TRAINING: Wednesday 14th January 2026

A legion of Demonland Trackwatchers descended upon Gosch's Paddock for the first open session at the venue this year to bring you their observations from preseason training.

WAYNE WUSSELL'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS

Watched training for an hour this morning… I’m now finding this stage of preparation slightly boring! I’m ready for real competition, not ‘dancing with your sister’ stuff! No offence to sisters intended, nor to players or coaches.

It was a busy hour. Three competitive activities going on at the same time, groups of players rotated through these, so I propped myself up on the fence and waited for them to come to me!

Observations;

Windsor, Kossie, Culley and Salem were standouts for me.

Windsor has developed his tackling to compliment his pace.

Good to see May and Lever looking fit.

Latrelle and Ricky Mentha in everything.

The emphasis in everything they do is on quick ball movement. The intensity is up. Disposals do not always hit the target, but the movement is lightning fast. The ‘defenders’ are always outnumbered. I look forward to seeing our players perform with real pressure from a competitive opposition.

Viney ran and ran and ran at a good clip throughout.

Agree with others that Sharp didn’t look two months away from rejoining regular training.

I thought Kentfield and Jefferson looked good in the competitive drills.

Lindsay looks stronger in the legs and hips.

GEORGE ON THE OUTER'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS

I'm with @waynewussell , in that there was little to take away from this session.

The match sim component barely lasted 15 minutes, which is where you get an idea of who is playing where, how the ball is being moved, and the chance to see new players in competitive situations. I suspect with the season not far away, that those components are being reserved for the Casey sessions, away from prying eyes and @picket fence

Telling for me was that despite the 10.00 advertised start time, when I arrived 30 mins beforehand, the players were already there doing "beep test" runs. That is something I have never seen before, especially more so when it is being done BEFORE the session. Then at the end of the session all players in groups of 4 were running boundary at a fair clip. None of the simulation is now over, get some water and sign autographs.

Injury list: Viney, Campbell ( neck), Henderson, McAdam ( again..still), Max ( broken finger), Mihocek, and Bowey and Laurie not present. Then some cameo's from Melksham, AMW, CJ at times, although they ran in the match sim.

Better than the 14 on the sidelines pre Christmas, but I doubt we will see anything of a couple of those this season. So with a couple of "train on" players out there today, and reportedly there last Monday as well, I'm expecting a couple to go on the LTI, to enable us to draft in replacements ala Culley last season.

DEMON GIRL 35'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS

Only spent about an hour and bit there today but this is what I noticed.

Maxy - Ran and ran today. Super fit!

Culley - In everything and can see him being a main midfielder but probably just holds onto it that little bit too long.

Windsor - Speed to burn!

Kentfield - Great mark he is.

Trelly - Kid looks very good. Excited by him.

Langford - Gets the ball, kicks it to a good option then continues to push hard to receive the handball and get the ball going forward. Working really hard.

Lever and Aj stood out for me when a few keys were doing one on one when the ball was kicked up in the air. A couple of great marks.

Kotl - Also saw him take a few decent marks when they were doing a little match sim (pretty sure that’s what they were) but his kicking after them let him down. Also ran really hard to add pressure on his opponent which would cause a turn over.

KEV'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS

Big turnout by the spectators.

Weather was great, temp perfect, and a slight wind blowing down field.

They went straight into competitive work in the drills they ran. Three stations, all rotated through them. One station had two sides compete, hit five passes and then shoot for goal.

After the rotations they separated into:

Mids (Tholstrup in there) with a ruck, as they worked on stoppages.

Smalls to mediums, one on one at ground ball and snapping for goal.

Talls, one on one competing for marks.

Then a 12 minute sim. They were regularly looking for the inside ball and getting numbers to that play. Usually only one player will spread to the boundary side.

The first shot on goal was JVR leading well (good separation) and finishing from the 50 arc. Jefferson, not to be out done with contested marks and finishes with grace and accuracy from the opposite side and same distance.

Bibs scored 7, to the shirts 37 points.

Congestion work is improving, with Steele (I like how he goes about it) making sure there is a receiver on the outside.

Langford caving through the spaces, linking with one two's, and his angled powerful runs. He appears to have matured, training with confidence and purpose.

Chandler linking well.

Finished with runs and a cool down.

Max G has put on plenty of muscle mass.

Chaplin coached most of the session.

No goal kicking practice (perhaps pre-training as it started earlier than advertised). This is the first time I've noticed this in several seasons.

The evenness in egos is an interesting change. Seems the leadership roles are across the whole team or the pecking order (leadership group) is yet to be defined.

Plenty of focus, minimal joviality, lots of professionalism.

BANG NA DEMON'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS

Jed Adams caught my eye with some beautiful kicking under pressure. If he can execute that consistantly at seniors level.....

Taylor is a beauty, saw him and Disco looking very tight on the track with brotherly hugs. Onley did a few nice things and Latrelle looks good too.

One the train on's, a tall blond lad took an absolute ripper mark on Petty in a 1 v 1 contested marking drill making Petty look like the train on.

Kozzie is a freak and on another level.

ENTER SANDMAN'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS

Seeing the boys train today was a lot of fun and there was a good turn out amongst the fans. It was great to see Latrelle and Xavier Taylor live for the first time.

The energy is very different from this time last year - a previous poster mentioned the ego levels are lower and I think that’s true - the young players are going to be pushing the older players for their spots and prior reputation means less with the new coach. Also perhaps we no longer feel like world beaters after a few lowly years and are starting to feel like we have to go and chase it again.

Windsor and Kossie’s speed through the middle is great to watch. Last year we trained a lot of moving the ball from one end to the other with uncontested marks, utilising precise kicking. This year is more about getting the ball moving and using speed and tackle breaking ability.

Culley seems like he will get his chance as an inside mid - and I think Jack Steele might quietly get a spot in the midfield if Viney is missing round 1. Langford did some special things as always. Lever took some great marks.

Once main training had finished Kossie, Latrelle and Ricky were kicking long distance bananas from the boundary - kind of challenging each other playfully. Their skills and connection was a beautiful thing to watch.

There was also a play in the match sim where Kossie ran through the centre, handballed it to Latrelle and then Latrelle hit up a free forward in the goal square. It’s going to be so fun watching these two play together.

ZERO HANGER'S JONTY RALPHSMITH'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS

Zero Hanger

Melbourne first-year player Latrelle Pickett impressed at the Dees session on Wednesday morning.

Pickett's speed and agility were captivating, enabling him to burst through traffic and weave his way into space, impressing onlookers on multiple occasions.

He pushed up to stoppage and gathered the ball cleanly on multiple occasions before accelerating forward, acting as a conduit between the midfield and attack.

Sixty days out from Round 1, almost a third of Melbourne's list did not take part in match simulation due to varying injuries.

Skipper Max Gawn, veteran Jack Viney and recruit Brody Mihocek were the biggest names limited to running, with the latter pair both continuing to nurse injury concerns sustained prior to Christmas.

Changkuoth Jiath took part in the session as he continues to build his loads, while first-year forward Thomas Matthews integrated into light drills before building up his running loads as he recovers from a knee injury.

Positively, Xavier Lindsay took part in the entire session after his loads had been managed prior to Christmas.

Jack Henderson, Harry Sharp, Shane McAdam and Andy Moniz-Wakefield were others limited to running, while Bailey Laurie and Jake Bowey were unsighted, the latter due to a confirmed long-term Lisfranc injury.

Tom Campbell was also missing, with Max Heath dueling with Aidan Johnson in the ruck.

As well as Mihocek, Jake Melksham was also sidelined, putting responsibility on Matt Jefferson to support Jacob van Rooyen up forward, while Luker Kentfield was the main man up the other end.

Pending the fitness of Mihocek and Melksham, Jefferson and Kentfield could be battling for the remaining taller forward spot, with Jefferson playing seven games last year, while Kentfield is yet to break through but finished the year strongly in the VFL after being swung forward.

Caleb Windsor got midfield minutes, while Kysaiah Pickett looked as classy as any when he got the ball in his hands.

Jai Culley's strong pre-season continued, using his imperious size at stoppage to fend off and burst through tackles.

Culley fended off a tackler and kicked a banana goal off a step from 45 metres out, which concluded the match simulation in stylish fashion.

Jefferson, Ricky Mentha and Kade Chandler were among the others to have impressive moments.

AFL Academy duo Darcy Szerszyn (Dandenong Stingrays, defender) and Xavier Ladbrook (Gippsland Power, utility) both took part in the drills until match simulation.