TRAINING: Monday 2nd December 2024

[Demonland 73,139]

There were many Demonland Trackwatchers braving the morning heat at Gosch's Paddock today to witness the players go through the annual 2km time trials.

DEMONLAND'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS

Max, TMac & Melksham the first ones out on the track. 

Runners are on. Guess they will be doing a lot of running. 

TRAINING: Max, TMac, Melksham, Woey, Rivers, AMW, May, Sharp, Kolt, Adams, Sparrow, Jefferson, Billings, Petty, chandler, Howes, Lever, Kozzy, Mentha, Fullarton, Salem, Spargo, Turner, Viney, Kentfield, Johnson, JvR, Langford, Lindsay, Fritsch, Verral, Clarry, Sestan, Windsor, Laurie, Brown, Hore, Campbell, McVee, Langdon, Bowey, Trac. 

I think Kalani White is training with them. 

Kalani White is kicking the footy with MFC Next Generation Academy prospect Toby Sinnema.

Main group of players doing warmups.

Main group doing run throughs from half back flank to goal. 

Running groups around the oval. 

Spargo not training at all at the moment. 

Max is in a smaller group not on the same schedule as the other group. 

Max’s group is Campbell, Fritsch, Kalani White and the other kid. 

They must be doing the 2 or 3 km time trials

The first lot are in 2 groups of about 8 at different points of the ground. 

2nd lot are doing the warmups and will likely do the time trials after the first lot finish. 

Langford front of his group followed by Howes Bowey and Kozzy

Rehab group consists of Lever, Spargo, McAdam and Lindsay

Not sure why Gawn, Campbell and Fritsch aren’t doing time trials but are doing shorter running stints. 

Sharp leading Langdon in their group

Trac leading his group that consists of Kolt Viney JvR Salem Rivers Billings with Clarry well at the rear

Sharp has a big lead on Langdon. 

Sharp absolutely smashing it. Wouldn’t be surprised if there is a record broken today. 

Billings and Viney leading their group with Trac back to the middle of the pack with River Salem and then JvR and way back Clarry. 

Clarry has overtaken JvR.

Runners off and footy boots on.

Gawn, Campbell and Fritsch who weren’t doing the time trials have all joined the main footy session. 

Lever, McAdam & Lindsay are working with a training doing exercises on the boundary. Spargo has not joined them. 

Harvey Langford has a beautiful pass by foot. 

So nice seeing Trac, Clarry and Kozzy on the track. 

Spargo on the bike in the shed.

First casualty of the preseason …. Me …. I have to leave training with a migraine from dehydration.

Hopefully I’ll be back on Wednesday. 

WAYNE WUSSELL'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBERSVATIONS

Might be the timed run this morning. 

The cones are out for the short warm-up activities.

First players just coming out of AAMI.

Running shoes on!

I heard Kalani White is here!

Kossie just won his group!

Clayton finished well to pip Roo in his group… not leader but impressive drive to the line. Jack Viney ran a brilliant last 200 to get very close to Billings in his group.

Billings is no slouch when it comes to middle distance. He looked impressive winning his group from a blistering final 200 by Viney!

DEESPENCER'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS

Time trials in groups.

Big lumps: Luker, Jeffo, May

Flankers: Pickett, Howes etc as above. Sestan a fair way off.

The better running players are having a go now.

T Mc is dominating his group ahead of Petty, Melk, Woey, Laurie

Sharp is gapping to Brown, then a similar gap to Langdon, Chandler, Sparrow, McVee with Windsor a fraction off the back  

Billings gap to Viney gap to Rivers, Tracc, Kolt, Salem gap JvR group with Clarry off the back. Wait .. Clarry has overtaken JvR. 

Nothing too special in the drills after the time trial.

Choco with some point to point kicking that didn’t go all that smoothly but wasn’t a disaster either and a few other smaller drills.

Chappy took a big forwards group (both in height and numbers) for some work on kicking inside 50. A focus on how to legally block for both the high kick to the hot spot and the flatter kick to the lead in to the pocket.

Backs and mids were doing a 2/3rds ground ball movement drill to get the ball out from the backline. Focus seemed to be on short accurate kicks to leads.

I tried to watch the new guys.

Langford - looks very comfortable in main training. Not the most pure kicking action and I think he’ll miss targets with depth control. His strengths look like really fast accurate hands and he just know where to run to get the ball.

Plus Size (XL20) - a lot of lap running. Did some basic kicking drills and the ball comes off his boot fast and low with good accuracy. 

AJ - missed a few kicks in the drill immediately post the time trial but generally looks comfortable out there. In a drill moving the ball from a contest under pressure in backline he looked comfortable bending down to get it and evading pressure. Dished out on a long lefty handball and generally when he marks he extends his long arms nicely.

Jeff Junior kicks the ball like the son of Jeff/academy player, he can spin it for a ruck. Natural mover. Tall. Thought he fumbled a couple of marks but just naturally he’s marking way up high. There’s some tools there for sure!

The other kid Toby has some go and a nice left foot, hide him away for a year please!

Watched a bit of Kentfield, he did a decent time trial given he’s a huge lad. Skills are nice and he moves pretty well. Not blown away but if Casey aren’t hopeless he’ll do more than his 4 touches a game this year.

DITCHA'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS

I attended some of the training. I was very impressed with the instructions the forwards coach was giving to the forwards. His message was he does not want forwards standing still, but too be moving to make it harder for defenders. Several drills were conducted to help improve the forwards.

FRITTA AND TURNERS PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS

Get Kalani White now!!!  Really looks the goods but needs some upper body work obviously.

With the full squad at training it was hard to spot standouts or for that matter concentrate on any particular player.

Turner, Langford and Lindsay yet to get numbers on their backs.

Spargo on the bike, Lindsay, McAdam and Fritter running the boundary.

Chin is obviously well respected by the club and said a few words to the group.

TMcs family always seem to be in attendnace at training.

About 60+ onlookers at any one time with the highlight being the HUN camerman who asked which one was CP5. Really?

DEESPICABLE'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS

It's always nice to go down to a December session and see the newbies who do the odd drill, but spend most of the time looking from afar as they are handled with kid gloves - they are 18 after all.

For me there were a few standouts that my eyes were drawn to on more than one occasion.

One of the first to the track was a thinner, younger looking T-Mac and during all the drills, and the running he looked sprightly - It's ben a long time since I've picked him out as one of our best at training, but there you are. His protein diet must be working because he looked skinnier in the legs.

The second player that I kept spotting was Kynan Brown. He was noticeable in the 2km run when he was second to Harry Sharp and he was crisp and evasive in all the drills, his only problem being a couple of errant bounces where he must have chosen some hard turf as the ball sprung back past him twice. I was bullish about Kynan last year when I felt he deserved a proper game (not 30 seconds off the bench as sub) and I am going to be even louder now. He looks ready and Werridee, it's time to amend your team (version 7656) and get him in.

The third player you can't keep your eyes off is Clayton Oliver and it's not just the copious amount of sunscreen he wears. He seems to be making an early point this build-up to say, I'm a tackling god again, take me on at your expense. Sure he isn't the fastest in the 2km, but he is the fastest at reading the play - poor Toby Sinnema happened to be in his group when one of the few drills with tackling permitted happened and was taken down like a lion devouring a young deer. Clayton was back to his omnipresent self, a real livewire at training and I suspect his in-jest tackle on serial sidelines pest, Leo McDonald, will make the Herald Sun tomorrow as their photographer got a lovely shot of him taking on the 3yo. 

Congrats to Toby Sinnema who dusted himself off from Clayton's attack and then made two great tackles himself. Sinnema is from Dandening and is 16 and presumably was brought down to keep Kalani company. If he's part of our academy, that's great but if he's not, then unfortunately you will need to go down to Punt Rd to see him play in 2026, as he's a top-5 cert in my eyes - unless he doesn't grow.

As with others, spotting Kalani White was easy - he's 200cm tall, looks like a young Sam Darcy and he kicks like his dad Jeff, giving the ball way to much hangtime. But that will be trained out of him, especially if he hangs around Steven May rather than Dimma and co. He also has the White-family leap, so he's a project to behold. But sadly though if you were a betting man, then you'd say he ends up staying with his mates on the Gold Coast. But that's a topic for others. Kalani was a little tentative and that's OK, he just turned up for his first session with a bunch of men, most of whom he's never met before. But gees, it would be great if he chose us.

The other person to draw your attention was Trac, who was back with his trademark smile along with quite a bit of gasping, especially after the 2km time trial. He's lost a bit of fitness, but I reckon he'll pick it up again pretty soon and he clearly had that air of a club great about him every time he got the ball in drills, spinning it around like Andrew Gaze between each kick. He also imparted a bit of wisdom on Harvey Langford and Ricky Mentha - he's not too shy to hand out a few instructions, which is great and a sign of leadership that we need. 

The other highlights that I saw were a supersonic goal on the run under pressure by Trent Rivers, it's your guess where he will play, and a bit of Kossie magic, spinning in and out of trouble as he does with the tribunal regularly. From a haircut perspective, the big change came from Kade Chandler, who has gone for the In the Navy look, although maybe it was part of a charity cut.

I better mention Harvey Langford, who is a strong looking individual who did most of the drills with the team, despite being a newbie. There's no way he'll be held back this year.

Our other high pick, No.11 Xavier Lindsay, just did running drills, which was fine when he had Shane McAdam and Fritter to keep him company, but he had to go solo with no fitness trainer, for his final 10 run throughs. I know sometimes it's hard to have enough staff and players have to be resilient, but I couldn't help thinking you don't leave an 18yo in his first session at Gosch's Paddock in solitary confinement. Imagine he goes back to his parents place and they say, "how was training?". Does he reply "Great" or does he express his isolation.

Finally, there was no real gp distinction with most of the drills today, so positional switches will have to become apparent in later session. But Goody did take all the players (bar the newbies) for one final full-ground session and explained a revolutionary new tactic. It's called the man-on-man defensive strangle. Amazing. Players actually had to man-up. Don't worry, that will never catch on!

BUCK NEKKID'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS

A glorious day to visit Gosh’s to see a training session.

Highlights:

In the running, Sharp, Pup, Bowey, TMac and Langford all did well.  Trac looked like a man amongst boys and also ran strongly.

Some of the drills:

A zig zag kicking and markng drill, that led to a contested drill where the person on the mark was straight in front, the kicker went straight back but looked at the 45 degree angles to pick out a lead.  Think we will go quicker off the mark to players leading from these angles.

A contested ball drill.  Oliver laid a few beautiful tackles.  One passage saw the ball go 3>13>7>16>5 (goal).  About as fast as you could read that, too!

A forward drill with the bigs contesting and knocking it to ground for a small to sweep ink and either goal, or offload for a goal.  Lots of discussion about positioning and strategy.

A forward drill concreting on the forward staying in motion, and the small providing a legal block for the forward to roll around and mark.

A full ground drill moving the ball fast and good contests between the backs and the forwards.  Petty on Roo was worth the watch.

Overall, a good session.  When things were not going as planned, players were called in and things explained an reset. Some great teaching from the coaches to individuals and lots of good chat and banter amongst the players.

Kalani White looks great in Dees colours, and was not out of place. 

Shane McAdam worked away from the main group, but seemed in good spirits.  Cheered him one as he did some faster laps, got a hey and a smile.

Some old guy running around “Working the room” to use his term for it, handing out flyers for the election.  Didn’t give me anything, Im obviously not his ‘type’!

KEV MARTIN'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS

Chandler, Lever, and Petty walking from AAMI with the coaches as I arrive. Some are already on Gosch's, they are getting down to prepping. The sun block, hydration, the Tech in the jersey, and all in runners. Plenty of buzz around for our first full hit up. Yet no balls on the field. The time trials! They are hyped and ready. Those ahead of their times appeared to be, Sparrow, Kolty (maybe flu related), Sharp, and another but cannot recall. They got to sit out when the others did 5 more sets of 120 metre runs close at the end of the training.

Kossie is fit and running very well. Goody got round him soon after his run and gave him the warmest of embraces, slaps, and words.

Verrall struggled, though ended his running with some push. Sestan ran better than other years, a little slow but not struggling.

Langford led for some time, looks like a competitor, overrun close to the end. (Between some drills Tracc was getting around him, offering some insights)

Great to see Maysie and Melk back.

They all got round each other after the running, plenty on their haunches. Great effort all round.

Shane McAdams back on the exercise bike. His body shape is good, looks like he has been working out.

Lever has increased his workload, with a variety of running drills. My guess is that of Achilles awareness. 

Fritta is putting in hard runs. My guess is that his goal is being very fit.

Xavier Lindsay is on a modified program and is going at about 70% effort.

Spargo spent most of his time on the bike.

Rumours were spreading that Roy George is being picked up. 

The drills were a little off. Windy, hot day, with some exhaustive running, I reckon caused some astray kicking and fumbles. 

 Ricky Mentha has good hands, also doesn't do two errors in a row. It was apparent that he puts his head into it, after a mistake.

Looks like Kossie, Rivers and Woey are in the mids squad, whereas Windsor and Petty are backmen.

I like what Chaplin is doing as a forwards coach. He was getting the smalls to crumb. Two of them would follow the flight of the ball, the talls would bring it down, then the smalls either, handball to their partner who would snap, or they would snap. He was very hands-on at describing the movement patterns he wants from those marking forwards. 

The backs worked with the mids. They were getting the connections and fast ball movement down the wings. Langdon with leather poisoning and Sparrow running the wings very well, often the last one with the ball.

Goody set up a full field structure, getting them to position where he wants them. Looks like a high press, with no one in the forward 50.

Some goal kicking from the mids and forwards, as the backs settled down for a chat about structures.

Jed Adams had some testing from the trainer, after some sims. Appeared to have a slight limp

A good session. 

SLARTIBARTFAST'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS

I'm a bit late to the party but I made it down to training today and the boys were really put through their paces. The time trials were interesting.  Harvey went out hard and held on well only to be overtaken by a few of the mature boys but he's fit enough to play AFL.  Clarrie was at the back of his group but only by a small margin but he was totally spent at the end of it and I thought he was going to be sick. But then to my surprise he was up and at it in all the later drills.  Interestingly they all did the time trials with shirts off and reports of Clarrie being overweight are grossly exaggerated, he might not be at his thinnest but he is far from fat.  He looked in very good shape to me and as others have reported he's in good spirits.

He was in the same group as Kolt who beat him but interestingly when all that group finished they fell to the ground in exhaustion but the Kolt didn't.  He stayed on his feet and encouraged the others to get up.  Leadership written all over this kid.

Sesso also seems to have slimmed down well and is running much better than previous years.  I don't think he's there yet but he's made big steps towards AFL fitness and if he continues as he is he might be a smokey for R1 when Koss is out.

Verrall is really struggling in the running.  He was a long way back in the time trial and in the end one of the trainers ran with him to keep him company.  He really needs to get that right because he's way below AFL fitness at the moment and he's now entering his third preseason. I'm not suggesting he's not putting in the effort, just that he really struggles with this sort of running.  Interesting in later running drills he was keeping up much better which was a positive.

I was also interested in Aidan Johnson's performance.  He looked pretty comfortable out there and kept up well in the time trials and other running. Beyond that I didn't really notice him much in the drills.

To my surprise Petts is training with the backs as is Windsor.  McVee is there too so it would seem that Duke and Knuckles won't be in the midfield this year which is against expectations. I don't see how Petts, May (who does look like he's been in a good paddock) Lever and Tmac fit in the one backline and it's hard to see Tmac missing out because he is in the best knick I've ever seen him.  He's moving really well, he's really lean, his ball handling and kicking is good and his lateral movement is better than for a while and I'd suggest that's as a result of his feet being injury free.  I've been to all but one session and he's the standout so far for me but I'm a big fan so perhaps I'm bias.

Beyond that it was a great day for the track watcher I didn't think.  Lots of little drills which didn't really show much and the boys were spread out all over the field making it hard to get an overall picture.  I liked what I saw from Langford who to my eye didn't appear much taller than Clarrie when I saw them standing together but it's hard to tell given Clarrie's hair.

Fritter was doing heaps of running at a very good clip and he did it for a long time. He looks really fit so I've no idea what his issue is.  McAdam also did a fair bit of running and looked comfortable and he looks in good condition.  I wonder if they just want to get him really fit before throwing him into full training and exposing his body to the level of stress.

I can confirm previous report on Sparrow.  He looks really lean and he was running really well.  I think he may have got a rocket at the end of last season, he looks a new player. Billings also looked really fit.

I'm going again on Wednesday and hopefully they'll do a bit of full field ball movement which is where I think you can judge players more critically.

Boy was it humid at training today, skills were pretty good given the level of fatigue and the conditions.

IT'S TIME FOR ANOTHER'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS

I made it down there yesterday but was flat out heading back Nth to write before now. I was planning a big one but there are so many excellent track reporters nowadays most of it's been covered. But here's a few comments. 

Poor old Jason Taylor had the misfortune of being identified by me. He was standing a bit away from the coaching section. So much for a nice quiet uninterrupted observation of training. I'm afraid I wasn't going to let Demonland down by letting him get away with that. In summary he laughed when I said it must be a bit like watching his babies run out on the field and strange so soon after just picking them. I asked him what expectations were there about when Lindsay might play. He said Oh well he's coming off a PCL and won't join in full training till mid Jan so it will be a while. I mentioned that Johnson seemed to be doing incredibly well at keeping up with the running especially as he's just come in. He said Yeh, he loves running and is a really good runner. Amazing for me given how most players who have come over from other clubs haven't been able to get close to the MFC running when they start in pre season and this guy's come in from only one season of VFL and is way more up to speed than any of them. He looks particularly agile and quick off his feet. 

Firstly I haven't managed to get to training since before Covid. The first thing I noticed is how much bigger they are now than I have seen in the past. A few years ago they had a real emphasis on running over strength and the squad had collectively trimmed down. It is noticeable they have bulked up again but I would say with more refined training practices nowadays they are probably running better than they did then. 

Secondly Viney's leadership really stood out. It's interesting that others picked up that Max was taking a bit of a back seat. But it's been interesting that Vines has turned up from day one of the 1st to 3rd years and has led them all the way. Today he was very noticeably leading all over the ground. When his group finished their 2km's he stayed on his feet when everyone else was collapsed and he walked around to every player in the group and patted them and gave them words of encouragement. His fitness was also right up there in the running. 

Thirdly. Clarry. I noticed in photos I've seen since they've started back that he's still got that bulkiness he had last year. Then in the 2km he was lagging off the back of his group. I was thinking this really isn't looking that great. But near the end of the session they did multiple 120m run throughs and he led his group in everyone of them and that's at the end of a very tough session. Sigh of relief. Don't worry about Clarry he's clearly done the work in the off season. 

Fourthly, I don't know why I'm numbering these points. Pointless. Oh well. Kossie blitzed his 2km group. He's really done the work this off season and I get the feeling he's realised he needs to make the most of his god given talent. I'm picking him to have a special season. 

Fourthly, others have mentioned Harry Sharp. His running was extraordinary. It wasn't just that he blitzed the group with his endurance but he's that very rare combination of speed and endurance. I have no doubt he will replace ANB's role and end up being an upgrade with better pace and skills. There's a lot to learn to get up to ANB's contribution though. I thought he was leading the B & F earlier in the season. 

Fifthly Jefferson has really bulked up since last season. He has a mature AFL footballers body now. A lot rests on him making it as a viable key forward. It's been such a long time since we've been able to develop one from the draft other than JVR. 

Windsor was surprisingly lagging back in the 2km but then again he's coming back from a long term injury but I thought he would have been up to speed by now. I can't believe he will be played anywhere than the wing. So few players know now to play that role and he's walked in from day one nailing it. No doubt in the off season players get moved around to play different positions to learn them. Wingers often play deep in defence and off half back in transition so it makes sense for him to be doing that. The role nowadays is all about transition now anyway. 

Kentfield took me a while to pick up. He didn't stand out so much in height and build. He's a very strange build. He's huge around the hips and [censored] and it's almost like his body which is much skinnier sits on top of his hips. 

 It was interesting to see Selwyn Griffith walking around the boundary doing menial things like placing posts in the ground. It just shows you how they run on such short staffing nowadays. Its just appalling the AFL haven't lifted the coaching soft cap back up by now. 

Go Dees. I have to say that this time last year I was supper flat and pessimistic about the coming season. Mind you there was a lot of turmoil then. I feel very different this preseason. There's minimal injuries. There's clearly articulated recognition of the failings in the gameplan that is being addressed with changes in the coaching staff which didn't happen last season. I have a gut feeling that Jefferson is going to start performing in 2025. I'm picking Tholstrop to be a big improver. Kossie looks like he's done a power of work over the break. He had a pretty ordinary 2024 so hopefully he goes to next level. We have Maxy back up next year in Campbell. Langford will at the very least add desperately needed depth to the midfield that we didn't have this year. Onwards and upwards Dees. 

[Demonland 73,139]

Here are some excellent photos from @gs77 taken at this morning's session.