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Well said......there is a huge difference between footballers in their physiological profiles. The fact that Aaron Davey and Sam Blease struggle as soon as the endurance requirements build will have almost everything to do with their specific characteristics. Basically at either end of the spectrum you have pure sprinters, whose muscles have the highest percentage of 'fast twitch' fibres, at the exclusion of 'slow twitch' fibres (think Gary Ablett snr.), and pure endurance athletes, where the fibre typing is the reverse (marathon runners, the Schleck brothers of Tour de France fame). There is any variation in between these extremes, and numerous other factors come into play, such as height and limb lever lengths, which will affect specific abilities. As a rough generality, heavily muscled physiques (Moloney) will tend to have fast twitch predominance, as those fibres have a greater capacity for hypertrophy (growth), and skinny guys (Morton) the opposite. There is a misconception that skinny cultural types such as indigenous australians, are naturally endurance favoured, but I would suggest the vast majority of AFL indigenous players are fast twitch, 'burst' athletes, and given that they are represented in the AFL at 8 times their representation in the Australian population, they enjoy quite an extreme physiology. Every body has a percentage of fibres that can be influenced or trained either way, and a fast twitch athlete can improve their endurance, and slow twitch can improve their strength/power capabilities, but to a varying degree. Endurance abilitites naturally improve through the 20's and 30's, then slowly drop through middle age, which is why you see experienced players able to go longer through a game, and another reason why maturity is essential in your playing group (look at Geelong this year). Of course mental experience is also essential, but it is still largely physiological. This is basically related to an individual's 'VO2 max', that is, their body's ability to take in and use oxygen efficiently, and their 'lactate threshold', which is the point at which the body starts to rapidly develop lactic acid which will curtail muscle performance. We all have a genetically determined base level, and the rest is training and time. For example, Cadel Evans has the highest VO2 max ever tested at the AIS, and he was still a mountain biker at the time. He was born extreme. The fitness and coaching staff will be COMPLETELY aware of the characteristics of each player on the list, and their goal will be to maximise and make use of their extreme abilities (Davey and Blease for their burst speed), and improve their other end (ability to go all game) as best they can without risking compromise to their more unique talent. The fact that Davey and Blease couldn't stay with Leigh Williams merely tells me that Williams is probably more an 'all rounder' and will lack the special talent of either end. Thankfully, football requires a whole bunch of other abilities. As an illustrative anecdote, and one which I loved at the time, I was cycling a leg of the Tour de France in 2006 (organised for hacks like me every year, to see how the big boys suffer), and on the first 15 km climb of a 190km stretch, when I casually wheeled past Sir Chris Hoy, (he was just 'Chris' at the time) the Gold medal winner in the Cycling Sprint at Beijing 2 years later!!!. He had the biggest thighs I'd ever seen, but they were seriously struggling. He was interviewed after the event, quoting that it was the hardest day he'd ever had physically. I finished an hour faster than him, and am myself burdened by athletic mediocrity.......... horses for courses. On the topic of physical extremes, a colleague was consulting big Max Gawn a couple of days ago, the morning after his ACL repair and getting him upright for the first time, and wasn't quite prepared for his height (apparently he is smaller lying down!), to the point where she let out an exclamatory ''F*** you're big!" . Anyway, he's on the road back, good luck Maxy.

I love a good "screw the science, *I* know best" post. Always good for a laugh.

So many sad, grumpy people on here. Lighten up, for goodness sake, it's just a bit of fun. I hope you all get laid for Christmas. Might make you less uptight. Geez!

Thought Aaron Davey was really struggling over the last 2 metres of that final sprint.

Interesting training session - before I go on - as soon as I mentioned there was very little talk, it became a very animated, competitive session! Rehab/Catch-up Groups:- • Jordie Mac, Spencer and Good Times walked laps and then when inside for bike work; • Bull, Strauss and LJ ran heaps of laps. LJ has a blue cast on his arm, over the hand and up to the elbow. Bull's arms are having a battle with his legs for the most muscly part of his frame. Struass was looking good, he did some sprints after his laps and look to be moving very well, unlike many coming back from that injury. • Col, Jetts and Russian ran fartlek sprints with the younger draftees, except Jai Sheehan, who was with one of the the main group. Main Group/s: These were usually in two big groups, each with a mix of mids/fwd/backs as pretty much all drills were competitive and focussed on stoppages/keeping possesion in traffic. Everyone looks very fit, but if they did not at this time of the year you would be worried. Having played footy at a reasonable level, something that often surprises me about AFL training is how crook the players will go at each other when they lose a competitive drill. This seems to be forgotten quickly, I guess these guys are the ones who got to that level so have the edge/desire. This was definitely the case today, I hesitate to single him out as he has become something of a whipping boy, but Morts copped it a few times when he took the wrong option! The losing team in these comps had to roll around on the ground with their arms straight down their sides, much to the humour to the other team, coaches and the couple of supporters who were there. A great drill they were doing required the team in possession to pass the ball to teammates at different points of a star that was around 25 meters apart. The other team had to spoil, harass and stand on the mark. If they won the ball, it was given back to the possession team, as the winning team was determined by who had the most successful passes in 3 minutes. Standouts for me (but it is hard when there is so much going on) were Green, Jezza Howe, Trenners, Sellar (!) and Watts. Bartram had a massive icepack on his knee but was walking around on it so the old injury must be still bothering him or a little tweak. Did not see Davey anywhere, but he might have been inside on a bike. There is a massive focus on stoppages/possesion/accurate passing now. Bailey training had groups of guys running together passing the ball, so the change in focus is obvious. The tanks we have been drafting, rather than young/fast/skilful, will put heaps of pressure on guys who have been getting games to continue doing so. In between sessions, Rawlings and Garland did wrestling/fighting work, the first time I saw this a while ago I thought they were having a fair dinkum blue, it gets pretty vicious. Rawlings is a big, fit guy and they go at each other and Garland starts to look very [censored] off! Any questions, ask.

If you are living with your family try talking to to them it is Xmas afterall.

Is that why you used a comma?

Why do I get the feeling that anytime there is bad news eminating out of GWS, it will be referred to as karma here ? I don't like players getting injured. And I wouldn't wish it upon anyone. God speed Max Gawn.

you grump old sad sad people wake up and have a bit of fun!! xmas grinch's wonder what ya'll like to ya kids! as jaded said hope ya get laid aswell..! i found it quite funny! cale morton made me laugh for sure!

Just a slight correction, I believe that the empty cliche you were looking for was 'accept mediocrity', not 'tolerate mediocrity'. It is an easy mistake to make, but it pays to be accurate when expressing yourself through the majesty of rant.

Love it.

Anybody here who thinks that (advanced) sports science isn't central to elite sports training and performance is just kidding themselves. We don't have Misson, Craig etc. for nothing. Hard to see how acknowledging that is somehow excusing players.

That was horrible.

I reckon Aaron Davey's lack of fitness definitely cost us a few flags in the 70s. Ok, I'll stop now.

I liked last years better. But its good this one has a theme to it. It would be great to get 40,000 members. Not fussed mark Neeld isnt in it. It isnt his job to be in the christmas video. I remember reading in that herald sun article last week he said who will play santa because im not doing it. Bails was at the club for a couple of years. Mark has only been ther a few months. Im sure he will be in next years. But very creative.

If the "Demon Shop" moved to a location we could all get to, it would be worth as much as a lucrative sponshorship deal. Even out front of AAMI Park would be 100 times better than where it is now!! Right now the front door is not even visible from the road. How would anybody know where it is. It's a joke.

I guess I could try that.....

Think the OP doesn't understand the notion of karma.. I mean what did poor little Johnny do to deserve this? Karma would be stealing a young hopeful off a team by offering way more than could ever be countered and then finding out he is only a second year player who is unproven and has a degenerating knee.. oh wait..

Poor guy. All the best.

Any chance they might spill online somewhere?

Point 1. the Demon shop on Brunton ave misses the majority of fans that stream in to the MCG from gates 6 to 1. I get off the train at Richmond and walk to Gate 5, there's no exposure of our merchandise except for the tent selling a small range of stuff, I think the club is missing a great opportunity to sell. Point 2. Had a look at the merchandise on sale and its very disappointing, retro sweats with that crumby Demon, with round eyes, and the new polo that Mitch Clark is modelling I thought it was the MCC not the MFC . Needs some savvy marketing people to put both these things right. Otherwise we are accepting mediocrity again.

I don't like to full stop,

Who's taking it as a given. I'm not and I'm certainly not taking it from you. CS's track record is phenomenal. He completely transformed Freo from a basket case financially and on field to having one of the strongest supporter bases and is financially secure going forward. Where do you get that cr$p from. He has presided over the Club getting its first every major asset, the Bentleigh Club, against all the odds. The Club's balance sheet has gone from -$5mill to plus $6mill and the business spend has gone from $25mill to $40mill. They got Neeld, Misson, Craig & Clark in a very competitive market. People are starting to want to come to MFC. Obviously he didn't do it all on his own but he had to be up to his eye balls in it. Doesn't sound like someone not walking the walk, to me.

Precisely, hoopla. Too many people are willing put players in a guillotine on information that is at best a stretch, and at worst plain made up. The best training reports are the ones that just report the facts and spare us the uneducated editorialisation.

I wonder how many would call Usain Bolt 'a disgrace' if he struggled to keep up with endurance athletes during repeat sprints. Sure, he can run 100m in 9 and a half seconds but if he can't keep up with a 200 cm ruckman like Dean Cox in repeat 2 km time trials then he is 'a disgrace'. After all, Bolt is shorter and an Olympic champion. Worst. Olympic. Champion. Ever.

That's 'star date' 20111. Captain's Log: We have been training now for weeks with... ...no end in sight... ...a yearly celebration observed by a strange native sect is... ...nearly upon us... ...more reports after that.

Got a bit of the David Neitz's about him. #bigcalloftheday