!!

7 hours ago, Gawndy the Great said:

Petty seems to have a slight limp in his gait. Right foot appears hampered. Still running with McAdam and Gus.

 

but is now taking part in a modified pre set match sim scenario. Took a mark on the lead and foaled.

Well.. yes, he is! But wrapt he’s back 

7 hours ago, Gawndy the Great said:

#33 Fullerton ? limping from ground

Let’s hope it’s not torn.. rough start for a kid who looked to be going alright  

7 hours ago, Gawndy the Great said:

DLs  best mate Kingy is here. Want me to pass on any messages?

Ohhhh LAWD I wish I’d of been there to mess with that real-life-buoy!!!

❤️

1 hour ago, DemonJack 14 said:

With Fullerton possibly out for sometime surely the club has to look at a pre-season or selection ( if we can put someone on the inactive /long term injury list ) on a back up mature aged ruck from a state league ?

if Max went down now we would be stuffed in the ruck 

We would be stuffed anyway, but yes, we should go get a big 26 year old lug from somewhere.

Fullarton.

 

6 hours ago, Back pocket said:

Great to see so many numbers show up and watch the boys - I imagine we will be inundated with reports from today.

 

Rufus du Sol and Fred Again were blasting through the speakers as the boys warmed up before getting into 4 periods of match sim.

 

• No shows: Oliver, Brown, Smith
• Present but not involved: Melky, Hunter
• Running on side: Jefferson, Sparrow, AMW, Petty (Petty did get involved for the last period of match play)

 

A few notes from match sim:

 

• There was a focus on changing the angle of the play, very aggressive ball movement
• Bowey was absolutely brilliant rebounding off half back, often linking up multiple times in the one passage - players were looking to get the ball in his hands 
• As much as people won’t like to hear it, ANB was playing through the midfield and was one of our best
• On a similar note, TMac was also good down back - competed very strongly in the air, however you still have to worry about his decision making and kicking coming out of defence. Will be competing for that third tall spot
• Max could do what he wanted today. Manhandled Fullerton in ruck contests and was putting the ball on a platter to the mids. Fullerton not offering a contest at all. Update: Fullerton limped off with a lower leg injury right at the end - the only injury concern to come out of today.
• I thought Verrall was the most impressive of the backup rucks, at least provided contest at stoppages compared to the others - it is a bit worrying if Max does go down though (touch wood!)
• Chandler heavily involved in the opening period, both in the link up and on the scoreboard 
• Rivers was great in the B teams midfield, Laurie also competed well in there and was heavily involved
• Hore solid, and will be fine if needed to come in
• Howes interestingly started in the A teams defence, however did not notice too much involvement
• The usuals: Trac makes things look easy, Viney is a gun, Fritsch our best up forward today, Kozzie and Roo got on the end of a few towards the end
• The wingers (besides Langdon) didn’t get near it today. Billings and Windsor hardly touched it. Windsor appeared to lack confidence out there. He was constantly on the receiving end of barking instructions from players and coaches - an overload of information. Obviously has plenty of time, but the other top few from the draft this year seem to be dominating their respective clubs’ trainings. 
• McQualter seems like a terrific pick up to replace Yze in the coaching ranks, was very vocal out there today
• My best players today (in no particular order): Trac, Viney, Gawn, Laurie, Bowey, Rivers, TMac, ANB, Fritsch 

Mate, really? We’re worried about Windsor already? Some reports say he looked right at home pattern & speed wise, Wing often goes unrewarded mate, kids dominating are doing so at clubs where they’re  up against not much — I’d be worried if our draftees were dominating our probables team for mine!