2 minutes ago, deejammin' said:

And while we’re at it what’s wrong with “ground” or “Melbourne Cricket Ground” or “Self contained breathing apparatus” or just “apparatus” or “Australian football league” or “Melbourne Football club”’and “demons”!

Ban all acronyms and nicknames!!! We should say everything in full or not at all!

TLAs have to be acceptable surely.

14 minutes ago, Ghostwriter said:

Harves #4 and XL #5

Lock it in, Eddie

Baby Bont in number 4. Meant to be

38 minutes ago, waynewussell said:

They did do a two-lap time trial. Sharpie was once again the standout in his group, with Tholstrup not too far behind.

Good start

12 minutes ago, MrFreeze said:

Kolt looked quite trim in some of the training photos, good to hear he was running well

Kolt has gained a couple of years of maturity in the space of two months. Honestly, I’ve never seen a stronger case of “smartened up” ever. Idk what he was told in his exit meeting but whatever it was it’s working a treat. There’s residual cheekiness when talking to me in private but on the whole he’s grown up a bunch.

52 minutes ago, waynewussell said:

Had the good fortune to have a chat with Kingy today. He wandered over to the boundary line when he finished putting out the cones for the next activity. My first impressions were that he was personable, straightforward and very tall. He said that training wouldn’t be too intensive in the first few sessions, as the full list joined the group. I mentioned that it was good to see Brodie and AMW progressing so well. He said Brodie was busting to join the main group and it was a battle to hold AMW back until Christmas. I asked him what his first impressions of the training group were. He said he was impressed with the overall fitness. He singled out the Roo, saying he had lost kilos but gained strength. We both agreed that ‘the current # 4’ (Harvey) was set to take the next step. He said that Jai Culley was in the best three on the track on Monday. A few other enthusiastic observers joined in the conversation. He also agreed that Windsor was a standout in the first session. One notable comment he made was about putting up the ‘team’ for round 1 for the players... there were no names on the list!

Fitness always seemed to be a problem last season. Maybe it's more that players like Kolt and Roo have worked hard over their break to make sure theyre in great shape. Next year will be important for so many players . It will be such a good foundation for King if already players want to improve significantly from 2025.

20 minutes ago, deejammin' said:

And while we’re at it what’s wrong with “ground” or “Melbourne Cricket Ground” or “Self contained breathing apparatus” or just “apparatus” or “Australian football league” or “Melbourne Football club”’and “demons”!

Ban all acronyms and nicknames!!! We should say everything in full or not at all!

OK!

1 minute ago, Go Ds said:

Fitness always seemed to be a problem last season. Maybe it's more that players like Kolt and Roo have worked hard over their break to make sure theyre in great shape. Next year will be important for so many players . It will be such a good foundation for King if already players want to improve significantly from 2025.

Fitness wasn't an issue at all last year.

Considering we lost a fair few games under a kick where we were still in games in the last quarter and the very last few minute then our fitness was fine.

Our lack of composure from our more senior leaders and inability to close out games in the moment was a far bigger issue then fitness

38 minutes ago, Ghostwriter said:

Kolt has gained a couple of years of maturity in the space of two months. Honestly, I’ve never seen a stronger case of “smartened up” ever. Idk what he was told in his exit meeting but whatever it was it’s working a treat. There’s residual cheekiness when talking to me in private but on the whole he’s grown up a bunch.

That's promising to hear.

42 minutes ago, Go Ds said:

Fitness always seemed to be a problem last season. Maybe it's more that players like Kolt and Roo have worked hard over their break to make sure theyre in great shape. Next year will be important for so many players . It will be such a good foundation for King if already players want to improve significantly from 2025.

I disagree. Have you seen the champion data clip where Geelong were plus 400 points in time on over the season? We were smashing teams in the last 1/4 in 2021.

Fitness is an absolutely essential part of being the best.

1 hour ago, Ghostwriter said:

Harves #4 and XL #5

Lock it in, Eddie

Ghosty I don’t mind the number changes, but was kinda hoping that Harvey and XL would’ve made 19 and 20 their own.

Anyway…….

1 hour ago, Demonland said:

New Avatar for @Ghostwriter

Why would @Ghostwriter want a dolphin for an avatar? What would be the porpoise?

1 hour ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Fitness wasn't an issue at all last year.

Considering we lost a fair few games under a kick where we were still in games in the last quarter and the very last few minute then our fitness was fine.

Our lack of composure from our more senior leaders and inability to close out games in the moment was a far bigger issue then fitness

1 hour ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Fitness wasn't an issue at all last year.

Considering we lost a fair few games under a kick where we were still in games in the last quarter and the very last few minute then our fitness was fine.

Our lack of composure from our more senior leaders and inability to close out games in the moment was a far bigger issue then fitness

Hmm, I think the "at all" bit is wrong. Didnt we lose something like 8 of our first 9 last quarters. Hell, North, of all teams, beat us like a runner coming from out of the bushes for only the last kilometre of a marathon in round 2! The last half of the year had us about 50-50 having more scoring shots in the last. So I really dont know. I'm sure the coaches have lots of GPS data we'll never see. We just hafta have faith they'll get this preseason right. At the very least, unlike 2021, no one would put us among the fittest teams.

1 hour ago, Ghostwriter said:

Kolt has gained a couple of years of maturity in the space of two months. Honestly, I’ve never seen a stronger case of “smartened up” ever. Idk what he was told in his exit meeting but whatever it was it’s working a treat. There’s residual cheekiness when talking to me in private but on the whole he’s grown up a bunch.

I believe the words, clear, actionable and honest were used a lot. I think it caught him off guard a little. Some felt he was a tad comfortable under the previous coach. Although I believe the feedback was coming even if Goody was still around.

Like all players, he’s been told that nobody has a mortgage on a starting spot in RD 1.

Hopefully the message has got through.

7 minutes ago, JJJ said:

I believe the words, clear, actionable and honest were used a lot. I think it caught him off guard a little. Some felt he was a tad comfortable under the previous coach. Although I believe the feedback was coming even if Goody was still around.

Like all players, he’s been told that nobody has a mortgage on a starting spot in RD 1.

Hopefully the message has got through.

That's all great, but why wait until the year end interview? If warranted, he (and the rest of the side) should be getting that type of feedback on a weekly basis.

It seems pretty clear to me that Goodwin had checked out for most of 2025, despite claiming to be blindsided by his removal.

Hopefully for Kolt this translates to better performances on the field. While I haven't seen much to get excited about in his games so far, he did miss a chunk of the pre-season and early part of the season last year. In only his second season, this is likely to have a big impact on his performance.

The fact that he is in the pointy end for running today and according to Ghosty has "grown up", these are everything we could hope for from him at this point in time. Seems like a fantastic young bloke - hopefully it can translate to his performance on field.

2 minutes ago, poita said:

That's all great, but why wait until the year end interview? If warranted, he (and the rest of the side) should be getting that type of feedback on a weekly basis.

It seems pretty clear to me that Goodwin had checked out for most of 2025, despite claiming to be blindsided by his removal.

Mid year player development meetings are more about maintaining standards or small incremental changes that can be looked at. The idea is to not distract the player by overloading or giving too much negative feedback.

End of season meetings are an ‘alL gloves are off’ type scenario where everything is in play as the players have time to take in the feedback, rest up, put into place a plan and execute.

42 minutes ago, Go Ds said:

Hmm, I think the "at all" bit is wrong. Didnt we lose something like 8 of our first 9 last quarters. Hell, North, of all teams, beat us like a runner coming from out of the bushes for only the last kilometre of a marathon in round 2! The last half of the year had us about 50-50 having more scoring shots in the last. So I really dont know. I'm sure the coaches have lots of GPS data we'll never see. We just hafta have faith they'll get this preseason right. At the very least, unlike 2021, no one would put us among the fittest teams.

Seconded, I wouldn't say letting St Kilda kick what, 8? last quarter goals really shouts 'supreme fitness'.

Don't forget, at this time in the previous pre-season Kolt was on a greatly reduced program. Can't remember if it was back related or a foot issue. He came back to the team with this disadvantage. By seasons end he was playing solid football for Casey. With an ounce of luck, he will get through this pre-season injury free, ready to roll.

AMW in for a HUGE 2026

I went to training this morning. It felt like a mid-July game at the MCG. I was wearing a jumper and a jacket and was still cold!

Many players not there - May, Salem, Viney, Turner, Gawn, Langdon, Laurie, Melksham, McAdam, Rivers, McDonald, Campbell, Fritsch, Pickett

All others were training with the exception of Mihocek and AMW who did running on the side. Henderson also did a bit of running but joined in some drills.

Training wasn't super intense, unlike what we heard Monday was like. It was hard to keep a track of drills as they split into two groups (of approximately 12 players each) and changed drills fairly often. From what I could see, early on there was a typical handball game in a large area (no heavy tackling), while the other group did a drill of getting the ball to a player on the run from about 30m out to have a shot at goal. They then did a drill where the coach would roll the ball out at half back, a player would pick it up under pressure and they would try to move the ball to the middle of the ground with handball against a defending team.

After that there was a drill with some kicking involved, mostly short kicks to players in space, which was then followed by a handball game in a very confined space where the team in possession had to find a teammate free to give the ball to (there was no tackling but the defending side defended 1v1 and just placed minor pressure on the attacking team). Then finally they went into a 3/4 ground ball movement drill which seemed to focus on moving the ball with speed out of the backline. The noticeable thing here was that the players ran in waves, with all defenders running together to receive the overlap handball. It looked like pretty aggressive run out of the backline.

There was other drills too, such as one where players went out in threes to collect a ground ball and handballed to each other and returned the ball back. The focus from King was to receive the ball facing the right way so that the receiver would then be in a better position to assess the next option.

Nothing too much to report given it wasn't a highly intense session, but I thought some of Chandler's bullet passes were really impressive (when skills are usually rusty at this time of the year) and Windsor seemed to be used a fair bit as that linkman in the 3/4 ground ball movement drill. CJ looked good bouncing out of the backline with his athleticism on show, however that is his strength - the test for him will be ball use under pressure. Lindsay and Langdon both look like they've put on upper body size.

They also did 2 or 3 laps (I think this was the only running without the footy) and Sharp was the standout runner (no surprise) and Sparrow was very good too and Kolt put in a really good effort. They ran in groups, with the big blokes mostly in one group. Berry looked to be the big struggler here, way out the back of the big blokes group. I don't read too much into these things - running is just one aspect of the game.

Only about 24 players trained and it was mostly a pretty young group out there.

1 hour ago, JJJ said:

Mid year player development meetings are more about maintaining standards or small incremental changes that can be looked at. The idea is to not distract the player by overloading or giving too much negative feedback.

End of season meetings are an ‘alL gloves are off’ type scenario where everything is in play as the players have time to take in the feedback, rest up, put into place a plan and execute.

These days preseasons are so intense I'm assuming that by the time a team/player realises their preseason had been mucked it's too late to catch up. If that was Kolt's problem last season tucking into him midseason could only backfire.

1 hour ago, RadishDee said:

Seconded, I wouldn't say letting St Kilda kick what, 8? last quarter goals really shouts 'supreme fitness'.

No, I reckon there's a few reasons w

1 hour ago, RadishDee said:

Seconded, I wouldn't say letting St Kilda kick what, 8? last quarter goals really shouts 'supreme fitness'.

.xxxz

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by Go Ds
Just delete this! Why can't I? Some of the new format is infuriating!!!!

1 hour ago, RadishDee said:

Seconded, I wouldn't say letting St Kilda kick what, 8? last quarter goals really shouts 'supreme fitness'.

No I'd say there's all sorts of reasons why a team stops. Against St Kilda it looked like a team lacking self-confidence fell apart big time. I certainly think Melbourne's fitness can be improved.

35 minutes ago, Scoop Junior said:

From what I could see, early on there was a typical handball game in a large area (no heavy tackling),

This drill involved blocking and protecting the tackling players from the ball carrier. It was too complicated for me to fully understand but it wasn't just a keepings off and handballing for goal.

The session was a lot less intense than Monday and there was much more running. AMW won't be in full training until after Christmas as they nurse him along with his ACL program but he is as fit as a fiddle. Brodie was doing much more high speed running today and more lateral movement stuff. Hendo is recovering from a groin complaint and is on limited lateral movement drills. AJ also spent a little time out of main training but CJ trained much more with the group than he did on Monday.

42 minutes ago, Scoop Junior said:

I went to training this morning. It felt like a mid-July game at the MCG. I was wearing a jumper and a jacket and was still cold!

Many players not there - May, Salem, Viney, Turner, Gawn, Langdon, Laurie, Melksham, McAdam, Rivers, McDonald, Campbell, Fritsch, Pickett

All others were training with the exception of Mihocek and AMW who did running on the side. Henderson also did a bit of running but joined in some drills.

Training wasn't super intense, unlike what we heard Monday was like. It was hard to keep a track of drills as they split into two groups (of approximately 12 players each) and changed drills fairly often. From what I could see, early on there was a typical handball game in a large area (no heavy tackling), while the other group did a drill of getting the ball to a player on the run from about 30m out to have a shot at goal. They then did a drill where the coach would roll the ball out at half back, a player would pick it up under pressure and they would try to move the ball to the middle of the ground with handball against a defending team.

After that there was a drill with some kicking involved, mostly short kicks to players in space, which was then followed by a handball game in a very confined space where the team in possession had to find a teammate free to give the ball to (there was no tackling but the defending side defended 1v1 and just placed minor pressure on the attacking team). Then finally they went into a 3/4 ground ball movement drill which seemed to focus on moving the ball with speed out of the backline. The noticeable thing here was that the players ran in waves, with all defenders running together to receive the overlap handball. It looked like pretty aggressive run out of the backline.

There was other drills too, such as one where players went out in threes to collect a ground ball and handballed to each other and returned the ball back. The focus from King was to receive the ball facing the right way so that the receiver would then be in a better position to assess the next option.

Nothing too much to report given it wasn't a highly intense session, but I thought some of Chandler's bullet passes were really impressive (when skills are usually rusty at this time of the year) and Windsor seemed to be used a fair bit as that linkman in the 3/4 ground ball movement drill. CJ looked good bouncing out of the backline with his athleticism on show, however that is his strength - the test for him will be ball use under pressure. Lindsay and Langdon both look like they've put on upper body size.

They also did 2 or 3 laps (I think this was the only running without the footy) and Sharp was the standout runner (no surprise) and Sparrow was very good too and Kolt put in a really good effort. They ran in groups, with the big blokes mostly in one group. Berry looked to be the big struggler here, way out the back of the big blokes group. I don't read too much into these things - running is just one aspect of the game.

Only about 24 players trained and it was mostly a pretty young group out there.

You meant Langford?