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I was a bit of a sceptic about Lyon at first but I think done a wonderful job. It isn't easy moving people aside, sacking others and then making the right appointments. There's going to be some criticism and some resentment but things have gone remarkably smoothly in what has realistically been a period of great upheaval within the ranks of the football club. The big test of the work done will come at some time in the future but given where we've come from just 5½ months ago, I think both he and Don McLardy deserve great praise for their efforts in backing Jimmy to the hilt and giving us some hope for the immediate future.

Yeah I went down for an hour or so. Jurrah, Tapscott, Blease, Williams and one other who I couldn't see (could have been Tynan/Taggert) went off onto a separate oval to do what looked like medium distance running. At Casey you can't see both ovals at once so couldn't really make out what they were doing but they were over there for over an hour. The main group consisted of 25ish players but the players who I didn't notice participating were Grimes, Jamar, Sylvia, Cook, Jetta, Davey and Bartram. They started the session with some warm up kicking and then a very sharp handball drill. Skills were up, however some players lacked a bit of intensity. Some things I noticed were: - J. Watts needs to up his intensity, look a bit more interested and look like he is working hard. Seemed to just go through the motions and look bored. - Joel Mac was very clean and working very hard making sure he was pushing right through. Skills looked great. - Fitz..... The only one who didn't look sharp. I do not know how he has played a senior game. They must see something in him that I can't. After this they split into two groups doing some contested work in the goal square, however I only saw one end so comments are a little bit limited. - Bennell has really improved his one-on-one and gets in great positions. Leigh Brown very happy with his efforts in this drill - Cale Morton battles with strength but persisted and persisted (looks like he should be playing in the Aus Open) - Howe has unbelievable hang-time, he jumps, holds, then marks. What a gun. - Jones has been working on his kicking style I reckon, slightly changed for the better. Then after that drill, they just did some goal kicking. - Funny how good they all are with no pressure however Fitz struggled and Martin put one out of the full. They then had a drink and a mini break. - JT and Moloney are very vocal and natural leaders. Always on the jog and always yapping. - Frawley is the popular one in the group, they all get around him whenever they can. I think he is too much everyone’s mate to be the captain of this team. After the break they went into a stoppage, full ground drill which was great to see. I could hear the coaches harping on the defensive pressure and it seemed a real focus in this drill. The intensity was right up and the skills were reasonably good too. Some things I noticed in this one - Watts took a nice mark over JT and was happy about it - Green is all class, need 2 of him, one in the forward line and one in the midfield would be perfect. - Joel Mac was looking good - Ricky Petterd had a nice smother which lead to a score - Garland was very instructive of his defenders around him. - Tommy Mac was playing as a forward - Rivers is a natural leader too They had another break for goal kicking. - Clark can kick a goal! - They all joke around with Green about being old, needing a wheelchair, calling him fossil etc. - Dunn has slightly changed his routine, looks better than his old one with the ball waving all over the place. After their goal kicking break, they went into a clearance/stoppage drill which ended up having to pick the right option up forward. From where I could see there were a lot more defenders then forwards down there which made the execution crucial. It was full contact, full pressure and full on. - Jade was harping about defence the whole time, I really like his instructions, I learnt a lot for my own game by listening to his words. - Jones was always yapping and ordering people around - Bate had a shocking kick where literally the whole group cringed at. Jade was angry but it was pretty funny actually. - Great lead and mark from Clark into the dead pocket, hard kick and missed. - Nicho has a shaved head and soooooo quick! Going to be a gun! - Watts needs to look more hungry in his drill too. They continued a similar drill but moved the stoppage into CHB. - Joel Mac sells JT into trouble and stuffs the drill, Mac very angry with himself. - Magner can tackle! - Gys kicked a lovely long goal - Howe was showing some class on the half forward line, he will definitely be playing there this year. - Martin loves to play on, pity he can't kick. - The coaches really get stuck into Magner, maybe he is lazy or maybe they need him to work harder on his fitness? - Bate has picked up some pace. - Love Mitch Clark The last drill I saw before I left was a one-on-one drill down in the goal square with Jade (they also had the video camera out) - Jade very instructive and supportive - Cale is not strong - Garland has amazing body position - Bennell is looking great in these drills The drill then turned to focus on three efforts, a spoil, run to make another spoil and then go back with the flight. Was a great drill! - Loving Jade's work So overall that’s some of the notes I took from what I saw. It was a good solid session but would have loved to see more of the players out there and a bigger turn out by the Dees faithful (maybe only about 30?) Happy to answer any questions.

hey guys, I think Gysberts has dropped off the radar a bit. He has struggled to put on much wait in the last 2 pre-seasons but his ball finding ability is arguably the best at the club. How many touches a game we think Gysberts will get this season? He averaged 19 last season in an injury riddled season.

Great write-up daveytrain1! Christ it is sad, but I really hang out for these reports.

Some feedback/scuttlebutt after Baileys dismissal focussed on board members often being in the rooms and becoming very familiar with the players. Having Neil Craig being a conduit between the playing group and the board makes sure there is a seperation of duties. At least thats what I read into it.

Perhaps substitute the word 'before' for 'since' and you have what BRFE is getting at. Then you can skip all the clever hyperbole! Easy as that.

People seem obsessed with Petterd in our forward line because of his fantastic defensive pressure. This is grossly overstated and is based on him having one game where he laid 100 tackles and a seperate game when he laid a fantastic smother in the goal square. For the most part his defensive game is mediocre. I doubt he will get a game in our side as a forward next year. Strauss has seriously improved his game since he broke his leg. He had gone from some saying he should be delisted to now majority having him as starting in our defensive six. He was improving but still had a fair way and the truth was somewhere between the two. AOB great explanation regarding the potential importance of Sellar this year.

What do the following players have in common? Trent Croad, Zac Dawson, Chris Tarrant and Tom Lonergan. 1) They are the 'gorilla tamers' at the last 4 Grand Final clubs. 2) None of them started their career as a defender. (Croad - forward, Dawson - ruck, Tarrant - forward, Lonergan - forward) 3) All of them frustrated and were traded or delisted before finding their role. (Croad - traded, Dawson - delisted, Tarrant - traded, Lonergan - delisted) 4) All were athletically gifted, but there were worries about their footy smarts. Their role is to put body pressure on the opposition number one big forward and compete. The role is simple, so you don't need Scott Pendlebury's poise, skills or decision making to play it, but you do need some important attributes: speed, strength and size. All you need to do is be big, be competitive and be next to your opponent, because you just have to keep your opponent on the ground while your team mates are able to jump for the ball. Why does it take more time for them to come through and be recognised than other players? Because their main requirement are those that improve a lot with age. They need a mature body, so it can take them many years to achieve that. James Sellar fits perfectly into this category. He was recruited as a ruck/forward (and has played as one up until very recently). He is athletically very gifted, with speed, strength, power and is very big for a key position player. He is now at the age where he can start physcially dominating in AFL company. For the role we want him to play, he has all the hallmarks of those who have done it in the past. He has all the attributes. For the price we paid, he has the ability to help our team a lot. Will he do it? I don't know. But we recruited him for a reason.

Fan, stop finding grey where there is clearly only black and white. Demonland regulars have already confirmed and published the MFC 20011 - 2012 chapter in our soon to be relased online club history. Jim saved the club, Bailey almost killed it, Garry stepped in when Jim was too sick to save it twice and Neeld will break our premiership drought. Trengove will hold aloft the premiership cup and Scully will cry himself to sleep lamenting his career-crippling knee problems. It's that simple. In all seriousness, as sloppy as the Bailey exit was, I couldn't imagine the club recovering in a more efficient manner. The Neeld, Craig, Misson trio plus a significant off-season trade has most supporters scrounging for their rose coloured glasses again. And of course, I'm no different. That's what we do!

So explain to me why we have to get a "saviour" to fix up the past 12 months? If anything his medical condition has detoriated and is lucky to be seeing past Christmas. We need to move beyond idolatry and grasp a bit of reality. I trust the Board has.

Im in. Averaged 2200 last year.

Yep, and here's the podcast, Don Mclardy talking about Lyon, Sugar Healy and a little about Stynes too Tuck in guys http://www.sen.com.au/audioplayer/Audio/Melbourne-Vice-President-Don-McLardy/3735

Funny thing was, you chose to disregard the two reports that had some positive stuff about Jack at training, and to take the one negative report as gospel truth. That's your prerogative, but don't expect to be seen as objective.

i watched jack a few times when he was a basketballer, because he played at the club i did, and it never looked like he was working as hard as others. i think he is one of those players that in match type conditions always seems to be doing things easy, and that gives the impression that he isnt working hard. i expect to see very big things from jack this year, and i think a lot of supporters will be pleasantly surprised.

Initially I didn't think much of Strauss but I thought he showed a bit just before he was injured, he seemed to get a bit of mongrel in his game and that was missing earlier on. He showed that he wants to succeed and that's always a good sign.

I was there too. I will not give a drill by drill run down, as it has already been done. That being said, I cannot remember any of our sessions in the past few seasons being as organised, structured and purposeful as today. All the drills were done at full pace and under match conditions. There was barely any rest in the drills. You can see Neeld is very big on contested football, 1 on 1 football and decision making. All the drills incorporated body contact, pressure and running. As a teacher and coach myself, I know there is a large focus on "game sense" which is basically learning and practising under actual match conditions or in match simulation, and that is what Neeld is brining in. I know personally I would rather incorporate all my running into drills rather than a 400m sprint. You will find most players will work harder to chase the ball than following a white line. There was also a large focus on running both ways, where the ball would be pumped into the forward line for the defenders to take the ball out to the other end, and the forward needed to put pressure on or get the ball off the defenders. Once the ball got to the other end all the players had to run back and the drill would begin straight away again. Viney was with Blease and Jurrah etc doing some other running. Taggert and Tynan were not there. Some interesting things I noted: * Morton was playing as a defender in most drills. * Nicho was playing in the midfield and I think there is no doubt he will be on the list before the season begins. * Tom Mac and Watts were getting plenty of practise deep in the forward line. * Howe will be a GUN. Will play as a leading CHF and dominate. He is almost the best mark in the league! I know that is a big statement but his hands when on the lead at full pace are fantastic. * Martin, Tom Mac, Watts and Fitzy all need to learn from Howe on how hard to attack the ball and hopefully get cleaner hands. * Bennell was training with the backs, maybe one of our running defenders, he just needs to get more of the ball in the game. * Jack Viney is a large unit, however they are carefully monitoring his training. * there was no actual running, it was all done in the drills, which I think is better as it is more realistic. * Garland showed poise and speed. He shows he has the ability to become a more attacking defender. * For me the most impressive trainers were Howe, Garland, Moloney and Nicho. * We may not be the greatest team this year, however I believe everything we are doing at the moment is the best training I have seen in years, but of course this is training and not an actual game! Also happy to answer any questions, as I have been to several sessions while I am on holidays!

First time at a training sesh, first time on here as well...... First impressions, Jurrah is a lot taller than I had thought; makes his athleticism more impressive. Beamer and Magner are stand outs because of their size. Chip did most of the talking in the warm up and was asking the boys for more than Monday, saying that Monday was terrible. Greeny was loud but joking around a lot early on. Once the ball work started I was suprised by Clark's foot skills, was very sharp. After some handball drills which looked very clean, they went into a transition drill, in which the first thing I noticed was Sellar looking slow and making poor decisions in congestion. As opposed to daveytrain, I thought Watts stood out in this drill, moving all over the ground confidently and winning 1 on 1s consistently. Garland's run also shone in this drill, just taking players on. I thought Jones skills looked sub standard even when in the clear. At one stage Watts ran down JB trapping the ball in the fwd line, which impressed me. Dunn looked like he needs to slim down a bit, very solid. Sellar was full back on Martin and doing well, but to me Martin just doesnt look like a forward. During the set shots I noticed Bate very rarely missed, very good shot. The fact that every drill involved hitting up leading forwards gives me hope that our fwd line might actually click this year and could be very dangerous. I was impressed by Gysberts' skills in pressure, one of my favourite players but looked good. Magner seemed to be very quite in the contested drills, needs a voice as it was costing him touches. I was expecting Howe to be bigger. Jmac continues to miss kicks and handballs AFL players shouldn't, he's a worry for me. Ricky P was great across half forward, and I think he is gonna be a star, could have a big year. looked strong, fast and a great contested mark. The backs started recording one on one body work during marking contests, in which Sellar impressed me, but you would expect him to when he's that big. The next drill where the midfielders worked it round before hitting up the fwd's saw Nicho playing the loose QB role out the back of the pack. Beamer looked like he was playing against kids, and dominated. Bate was clean and creative. At one stage Trenners outbodied and then marked against Martin. The kid is gonna be a superstar. In the next 1v1 handball drill Beamer made sure he went against Morton, which I saw as a tactic to get him a bit more physical. Just my opinions, could be wrong but its what I took out of the sesh.

Maybe that's in some other thread - I didn't see it in here. I like him as a defender who can take the kick-ins but agree he will have some stiff opposition for a spot in the back 6 - particularly if as seems likely Grimes plays there. Frawley, Rivers, Garland, Sellar, Grimes, Bartram, Bennell, Tapscott, Strauss, Macdonald, Nicholson - they can't all play together. I think the back 6 remains an area where you're trying get some stability and a group that is used to working together. Midfield and forward rely on rotations - backline relies on flexibility, stability and co-operation.

Agreed Strausss was definitely improving with game time and showing some signs but was far from being a definite starter or integral to our make up.

This is exactly my point. In peoples minds he seems to have improved since he was last on the park. Prior to injury he was just starting to make his way now to alot he seems integral to our back 6 for this season.

Excellent detail and analysis daveytrain1... thank you for going to the trouble, I feel informed!

I don't think we will know what real role Garry played in helping the club but what he did do was give the supporter base and others someone to get behind when everything was turning sour. The irony of course is that Garry played a significant role in the fiasco following the Geelong game. I believe we are exactly were we would want to be now. The changes at the club have been made possible by the extra funding from the AFL and the efforts of people to attract the right people. My hope is that the Board recognize their role (which they clearly didn't in July) and they are not swayed by media in the way they were in July. When Scully left Cam Schwab made the comment that "you should not underestimate the ability of football clubs to recover from adversity". I suspect Garry is getting the credit for the work of a lot of people but that's probably good for the club and I'm fine with that.

Strauss was on a definite improvement gradient before his injury - some great shutdown work and some attacking play too. He's got a body to be reckoned with. Some will struggle to get past his fumble with Campbell Brown. He's no sure thing but he's got attributes. Maybe he's just the new Belly or maybe, like BP hoped, our Lindsay Gilbee.

I am not saying that you are saying he is guaranteed to make it - I am saying that the role you have envisioned for him: to take the forward that Frawley usually takes is a massively high ceiling for the bloke. And I realise that the FD might 'want' him to fill that role, but as I see it - a lower ceiling that Sellar might be able to reach is to take the forward that Garland/Rivers struggle with when Frawley is otherwise occupied. I just can't see Sellar being given such a massive task in his first year at the club after his struggles at the Crows. To be perfectly honest with you - we are talking past each other here - we both see a role in the backline if his form is good enough. I just don't believe it will be good enough for the FD to say "he's ready to do what Frawley has done." Remember the guy was AA in 2010.

We all have different ideas on who would be the most suitable choice. He isn't my first choice, but unlike another mooted leader (Jamar) he has been in the Leadership Group in his career. And unlike another mooted leader (Moloney) the difference between his best games and his worst games isn't huge. And unlike another mooted leader (Grimes) he consistently stays on the park. And unlike another mooted leader (Green) his body language isn't pathetic when things are difficult. I am not saying I would give him the reigns because of these reasons, but he is in the mix for the captaincy and these arguments in favour of him. Again, I will say - stop putting crosses through names people, because you will be left with 6 vice-captains and no captains... We have no perfect candidate.

Massive props to Dollars Lyon for stepping in, taking the heat off Jim and making the tough calls. I'm very confident we now have the right coach at the helm.

Lyon said wasn't in for the long haul but just to get the club stabilized and to help it move forward. Would look like he's achieved that along with Schwab, Stynes and McLardy. Hopefully, the right pieces are now in place to set up a productive next few years. Interesting that Craig will report directly to the board believe this to be a good move, fewer non football department people getting to involved with the football side of things the better. Much better to have a united football department with a common goal than a fragmented one that appeared to be the case last year.

I reckon Martin might be a fellow fan of the Leningrad Cowboys !!!

Would you think that Tom Lonergan would be able to push Scarlett off the number 1 forward? Zac Dawson pushing Sam Fisher off? The idea is that we let our most damaging defender play where he can be most damaging. Frawley can stop any forward but a lot of those players, especially as the game changes to more long bombs forward, can be stopped by big, yet slightly less talented players. Sam Fisher is a good player who zones off well and takes a lot of marks as the extra man up, but he can only take those marks because Dawson is wrestling the key forward and keeping him on the ground. Why waste Frawley on a job that Sellar can do? Tom Lonergan averaged less that 10 disposals per game last year. Scarlett was an All Australian playing as a rebounding, helping defender. Why? Because he has speed, strength, game sense and poise. He uses this to open up the play. When he was forced to play on Buddy, Geelong lost the 2008 Grand Final, even though he shut Buddy out from the game. Geelong lost more than Hawthorn did by sacrificing Scarlett's run from defence. Put another way, you'd have to think that Chriss Judd would be one of best negating small defenders around. He is quick, really strong, a great size and wins a lot of contests. Imagine putting him in a back pocket on Alex Fasolo .... he'd smash him. But would you? Not in a million years, because his value to the team is much higher as a midfielder and there are other players on the team that should be able to takeFasolo. This is what Frawley does. Sellar taking the number one forward does not mean that Frawley is being shifted down the totem. It is actually recognition that he should be higher. It means that Frawley uses his speed, power and skills to break lines coming from defence and turn the ball over from the opposition kicks, rather than just wrestling and punching the ball away from the opposition. He's too good a player for that. Sellar is no world beater, but what we hope he can do is the same thing that other 'no world beaters' can do, like Zac Dawson or Tom Lonergan. It's a role that requires a few attributes (size, strength, athleticism) but also allows for players that aren't particularly offensively talented to be effective. Hopefully Sellar can take that role and improve our team by getting our more talented players into more valuable roles.

If you give the job to Grimes who will be the captain for the other half of the season?

I have said it before - we have no perfect candidate (or near it). We are like the Republicans over in the US - arguing over the merits of every faulty candidate. The new Captain will have his flaws because there is no flawless candidate. So the FD should choose a flawed leader that will help the club. Either inspire that player, inspire his teammates, or help develop that player.

Maxwell ? Harley ? Glass ?